Jedi Master Miles...

On Saturday Dec. 10th, my patient husband delivered my latest creation because I had to be at my "real job". Curse that real job! *Dreaming* Maybe one day I will be able to play with sugar full time. Oh well, for now I passed the time making another Star Wars Cake for a new client. Ms. Ellie wanted me to make a cake for her son turning 5. Miles loves Star Wars and this is the design I came up with...

 

 

Concept Sketch

I started on Monday cutting and hand painting the 1/2 gumpaste-1/2 fondant Luke, Darth and the Sign with number. I baked the cakes Tuesday night, then tightly wrapped and stored in the fridge. Wednesday night I made the buttercream icing from scratch and applied the crumb coat. After this set, I applied a final coat of buttercream. Friday night I stacked and did all the hand painting to the bottom tier, and assembled all the final decor pieces. As I was working, I thought the back of the cake needed something, and knowing that I can never leave well enough alone, I cut and hand painted a Yoda to add to the back of the cake.

"Have a Happy Birthday...you must...mmmhmmm"

And finally, it was done! Everything on this cake was edible, with the exception of the wooden dowels I had to use to place the "5" and the "Star Wars" logo.

Final product! Yay!

Every cake is a labor of love...and always takes me way longer than I think it will. So now...you know...the REST of the story! That is why I ask for as much notice as possible. Until next time... :)

Smokey's Rifle...

Is it real? Is it cake? Can I shoot it? Nah...it's just cake! My latest sugar adventure was a cake done for a friend. This friend by the way  makes the best grub this side of the state line, check out SmokeDogs BBQ. If you need someone to cater an event for you, or you just want to sink your chops into the best pulled pork ever made, he is your man! When he asked me to do this cake for a dear friend of his, I jumped at the chance. It was so different from anything I have done in the past, and my very first attempt at sculpting a cake. I am pleased with the way it turned out. It was far from perfect, and honestly, I worried about whether or not I could pull it off. But I rolled up my sleeves (wait...aprons don't have sleeves) and got to work. I used my daughters .22 as the model. After some studying, I dove in.

Modeling the gumpaste carriage.

 

 

 Strawberry...mmm

Buttercream the case...

 Chocolate Fondant case

 Laying out the rifle...sculpting...

 Marbled fondant...wood grain!

 With food gel "stain"...

 Details added....success!

 The details man...the details.

 

What fun this was! Given the chance, I would love to do another one. Time to clean the confectioners sugar from my cabinets! Till next time! :)

 

The Hills Are Alive....

Friday morning brought the delivery of a "Sound of Music" cake. I must confess that I cannot take credit for the design of this cake. I was at a loss for what to do so my old buddy Google helped me out. This is my take on a few cakes that I found. Thanks to those that inspired. Wish I knew your name so I could give proper credit. Anyway, I was asked to do this cake by a friend who was attending a community theater production of "The Sound of Music". Some family friends of hers had children who had roles and she thought this cake would be a nice surprise. I loved doing this one. I am still practicing hand painting with food gels. It is a world apart from water colors because things dry so fast. I am sure with more practice I will get the hang of it. Maria, the mountains and the banner were all hand cut from gumpaste and left to dry. Then I hand painted them. I tried to make the flowers something that looked similar to Edelweiss. What a fun cake, but honestly...I am a little sick of singing all the show tunes. And I am certain my family is glad the cake (and the singing) is done!

 

Sing it with me..."Doe a deer, a female deer..." On second  thought, never mind...lol

Possibly the sweetest cake ever!!!

This was quite possibly the sweetest cake ever, and I am not referring to the frosting, but the sentiment behind it. This weekend's cake was done for a bride on her wedding day. It was not for her and her husband, but her future in-laws. She contacted me and stated that her future in-laws were celebrating their 46th wedding anniversary on that day, and she wanted to do something special to acknowledge them. She came up with the record player idea with Dean Martin's "Everybody Loves Somebody" as the record on top. This was my take on the "sweet" idea.How awesome is it that with all this bride had on her mind, she still thought enough to do this for them. Wishing the newlyweds much love and happiness...and as many sweet years as the grooms parents! Awwwwww~ That is why I love doing this!

Star Wars Theme

Man...it has been a while since I blogged. This was a cake I did for a young man named Wyatt waaaay back in August! Wow, life has a way of interrupting my caking! I have been busy with work and my 16 year old daughter is driving now, so I have a few more gray hairs. But I have several cake orders coming up so stayed tuned!

Wyatt's cake was a Star Wars Lego Theme! It was a really fun cake to make from my first repeat customer! Thanks again Danielle!

Everything on this cake is edible! All items are hand crafted from gumpaste and/or fondant. No toys here! :)

Birthday boy blows out the candles! (*photo credit Danielle Frisbee)

May the Force Be With You!

Phineas and Ferb

My most recent cake was for a little boy named Dalton turning 5 years old. I really love doing kids cakes, if for nothing more than the colors! I am really pleased with the way it turned out. Initially the wave that the characters are riding on, was intended to stand up and "curl" over their heads. But it just didn't look quite like I pictured in my head. So I improvised and laid it flat on the cake. Much better. My favorite thing about this cake was modified logo.  The birthday boy's name and age were a perfect fit. Had this cake been for "Sally turning Six" it might not have looked so hot...lol. Some things just work out perfect. I am so thankful for the opportunity to be a small part of such a special occasion. That is why I LOVE doing this...Happy Birthday Dalton!

 

Perfect name and age!

My first wedding cake...

Pretty exciting news for me. What better way to start the first day of my blog...with my first wedding cake! Thanks to Ron Baker for allowing me the chance to work on the satellite cakes for his son's wedding. I was not able to attend the wedding or deliver the cake to the venue due to having to work. I was kind of bummed that I couldn't deliver it and actually see it finally set up, but hopefully I will get to see some pics of that. Up to this point, most of my cakes have been of the novelty variety, birthdays and such. But this one was a challenge because of the size of the two cakes and the fact that I was uber nervous about my ability to turn out a "wedding quality" cake. One that I would be proud of.
The cakes were White Almond Sour Cream with basic Vanilla Buttercream. In addition to being my first wedding cakes, they were the first that I did a buttercream finish on. (Most of my prior cakes where buttercream under fondant finish.)

This was my 10" round filled and stacked...

and then my 12"...

and 12" crumb coated.

and one of the final cakes. The flowers were gumpaste and initially the centers were ivory and not lavender. But after I put on the plum fondant band and piped the lavender beading, I felt like I needed to tie in some more lavender...it just wasn't right yet. My brother and mom agreed that it needed something, and why didn't I just "squirt some of that purple in the middles". And that's what I did. Overall I was pleased with them. I definitely learned quite a bit from this adventure. Can't wait to see the wedding pics! :)