Proposal Cake

Happy Sunday!   

Obviously I make a lot of wedding cakes, but this time, I got to make a pre-wedding cake!  When Brian proposed to my friend Michelle, I designed my first-ever proposal cake!

It was so much fun to be in on the surprise.  But, boy was it tough too….I couldn’t tell anyone!

I sketched out a few ideas in different styles and colors so Brian could pick out exactly what he wanted.

We eventually decided on the black, white, and pink design – feminine and sophisticated…as Brian said, “Just like Michelle” :)

Michelle works in food service and I wanted her to be impressed with the flavors, so we went with a dark chocolate cake filled with white chocolate mousse and fresh raspberries, and frosted with vanilla buttercream....the combination was great!

They have an inside joke about the Great White Buffalo, so I sculpted a small white buffalo out of fondant and added it to the cake along with the hot pink fondant roses.

  Congratulations to the happy couple!

Snoopy Birthday Cake

Happy Sunday!  A couple of years ago, I made a Peter Pan cake….well the birthday girl is apparently over Peter Pan, but she likes Snoopy now!  So, this year the challenge was to make a Snoopy cake.

I sketched out a couple of ideas since I wasn’t sure exactly what they wanted.  (Sketching is actually one of my favorite parts of the cake process.  Its gets my creativity flowing and makes sure the client and I are talking about the same thing!  No surprises on delivery that way!)

Mom selected the middle sketch, and only needed it to feed about 10 -12 people.  Since everything I do is custom-made, I don’t use shaped cake pans or anything like that.  I bake larger cakes then cut out and carve away the extra cake to reach the shape I want.

For this one, I baked a 10-inch square cake, then printed a picture of Snoopy’s head that was about the size I needed.  I used that as my guide for cutting the cake.  (Those extra cake scraps help with quality control....at least that's what I tell myself as I'm snacking on extra cake!)

The shaped cake first got a coat of chocolate buttercream, then a covering of white marshmallow fondant.

I tried to paint the black lines a little rough and jagged to make the cake look more like Charles Schulz’s iconic drawings.

In other news….drum roll please……I now have a Facebook page!  Check it out and “like” my page for updates and even more cake/catering/class pictures.   If you’re on Twitter, you can follow my Twitter page too!

Beautiful Summer Wedding

Happy Sunday! 

I've been a little MIA on the blog lately because I've been so busy with events!  I truly LOVE baking and cooking for others' special events!  It’s always hard work, but I feel so blessed to be able to do what I love!

This week's cake was particularly special for me.  I had the wonderful opportunity to make the wedding cake for my sister's best friend, Anna (and groom, Jared). 

The wedding was absolutely the most beautiful wedding ceremony I have ever attended!  Anna and Jared truly customized the whole day to reflect their love and respect for God and each other.

Designing the cake for Anna and Jared was a lot of fun!  Anna was so prepared…she knew exactly what colors and designs she wants…all I had to do was put it all together.  Anna LOVES fresh flowers, so in addition to pearls and piping, she wanted lots of flowers.  We decided to go with a buttercream cake, with swirls piped on the sides and candy pearls running around the base of the tiers.  She then wanted yellow, blue, and white flowers cascading down the whole cake, with a few clusters here and there too.

While doing a buttercream cake in the summer make me nervous, I love the look of fresh flowers and buttercream….so bright and fresh!

I took step-by-step shots of this cake so you can see the transformation from plain cake to beautiful work of art.

Step 1: Buttercream, and stacking the tiers.

Step 2: Placing each candy pearl by hand….I think I counted over 300 pearls.

Step 3: Piping swirls on the side with buttercream.  Some brides opt to use a pattern from their dress for the design, but Anna didn't have a specific pattern she wanted, so I just made it up as I went along!

Step 4: The trip there….always the most nerve-wracking part.  You never realize how many potholes there are in the road until you’re transporting someone’s wedding cake!

Step 5: Adding the flowers……voila!

Since the cake was in the middle of the room, we decided to add some large clusters in the back too…..you can never really have too many flowers.

Congratulations to Anna and Jared and many blessing on your new life together!