Congratulations Katie!

* Reposted from personal blog - 2008

Katie's getting married!
A wedding always calls for a shower, and a shower calls for cake. I was asked to make the cake, and following Katie's great brainstorming session, I came up with this. The design is not new. I looked at divaricks' and other cakes on CakeCentral and chose the gown because of its simplicity.
As we were talking, Katie mentioned chocolate, white, strawberry, cream cheese, and on and on. She wanted to make it easy on me by letting me choose what to make, but sometimes doing that makes it a lot harder. I finally settled on most of what we talked about.

Behold the strawberry cream cheese cake.

Stats:

• Yellow cake
• Strawberry buttercream filling (the VIVA recipe)
• Cream cheese icing
• Fondant decorations

Happy Birthday, Amy!

* Repost from personal blog - 2008

Happy Birthday, Amy Anderson!
I missed Amy's birthday last week--it was a bit too close to the exam for me to think about doing anything. I promised her a make-up cake sometime after the big day and here it is. She mentioned how much she loves "that white cake...you know, the one under the lemon coffee cup at Christmas...with the raspberry in it." (Side note--I'll talk about the lemon coffee cup another day). What Amy meant to say was that she LOVES the WASC (doesn't everyone) with my homemade raspberry jam for filling. I made this cake a very small 6 inches so Amy won't have to share with anyone. Just for her, I torted it twice so she gets twice as much raspberry, too.

Stats:

• WASC
• Raspberry jam filling
• Crusting Buttercream (VIVA) --hey, I don't make up the recipe names, I just eat them
• Royal Icing flowers made in Lyda's class

Lightning McQueen, Take 2

* Repost from personal blog - 2008

Here's Josh's Lightning McQueen. I like this version better. The really shiny fondant on the other one was a bit too much for me. I do not, however, like the front end of this one. I must have been thinking of a different car when I carved it because the front curves under instead of out. You can't even see his smile. Luckily Josh didn't mind my oversight. The tires are sandwich cookies dipped in melted black icing.


Stats:

• Betty Crocker Chocolate Cake
• Wilton decorating icing
• Satin Ice fondant
• Royal Icing details

Thank You

* Repost from personal blog - 2008

I made this cake for school this week. Jen and I wanted to share a treat and say thanks to everyone who has supported us through the National Boards process this year. WASC is my most requested cake flavor--and for good reason. It is delicious. I prefer to pair this cake with homemade raspberry jam although this time I did not torte and fill. I'm not a fan of the spirals and dots design but that is what I came up with at midnight after another grueling study session. After the exam I'll be able to take more time to plan and execute my designs.

Stats:

• WASC
• Crusting Buttercream (actual name of the recipe) with peppermint

Thanks to Cakery from cakecentral for inspiration--I'm finally trying new border designs. Next time I use this board I will make sure to switch the border colors as the pink on the bottom faded into the board and is difficult to see in pictures.

Lightning McQueen

* Reposted from personal blog - 2008

Here's one of the finished Lightning McQueen cakes. He came out really shiny!
This is original Lightning McQueen cake--not the one I made for Josh. I accidentally used real almond flavoring in this cake and since Josh is allergic to nuts we decided it would be better to make a new cake than to risk anything. The staff at my school was glad for my oversight because they got to eat this one. The shininess came when I used water to brush some stubborn powdered sugar off the cake. It looked pretty cool in person. Tires are sandwich cookies dipped in melted black icing.

Stats:

• WASC
• Wilton decorating icing
• Satin Ice fondant
• Royal Icing details

The inner workings of a car cake :

Christ Church Cares Day

* Reposted as copied from personal blog - 2008

Stats:

• Chocolate fudge cake with extender

• Buttercream Dream icing

• Modified Frozen Buttercream Transfer (FBCT) design

• Logo for Christ Church Cares Day

Onsie Baby Shower Cake

* Reposted as copied from personal blog - 2008

This cake was made for a double shower at school...a boy and a girl.

• White Almond Sour Cream cake (WASC)

• Buttercream Dream icing

• Fondant accents

• Two-tone/single bag borders

Stats:

Noah's Ark Baby Shower Cake

* Reposted as copied from personal blog - 2008

Here is the Noah's Ark cake I made this week. It was a quick job before I left for vacation in Wisconsin.
The mom-to-be chose a Noah's Ark theme.
Stats:

• Deep Chocolate cake

• Buttercream Dream icing

• Fondant animals and ark, details painted with icing colors

I made an extender recipe for this and then poured all the batter into the pan--not thinking about the amount at all. Part-way through the baking time I checked on the cake and found it oozing onto the oven floor. Despite a small loss there, the cake tasted great.
I'm working on borders now. I feel that my recent buttercream cakes need a top border but don't like thinking of a cool coordinating design. I usually rush to do something and end up not liking it. Fondant is so much better!