Strawberry Fields forever

A second wedding is an opportunity for a fresh start.  

This couple choose a design from the internet.

Several weeks in advance I prepared all the embellishments necessary 

The coloring of the blue and green leafs was accomplished by first cutting and veining the leaf in a pale color.  Then using a deeper petal dust, just pulling the color from the edge to the center with a fine paint brush.  The center is never colored in.

Cherries and Strawberries along with random blossoms are pictured above.

The close up.

This finished cake consists of three tiers.  

The bottom tier is a 12" Chocolate hazelnut with hazelnut mousse.  This tier is 5" high.  The middle tier is a 9" Key Lime with Key Lime Mousse.  This tier is 3" high and the top tier is a 7" French Vanilla Bean with Vanilla Custard.  The top tier is also 5" high.  The top flower is a fantasy flower  dusted in the cake colors with ivy. 

Berry Season

The spring and summer is a time to stock the freezer with the seasonal berries.   

My husband, father and friends assist me in this task.  

Cake fillings and pies abound!!!

Fourth of July Sugar Cookies

Uncle Sam

Firework

Statue of Liberty

Summer sugar cookies

Solecist  Sun with Shades 

Cardinal 

Farmer

Farmer's Wife

Birdhouse

Butterfly 

Sea Sugar Cookies

Octopus 

Lighthouse

Starfish

Seahorse

Hunger Caterpillar

The 1st Birthday of Sammy.  The "smash" cake features all icing image of the food.

All of "food treats" on this cake are made of chocolate clay several weeks in advance of the order date.  I stored the finished clay in the refrigerator until ready to use.  

The cake is a 10" white cake with strawberry compote and the top tier is chocolate with fudge.

Happy 1st Birthday Sammy!!!

Sugar Flower cupcakes

One of the ladies in my book club was giving a baby shower for her daughter.  The theme was set around packets of flowers seeds

I made gumpaste  flowers:  Gardenia, Tulip, Carnation, Protea, Morning Glory, Bachelor Button, Stargazer Lilly, Mums, Astremeria, Roses, Poppy, Hydrangea, Sunflower, Iris, Gerber Daisy, Orchid, Hibiscus  and Dogwood.

I sell cupcakes one dozen per cake flavor.  This order was Almond/Raspberry compote, Peanut Butter/ peanut butter mousse and Lemon/lemon curd.

Golf Birthday

A little sweetness!!  

A new bride and husband celebrate his 30th Birthday.  Kaitlin found a cute cake on the web and asked me to create the top tier.

The 6" fondant  covered cake is Almond without filling.  

Its a Boy

My client requested a cake for her first grand-baby.  A little BOY!  

I cut 2" squares of 50/50 paste and allowed them to dry several days.  The ones with the holes are to allow the support to be hidden.  Once all the squares were dry, they were assembled with royal frosting.  I then cut ribbon strips of fondant in pale blue to trim the blocks.

These are the blocks for the top of the cake.  I used the funky alphabet cutters for the lettering.

The finished cake in the refrigerator (incase I forgot the camera)  The overall cake was frosted in buttercream and all the trimmings are fondant in two shades of blue. 

The bottom tier was a 12" French Vanilla cake with fresh raspberry compote.  The top tier was devils food chocolate with a fudge filling.

 

I remembered the camera :)

Tisket a Tasket

Our community has an Ice Cream shoppe that is the highlight of our summers.  The shoppe was owned by a family for several generations, then last fall it was sold.  I had done business with the original owner, whom allowed me to get product.

I made a visit to the shoppe when it opened just before Easter and inquired if the new owner would honor the agreement I had with the previous owner.  To my delight, they were more than happy to help.  I requested items for their next order cycle and the new owner gave me the items I requested for FREE.  I was so surprised...I decided to make an Easter cake for them.

This is a 10" checkerboard cake (pink and purple color of white cake)  The fondant was rolled with a basket-weave pattern, then airbrushed and distressed.  The handle is chocolate clay, the dogwood blossom are gumpaste, the grass is wafer paper and jelly beans finished off the design.

Small business helping one another :)

Sugar Cookie Baskets

This cutter is a Julia Usher design.   Her cookies are beautifully detailed.  I had to give it a try. I was very pleased with the outcome.  

These two were cutters I had.  The flowers on all of these cookies are made of fondant which dries but does not become so hard that you could not bite through.  

Peeps sugar cookies

I just love 3-D sugar cookie cutters.

These bunnies are put together with royal frosting.  Dried overnight then I coated the entire cookie with a very thin pale colored royal frosting and while its wet I sprinkled ultra fine granulated sugar.  Their tails are royal frosting and shaved coconut.

These two sugar cookies are frosted with cookie frosting and then trimmed in royal frosting.  I then shrink wrap them for shipping.

Easter Treats

I was able to make a trip to see the grandchildren for Easter this year.

Reese's pre-school class was celebrating with a treat exchange, she asked for sugar cookies bunnies and eggs.  I was delighted to make her special treats.

Luck of the Irish sugar cookies

Mini postcard images.  Great size for tea.

I used the image wafer paper to decorate these St. Pat cookies

Jelly Bean Tree

Well... this is a little off topic.  While baking toward the end of March I began working on a Jelly Bean Tree. (see the chocolate cake cooling)

Each Easter my dad would cut several small limbs from the woods.  He would wire them together and paint the limbs white.  We would then stick jelly beans on the limbs for a table decoration during the  holiday.  

I found this lovely little tree at JoAnn Fabrics during Halloween  (it was black).  After several layers of white paint it was ready for Jelly Beans.  

Well... this is the only picture I have, I totally did not take one of the house decorated for Easter, :(  Next Year :)

Jailynn's 3rd Birthday

Jailynn is 3!!!

  Her birthday cake is a 12x17 Chocolate sheet cake with fudge filling.  

The characters are cut from a coloring page printed on icing images and placed on fondant.  The little red flowers were gumpaste.  The background is airbrushed and the border trim is a shell tip.

SAP

Chromaflo Technologies Corp was launching a massive new software system and a former co-worker, from many years ago, requested I bake a cake to celebrate her new bosses birthday.

The computer was molded chocolate with the companies new logo.

The saying on the side of the cake, Have a Happy Birthday, not a SAPpy Birthday.  The cake is an 8" marble cake with an orange custard filling.  Trimmed in navy blue using a large shell tip.