Snowflake Birthday

 We have had a mild winter here in the northeast.  We would get 3 feet of snow and then it would be 60 degrees and it would all melt.  

For the celebration of a mom's birthday, her daughter requested snowflakes and crystals.  This  is an 8" white cake with fresh strawberry compote.  

A few days prior to the pickup, I cut snowflakes from fondant using Marvelous Molds Snowflake molds.  When they had crusted over, I painted them with gum glue and sprinkled them with clear crystals.   

Crystals can be made by mixing gum arabic with warm water and pouring the mixture onto a silicon mat or a very clean cookie sheet.  I use a cookie sheet that is only used for this process.  I then dry this in the oven overnight and the next morning I can flake the mixture and run it through my fingers to make it as small a flake as I would like.  Store it in a container in a dry place.  If you desire, you may add color to the water.  I use more clear than any other, so I keep a large bottle made for the ready.

The cake is covered in pale blue buttercream and piped with a shell border.  Before adding the buttercream to the bag, I painted a strip of food color in the bag so that I would have a pale blue edge to the shell.

Sugarveil snow was added to the base of the cake and randomly around the top along with silver dragees in the curl of the shells.

Russian Flower Tips

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I was randomly searching on the internet for cake items (this is a favorite pastime for me.)  

 As I live in a remote area in northwestern PA,  everything I need is purchased from websites around the world.

These large tips come from Russia and are so unique in that you pipe an entire flower with one squeeze.  I could not resist the simplicity of topping a cupcake with flowers.

There are a total of 7 different tips in the lot. Above are a few.  Below is the rose tip in the group.  I choose to use this tip to finish off cupcakes that I was taking to a church luncheon.

Simply cut your disposable pastry bag to fit the tip, fill the bag with buttercream and pipe away.... squeeze .... release...

My cupcake were Chocolate Peanut Butter.  I filled in the spaces with buttercream leaves to finish the top.  So elegant and little effort.   These tips will be wonderful for last minute designs in buttercream.  

Baby Shower Stuffed Animals

Each year I am prilaged to work for the manager of a local private boating club.  Sandy recommends me to a lot of her clients.  I have also been privileged to work directly for her, and this order was just that.  

Sandy was hosting a baby shower and requested standing stuffed animals to sit a top pedestals on guest tables.  The animals chosen were giraffe, monkey, elephants lion and a bear. 

I started by baking the cake in a rag doll pan or the panda cake pan.  

This is a Strawberry cake with strawberry compote filling.  It was baked in the rag doll pan.  I  trimmed the cooled cake and  used the cake to make cake ball medium for the needed features for some of the animals. I cut the leg off and repositioned them.

Once the features are finished the cake was then covered in a whipped chocolate and chilled to firm up.  After several hours it was covered in fondant and airbrushed to give depth to the fondant.

The Elephant was Carrot cake with cream cheese filling and also baked in the rag doll pan.  His trunk  and his ears and legs are cake ball.  The little butterfly was cut using fondant and a Cricut machine.  The bows are from Marvolus Molds.

The Giraffe was Almond cake with Raspberry compote and baked in the panda pan.  I left the hind feet in place but trimmed the front legs off and used cake ball for the front legs. His ears and antler were fondant.

                                     

The bear was Pistachio cake with Pistachio mousse and this is the panda pan all trimming left in place.  

                                    

The monkey was Chocolate cake with fudge filling, also the panda pan.  Here I trimmed off all the legs and made cake ball to recreate the legs.  The hands and feet are fondant.  The ears are chocolate clay.

                                    

Here are all five in the refrigerator.

I was not available to deliver this order, and like all artist.... I worry even though I trust the people who help me when needed.    I was very pleased to receive payment with a note saying "Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful!!!! Thanks So Much" 

Fifty years

I often make flowers and cake items when I don't have any order and then use them when a short turn-a-round cake is ordered. The roses on the top of this cake are one of those items.  They were created in white gumpaste, and dusted in old gold petal dust.

The lace was done in Sugarveil and also dusted in old gold petal dust. 

The bottom tier is a 10" Carrot cake with cream cheese filling and the 6" top tier is pumpkin with pumpkin mousses.   Gold dragees of 8mm and 6mm were added at the edge of the sugar lace.

Emily the Tank Engine

Emily the Tank Engine.  The is cut-up chocolate cake covered with fondant and painted with gold trim.

The main cake was an 8" Chocolate with buttercream filling and covering.  

The elements on the cake are cut from fondant.  The train tracks are brown fondant logs and small pearl pastry sugar colored grey for gravel. 

Notice that the child's name is not on the cake.  When her mom placed the order I asked several times for a spelling and I was just not sure I was hearing her correctly (the connection was not clear).  I cut the letters but did not put them on until pick-up. Ales was the little girls name being spelt, short for Alesandra.

"Welcome Little One"

I have baked for this family many years.  I worked with the new "mom-to-be" aunt before going into business for myself.  

Bridgett is welcoming her first child into the world.  I am thrilled to share a small part in her celebration.

The theme was around a little lion.   The 10" and 7"  cakes were German Chocolate with vanilla custard  filling. 

The lion was made of fondant and airbrushed to depth to the features.

The cake is frosted in buttercream and delphinium blue color for all the piping.

90 Celebration

I took pictures supplied by the family and printed them on icing image paper.  

The cake was three flavors, White with Strawberry compote, Chocolate with Chocolate Mousse and Almond with Raspberry compote.

The lettering was cut from fondant using funky alphabet letters.  The leaves are gumpaste.

Skiing Family

A lovely women told the story of meeting her husband while they were both ski instructors at a local resort.  Their son is now an instructor at the same resort.  The two men in her life were celebrating birthdays and this is the cake for that event.

Here I am well into making the figures, and again I got so involved, I neglected to take pictures.  I started with the legs, which is a three inch tube of pastillage and indented to make the separation of the pant legs.  I have inserted an 8" skewer for full support.  I left them to dry overnight.  Next is the core of the ski jacket.  Then the sleeves which I support overnight so that they can hold their poles and skis.

Here is the sons figure.  He will be hanging over the edge of the finished cake, therefore, this figure is sitting.  

The cake was two different flavors and stacked high.
One tier was French Vanilla with Raspberry Compote and the other was Coconut with Coconut custard.
The cake was based coated with buttercream and then a wide strip of fondant covered the sides of the cake, giving me a canvas to paint snowy hills and trees.
I started with airbrushing the clouds and hills, then using royal frosting the tress where done with the brushed embroidery technique.  The free standing trees are done on ice-cream cones and the branches are created with a rose tip.
  The top of the cake is finished with a good layer of buttercream and it was covered with dried and broken sugarveil to create snow. The borders are finished off with a shell tip and  covered in the sugarveil snow.

Football Birthday

This sheet cake is Chocolate with fudge filling.  It features white buttercream and shell boarders.

The bothers both play football and their respecitve jerseys were made of fondant and piped with royal icing.  The little footballs and fall leaves are gumpaste.

Cupcake Wedding

This couple had fourteen dozen cupcakes consisting of fourteen flavors, both mini and regular size. I created a key so the guest would know what they were choosing.  

The leaves where made of gumpaste and the mums are pipped in buttercream.

Mini cupcakes:

Raspberry/Raspberry Compote and a raspberry leaf

Spice/Apple butter cream cheese with yellow leaf

Peach/Peach Compote with orange leaf

Hummingbird/Banana custard and yellow-brown leaf

Chocolate peanut butter/peanut butter mousse and red mum

Almond Joy/coconut with 1 doz. red leaf and 1 doz. brown leaf

Turtle/caramel custard and 1 doz. had two leaves, 1 doz. yellow mum

Almond/raspberry and 1 doz. pink-brown leaf and 1 doz. long yellow leaf

Red Velvet/cream cheese and orange mum

Italian Cream/coconut custard and maple leaf of red-brown

Large cupcake:

White/strawberry and purple mum

Red Velvet/cream cheese and orange mum

Chocolate peanut butter/peanut butter mousse and red mum

" Two"

Cute as a Button is the theme of this celebration.

The buttons where molded using a Wilton mat.  Once they where completely dry, I then airbrushed them a deeper color.

The cake was a 12" pumpkin cake with pumpkin mousse and a 6" chocolate cake with fudge.  It was frosted in purple buttercream.  The cake board was covered in fondant and printed with a basketweave rolling pin.  The message letters were cut from fondant with the funky alphabet cutters.

Happy Birthday Paige 

Simply Elegant

This lovely little wedding cake was for a daughter of a friend.

The bride and groom were hosting family for their celebration at a beauty country inn.  The cake consisted of a 9" white cake with Raspberry compote, a 7" Chocolate cake with fudge and a 6" white with raspberry which the couple was keeping.

The cake is covered in buttercream and adorns cream colored fondant lace and 6mm pearls.

75 Years of Bling

This cake was so much fun!!!  

The birthday girl is a "glamour doll"to all who know her.  She was turning 75 and celebrating with "bling".

I started the the High Heel... First molding the heel it self and allowing the pastillage to dry a few days. 

Pastillage clay is very hard and when it is dry you can literally sandpaper away any imperfections to the piece. 

  

At this stage I have cut styrofoam to hold the shoe in the shape.  I have placed a piece of parchment on the styrofoam, to keep the shoe from getting any pattern from the styrofoam and more importantly to keep the clay from picking up any partials from the styrofoam, which are NOT edible. 

The next step is to cut the sole and glue it to the heel.  At this point I also create the strap of the shoe so that it is ready attach when the back of the shoe is created.

Again I leave all to dry overnight.

Most shoe kits suggest the back heel of the shoe be supported with some plastic wrap crumpled in a ball.  I personal do not have much luck with that method.  Therefore, I attach the back of the shoe, with the strap in place,  then resting it in this position as pictured.  This allows the back of the shoe to stand nicely and the strap to hold position.

You will notice in the next picture that I have shoe standing on the form and I have the toe of the shoe cut and molded.  I let it rest on the support for about an hour before attaching it to the shoe.  This step allows the toe to hold its shape nicely while it is attached.  

While the toe of the shoe is resting I cut the insole and paint it gold before attaching to the sole.  

The shoe is finished with the toe attached and a strip connecting the toe to the strap.  Small gold diamonds were added to the center strap for a little extra bling.

The cake for this shoe was a 14" and 8" Yellow cake with Raspberry Compote. It was frosted in white buttercream.  I then chilled the cake several hours.  I removed the bottom tier to then stencil the damasks print with black buttercream.

The side view shows the red and black filagree which was cut from fondant using Stephen Benson cutters.  I chose to use craft pearls on this cake as the shoe was a keepsake and if the pearls where made of sugar they would more than likely break upon removing the shoe from the cake.  The cake was finished with a shell boarder.