January cakes

Happy 2010!!! I've had quite a busy month in January! These are some of the cakes that I made.  I love the blue/brown cake, the picture doesn't do the colors justice. Chocolate cake with buttercream icing.  I got my  first request for the castle cake. Second time around was definitely easier. Still have some kinks to work out though; especially with pillars fitting into the grooves just right!  Vanilla pound cake with buttercream icing. SpongeBob! Can't really say much about this cake other than it was DELICIOUS!!! I normally don't care to eat my cake scraps (that's my kids & husband's job!) but I was alone and couldn't help myself when i cut out Spongebob. For the first time I cheated...the life preserve is styrofoam! I hate using "non-edible" decor on my cakes, but when pressed for time, it's the best option.  Butter Vanilla pound cake & buttercream icing.

Pretty in Pink

This pink creation was for my niece's Barbie theme birthday party. Have to say this was a very easy cake to make except it was rather difficult getting into the crevices of the ponytail. Used a new icing coloring which proved to be very effective, just a few drops made for a bright pink.

GO Grasshoppers!

I enjoyed making this cake for my son's tball team! In honor of their only Friday Night Lights game, I just had to do something special for the kiddos! This was a 10" round (and a good 6" tall) double layered chocolate cake with a chocolate ganache/raspberry filling. Icing is of course buttercream! I have to admit that I wasn't sure if I could draw the grasshopper because there was so much detail and I did have to improvise a bit. I will have to take a picture of the t-shirt and put it side by side with the cake. Must say that it was very good practice for me!

Oktoberfest!

I learned much about chocolate with this huge german chocolate cake.  Not all chocolate is made the same. I used a dark chocolate by Dove that I purchased from my Chocolatier, Karen Dobesh. It is a rich smooth and decadant chocolate that is not bitter but definately dark! I really had to play with the consistency of the ganache. First I used too much cream, then I forgot about it being in the freezer while piling on the layers (all 4 of them) and slathering on the coconut/pecan mixture...So after adding more chocolate to the ganache and finally getting just the right consistency...my hands (too hot from decorating) started to melt the chocolate as I tried adding the final borders! but after all is said and done, the cake matched the t-shirt logo pretty darn well...which I will post as soon as I get my hands on the picture.

The Castle

I must say that I learned plently about shapes and puzzles....because this cake was definately a puzzle. With the exception of the toys and candle, everything was edible. Covered ice cream cones, "rock" jelly beans and green "coconut" grass.  The icing was vanilla buttercream and the cakes were peach vanilla...no fillings at the request of the birthday girl.It took me three days to complete and I still did not finish decorating it like I wanted to but I ran out of time.

Princess Castle in the making

I have started gathering my supplies to make a Princess Castle Birthday Cake for my oldest daughter. I never thought it would be such a daunting task!  Normally all the supplies I need are at one of two cake supplies stores- NOT this time. Since I don't want to spend more than necessary by ordering the pans online, I am going to experiment with ramekins to bake the pieces that I need to make the towers that will surround the cake. I will begin icing the ice cream cones tomorrow and will try to post the pictures as I work on the cake. 

Just Getting Started

Hello! I'm a just getting started on the whole blog thing so please bear with me while I figure it out. For example...how to get all my cake pictures on here!!