Sunday, June 23, 2013
Red Velvet Birthday Cake
Back in March I got a phone call from my sister-in-law letting me know that her coworker needed a Red Velvet cake to celebrate a birthday. For this cake I started with a new Red Velvet cake recipe which smelled and looked great, but turns out this recipe needs to be put in three round layer pans even though it called for two. The first attempt at the cake it ended up bubbling over, so I tried again with three pans instead of two and it came out perfectly! To make sure I had the right amount of red, I used almost a full bottle of a no taste red dye. I then covered the cake and layers in between with some delicious cream cheese icing. After I iced the cake I sprinkled it with some red large sugar sprinkles and made a fondant rose for the middle. I did this because the woman ordering didn't specify any decorations, and I wanted to make it stand out a little bit. Let me know what you think :)
Ninjago Cake
I spent about a week trying to figure out the exact cake I was making for my nephew E because he kept changing the idea of what he wanted. I knew he wanted a Lego theme, but that turned into Ninjago-Lego-Crazy-Intense theme lol. Thankfully we found an idea online that he liked and I was able to work with. I made him a double layered round funfetti cake with some orange flavoring in it. I then dyed some buttercream to green so cover the cake so that it would look like the bottom board that you can put Legos on. Next I spent some time forming two Ninjago characters, and a few colored Lego blocks to put on top of the cake. Before placing all of the Legos, I cut out small circles to look like the top of the board and covered the cake in them. I then added the small Lego blocks, and positioned the Ninjago characters against the blocks. I finished the cake off by writing Happy Birthday to him and brought it right over for our family party. After playing a round of "Pin the Lego Head on the character," everyone dove into a piece of cake :) What do you think?
Minecraft Cupcakes
Back in March my uncle recommended my cake service to a coworker of his. She was really excited to celebrate her sons birthday with some cupcakes and asked me if I knew what Minecraft was, luckily I did. The fiance LOVES Minecraft and so does my brother so I am very familiar with this computer game. To catch everyone up, Minecraft is a computer game where you mine everywhere, find things to use to build a world, and beat up night creatures. Everything in the game is very pixelized so it was fun to find cool ways to make these cupcakes.
I chose to make 4 different toppers for the cupcakes; a creeper face, TNT, red stone, and dirt. To start I baked all of the cupcakes and let them cool. For these cakes I made some vanilla cakes. I whipped up a few batches of buttercream icing and put that in the fridge while I started to get the toppers ready. If I haven't mentioned it before, I always have to make multiple batches of icing for any of my cakes because my mom says you have to have LOTS of icing on the cakes, and she also happens to steal icing because she loves it so much. Same with my brother-in-law J :) Either way, I began rolling out red, tan,brown, white, dark and 2 light greens, and black fondant. Once each were rolled out I used the corner of a square cutter and made small squares in each color. To make the red stone I made a big square in white and put a few small red squares on it. Next I made the creeper faces and started with a green bottom square and added dark and light green squares and black squares to make them look like faces. I then made the dirt/grass blocks by starting with tan bottom squares, and adding green and brown squares to make them look like blocks. Lastly I made TNT starting with a red large square at the bottom. I took my fondant tool and made it look like brick. I added a strip of white in the middle and wrote "TNT" on them. I added a square topper to each cupcake and hit the road to mean S to drop them off :) She let me know that her son loved them and knew exactly what they were! Let me know what you think!
I chose to make 4 different toppers for the cupcakes; a creeper face, TNT, red stone, and dirt. To start I baked all of the cupcakes and let them cool. For these cakes I made some vanilla cakes. I whipped up a few batches of buttercream icing and put that in the fridge while I started to get the toppers ready. If I haven't mentioned it before, I always have to make multiple batches of icing for any of my cakes because my mom says you have to have LOTS of icing on the cakes, and she also happens to steal icing because she loves it so much. Same with my brother-in-law J :) Either way, I began rolling out red, tan,brown, white, dark and 2 light greens, and black fondant. Once each were rolled out I used the corner of a square cutter and made small squares in each color. To make the red stone I made a big square in white and put a few small red squares on it. Next I made the creeper faces and started with a green bottom square and added dark and light green squares and black squares to make them look like faces. I then made the dirt/grass blocks by starting with tan bottom squares, and adding green and brown squares to make them look like blocks. Lastly I made TNT starting with a red large square at the bottom. I took my fondant tool and made it look like brick. I added a strip of white in the middle and wrote "TNT" on them. I added a square topper to each cupcake and hit the road to mean S to drop them off :) She let me know that her son loved them and knew exactly what they were! Let me know what you think!
Friday, May 24, 2013
Christening Cake
The word "blessed" just seems so fitting as the descriptor for this blog update. I know it has been a long time for me on here (3 months AH!), but I have been very busy. I was booked up with cakes or cupcakes EVERY weekend in March and April. It was truly unbelievable and I am so grateful to all of you for having me make special treats for you, or your loved ones :)
Today's cake was for another one of my coworkers (the same one who ordered my Eagle's Cake). Her little one K was being Christened and they needed a cake just as beautiful as her to celebrate. I started this by making my two layers of vanilla cake in a circle pan, and two layers of chocolate cake in a larger circle pan. Both cake batters were made with a little bit of orange flavoring through orange juice. While the cakes were cooling I spent my time making a few batches of buttercream. I make so much because I like to put the icing on cakes a little thick, or at least that is what my mom tells me to do and I listen! When I make icing I always let it sit in the fridge a little bit to firm up. Whipped icing is great, but when it sits in the fridge it makes it a little easier to mold onto a cake rather than slip off. Next I started making all of the decorations. I rolled out some fondant and used my fancy flower punch to punch our little pink and white flowers to put all over the cake and cross I was making. When making the cross I used some Strawberry Waffer Cookies, request from the buyer, and covered it with pink fondant and flowers. I held the flowers on with some dots of icing. I rolled out some more pink fondant and cut it into strips so that I could make a ribbon for both tiers of the cake and a pretty pink bow :). I used a letter press to write "God Bless Kaitlin!" on the bottom ribbon.
*As a random note, some people ask me what type of fondant I use because it tastes better than some others they have tried. I use Duff's brand Fondant. I did make my own for this cake but when I rolled it out, it cracked too much to put on the cake and I could not have that for little K. I will be using different fondant recipes to make my own fondant, but have not had the opportunity to try them out yet.*
Back to the cake...
I put the first layer of chocolate cake on a cake board and ontop of my turntable. I use a turntable to easily ice cakes. A layer of buttercream was put on top of the cake so the other chocolate layer could be placed on top. Once I covered the cake with icing I rolled out some white fondant and carefully covered the circle layers of cake and put it to the side. I did this whole process again with the vanilla cake layers. Once the tiers were covered in icing and fondant I put the pink ribbon around the bottom of each tier. I held the ribbon of fondant on with a little bit of water. Water helps the fondant stick together. I then placed the ribbon on as well. I finished with putting flowers everywhere! The final piece was the cross. I put some tooth picks in the bottom and placed the cross into the top of the cake.
Since I have not gotten cake boxes large enough to hold this cake as one, T was ok with the cake coming in two boxes and she was willing to put it together later rather than have two wider and shorter tiers. I am very lucky that she was willing to do this for me, as I am currently still looking into options for bigger boxes.
Enjoy :)
Today's cake was for another one of my coworkers (the same one who ordered my Eagle's Cake). Her little one K was being Christened and they needed a cake just as beautiful as her to celebrate. I started this by making my two layers of vanilla cake in a circle pan, and two layers of chocolate cake in a larger circle pan. Both cake batters were made with a little bit of orange flavoring through orange juice. While the cakes were cooling I spent my time making a few batches of buttercream. I make so much because I like to put the icing on cakes a little thick, or at least that is what my mom tells me to do and I listen! When I make icing I always let it sit in the fridge a little bit to firm up. Whipped icing is great, but when it sits in the fridge it makes it a little easier to mold onto a cake rather than slip off. Next I started making all of the decorations. I rolled out some fondant and used my fancy flower punch to punch our little pink and white flowers to put all over the cake and cross I was making. When making the cross I used some Strawberry Waffer Cookies, request from the buyer, and covered it with pink fondant and flowers. I held the flowers on with some dots of icing. I rolled out some more pink fondant and cut it into strips so that I could make a ribbon for both tiers of the cake and a pretty pink bow :). I used a letter press to write "God Bless Kaitlin!" on the bottom ribbon.
*As a random note, some people ask me what type of fondant I use because it tastes better than some others they have tried. I use Duff's brand Fondant. I did make my own for this cake but when I rolled it out, it cracked too much to put on the cake and I could not have that for little K. I will be using different fondant recipes to make my own fondant, but have not had the opportunity to try them out yet.*
Back to the cake...
I put the first layer of chocolate cake on a cake board and ontop of my turntable. I use a turntable to easily ice cakes. A layer of buttercream was put on top of the cake so the other chocolate layer could be placed on top. Once I covered the cake with icing I rolled out some white fondant and carefully covered the circle layers of cake and put it to the side. I did this whole process again with the vanilla cake layers. Once the tiers were covered in icing and fondant I put the pink ribbon around the bottom of each tier. I held the ribbon of fondant on with a little bit of water. Water helps the fondant stick together. I then placed the ribbon on as well. I finished with putting flowers everywhere! The final piece was the cross. I put some tooth picks in the bottom and placed the cross into the top of the cake.
Since I have not gotten cake boxes large enough to hold this cake as one, T was ok with the cake coming in two boxes and she was willing to put it together later rather than have two wider and shorter tiers. I am very lucky that she was willing to do this for me, as I am currently still looking into options for bigger boxes.
Enjoy :)
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Chess Tournament Cake
As promised, I am updating the blog with the chess cake! I had the privilege of making a cake for an awesome school chess team in Philadelphia. A friend asked me to make a cake for the team that her boyfriend, another friend of mine, is the coach of. The team was doing really well this year and was going to be in a tournament that was coming up. She wanted to do something really special for the team and asked me to make a chess board for them. After brainstorming some ideas with my fiance, we came up with the idea to make a chess board with the final move; checkmate!
I started the cake by making a 1 foot by t foot vanilla cake that I covered in some homemade chocolate buttercream. This was one of the first times I used this chocolate buttercream recipe. I was a little disappointed because no matter what I tried it would not smooth out on top of the cake, but it ended up looking pretty nice ant a little like a wooden board. For the next hour or so I cut one inch squares of white and black fondant which I laid on top of the cake. My fiance and I played a game of chess together so that we could finish the end of the cake. When we saw how our game of chess ended we drew a picture of where all of the pieces were. I used that drawing to make a bunch of white and black pieces out of fondant. I placed each of the pieces on the cake and held them in with toothpicks.
The cake came out pretty nicely. Let me know what you think! :)
I started the cake by making a 1 foot by t foot vanilla cake that I covered in some homemade chocolate buttercream. This was one of the first times I used this chocolate buttercream recipe. I was a little disappointed because no matter what I tried it would not smooth out on top of the cake, but it ended up looking pretty nice ant a little like a wooden board. For the next hour or so I cut one inch squares of white and black fondant which I laid on top of the cake. My fiance and I played a game of chess together so that we could finish the end of the cake. When we saw how our game of chess ended we drew a picture of where all of the pieces were. I used that drawing to make a bunch of white and black pieces out of fondant. I placed each of the pieces on the cake and held them in with toothpicks.
The cake came out pretty nicely. Let me know what you think! :)
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Natural Ice Beer Can Cake
Let me start by saying, I did not know how challenging this cake would be when I agreed to do it, but I am glad I did! One of my coworkers in my department wanted to order a fun cake for her brothers 21st birthday. She wanted a cake in the shape of a beer can, and what better beer choice than Natural Ice--the go to cheap beer that all college aged students drink. I agreed and started my planning.
For this cake I made a layer of vanilla and a layer of chocolate cake with some orange juice in the mix (if you have not noticed my go to flavor really is orange). I cut the cakes so that they were flat and easy to layer. Between the layers I added some blue buttercream to hold it together. Next I cut around the top and edges to make the shape of a can laying down. I covered the whole cake in homemade butter cream and used my Air Brush machine to cover it in a silver metallic color (edible of course!). I used a few different pictures of the Natural Ice Beer brand to come to a decision on how to tackle the design; well, that and some help and verification from my fiancee because I could not make a decision. I cut out some pieces of fondant and details and layered them on the cake. To finish the cake I cut out the words "Natural Ice" as it is on the can/beer box and placed a sort of stencil on top of the cake so that I could write the words in silver air brushed paint. I used some black fondant to make the top of the can a little more detailed.
It was definitely a challenge but it turned out to be a very fun cake to make. Her brother and family loved it :). Let me know what you think!
--Sarah :)
For this cake I made a layer of vanilla and a layer of chocolate cake with some orange juice in the mix (if you have not noticed my go to flavor really is orange). I cut the cakes so that they were flat and easy to layer. Between the layers I added some blue buttercream to hold it together. Next I cut around the top and edges to make the shape of a can laying down. I covered the whole cake in homemade butter cream and used my Air Brush machine to cover it in a silver metallic color (edible of course!). I used a few different pictures of the Natural Ice Beer brand to come to a decision on how to tackle the design; well, that and some help and verification from my fiancee because I could not make a decision. I cut out some pieces of fondant and details and layered them on the cake. To finish the cake I cut out the words "Natural Ice" as it is on the can/beer box and placed a sort of stencil on top of the cake so that I could write the words in silver air brushed paint. I used some black fondant to make the top of the can a little more detailed.
It was definitely a challenge but it turned out to be a very fun cake to make. Her brother and family loved it :). Let me know what you think!
--Sarah :)
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Buzz Lightyear Cake
The idea behind this cake is the most adorable thing to me. If you checked out my previous post, you have seen the marshmallow cupcakes I made for a little girls birthday, but there is more to that story! That little girl was born on her grandfathers birthday and every year they joke about who gets to pick their birthday cake for the year.Since her poppop usually gives in and lets her have the cake he joked this year about wanting a Buzz Lightyear cake. When my coworker asked me to make the cucpakes she also asked me to make a Buzz Lightyear cake for her daughter to give to her poppop. I was really excited to do this for her because it was so cute.
I made the cake out of a vanilla mix with tropical juice. I topped the cake with colored homemade buttercream. I made the wings for Buzz out of fondant pieces and placed it in the middle of the cake. I cut up marshmallows and placed them around the cake to look like fluffy clouds. I wrote "To Infinity And Beyond, Happy Birthday Poppop!" It turns out that her grandfather was so happy about the cake and loved it. Let me know what you think :)
I made the cake out of a vanilla mix with tropical juice. I topped the cake with colored homemade buttercream. I made the wings for Buzz out of fondant pieces and placed it in the middle of the cake. I cut up marshmallows and placed them around the cake to look like fluffy clouds. I wrote "To Infinity And Beyond, Happy Birthday Poppop!" It turns out that her grandfather was so happy about the cake and loved it. Let me know what you think :)
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