Happy Graduation

This book although daunting at first really turned out so beautiful due to the school colors and details requested by the client. Inside is a red velvet cake filled with Swiss merengue buttercream with a hint of cream cheese. The cream cheese was a bit difficult to work with so before I started laying the fondant on I had to make a batch of Italian merengue which is much more stable then Swiss. They both taste the same pretty much. The difference between them is with Italian merengue has a boiling sugar water mixture added to the egg whites vs. Swiss in which egg whites and sugar are heated over a water bath. Other then those differences merengue is the way to go for buttercreams due to its awesome light not to sweet taste.

The cake board was made with fondant pieces and painted to resemble a wooden floor. Making something look inedible at of something edible is so much fun. My cake carpentry was pretty good there.

All details are made of either fondant or gumpaste. The tulips were not as hard to make as I imagined. They were hand painted deep purple.
On one funny note, as I was ready to deliver the cake I noticed that the word "Congratulations" looked odd, but of course I spelled in "Congradulations". How dumb was that!! Well at least I caught it, I will need a proof reader for all my future orders I suppose.
The family was so gracious and I was so happy to provide them with the cake for there daughters great accomplishment.

Spiderman Cupcakes, Cupcakes in action

Happy Birthday!!

Can you tell where the cupcakes are, this arrangement is so neat but purely accidental. As I was taking my regular photos of this order I realized that the cupcakes fit perfectly on the images, very cool. I had a small order for two dozen Spiderman cupcakes. I had full "artistic freedom" which was really a challenge with spider man because I ended up spending a lot of time trying to decide what to do. The birthday boy just like every small boy between the ages of 2 and 10 loves spider man. I did not want to frighten the kids with spiders and webs. But I did underestimate the kids and they weren't at all frightened by the weird eyes popping out of the cupcakes. At the request of a friend I was talking to about designing this I did not make pink spidys for the girls attending the party..I guess that's best since we don't want to confuse the kids :)

The cupcakes were a variety of white and yellow cakes filled with Italian merengue buttercream (It tasted almost like vanilla ice cream to me). I think all fondant topped cupcakes should be filled with something. Although the cakes I make are moist, cupcakes need some sort of cream. Overall I was very please with this and most importantly the kids :)

Luau Party...This was a fabulous order. It was for a young women's graduation party. After I completed the cupcakes with the flip flops and hibiscus flowers I just felt so relaxed and I had this desire to be somewhere on the beach. It's funny how food can evoke such feelings :) I think to date this is probably the most adorable topper I have made.

Currently I'm in the process of trying to perfect this Dulche de Leche buttercream so I can start offering it to my customers. It has taken me over three hours to caramelize the condensed milk...I think I need to find
a quicker way.

Cake Swag

If a cake could swagger this would be it. Yes these are "swags" on the cake made from fondant. There is some hand painted effects on the fondant so I could make it look like fabric.
On the top are some daisy's that are just absolutely gorgeous:)

Inside is a 4 layer yellow cake with a simple delicate vanilla buttercream filling. Now people of all ages can get their "cake swagger" on.