Computer Language

12-23-08 A bit of a throw back to the computer geeks out there. I made this one for my brother-in-law who works in an IT dept. When writing the message on top I noticed my font was a bit large to fit on the cake. So I decided to put the ending elements that wouldn't fit on top on the sides. Hince the "Find the missing ELEMENTS" phrase on the front of the cake. Though this looks like fondant, it's simply butter cream frosting that I worked on getting smooth.

Elegant in Gold

11-23-08 Believe it or not, these are birthday cakes.One was chocolate, the other carrot cake. Golden Icing with pattern imprints in dots on the side. Each was topped with a flower ring and 3 ivory candles.

Tailor made

11-7-08 Chocolate cake with white butter cream icing. Several props were used for this one which include buttons, thimble, spool of thread, 2 needles, a threader, and a measuring tape. The recipients favorite color was purple. As you can see the font job wasn't horrible, but still needed improvement. This is due to the fact that I used a template that you push into the icing to leave an indent that is then traced over with icing. At least you can make your own phrases with this type of device. However, to me it seems very cold to say "Happy" in that type of font. Hopefully my lesson has been learned.

Clone Army

10-31-08 Here I attempted to create an army of edible clone trooper helmets. I simply used a box of coconut flavored cake mix and baked it into mini cupcakes. I used white cupcake papers and modified canned icing. By modified I mean that I had to add powdered sugar to the icing so that it would be stiff enough to keep shape and to crust slightly. The details were piped on in black cake mate icing using Wilton tip 2. The dome of the helmet was created by really piling on the icing, waiting for it to crust, and then making the point on top of the helmet by squeezing it gently between two index fingers. The size was perfect for the kids and by their standards just enough icing. I still didn't feel as though they were able to be recognized as what I had intended so I put a picture of a clone trooper helmet near the tray of them. It was a lot of work, so I suggest that if you are making them for a party you definitely want to get an RSVP from each guest before deciding to dive into this major ordeal. I made a total of 72 mini helmets with one cake mix and 2 cans of frosting. Hope you all are inspired to think up your own twists on the common cake to better fit your themes.

Classy

10-07-08 Elegant, yet simple Birthday cake. It was an orange spice cake with butter cream icing. I used piping gel and parchment to transfer the image onto the cake so that I could trace it with the icing color of my choice. In this case I wanted white. I thought it would go nicely with the skin tone color of the cake itself. I used a ribbon curl design on the upper portion of the sides and a tip 3 border at the base. A touch of pink on each star as well as a few randomly placed dots finish it off.

Thank God

09-01-08 Course I of the Wilton Cake Method is complete. Here is my final cake, a bit different from the text book version we were supposed to create, but no one said I couldn't use my own creativity here.

It is a French Vanilla Duncan Hines cake mix with a chocolate pudding filling. The icing is slightly chocolate by mixing a tube of Wilton Chocolate icing in with 3 cups of thin Buttercream icing tinted peach in order to give it the sand tone. 6 Roses in a bouquet with a mauve/purple bow. Shell border of white at the base of the cake accented with semi-sweet chocolate chips. The top border is a mixture of zigzags and stars with a chocolate chip topping each of the stars. Strings of purple on the sides of the cake to tie the color from the bow into the rest of the cake. "Thank God" written in green as a multi-purpose message. Thank God for chocolate, thank God my roses came out okay, thank God for the opportunity to take this class, and as a reminder to all not to forget to Thank God daily. Course II starts next week, but no need for a cake until the last class, but don't worry, my son's b-day is coming up soon, so there will be another cake posted in a couple of weeks.

Garden of Cupcakes

8-26-08 Cupcakes made for the Wilton Cake Decorating class. We learned the swirl and regular drop flowers as well as piping figures. I thought a little garden would be a nice cupcake spread...complete with 2 cuddly teddy bears.

Pineapple Goes Girlie

08-18-08 Pineapple Inside-Out Cake Inspired from my daughters bathing suit. This is the first cake I made in Wilton Cake Decorating Class.

Pineapple flavored Duncan Hines cake mix baked in a single 9 in by 2 in round cake pan with Bake even strips. I leveled the top off of the cake while it was still in the pan. I then let cool for 1 hour and cut it in half to form the two layers. A mixture of "Stiff" icing and crushed pineapple (drained extremely well) laid in the center and then topped with maraschino cherries made up the filling. Iced smooth with Pink tinted thin icing just as the bathing suit was. It was very tricky to ice it so smooth, and my perfectionism was driving me crazy. I also found that my thin icing was a little too thin and had to keep it refrigerated once on the cake. The pineapple was drawn on top then done with a star tip. Two shades of green made up the leafs and the borders. Light green stars on the top edge are linked together with a string of white icing. The base edging was a string of dark green dots.