Ugh... It's been more than a month!

So, I just remembered that I have a blog, and decided to come see how long it has been since I posted, and my last post was September 29th! Geez! I have not been doing a great job of updating lately. That is not to say that I have not been making cakes. I have a few pretties to share with you (think "two posts for one, plus a preview for next time"). I also learned a new technique that I want to share sometime this month, so stay tuned!





My Mom's 50th birthday was September 5th, and I wanted to make her a really special cake. I wanted to make her a cake that looked like a vase, with 50 handmade flowers poked into it... Well, the beginning of September was incredibly unfun, super busy, and I just couldn't manage it. Luckily, I had not boasted at all about my plans, and was able to throw together this beauty for her. Honestly, I think this suits her best. She is so simple, yet such a beautiful person. I felt incredibly blessed and honored to make her 50th birthday cake.... and the cake was pretty good, too!

Birthday cake for my Mom. Swirly cream cheese frosting, gumpaste flowers, strawberry lemonade cake.

This tire cake was make from dark chocolate cake layers, soaked with almond syrup and filled with bavarian cream.

I got to make this awesome tire cake for a friend of my Mother In Law's. She wanted it to be motorcycle themed, and I found myself, as usual, two days before the cake was due (ha! so I thought, anyway!) still struggling with how to best showcase my talents and make a cake that was tasty, shockingly awesome, and motorcycle themed.... I kept thinking of a motorcycle tire, thinking that I would try out chocolate fondant so as to not use too much dye for color.... 


Notice I said try out chocolate fondant. Yes, I was going to cover a cake in a substance that I had never used before... Crazy, I know... senseless, even... but be forewarned - this is just how I am. I will dare to try out something new on your cake that I have never even heard of before, much less tried. I always make sure that it tastes good, and looks good, though. This never ends up being bad for the customer, only bad for me.... Because if it fails, for whatever reason, I will just not sleep, or not eat, or whatever it takes, to make it right. So, the chocolate fondant was a disaster that I will never attempt again... Maybe a different recipe, but if I do it, I will try it on one of OUR cakes instead. Not that it wasn't pretty, and I thought it didn't taste too bad, either... but it was SO hard to work with. It crumbled, it split, it did everything fondant isn't supposed to do. And I tried everything I knew to do to make it better.... OOPS! At least the cake looked good.... 


And, ya know what's the funniest part? (well, looking back, this is funny, but at the moment it was awful!) I made the cake on the wrong day! I had a card with all the info on it, and I just didn't look at the card, because I was so sure that I was right! I will never ever make that mistake again.... Luckily, the cake was a day early, and not a day late...LOL. After a few tears at my stupid, stupid mistake, I discovered I had more ingenuity than I thought I did, and fashioned a lovely box for my giant cake (the cake was 14", and I could find no cake boxes bigger than 12"), nestled it in the fridge, and hoped for the best (meaning, I hoped that the cake wouldn't sweat and look all wet and gooey the next day)... and this is where I am GLAD that I used that awful chocolate fondant... because it didn't sweat at all! (meaning, no extra work for me the next day, so I just made the cake a day ahead of schedule instead of making a huge mistake)

Hand painted fondant detail: This is my version of their Outreach Ministry's logo, which is pretty similar to the original.

Check back next week (or better yet, subscribe so you get notified when I've posted) to find out how I made this awesome paisley cake. It's so easy!

Paisley Cake. This cake has no fondant or gumpaste, and uses the technique that I will be showcasing soon.

P.S. - I know that I should iron my backdrops, but who has time after they have just made a cake? Anyone wanna volunteer? ;)