A Short Break

Hi there!

    I regret to inform you that I will have to take a short break from blogging.  Our apartment Management has decided now is a good time to re-pave the parking lot, which means we can't drive our cars anywhere near our building.  In light of this, and the fact that we haven't gone camping at all this Summer, we have decided to leave and pitch a tent for a few days of outside fun!

    We won't be headed very far... my husband and I both can't get time off of work on such short notice, so we'll be making camp in my in-law's back yard for a few days.  While I will have internet access, I will not have immediate access to my cake photos.  Thanks for being so awesome and checking back now and then to see what my blog has to say.  I will be back in a couple of days.  My bet is that I'll have another post up on Saturday night. :)

    Meanwhile, here's a cake to look at:

My sister's High School Graduation Cake

What I learned: Junior Mints make a GREAT cake filling!  YUM!

Cindy

Wedding Bliss

Well, here I am for a Third day in a row.  This is the most committed to something I have been in a while, and I'm hoping that it doesn't wear off.  I'm not the type that typically finishes a big project, though I've been working on that for quite some time.  I typically get started on a project in full gusto, and then, around 3/4 of the way finished, I get burned out.  Then said project sits on a shelf and waits for me to decide I want to finish, which sometimes can take months or even years.  For instance, my sister and I started my son's 1st-year scrapbook 2 years ago, and nearly finished it.  All I really have to do is go back and glue the pictures into their spots.  Have I done that?  Nope.  Will I?  Probably. :)

Today is Wedding Cake Day.  We'll start with the first and move to the most recent.

Here is my first wedding cake: my brother's wedding cake I made around Thanksgiving of 2009.  He and his then-fiance decided they wanted to have a beach-themed wedding and I immediately started looking for pictures of beach wedding cakes.  I came across a few that I really liked and sent them photos and they asked me to copy one that they liked.

It was SO fun to do!  I had never done a completely blue cake before!  Because the bride needed a recipe that is low protein, we only made the top of the cake actual cake.  The other two layers are Styrofoam, frosted and covered with fondant. All of the seashells on the top layer of the cake were edible (thanks to my little sis for painting them in our time crunch), and the rest of the shells were ones we picked up at a local craft store.

What I learned:  Wedding cakes are FUN!  Sure, there's all that pressure, but it's worth it!
(and)  it's easy to create a fancy base for a cake.  Just turn a few glasses upside down, set the cake on top, and put flowers underneath.  Instant pretty!

Wedding Cake #2 - The first wedding cake I have been paid for.  (My last was the gift to the bride and groom.)  This was done for a girl in my church who had been referred to me via Word Of Mouth (I LOVE WOM!!!).  She, just like every bride, was sticking to a pretty strict budget and wanted something really nice. She brought me a picture of the exact cake she wanted, and during our consultation, she mentioned that her colors were black, red and yellow with a bit of orange.  I immediately asked her if she'd be interested in a black cake.  She was VERY interested, called her fiance, and we decided to go ahead with it.

The original cake was white with red-ish ribbons and cherry blossoms, so we doctored it a bit and made it black with her roses.  Beautiful roses, by the way, with the red, orange and yellow all infused to one rose.  I don't remember what she called them, but WOW.  Striking against the black fondant.  I purchased an air-brush machine so I could color the fondant easier (black fondant is REALLY hard to make... it takes a TON of color), and the cake came together in about a day.

What I learned:  black fondant will turn your teeth black.  Luckily, the bride didn't have that problem during her photo ops at the wedding!

Cake #3 - Beach Themed and Whimsical!  A friend of mine called me a couple of days before her son's reception and asked if I had time to make a cake.  (Of COURSE I have time!  I ALWAYS have time for another cake!)  She explained to me that her son and daughter-in-law had already had their wedding in Hawaii, but they were doing a reception here in the area and they needed a cake for a centerpiece!  Okay!  We talked about a few different ideas and she told me that they already had the really nice, elegant wedding cake at the actual wedding, and they'd like to have something more whimsical.  I can DO whimsical!

This cake was pretty easy.  Took a little extra time with all the elements I added to the cake.  All figurines, aside from the Bride and Groom, are fondant.  The sand is made from finely chopped graham crackers.

What I learned:  Palm Trees are harder to make than they look, and can break easily!  I really need to learn to use Gumpaste...

     I hope you enjoyed these cakes!  They have been sooo fun for me!  I really appreciate those of you who have asked me to make cakes so I can get more and more practice.  I love having a creative outlet!

Cindy

All Things Boys

Every time I look at these photos, I remember how much sugar I had spread all over the house.  Of COURSE the kids helped with some of these!  Especially since these are boy cakes.  My boys LOVE cake.  They tend to run up to me during cake time and say "Mommy can I please have some of your fondant?"   And, as you would expect, they get some.  On occasion, I have caught the kids pushing chairs up to the counter to grab fondant out of the plastic wrap, and once in a while I won't catch them, which results in dried out fondant, which has to be re-made.  Oh the joys of parenting and decorating at home!

In light of the fact that I have already done a tribute to girls' cakes, I suppose it's only fair to include the boy-themed deliciousness!  I get to do a lot more of this with my 3 boys at home, so there are a few more here to look through.  I hope you enjoy my small collection.

 A friend of ours LOVES the Seattle Seahawks, so I felt it was completely appropriate to honor that.  

I should have turned the helmet a full 90 degrees, but I was happy with the outcome anyhow. :)  

Happy Birthday, Heath!

 Credit to my bestie Cassie:  Fabulous job on the detail work and face mask, Cass!!  

What I learned:  It's great to work in a team when you have 4 hours to do a cake start to finish

(and) ALWAYS check the pass reports before deciding that it'd be EASY to get over the pass with a cake in the front seat.  Closed roadways, rain, children, and cake don't mix...

 Mr Potato Head cake for my son turning 3.  SO fun!

Five 6" cake layers stacked on top of each other and carved.

What I learned:  Fondant arms won't stay if they haven't dried out properly!

 My husband's white water rafting cake.  Fun, easy, and delicious!

What I learned:  Powdered sugar sprinkled on a cake doesn't make it look like white peaks of water.  

It makes it look like snow.  

 Backhoe cake when Mason turned 2.  

What I learned:  Candy makes everything more delicious!

 Leaf Blower cake for my father-in-law

What I learned: RKT needs to be REALLY sturdy before adding to a cake

(and)  Men are weird.  They like cakes shaped like their tools...

 Mario Cake for my brother

What I learned:  I have a real problem with sculpting people.   

(Something I need to work on)

 Props to my best friend, Cassie, on an AMAZING job with Bowser!

 Cake balls and a wrench (for my hubby)

Fun and easy cake - German Chocolate with coconut/pecan frosting

What I learned:  Cake Balls are perfect for kids!

 Sports/Construction Cake

See "Train Wrecks."

One of my favorites to date:  

Happy Birthday to former Betty Ford Falcons member Ralph Eronemo.

What I learned:  skewers make for really great tools when needing a straight line

(or a microphone stand!)

Cindy

Photos! Ye devious photos!

Well Hello Again!

Today looks to be a pretty good day.  I started out at 7:00 this morning sorting through the 2,600 photos that I have sitting on my computer in a folder.  That's right.  2,600.   It might as well be a million because don't see these photos EVER ending!

I tend to be one of those people that bug you.  You know the type: organized down to every single little detail that it annoys you, but if you were to walk into their home, you would see a bunch of clutter because their organization is linked to one centralized type of material.  Yep.  That's me.

I take each photo and look at it.  I identify all the people in it, and then I sort it to various photo albums or folders.  For instance, if I have a photo of my husband, my two kids, and my dog, I put a copy of the photo in the dog's photo album, a copy into my husband's album, and a copy in each child's album under the correct month of the year.  I know.  It sounds a little extreme, but it works well for me!  This way, if I say "Man, I need a good picture of my husband" I can open up his folder and find EVERY photo he is in.  Also, if I say to myself "I need a picture of the boys from when we were on vacation last July" I can look up the "July 2010" folder, and I'll find pictures of both of my kids together, whether I open the one under "Mason" or "Andrew." Crazy, right?

So, when I put a "new pics" folder on my computer 6 months ago, and just kept adding photos, but never sorted any photos, the 2,600 photos became a task of epic proportions!  It literally took me 2 1/2 hours this morning to sort through half of them.  But hey, halfway is better than "still accruing...", right??

In celebration of sorting through that many stinking photos, here is one of my favorites over the last few months.  I hope you don't mind seeing my kiddos and family in this one, but I just had to share because they are just too stinkin' cute!  Enjoy!

Cindy

 Our Fam at St Edwards State Park, Kenmore

Piggy Backs at St Edwards State Park

Muscle Men!

Up Close and Tangled

I don't feel nearly as witty today as I have in the past, so please disregard my sorry attempt at humor today.

Here is the Tangled theme cake.  It was a LOT of work, but ended up being one of my favorites to date.  I think, start to finish, it took me about 15 hours.  That, of course, includes bake time, cool time, fondant time, decorating time, adjusting time, and picture time.  Yes.  Cakes take FOREVER, especially when you have little ones at home who like to "help" or need you to stop what you're doing to feed them.  I am thankful for the ultimate babysitter on these types of days:  Disney Movies, PBSKids.com, and Nintendo Wii.  I don't think my kids mind getting a full day of being "plugged in" when I do these cakes, but I try not to do them too terribly often.  I much prefer the zoo.

So here it is, in all its glory.  Feel free to ask any questions, but I'll do my best to answer them all as I post these pictures.

 Cake from the front.

It took me about 10 minutes to braid that darn thing.  Seriously, I thought it would be a breeze, but it turned out that fondant breaks if you work with it too much when it's drying out!

 Top view.  There's Tinkerbell, in all her glory.  :)  I can only imagine that she's waiting for Rapunzel to come out to play.  Apparently, though, she didn't see the movie, because Rapunzel wasn't allowed outside. Tinkerbell is going to be waiting an awfully long time!

 The bridge and cobblestones are my favorite elements of this cake.  

I formed the bridge around a can of green beans and let it dry overnight.  Worked like a charm!  

 Each of the cobblestones were hand-shaped.  Not that they were hard, it just took a long time to make them and then put them on the cake.  Good thing kids like sugar so much!

The tower was a bit tricky.  It didn't turn out quite as well as I had hoped.

Made from RKT and covered in fondant.  The RKT made it bumpy, so it looked pretty realistic, but I would like to have found a way to attach the hair so it didn't look funny at the point of entry.  Oh well.  Next time I'll work on that detail.

Back corner of the cake.  LOVED this part because of the cobblestones.  

Cobblestones... is that the right word?  Maybe just "forest rocks."  

Oh well, the vines and flowers were all piped on and took WAY less time than the rest of the elements of the cake.  It was SO fun, though, and I think it really turned out well.

Cindy

Beautiful Birthdays

Today I decided to add a post about birthdays.  Not just any birthdays, but GIRL birthdays!

If you know me, you'll know that I LOVE birthdays!  I love to make a big deal out of them, let EVERYONE know that it's a birthday day and plan big parties that often include way too much food and WAY too much cake!

I don't have any stigma against getting older.  I always wanted to be the one in charge, so I like being the adult.  Turning 30 doesn't scare me one bit!  Of course, I still have a couple of years to go, and maybe my mind will change as I get closer and realize that I'm almost thirty and have done very little with my life or accomplished very little in my 30 fabulous years, but I'm sure I won't feel that way at all.  After all, my life pretty much rocks. :)

I suppose my love of birthdays spawns from my parents a bit.  My mom always made such a big deal out of birthdays for myself and my seven brothers and sisters.  We never had a lot of money to spend on big parties, but mom and dad let us do things like choose the dinner Mom would make, choose who said the blessing (something Dad was normally in charge of), stay up 30 whole minutes later than the rest of the kids, and SOMETIMES even take a day off of school.  That was a rarity, but it was awesome when it would happen!  We always got to choose our flavor and frosting of cake, and mom usually topped them off with a WHOLE PACKAGE of M&Ms!  I LOVED my birthdays growing up!  I hope that I can force that kind of fun onto my kids, too, so they'll grow up loving them as much as me!  

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these photos.  I've had such fun making cakes for girls... especially since I don't have any at home to spoil rotten!  Thank goodness for friends and nieces!

 Tea Party Cake for my niece.  

This cake was a LOT of fun, and I was able to work with my Mother-in-Law on the design and execution.  She's so smart!

This cake was done almost as an afterthought and only took a couple of hours, including bake time.

What I learned from this cake:  sometimes my sewing tools (which I NEVER use) can be used for cake!  Awesome.

 My 28th Birthday cake.  30 minutes after bake/cool time.

What I learned:   Simple can be best!

I love a good cake, even if it only takes 5 minutes to decorate!

 Cinderella Cake:  Egg and Nut Free.

What I learned:  Sometimes the cake pan's instructions are VASTLY different than the actual process of making a cake;  

Each different recipe can change the way a cake turns out;

A cake this shape has to cook a LOT longer to make sure the center is done!

After only ONE failed attempt, I learned how to fix it, but it took a lot of reading and phone calls to my bestie!

Flowers and Fun

Cake for my niece's 1st birthday

What I Learned:  I don't have nearly enough different types of flower cookie cutters!

Happy Birthday, Lilah-Bird!

Tinkerbell Tangled

This was for a little girl turning 5 years old!  She's just the cutest thing you'll ever see, and she wanted a Tangled cake, after the new Disney movie.  SO awesome and SO fun!

What I learned:  Cobblestones take a LONG TIME to add to a cake;

when a 5-year-old wants a Tinkerbell candle on her Rapunzel cake, she gets what she wants, and it doesn't matter if the cake is designed for that!  

LOVED this cake!

My next post will show more pictures of this cake, up close and personal.  

Cindy

VRRROOOOOMMM!!!

Showcased awesomeness for today?  Motorcycles!

Now, I realize that I shouldn't have made motorcycle plural, as I only have ONE motorcycle cake, but it makes me feel better if I pretend I've done more.  Don't ask.  It's an ego-booster.  I like to think that I've done more so I can feel like I'm practiced and well-versed in the world of motorized vehicles.  I DID, after all, make the car cake (see Train Wrecks), so I'm not completely out of line.   Right?  huh.  Oh well.  Here then.

Showcased awesomeness for today?  Motorcycle!!!

This is a cake I made for a 5-year-old's birthday party (hence the number five).

What I learned from this cake:  My husband knows WAY more than me about motorcycles.

 I couldn't have done it without calling him over every 5 minutes to ask about proportion.  

*He'll probably tell you I called him over every 2 or 3 minutes, but he wouldn't be accurate, as he was watching a game on TV that day and there's a time continuum during those types of activities.  

Honest.  It's been scientifically proven.

Cindy

Train Wrecks

Don't judge me!

I was just starting out, and I have to admit that these are the ones I am LEAST proud of!  Thought I'd start out with these as to not give y'all false hope!  I will say that I've gotten MUCH better in the past few months, but these are constantly in the back of my mind reminding me that anything can go wrong at any moment.  Getting too over-confident is what will lead to ruin, so I try to keep these images in my head as a way to keep myself out of the clouds. :)  Sorry, Andrea, since a couple of these are ones I made for you!  :(

 Baby Shower Cake:  clothesline, flowers, shoes, buttons.  

The idea was to make these cute things on a buttercream frosted cake.  

Lesson I learned from this:  I need to learn to perfect my buttercream skills!!  

 50th Birthday Party Cake

This one wasn't so bad.  It actually was a LOT of fun. 

Buttercream was MUCH better on this one than the previous cake.

Car, though free hand, turned out well, but could have used some more definition.

Lesson I learned from this:  Topsy Turvy Cakes need to be at least 3 tiers tall.

Overall, I loved the design and execution of this cake, it just wasn't as perfect as I'd have liked it to be.

Birthday Cake for Two: Baseball theme and Construction Theme

Two very different men, melded into one LESS than perfect cake.  

Lesson I learned from this one:  I should sometimes go with my first instinct on a cake.

My original design idea?   A baseball on top with a circular saw through the center.  

I think that would have been MUCH better.  

Special thanks to those who saw these cakes and paid me anyway.  There is a special place in heaven for people like you!

Cindy

Starting Out

Hey All!

    Due to the lack of people who know I exist, I am mostly just writing to myself.  I suppose it makes me feel better when I have someone to talk to, even if it is just me!

    As a favor to myself, my mother-in-law, and any prospective customers, I am making this blog in order to showcase my work as a cake decorator.  I will probably refrain from putting too much on here about my family, whom I LOVE, by the way, but I can't make any promises that ALL references to my family will be absent. After all, there are some things you just HAVE to share with everyone, regardless of audience!

   So, after a long-term absence from the web, I am finally following through with this, and will HOPEFULLY be able to keep it up.  I'm a horrible blogger, signing in only every few months, but I vow to at least TRY to think about posting on here and keeping things updated.  I am a very busy lady, after all, and sometimes I fail at showcasing pictures of what may never be appreciated by anyone but me!  (I have to admit that I'm REALLY excited about this!)

    I hope you enjoy what I have to show you and I hope you'll visit as often as I do!  Feel free to leave comments and suggestions!  If you see something you like or if you would like to order a cake, feel free to contact me through my posted e-mail!  Thanks so much!

Cindy