What's Coming Up?

I have a few orders coming up! I have Texas Longhorns cake to make next week. It will be shaped like the UT Longhorn emblem and covered with orange butter cream. This one will be pretty easy, I hope!

I also have a birthday cake for a fan of True Blood to make. I could get really creative here. I don't want to do a gory vampire cake though. I've never watched True Blood. I can't find any fan cakes on the web. (Google fail!) Even though I've never read or seen any of the Twilight series I like how there is easy imagery to adapt into a cake. I've been trying to figure out some imagery for a True Blood cake. I may have to try to watch it so I can be truly inspired.

I do have an idea to do something with a Southern Gothic theme. I've been researching that genre tonight and still don't have any good ideas. When I think Southern Gothic I think of mossy trees and foggy bogs, not anything that I can translate into a pretty cake.

It will be fun to try something creative here.

Blog Roll

I'm adding a blog roll. Now, these aren't all baking/cake blogs but they are the blogs I look at for inspiration. I love all aspects of design and love looking at pretty pictures no matter if they are of cakes, bathrooms or stationary. As long as it is pretty I can get lost looking at the pictures for hours!

I've always been this way, too. When I was younger I had a serious magazine addiction. Even though magazines cost about $2 back then, I would by about 20 a month. Or, really, my parents would. That is almost equivalent to an internet subscription nowadays. So, I have almost completely given up my magazines. I only buy the September Vogue and the January Texas Monthly anymore and then I don't get those every year. I still have tear sheets from my pre-Anna Vogue magazines. Around the time I graduated high school I began to detest Vogue. Looking back I realize that was the start of the Anna Wintour reign. Before Anna, Vogue was full of art. After she took over the magazine became all about being skinny and not so much about art. So sad.

Anyway, I love looking at pretty pictures. These days I like to look at pictures of parties and catered events which of course includes weddings. If you are looking for inspiration for your celebration check out my links. There are some great ideas here and a lot of inspiration boards, as well.

Zebra Cake with Picture!

Oh, wow! This cake took forever to make! I learned so much from making it, though. I'm not happy about the way the fondant came out as far as 1) the top layer is all pleated on the bottom and 2) the bottom layer tore. I'll have to get more practice with the fondant.

All in all it looks pretty cute! I think the customer will be pretty happy. At least, I hope so!

This cake is chocolate devil's food with butter cream layers. It is covered in fondant with fondant decorations.

Marshmallow Fondant

I did it! I made my first batch of marshmallow fondant today. I just Googled "mmf" and got a ton of recipes. Beware though...if you Google "mmf" you will also get links to some unsavory sites! LOL...(male/male/female). I didn't think about that because my mind does not reside in the gutter. I bet I'd get a lot more undesirable links if I Googled "mff", cuz, ya know...

Anyway, it was not hard to make and was much cheaper than buying the Wilton stuff. I did buy some Wilton fondant for the black I will need for my zebra cake because I've read that you have to mix a ton of food color in to make it black. The only time I tried was for the Xbox cake and I got the gray color for the controls.

Basically you just microwave a bag of marshmallows with some water and mix it up with some powdered sugar. I used this recipe. It was a sticky mess but it made a TON of fondant.

I think from now on I will make my own fondant unless I need a color like black. And who knows? I'll probably try mixing my own black fondant sometime soon.

Zebra Cake!

I got a new cake order today. I'm so excited because it is precisely the cake I've been wanting to make: round, two-tier with pink, white and black fondant with zebra stripes! I think these are so cute. If my niece wasn't already dreaming of her princess cake for her birthday this summer I'd be begging my SIL to throw her a zebra party. Well, now I at least get to make the cake! And who knows, by this summer my niece my decide on a different cake for her party. (She'll be five! Five going on 15.)

At night, I read blogs. Tons and tons of cake blogs, party blogs, wedding blogs...I love looking at the pictures and the inspiration boards. When I get the chance I need to create a blog roll for my site so you can see my favorite sites and be inspired!

Anyway, I'll post pictures when the cake is done!

X-Box Controller Cake

I really didn't think the frosting on this cake looked so rough! I think that maybe my eye was tired or something. I also think that the flash made the shadows deeper thereby highlighting all the mistakes. Oh, well...I was actually pretty proud of this cake despite the problems. In fact, I had a lot of successes here. The fondant controls were made out of white Wilton fondant that I dyed with Wilton gel colors. I'm at least happy with the way the colors turned out!

I'm actually thinking this cake should be covered with fondant. To fondant or not to fondant...that is the question. Most people tell me they do not like the taste of fondant and just want butter cream frosting on their cake. Butter cream is sooooo decadant! Of course, you can have butter cream covered with fondant and just peel off the fondant. But then you are paying a lot extra for something that is just for looks and that most people won't eat. Soon, like this week, I'm going to make a marshmallow fondant, known in baking circles as MMF and see if it really makes a difference. Everyone says it does, that it tastes better than the Wilton stuff. We'll see!

Anyway, this is my first carved cake and I think it is pretty cute although I see many ways for it to be better!

This is the Xbox controller cake I made today. It turned out pretty cute. I was nervous because it is my first carved cake. It is made out of chocolate cake, vanilla buttercream and fondant controls. I'll post some better pictures later. I took this one with my phone.

This is my latest cake! I tried to keep it simple in every way. I think I could have done a better job but I will always think that about my work. One thing is for certain: making this cake taught me a lot!

It is a chocolate devil's food cake with vanilla buttercream icing. The icing tasted really good! It wasn't at all difficult to make either. I know I don't want to buy the pre-made stuff in the bucket as it was easy enough to whip up a batch (or two!) of this.

The food colors I used weren't quite as saturated as I had hoped they would be but I still think the colors are cute together. Even after all the equipment I have invested in I can see how I need a lot more! I need to work on my piping skills as well. I think that I just need more practice.

I had envisioned myself making a lot of really cute fondant cakes but no one I know likes fondant! It's really expensive and it tastes pretty bad. I need to just stick to working with buttercream and maybe use the fondant sparingly for some decorations.

Next up is a cake that will look like an Xbox controller. I'm super excited about this cake and I think that it is going to be really cute. I will post some photos of it on Friday, so check back to see them!

I'm On Fire!

Or actually my left ankle is! All day in heels, leasing apartments and then all night making my first cake. Well, my first cake for an actual customer and my first cake that I am going to attempt to collect money for making. I tell you, it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be!

I think things will get better, though. One thing about it all is that I have enough invested in this to really try and make a go of it. I made some rookie mistakes tonight, that's for sure. How many times could I stick my finger in the bottom border? Twice. Did I put the cake box down on the counter without wiping it off first, thereby getting chocolate cake crumbs all over the exterior of the cake box? Yes. Yes, I did. Did I try to trim a round cake and take too much off of one of the layers? Why, of course! (I filled it in with buttercream.) Did I underestimate the intensity of the food coloring and end up with a much more pastel color-scheme than I had envisioned. Well....I'm sure you are now sensing the theme.

I also didn't have my camera (my beloved Blackberry, which I left in my desk at work) and I asked my brother to take a pic with his iPhone which he did but I didn't get the email and yadda, yadda, yadda...I have no picture to post. Tomorrow, my friends, tomorrow...

Orders Are Pouring In!

Orders for my cakes are already starting! Whoohoo! It's pretty exciting to be starting my own business. Of course, there are many logistics to be considered besides just the decorating. I won't bore you with the boring details but I know that as I gain more experience I will figure out the best way to do things.

Mostly I think you just have to be fearless. You just have to dive in head-first without knowing how deep the water is and hope that you don't break your neck! That's what starting a business is all about.

As time goes by I hope to develop my own aesthetic and really make some cakes no one has seen before. I hope that instead of people bringing me ideas they've seen other places that they will come to me for my unique take on things.

I have two orders for this week and they are both very different cakes. Well, different looking cakes. They are both chocolate, so they will taste the same but they will look completely different. One is for a boy's (er young man's) birthday and one is for a young lady's birthday. I can't wait to make these actual cakes and see how they turn out! I will of course post pictures of the cakes so you all can see!

And so this is the Tall City of Midland, TX. Other obvious Midland/West Texas themes are oil, cattle, cotton, and football. I would love to make a cake with oil derricks, cotton bolls and a few cute little cows. Cotoica committee, call me!

Photo credit

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