Blossoms for Boo

after a lot of planning and prep work, i finally made my sister's birthday cake. as usual i kept changing my mind about how i wanted to approach this project, second guessed colors i was using...i decided to stay with my original plan because i find most of the time in my creative adventures my first idea was probably my best.

i had the chocolate cake made the week before and placed it in the freezer until i needed it. it tasted amazing, even after being the freezer. i used one and a half tubs of fondant, three different color fondant dyes, three different color shimmer and color dusts. i tripled a vanilla buttercream frosting recipe so i could fill three layers and cover the top and sides. my sister helped me, even then the project...just to cover and decorate the cake took 4 hours...but the final reward was seeing my idea completed. i give you my cherry blossom cake.

 this is a gift i wrapped up for a friend of mine who is on her way to michigan state university. i filled a clear acrylic paint bucket with green and white candies and fun stuff for her to wear tailgating during football season. i wrapped other gifts within the box in different shades of green and white. i attached tags inspired by one of my favorite designers, kate spade. i was also lucky enough to find michigan state fleece and emerald fleece to make her a knot blanket.

Do you Lilac?

this is a gift i wrapped for my friend's birthday. i used chartreuse wrap and two different types of ribbon, little purple and glitter purple. the ribbon didn't have any wire, which made it difficult to bow up, however with some patience and concentration, i was able to make it work.  i then got a purple peony. i like to make the flower fit the size of the gift. i try not to pick a flower that will get lost or over power the gift. to prevent sharp edges, i curl the end of the flower up.

 while i was playing with frosting, i also decided to buy some fondant and try out my new cherry blossom mold. it worked wonders. i decided to make a box for my friend's birthday. i made white and pink cherry blossoms, and covered the tops of the cupcakes with fondant as well, in either blue or pink. i did a crumble layer of frosting on top, so i could get a smooth finish when i put the fondant on.  i then used some pearlized dust to give the cupcakes some sparkle.

 

Coming up Roses

i decided to try my hand at making roses from frosting....my first attempt was embarrassing. i used just pilsbury vanilla frosting with some rose pink color gel. the mixture was too soft, so my rose just looked like a blob of pink. i added some confectioners sugar to the mix to make it thicker, that seemed to help. however if i attempt it again, i will make my own frosting, possibly try royal icing. i made the rose directly on the cupcake instead of using a flower stand. i've seen rotating stands for cupcakes, i think that would have been helpful in this situation.

To the drawing board



 when it comes to baking elaborate cakes, i like to draw it out. that way i can figure out what color combinations look good and what designs to use. this is a cake design i've been working on for my sister's birthday cake. she asked for cherry blossoms.

She sells sea shells



last year, i took on the task of making my sister's birthday cake. it was my first time using fondant and working with a lot of cake and frosting. i studied up...i watched tv shows...i read recipe books...watched videos. after finding out my sister chose a beach theme, i tried to keep it a simple design, since i was a bit inexperienced. i used a chocolate cake recipe from one my mum's cookbooks from england. i used vanilla buttercream frosting between the layers and covering the outside of the cake. i bought already-made fondant by duff- ace of cakes host. i bought white fondant then bought wilton cake dyes to make the fondant the color i wanted to achieve. i made the seashells from white and milk chocolate using a wilton candy shell tray. for the sand, i dabbed a bit of frosting on top of the cake and sprinkled brown sugar on top. i dusted the bottom, edge fondant accents with pearl dust, which can be eaten. it was a great learning experience making a cake with fondant.



the two items i loved using for cake decorating were the cake spinner and the frosting spatula. i was able to get a clean, smooth finish when covering the cake with the wilton cake spatula. the spinner made everything so much easier than dancing around the kitchen counter trying to make sure the sides and top of the cake were even.