Sailboat

Don't know how I managed to forget this one. We also did this cake over the weekend! I told you guys I was tired!

Clouds, Showers and Cookies

This cake for a baby shower that I actually attended this afternoon! It was made to coinside with the theme of the baby's room, which is celestial. I spent a few days emailing pictures/ideas back and forth with my friend (who the shower was for) before we decided upon the look of this cake.

It's a strawberry cake with vanilla bc. The baby is made from gum paste/fondant, as are the stars and the moon. This is the second baby that I made, the first one was terrible. For some reason I thought using only gum paste would suffice but, oh, it did not. Too shiny, cracked on the face, terrible. This turned out better. I hardly ever make babies and animals, they intimidate me a little but this one looks like it's supposed to.





This cookie bouquet was also made for the shower and was basically my gift to her. We'd discussed having cookies as favors and since she was working with a budget, I just decided this would be my gift.

The cookies are NFSC with rolled buttercream. Inside the pot is a styrofoam block that is holding the cookies in place. I orginally had some shredded (colored) paper in the pot for a grass effect (and to cover the styrofoam block) but decided it didn't look right and switched to tissue paper in the end. I'm much happier with the way this looks and I absolutely love the way the colors blend together.

I'm really hoping that people like these cookies bouquets, I just love making them and putting them together. I really think it's a cool way to display your cookies and favors too! I know I am always looking for new and innovative ways to present things, I think this definitely counts!

Miles' 1st Birthday Cake

This cake was made for my nephew's first birthday! My sister-in law asked for a white cake with strawberries and vanilla buttercream. (this was what we had at Rylee's first birthday as well) I also made a smash cake for him, which will be seen in another post.

The theme of his party was kite flying, so I wanted to incorporate that in some way. I first attempted to make a gum paste/fondant model of him but it didn't come out quite as well as I'd hoped. Instead, I decided to make his name in whimsical letters and have them on the top of his cake.

Decorations: The kites, the bees, the ladybugs and the name were all made of a gum paste/fondant mixture, 4 days ahead of time. The name was painted with a gel color/vodka mixture (gels or luster dusts mixed with vodka allows the piece to dry MUCH faster. the vodka evaporates, don't worry)

The tree: Orginally I'd bought a tube to use as the base of my tree but after getting the modeling chocolate wrapped around it, I realized it was WAY too big. I started looking for something to use around the house that was smaller and came up with an empty prescription bottle. So, I wrapped it in modeling chocolate and then used my gum paste tools to give it a "wood" or "tree" looking effect. Then, I formed a rice krispy treat into a ball and covered it in modeling chocolate as well. I cut it in half and placed it on top of the tree. This served as a surface area for the icing leaves. To make the leaves - I basically just used a simple round tip ( a #4 I think) and pulled up on my icing. I used mostly dark green and then did a fill-in with a lighter green.

For the smaller trees on the sides of the cake: All I did was take a few pretzel twists and wrap them in modeling chocolate. I made the leaves the same way as I did on the bigger tree.

As I mentioned before, the cake is a white cake with strawberries in the middle of each layer. I'd orginally only made it two layers but at the last minute I decided it wasn't tall enough and added a third. I'm glad I did, I definitely needed the space!

I really had a great time doing this cake. I've said it before, kids cakes as the most fun to make. The colors are brighter and the themes are fun, it's kind of like being a kid yourself. And it was for my nephew, so that it made it pretty special and fun anyway. I'm very happy with this one, my husband says it's the best cake I have done so far!