This weekend was a busy, but fun one for me.. I had two orders and some 'just for fun' stuff I decided to do. The first was an Easter cake for a co-worker of mine, Karen. She knew exactly what she wanted, which was nice for a change. I truly love being creative, but sometimes it's nice to have some direction! She asked for a small cake with a cross on top, made out of roses. I did my own twist and added the rolled roses, which are more my 'style', I think. I added a couple of butterflies and a banner and it finished it off perfectly! It was white cake with lemon curd filling (which was my first time using-YUM!) and covered in fondant. I apologize for the bad lighting- one of my children lost my SD card for my nice camera, and I haven't had time to replace it yet... So for now I'm just thankful we still have the back-up!
The second cake I did was for a co-worker of my brother-in-law, Vince. Lisa is apparently a dispatcher for his department and called me up to do her 28th birthday cake. I was pretty excited when she told me the theme was 'Little Black Dress'! It sounded SO cute to me. She loved the leopard cake I had done before, and wanted to add some pink to brighten it up a little. I added the black dresses along the side to give at an extra touch, and the feathers for just a little more... I think she liked it, and I had fun doing it! It was a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream filling, all covered in fondant. I actually started playing with gum paste recently, so I did the bow and banner out of 50/50 fondant/gumpaste. I really like the texture of gumpaste and can't wait to start experimenting with it more.
And last, but not least, I volunteered to bring cupcakes for our Easter festivities at my in-laws'. As you know I can't do anything simple, so I had fun with some techniques I've been wanting to try! Half of the cupcakes I covered with fondant that I had hand-stamped with a flower stamp. I topped them with pastel fondant bows. The others I topped with a new version of my buttercream. I am super excited about this new recipe, so after some experimenting, I finally got it right! I won't be giving this one away this time... :) I also tried another new technique with these cupcakes- filling! I made white cupcakes and filled some with raspberry preserves and some with lemon curd. The others were just plain chocolate. I definitely liked them, and I think mostly everyone else did too! I love when I actually get to try my creations... Keep posted, I've got a VERY busy week ahead! :)
So as you can see, this has been a very busy time for me, cake-wise! My lovely sis-in-law (to-be) had her bridal showers these past few weeks, and of course I was a busy baker! For her first shower I wanted to do something dramatic and that I had never done before. So I decided on trying out some cake stencils I've been eyeing for a while. It was definitely the most structurally challenging cake I've done to date, but after a few mishaps and tears I finally got it done. Her favorite color is pink and since she's not using it for the wedding, we decided to take it on for the shower. This particular shower was the larger of the two, mostly just family. It was such a special cake to do for me, and I was just so relieved I pulled it off...
I also did cookie favors to go along with the theme. They came out perfectly and there weren't any to spare at the end!
For Gena's second shower we had a cherry blossom/ pink & brown theme. This cake was fun to do!! I've tried a cherry blossom cake in the past, but wasn't too happy with it so I got to do a "better" version this time. The shower came out SO cute, and the cake just added that little extra touch. Now if I can pull off the wedding cake, AND be in the wedding! Ehh, I can do it! :)
