Sisterhood

First, I want to apologize for the extended time that I was not publishing. The cake business has its up and down in seasons just like everything else, but I have been busy.

With my business growing and a lot of things in the works, I am so excited and reenergized about getting the word out there and really making this thing happen.

Ok now that that piece is done, on to the fun stuff. The cake a did was for a special event for some very special ladies. AOPi has a new alumni chapter in the Port City! I was completely honored to be asked to make this cake. I did some research and talked to some of the Sisters. The two things I found and were told were pandas and red roses.

I knew I wanted the cake to be simple to highlight the fondant pieces. So I did a white on white design with the monogram AOII.

This was a different stacking method than I had done in the past. I needed more rom to set the roses on the  tiers than I normally have when stacking in the middle of each tier. So i took a chance and stacked the cake where there would be a flat edge on the back.

Thankfully this turned out fine with the support system (cake round and cut straws, yeah I stole that from Ace of Cakes) this was also not a very heavy cake. I put the heaviest layer on the bottom and the two top tiers were much lighter.

The cake layers were vanilla with a fudge filling and Mimosa, then the whole cake was covered in Champagne frosting. I must say it turned out tasting pretty good! 

Well now that I'm back in the blogging field, be on the look out next week for a lot for more posts!

Lifes a Beach

My second wedding was not as easy as the first unfortunately. Beginners luck? Maybe, but if they are all easy then when do you learn. I have a way of only learning when I make mistakes, and lets just say I learned a lot from this cake.

I loved the idea for this cake from the minute the bride sent me a a few photos of what she wanted. I live at the beach and love everything to do with it.

Then she asked to make seahorses. Me being the "I'll do anything for my bride" said "Sure I can make that happen." Then reality set in. I started thinking about how little I knew about sculpting. So the week before the wedding I even start looking online for seahorse toppers. I know they were nothing the bride would like so I sat down at my dining room table (aka my work station) and started sculpting. You can actaully see them in my last blog too.

To my suprise they actually looked pretty good for a first attempt. But that sounds like a good lesson, not all of them were. Above is an unfinished picture. I ended up adding little wings. Keep reading for a better picture. Eventually I was able to cut ridged fins and attached them to the body with floral wire...See even more uses for that wonderful invention.

Once the cakes were baked and cooled I started filling and stacking each layer. The chocolate went wonderfully, the vanilla with strawberry, not so well. Needless to say, I will NOT be using that recipe again. The filling started to seep out of the icing and no matter how hard I tried it would not stop. Lesson #1 of the day. I eventually got it to slow enough that I felt comfortable, then I added the chocolate layer for the middle. And the seeping started again.

I decided to just bite the bullet and add the top layer in hopes that it would stop seeping before I started decorating. Well I thought it was about done, but that's later in the story. Once the cake was stacked I started piping coral on the bottom layer and working up.

At this point my friend walked in the door and gasped. I was just glad it hadn't fallen. I was able to stay calm for most of the day, well really until we pulled up the reception and I saw the amount of cars in the yard. We'll skip the part of the story that involves a couple heart attacks by both my friend and myself. Lesson #2 I'm sure if I would stack the cakes before I put them in my car for a thirty minute drive. Lesson #3 I don't like delivering big heavy cakes to venues where there are already a lot of people! 

Well there are a few of the big lessons I learned with this cake. And here's what you've really been reading for.

Now let's hope that it didn't fall when they moved it to the stand, that no one could tell me where it was. Anyways, until next time!

Happy Baking :)

First Times a Charm

So I realize that I never actually posted anything about my first wedding adventure. This one actually started with the Groom-to-be. Never thought I would have to sell harder to a Bride than I did to the Groom. Sometimes things just really work out, and baking out of my home pays off since I don't have the overhead that some bakeries have; ie, I can charge less which always comes in handy!

Mom came down to help me since it was my order of this size, unfortunately I couldn't take any time off from my day job, I'm an Activity Director and Recreational Therapist. So while I was at work, she baked some the cupcakes for me. When I got home, I spent hours on my feet in the kitchen baking and mixing up Buttercream. Everything was going smoothly...really smoothly. I just kept thinking at some point the other hat would drop. Thankfully it didn't. 

I got busy Saturday morning beginning to decorate the cake with fondant. By the way, I used homemade fondant, which is great some days, and not so great others. In the heat and humidity of Wilmington, I'm not sure if I like it. Here's the recipe if you want to try it out sometime.

1 lb mini marshmallows

3 tbsp water

1lb of powdered sugar

Crisco

You'll want to Crisco the counter so the marshmallow won't stick to the counter. Heat the water and marshmallows in the microwave until pretty much melted, add about 1/3 of the sugar while in the bowl and then pour onto the counter mix in the rest of the sugar in little parts until the mixture can be rolled into a ball. Once firm, wrap in saran wrap and stick let set overnight.

Day of the wedding, surprisingly things went ahead of schedule and we were even able to rest for a bit before delivery. Delivery for this was a piece of cake (yeah I did just say it) The cupcakes were in boxes of 12 and then a small box was used for the topper cake. The cake stand was gorgeous too! (Props to the Bride)

I think I'm hooked on weddings, we'll see next time when it can't go as smooth as this one did. Until next time Happy Baking!

New Toys!

I found the new line of wilton tools at AC Moore the other day and I think I went a little crazy. Here's the link to their site www.wilton.com check it out be sure to look for the deals.

One of my favorite things is the new drying rack. I was able to hang all my stars for a cake and paint them at the same time. Also, floral wire is a WONDERFUL invention. The rack is a great way to dry flowers too :) Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures of those soon.

I can't wait to try out my other new toy. I have always thought my flowers looked too fake because they didn't have veins, now they will!

So until next time, Happy Baking :)

Sometimes Things Aren't All Happy

I had my first caketastrophy. I'm learning lessons, but I wish they weren't this week. I was building a cake, kinda... And my support structure was a little less than nonexistent and out cracked down the middle.

And it just gets worse. I guess I can't spell at midnight.

Anyways, we pick ourselves up after caketastrophies and w learn.

Happy Baking!

Strawberry Colada Cupcakes

So this week my adventure was Pina Colada cupcakes. I couldn't decide what kind of frosting I wanted though. Then Mom and I went to pick strawberries at a local farm. There it hit me. Strawberry topped cupcakes.

Mom and I had a lot of fun making these then they were a hit at church. So bonus for us. So here's the picture and be sure to check out again this week for even more cakes. A Nurse's cake and wedding coming up, ALL this week. Wish me luck!

Happy Baking :)

New Site-Same Food

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to give a little update on my site. Since it's looking like I may actually be turning my hobby into a business I wanted a site to showcase my baked goods. Same deal, I'll give tips, tricks, and recipes along with my photos.

Happy Baking!
Ashley