Beach Themed Bridal Shower Cake

I like this cake because it allowed me to be more creative. I had never worked with gumpaste before so I was experimenting. I used ½ gumpaste and ½ fondant mixture. I followed a tutorial online for the flowers. I painted them after with pearl dust but it didn’t work, then I added water to the pearl dust and that was not a good idea either. It did the trick but it made the flower soggy and droopy. For the surfboard I used a cookie cutter. The beach ball and the bathing suit are my favorite pieces.

Baby Shower Rattle Cake

This rattle cake was a last minute order. It was for a baby girl. I decided to go with a pale pink and bright yellow. Despite the time crunch it was a very cute cake.




1. The first step is to bake the cake and level it. I baked a 12 in and 6 in cakes.

2. In an electric mixer I whip the PuraWhip I use for almoslt all my cakes. (I love this because its light and the perfect sweetness to it) I pick this up at Smart&Final for about 3 dollars.

3. I wrapped a Wilton stacking tube with yellow ribbon and set it aside.

4. I sliced about 4 pints of strawberries..it was a pretty big cake.

5. Mix all your strawberries with about 4 cups of the whipped cream you just whipped.

6. Fill the cakes with the strawberry and whipped cream mixture. Not to the edges leave about 1/4 of an edge..that way when you frost it you dont get any strawberries spilling out. When you frost it then fill in the gap :)

7. Color your icing the desired color...this case pale pink. I used Wilton Rose Color.

8. Frost the cake...I use a piping bag 16-18 in ones from Wilton. I also use a large tip No. 789
to frost the cake...also a turntable is a must!

Finishing touches

Smooth it out..as much as you can. I added a shell border at the bottom and a star border on top. I also used a round tip to write It's a Girl! I also used edible pink pearls that I had to put on every star I made on the top. I also added them to the letters. I inserted the middle rod and tied a pink ribbon to finish it off.

Mickey Mouse Cake

Who doesn't love Mickey? Mickey Mouse is one of the most iconic cartoon characters of all time. I recieved a request for a Mickey cake, and well, I have no drawing skills. So, drawing Mickey's face was out of the question. I researched cake on Cakecentral, one of my favorite spots for inspiration.

This cake was inspired by some of the pictures from wonderful bakers who are kind enough to share their creations. The Mickey cake was a two tiered stacked cake. All decorations were made from marshmallow fondant and colored with Wilton color. I also cut out the stars using Wilton's star shaped cookie cutters. The Mickey head was baked using a sports ball 3D pan also from Wilton.

This yummy cake was filled with strawberries on one layer and peaches on the other. The strawberry layer was lemon cake, and peach was just white cake. It was really fun to make but lots of work. Thanks Nadine for helping me :)

Birthday Cakes

I have been baking quite a few birthday cakes this month and I wanted to share some of the pictures with you. I wish I had more time to photograph all the cakes I have done but sometimes I am in such a time crunch to finish them that I forget to take pictures of all of them. In the future I also plan to do more of a tutorial style posts so stay tuned for those.

This cake was baked for a surprise party for Aracely, a very dear friend of mine. Her sister is one of my top customers J The cake she requested was a Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake. It got rave reviews from the guests at the party. Its three layers of cake and two layers of mint chocolate chip ice cream. The cake also has mini chocolate chips mixed with Andes mint chocolate candies that I processed in the food processor. I used them to garnish the cake. I wrote Happy Birthday Aracely on it with a light minty green frosting just before they picked it up.

This cake was for Aracely’s brother. They have birthdays in the same month. It was a chocolate cake with fresh strawberry cheesecake filling. I used strawberry glaze and fresh strawberries to garnish the cake. It has a shell border at the bottom of the cake and rosettes on top where the strawberries are placed. This was the first time I made this cake, and they all loved it so I am adding it to the menu.

I would make my niece a birthday cake every month for her birthday. So this is an old cake but i really love it and wanted to share it. I made two one square and one round. They are both chocolate cake with jam in the middle. I used MMF (marshmallow fondant) to cover the cakes as well as add the decorations. I also used cookie cutters to cut out all the shapes and used a little bit of water with sugar to attach the cutouts to the cake. This cake was really moist and delicious. My niece smashed her little hands all over the cake! Shes too cute.

Strawberry Cream Cheese Champagne Cupcakes

Hope all of you are gearing up for Valentine's Day! This recipe was supposed to be my Iron Cupcake submission but I missed my deadline due to my Internet, its horrible! I'm sad, but I got some great cupcakes out of this challenge! These cupcakes are sooo moist and delicious. When you scroll down to the recipes it may seem like a lot of work, but it really isn't and its a fairly fast process!

What I did:

1. Cut up a pint of strawberries about 25 whole strawberries, put them in a container and fill them with the champagne you want. Let the strawberries absorb the champagne until you are ready to use them. Its to OK to eat a few ;)


2. Then in your mixer mix the cream cheese frosting and set aside.


3. Now puree your strawberries in a food processor is ideal, but since mine hasn't arrived yet, I used my blender. It should be really smooth. Add the champagne to the strawberry mixture, you can also add more than the suggested champagne amount. (Save some to drizzle on top at the end)


4. Now, just combine the cream cheese and the strawberry mixture, add a little of the strawberry mix at a time, until you get the consistency you like.


5. Now mix the white cake mix recipe and grease your pans, I used Wilton's Jumbo Cupcakes Pan and their Easy Release.


6. You will need about 1 cup of batter for each cupcake. Bake at 350 degrees and remove from oven when toothpick comes out clean.


7. With a fork make holes to the top of the cupcakes.


8. Then in a saucepan put the 2 cups of champagne and 1 cup of confectioners sugar, bring to a boil and let it reduce to about half.


9. Now add the mixture to your cupcakes, just drizzle on top. I put 3 tablespoons, but you can put it as much as you would like.


10. Now you can assemble your cupcakes. Add some of the champagne infused strawberries.


11. Then add some strawberry cheesecake frosting a nice big dollop.


12. Now just top it off with some of the puree strawberry mix.

This is really, honestly, not as involved as it seems don't be afraid to try them out, they are soooooo good. Bon Appettit!!!

Make these:

White Cake Mix

Ingredients

1. 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
   
2. 1 1/2 cups sugar


3. 2 cups all-purpose flour


4. 2 teaspoons baking powder


5. 1/4 teaspoon salt


6. 6 large egg whites (3/4 cup)


7. 3/4 cup milk


8. 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy.


2. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.


3. Combine egg whites, milk and vanilla extract.


4. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to butter mixture then add half the milk mixture. Continue to alternate beginning and ending with flour mixture. Scrape bowl and beater often.


5. Pour batter into prepared cupcake pans.


6. Bake cake(s) about 18 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean.

Champagne Syrup (to be added to the cupcakes/drizzled on once baked)
Ingredients:

• 2 cups champagne
  
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Bring the champagne and powdered sugar to a boil and let them reduce about half way. Don't expect it to get thick. It will still be very liquidy when you are done.


2. Poke holes in the cupcakes and drizzle in the syrup. Let it absorb into the cupcake and add more.


3. Keep adding to taste.
   

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

1. 8 ounces unsalted butter, softened
2. 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3. 2 cups powdered sugar
4. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer.


2. With the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until smooth and creamy.


3. Beat in the vanilla extract.
   

Puree Strawberries (adapted to make this Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting)

Ingredients

1. 2 cups of frozen strawberries in sugar


2. 1/3 cup of Champagne
   

Directions

1. Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed and fold in to cream cheese frosting


2. Add the Champagne and mix.


3. Add a little of the mixture into cream cheese frosting, until desired consistency is reached. Refrigerate until ready to use.