Basketweave & Daisies

Basketweave and Daisies

March 2008

Happy Birthday Kat!

This birthday cake has a spring basketweave on the sides and is filled in with royal icing flowers and text piped on like vines in in a wandering garden.

Once the royal icing dries in shape and the leaves and details are added, these flowers really are quite cute!

The basketweave design is a classic Wilton skill. I think that my icing was a little bit dry, which gave it a great look similar to fraying straw that suited the theme well.

Cake Details

• Cake: Double layer in butter-vanilla
• Filling: Strawberry jam
• Icing: Vanilla buttercream (sans butter- it started as a class project)
• Decorations: Tinted buttercream, royal icing flowers
• New toys used: Basketweave tip #47

Anybody hear an echo...?

Academy Awards Cupcakes

Academy Awards Cupcakes

February 2008

I love the Academy Awards. There is something about Oscar glamour that draws me in to this celebration of film and storytelling. My first roommate from California elevated the Oscars from a cute fashion show on TV where they give out statues, to an elegant gathering. These infamous Oscar parties challenged guests to embrace their favorite aspect of Hollywood film viewing. The recommended attire for guests was formal wear, but without the stilettos and dress shoes. Slippers please! The people in LA may have to balance on those heels, but when you curl up to watch a movie at home, it is fluffy slippers all the way. Beyond the glamorous side, and the comfortable side, there is the imaginative aspect of film-viewing. So guests could also opt to come as their favorite movie character, embracing their creative side. A little something for everyone!



To celebrate the occasion this year I made a cupcake with golden yellow batter and Hollywood stars. With a little sugared "glitter" for good measure. You can never have too much glitz in Hollywood!



Cake Details
Cake: Golden Vanilla Cupcakes
Filling: None
Icing: Vanilla buttercream
Decorations: Star-shaped sprinkles and sanding sugar glitter

Game Night

Game Night Cake

February 2008

This cake was commissioned by my co-worker Laura, a fellow foodie who has been an accomplice to both CakeLove baked good and chocolate-making classes. So when the opportunity to make a cake for a game night party she was attending, I was ready to play!

What boardgames are more iconic than Scrabble and Monopoly? They became the features of the cake top, with a brief nod to poker and other card games.



The sides pay respect to my favorite games: Hungry Hungry Hippos, Battleship, and The Game of Life.

Cake Details:

• Cake: Vanilla cake (the traditional yellow, whole egg kind)


• Filling: Raspberry


• Icing: Lemon vanilla buttercream
  
• Details: Decorations are tinted buttercream and tinted fondant (scrabble tiles)

Royal Icing Flowers

Royal Icing Flowers

February 2008

I'm working on my royal icing flowers as a part of my Wilton 2 class. These babies really do dry into delicate-looking ROCKS. And I thought the stuff was just for the top of cookies...

See these sweet little blossoms? Daisies, pansies, roses, and daffodils-- any one of them could take out a tooth. But they look pretty, silky smooth, and colorful. And for this purpose, that is all that matters. We won't make the actual cake until next Monday, but the flowers take several days to dry so we work on them one at a time. So I'm collecting a little garden.


Next week in class these blooms will find a home on the "basket cake." But some of the extra are going onto cupcakes.

Cambodia Party Cake

Cambodia Party Cake

February 2008

Laura (who you may remember from my Vietnam trip) has returned from Cambodia and held a little get-together to share her photos and stories about her life in Phnom Penh.

I wanted to make a special cake for the occasion and was shocked to see that putting "Cambodia, cake" into Google returns no actual cake designs! Guess I'm not the only one who thought that carving Angkor Wat out of cake would be really, really difficult. (Sorry LL.) My best tribute for this wandering soul was a suitcase, marked with Cambodian-themes stickers.

The top of the hat-box style case is marked with a profile of the main view of Angkor Wat, a passport (not edible) and the logo from IJM.

Note: International Justice Mission is an amazing organization that seeks to end modern day slavery, and restore justice to oppressed people throughout the world. Be sure and check out their website.


The sides are adorned with a representation of every Cambodian's favorite rainy-season snack, the dried crunchy tarantula, as well as a bowl of rice to represent the rice paddies. The other side features a blooming flower to symbolize the hope of the people there, as well as some decorative nameplates. The key was to create something cool enough for people to believe that Laura, the fashion maven that she is, would carry it around. I am glad that she liked it and am very excited to watch her continue her work stateside. Go Laura go!

Cake Details

• Cake: Triple layer (tall cake) in lightly-lemony vanilla
• Filling: Raspberry preserves
• Icing: Vanilla buttercream
• Decorations: Fondant, tinted buttercream, chocolate
  New toys used: Spackle knife from Home Depot, which provides the grooves on the sides

Onesie Baby Shower Cake

Onesie Baby Shower Cake

February 2008

My dear friends Janelle and Omar are getting ready to welcome thier new baby boy. The theme for the nursery is "animalitos del mundo." Most people would just say "jungle," but our well-travelled friend Carolyn pointed out that on no continent did God place both lions (african) and tigers (asian) to naturally co-exist. So now the theme is simply animals of the world.

One of my favorite animalitos del mundo is the giraffe. I created this jungle-themed baby onsie for the shower with a cute little giraffe on it. (Note: One of the babies at church was wearing a giraffe outfit from Carters this weekend and if I had seen it first I would have totally matched my gift to the cake. Maybe next time!!!)



The onesie and the dots are made from rolled fondant. All other decorations are piped frosting.




Cake Details

• Cake: Triple layer (tall cake) in lightly-lemon vanilla
• Filling: Raspberry preserves
• Icing: Vanilla buttercream
• Decorations: Fondant, fondant accents, and tinted buttercream
• New toys used: Palate knife (art supplies are great in the kitchen)