Tuesday, December 21, 2010

my first wedding cake <3

My sister-in-law got married this past weekend at St. Vincent Depaul in Chicago and the reception was held at John's Place. Anyways, I told her I would make her wedding cake. She had 2 weddings. This was the second one. The first was in Puerto Vallerta, Mexico. I tell you guys this because my husband's aunts brought me vanilla from Mexico because I didn't buy any while we were out walking around. I didn't realize how good the vanilla is from Mexico to bake with until they told me. Anyways, the wedding cake was yellow cake filled with homemade buttercream made with the vanilla from Mexico (which they were right, it was amazing, no extra flavoring needed- it was so rich and made the buttercream nice and smooth). After the 12, 9, and 6 inch cakes were filled, stacked and crumb coated they were chilled for a few hours. After letting them chill, the cakes were covered in homemade marshmallow fondant that was made earlier last week and tinted to ivory. I made 3 batches of ivory fondant and 1 white fondant. I then put the dowell rods into the bottom 2 tiers to hold the weight of the top tiers. They were then stacked on top of each other. The cakes were stacked on 6- 14 inch cake circles that were taped together and cover in ivory fondant and the edge wrapped with 7/8 in white ribbon. The cake was then put in the fridge to chill and equal out the temperature of the cakes. After chilling for about an hour I took the cake out to put some final touches on the cake. I ordered a lace mold from Global Art Sugar to use on her cake because her dress had beautiful lace so I looked for a mold to match as close to the bottom of her dress. So, I used the white fondant and rolled it into the mold (this took a little bit of research on how to get it to not stick to the mold- I realized the when I roll the bit of fondant into medium sized balls with greased hands and then rolled into a longer string- like a worm sorta). Then I had to pull the fondant out of the mold and use a small pering knife to cut arount the molded fondant. I then flipped the fondant over and brushed water onto the back of the molded fondant. I then picked it up and placed it onto the bottom of the base tier. I used a toothpick to smooth out the edges and make sure nothing was distorted in the detail. I then repeated this for the rest of that tier and the other 2 tiers. They were then brushed with what I call pixie dust. I know that's not the real name but that's what it reminds me of. It is edible light glitter that makes the lace and cake just pop and brings out the details of the lace. Then back into the fridge it went and transported to Chicago the next morning. After the wedding and all of the pictures, I went back to John's Place (reception site) to set up the cake by placing it on my cake stand and adding the cake topper. I was complimented many times and told again that the cake was amazing. My sister-in-law's face and expression was worth all the time and energy that was put into the cake. I could tell she loved it and that she was impressed with it. The staff loved it too. In fact, there wasn't a whole lot of cake left. It was another successful cake. I now feel more comfortable doing wedding cakes. To see the brides smile and love for my hard work is why I love doing the cakes.
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Friday, December 10, 2010

tiffany bridal shower

My next cake that I did just before thanksgiving was for a bridal shower. The bride had a tiffany theme wedding so the bridesmaid hosting the shower asked for a tiffany box cake and cupcakes in red velvet with french vanilla buttercream. So, I started by doing my research again. Looking at a bunch of pictures and reading posts. I made 3- 8" square cakes and 24 cupcakes. Next I stacked the 3 cakes and filled them with the buttercream and crumbcoated the cake and stuck it in the freezer to set. Then as I waited for that to set I frosted the cupcakes and added the small white fondant bows for their completed look. When the cake was set I covered it with marshmallow fondant colored to match the tiffany blue color. Then was the more difficult part- how to make it to have cover. So I cut the blue fondant to a square a little bigger than the cake and place that on top of the already covered cake and smoothed it out, making sure the cake is level constantly like a neurotic kid. It was my first paid for cake and so I wanted it to be more perfect than I normally need it to be. Next white MMF was rolled out and cut into strips and added to the cake for the ribbons. Then the bow was set and hardened over a few hours and then added to the top of the cake. The host and guests that had arrived before I left it couldn't believe it. I had comments of it being awesome and just what they pictured. Through all the bumps and hiccups - I live for those moments.
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Thursday, December 9, 2010

It's a me, a Mario

For my godson's birthday- I was asked to do a toadstool cake. Of course, I can't do anything simple so I took my sports ball pan, rice krispies, cake mix, fondant and all othe tools and got to work. With much research into the Mario world (which I knew next to nothing about) I looked at pictures and party websites. So I started by making the rice krispie treats. Then I molded them into the stalk part of toadstool. Then I made up the cake mix and made small bricks and the top part of toadstool. Next up would be buttercreaming for the crumb coat. Then I covered with my marshmallow fondant. For finishing touches, I added green buttercream grass to fill in imperfections and gamps between the bricks. Total hours spent on cake ~10 hrs.
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