Jasmine Cake

Here is the cake that we did for my neice. It turned out so cute. The only thing was that I put it on the wrong way (it had been speared with a paintbrush and we had to repair it). That should have been on the back. It was still cute. I like to make charachter cakes that represent the character rather than stick a toy on top. I think we did a good job of capturing the essence of Princess Jasmine.

rainbow trout cake

This is the most amaizing cake that we've made. totally loved it, we did a great job, heather is awesome ( even though she didnt want me to do the scales on the fish, but of course i didnt listen to her), we actually made two cakes that day and it was fun making them.

leduc cake

Here is the cake I did for Lauren LeDuc's reception. I like the way it turned out, the only thing is now that I see the picture the center cake looks a little off-center. I didn't notice it at the wedding, it's killing me. Oh well, it was a cute cake. I was REALLY worried about how all the colors would look on the cake with the flowers and the ribbon. But if you could have seen the reception hall it totally went with their theme.

Thanks for the unbelievable shots Melissa, you are awesome! I wish so badly that you guys were here. I've got people calling me for cakes and I'm not able to take all of them. It would be so fun to work with you guys. I miss you so, so, so, so, so much!

Edna's MM Fondant Recipe

She uses lemon juice and corn syrup

Ingredients:
15 oz. mini marshmallows
2 Tblsp water
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp lemon juice (fresh or bottled)
2 tsp light corn syrup (helps w/ pliability)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp lemon extract 2
lbs (approx 7 C) confectioner's sugar, sifted
1/2 C Crisco or vegetable shortening

Directions:
Grease microwave proof bowl w/ Crisco. Also grease wooden or heat proof spoon. Pour marshmallows and water into bowl. Microwave for approximately 2 minutes stopping and stirring at 40 second intervals. Mixture should be soupy. Take out of microwave and immediately add corn syrup, lemon juice, salt and extracts. Stir well. Sift confectioner's sugar into mixture, one cup at a time. After approximately 5 cups, grease your hands well with Crisco and knead the mixture in the bowl. Add the sixth cup and continue to knead. Now grease your work surface well and turn mixture out of bowl onto counter. Sift remaining sugar, regrease hands, and knead well. If mixture seems soft, add one additional cup of powdered sugar. Shape into a mound and put a coating of crisco on outside. Double wrap in cling wrap and insert into ziplock bag. Press air out of bag and seal. Allow to rest overnight, but, can be used after sitting for a few hours.

Icing a Cake

http://

I liked the way she does it.

Royal Icing Petunias

http://

I thought these turned out really well and she is good at explaining it.

MM Fondant Recipe

http://whatscookingamerica.net/PegW/Fondant.htm

Sorry about the spaces.. it wont let me take them out.

Here is a MM Fondant Recipe I found.

MM (Marshmallow) Fondant Recipe

16 ounces white mini-marshmallows (use a good quality brand)
2 to 4 tablespoons water (too much water will make it unstable and crumbly)
2 pounds icing sugar (please use C&H Cane Powdered Sugar for the best results)
1/2 cup Crisco shortening (you will be digging into it so place in a very easily accessed bowl)

Optional:

2 tbsp of Gum Paste Powder (if you want Gumpaste/Fondant mixture)

1 tbsp vanilla extract or flavoring (you can use clear if you need a really white fondant)(make sure to use less water)

NOTE: Please be careful, this first stage can get hot.
Melt marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in a microwave or double boiler: Put the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, open microwave and stir, back in microwave for 30 seconds more, open microwave and stir again, and continue doing this until melted. It usually takes about 2 1/2 minutes total. Add flavoring. Place 3/4 of the powdered sugar on the top of the melted marshmallow mix.

Now grease your hands GENEROUSLY (palms, backs, and in between fingers), then heavily grease the counter you will be using and dump the bowl of marshmallow/sugar mixture in the middle. (By the way, this recipe is also good for your hands. When I’m done, they are baby soft.)
Start kneading like you would bread dough. You will immediately see why you have greased your hands. If you have children in the room they will either laugh at you or look at you with a questioning expression. You might even hear a muttered, “What are you doing?”
Keep kneading, this stuff is sticky at this stage! Add the rest of the powdered sugar and knead some more. Re-grease your hands and counter when the fondant starts sticking. If the mix is tearing easily, it is to dry, so add water (about 1/2 tablespoon at a time and then knead it in). It usually takes me about 8 minutes to get a firm smooth elastic ball so that it will stretch without tearing when you apply it to the cake.
It is best if you can let it sit, double wrapped, overnight (but you can use it right away if there are no tiny bits of dry powdered sugar). If you do see them, you will need to knead and maybe add a few more drops of water.
Prepare the fondant for storing by coating it with a good layer of Crisco shortening, wrap in a plastic-type wrap product and then put it in a re-sealable or Ziploc bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible.
MM Fondant will hold very well in the refrigerator for weeks. If I know that I have a cake to decorate, I usually make two (2) batches on a free night during the week so it is ready when I need it. Take advantage of the fact that this fondant can be prepared well in advance.

All the labeling is updated. If you want to search for ideas or previous cakes it should be easier now. For example you could search for purse cakes by clicking on the purse label to the right.

cupcakes

Here are some cupcakes I made last week. The first picture is the stuff that she gave me for inspiration. She said that she didn't care if I used gumdrops to decorate for the flowers just like the magazine cover.....pssssshhhhhtt what kind of cake decorator does she think I am??? So, instead I used fondant flowers that looked similar to the gumdrop flowers...humpf I showed her, gumdrop flowers indeed. All kidding aside she went crazy for them, it was a great deal because I traded some horse lessons (for Hailey) for the cupcakes. So, instead of the 1 horse lesson we agreed on before I brought the cupcakes I got 2. Like beth always says, they don't look as good in the pic as they really did but you get the idea.

30th B-Day

Sorry, these are really bad pics but I LOVED this cake. Rarely am I really, genuinely happy with a cake but I loved this one. The wife that ordered this told me that she wanted a tiered cake and told me that she wanted to incorporate all of his favorite things into the cake. We chose a blue/silver color palate to put it all on. The only think that I would have changed is that I would have made it viewable 360 degrees but I only had 6 things to put on! There were 6 aspects that are in 2-D. 1. Guitar Hero:That guitar was freakin' awesome! It was so tiny and so like the real guitar Hero guitar. The guitar was my favorite part. I stuck it on a toothpick and stuck the toothpick in his leg to get it to stay there. 2. Pitsburg Steelers: He's a huge fan. She wanted the logo on there somewhere but I made the whole helmet instead. I was happy with it. 3. Water skiing: He only skiis on one ski but I thought that would be wierd to just have one ski on there by itself so at the last minute I had the idea to make a pull cable on there and just stuck the ski right on top of it. 4. Weightlifting: I was really worried about how the heak I would incorporate this on the cake but I think it turned out pretty good. I cut out different sized circles and stacked them on top of eachother then cut them in half. I put a toothpick in them and stuck them in the cake. 5. that he's turning 30 of course, hence the big 30 on top of the cake. I made it and the stars out of a fondant/gumpaste mixture. 6. He is a really sucessful computer software salesman for Motorola so we put their logo on there too. It was a lot of random things to put on there but I think it all came together really well. The blue was a really good background color.

Like I said, these are really bad pics. It looked much better in person.

Sports Ball Cake

I found the perfect combonation for making cakes. Its Heather plus Gabby. I think we ROCKED this cake. It turned out soo good. We had so much fun making it. It was for a little boys second birthday party. Everyone loved it and we even got another cake next week from it.

Here is the original design that our friend picked out.

This is what happens when we both turn our backs.

Mustache Men Cake Pops

I made these cake pops for the chili cook off at Daves work. The cook off was to celebrate the end of Mustache March. Everyone loved them. I made them with red velvet cake. It was funny to see everyones reaction as they bit into a squishy red inside. I personally didnt like the cake's taste. Chocolate would have been better.

Bakerella

These are so stinken cute! A cute idea for visiting teaching treat if you have the time. She makes new ones every holiday and whenever the mood strikes. The website also has a link to the right.

Check out: http://www.bakerella.blogspot.com/

How to make cake pops:

http://bakerella.blogspot.com/2008/08/hope-these-put-smile-on-your-face.html