Playing with Fondant – A Monster High Cake

So, true confession – I have been avoiding fondant.  I mean, its not that I don’t appreciate all the creativity that fondant lends itself to, but I just have a thing for buttercream.  Its my first love, and I just wasn’t willing to cross that line over into the world of fondant… until this cake.  The person specifically requested a ‘fondant covered cake.’  Even though I mentioned ways to do a hybrid cake covered in buttercream with fondant accents, they wanted fondant, so I had to face the fondant – no more running!  I certainly didn’t think that my first foray into the world of fondant would be with a Monster High cake. I had vision of a pretty cake design with flowers maybe, but I ended up with skulls, stitches, and black hearts for my initial fondant endeavor.  Funny how things happen that way.  Perhaps its because of my indifference to fondant that I ended up doing such a ‘dark’ cake for my first fondant design. I figured that if I was going to play with fondant, that I would go all in!   So I said a quick prayer and decided to fully commit to making my first fondant cake as good as it could possibly be!

This cake was for a 7 year old’s birthday party.  The cake was a pink tinted vanilla cake, with a strawberry cream filling. The accompanying cupcakes were chocolate with a milk chocolate filling and vanilla with a strawberry cream filling.  I used the Liz Marek Marshmallow Fondant recipe because I’d read really good reviews on how easy it was to work with and I figured the marshmallows would help the taste.  Most fondant doesn’t taste very good, so this one actually tastes okay.  I did include a nice layer of good Italian Meringue Buttercream under the fondant, so for people that scrape off the fondant as most people do, they had a nice layer of buttercream for their cake!  I also ordered some Monster High accessories to help with bringing the theme to life. I definitely wasn’t at the level of creating fondant figurines for the cake, so thanks to Joann.com, I was able to get some help!

I’m very happy to say that the cake was well received by all, so mission accomplished!

Would I do another fondant cake?  Well, if someone specifically requests fondant, then yes… but will I volunteer fondant as an option, probably not.  I’m still very much a buttercream girl, however I’m now at least open to playing with fondant from time to time.   

 

 

Big Fluffy Fall Buttercream Flowers

I love the fall and I love these big fluffy buttercream flowers… after lots of practicing to try to perfect this technique for making these flowers, I think that I’ve (almost) got it!

I recently made this cake for a wedding shower, the theme was fall so they gave me free reign to do what I wanted design wise on this amaretto raspberry cake, which is a really good flavor combination by the way!

Not a lot to say today, other than that I can’t wait to make another cake covered with lots of pretty fluffy buttercream Flowers.  Enjoy!

 

Cake Decorating Love

Creativity is always a leap of faith. You’re faced with a blank page, blank easel, or an empty stage.    Julia Cameron

…or a blank cake!

I love love love decorating… cakes, cupcakes, cookies… whatever!  I bake way more than what I actually share on my blog.  As an aside, I am going to try to do better and post more regularly.  The blogs I love the most are the ones that I can count on for regular content, so I am going to try to follow in their good example.

Now on to this cake…. I have been on a ‘yellow’ kick lately!  This is my second yellow cake and I’ve also used yellow in a couple of my cupcakes.  Maybe I am drawn to this color because I am hoping for spring to really come, or perhaps it reminds me of my mom who loves yellow roses.  Whatever the case, its a beautiful color and I think it made for a very beautiful cake.

I have been trying to practice my free hand decorating.  I usually make the cake and create the flowers separately and then place them on the cake.  However, I needed to make finish this cake quickly, so I didn’t really have time for the extra step in pre-making the flowers, so I decided to give this a try and freestyle on the flowers… I was pretty proud of how they turned out!  Plus, I got this fancy cake decorating stand from my mom for my birthday, so I believe that it helped.

Left to my own devices, I would bake something new… everyday.  Whether I had reason to or not.  I have so many saved recipes, cake decorating ideas and pictures of goodness that I would like to try.  So, I guess that’s the reason why when I get the opportunity to make something for someone, I go all in!  I go through my mental Pinterest, Instagram, cookbook catalog and decide which technique, recipe, look I will use for this precious baking opportunity I have before me. Sometimes its a little overwhelming… but I love it all the same.

I decided to add leaves to the flowers this time.  Although I know flowers have leaves for some reason I tend not to include them when I make flower on my cakes.  I’m not sure why, but this time I did and I think that they make all the difference in the look of the cake.  Makes it look more alive and vibrant!

This is a hummingbird cake, so as with all of my cakes of this type, I like to add the pecans on the top of the cake.  I decided to glaze these nuts in some of the pineapple syrup that was added to the frosting.  So, I guess these are pineapple wet nuts… I need to think about what else I can use this for, they were so good!

No recipe to share, this cake is a classic, so I follow the original version from 1978 which can be found here.  No need to mess with perfection!

I’m always looking for great baking sites for more inspiration… I’d appreciate everyone’s feedback on your favorite baking sites!

S’more on S’mores Cupcakes

Chocolate…

…Marshmallows

Graham crackers….

….Cupcakes!

Need I say more?

 

S’more on Smore Cupcakes

1 batch of your favorite chocolate cupcakes

1 batch chocolate glaze at room temperature, which should be more of a solid than a glaze at this point.

1 batch marshmallow frosting (7 minute frosting), this is my favorite one

A couple graham crackers

Directions:

1. Prepare cupcakes as directed

2. Using an apple corer, create a shallow hole in each cupcake for the chocolate glaze filling.

3.  Fill each cupcake with the chocolate glaze

4. Top each cupcake with a generous swirl of the marshmallow frosting.

5. Using the graham crackers, chocolate glaze and marshmallow frosting, create mini s’mores toppers for each of your cupcakes.

6. Admire cupcakes for a few minutes before eating

7. Eat cupcake and relish in the joy of a S’more on S’mores cupcake.

ENJOY!

 

Pink Little Diva Birthday Cake

Cakes are special. Every birthday, every celebration ends with something sweet, a cake, and people remember. It’s all about the memories. ~ Buddy Valastro

Every girl should have a pretty pink, ruffly two tiered birthday cake for their 5th birthday, right? Well, my answer is a resounding ‘YES’ and I loved every minute of making this cake! It was an amazingly fun challenge and I think that the birthday girl and her family and friends really enjoyed the cake!

First let me say that this was the largest cake I’ve made to date!  It was larger than the wedding cake I made last year.  The bottom tier was a 12 inch cake with a lemon curd and Italian meringue buttercream filling and the 6 inch cake was a strawberry cake with a fresh strawberry Italian meringue buttercream filling.  Both tiers were covered with american buttercream and the flowers were made with Italian meringue buttercream.

The initial picture I received as inspiration was a pink fondant cake with a purse, two high heel shoes and some make up and other girly accessories… it was very cute!  I decided to make as much of the cake as possible edible, so the high heels were made out of cupcakes and the little make up bag was a cake, the make up was made of chocolate and the monogram topper was made of a sugar cookie.  So, actually… the entire cake is edible!

I think that I came up with something that was a good reflection of their initial vision.  I kind of like to exceed expectations with my cakes, at least that is what I aim to do.  The greatest compliment I received with this cake was when mom said it was better than the picture she had given me… Love it!!

But this is ALWAYS the best part of making cakes…  getting to share in someone’s special day!  So, a big ‘thank you’ to mom for allowing me to share in this beautiful little girl’s special day!