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!

Spring Flowers Birthday Cake

The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month.  ~ Henry Van Dyke

While we still wait for spring…  let’s enjoy a lovely spring inspired cake!

A good friend of mine asked me to make a birthday birthday cake for her lovely daughters 26th birthday.  The birthday girls favorite colors are the tiffany blue, black, white and lots of bling and her mother gave me the direction to make something in that color pallet with lots of flowers, something spring like, so this is what I created.

Although spring seems to be taking its time arriving, it doesn’t mean that we can’t embrace spring in other ways, like with cake… like a cake with lots and lots of flowers!

I love baking and I especially love making layer cakes with good fillings and frosting, lots of pretty flowers and lovely color combinations.  I love the creative process of designing cakes, being given an idea or a direction and coming up with a way to bring the idea to life.

I can imagine this cake in multiple tiers… like maybe two or three?  I mean this one is pretty, but just imagine flowers cascading down the cake from one tier to the next.  That would be beautiful.  Does anyone out there need a cake with two or three tiers with cascading flowers, anyone?!?

This cake was a lemon vanilla butter cake, with a thin layer of lemon curd filling and an Italian Meringue Buttercream frosting.  Pretty classic flavor combination, but it seemed perfect for a spring inspired cake.  I love lemon curd, especially homemade, its so easy to make.  Plus, when you make Italian Meringue Buttercream you are left with just enough egg yolks for a batch of lemon curd!  Perfect!

I mentioned that the birthday girl likes bling and although this cake isn’t full of bling, I did add a couple iridescent and black sugar crystals for some… sparkle! The birthday girls loved the cake, but noted that I needed to up my bling for her future wedding cake… so I’ll get to work practicing so I’ll be ready!

So a word about the CUT cake…

I have a thing about seeing the inside of the cut cake. Maybe its because I don’t often get to see the cake cut and have the pleasure of seeing the layers and the filling inside.  I work really hard to make sure that the layers are even and that I have equal amounts of filling and that hopefully the inside will look just as pretty as the outside.  Every so often I’ll get someone to actually send me a picture of the cake after its is cut.  So that I can check my work out on the inside!  My friend was kind enough to send me this picture…  and I am SO pleased with my layers!  Just look at all that evenness.  The inside is just as important as what’s on the outside.

I am so pleased with how this cake turned out, it makes me think of spring and gives me hope for warmer days to come.

Here’s hoping we will start seeing some real spring flowers soon… but until then, hope you enjoy the cake!