Top Ten Cakes of 2011 cont.

Ok so with the new year quickly approaching on with the countdown...

5.

The jack-o-lantern cake was certainly the most challenging cake that I have done this year. Making the cake look like a real jack-o-lantern was quite tricky, but I think it turned out great! Plus it was for my nephews first birthday, which made it all the more special. 

 4.

I designed this cake with the royal wedding in mind. I think it turned out beautifully, and made quite a statement.

3.

This cake was designed for a friend's bridal shower. Since the couple was going to Hawaii for their honeymoon a luau bridal shower was only fitting. I had free reign on this cake, and I really tried to capture the essence of Hawaii.

2.

This cake seems to be a very popular design among my clients. I made this cake for Cole's first birthday way back in February. I love the way the cake turned out, and can see why parents like it so much!

1.

My number one favorite cake of the year is my fall flowers cake. I think if you are a follower of the blog you know that fall is my absolute favorite time of the year, so it only fitting that this would be my favorite. I love creating gumpaste flowers, and seeing them come to life on a cake. This was my first time doing a cascade of flowers down a cake, and I think it looks stunning.

I hope you enjoyed a look at my favorite cakes of 2011. Let me know which one is your favorite! Hope everyone has a Happy New Year, and I'll see you next year!

Top Ten Favorite Cakes of 2011

It's that time of year when I count down my top favorite cakes from 2011. So without further ado here we go...

10.

I love this modern wedding cake with its clean lines and, simple design. I love how the colors contrast each other, and the pink gives a nice pop of color.  

9.

This cake was done for a pool party 70th birthday! The cake matched the theme nicely, and I loved the effect the sugar tiles gave to the cake!

8.

This cake may be simple, but for some reason I absolutely love its clean lines, and modern appeal. The flowers give it just the right amount of color to make this a statement cake. 

7.

This bride requested that her cake appear in the countdown (j/k). I love the way this cake turned out, and it mixed of both the brides and the grooms taste. The piped swirl pattern with the flowers made this cake elegant, and traditional while the separator tiers gave it a modern twist.

6.

I made this cake to try out a new technique that I liked, and it has turned out to be a favorite among many of my brides. I love the way the tufted billow technique adds a softness to the design. I think this cake turned out to be stunning and unique.

Stay tuned this week as I count down my top five favorite cakes of this year!

Maker's Mark Cake and Some Sulpting Tips

My brother's birthday is on Christmas, so my family likes to celebrate his birthday each year separate from Christmas. This year we decided to have a dinner at my parents house with his favorite foods, and of course I made the cake. I was undecided on what exactly to make for his cake this year, but my husband suggested a Maker's Mark barrel, which I thought was a fantastic idea.I think the cake turned out great, and most importantly my brother loved it!

 Isn't my nephew the cutest!

 That's a lot of cake!

 So, I thought I would show you so in progress pictures, and give some tips for beginners on how to sculpt a cake.

1. If this is your first time sculpting a cake, start with something easy so you can build your skills. This barrel was an easy cake to sculpt, because I stacked an 8", 9", 10" 9", and 8" cakes, then sculpted the sides of the cake a little bit to form the barrel.
2. Make sure you have a lot of reference photos to look at when sculpting. Try to get photos of the object from a lot of different angles.
3.  When sculpting always take off a little bit at a time, so that you don't end up with unwanted holes.
4.  If you end up taking to much cake off there is a solution so don't panic. First, take some of the cake scraps, and and icing to it to make a large cake/icing mixture (similar to a cake ball), then add icing to the gap, and form the cake mixture into the hole to match the rest of the cake. This is a better solution then adding more icing, which can later cause problems. 
5. I always like to stack, and fill my cakes, then sculpt, and then crumb coat after sculpting. Also some sculpted cakes will need internal support that will need to be added before sculpting the cake.  
6. When your ready to cover your cake in fondant, if you cannot cover it in one piece try to place a seam somewhere where it will not be noticed.
7. Decorate, and Eat!

 I hoped this helped some beginners take the leap into sculpting. Just have fun with it, and eat whatever you mess up!

It's Christmas Time!

So since I am an awesome person I decided to make Christmas cookies for all of my coworkers! I know I'm awesome right? Well I also really enjoy decorating cookies so they get to reap the benefits. As some of you may know I have a full time day job, and moonlight as a baker until I can get my business off of the ground. So, since I shared these with all of my coworkers I thought I'd also share them with all of you. That's almost as good as getting to eat them right?

 I love my little Santa belly cookies!

The snowflakes were very sparkly, but it doesn't come across well in the picture.

 So I hope you all go and make Santa cookies for your coworkers, or just think about doing it, because it's the thought that counts. Then send your coworkers to my blog, and let them know you thought about making them these cookies. I think they would all really appreciate that! Merry Christmas!

Road to Life Retirement Cake

I recently had the pleasure of making a retirement cake for one of my fathers coworkers. I have wanted to make a road to like cake for a while now, and finally had the opportunity to do so. I was told that the man retiring liked Ravens football, golf, had three children, four grandchildren, and had been married since 1967. So I went about incorporating all of these great things into one cake for this man's path to retirement.

On the bottom tier was a road sign that said welcome to the married life with the year he was married as the exit number. The second tier represented all of his children, and the top tier represented his grandchildren. In between were his favorite things like the Ravens and golf.

His mode of transportation, of course, had to be a golf cart, which sat on top of the cake indicating that he had made it to the good life, and was now retired.

This cake was so much fun to make. I was told that the guy liked it so much that he did not cut it at his retirement party, and instead took it home to show all of his family first. I love when my hard work is appreciated, but please eat the cake! Hope everyone enjoyed this cake, and stay tuned for some Christmas posts to come!

And the Winner is......

I know everyone has been waiting patiently for the results of the giveaway, and I finally have a winner for all of you.

The winner is Shyann_Rayne! Congratulations! I will be in touch with you to send you out all of your wonderful prizes! Thank you for all who entered, and commented on my blog the first year! I hope to have many more awesome cakes to share with everyone in years to come!

My 1 year Blogoversary and an Awesome Giveaway!

On Saturday I had my one year blogoversary. I cannot believe I have been blogging for an entire year. Since I am in a good mood, and want to celebrate my great accomplishment I have decided to do a giveaway! Everyone loves a giveaway! Right?

So I will be giving away a great little package of prizes!

• 16-month cupcake calendar with different recipes for each month
• Cake Pops by Bakerella so you can learn how to make cupcake cake pops
• A cupcake cookie cutter
• Two cute boxes to package all of your great cupcake items
• Two awesome cupcake hats for you, and your child (Adult hat not pictured)

 To enter this giveaway:

• Leave me a comment letting me know your favorite holiday desserts.
• Tweet this post or post on facebook, and leave the link to the repost in the comments.

Leave a comment for each separate entry. Comments must be left on the blog in order to be entered to win. (Comments left on the FB page will not be counted). Make sure you leave me a way to contact you. If I cannot contact you, then you cannot win.The giveaway ends November 30th @ 12am EST. I will draw the names out of the cupcake hat at random.Lastly, just so you know the cupcake hats were made by my awesome friend. If you do not win, but would still like your own cupcake hat please let me know! (Please note the child's hat will fit children 1-8 years of age). The Giveaway has ended! Thanks for all who entered.

Good Luck!

Fall Flowers and Cookies

Have I mentioned here before that I love fall? Well I do, and I especially love making fall cakes and cookies. So I just wanted to share some recent projects with all of you, because fall is quickly fading. So I hope you enjoy! First up a fall flower cake with all the wonderful colors of the fall!

 The design on the cake was kept simple with just brown fondant ribbon on two tiers, and an imprinted design on the other two tiers. the imprinted designs were dusted with gold to accent them.  

 Next, up I made some Thanksgiving cookies for my family. I saw a similiar design on Pinterest, and just had to try it out. I love the way the cookies came out.

 The whole bunch!

Hope you enjoyed these fall treats! Stay tuned I will hopefully be having a fun giveaway coming up soon!