We just baptized both our little girls, which was such a special moment in their lives and ours. And of course, you have to make a cake for special moments. So, here are the two cakes that were made for our beautiful daughters. I feel so very blessed that I have something to give to my niece and daughter on their special days!!!
My sister and I have always been best friends. Last year, we were both pregnant at the same time and it was such an amazing time for me. Now that we have had our girls, we continue to share stories and milestones of our little ones since they are so close in age. We just baptized both our little girls, which was such a special moment in their lives and ours. And of course, you have to make a cake for special moments. So, here are the two cakes that were made for our beautiful daughters. I feel so very blessed that I have something to give to my niece and daughter on their special days!!!
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For a couple of my latest cakes, I used the Wilton Cake Marker. It has made my life so much easier. When I write or pipe, I naturally slant upward. My old high school teacher said it was a good trait to have because it meant I was an optimist, but it's a horrible trait to have if you have to pipe something level. So, this little tool has been invaluable.
I used it to help pipe a chevron pattern in buttercream for the little monsters cake. I can't even imagine how I would have been able to do this cake without it!!! I also used it when I piped on buttercream rosettes. If I didn't use it, I know my roses would have been all different sizes and all over the place. Thank goodness for Wilton!!! I am always amazed how a little sleep can make such a difference. A true example of this can be seen in my two sets of monkeys. There is always a point when I am making cakes where I should stop. It is usually late at night when my brain just shuts off. I always know when I have reached that point, but sometimes I think I can push through it and keep working. This was a time when I tried to push through, and it did not work at all!!!!
Below, you can see the difference between my two characters. The first set was soooo off, my little one thought they were bears (kids are the best critics!!!). Now don't worry, I would never put them on a cake. I know when I need to redo something. I just found it funny how sometimes lack of sleep can totally alter reality. This week, I had a request for Olaf cupcakes. This was a little scary for me because I knew Olaf had a very distinct face shape. It was not a shape that would be easy to cut out repeatedly by hand. I first tried to find a cookie cutter that was similar to the shape I needed. I think I looked at every cookie cutter I could find. I then decided I would have to buy a circle cutter and then somehow use pliers to shape it into what I wanted. On the night I was going to take the pliers to the cutter I bought, I made a last ditch effort to look at all of my cake supplies. Out of nowhere, I found a cute little cupcake cookie cutter. I turned it upside down and it looked like a close match. To say I was excited is an understatement. I wasn't going to need to mess up a cookie cutter and I wouldn't have to cut each shape out by hand. Here are photos of the steps I used to make my cupcakes. Overall, I think they look pretty cute!!!
I used to be a little timid when working with buttercream for large cakes. It is what my Aunt Rosa used in all the years she decorated cakes. She made it seem so effortless, but I knew it was harder than it looked. Over the years, I have made lots of buttercream cakes, but they are usually birthday cakes. This weekend, I had the privilege of making a 50th wedding anniversary cake using buttercream for a very sweet couple. They requested white cake with a pineapple filling - just like their wedding cake. The design they picked incorporated cornelli lace - a decoration I had seen my Aunt Rosa use often. They also wanted highlights of gold on the piping. So, I used gold pearl dust with piping gel. I was so excited that I would be able to work with buttercream. To me, it is timeless.
So, I had to do (because I love it so much)another palette knife cake today. This time, I made an ombre cake with some pink peonies. I used three different tints of pink, and then white at the top. This technique is so much fun and gives your cake such an artistic feel!!!!
I bought a new Craftsy class this week over buttercream decorating. Can I say that it is AMAZING!!! Oh my goodness, I watched it all in one sitting. It was so eye-opening, I always think of buttercream cakes as coming in second to fondant. I always think of just some piping with a few flowers. Well, I will never see buttercream the same way. The two instructors have made buttercream into true art. They have so many methods that I have never seen before. I tried two today. The first was using the dot method and the second is the palette knife method. The dot method was done on a 6- inch cake and the palette knife method was done on a 4-inch square. If you want to try something new with buttercream, get on over the Craftsy and purchase their class - Innovative Buttercream Cakes.
This week, I needed to make a cake for my nephew. He said he liked skateboarding and basketball. So, I knew the cake needed to look a little more mature since he is getting older. I figured this would be a great time to break out the airbrush. I wanted to add a little bit of a graffiti look to give the cake a little bit of an edge. I also had to make the skateboard. For my first try, I used modeling chocolate and gumpaste. This was not a good idea, because it never really set. The board just kept bending. So, I redid it in gumpaste only. It worked so much better!!! I had a lot of fun with this one, and hope it's cool enough for my nephew.
One of my friends asked if I could make a July 4th cake with a design on the inside. I was supposed to put a 4, but couldn't find a cookie cutter. So, we opted to use a star instead. I was very excited to try something new. I looked everywhere to make sure I made the cake correctly and I found a great tutorial here. So, I started with the colored cake - red and blue (using a white cake mix). I then cut out the stars and stacked them in the loaf pan. I put a little batter in the bottom of the pan, so the stars would stay in place. Then, I learned you have to be careful when pouring in the remaining batter. Pour it slowly, or you'll knock over your stars. Oh my stars!!! I also put little pieces of red and blue cake in the batter so it would look like sprinkles in the cake. I baked my cake like normal, and this is what it looked like. I decorated the cake with buttercream. Normally, I would level the cake, but I did not want to cut away any part of the stars. I am hoping it looks perfect when cut. I made a couple of cupcakes and cut one just to make sure this method really worked. I was really amazed that the stars, even though baked twice, were just as moist as the white cake. I would call this new method a success!!! I was so excited to get a new lens for my Canon this weekend. It was a 50 mm lens that will hopefully take better pictures of my cakes. I did a lot of reading and it seemed like a really great deal. I used it to take a picture of my tasting plate. I really liked the way the photos turned out, and I did not have to do any editing. I moved the plate around to see what the best image would be, and I loved the lighting in all of them. I was having way too much fun!!! I decided to not cut off the top part of the white cake (recipe can be found here). I really liked the golden color in the photos. I also love that you can see the pineapple filling (recipe can be found here) in the photo along with the adorable piped buttercream on top. I can''t wait to take more photos with this lens. |
AuthorLisa Duran - mommy by day, caker by night Archives
February 2018
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