Sunday, March 17, 2013

POLKA-DOT BABY LOVIN'!

Another order from the wonderful Escobar's, Claudia contacted me and explained that her best friend was pregnant, and that she was going to throw her a baby shower! She asked for a cake to have for the special occasion and I was more than happy to help out.  Plus I've been wanting to design a baby shower cake for a while now!  She sent me a few pictures she had seen that she liked for ideas, and her favorite one was a pink polka dot cake with baby shoes on top! It was extremely cute, although I wasn't sure about how to create the shoes!  After searching around to find some ideas and techniques, I stumbled upon converse shoe stencils! Too perfect.  I chose to incorporate a soft gray color, and two different shades of pink like Claudia had asked.  The shoes came out even better than I had hoped, I was SO excited, and when Claudia saw them she was thrilled too!

One Tier, Two Layer Carrot Cake
{2-9 inch rounds}
Sweet Cream Cheese Frosting


Saturday, March 16, 2013

LEAHS WHIMSICAL BIRTHDAY CAKE!

My Sweet friend Leah celebrated her birthday last week and I wanted to make her a very special, unique cake.  It was a complete surprise so I asked her boyfriend Kyle for her favorite flavor cake (Tiramisu, yum!).  For the design I wanted to do something very different than normal, and something that represented Leah.  Leah is a sweetheart and a loving free spirit! I came up with a whimsical fondant design incorporating bright vibrant colors that I know Leah likes.  As much as she is a sweetheart she also packs a personality *punch* so I finished the cake off with a large black fondant '26 & BADASS' on the front of her cake!  When I showed up at the bar with her cake in hand she was SO excited, the bar staff was fantastic helping me set up with candles and the whole place sung her 'Happy Birthday'! It was a wonderful surprise, and even better people thought I had purchased the cake from a bakery! Everyone that had a slice thought my tiramisu recipe was fantastic, most importantly the birthday girl ! Happy Happy Birthday Leah! 

One Tier, Two Layer Tiramisu Cake
{2-9 inch rounds}
Mascarpone Cognac Frosting




SWEET PRINCESS CUPCAKES!

Second Year in a row that I've been asked to make Dinet's Birthday cake!  This year Malleli, her older sister and a friend of mine, chose to do dainty princess cupcakes instead.  She requested plain cupcakes, with the exception that she did want one golden fondant princess crown topper for the birthday girl.  Dinet loves anything pink, so we kept the Vanilla cake its natural color (last year we did an ombre pink cake!), but chose to add a little coloring into the frosting and it turned a gorgeous pale pink that Malelli and her sister loved!

One Dozen Cupcake Order
Sweet Vanilla Cakes
Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting-Dyed Pink


CARNIVAL FIRST BIRTHDAY CAKE!

Baby Joaquin turned One everybody!! This sweet little boy's mama planned a big Carnival-themed bash to celebrate his first birthday, and of course she needed a very special cake!  Germaine came to me with her request, and a pretty solid idea of what she wanted incorporated in the cake already.  She asked for a two tier festive cake, specifically with fondant circus animals around the cake, and her son as the ringmaster on top!! I was so excited to create her cake, and knew I had a huge challenge in front of me!! I came up with the exact design and color scheme I wanted on the base of the cake, and what animals to incorporate and where!  Baby Joaquin was posted on top decked out in a ringmaster suit, bow tie and top hat too!  Germaine loved the sketches I showed her and I got to work.  I designed the animals out of a fondant and gumpaste mixture that way they held their form more than normal, which worked fantastic.  I made a fondant seal with a clown nose and ruffled polka dot collar, an adorable giraffe standing along the bottom tier, and a baby lion sitting next to Baby Joaquin on the top!  I added the iconic red and white circus stripes to replicate a tent on the top tier, and the bottom tier was a vibrant turqouise base with bright yellow flags hanging across spelling out 'J-O-A-Q-U-I-N'.  Germaine was thrilled with her cake order, not to mention the sinfully sweet Two Dozen Tres Leches con Dulce De Leche Cupcakes that she ordered !

Two Tier, Five Layer Vanilla & Chocolate Checkerboard Cake
{2-6 inch rounds, 2-9 inch rounds}
Chunky Oreo Whipped Cream Filling
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Two Dozen Cupcake Order
Tres Leches Cupcakes w/ Dulce De Leche &Homemade Whipped Cream Frosting













SUPER NERD CUPCAKES!

Evelin came to me again this month in need of some sweet treats for her boyfriend.  She really wanted to incorporate a lot of fun personal things between them to make it special.  What do the have most in common? Their total love for nerdy super hero things! Evelin did most of the leg work for what she wanted on the designs for the toppers, and she gave me some fantastic ideas that represented the couple!  A World of Warcraft Logo, fondant Speech bubbles of people yelling (Evelin and her boyfriend are loud!), the Batman Icon, two Death Stars saying the famous lines between Leia and Luke 'I Love You' & 'I Know', Harley Quinn Mask & a Joker Card, a Luigi face to represent her boyfriend's lookalike and finally a fondant bench, where they shared their first kiss!  Such original sweet ideas, not to mention so much fun to make! Evelin's boyfriend practically devoured all of the cupcakes when she gave them to him, he loved them so much! Thank you for your continued business Evelin! I love catering your special occasions!

One Dozen Cupcake Order
Sweet Vanilla Cakes w/ Strawberry Preserve Filling
Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting



A LITTLE EEYORE VALENTINE LOVE!

As part of his original order as a gift to his wife, my friend and coworker Jorge asked to save part of the original birthday order as a Valentine's day surprise!  His sweet wife Claudia is a total Eeyore fan, and Jorge gave me free reign over the design of the cake! I chose to keep the cake very simple and did an abstract version of Eeyore, attaching a fondant Eeyore tail on the back of the cake complete with his signature pink fondant bow!  I topped the cake off with a sweet little message from him, " Love You Pollolla' (her family nickname since she was little).  The cake turned out absolutely adorable and they loved it!

One Tier, Two Layer Red Velvet Cake
{2-6 inch squares}
Sweet Cream Cheese Frosting



ANGRY BIRD CUPCAKES!

Another order from my Best Customer Evelin, she asked for a special order of half a dozen cupcakes for her little nephews birthday!  She explained just how crazy this little kid is for the game, and ANYTHING with those birds on it!  Tee-shirts, toys, you name it.  So of course his cupcakes would be!  She asked to make them super chocolatey and kid friendly, only asking that I incorporate his name,  'Brandon' on them somehow.  Since 'Brandon' doesn't exactly fit on a cupcake, I chose instead to make a fondant 'B' out of wooden logs, just like the structures in the game! I also made the Red Bird, the Black Bird, one of the Green Pigs, two Blue Birds and a Golden Egg! Brandon absolutely LOVED his cupcakes, as you can see below!

Half Dozen Cupcake Order
Chocolate Cakes w/ Chunky Oreo Whipped Frosting



FIRE FIGHTER MICKEY INSPIRED CAKE!

An acquaintance of one of my Best Customers Evelin, contacted me and asked me to make a very special birthday cake for her boyfriend who was a fire fighter and a huge Mickey Mouse fan! More than happy to oblige I was thrilled to make a fire fighter themed cake and accepted the challenge to incorporate Mickey Mouse without making it look childish.  I searched around to find inspiration for my design and when I designed the sketch, my customer loved it!  I bought some new decorating tools that I was so excited to use on the cake, they were beyond perfect! I created fondant fireman boots, a fireman helmet and a long winding firehouse that went around the entire cake.  The outside of the cake was wrapped in red brick printed fondant (thanks to my new tool) and I added some black fondant lettering with her boyfriends favorite number & 'Happy Birthday' on the front. I chose to incorporate Mickey Mouse silhouettes on the front plate of the fireman helmet and on the top of the cake beneath the boots and helmet on top.  The cake turned out wonderfully, I was so thrilled!

One Tier, Two Layer Red Velvet Cake
{2-9 inch rounds}
Sweet Cream Cheese Frosting




MEGANS WILD BIRTHDAY CAKE!

Last year I made Megan's Birthday Cake, a small 6" red velvet cake with simple daisy flowers and a monogrammed 'M' on the front.  This year her boyfriend asked me to make a large two tiered cake that they were taking to Vegas to celebrate her birthday! I was more than thrilled, and Raul was a huge help describing his idea for the design and what flavors she wanted in the cake.  The best part? She had no idea!  Megan has a gorgeous Bengal Cat named Lola and is obsessed with her Leopard Print!  So immediately we knew that the cake would be decked out in the design.  Raul requested that we incorporate some dark red, another one of Megan's favorites.  I added a large dark red fondant flower on top of the cake, and decorated around each of the bases with a twisted red fondant rope that gave a great 'Pop' of color throughout!  I also added 'MEGAN' along the side in a circus/carnival-type font in black (The 'M' was lined with red polka dots to make it stand out!) and the whole name really stood out against all the red and brown hues.  Megan and Raul loved the cake that he ordered! Happy Happy (now belated) Birthday Hun! Can't wait to make your cake next year!

Two Tier, Four Layer Cake
{2-6 inch rounds, 2-9 inch rounds}
Bottom Tier: Vanilla & Chocolate Marble Cake w/ Chocolate Mousse Frosting
Top Tier: Sweet Vanilla Cake w/Strawberry Compote Filling & Cream Cheese Frosting



{Inside Look At The Strawberry Compote Filling & Cream Cheese Layer!}


SPIDERMAN & HELLO KITTY CUPCAKES!

Vanessa was one of my favorite coworkers before she left our store, but I was lucky enough to get to bake a special order of cupcakes for her before she went!  The order was for a dozen chocolate cupcakes that were going to be for both her aunt, and her little brother!  So six of the cupcakes were to represent Hello Kitty and the other six were designed to represent Spider Man! Such a fun design and SUCH a delicious combination!

One Dozen Cupcakes
Chocolate Cakes
Chocolate Mousse Whipped Frosting





JAMESON CELEBRATION!

My Sweet friend Leah requested a special cake as a gift for her coworker/boss; a Jameson Bottle! Having already done a Jameson shaped cake, I was familiar with the technique and design that the cake required, so it took much less time!  The cake was for quite a few people so I needed to make it a little wider than would be normally proportional, but overall the cake turned out great! Somewhat like a chubby Jameson bottle! The cake was Chocolate & Vanilla Checkerboard throughout, with Chocolate Marshmallow Cream Cheese Frosting! This was the first combination of the two that I have had, and WOW is it delicious!

Three Tier, Six Layer Vanilla & Chocolate Checkerboard Cake
{Customer Carved}
Chocolate Marshmallow Cream Cheese Frosting