Jamie Pruitt's Baby Shower Cake

I made this for my girlfriend Jamie's Baby Shower back in June.  Yes, that is how far behind I am.  Anyway, I was very excited about this cake, because I planned to make my first "person" out of gum paste and fondant.  I thought that was going to be the part to give me trouble.  Turns out, that was the easy part compared to everything else that went wrong.

First....our A/C went out and it's the middle of June with scorching temperatures and high humidity. Secondly, because of the humidity, my fondant would not roll out to save my life.  This was actually supposed to be a two tier cake but I could only manage to roll out one tier of fondant.  Once I got that on....with problems (seems, etc...) no less, I figured I better no push my luck.

Oh....did I mention we still had to get it to Katy with a car load of poeple (7 people, all the bags, gifts, etc...in a Tahoe!  I had to hold it the whole way to keep it level.  Once we got it to Katy, we still had to get to Cypress for the shower.  Yep, Houston area is way more humid!!!!.  The cake finally made it there.  I was really disappointed with this, because it was for my good friends!  I do have to say though that I was totally pleased with my first Gum Paste Person!

Yeah....I've been gone for a while.....

Yeah....I've been gone for a while, but I have a day job that pays the bills.  Priorities!  =0

No worries, though.  I have tons of cakes to catch you up on.  Can't wait......I'll probably be posting for the next few days.  I hope I don't wear you out!

Lightning McQueen Birthday Cake - 2D

The same per that order the Tow Mater cake also order this Lightning McQueen Cake. Fortunately, I'd heard of him!

This is technically a 2-D cake, but the Lightning McQueen car, itself, is raised and textured. Both the base and car are strawberry cake lightly iced with strawberry icing. Just like the Tow Mater, I but the base icing down to seal the cake, then followed with black icing to outline the designs. The car colors were piped in with a star tip, the sky was air-brushed in, and the road was made of crushed Oreo cookies...yum!

The best part of making both this and the Tow Mater cake was the deliver. The birthday boy was so excited!

Tow Mater Birthday Cake - 2D

Let me start by telling you I've never seen the movie "Cars", so when this cake was ordered, I had no idea what Tow Mater was!

The chocolate cake was freehand shaped then lightly iced with chocolate buttercream to seal it. The next step was outline the boundaries in black. From there all I had to do was color fill with a star tip.

To date, this is probably my favorite cake. I even liked this one more then the Bass Fish Grooms cake I did in May. It is actually an easy cake, but Tow Mater is just so cute and annimated!

Medellion-Garcia Grooms Cake

Medellin-Garcia Grooms Cake ~ May 16, 2009

The bride requested the Bass Fish cake as a second "surprise" grooms cake for her fiance. He is an avid fisherman, and she knew this cake would just make his day.

I never thought I could make a 2-D or 3-D cake out of carrot cake, but that is what the bride requested. For starters, my carrot cake is so moist, I was positive it would not hold its shape once I started carving. Secondly, in order to decorate this cake as she requested, I had to use a fondant overlay. Well, carrot cake just isn't carrot cake unless you have cream cheese icing, and cream cheese icing does not hold its shape.....so how on earth was I planning to lay fondant over the top. Finally, a Bass Fish! How on earth do you make that look real?

Let me know what you think of the outcome.

Oh...and thanks to my girl Jamie P. for helping me through this one!

Medellin-Garcia Wedding Cake

My first official Wedding Cake! May 16, 2009

The bride chose a classic cake. This was a four tier cake with two different flavors, Classic Yellow and French Vanilla, with pineapple filling and strawberry filling. Iced with Wedding White buttercream, all four tiers were decorated with pearl drops and cascading red rose pedals. A bouquet of fresh red roses topped the cake.

This was definitely a learning experience, from the prep work to delivery.....which by the way was during a horrible rain storm. Thank goodness the reception had a covered carport!

Veronica Medellin's Wedding Shower Cake

I made this for a wedding shower in May 2009. The bride had very simple and elegant taste, so the shower hostess requested a very simply decorated chocolate cake. We decided on a "gift wrapped" present with a ribbon and bow to match her wedding color.

This is My Double Decadent Chocolate Cake chocolate buttercream icing. White Fondant is layer over the top. The ribbon and bow are made of a fondant gum paste mix.

Hayc County Food Bank - Logo Cake

My first Corporate Logo cake!

My Boss sits on the board of the Hays County Food Bank. In April, of 2009, the food bank unveiled a new logo. I was asked to donate a couple of cakes to help celebrate the new logo at an event in downtown San Marcos.

I made a stencil and cut the logo out of fondant. Next time I will try air-brushing. Cutting all the letter detail was quite difficult.

Girls Night In Cake

Back in April, I threw a "Girls Night In" pre-bachelorette party for a good friend. The guest of honor is very stylish so I decided to do a fun, champagne and high heels theme.

This cake is a very simple Chocolate Fudge cake layered with chocolate butter cream. White fondant is rolled over the top for the base color and I added a hot pink ribbon and shoe platform to match the fun fringe. Unfortunately, I did not have time to mold the shoe. The black heel on top of the cake is a wooden decor piece.

So they are not really cops!

This was an interesting cake I did back in March '09.....yep....that far behind on my posts. On of my co-workers needed a cake to celebrate her co-workers birthday's. Not sure what promoted this idea, but it was funny and different. I wish I'd asked why one of the guys had a Fu Manchu hat and mustache. Oh well. It was fun to make.

Oh, you can't see this, since it's iced, but I actually baked it as half french vanilla and half triple chocolate fudge. All I did was cut a divider down to size and hold it upright while I poured in the batter. The biggest issue I had was the batters bake to different heights. Nothing a little leveling didn't fix.

Bad Blogger, Bad!

Okay......so I am a bad blogger. Actually, I just have trouble balancing life, other activities, with my need for a "Day Job". The real problem is that my day job is getting in the way of my fun job. I basically make the time to fill cake orders....and I do manage to take pictures of the cakes. I just don't give myself anytime for "administrative" stuff. I am working on it.

In the mean time, over the next week, I am going to update my blog with some of the cakes I've done in the last three months. I hope you enjoy! ~

Mardi Gras King Cake

King Cakes are so yummy and fun. We had a Mardi Gras pot luck for lunch at work - Grande. Along with some Red Beans and Rice, I made this king cake. I think the beads were a hotter commodity then the cake was!

White & Multi Color Polka Dot Cake

This was a baby shower cake I delivered on February 22, 09. It is a two tier Strawberry Cake with White buttercream icing. The customer didn't want fondant, but we decided it was okay to use it for the decorations.....she really wanted a bow and I had to use Gum Paste and Fondant for that! =)

We matched the cake decorations to the invitations and party decorations. The cake was a surprise to the Mother-to-be, and it was a hit. I'm told she was thrilled.

Valentine's Day Bake-off

So, I haven't blogged in a while. Not because I haven't been busy, but because I've been busy. Unfortunately, it hasn't been on new and exciting cake adventures........until now.

Every year, since I can remember, Grande (my day job) has hosted a Valentine's Day Bake Off. Normally, I enter something in the "healthy" category, since I am always working on new recipes that my husband and I can eat. Well, not this year. I decided it was time to show off some skill.

This is a two tier French Vanilla cake with butter cream icing and fondant. I added the a pink fondant ribbon to each tier to compliment the feathers and base. The fondant color was air brushed on, rather then kneading it into the dough.

It was a blast to make and I unexpectedly won! Who-hoo ~

Christmas Gift Box Cake

I know it is well past Christmas....but better late then never. I've been dealing with illness after illness and trying to transition to a new computer. Fun stuff!

Shalonda, one of my co-workers, asked for a cake for a Christmas party. She wanted to really knock her Juda classmates socks off with a cool cake. At first, I suggested a fun topsy turvy with snowflakes protruding with wire, but ....turns out....not everyone likes topsy turvy! Go figure.

Anyway, I mentioned doing a gift box cake, and she was sold. I was so excited because I always wanted to decorate one of these. I love the minimilistic look of this cake, yet is really makes a statement. I hope I get to make more of these in the future.

My Birthday

My birthday was this past week....January 9th. Wow ~ I turned 35. I made myself a Chocolate Cheesecake, but in all the commotion, I forgot to take a picture of it. It was probably a good thing, because I didn't have time to really "dress" the cake the way I wanted. So, I plan to make another one of those really soon. Hopefully I can get a great picture of it and post it for all. I may be dropping by with slices of cheesecake, 'cause I don't think I can eat anymore!

50th Wedding Anniversay Cakes

So back in November, my friend Lisa asked if I would make her parents 50th Anniversary cake. I was really excited to do it because I was asked to make a cake similar to their original cake. How cool is that.

First off, I was touched by the longevity of her parents relationship and the beauty of the memory. As we talked about the cake, Lisa shared her Mother's wedding pictures with me. They were amazing! They were married in the late 50ths, and seeing all the style and elegance of that period was awesome. Lisa shared her idea of "recreating" her parents wedding day thru pictures, wedding day memorabilia (like displaying her mothers wedding dress and one of the bridesmaids dress on antique wire mannequins, and thru the cake. I was hooked....I had to make the cake!

Lisa also asked that I make a two tiered chocolate cake....similar to a grooms cake, even though her father didn't have one at their originally wedding. Everything would have gone off without a hitch....had Bo not eaten the Chocolate cake (see previous Blog entry). Despite that little hick up, the cakes came out very nice and Lisa was very happy with the finished product. Lisa was excited to report back that when the party guest saw the cake they were amazed that it was just like the original cake.

I only wish I had better pictures of both cakes. The picture of the white cake was prior to delivery, so the finishing fresh flowers were not in place. I hope to get a picture of the "finished' cake from Lisa soon. The chocolate cake did not photo graph well. The black back drop just did not work for this cake. I need to buy a light neutral colored drop for darker cakes.

My Dog ate my homework!

This is actually from an e-mail i sent one of my friends about one of the cakes she ordered for her parents 50th anniversary party. This happened in November.....Friday, November 21st to be exact.....sometime between 6 a.m. and 7:30 a.m..........


You know the old excuse....My dog ate my homework.....


How about my dog ate your cake! No seriously. Bo...."the canine tank" ate 1/4 of your chocolate cake! How do we know it was Bo you ask? 1) 'Cause he is ALWAYS the one that does this kind of thing....counter surfing, etc.... 2) 'Cause I found chocolate cake pieces in his spot on the bed just a few minutes ago. 3) 'Cause he is looking at me like ...."what did I do!" and Pi is not (she usually cowers or hides when she knows she did something.

I already called the vet and we walked thru what I need to watch for and what I need to do. It is probably going to be okay because there is not enough Unsweetened Bakers Chocolate to be lethal for his size....125 lbs. Plus, I am sure Pi shared a little.....whatever Bo dragged to the floor that is.....and the floor was a mess.

Okay....off to force a dog to vomit.....yuk!!!!! oh, and no worries...I'll have your chocolate cake ready for the party. Just had to share this crazy story with you!

After all was said and done, I got the anniversary cakes finished and delivered on time. The craziest part of his ordeal was actually not that Bo ate the cake. It was that he never got sick. Not even after I tried to induce vomiting. He did get very very hyper later that night. That is a whole other story, though!

Needless to say, I do not leave anything on the counter anymore. Not even for an hour!

Pomegranate's: Who knew!

Well, I am sure a lot know......but I didn't! These are the weirdest fruit. I've always been "afraid" of these things. They looked awful to me, so I never tried them.

I finally broke down this year, because I keep hearing wonderful things about the fruit and keep finding neat recipes. Needless to say, this is me, opening my first batch of Pomegranate's. They are the most unusual, yet yummy tasting things ever! I never expected the interior fruit to be like seeds......nor did I expect them to be so sweet. How can something like this be so good. It looks like an over sized radish, for goodness sakes!

While these things were in season, I made a few Pom Cheesecakes! Interesting and popular, but not personally my cup a tea. I like my cheesecake best plain or with strawberries!