Happy Valentines Day

my first order

Well, my first official cake order is completed and although there was no blood, there was definitally some sweat and tears but I am actually happy with how it came out! So, here it is a lemon cake on the top tier, lemon cupcakes for the second tier (with raspberry buttercream filling) and dark chocolate cupcakes for the bottom (also with raspberry buttercream filling)

sneak peek

You knew you woke up for a reason today! (Other than your family, work, and other more important things.) You my friend are getting a sneak peek a the baby shower cake! The picture below, is my cupcake tier. I placed a cake pan and cupcake wrappers on it, to give you an idea of scale. As you can see, the support that hold up the top tier is not yet wrapped, but you get the idea.

These are little airplanes for the cupcakes. I had seen little airplane molds online made by wilton, and they said that you could find them at Michaels and Hobby Lobby, but apparently not here, so I piped those by hand with melted chocolate and vanilla wafers.
This is the beginnings of the cake topper. It's also a little plane and the thing behind it that is resting on rolled up paper will be the sign the plane is pulling that will say "It's a Boy!" but I need it to dry first. I also need to "glue" on the propeller, the windshield, wings and the tail, but hopefully you get the idea!

cookies part one

The sugar cookies are completed! I've already decided to nix the gingerbread men, because I'm out of powdered sugar to make the icing. The mittens have a crushed peppermint dust along the bottom, which is so tasty I wish I used it on more cookies!

Holiday amnesia

Have you ever experienced it? Holiday amnesia? You do something every year for the sake of tradition, just to remember that you actually hate doing it. Usually it hits halfway through whatever you're doing. For me, it's making sugar cookies. Yep, I'll admit it, I hated making sugar cookies. All that sticky dough that clings to stuff like a parasite, no matter how much flour you use to combat it. Then, if you use too much flour, it destroys the dough all together. When you cut out your favorite shapes, you pray that it won't tear or scrunch in the transfer from counter to cookie sheet. At the end of the day, you end up with more dough and flour in your hair than in the cookie jar, and you've scared off the dog (who is also covered in flour) with all of your growling and moaning. The Christmas trees end up looking like shrubs and Santa looks like the stay puffed marshmallow man. Well, not anymore! I just couldn't wait until Monday to share this, because I'm so stoked about it! I came across this anonymous tip on cakecentral.com and it changed my life. Maybe not my life, but my cookies!

When you're making sugar cookie dough, usually you have to refrigerate the dough before you roll it. That's where the trouble begins. Instead of doing that, do this...

Once you've finished mixing the dough, immediately transfer some dough on to some parchment paper (waxed paper will work too) cover the dough with another sheet of the paper and roll out to your desired thickness. Place the rolled out dough on a cookie sheet and place in the fridge. Repeat this step until all of your dough has been rolled out. Once you're done with rolling out all of the dough, the first batch will have cooled enough to pull out and begin cutting out your shapes. The dough is already rolled out, you don't need extra flour at all and the dough is chilled, so it keeps the shape so much better than before! The extra scraps can be combined with other scraps to be re-rolled out between the parchment sheets and set in the fridge for a few minutes. Oh, it's so much easier and cleaner!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Well, today is not my moms birthday, but Monday is! I am going to San Antonio this weekend to spend some time with her and my sister and since I never know what to get people for their birthdays, I've gotten into making baked goods because who doesn't like a cupcake/cookie/cake? So, I made some chocolate cupcakes (from a box, I cheat too) filled them with chocolate and decorated them with chocolate frosting. (The ruffled ones have cream cheese frosting too) I also made the little orange and white doodads and topped with Halloween sprinkles. I just need some candles.....but I don't have any. Now lets just hope they make the trip :)

A Cake Wreck

I witnessed a real live Cake Wreck...except I'm not allowed to take pictures at work, so it's not documented photographically. I apologize, I do. So, let me paint the picture for you. We have a freezer at work that houses decorated sheetcakes ready to be taken home. There is space on these cake for your desired sentiment to be written, if you so choose. Most of these cakes have roses, or balloons, or other not descript simple designs. I guess we were out of a certain flavor, so a sweet old lady ordered one to be decorated with balloons and express happy birthday to some dear friend. Upon receiving her cake she looked at it and exclaimed "the balloons look like testicles!" (no, I did not decorate it, and I actually wasn't there when this happened, but saw the lady afterwards, after the cake was um...neutered) So the head decorator had to "fix" the cake, and ended up just putting plastic balloons on it in order to avoid futher issues. When the sweet lady came back, and was much happier!

A little piece of home

So, there's this cake shop that is closing tomorrow and they're selling a bunch of stuff for ridiculously cheap. Right now theres a deal that you can fill a large size gift bag with anything all for only 25 bucks! (I'm talking the really large gift bags too!) So, I went nuts naturally! Upon looking around an madly grabbing all sorts of cake pans, cookie cutters, decorations, and the like, I came across a cake decorating magazine from 3 years ago that had an Aggie cake feature of all things! Who else in the state of Florida other than myself would even want this!? I almost squealed with joy and now I have to figure out a purpose to make this cake....I have to. The top of the hat is cake, the brim is not, and the pillow it's sitting on is cake! It's got all the instructions and everything! This just made my day :)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Everybody! Here's hoping that you have a wonderful day celebrating the wonder of God's grace, and getting to indulge in whatever (if anything) you gave up for Lent!

somethings fishy here...

So, this past Monday, I got to create my cake design, unfortunately, it took up until the deadline to complete it, and it had to go out, so I didn't get any real photos of it. That, and I didn't have my camera...I'm sorry! However the drawing to the left pretty much depicts what the sides looked like and the top looked like the circle below. The second full cake drawing was just another doodle, it's just un-cropped. It turned out ok, I wish I could have spent more time on it, but alas I couldn't. It was done and it needed to go to its paying customers. We made the tile pieces out of fondant, and then gently pushed them into a butter cream covered cake. We were going to make poured sugar, but that would have taken even longer. The top is also just fondant pieces layed out. It would have looked better if the fish were 3-d but we just didn't have the time. So there you have it, my professional cake design debut.

Cake really does make everything better

In previous posts I've been quite negative towards our move to Florida. The biggest problems were in finding friends and a job, and feeling like I have purpose. I know that being military now, we'll have to get used to people and jobs coming and going frequently but it's still hard. However, things are getting so much better! I was never able to get back in touch with the potential job offers I received, so I'm still working at the cake shop, and I couldn't be happier! I love that I don't sit at a desk all day long, and that I get to have a creative outlet! I love learning new techniques and methods! I love that I'm treated as an equal, not as just a dishwasher or gofer, but am allowed to get completely involved in the process. I love that things I learned in college still can be applied to this too! There is a cake coming up that the client wants the Chicago skyline on it, so my drawing techniques are being used. I also got to design another cake all by myself! Its for a cake for one of the ladies husbands work, and they don't care what it looks like, but either way, I get to design it. I'll try to scan in my plan soon, and take a picture when it's done (which should be Monday.) I love waking up in the morning with purpose and feel like I'm using my gifts. Money is still really tight there, so I'm still not paid. However it's still experience that I can use later in life and put on a resume and fill my portfolio with professional cakes instead of just Wilton cakes. Of course we may be moving in a few months, or we could stay for another year or so, but at least I've had this opportunity. God answers prayer in His own perfect time. It's been frustrating, wondering if His answer was no. While at the same time feeling guilty for praying for this when there is so much other heartbreak in the world. However it's another lesson for me that God cares about every thing in our lives, from things we think are insignificant and silly to the big stuff in our lives.

Not Cake Wrecks

Alrighty folks, the pictures of the competition have been posted and I've picked my faves to show you guys. You can see all of them (including me in the one tip challenge) at beachbumphotography who took the pictures pro bono for the event! I thought they did an amazing job, so you should check them out if you get the chance.

These are the other cakes in my division

And these were others that I really liked. The lady I work with now, did this first one. By the way, I hate the way blogger doesn't let you place pictures as you'd like.

perhaps this isn't a good time...

It's Lent, as you may be aware, and my friend Kenzie and I have both given up sweets/desserts (individually) for the season. It has been a huge struggle for me, the ice cream in the freezer keeps calling my name. I don't know how much she's struggling, but I'm about to test her. I don't mean to do it out of mean spirit, but I remembered she was looking for a recipe for a real strawberry cake and I found a couple. I know I'll forget by the time Lent has ended, so I thought I'd post it now. I don't know exactly what she was looking for, (other than real strawberries in the cake, and not as a filling) so I hope one of these helps your search! One of the members of the cake decorating club I'm in, informed me of cakecentral.com which is like cake heaven for someone like me! They've got all sorts of ideas and recipes, which is where I came across these two cakes. Again Kenzie, I am so sorry I found this now, but hopefully you can make it for Easter and enjoy it then!

Strawberry Cake Numero Uno
1 box (18.25 oz.) Duncan Hines Classic White Cake mix
1 box (3oz.) Strawberry gelatin
3/4 c. vegetable oil
1/2 c. water
4 eggs
1/2 pt. frozen whole strawberries, thawed


Preheat oven to 350. Combine cake mix and gelatin together until mixed well. Add oil, water, and eggs and mix on low for low speed until moistened (about 30 seconds). Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. While mixture is beating, puree thawed strawberries in a blender (if you don't have a blender just mash them really well). Combine strawberries and cake batter on low speed until strawberries are incorporated. Pour into greased/floured cake pans. Turn oven down to 325. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until done.

Strawberry Cake Numero Dos
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw)
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup mashed strawberries
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/4 cup toasted slivered almonds


1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2 In a large bowl, cream together 1/2 cup butter and the turbinado sugar. Add the eggs, and beat for 1 minute. Stir in the vanilla and salt.
3 In a small bowl, stir together the sour cream and the baking soda until the baking soda has dissolved. Add the sour cream mixture and the flour to the egg mixture. Beat well, then stir in the mashed strawberries.
4 Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until top springs back when lightly touched.
5 While cake is cooling, make the icing: Cream together 2 tablespoons butter and confectioners' sugar. Add the milk, lemon juice, and lemon zest, and beat until smooth. Spread icing on warm (not hot!) cake, and sprinkle with slivered almonds.

What the duck?!

See, I told you I wasn't finished. I just thought I was, but I had to make some ducks for the water. I had to. You can't have water without water fowl, and the bears were lonely. (You know you've been working on something too long when the feelings of fondant bears matter to you...) So, here's the final (....maybe) touch to the cake.

finale...maybe

After weeks of sugar going everywhere, food dye staining my hands (and face, darn itchy nose!) all sorts of colors, hand cramps, back aches, and icing getting pretty much everywhere, I think the cake is done!* You've seen the dry fit, and the second phase, and now I present my rendition of the "great outdoors" in cake form. Since the competition isn't until Saturday, if you've got any suggestions or ideas, please feel free to let me know!

*By "I think" means, knowing me it's not finished, but any changes will be minor unless something horrible happens, in which I'll sit in the corner and cry.

phase II

The cake is slowly but surely coming along! I've got the rock texture in place as well as the waterfall. Thanks to my cake instructor, she helped me figure out how to get icing to look like water! You can also see the lovely mess that was my dining room table. It has no space to eat anymore, so now we just eat at the coffee table. The next phase will be to add foliage and begin adding life to the scene. I'll keep ya'll posted throughout the metamorphosis of the cake, so stay tuned!

the final countdown

Well folks, the competition is near. What competition am I talking about? Why the panhandle cake competition of course! The competition to design a cake around the theme 'the great outdoors.' It's this coming Saturday and the proceeds go towards the Ronald McDonald House. You've seen the evolution of the bears, but little else. (Mostly because up until this week, there was little else.) I had a couple of colds that kept me from working on it, but I've finally gotten better and have been knocking out 'great outdoors' elements. Now, I have a rough fit of how the cake will look when its done. There is still a TON of things to do for it, but here's a sneak peak just for you. There are more trees, and a lot of texture and foliage to put on. Also, the rocks are outlining where the waterfall will go, but other than that, here is my rough draft of "a grizzly camping trip!" Hopefully by next Saturday, it'll be finished and helping to raise money for a great cause! (It's not being auctioned off (its not even cake, its Styrofoam) but each entry cost a little money, and the event has activities for children that they're charging a little for.) I'm thinking about making a sign that says "Don't feed the bears!" but I'm not sure if I'll have time.

cake wrecks

So, after being asked a question about our wedding site, I went to check out the website to see if it had the answer. It did not, but it did have pictures cakes. I saw one, I thought at first was a tech cake, but upon closer scruitiny, discovered no, its a picasso bevo. It looks like a longwart hog. I don't want to sound petty, I'm no cake professional, it's hard to cut out he head of a longhorn, I know, but um...I don't think this quite does it. However, there was another one, that I thought was really cute

MSM fondant bears

It's Monday again! (ok, I know it's actually Tuesday, but this would have been posted yesterday but as you know, I'm experiencing computer problems. I know excuses, excuses. However, I do have a MSM post, and here it is! We're making fondant/gum paste bears today! (um...yesterday) Same rules can apply to clay if you'd rather make a clay bear. First of all, you must start with your medium, whether you want to make cake decorations, or a clay bear for...whatever reason. I used a 50/50 mix of pre-made fondant and gumpaste, and used food coloring to create the brown I wanted. You can make black if you want a black bear, or if you're making an Al Gore cake, you could leave it white to make polar bears. I began to make the head. I rolled and formed into a bearish head shape, made a nose and put in pins for eyes. (I made the ears separately to "glue" on later.) The nose is also fondant I dyed black. I formed a ball and stuck it on, then using a toothpick I formed the nostrils. Then, I made thin strips of the brown fondant and formed them over the eyes to give the face some eyelids. These aren't necessary, but it gives expression to the face. If you want a wide eyed expression, leave the lids off. I will take a pen later to add pupils, he won't look possessed for ever, I promise. For the ears, I formed half circles and then pinched the flat ends together. The fondant isn't quite as easy to use as clay, which is why I opted to use gumpaste glue to adhere them onto the head. If you're using clay, you could just add them on.

Moving on, I then formed the bear's body into a little rotund oblong shape, and inserted a toothpick into the "neck" to give the head a stable connector. I will also use the glue to make sure the head doesn't fall off later, because that may be traumatic. You really can't mess up the body, bears come in all shapes and sizes, and around the beginning of winter, are probably lumpy. Next come the legs...which for some reason I didn't take pictures of, but you can kind of see them in the finished result picture at the top of the page. For the legs, I formed the back legs as one solid piece including haunches. To do this, I made little snakes and flattened the top half to form the haunches. Then, for the paws I rolled the bottom up a little to create the look of feet. The front legs are just the "snakes" with the rolled up bottom to form paws. For the tail I made a shape that resembles...well poop, because its small rounded and brown. Now, with fondant/gumpaste you have to wait a few days for everything to dry before you glue them together. I waited for a week (because the body is solid, and would take a while to dry.) I have these little muffin trays that are great for little parts to dry. You can also see the little legs in there. (Yes, there are extra bear parts in there, I will be making a total of 3.) They're also great for forming flowers, because it lets them dry in a cup shape. With clay, you can bake it and be done with that with in a few hours.

You may be asking, "well Amanda, why are you making fondant bears? I have no use for this information, why would I make a bear." Well, I don't know the answer to the second question, but I didn't want to do another recipe, and I am entering a cake competition that will take place at the end of the month of February. The theme this year is 'The Great Outdoors' and I am going to make a 'grizzly camping trip' cake. I'll have three bears, one will have his tushy sticking out of a tent, one will have his head buried in a cooler and the one that you see there will be checking out some abandoned smores by a smoldering campfire. Other than that, I'll make some trees and such to go on the cake. What's great about this, is that I've gotten a dummy cake (which is foam cut out in the shape of a cake) so that A) I can work on this for a long time B) the cake won't go bad or start caving in over time and C) I can keep this cake forever.

So there you go, you can make a bear now if you want to

cake wrecks

I've had a few people lead me to the website cakewrecks.com. If you haven't seen it, you should go check it out sometime! Its a blog dedicated, for the most part, to poorly designed cakes. Well, I have a story for them! I came across this news story about a denied cake design, and a family who was so offended by the lack of understanding. Here's the catch, they named their son (who is currently 3) Adolph Hitler. Yeah...and apparently in the past they've been denied as well, because the father requested a swastika to adorn the cake. (I think people should have to take an exam before they become parents, and if they fail they get neutered. This is why I won't run for president.) The father says he named him after the dictator because no other child would have that name. Duh. He continues to argue that just because he'd named after him, doesn't mean he will become him, he had multi racial friends at his cake-less birthday party, so clearly he's a-ok. He also put on the table that with obama as the future president, Americans should be more tolerant because he's bringing change to the country, and so the nation should tolerate their child's name. First of all, you're dumb for naming your child after Hitler. Secondly, if people keep turning you down when you want a cake, stop asking, no one will make you one, make your own darn cake. Thirdly, you should be neutered, now. Thanks and gig 'em.