Thinking warm thoughts!

Well, we woke up to about 7" of snow this morning! And it is still coming down! While it is incredibly beautiful, I have to admit I am a little chilly. I thought I would post about a summer cake today! Maybe it will help me thing warm thoughts!

This cake was for Ellie's sixth birthday. Ellie was having a pool party and knew exactly what she wanted her cake to look like! She was very cute as she described how tall she wanted it, what colors she liked and what flavor it should be! I ran the idea by her parents who just laughed and told me to go for it! I did bring the cake down to two layers though!! This cake was so much fun to make and the flip-flops were easier than I thought they would be.

Ah, flip-flops! Those warm, summer days will be here sooner than I realize. So, for today I am just going to enjoy the beauty of the snow fall, the warmth of the fire and a nice cup of hot cocoa!

Sweet Sushi!

The perfect birthday cake for the sushi lover in your life!

Fabulous Blog with a Great Giveaway!

So, I found an amazing blog! The Tomkat Studio is such an inspiring blog. I have really been enjoying all of the darling ideas. Not only does Tomkat Studio have incredible ideas for parties but she also has an amazing giveaway! She is giving away fabulous stationary from Icing Designs.

Icing Designs has the cutest cake themed stationary! I love the one with the Eiffel Tower! Oh, and the one with the chandelier is just too cute for words! I would love to win some of this darling stationary! Hm, if I don't win I may just have to make a purchase!

Check out her wonderful site and the great Etsy shop of Icing Designs!

Bows

The suspense, the excitement, the happiness that comes when you see a bow! It is always on top of a surprise! Maybe that is why I love to put bows on cakes...on top of a sweet surprise!

I really enjoy making bows for cakes. As much as I love bows, I am never completely satisfied with the way mine turn out. I would really love to find a great tutorial on making fondant bows. Let me know if you find one!

One of my faves!

This cake was made for a friends baby shower. I absolutely loved the way it turned out! I loved the bow on top, the dots, and the painting on the bottom layer! This is the first time that I had tried painting on a cake and was pretty pleased with the attempt.

Now, before you think that I am clever or anything like that, let me point you to the inspiration for this cake! One of my favorite sites is Pink Cake Box. Her toile cake was so fabulous, but of course everything she does is amazing! When I saw her cake I couldn't wait for a excuse to try it!

To paint the bottom layer I mixed gel coloring with a little water. I have read that vodka works really well but since I didn't have any in the house I just went with water. Now, I don't have an art background so I didn't try to put any people in my toile pattern but I love the way the trees turned out!

What was inside you ask? The most amazing white chocolate lemon cake filled with lemon curd and a white chocolate cream cheese frosting. So very yummy! This recipe is one my favorites. The top was a yellow cake with buttercream frosting and raspberry filling.

Oh, the expectant mother was given a pink toile diaper bag at the shower! Too cute!

I could get used to stencils!

I ordered two stencils from Culinary Stencils! I was so excited to get them! I decided to use one on the Christmas cake special that I offered my customers. The cake itself was red velvet with cream cheese filling and covered with marshmallow fondant.

The stencils were a little trickier to use than I thought they would be, however the results were pretty amazing! Royal icing is used to spread over the stencil once you have it placed on the cake. Then, using a bench scraper, the excess royal icing is taken off. After that, the stencil is lifted off very carefully. Overall, I really liked the results. I am pretty sure that I will order from Culinary Stencils again. I think after more practice it will become a very useful and beautiful way to decorate cakes!