July, Where Did You Go?!

July.. the month that flew by...!  What was I up to... here's a synopsis:

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Red Velvet Cake Pops & French Macarons

I was requested to make some sweets for a wedding... and the bride-to-be wanted macarons and cake pops... in ivory, grey and pink colours.  The macaron Swiss meringue fillings were filled with opposite-coloured shells.

Congrats!

 

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Butterfly Cookies

This design was based off a face painting on the birthday girl... cute! :)

Happy 5th Birthday, Mieke!

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Shoe Cookies

My co-worker was leaving for school in the States (to become a lawyer)!  She's such a fashionista, I made her shoe-shaped sugar cookies with pink outlines in different designs.

Good luck, Jola!

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Hollywood Cake

An 18-year-old requested a glamorous cake for her birthday for her Hollywood themed birthday party.  The stars had to be gold and the other colours had to be red and black.  The red marshmallow fondant was flavoured with black cherry Jell-O.  The top tier was vanilla cake with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream while the bottom tier was chocolate cake with chocolate ganache flavoured Swiss meringue buttercream.

Happy 18th Birthday, Melanie!

Cookies 'n Cakes

Baby Boy Onesies Cookies

My favourite CIP (insurance courses) instructor, Melanie, was due to have her first baby (note: since I made contact with her last, she was having her baby!).  I wanted to ship her a box of cookies to celebrate (she ate them before the baby was born, so I guess he had a taste of them, too).

Little boy onesies for a really lucky baby!  Mel is into ATVs and such, and I would not be surprised if he rode on that before a tryke.  Oh, the poor Mennonite neighbours! :)

Welcome, Baby Boy!

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Theatre Birthday Cake

My friend, Yahaira, wanted to practice making a cake for her son's upcoming birthday, so we made a cake for her friend's birthday, as a test.  This was also a test for me, because I haven't taught anyone how to decorate anything before.

He was into drama, so we made that our theme.  We made marshmallow fondant (it was giving our hands a workout!) to cover the chocolate cake (not homemade but the vanilla filling was).  Luckily, she had gloves so we didn't get red or blue stained on our hands when we coloured the fondant!

Pretty good work for a beginner, eh?  Hopefully, the birthday boy appreciated the effort!  I am proud of my students' (her husband helped out, too) work!

 

Happy Birthday, Dan!

 

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Ariel Birthday Cakes

Big girl Nikki turned 5, and she loves the Little Mermaid.  Now, this is my first Ariel cake, so I had a few challenges... one being working with the gumpaste!  It didn't want to harden, so I don't know what's up with that.  Gumpaste is supposed to dry faster than fondant, so how come it didn't work for me?  Oh well.

The chocolate cake was filled with pink vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream and covered in blue fondant.  I added ocean details as finishing touches.  The brown sign is made with chocolate fondant.

I made a second sheet cake, because there were a lot of guests.  It was decorated with flowers, lettering and buttercream. 

Happy 5th Birthday, Nikki!

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Brownies with Cream Cheese Icing

Sorry, don't have pics of this one... I had to make it twice because I forgot the add sugar the first time (don't ask how I missed it!).  This was for a playdate lunch, so I cut out pieces with a heart-shaped cookie cutter, then piped a heart with the icing.  It was so yummy!  I will make this recipe again, and I'll do the same design so I can post up the image.

 

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The following two items were for a bake sale at work to help raise money for the United Way: 

Milk Chocolate Fudge Crackles

A new recipe... had to use 1/2 tablespoon scoops because 1 tablespoon-sized made the cookies spread horrifically.  The smaller size made the cookies bake evenly and enticed those who would've refused a larger cookie (due to diet).  What a mess I made when rolling the cookie balls into icing sugar! :/

Snowflake Gingerbread Cookies

A classic, just in time for the holidays!  I changed it up by having a darker blue tint for the royal icing, as well as adding silver dragees and random pearls throughout.  These, I packaged then tied with blue curling ribbon, as I thought it would be great to save for later or for a loved one.

Something Blue Manolo Blahnik Shoe!

This was my first completed shoe ever... fortunately, it only took me the second try to get it right! Researching online, I encountered someone who made as many as nine attempts before she was satisfied. I do not have that sort of patience.

So, my colleague turned 24 and wanted me to create a shoebox cake (she's shoe-crazy). She decided to challenge me to make Carrie Bradshaw's satin "Something Blue" stiletto from the first "Sex and the City" movie. And challenging, it was! If the shoe was a sandal, instead of a closed-toe full pump, it would've been a breeze.

For structural purposes, it had to be made out of gumpaste, with a bamboo skewer in the heel. The blue parts were brushed with pearl lustre dust to give it a satiny look. The blue shell and the beige lining were on top of each other so that it would match up when it was cut. I cut a rectangular opening in the insole, then wrote the label onto a frosting sheet to appear under the opening (because my research showed the label in inset in the insole instead of on top of it). Finally, all the edges were finished with stitching marks, including around the label.

The shoebox is made up of three layers of chocolate cake filled with ganache, iced with ganache, then topped with marshmallow fondant. The real shoebox is just plain white, so I wanted to give it some flair with some contrasting striping, which was also brushed with some lustre dust.

I truly enjoyed the process of making this shoe (not the first attempt, though) and the results. I could not find a template for closed-toe pump, so it was only by trial and error that I was able to form the shape. At least I know now to use a sole pattern that is slimmer in width to achieve a slender toe box.

Bring on the next shoe order!

Happy Birthday, Vasiola!

Wedding Cake Showcase

I have been working on these dummy cakes for quite a while now; only when I have free time or when the boys are asleep. That's the bonus of the cakes being fake, you don't have to worry about it spoiling. I will be having them photographed professionally, so it will look better than what I have here. The purpose of this exercise is to show some of the techniques I can do for future orders and to give inspiration. Enjoy! :)

Embroidered flowers

(4" high dummies in 6", 8" and 10" rounds)

This style is relatively simple. Royal icing is piped on, then brushed inward for dimension. The marshmallow fondant (MMF) leaves were cut and overlapped to finish the borders, and I made them in the three sizes from smallest to biggest; they were also highlighted in white. The cake board was covered in thinned royal icing and sanding sugar was sprinkled on. Royal icing dots were piped randomly on. The fondant was made from marshmallows with strawberry J-ello and a bit of leftover orange MMF.

Sea elements

(carved 4" dummies in 6", 8" and 10" rounds)

I decided to make it topsy turvy. For the bottom tier, I folded strips of berry J-ello MMF and had it wrapped around. Royal icing items: dots, netting, and coral topper (using a grape stem as a base!). Other items were MMF: lily and lily pad, pearls, plants, and coral. The sand is made with light brown sugar.

Vintage pearls and roses

(4" high dummies in 6" and two 8" rounds)

This cake was the most time consuming: each ribbon rose was rolled and formed by hand. I really like how it looks vintage yet unique with the 8" high bottom tier. The purple MMF was made using grape J-ello, but it wasn't dark enough, so I painted all the roses with a violet/almond extract mixture. Of course, a pearl collar had to be a part of this creation, topped with little blossoms to add interest.