Jackie and Steve's Wedding

I did it... Made my first wedding cake. I was so honored when my cousin Jackie and her fiance Steve asked me to make their cake. It was in the summer on the day we had a picnic for my Grandmom's 92 birthday.  That day was my very first cake wreck... The cake fell over when I rounded the off ramp of the turnpike.  Despite seeing the cake wreckage Jackie and Steve had confidence in my abilities... We discussed a few different designs but settled on the snowflake theme a few weeks before. A really touching detail of the wedding was that Grandmom crocheted snowflake ornaments that were hung on a Christmas tree outside the reception hall that served as our table cards. It was a really unique way to deliver the seating assignments and the wedding favor.

Below are details of the cake assembly. 

The secret is out... Well I never have kept it a secret... I use box cake mixes!! I add applesauce and egg whites to make them a little healthier and to change the taste a little bit.  I admit it. I like to decorate and not bake so this gets me to the point that I have something to decorate...

 Used lots of eggs...

Made 11 cakes...

 7 batches of icing...

Here are the various snowflake cutters I ordered and decorations I used on the cake. I wasn't sure how big I was going to make the snowflakes so I bought a bunch of different ones to try out. I ended up liking one of the sets most and used it for the majority of the snowflakes.

 I used a Styrofoam dummy at the bottom of the cake. My oven can't bake a cake this large... I had to glue it to the base... Apparently certain glues eat away Styrofoam- Who knew? I ended up using double sided tape and white Elmer's glue. It totally worked... Here is the evidence of the eating away of the Styrofoam...

 The base of the cake with wooden dowels to hold up the cake...

 A test run of what it would look like... Yup- it is leaning...

 

Onto making Snowflakes... Used fondant and different colored sprinkles and accents to make each snowflake unique... I had fun cutting each snowflake in different way and adding the decorations. This was the most relaxing part of making the cake. 

Snowflakes drying

 

 

O.K.  the cake is ready for transport... These are all of the tools I took with me to the venue...

 The top of the cake

 The bottom of the cake... I transported the cake in three pieces and assembled it on site.

Here it is all finished.  It took about an hour on site to assemble and decorate.  It was leaning a little bit but other then that I was really really pleased with the way it turned out.  Jackie cried when she saw the cake and that was reward enough for me!  I had a great time making this cake.  I'm not sure I'll be making many more wedding cakes- it is a little stressful- but I really wanted to do something special for Jackie and her family. They mean the world to me and it was an honor to make their cake. 

One of my favorite snowflakes...

The beautiful Bride and Handsome Groom...

 

 

An Early Christmas Celebration

Had the Christmas gathering of my Dad's side of the family on the 11th. It is always good to see everyone and get into the Christmas spirit early. My sister came over to help me decorate the cupcakes for the party.  We went with wreath's, Christmas tree's and my favorite- Santa stuck in the snow... Hilarious!  Happy Holidays!

 Michelle working hard...

 The star cut outs are stacked to make the tree's

 Bought myself a new cupcake carrier for Christmas... It worked great.  The cupcakes didn't fall over in transport...

 


 Cody discovering the truth about Santa's leg...

Lillie's for Sharon

Made my first gumpaste Lillie's for a dear friends bridal shower cake. She sent me a picture of the wedding cake she ordered so I made my version of the cake for a work wedding party.  Instead of a round shape I used a square pan and I changed the colors from black to more fall tones. The lillies were easier to make then I anticipated.  I watched a video by edna from designmeacake.com.  It only really required a heart cookie cutter, a pointy cup and some powder food coloring. Enjoy the cake!

Here are some shots of the flowers coming together...

I needed cone shaped cups, so I cut up bathroom cups and taped them to form a point. They worked nicely because they were wax coated and the gum paste released nicely when it was dry.   I used 20 guage floral wire and formed yellow stamen's for center of the flowers.

 Measuring up the stamens to make sure they were the right size.  The calla lilies were made with the heart shaped cookie cutter, then wrapped them around the cone cups and frilled the edges.

 The supplied needed to add the coloring and shading.
 

  Making the bows...

Added the stamen and hung the flowers to dry on a pitcher...

 The finished flowers ready to be moved to the cake.






The finished cake

Jaclynn's Bridal Shower

I'm so excited about this cake! I have been wanting to make this design... It is for my cousin who is getting married on new year's eve.  I have the honor of making my first wedding cake for Jaclynn's wedding!!!!  I'm very excited and a little nervous but I have faith I can pull it off.  This cake design was inspired by those on cake central. I used layers of fondant to make the dress. The roses are also fondant. I sprayed the dress with a irridescent food grade spray to give it a special shine.  The cake was a hit!

Here is the cake with the crumb coat

 Added the final layer of buttercream

 Used a cut out template of the dress top and started to add layers of fondant. I didn't really follow a pattern, I would cut strips, lay them on the cake and then cut the ends off...

 Ready for the bouquet...

 Almost done...

 Finished... Yeah.