The Photographer's Visit & Other Things You've Been Dying to Read About

Hey Kids!

Sorry I have been such a bad bloggess lately. I made three cakes last week and I am completely exhausted. I completed the Rainbow Cake Thursday night. Friday I worked relentlessly on the baby cake and Rachel's shower cake. At midnight, Jon said I had to go to sleep because crying and banging my head on the table was not going to make the cake any smoother. I woke up at 7 a.m. the next morning to try to continue working on it. After the shoot I had to race across town for Rachel's bridal shower because I was helping to host. I didn't leave the shower until 4:30 p.m. I came home and practically passed out on the couch.

Truth be told, I was not happy with the Rachel's or Olivia's cake. Especially Olivia's cake. The buttercream icing recipe that I have been using is just too thin, it seems, to create a super smooth texture. It was so frustrating. I know what you are thinking: "Enough jibber jabber, let's see the goods." Alright alright, don't get your piping bags in a wad. Here's a sort of photo montage with commentary. With some simple tricks, your cakes can, too, look this...ummm..."fabulous".

"The Painted Pig"

Got an ugly cake? Simply place a giant flower in the middle to cover unsightly bits.

Still ugly? Throw some marbles or candy on the the table to distract people from the actual cake.
Then have the photographer photoshop it up a bit and no one will ever notice!

"The Masterpiece"

The prettiest cake I have ever made. Too pretty to eat.

If you build your cake on a cardboard round, be sure to remove it before the shoot.

If you have a cake too pretty to eat, you can carry it around on a pretty tray
and tease the neighbors and guests.



OMG! A Double Rainbow!!! It's so intense! What does this mean?!!!!
*crying, banging fist on desk*

"Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!!!"

Extra candy will make it pop!

Lean your head to the side and it will look straight....more....more....LEAN Damn you!
Keep the rolling pin handy to knock heads with.

*facepalm*

I guess all that really matters is that everyone was happy with their cakes. I suppose that is what is important. I definitely have a long way to go with my decorating skills. I will be posting more pictures as the week goes on.

Carlos insisted on taking some pictures of me in the kitchen as well. I was not at all prepared for this, I was running around trying to blow dry my hair and put on lipstick in between shots. If you are in a rush, and you just can't wait to see the pictures of me, you can always check out Carlos' site: 3rd Avenue Photography. He also sent me some shots of Olivia enjoying her cake. Hopefully I can get those up later this week, too.

New Fondant Tools are Here! Time to Play!

So some of my new fondant tools came in last night and I couldn't resist playing with them. The tools are for the baby button cake for the photographer's daughter. I know that cake isn't supposed to be ready for two and a half more weeks, but I just couldn't help myself.

I had some fondant in the fridge, so I pulled out a chunk and microwaved it. Here's a few tips on mircowaving fondant:

1.) Heat only like 5-10 seconds at a time or else you will get burned, crusty bits of sugar.

2.) When you DO burn the fondant like I did last night, don't think that you can mix the slightly burned bits back in. You will be digging rock candy out of your fondant pieces for the next thirty minutes.

3.) Remember that microwaves cook the center of your food outwards. So even if the outer part of your fondant is still cool, the inner part is probably molten. Work the fondant a little in your hands before zapping it further. The heat of your hands plus the lava middle with disperse throughout the chilly parts, most likely making your fondant ready to handle.

4.) If you heat the fondant too much, it will be too sticky to use right away and will have to cool down either in the fridge or at room temperature (if you are that patient). So, again, work in 5 second heating increments until you get your desired consistency.

I pulled out some Wilton rolled fondant and used gel food coloring to make three different colors of fondant. Then I went to making tons of little buttons in each of the colors. I also practiced making some rick-rack ribbon, but it did not turn out as pretty. Therefore, you only get see the pretty buttons today. I have a little too much powdered sugar on these, I hope I can dust it off with a small paintbrush instead of starting over. I'm sure it will look adorable!

Cute enough to eat. Wait! You can!

Losing Control...Running a Bakery is Expensive!!!

Once I get an idea in my head, I just can't let it go. I am so excited about the upcoming cakes that I am going to do that I just can't stand it. I wish that I could make them NOW NOW NOW! Waiting until the end of the month is going to be torture.

I went out and bought some supplies on Friday at the hobby store. Then, I did a little too much shopping at Amazon. I decided that since a true black fondant is so hard to make, I would buy a bin of Fondarific Buttercream Black Fondant instead. I also bought letter cutters so that I could actually get names and "Happy Birthday" on cakes without it looking like a disaster area.

Well, as you can see it is the middle of the night on Saturday...and I've done some more shopping. I bought some molds to help me to make more uniform fondant pieces. They will also cut back on labor and waste of (expensive) product. I also bought Satin Ice Rolled Fondant in a 5.5 pound tub. Guess what...I used up all my rewards points. Thankfully, the leftover total was only about $25 bucks. I was starting to get nervous. All this shopping here and there is adding up. Jon tolerated the $5's and $10's sneaking out the door to the hobby store for awhile, but he's having a harder time tolerating the $20's and  $50's racing out the door after them. I'm going to have to get serious about moving the cakes or I'm going to be in big trouble! I've been making most of these cakes for free for my friends' special occasions. My friends are such mooches, but I love 'em. Seeing their expressions light up when they get a glimpse at their cakes just makes my heart swell.

Meeting Carlos (the pro that will be shooting my cakes) at 3rdAvenuePhotography was very advantageous! He seemed as excited to be working with me as I was with him! I can't help myself, I want to make so many cakes to for him to turn into beautiful art portraits! He was kind enough to offer putting me as one of his preferred vendors on his site starting September 1st! How nice was that! With that, I can get more exposure to brides and families. Hopefully that will drum up some paying business. What is even more lucky is that his baby, Olivia, is going to be turning one that same week, so he's going to be getting her cake from me! God is so good at looking out for me. He even told me to surprise them, I will have full artistic licence. Let me show you what I had in mind for her...

A bow instead of the shoes, and with a more feminine color scheme

I was actually thinking about making it three layers, so that the very top can be a very tiny cake that she can have for herself. That way she can just smash into it and Om Nom to her heart's content. That is always the best part of baby birthdays. You know, the mom's dressing them up in $50 dresses only to let them get covered in gobs of icing. Priceless.

"I will make every effort to make this outfit wearable only once!"

Heaven help me, I've got to find something to keep my busy in the meantime. Decados' Guinness Cake has to be made the of the 15th. So, I'm just biding my time until then. There are a couple of sad bananas in the kitchen that are begging to become bread. I guess I can get to that later today. What I really should do is put my credit card in a block of ice.

Credit on hold until further notice.

Real Things People are Saying About My Cakes

*About Johnny Walker Cake*

Mom: "Oh wow honey, did you make that!?"
Me: *All proud* "Yep, what do you think?"
Mom: It looks fantastic. You really nailed that little marching band director guy in the middle there!
Me: ...  :-/

*About Hello Kitty Cake*

*Via Text Messaging*

Me: " My first fondant cake. What do you think?"

Doug: "Nice hat."

Me: "I will kill you..."

*About Rainbow Wedding Cake*

*As recounted by my mother*

Father of the Bride: "That cake was great! I think I ate more than anyone."

My Mom: "Yea, Andrea really is coming along with this baking thing."

Father of Bride: "You know, I really didn't believe she made it until I saw the wedding album. Sure enough, there were the pictures of her puttin' it all together. Who would have thought that your daughter could cook."

My Mom: ... >:-( 

*About My Cake Balls*

*Via email, with a back story of knowing this coworker was looking for cake pops last week at a local retailer*

Me: "I made these last night. What do you think?"

Coworker: "Super CUTE!...What are they?"

Me: *facepalm*

Another Cake Coming Down The Pipe

Tomorrow is my GRE Exam and I am nervous as hell. I have been studying like a mad woman and cursing profusely over Facebook about my lack of progress in math. Keep my in your thoughts Saturday and wish me luck. After the test, I will probably start reading this book:

In other news, a new cake has been pseudo-commissioned. Jon's friend is having a birthday Saturday, and Jon and I thought we'd bring a cake in leau of a gift. I know that sounds cheap, but these cakes are starting to cost a lot! I never realized the cost of supplies alone, even if the 4-6 hours of labor are free. Besides, the party is at a bowling alley, and we wouldn't want someone to constantly be having to watch gifts so they didn't disappear. So...

A little about our birthday boy. He is a bit of a restaurateur and wine aficionado of sorts. He likes golf, country music, and Johnny Walker Scotch. After debating a little last night, Jon and I think that a Johnny Walker style cake would achieve the biggest reaction.

Jon, surprisingly, dove off the deep in with ideas of making a whiskey bottle shaped cake with labels and what not in fondant. My eyes were as big as saucers because this is completely out of character. Also, because I SUCK at lettering, this is waaaay beyond the scope of reality.



My husband is suffering from delusions of grandeur.

 I had a much simpler cake in mind, but I don't want to post my template just yet in case this somehow floats around the interweb for Brandon to get a looksie. Don't want to spoil the surprise after all. Just know it will 99% likely be in a standard cake shape. No more spoilers.

I found a a cake supply place down the road from my office. Thank God, because those hobby stores are very limited. I am going to run over at lunch and possibly purchase colored fondant(!), dyes, and possibly some metallic dusting. If I haven't blown my entire pay check by that point, I may buy some sprinkles. Oh who am I fooling? I'll probably go hog wild. Don't tell Jon.

Also, there is a new feature to the blog. I have added a wish list to the side bar. If you are feeling ever so generous, you can purchase items through Amazon.com and have them sent to me. You know I will squee of course, but I will do everything in my power to thank donors profusely. Thanks again just for reading.

My First (Real) Fondant Cake

My friend Nancy is getting married in a couple of weeks, and today we are tossing her a wedding shower at work. I've been really crunched for time, so I was just going to whip up some cake balls for the party, but I let my ambition (and my desire to get out of this stupid blog slump) get the best of me. I decided at the last minute to make a little 6" personal cake for her, in addition to the balls. She is a Hello Kitty FANATIC, much in the way my gingerific gal pal Sam is a GLEE fanatic.

"Hello Kitty"

Now, in my opinion, this is my first fondant cake. Jon seems to think the mini rainbow wedding cake is. That cake was not really for consumption, so I am counting this cake as the first. It's a bit of a philosophical disagreement in our household.

Anyways, the first thing I did was go out and get a 6" pan. I guess I'm getting serious about this because I am investing so much in equipment. I popped the first layer of chocolate cake in the oven. While it cooked I melted the candy for the cake balls and finished those up. (I had made the batter and formed the balls over the weekend and kept them covered in the fridge.)

BAM!

After I had made, cooled, and leveled 2 layers of the 6" cake, I put a crumb coat of butter cream icing down. This helps the fondant adhere to the cake and not slide off, as fondant is wont to do. This layer doesn't have to be thick or pretty. Just enough icing to keep everything in place will do. Oh, and don't forget a little dollop of icing on the plate you are icing on to hold the bottom layer in place while you are icing.

Bottom layer's crumb coat after I put the top layer down and Jon said "Oops, I didn't get that shot. Redo!"

After the whole thing was crumb coated, I put it in the fridge for a few minutes and took a break. Cake making is exhausting. I wish I could have had a margarita, but alas no mix. Moving on.

Next, I used gel food coloring to dye some fondant pink, because Hello Kitty wears a pink bow. Always make more than you think you need, because you can never get the colors to match perfectly if you have to make a second batch. I also adjusted the image of Hello Kitty from above to the size I needed, and printed it from my computer to use as a template. I was not going to go hog wild and purchase a bunch of Hello Kitty cutters.

Using scissors, I cut out the template and set it aside. I then rolled out the pink fondant and used a toothpick to etch the outer part of the template (which was a heart). I used a sharp knife to cut it out. Don't pull the fondant or it will stretch your shape. You have to be patient and cut cut cut.

I put the heart to the side and then rolled out the base layer of fondant. From what I understand, you need to roll it out to about 1/8 of an inch. I don't know if made it that thin (I always feel like I make it too thick) but it worked out ok. You are going to have to make the circle of fondant much larger than the actual cake. I did not and had to do a little last minute stretching to make it fit. Roll the edge of the fondant over your pin, and drape it over the cake, unrolling gentle as you go.

"Damn! A little too small!" *streeeeech* (please don't tear!)*

Next comes the smoothing of the fondant, which I have to say is the part I haven't quite wrapped my head around yet. I understand the concept, which is to slowly, from the top edge around and down, smooth it up against the cake. At the same time you have to sometimes have to lift so that this is no ruffle/bend/fold. It never seems to work out just right for me. Probably because I am in a hurry and not patient enough. I did my best to smooth out and only got a mild crease at the bottom of one side. I had a plan to cover it though. More on that later. Use a pizza cutter around the base to cut off excess fondant. Remember, cut don't tear or you will stretch and tear the fondant.

Notice the fold there on the right! Got most of it smooth but still, Grrrr!

Now, to the sneaky covering around the bottom. I decided to make a pink ribbon around the bottom to disguise any flaws. I barely had enough pink to do it. (remember always make more than you think you need). I made a log of the left over pink and rolled it into a flat strip. Luckily, my mat has grid lines. I was able to use them to made a pseudo-straight piece of 1" ribbon. I swear I can't make a straight line, even with a ruler.

To get a piece of fondant to adhere to another piece you have to dab a small amount of water where you want to place the piece. I made a damp line all around the base of the cake and tried my darnedest to make it work. Alas, I stretched to much and it tore. Crap! I did the best I could to smooth it down and moved on.

I wanted the heart for HK right in the middle of the cake so I dabbled a little water and made a little sticky patch about 2" in diameter. You will notice the texture of the fondant gets kind of gummy when you do this. I stuck my heart on and prayed to God that it was centered. (Another thing I am not very good at).

Afterward, I cut the heart section of the template off and cut around the actually Kitty part of the shape. Again, I traced the area with a toothpick, this time on the white fondant, and cut it out with a knife. I dabbed some water on the heart shape and placed the kitty shape on the heart. (A little off center to my consternation. I didn't notice until it was set.)



HK got a little oily from all that handling.

 Now for the detail work. I laid the template over the cake and used a toothpick to punch a tiny hole where the eyes and the nose should be. From what I understand, making a true black fondant is hard work, so I chickened out and bought a black tube of regular icing. Unfortunately it was a little thin, it seemed to have separated a little. I guess I didn't squeeze the packet enough to make sure it was remixed. Oh well. I made the eyes, nose, and paw outlines.

Now, Hello Kitty is all about the bow on her ear. In some images of HK (particularly "wedding" Hello Kitty) she has a flower on her head instead. I had a tiny flower cutter already so I opted to use it instead of fighting my exhaustion for the bow.

After the flower was in place, I added the whiskers and a little ear fold details. One of the whiskers ended up running together a little on one side after the cake sat, but it's no big deal. Just be careful not to rest your hand on the cake or you will smear your detail work.

Black icing: "As soon as this photo is over, I will smudge into my neighboring whisker!" *Evil laugh*

At this point, I told myself I was done, but that damn tear in the pink ribbon was bothering me. You see, I wasn't paying close enough attention when I put the heart down, so the tear was front and center, instead of hidden in the back. I thought for a few minutes about how I could hide it, and then it came to me: a bow of course! HK has to have a bow.

Using the remaining pink 1" strips I had, I fashioned a bow to cover the tear. All you have to do is gently fold the strip in half and pinch the base flat-ish. Cut of any excess fondant and stick it to the cake. Two folded strips will make a standard bow. Make a disk to place in the center to hide your pinches. Then, use a toothpick to "fluff out" the loops of the bow. It was the perfect finishing touch. I couldn't have been more pleased with how the whole thing turned out.

Tear? What tear? All I see is an ADORABLE bow!

Thankfully, the cake made the trip to work without incident. I had to drive it alone this time. I think I'm getting pretty good at transport. Now we are just waiting for the surprise party at 1 o'clock. I'll post a picture of her with it later this afternoon if I can.

Real Things Jon Says...

*Talking about my plans to start baking for profit*

Me: The cake balls have to be covered in a different coating than the cakes.

Jon: Oh, like the wedding cake the other day. You used buttercream and fonduit for the scrolling right.

ME: ....Yes, I used fondant on that cake.

Jon: I think you're getting pretty good with that fonduit stuff. Maybe you should make more cakes with that.

Me: I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. What did you say?

Jon: Fonduit.

Me: Do you mean...conduit or FONDANT?

Two Wedding Cake Challenges: Fearful Confidence, If There is Such a Thing

On Saturday, I have been asked to make my first wedding cake. The request has been put in for a cake that feeds approximately 25 to 30 people. They also want it to be a rainbow cake with purple swirls in the icing. I'm both nervous and excited, but confident I can pull this off. The cake will not be as tall as the previous rainbow cake, but it has the added challenge of having a butter cream coating with a lavender fondant swirl pattern. That is what I am nervous about. I don't have extensive experience with fondant. Thankfully, this bride doesn't have high expectations or a big budget, so I'm somewhat off the hook. After searching around the net, this is a prototype of what I plan to make:

Image courtesy of Two Parts Sugar Bakery

Mine will not have flowers like those pictured above. Mine will either be flat daisies, punched cookie cutter cutter style, or fondant roses similar to the gumdrop roses I showed y'all how to make earlier this month. Around the bottom, I plan to do pearls instead of a tube of fondant. It seems like you might need some kind of fondant extruder to get that level of consistent thickness. I don't have one and if you know anything about me, I don't have the patience for that kind of detail.

My mom wants to help. It was her original idea to make the rainbow cake as this bride's wedding gift. My mother, love her to death, cannot bake. I immediately took over this crazy idea to save her from herself. Jon thinks I'm the one that needs to be saved. Why you ask? Let's talk about the second wedding cake.

The same reader who challenged me to make the panda bread has offered a new challenge: Super Mini Rainbow Wedding Cake. Three tiered with fondant icing and a cascade of roses.

*eyes glazing over*

We all know I have the concept of rainbow cake down. The real issue we are talking about here is scale. I'm just going to say up front that mine will be slightly larger than this, as I am not going to go out and buy any special equipment. As much as I love being challenged, it is getting expensive. Someone suggested I put a donations button on the page to help offset the cost. However, I'm torn because I am really super thankful for the small ad revenue I'm getting, and I feel bad asking for more. I guess I can put a donations button up, and if someone wants to help, they will. If not, they won't. Guess that's how I should look at it.

Yesterday, I spent the better half of the drive home trying to figure it out. Jon has outright said I cannot make this cake. No no no! It's a crazy idea and I am just going to get upset when it doesn't work out. I've proved him wrong before, let's see if I can do it again.

I want to tell you now how I plan to make it, but I think I am going to hold y'all in suspense. That's the trick in writing right? Keep you're readers wanting more. Let's see how that works out for me.

Mystery Cake Being Built and Other Gleeful Excitedness

Before

After a collective gasp!

Weddings Make Women Lose Their Minds...

I recently had my first bridal shower, and let me just say, "It is official, I have lost my mind." I got the bright idea to let everyone else handle the food for the shower except the little mini fondant cakes I wanted to make. Well, naturally it turned out a huge mess that went down something like this:

T'was the Night before the shower and all through the kitchen
women were cursing, and screamin' and bitchin'!

Mom lost the fondant cookie cutters, and my bright idea to use cutters to make little round cakes didn't pan out. The cut-outs just crumbled into little pieces everywhere. My aunts, who were hosting the shower, were ready to give up and buy store bought cakes. I could not bring myself to give up though, so I made a plea to start over making cupcakes instead. We tossed out the two, crumbled cake-messes that we had attempted to turn into something cute and respectable, and dashed off to the store for cupcake holder thingys. Well, my mom did because she was so upset about losing the fondant cutters that she needed to clear her head.

I, on the other hand, set about to rolling and cutting out fondant circles in preparation for later. So, after a few more hours of baking, we had some cute, little fondant-covered cupcakes. Mom went out and bought more little cutters, but we failed to get pictures with all the cute designs because we had 40 cupcakes to go. So basically you see the base coat here:

I somehow managed to get fondant all over my feet. Don't ask me how.

Because I was sucha horse's ass about having these things meticulously perfect, my lovely aunts went about other pressing duties...

Aunt Loyce, finger sandwich extraordinaire! (and Official Butt Swatter. Apparently I tried to help too much.)

Acting as sous chef, housekeeping, and family matriarch was Aunt Pat.

Official title: Watermelon Fruit Bowl Maker

Between the four of us arguing for an hour, we finally decided on my Grandmother's buffet as the official tea holding location. (The theme was a tea party.)

Me and Mum share a spot of tea.

Then the party started, it was craziness. The cupcakes and sandwiches were hoowarfed down in no time because 31 of the 37 people invited showed up. Let me just say that this was NOT AT ALL EXPECTED because:

a.) I'm a horse's ass and a bad friend. So naturally, I didn't expect that many people to come. What a surprise this was:

That's not all of it either, there are packages behind me as well.

I also had an incredible game planner. She took tired, old shower games and breathed new life into them. They were hilarious and fun for all!

Glee fanatic, Gingerific gal-pal Samantha (Matron of Honor Extraordinaire!)

Here is a picture of one of her games, where people had to memorize what was on my apron and try to remember when I left the room. The person who remembered the most wins. Knowing that I love to cook, she made everything cooking related, and bird-themed, like the wedding. Truly awesome!

Fabulous!

There was the inevitable opening of gifts, in which I tried hard to make it interesting so people didn't get bored out of their minds. There was the bow incident...

A near disaster with Jon's mother grew concerned when I mentioned that he and I had to argue about registering for some towels. I had said that I knew standard towels wouldn't fit around him because he is such a big guy.  Side Note:  He wanted to register for one towel for each of us, and ones that were so small that it wouldn't go around him. I insisted on "bath sheets" and added a few more to the registry behind his back. Seeing Jon's mother's uneasiness my mom calls out, "How do you know a regular towel won't fit around him..."

 Thanks Mom for calling me out. (Sam saved the day: "Ummm, hello! THE POOL!")

I was totally embarrassed and tried to hide in said bath sheet.

 So other than that, all went well. When the boys started sneaking around for a sandwich, they found all the food gone and had to fend for themselves. I got a kitchen full or neato gadgets that I am itching to try out. I am thinking up my next challenge as I type...something involving using every new gadget I just got and chronicling its use here. Whew what a day! I couldn't have imagined a more perfect shower. It was beautiful, I felt beautiful. I felt so loved by all the special women in my life.