The Wait is almost over!

Gender Reveal Celebration

The  Very Hungry Caterpillar 

In anticipation of revealing the gender of our first grandchild, I used one of my favorite children's books as the inspiration for our celebration cake. 

 The Cake

In the beginning it would be a Neapolitan, chocolate, white chocolate, and red velvet, three tier cake with white chocolate ganache under fondant; but, as the gum paste decorations evolved so did the cake.  I added the square bottom tier, soon to realize I still did not have room for all of the items in the story.  Next, came the second square layer...finally, room for all of the decorations!  I stood back and looked, thinking that something was still missing, "what could fill the empty space on top of the final cake".  At last I had it, a tree!  "Google, how do I create a 3-D gum paste tree." 

The Tree

The tree began with a mass tangle of floral wire; first the trunk, then the roots, next branches grew from the trunk, then entire tree was then wrapped in brown floral wire, individually formed and wired leaves were taped to the branches, finally, brown gum paste was applied to the entire bark area.  Alas, a wonderful home for a caterpillar to form its chrysalis and begin a beautiful transformation.  

The Details

Each detail of the cake was created from gum paste and painted with gel food coloring mixed vodka and dusted with various colors of petal dust.  To create the grass and sky, gel food coloring was thinned with vodka and painted on with sponge and natural bristle brushes.  

This cake was a true labor of love!!! I wish I had kept up with the exact hours I spent creating it, but I am sure in was well in excess of 100!

The Party

Family and friends gathered for the exciting news...is the baby a boy or girl.  Each guest dressed in either blue or pink based on their prediction of the gender.  Teams were created and each person got a pink or blue balloon, pin holes had been made in the balloons which were not the gender of the baby.  Then the big reveal, everyone blew... 

The Baby

She arrived on February 20, 2014

Finally, after 20 years...RETIREMENT!

I have had the privilege to work with a wonderful group of people at the same elementary school my mother, myself, and my children attended.  After 20 years, the manager of our cafeteria is retiring and we had a party!

This is the cake that I created for the guest of honor at the celebration.  A Shabby Chic 3 tier vanilla cake with pale gold butter cream frosting was the focal point of the reception.  Sugar poppies, hydrangea blossoms, and leaves added character and interest to the cake.  I loved the way that it turned out!  I hope that you enjoy viewing my creation.

Our Airman's Welcome Home Celebration!

Our precious son-in-law was deployed in August 2012  to serve our country in Afghanistan for 7 months.  During his deployment he missed many holidays and family events; therefore, with his safe return we celebrated all of the missed events.

    I made this Sanford Stadium Cake for a surprise celebration honoring Stephen.

 Notice the Bulldog Statue at the rear.  It is a bulldog with a camouflage jacket, USAF  and Georgia G patch.

Stephen loved the cake, it was worth all of the HOURS I put into creating it for him. 

50th Wedding Celebration!

I am always up for a challenge and this project was the first of its kind.  Recreating a cake baked 50 years ago was the challenge.  The base for the cake was a 15 inch round vanilla cake followed by a 12, 9, and 6 inch rounds. The layers were relatively short with each being about 21/2 inches tall.  The cake was frosted with white butter cream and embellished with baby pink butter cream roses and mint green


When the "bride" saw the cake she was amazed at how much it looked like the original cake!  The topper used 50 years ago and a golden 50 were added following delivery.

Toby Tank Engine and Care Bears Ride Again!

Man, oh, Man...the Choo Choo was a huge bite, but it came together and I was pleased with the final product!  In my previous post I spoke of the largest project I had ever committed to, following are the pictures that chronicle the process from beginning to end, minus only a few details.

I began with the basic design - Engine, three cars, and Care Bears.
Three weeks prior to delivering the cake, the Care Bears were made out of gum paste.

I used 1 inch foam board to create the bases for each of the cakes.  As you can see from the first picture, there were two layers of foam for the base.  This is the form for Toby.

 Next, I made three forms with a 1 inch base for the train cars.  The wheels were painted with black royal icing.



It was at this point, I realized I had created a "monster" and didn't have a cake board that the train would fit on...Help! My husband came to the rescue and cut me a 24" x 42" piece of 1/4" plywood. Now on with the show!




Next, I baked and froze 9" x 13" sheet cakes to make the train from.  Also, I made the train face and a few other details from gum paste.

The day before delivery, I carved, molded, and attached the cake to the bases, forming the train engine and cars.  Each piece was frosted with butter cream, which was textured to resemble wood.



The gum paste details were added and the Care Bears were attached to the train cars. 

Finally, after more than 15 hours Toby the Tank Engine is complete and ready to pull the Care Bears to the party!

Have I Bitten Off More Than I Can...?

Choo Choo! A month ago I had never heard of Toby the tank engine, but when I was asked to create a birthday cake for a brother ( 4 years old) and sister (3 years old) I began my quest to learn as much as I could about him.  This cake has turned out to be a mammoth task, an engine with three train cars, each holding a gum paste Care Bear.  Half inch foam board creates the base/template for the cake, believe me cutting foam is not an easy task!  Pictures coming soon...

Pinterest...where you can find what you are looking for!

Oh, I saw that on Pinterest...I can sit for hours looking and pinning, but never get around to trying much of what I pin.  Yesterday was different, I made one of the best cupcakes ever.  I had seen the recipe on Pinterest during the Christmas season, but never got around to baking them and am sorry I didn't.  My problem now is that the recipe uses fresh cranberries and I am having a problem finding them...thus my next obsession..."I going on a cranberry hunt," any suggestion as to where I should start would be appreciated! This recipe can be found by following this link, Your Cup of Cake Blog - by Lizzy Mae Early -  White Chocolate Cranberry Cupcakes