Happy Birthday Steph!

My sister turned 23 and my dad wanted me to make her a cake for her birthday dinner. He sent me a few ideas and this is what I came up with. Cherry Chip cake 8" round 5" high on the bottom, and 6" round 5" high top tier. The bottom is done in white buttercream with pink fondant polka dots, pink happy birthday banner, white gumpaste/fondant daisies with pink centers. The top tier is pink buttercream with white buttercream ribbons topped with a gumpaste/fondant bow. Inside each tier were 3 layers of the cherry chip and buttercream.

Cake Batter Fudge

I borrowed this recipe from here after a friend came across it online. Had to try it since it looked so good! I followed the recipe exactly except that I used Cherry Chip cake mix instead of white or yellow. It tasted great! And I used up some of the many sprinkles/sequins/edible hearts/sparkling sugars that I have.

2 cups Cherry Chip cake mix
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cups (1 stick) butter cut into fourths
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/4-1/2 cup sprinkles (and just like the recipe says, who measures sprinkles? Just to crazy!)

In a microwave safe bowl, combine cake mix and sugar. Add butter and milk. Microwave on high 2 minutes. Stir until combined. Add chocolate chips and stir again. Fold in half of sprinkles. Spread in to a greased or lined with parchment 8x8 pan. Add remaining sprinkles and press in. Refrigerate to set. Cut into 1 inch squares.

Halloween Cupcakes

I made Halloween cupcakes! The designs are a green eyeball, witch's hats, witch's broom, spider webs, vampires, candy corn (which I have since learned that they are yellow-orange-white not orange-yellow-white. How was I to know? I don't like them!), mummies, trick or treats, boo's, and pumpkins.

Halloween Cake

Boo! I made a Halloween cake! Chocolate cake, raspberry filling, vanilla whipped cream frosting and sweet buttercream borders. The black piping is black sparkle gel, which is like piping gel. For the spider webs, just make circles small to large, then drag a toothpick from the center out.

Wilton Course 3

Wilton Course 3. I learned to make fondant/gumpaste bows, flowers, borders and to cover cake boards and cakes in fondant. My final project had everything except the bow. I guess it looks like a hat.

I love making these roses! It is so therapeutic to sit for a few hours and methodically go through the steps.

Daisies are simple but make a big statement.

I hated making this mum, but it is so pretty!

Calla lilies were easy and I love the sugar crystals that make them so realistic looking!

Rosenberg Wedding Cake

Ivory wedding cake with black scrolls and bead border. Four tiers: 6, 8, 10, 12" and two sheet cakes 11x15". Real red roses on top. Vanilla white cake with raspberry filling and vanilla buttercream. Since I used fresh flowers on this cake, I first set down 6" doilies, and piped a mound of buttercream. I placed the cut flowers into the mound and the vertical flowers I used flower spikes to insert them into the cake.

 I baked the cakes on Thursday. There were a total of 10 cakes since each tier on the large cake had two 2" cakes to make them an exact 4 inches in height once stacked. That was a total of 7.5 hours bake time. I leveled and filled them on Friday. Made buttercream Friday and frosted and piped the scrolls and borders on that day. Nine and a half hours for the work on Friday. I trimmed and placed the flowers Saturday morning at the reception site. I assembled the tiered cake completely at home and delivered it that way. Very nerve-wrecking! But I was confident since I used my cut pillars for support that the cake was level and I inserted a total of 4 skewers, sharpened to pierce through the layers of cake boards, that I wouldn't come apart. It was extremely heavy, probably close to 50 pounds of cake on my lap! I got to use my new silver hammered cake stand also.

The cake tasted great too (as I was a guest to the wedding, I actually got to have a slice, which is rare). The best part of the day was hearing the bride, Angela across the room "Oh my gosh, I LOVE the cake!" I didn't send her any pictures of the cake before the wedding, her reaction was priceless and made me tear up!

 Final set up. The globs of buttercream and doilies on the cake aren't the most attractive but I didn't want to stick potentially pesticide ridden flowers directly onto the frosting.

 My final cake sketch.

The florist told me to put the roses in hot water overnight to get the blooms to open. I didn't mind having flowers in vases to wake up to the next morning either ;)

The final set up at the reception.

Sheet cake 2

Sheet cake 1

I was also in charge of setting up/styling their table. 

Their first cut.

Just little old me, serving up cake!

Course 2 Final Project/Bye Terri!

A culmination of everything I learned in Course 2 as my final cake project. I gave this to a friend for her going away.

Wilton Course 2

I'm still continuing to take Wilton decorating courses. Here's what I learned in Course 2.

Pansy and Button flower

Apple Blossom

Primrose

Lily

Roses

Rosebud

Violet

Daffodil

My final cake presentation had all of the flowers on top with leaves, and basket weave buttercream around the sides, finished with a reverse shell border.