Tinkerbell Cake

Tinkerbell Birthday Cake

Dave was a HUGE fan of this cake! I think he was the most excited about it once he saw how it turned out, which really shouldn't surprise me with his love for all things Disney! :)

I used the Barbie cake pan from Wilton and used an actual Tinkerbell Barbie doll (found at Target) instread of the half dolls included with the pan or that you can buy at the craft store for these kinds of cakes. That way the birthday girl was able to keep her full length Tink as a birthday gift from the cake lady!  

Butterfly Cake

Butterfly Birthday Cake

My first butterfly cake and I think only my second time trying my hands at carving!

For this cake I printed off a coloring page from on-line and re-traced it on wax paper to fit the size of the cake I had. I cute out the butterfly and laid it on top of the cake so I would carve around the outside for the shape. After I peeled off the wax paper, I just used a knife to outline the design of the butterflies wings on the cakes and used different colored buttercream frosting to fill in.

I wish I would have outlines the entire butterfly's wings in the black to define them better in the picture.

The birthday girl requested pastel pink, purple and yellow for her butterfly.

Buzz Lightyear

Buzz Lightyear Cake for a 2nd birthday.

I got to make Peyton's first birthday cake last year, seen here, so I feel privilaged to get to make his second cake this year!

This is a 2-layer vanilla cake with a chocolate mousse filling and a chocolate buttercream frosting, covered in marshmallow fondant.

I made the wings out of cardboard then covered then in fondant, so they aren't fully eidable!

Princess Aurora

I love trying new things and being tested with my baking skills, especially since I'm still very new at this and have so much to still learn when it comes to cake decorating.

Last week I got a call for a Princess birthday cake in which my customer wanted to order as a sheet cake. The birthday girl really wanted Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty but they were having trouble finding anyone who could do a Disney princess so they would settle for any princess. I of course did not want to disappoint a little birthday girl so I looked for ideas on-line and found a new technique to try out called Frozen Buttercream Transfer.

I found this great YouTube video found here that gave a really good tutorial. Basically all you need is a printed out image such as a coloring page at the size you need, wax paper, a cookie sheet, tape, and prepared buttercream in all the colors you need. First outline the image then start filling in practically like a paint by number. I froze mine for 24 hours before transferring onto my prepared sheet cake, peel off the wax paper and the pipe a boarder about the image since it's a bit thick.

And this is what I got!

Birthday girl Brynn was so surprised she actually got Princess Aurora on her cake!!

Hawkeye Graduates

Another school year has come to an end....congrats to all the new graduates of 2012!!

This weekend the University of Iowa is holding their commencements and we know two wonderful students who will be receiving their diplomas.

  These two special students requested chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting and red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

I adorned these yummy graduations cupcakes with tiny little graduation caps, cute little diplomas, the U of I Tigerhawk, and a “2012” pennant. I think they turned out adorable!!

Congrats Matt and Casey on your huge accomplishment!

DIY Cupcake Stand

Cupcake Stand Instructions (holds 48-120 cupcakes)

Source: http://www.sweetcreationsbystephanie.com/2010/03/cupcake-stand-tutorial.html

Supplies:  

3 foam core boards, ¼” thick Dimensions: 20” x 30” (available at Staples or Michael's)

Exacto knife

Ruler

Hot glue gun

Modge Podge adhesive

Paper (wrapping paper or ten pieces of 12 x 12 scrapbook paper)

Ribbon (5 yards)

Directions:

1. Make your cuts…

    a.) Foam board piece 1
         cut a square 20” x 20” = Tier 1
         cut a square 8” x 8” = Tier 4
    b.) Foam board piece 2
         cut a square 16” x 16” = Tier 2
         cut a square 12” x 12” = Tier 3

2. Cut your tier supports…using Foam board piece 3
    a.) for tier 1…cut 4 strips 2” high x 10” long
    b.) for tier 2…cut 4 strips 4” high x 8” long
    c.) for tier 3…cut 4 strips 4” high x 6” long
    d.) for tier 4…cut 4 strips 4” high x 4” long

3. If you plan on covering your stand with scrapbook paper now is the time. Cover all of your Tiers with paper using Modge Podge adhesive. If you are using 12 x 12 scrapbook paper, tiers 1 & 2 can be tricky. Cut 2 pieces of 12” x 12” scrapbook paper in half diagonal (see source link). Then use the  4 pieces and glue it on the board. Trim edges with an exacto knife.

4. While your tiers dry make your tier supports. Starting with the “foot” of the stand, glue the corners of the

2” x 10” together. Continue by gluing the rest of the tier supports together so they are all square.

5. Cover the tier supports with paper.

6. If you want you can hot glue ribbon to the edges of each tier. It’s easier to do this prior to gluing the tiers to the tier supports.

 7. The hardest part here is making sure the tiers & supports are centered.
    Hot glue the 2” x 10” tier support to the bottom side of the 20” x 20” tier.
    Hot glue the 4” x 8” tier support to the bottom side of the 16” x 16” tier.
    Hot glue the 4” x 6” tier support to the bottom side of the 12” x 12” tier.
    Hot glue the 4” x 4” tier support to the bottom side of the 8” x 8” tier.

8. Glue the 8” x 8” to the top of the 12” x 12”.  Glue the the 16” x 16” to the top of the 20” x 20”.
    Glue the two pieces together & you have your cupcake stand.

I wanted to keep my cupcake stand white so I would be able to easily reuse my stand for any occasion. In order for me to be able to change the ribbon colors out for each use I did not hot glue my ribbon, instead I used corsage pins round each layer to hold the ribbon in place. It also added a nice detail with the pearl pin top. Since I didn’t use scrapbook paper to cover any of the tiers, I wrapped additional ribbon on coordinating colors around each tier support to add a pop a color behind the cupcakes.  

This cupcake/cake stand was made for my first wedding! It is definitely light weight and easy to move/transport yet still sturdy enough to hold 100 cupcakes or a small cake topper.

Peacock Wedding

It's official, my first wedding is now in the books!

Congratulations again to our good friends Sean and Annette!

Saturday April 14th they tied the knot.

I was a bit nervous and intimidated, not only by the fact it was my largest order to date and not only because it was a wedding (more pressure!), but because it was our friends' wedding! I wanted to make sure I did a good job and everything was perfect for the bride.

 Saturday morning I packed up the car and woke my husband up to help me deliver the goods. He even helped unload and set everything up.  

Annette wanted to keep it simple with white and chocolate cupcakes. I made half white vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream tinted peacock blue/green and half chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream.

They requested a small cake topper to cut into for the cake cutting. It was white vanilla round cake with vanilla buttercream covered in marshmallow fondant with hand painted peacock feathers, adorned with matching ribbon and charm.

This was my first time ever doing any hand painting!! Annette actually gave me the option to just use real peacock feathers or to leave it without. I was going to use the feathers but decided the week of the wedding to give painting a try....so I Googled ideas. It was pretty simple, use the colored gels from any craft/baking store in the color(s) of your choice with a bit of vodka (it dries faster than water and doesn't leave your fondant wet), along with a good paint brush or a few depending on how many colors you use.  So I went for! And I must say, I'm pretty pleased with they way it turned out ;)

 I even made the cupcake stand, which I will post directions on a how-to soon.

It was a lot of fun but a lot of work. I'm just glad the bride and groom were pleased!