Grace

Breanne

Beautiful ribbon-inspired wedding cake.

Hallie

Mini desert table for my daughter's 4th.

Nate

Buttercream basketball cake and corresponding cookies with all the teammates names and jersey numbers.

Zoo Animals!

Dessert Table

I decided to take a trip into the world of dessert tables (inspired by the amazing Amy Atlas). Here's some photos of the baby shower.

photography by Heather Thoming

I had such a wonderful time creating this table and look forward to being able to do more in the future!

Alec

I watched the third Harry Potter movie to get some inspiration for this cake. I've read the books, but I needed it fresh on my mind. I didn't take anything from the third movie directly, but it got the wheels turning. Harry travels to and from Hogwarts every year with a rather large and old suitcase, and I wanted to replicate that look. I learned that the best way to make fondant brown is to color it with cocoa powder, NOT to add brown food color (you have to add A LOT of brown to get the color this dark, which alters the taste and texture of the fondant). The books... Magical Me and Potions... were just made in a simple 9x13 pan, trimmed to the size I wanted. The Harry Potter lettering was made with gumpaste and then painted with my new airbrush!! That's what gives the lettering the 2-tone effect. Finally, Harry is made of gumpaste with a glass globe (from a light fixture) around him to give the "Divination" feel. I found the fabulous cake board at Roberts Craft Store. I just love the wood edge. The cake is a simple cake from Martha Stewart and the filling was buttercream and a strawberry cream cheese frosting (just use strawberry cream cheese instead of the plain kind)... yum!!

I made this cake in just 3 hours! The stripes aren't perfectly straight, but for a rush job, I thought it turned out decent. Lindsey was throwing a baby shower for a friend, so I thought I would whip out something cute really quick.



This was definitely a trial and error cake. The "straws" are made of white chocolate... they break really easily! I wouldn't recommend trying to make a cake like this unless you REALLY love the look.

The white chocolate straws are made with an old fashioned cheese grater, like this one...



The wire kind (the kind you'll find in most stores these days) won't work...



Get some white chocolate chips and slowly warm them up in the microwave in 30 second increments. Spread them over a cookie sheet to form a nice, even layer. Wait for them to almost completely harden and start peeling with even pressure. If it comes off in chunks, it's still too soft. If it just flakes off, it's too hard. It really takes a lot of practice to master, and I highly recommend freezing the straws right after you peel them so that they don't melt. When applying them to the cake, the faster you work, the better. They're fragile and they melt really easily!! Like I said, you have to really love the look to have the patience for it. I don't think I'll ever do another one unless a client wants it!

Holiday Cake

Dummy Tiers

Some of the cakes I make, including the one below are made on styrofoam "dummies". Some people prefer dummies because they lower the overall price of the cake. Some people just don't care for cake much, but feel obligated by tradition, so the opt for the dummy tiers. I recommend practicing fondant on dummies before making your first cake. Fondant alone is hard enough to work with, and cake can be very tempramental.

25th Wedding Anniversary

I used petal dust with the following cake to add some shine to the daffodils and leaves. It's fun stuff, but it takes some serious practice!







This cake was created for my parent's 25th wedding anniversary. The cake itself is vanilla with cream cheese and buttercream cream frostings. The cake is covered in fondant and the fruit, leaves, and flowers are made of fondant as well. It was a hit!