Rose Cake - September 2012

I made this rose cake for my mom for her birthday.  She loves roses, and I thought this type of cake was just beautiful when I saw it.

I usually don't end up using pictures of cakes that I've taken with the flash, but I thought it gave this rose cake a different pretty look, so I decided to include this one above.  :)

 

 

'What!' you say.  'Did she make another cake with blue roses?'

 

No, I did not... but this is what I woke up to the day of the party.

 

I noticed it when I brought the cake out to the car to go to the party.  At first I thought it was just the difference in the lighting (we have flourescent lights in the kitchen), but it seemed so different.  But we got to their house and... nope, still blue.

 

I had used my new airbrush food coloring to mix into the icing this time, so I thought maybe it had something to do with that.  Deep inside the rose petals you could see some purple if the light hit it right.  It was puzzling.

 

I showed my mom some pictures I had taken of the cake previously so she could see what the color was originally.  :)

 

Maybe it was a cake like 'the horse of a different color' in The Wizard of Oz; maybe everyday it would be a new color!  :)

 

I made the inside of the cake have an ombre effect, but with the now blue icing it didn't have quite the same effect.  Still  nice, just not the same matching look.  :)

After we cut the cake you could see that the icing that was exposed to the air had changed colors, but the icing that was underneath and next to the cake, was still the original color.  Weird.  I mean I know that colors sometimes deepen or darken as they dry and stuff, but to change colors so completely was unexpected.  Oh well, my mom still liked the blue roses, and it made a fun conversation piece.  :)  And, well, now you get to see how this cake would look in purple and in blue, all in the same post.  :)

I originally saw a rose cake made with this technique on Domestic Sugar, and she said that she saw it on i am baker.  Amanda, from i am baker, created these rose cakes and makes them so beautifully.  She has lots of great variations, not to mention tons of other great things to check out on her site.  One of the best things is she has a step by step tutorial AND a video tutorial for this technique, which is great to actually see it being done.  This technique is easy but it has beautiful and elegant results!

More details to come... :)

(I created my animated name at this site.)

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Themed Cake - Duel on Teth - July 2012

I made this Star Wars: The Clone Wars themed cake for my daughter, Cara, for her 13th birthday!  She came up with the basic idea for this cake and had a lot of input into the design.  :)

More pictures and details to come... :)

[Right now I'm just trying to get everything on the blog, then I'll go back and fill in details; you can read a little longer explanation here if you want. BUT if you have any questions in the meantime, in general or about this cake, please feel free to email me by clicking on the 'Contact Me' tab at the top of the page and using the email address found there, and I will try to get back with you as soon as possible. Or you can always ask questions or leave a comment about this cake by clicking the comments link at the end of this post. :)]

(I created my animated name at this site.)

Chocolate and Vanilla Swirl Cupcakes - July 2012

I made these cupcakes for my daughter, Cara, to share with her friends at her Bible study on her birthday.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For these cupcakes I used the rest of the cupcake liners that I had leftover from making my sister, Valerie's, shoe cupcakes (see this post).  I think these red and white polka dot liners are so cute.  I baked the round cupcakes in regular muffin tins.  For the square cupcakes I filled a 10x10 square pan with 25 of the cupcake liners.  I filled the liners with the batter, and as they baked they expanded against each other and ended up square [some turned out better squares than others :) ].  After they were done baking I let the cupcakes cool completely.

 

I filled a piping bag with chocolate buttercream icing and used a large star tip to pipe swirls of icing on (almost all of ) the round cupcakes.  When I started running low on the chocolate buttercream I filled the piping bag with vanilla buttercream without cleaning the chocolate out.  So, that resulted in the striping of the chocolate and vanilla swirls on most of the square cupcakes.  The last of the square cupcakes ended up with just vanilla icing swirls as the chocolate was used up by that point.

 

After I piped the icing swirls on all the cupcakes I topped them with some red sugar sprinkles to bring in some of the color and style from the liners.

 

Cara had a happy birthday and everyone enjoyed the cupcakes!  :)

(I created my animated name at this site.)

Golf Themed Cheesecake Brownie Cupcakes - June 2012

I made these golf themed cheesecake brownie cupcakes for my brother-in-law, Josh, for his birthday.  This was made for the same party that I made my sister's high heel cupcakes for (see this post).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These brownie cupcakes were from the same batch that I used for Carissa's teacher's triathlon themed cupcakes a couple days earlier (see this post).  My mom mixed the cheesecake topping up for me and added some green food coloring to tint it.  It was just an instant cheesecake mix.  I put the cheesecake mixture in a piping bag and used a grass tip to pipe the grass on top of the brownie cupcakes.

I made some golf themed accessories out of fondant to go on the cupcakes.  The golf balls were just a small ball of fondant that I dotted with gray food coloring, I think I used a toothpick with a little of the tip broken off (takes longer than you think it would :) ).  I applied a little pressure when dotting the food coloring on to make slight dimples in the ball.  To make the flags I rolled out some yellow, red, and white fondant and cut out the rectangles.  Then I attached the fondant flags to a toothpick.  I let the flags dry upright so the flag would drape down some and look a little more natural.  The golf clubs were made by painting a toothpick with gray food coloring, attaching some brown fondant at the top for the grip, and then attaching some gray fondant at the bottom shaped like a club head.

I grouped cupcakes together to resemble a golf course.  Then I arranged the flags, golf balls, and clubs on the cupcakes.  I was going to make some holes in a few of the cupcakes, but as I started to try it I realized that it wasn't looking intentional and was going to be more of a headache than it was worth.

(I created my animated name at this site.)