Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Good Things Come in Little Packages

I'm always decorating large(r) cakes, so mini cupcakes, cake pops and macarons are a welcome treat! I was given the invite to a baby shower, and asked to make a set of matching goodies. I was so very excited to see Tiffany blue paired with gray chevron. There was a ton of fun stuff to draw from these invites!

For the cupcakes, I made little fondant toppers, copying the onesies and the chevron. Macarons are cute enough as they are, but oh so much cuter with the added touch of some hand-painted chevron and polkadots! Finally, for the cake pops, since there was already so much going on with the rest of treats, I kept them relatively simple, with some adorable mini neckties. 







Saturday, April 20, 2013

Princess Periwinkle

Periwinkle has gone princess crazy! Princess cakes have been a very popular demand lately. Little girls love princesses, and I love making these cakes! There's something so enjoyable about recreating things from my childhood. This cake was for a little girl who was turning one. I was asked to make a castle cake with Cinderella and Snow White.


I've been following quite a few cake artists on facebook lately, and it's very daunting and inspirational at the same time to see so much talent! For the first time in my caking endeavour, I bought a tutorial from a cake artist I found on facebook, and based my castle on her work. (The Royal Bakery - check our her work, it's stunning!) It's not something I usually do, seeing as I'm hardheaded and prefer to learn things on my own. But this time, I gave it a shot, and it was totally worthwhile!



Thursday, April 18, 2013

Heigh Ho!

Here it is! My big project of the year! OK, maybe just one of many big projects I take on... but still, a biggie! My niece has grown up being spoiled with some crazy birthday cakes, and this year was no different. As she gets older, she's a little more specific with what she wants. First off, the cake had to be chocolate-chocolate. She asked for Snow White, the dwarves, and they had to sing and dance! I'm guilty of feeding her some of these ideas ;) 

We came up with a design where the cake was the dwarfs' quaint little house; chocolate cake, chocolate buttercream in the layers, and masked in a dark chocolate ganache. The mines are made out of rice crispy treats, and all the figurines are fondant. So, entirely edible! 

Check out the video of the cake in action! 









It was entirely devoured, cake, rice crispies and all!






Monday, April 1, 2013

A True Princess

Today, it's a very special little girl's birthday! My beautiful niece is turning five, which in itself is so difficult to believe. That also means it's been that many birthdays that I've been making the best cakes I possibly could for her. Every year, it's all about making her something bigger and better than last year. And each year, it becomes increasingly difficult. I thought I'd take this opportunity to take a trip down memory lane and show you the evolution of my niece's cakes. 

Her first birthday was my first ever attempt at working with fondant, so I didn't try anything too crazy. I was just getting to know this new sugar play-doh that I ended up rolling out way too thin, over a very unevenly masked cake. Around it, three little bears celebrating her birthday with a cookie cake!


When her second birthday had come around, I had experimented a bit with modelling with fondant, but still no better at covering cakes. I was, however, ready for a challenge, and made my first animated cake. This cake was pretty intense - it played music, Dora and Boots danced along, and there were birds flying around the tree on top.


I finally had some serious experience by her third birthday. That year, she wanted a Cinderella themed cake. We delivered a three-tier rotating cake, with each side telling a different part of the story. The topper? A white chocolate slipper!


Finally, last year, we decided to go big! She wanted a Rapunzel themed cake and we made her Rapunzel's tower - almost as tall as the birthday girl! 


That year, she also got a second cake for her daycare party - a simple little mermaid cake.


This year's theme is Snow White. The party isn't for another couple of weeks, which is great because I have great plans, and haven't started at all! She did have her daycare party last week, and for that, surprise surprise, another princess cake.