New Homeowner Welcome box

New home owner welcome box. Since it's fall I made some fall cookies as well as 'new home' themed cookies. My favorites are the leaves. I've seen polka dot and plaid cookies on CakeCentral.com and I've always wanted to do them. (I will be doing more shortly)

Plus I boxed them differently. I bought these boxes for small items at the Farmer's Market, and I realized that they would package small numbers of cookies beautifully. (The packaging was inspired by the manufacturer's website, BRPBoxShop)

1939 Classic

This was a request for a replica of a special man's car. A 1939 Plymouth Coupe.

I thought for this one I'd photograph some of the steps so you can see how it comes together.

I started with a 12x18 sheet cake. I cut the cake into rectangles and stacked it with filling layers. It got a crumb coating, and I put it in the refrigerator to get nice and chilled before carving. I usually use 1" layers of cake and 3 layers of filling. But, because of all of the intricate carving, I decided to make thicker cake (and a thicker filling layer). I hoped that this would make it more stable. Notice that the board under the cake has cut outs for the wheels.

I printed out photos of the front and side of the car to the scale that I wanted the finished cake to be. When carving the cake, I held them up to the cake to help locate the cutting points. Notice that I cut out the wheel wells too.

It got a 'dirty icing' and went back into the refrigerator to chill before covering in fondant. I often use a thicker layer of buttercream, but I went thinner because I didn't want to loose the shape.



Here it is with the fondant. Covering it was easier than I expected. I think that covering a ball in fondant is much harder. After another chilling, I placed the cake on the board, with foamcore blocks under it. This suspended the cake, allowing me to put the wheels on the side. (The wheels were just thick pieces of fondant.)

Finally, I added all the detail. I used my clay extruder to make fine fondant ropes for the stripes. I wasn't sure that I'd be able to pipe a perfectly straight line on the side of the cake. The fondant turned out to be a little tricky to handle too. Since it was so thin, it kept breaking! The 'sticker' on the side of the car (that said "1939 Classic") and the bumpers were gumpaste. I cheated a little and used toothpicks to help hold up the bumper. I also used the toothpick boxes to hold the bumpers close to the cake as the royal icing dried.

little Sweet 16

quick little cake.
5 inch, chocolate cake. gumpaste bow. fondant "Duff" flowers.
I just thought that I'd do a different take on my last pink zebra print cake.

I love the colors on these cakes - so bright and cheery! (especially on a rainy day!)

Daisy treats

These were for my Girl Scout Daisy troop. We were celebrating the founder's birthday.

nothing fancy, just mini cupcakes.
I had some left over colored icing and sugar butterflies.
What I wanted to share was the color. I just love that *bright* blue!

Cupcake Wedding

my first wedding 'cake.'
This was for a wonderful couple that I meet at the Farmer's Market. They loved my cupcakes and decided to give me the honor of doing their wedding. Chocolate and Lemon cupcakes with buttercream swirls, chocolate fondant flowers, and royal icing butterflies. [The swirl on top was made with a 2D tip, that makes it look like a rose on top. The bride really liked this look.] The top tier was a 5" round, covered in fondant, with a real ribbon trim. [I usually use fondant, but in this case I thought the ribbon was a better choice, especially with the ribbon trim on the cake board and cupcake stand.]

Their colors were black, white and green. I found a gorgeous cupcake/cake that the couple really liked. We changed up a few things - like adding the green sugar butterflies.

Tender Heart

"Care Bears" birthday cake.
This was a favor to a cake friend who wasn't able to do this cake for a friend.
6" vanilla white cake with strawberry buttercream filling. I typically make vanilla white cake with raspberry, but the delicate strawberry flavor was really good too (had to make a few cupcakes with the leftover batter, darn :)
Cute and simple - inspired by an adorable cake on Cakecentral.com

Soccer Snacks

Go Pink Panthers! Awesome season!
These were for my daughter's soccer team snack. (Today was the last game of the season) I had some leftover chocolate cookie dough and made some sugar cookies too. They were a hit with the girls. (One girl returning to our team was excited to have my husband as a coach, because I bring the 'best snacks' - such a nice complement!)