Daisy Cake 2

So I brought that beautiful daisy cake to work with me and donated it to the Foundation.  They put it on display at the main reception desk and auctioned it off!  By the end of the day, it raised a grand total of $35 for the Foundation :)  The lady who won it came by to tell me her son owns a ritzy restaurant in town and he will be by to bring my cake to his restaurant!  Wow!  My cake in a ritzy restaurant!


Daisy Cake

I spent a lot of time today working on this cake!  I forgot how much work it is to make, fill, frost and decorate 2 cakes!  I’m glad I already had the flowers done so I could put them on the cake when I was ready for them.  This one is different from my last 2-tiered cake since it’s covered in fondant!  I really like the way it turned out!  No lumps this time thanks to the smoothing tool I have!  I will also pay attention to where the seams end up on the decorative strips – they’re 180 degrees from one another… oops!  Flowers can cover a lot!

It’s 2 tiers of lemon cake frosted in lemon buttercream, filled with raspberry puree and covered in almond fondant.

Two-Tier Cake


Hydrangeas

Whoo!  I did it!  Each time I’ve tried to tape fondant flowers together with florist tape I’ve ended up with a bunch of broken flowers and a frustrated me.  I used gumpaste this time and patiently waited for my flowers to dry overnight so they would be good and hard today.  As I taped individual wires, nothing broke; as I taped groups of wires together, nothing broke and as I taped groups of wires together, I had a little bit of wobbly flowers, but nothing broke!  Yay!  I think I’ll be able to do big bunches of gumpaste flowers and ivy leaves as times goes on and I practice more :)  I used so much tape today… I don’t think the roll I have will last very long!


Yule Log

Over the holidays, I made my family a lovely yule log!  This one turned out fantastic!  Mum and I did some fighting with the buttercream (since it’s my Tante’s recipe) and eventually got it the right consistency (but it tasted great at every consistency!).  My brother even enjoyed the whole yule log (and it wasn’t a chocolate cake…).  My cousins asked why on earth I would put mushrooms on a cake??  I asked them to try one.  Once they at the mushrooms, they weren’t confused any more!  These are meringue mushrooms dusted with cocoa powder on a white sponge cake filled with chocolate mousse and iced with chocolate buttercream.  Delicious!


Another Attempt at Flowers

After spending Christmas with my family, and talking a lot about what my brother and his fiancee want for their wedding cake, I tried flowers again with my tools.  I had so much fun this afternoon working on them!  I wanted to use the leftover fondant I had from the last time I made them, but it had dried out in the fridge.  I used ready-made gumpaste this time instead of fussing around making my own fondant.  I’m so glad I did!  I would have spent the time making fondant instead of making flowers.

I tried gerbera daisies, calla lilies, roses and daisies.  Take a look!

I’m glad I finally had some time to take to play with sugar!  I’m hoping to have some time next week to make a cake and put these on it!  (Oh, and make leaves to go with them to add a little extra colour!)


Red Velvet Cake

Another try at a red velvet cake for a housewarming party.  ”Home Sweet Home” would have been better than “Happy Home.”  But I was a little rushed with trying to get out the door – never rush a cake.  It’s way more fun to take the time to get right.  And I still have blue buttercream left over!


First Tiered Cake

I spent all day today making my first tiered cake :) I think the next time I try, I’ll be making the cake and filling it the night before, and doing the decorating the next day. I’m definitely tired!

I tried hydrangeas since they are one of my favourite flowers in the colours that my brother has chosen as his wedding colours. They were fun to do with the cutters I have. When it came time to wrap the flowers together, they started breaking on me :( Not impressed. So, I took them all off the wires and piled them on the cake. I wanted a big ball of hydrangeas on the cake, not a flat bit of flowers, but oh well. Still looks kinda cute.

The cake is a little crooked, but I don’t think it’s too bad for a first try. I cut the dowels too long and I didn’t get them into the centre of the big cake :-P Something to look for on my next try.

It’s a chocolate cake with a grand-marnier – orange filling and almond buttercream. Should be a good cake.


Mint-Chocolate Cupcakes

My husband and I spent some time with some really good friends of ours this weekend.  I made chocolate cupcakes with mint buttercream for the get-together.  I tried my hand at buttercream roses too!  The cupcakes turned out so very tastey!  I’m glad they disappeared :)   My parents also really enjoyed them, and they don’t usually eat icing!


Chocolate Zucchini Cake

I tried a chocolate zucchini cake today.  I felt like baking again :)  This one I dusted with confectioner’s sugar – it looks so good and is so easy!  I loved it.  My husband… not so much.  Never met a chocolate cake he didn’t like… unless there’s zucchini in it.  It’s really moist and tender with a strong chocolate flavour.  It’s fantastic!  I’ll have to share it with my coworkers tomorrow since I can’t eat a whole cake on my own.


Red Velvet Cake

My brother and his fiancee were here for the weekend!  I had such a good time :)  They shared in the strawberry cake and liked it!  They still have no idea what kind of cake they want their wedding cake to be.  I think the chocolate, strawberry and vanilla might go out the window.  I know for sure that one layer has to be chocolate since my brother is not a cake person and he really likes chocolate cake.

Lisa mentioned that she enjoys a red velvet cake, so I thought I’d try one and they could share in it.  I make the red velvet cake with a cream cheese icing (which my bro hated…) and we adored it!  I have never eaten a red velvet cake and was pleasantly surprised by how yummy the thing was!  I saved one piece for my husband and I, sent 1/4 the cake home with Lisa, and 1/4 the cake for my mom and dad.  I hope it makes it and doesn’t melt on the way home with them…

It’s not quite as red as it could be since I didn’t have the amount of liquid red food colouring that the recipe called for – I improvised with my icing colours.  Next time, I will have all the red food colouring required so that it’s actually red velvet and not a really dark shade of pink.


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