Recent Cakes

I've had the opportunity to do some pretty fun cakes lately.  If I was on top of things I would be taking pictures during the process of making them and blog about each one individually.  However, I'm not.  So instead I'll do a catch up post about the last three that I made. 

The first is a farewell cake that I made for one of my co-workers.  It turned out pretty cute and I was really happy with the results.  As the baker, there are always things that you notice and wish you could do over, but I'm not going to tell you what those things are!  :)  Hopefully you won't notice them and you can just enjoy the cake as much as I do.  So here's number one in the line-up:

This next one was a lot of fun.  I call it my Stripes and Bow cake!  :)  This was also a work cake and I loved it.  It was very simple, clean, and just plain cute.  I hope you love it as much as I do.

And finally, this is the last cake I made.  I made it a couple days ago for a birthday.  I honestly didn't think it would turn out as cute as it did.  I was exhausted and short on time and cutting corners at every possible moment.  Maybe that's the trick because honestly, I love this cake! 

Hope you like my latest creations.  I have to say, I'm pretty proud of these ones!  :)

P.S.  With this last cake I discovered modeling chocolate.  I've been using fondant for all my decorations and it works great, but it also is a pain in the butt to make and super expensive to buy and just messy and sticky.  So I attempted to make this modeling chocolate out of the colored candy melts.  HO-LEY-COW!  It is amazing.  It's so easy to make, not messy at all, only two ingredients (candy melts and corn syrup), it tastes like white chocolate instead of powdered sugar, it doesn't stick to the counter, and it's pre-colored for you.  Have I convinced you yet?  I found my new love for making cake decorations!!!

25 things you should know about me in 2013

I've been wanting to do a post like this for a while now.  I saw a similar post on LMM a while back and knew I had to do my own version of it.  If for nothing else, so 20 years from now I can look back and remember what was important to me and what I am like.  Here goes.

1. I'm 27 years old.  Married.  Two dogs.  No kids.  Currently working on changing that last part.
2. We own a 1400 sq ft home that we are constantly updating.
3. I love to bake and decorate cakes but don't care to actually eat them that often.
4. I pee in front of my husband and feel weird when I actually have to close the bathroom door. 
5. I still get tomatoes and potatoes confused.  I know the difference but if I'm in a hurry I almost always say the opposite of what I'm thinking.
6. I have broken my arm...3 times.
7. I HATE doing laundry!!!  (Did I emphasize that enough?)  It's the folding and putting away that is the death of me.  I more often than not will leave the clothes in the dryer until I need them and then I'll just re-run it until they aren't wrinkled anymore.
8. I also hate mowing the lawn if it's been more than a week since it's been cut.  I'd rather just ignore it until all of the sudden it's knee high and then finally I'll break down and do it.  And then it's a million times worse than if I'd just done it to begin with.  It's terrible!
9. I'm the youngest of 5 kids.
10. We want to move to Brazil once Aaron finishes his masters program in August.  (Probably won't happen though.)
11. I recently started bouldering (rock climbing) and love it. 
12. I teach the 6-7 year olds in Primary and I love it!
13. I'm a little neurotic.  I count everything.  Everything has to be done in evens.  I'm also constantly typing sentences I hear with my hands where every they happen to be laying...no keyboard or computer to be found.  Judge me kindly on that one...
14. I have started many crafts and I have yet to finish any.
15. I love the smell of my spouses face.  Is that weird?
16. I get lost in books, any books, even if they're not that good.  
17. I only wash my hair once or twice a week.  Much more cooperative that way.
18. I currently have braces.  (Getting these babies off in December and can't wait!!!)
19. I have been the same weight for the last 7 years.  My pant size goes up and down but my weight stays the same...it's weird...
20. Being touched on my hips or my belly button makes me cringe and feel like I want to faint. 
21. I refuse to pay for manicures and a pedicure is pushing it.
22. I always have a fridge full of leftovers that eventually go bad because neither Aaron or I will eat them.
23. I'm an adult, yet I still never step on cracks in the sidewalk.
24. Going to the movies is my favorite way to spend a date night. 
25. And finally...I Am Enough.  I have shortcomings and failures and sometimes I'm lazy and selfish.  It's so easy to get caught up in what holds me back.  But I also have achievements and gratitude for my blessings.  I'm motivated by what's right and by what's right for my family.  I genuinely want everyone to feel loved and included.  I believe wholeheartedly in forgiveness no matter the situation.  I believe in a merciful Heavenly Father who looks past my shortcomings and instead sees what I have to offer and what I can become.  And because of that...I Am Enough.

I have a confession to make...

...I use box cake mixes! 

Gasp!

The horror! 

Liar!!! ...Liiaarrrrr!!!  "Get back witch." "I'm not a witch I'm your wife!"  (10 points for whoever can name that movie.)  I hear this in my head every time I think about telling someone that the cake they are eating came from a box!  Not all of that, just the liar liar part.  But who am I kidding, if you start it you have to finish it.  "But after what you just said I'm not even sure I want to be that anymore!"  (Seriously, 10 points...)

Anyway...back on topic.  Box mixes are where it's at for me.  I've tried the homemade from scratch recipes but they never come out right.  I follow the directions to a T, but they usually end up dry or really dense.  Don't get me wrong, I love a dense cake, but not when it won't even rise up to the edge of the cupcake liners.  So I've given up.  I'm done, finished, finito!  Maybe someday I'll be brave and try it again, but I just hate putting in all that time and work and ingredients into something just to have it fail.  Take for example my super dense non rising Triple Salted Caramel Cupcakes.



Horrible I tell you!


So what I do instead is doctor up the box mix a little.  I mean if I'm going to make cakes and hope people might want to buy them I can't just use a box mix and call myself legit. Speaking of, I did sell my first cake ever to my co-worker Nicole.  See look!  I was soooo excited! 



It was a vanilla ombre cake with lemon curd and raspberry fillings (alternated).
It got a little lopsided when she was driving it home.  :(

 

Anyway, typically I'll add an extra egg, throw in some sour cream, change out the water (from the box instructions) for milk or buttermilk.  Sometimes I'll even add in additional flour and sugar.  It's different every time but it changes it to taste more homemade.  It's my cheat!  :)

To my credit though, I ALWAYS make my own frostings, fillings and fondants, without fail.  You will never see me use store bought, from a tub frosting.  Not. Gonna. Happen.

So there it is.  Laid out on the table for all to judge.  Judge away.  Gasp away.  Call me a liar.  But you're going to be smiling when you get to eat one of my delicious, beautiful cakes.  You know you will!

Maliah's Birthday Cake 2011 and my first ever fondant cake.

Maliah's Birthday Cake 2012



Diane Wikse's Birthday Cake





Work Birthday Cupcakes




Work Birthday Cupcakes
(These ones are my all time favorite flavor.  Vanilla cupcakes with Blueberry buttercream and Lemon Curd filling.  YUMMMY!)



Jenny's Birthday Cake 2013

Fondant

I made my first ever fondant cake! Yay! I think I've been drooling over pictures of fondant cakes and dying to try to make sugar flowers (and watching Cake Boss and Fabulous Cakes of course), etc for about two years now. I was just too terrified of how hard it might be. I did make some fondant about 6 months ago with the intention of making a birthday cake for work...but then it just sat in the fridge unused. I was scared to screw it up. I've never even eaten a fondant cake for goodness sake! I had no idea about the consistency or anything like that, but I finally had a reason to jump in head first; my niece Maliah's birthday.

I don't think I've ever been so excited and so frustrated all at the same time before. (Seriously, fondant's kind of hard.) The cake itself was no problem. It may have something to do with the fact that I used a box cake. Don't judge, I wanted to make sure that the cake would at least taste great even if the rest flopped. But the fondant. Oh the fondant. Maybe it was because it was home made, maybe it was because it had melted marshmallows in it, or who knows, maybe that's just how fondant is, but it was so sticky! It doesn't look that sticky on tv! I had to use a TON of corn starch to make sure it didn't stick to the counter. (Ya, that happened a few times.) And picking it up to place it on the cake takes a master I think. But I managed. See...

Isn't it BEAUTIFUL!

Aaron even helped by rolling that little bottom border around the bottom. He's so talented!

Then, I got to make the sugar flower. Oh my, that was so much fun! Looking back I should have made a bunch to cover the top just because it was so much fun to make. ...next time. But I had so much fun making that flower. It was seriously a BLAST.

I definitely learned some things (DEFINITELY) and would probably do some things different the next time around. But I'm already looking for my next opportunity to make a cake. All in all, I think it was a major success!

Anybody have any birthdays coming up and want an amature like me to bake them a cake? Just throwing that out there.

Getting Caught Up

Can you tell that I'm not a true honest to goodness blogger by the inconsistancy of posts.  I think it's been over two months now since my last post...WOW!  I just thought I'd get you caught up with a few things that I intended to post about but never did. 

First, I made my first ever fondant cake!  Yay! I think I've been drooling over pictures of fondant cakes and dying to try to make sugar flowers and watching Cake Boss, etc for about two years now.  I was just too terrified of how hard it might be.  I've never even eaten a fondant cake!  I had no idea about the consistency or anything like that but I finally had a reason to jump in head first; my niece Maliah's birthday.

I don't think I've ever been so excited and so frustrated all at the same time before.  The cake itself was no problem.  (It may have something to do with the fact that I used a box cake.  Don't judge, I wanted to make sure that the cake would at least taste great even if the rest flopped.)  But the fondant.  Oh the fondant.  Maybe because it was home made, maybe it was because it had melted marshmallows in it, or maybe that's just how fondant is, but it was so sticky!  It wasn't actually that bad but I had to use a TON of corn starch to make sure it didn't stick to the counter.  (Ya, that happened a few times.)  And picking it up to place it on the cake takes a master I think.  But I managed.  See...

Then, I got to make the sugar flower.  Oh my, that was so much fun!  Looking back I should have made a bunch to cover the top.  ...next time.  But I had so much fun making that flower.  It was seriously a BLAST. 

I definitely learned some things along the way and am looking forward to my next opportunity to make a cake.  All in all, I think it was a major success!

Cake Balls

That's right, I said Cake Balls!   My sisters birthday was a couple days ago and I wanted to do a special kind of cake for her.  So I tried my hand at Cake Balls.   For those of you who may not have ever tried or even heard of them, cake balls are basically cake that you crumble up after cooking then add frosting to it.  Roll it into balls and dip it in chocolate.  Sounds amazing right!?!  ...it is...

This being my first time at it I wasn't really sure how amazing they would turn out, but I have to say, they looked pretty amazing!

And, they tasted pretty amazing too!  

I think they went over well and I will definitely be making these again!