Strawberry Shortcake Cake with Lemon Meringue

A Strawberry Shortcake Cake with Lemon Meringue.  The cakes were a 6 inch and 8 inch round, Strawberry Shortcake with fresh strawberry Italian Meringue Buttercream; I even flavored the MMF (marshmallow fondant) with Strawberry Flavoring LorAnn Oil - it smelled so deliciously good!

Here's a closer look at Strawberry Shortcake.  She stands at almost 5 1/2 inches tall and is constructed out of gumpaste.  The clothing is a mix of both MMF and Gumpaste.  I dusted the cheeks with pink petal dust and also painted her entire outfit in both red and pearl luster dust that I diluted with vodka.  I hand molded the strawberries on the top of the cake and used an assortment of different blossom and rose calyx cutters for the green leaf on the strawberries.  The green petals were hand cut free hand. 

Lemon Meringue is also mostly made out of gumpaste with some of her hair and clothing being a mix of gumpaste and MMF.  Both of the figurines had one long popsicle stick that went from the middle of their heads and straight down into the bottom of the cake.  On the actual cake, I insert regular drinking straws down them, trim them so they sit flushed to the top of the cake and then slide the figurines down them for added stability.  An added bonus when inserting them this way is that when you cut the cake, you get a clean popsicle stick to hold the figurines with instead of one coated in cake and buttercream.

A closer look at the figurines while they were drying.  Note all the push pins in Strawberry Shortcake used to help hold up the hat's rim and her skirt as they dried overnight.  They work perfectly and only leave behind a tiny little pin mark.

This is such a cute photo of the birthday girl being cute and silly as the cake was being photographed (by Brian Ramsay Photography).

And my favorite shot, Serenity taking a bite off Strawberry Shortcake's face....priceless.

Photo's provided by Brian Ramsay Photography.

Los Angeles Lakers Cake

Who loves the Lakers?  We do most definitely, especially with being so near to LA.  This was created for Blake who turned 10 and loved the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team.  It's an 8 inch round, Chocolate cake filled with Italian Meringue Buttercream (IMBC) - recipe linked HERE.  It's covered and decorated in Marshmallow Fondant (MMF).

The logo was made using the same technique on my Boston Red Sox Cake (click HERE to see it).

The only difference is the "Los Angeles" font and the dashes around the "Lakers" was pipped (these were just too tiny to cut out of fondant).  In order for the purple piping to match the other purple on the cake, I diluted the MMF with a tiny bit of hot water and mixed it up really well until it was evenly melted.  I then piped it using a #1 round piping tip and a toothpick to help move each stroke into it's proper place as I tried to copy the logo as exact as I could.

Those wonderful basketball bumps...to achieve the basketball texture I used a #5 round piping tip and punched them one by one around the entire cake.  It took an hour alone to get the texture done - doesn't it look neat!

For the black striping along the sides of the cake, I first impressed the pattern on the sides of the cake using one of those tear drop shaped flower shaping tools (don't know the name for it), used an clay extruder to extrude the black "rope", then smoothed them "into" the impression on the cake so that the stripes were more flushed to the surface rather than protruding way out.

This is the extruder I like using - it comes with a clear acrylic box that conveniently keeps everything together:Walnut Hollow Clay Extruder Set

As for the base board, I was trying to achieve the basketball court flooring.  I cut out the individual panels, scored them with the thin tool to get the wood grain, assembled them on the board, then brushed it over with clear piping gel that I diluted way down with vodka that was mixed with a teeny drop of brown gel color.  The piping gel dries glossy and helps the board resemble the shiny basketball floor quite well I think.

I hand cut the Laker's Jersey's (one purple home jersey and one yellow away jersey) and added the birthday boys age to them using the FMM Tappit Cutter Set.

Bumble Bee Baby Shower Cake and Cupcakes

A few week ago, I got to make such an adorable cake for my Dad's friend.  I was given a picture of the invitation and given free reign to do as I wished for the cake and cupcakes - LOVE IT!  My favorites cakes are always the ones that I get to design and create and it's, for the most part, a total secret until delivery.  Type A and OCD-me would go insanely crazy if you were to do this to me, but when it's the other way around, I thrive on the unknown and love the surprise factor.  But, I do spend hours upon hours sketching and contemplating the design for days upon days too and usually, well, nearly always, change up something about it during the process.

The invitation design is so cute and one that you can find on Etsy by Note-able Chic.  I fell in love with the invitation and was completely inspired.

Baby Shower Invitation by Note-able Chick (Etsy.com)

I made 2 dozen cupcakes and a 6 inch round cake to match the invite.  There was so much involved with making everything for the cake and with staying up late (into the wee hours of the morning) working on it, I didn't get a chance to take photos of each step but here are the few that did make it into the camera.

Making the Marshmallow Fondant (MMF):
1) To make the Yellow MMF, I used Americolor Electric Yellow Soft Gel Paste
2) To make the Black MMF, I used Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips and AmeriColor Super Black Gel Paste.  Follow my steps HERE on how to make MMF using Candy Melts (super easy to get dark colors with).  You can use Black Candy Melts too but it also works with using any type of brown chocolate.  If you really take notice, the Black Candy Melts is really a dark brown so don't fret if you can't find any.  Any brown chocolate will work.

The Baby Carriage:
Cake Fixation has a lovely tutorial on how to create the carriage that you can follow HERE.  So I basically followed her instructions and then made my own modifications.  For starters, the piece of Styrofoam I used was very soft so I ended up taping it a couple times in shipping tape to keep in all together and since I couldn't "stab" the 18 gauge wire into it, I taped up all the wiring around the base of the stroller using lots of tape all over the place to make sure nothing moved and everything was secure and in place before covering in fondant.

Baby Stroller structure - all taped and secure.

I covered the entire stroller with back MMF that I attached to the stucture with piping gel.  I then added the stripes separately using Jessica Harris' (JessiCakes) technique found HERE.  To get the perfect shape I needed for the canopy, I lay a piece of paper over the canopy and outlined the shape and used it as a template (see the polka dot piece above, it was sort of an "eye" shape).

To get the polka dots on the canopy to look smooth, I added the yellow dots onto the black fondant, then rolled it out flat before trimming it to size and attaching it to the stroller with piping gel.

The flying bees are sitting inside coffee stirs inside the cake.

The Wheels:

I cut out the tire ring using 2 round piping tips close in size (1 to cutout the outside, another to cutout the middle).  I then added the spokes so that they fit snugly inside the tire ring and punched a hole in the middle with a #1 piping tip.  Brushed it all over in a thin layer of water front and back a couple times throughout the evening to make sure the MMF melted and fused to each other so they wouldn't come apart on me once dry.  You could also use gum-glue or tylose glue for this but water works fine too.

The Finished Stroller:

I painted the legs and handle with black gel colors and then bent the bottom 1 inch of the stroller legs so that they pointed straight down into the cake and not at a 45 degree angle.  Since the wires were not long enough to support the stroller securely, I pushed coffee stirs straight down into the cake and wrapped up the bottom part of the wire with an extra layer of floral tape to make them thicker and fit snugly into the coffee stirs - the stroller didn't budge and wasn't going anywhere:  It was as snug as a bug!

I then attached the wheels to the sides of the stroller legs using black royal icing and added the little baby head and hands.  Notice, I added lashes and a red bow to the baby to make it girlie vs. what the actual invitation had (all the little details really do make a difference).

Bumble Bees:

I made a couple bumble bees out of fondant (mixed the MMF with some tylose) and lay the bees with wings over various piping tips to dry so that they would have a natural curve to them.  Used thin wire wrapped in floral tape for the antennas that I later painted with black gel colors.

The wings, once dried, were painted over with piping gel that I thinned out with vodka and sprinkled with Rainbow Disco Dust.  I also brushed the entire body with yellow luster dust.

Damask Toppers:

This was my very first time using a stencil and I was honestly stressed out on how I was going to do black royal icing over white fondant - it's so unforgiving and unfixable if it doesn't work.  So, I Googled for help and found that Lesley from Royal Bakery wrote up the most informative tutorial on how to Damask a cake.  See it HERE through her Facebook Page.  The stencil I used is by Designer Stencils (link below).  I did practice on a couple pieces of fondant first before attempting it on white:  Roll out the fondant, rub it lightly with shortening to help the stencil stick to it (and help seal the stencil tightly against the fondant) then spread black royal icing over it, scrape off excess, carefully lift stencil off, allow to dry for about 10 minutes then use a round cutter to cutout the topper with.  Phew!  They turned out so lovely and I love the contrast between the black and white.

Here is the link to the Damask Stencil I used:

Black Royal Icing:

To get the royal icing really black, I always make it at least 1 day ahead to give it time to mature and darken.  Make your Royal Icing...

1)  Add a couple drops of AmeriColor Super Black Gel Paste

2) A drop of Americolor Burgundy Gel Paste

3) And a drop of Americolor Royal Blue Gel Paste

Black alone has a slight green shade to it and the burgundy helps remove the green while blue helps deepen the black.  Hope that makes sense.  It took some experimenting but this works for me every time without fail.

Rather than repeat what other great Cake Decorators have done already and explained so well, below are some links to some tutorials you can check out and also a quick recap on everything I did...

Cupcakes:

1) Damask pattern made with, Designer Stencils Damask Cake Tier #2 Cake Stencil.  Used Royal Bakery's Facebook tutorial to find out how to use a stencil.

2) "baby" stamped lettering made with, FMM Lower Case Block Alphabet Tappit Cutters Set

3)  Handmade Bees - I need to make a tutorial on this one day for you all.  I tried to use my iPhone to record a tutorial but it was bad, really bad.  I need to borrow my brothers camcorder one day and make you all a real video.  It'll be a first for me and we'll see how that works out.

4) Yellow/Black stripes on the bows were made by following JessiCakes Striping Tutorial.  The actual folding of the bows was made by using Royal Bakery's YouTube tutorial, Satin Fondant Bow.

5)  Smooth Polka Dot Toppers:  I rolled out the fondant, added the polka dots to it, rolled it out again so the dots are flushed with the rest of the fondant, then cutout the circles using a Double Sided Round Biscuit Cutter.

6)  Lately, I've been flat-top-icing the cupcakes (not sure on the exact term used) and I'm loving this look.  I fill the cupcake liners 1/2 way with batter so they don't grow taller than the actual liner.  I then fill the tops of the cupcakes with buttercream and with an offset spatula, scrape off the extra frosting straight across the top of the liner.  Add a small swirl of buttercream to the middle of the cupcake about 1 inch tall and top with the toppers - I just prefer to have the toppers "floating" above the top rim of the liners.  The toppers should be made a couple days prior to allow plenty of time for them to dry flat and hard.

Cake:
1) Baby Carriage Topper made by using Cake Fixation's, "How to Make A Stroller Cake Topper" tutorial.

2)  The white bee wings and white scalloped circle on the cake were brushed in piping gel thinned out with vodka and sprinkled with Rainbow Disco Dust.  I used a Double Sided Round Biscuit Cutter for the white, round, disk on the side of the cake.  

3) The "baby" stamped lettering was made by using, FMM Lower Case Block Alphabet Tappit Cutters Set

4) Petal Ruffle along the bottom border will be a tutorial coming soon.  I was trying to come up with something different rather than leaving it plain or using ribbon or piping something around it and after playing around a bit, came up with the ruffles.  I think they worked perfectly on the cake - don't you think?

Well, that's it for now at least.  The year's almost over and hopefully, LIFE won't have me super busy so I can do a better job keeping up my blog.  I'm so sorry for being MIA for so long and thank you all for sticking by me during my absence.

Happy Holidays!  Ya know, Christmas will be here before you know it.

Lalaloopsy Cake & Dessert Table - Toffee Cocoa Cuddles

My daughter's 5th birthday cake - she is crazy about all things Lalaloopsy with her most favorite doll being Toffee Cocoa Cuddles.  I think the dolls are a little weird with their huge plastic heads and tiny bodies but they do have cute names and stories of what they're made of behind each one of them.  Such as Crumbs Sugar Cookie (made from pieces of a baking apron), Spot Splatter Splash (sewn from a painter's coveralls) and Ember Flicker Flame (made from a fire fighter's uniform).

As for her favorite one, Toffee Cocoa Cuddles is "sewn" from pieces off a chocolate box and likes to give hugs and all things sweet.  Plus, she has a chocolate lab that has a piece bitten off his ear - how cute is that!  

If you're looking for some really cute Lalaloopsy invitations, check out Lala Heaven's store on etsy.  You give her your info, she sends you the digital file and you print them on your own printer and paper - convenient, inexpensive and oh sew cute!

I wanted to create a table setting for "Caitlyn's Sweet Shop"with lots of sweet treats for the party guests to enjoy - something I had never done before and with seeing so many pretty dessert table setups over the Internet, I really wanted to give one a try.  But boy!  After all the prepping and getting things together, I ran out of time and didn't get all I envisioned made and on it.

A Lalaloopsy inspired dessert table

My 8 year old son helped make the banner on the wall out of foam cutouts found at a dollar store.
Button Plates were inspired by Pinterest:
Lalaloopsy Party Button Backdrop on Hostess with the Mostess

another Pinterest find:  Fabric Flowers by Bete Bazzi on flickr
I bought an assortment of fabric and cutout circles using a play dough lid as a template =).  Stitched up some buttons for the centers, glued a 1/2 inch felt circle to the back and sewed hair ties to them.
I then tied them up in pairs and put them in a heart shaped bowl for the girls to pick from for their goody bags.  These turned out so cute.

Chocolate Cake Pops
I also made the button monogram in the background and hope to hang it up in her room soon...once I find the bag of picture hangers in the garage somewhere =)

Some candy jars...I printed out images of the dolls off the Internet, cut them out using zig zag scissors and attached them onto a glass jar wrapped in ribbon.

more candy jars.... I also had a jar with clear bags and ties for the guests to fill their own goody bags to take some sweet treats home with them.

I love the Candy Topiary inspired again, by Pinterest:
Take a foam ball, stick Dum Dum lollipops into it (it took an entire large, 180pc bag of Dum Dums) and stand it up on either a candle stick or like I did, stick a dowel wrapped in ribbon into it and stand it into a flower pot.  The ball is really heavy so I stuffed a bunch of heavy stuff into the vase to support it (there are a couple bags filled with rice, a foam block to help hold it up straight and a roll of this heavy, industrial tape I found in my hubbies tool box - pretty much anything that would fit and support the heavy ball and keep it from toppling over)

a game for the kids - Guess the number of M and M's in the jar.
Winner got to take the jar home....Congrat's Ally!  That's Crumbs Sugar Cookies little sister (Sprinkle Spice Cookie) on the label and she has a smudge of chocolate on here face - lol!

and some mini Chocolate Cupcakes topped with Raspberry Italian Meringue Buttercream

and one of my most favorite treats, Lalaloopsy Cake Pop Favors

I made the tags in photoshop, zig zag scissors to cut them to size and then punched holes in 2 corners to slide the popsicle stick up through.

For the cakes design, I pulled some features off the doll's outfit - such as the stripes along the side of the cake matched her sleeves and the loops below the stripes matched the loop design on one of the layers of the skirt.  My daughter specifically asked for hearts along the cake so I did the top trim in hearts and they actually turned out really cute that way.  I was also inspired by JessiCakes design and used her technique with the stripes as shown here on her blog:  Maddie's Fashion Birthday Cake by JessiCakes.

Her head is made out of a cake pop and the body is decorated in gumpaste and MMF.
It was 4am by the time I finished her up and I had to leave the polka dots off her dress to sneak a couple hours of sleep before having to get the entire house in order and lalaloopsy cake pop favors made - yeah, talk about last minute.

before being wrapped up into favors

To see how the figurine and the Lalaloopsy Cake Pops were made, take a look at my 1st Lalaloopsy Cake post found here:  Blossom Flower Pots Lalaloopsy Cake and Cake Pops

and to the best part...getting to cut and eat the cake
(no worries - I was standing right beside her keeping a close eye on her)

Cake is covered and decorated in MMF
Momofuku Milk Bar Cake filled instead with Raspberry Meringue Buttercream
8 inch round (6 inches tall)

All in all, her party turned out oh, sew sweet =)