My First Adventures

Once I finished that weekend of classes, I was hooked on fondant.  I order a 20 lb. pail of vanilla fondant, some gel colors, and got busy baking...

James's High School Graduation

My parent's neighbor's son, James, graduated from high school this year and I wanted to make him a cake. I used an upside down cupcake for the base of the cap.  The mortar board itself is chocolate that I melted and poured into a square shape.  I then covered everything in blue fontant (his school color).  I also make a book with the year he gratuated, 2011.  An now he is off to become an architect!

Father's Day

So what do you give the man you has doesn't want for much and buys everything he does want?  Wel, I bake him a funny cake! LOL!  So for father's day, I made Dad a cake that looked like a hamburger.  It was supposed to have sugar cookie "fries", but they were a FLOP.  So, here is daddy with his burger cake.

I baked enough extras that I was able to make a 2nd one and took it next door to their neighbor, Gary.  And, I got the best compliment when we brought it over.  Carol and Gary thought I made an actual hamburger.  They didn't realize it was CAKE!  I made fondant lettuce leaves and cheese slice.  There is even red and white icing for ketchup/mayo 'leaking' out the side.

Dad asked that I use the leftover 'scraps' to make another cake for the kids next door.  I made a large M & M (forgot to take a pic) and a replica Weber grill.  I used orange and black M&Ms to represent the hot coals and used brown fondant to make the hamburgers and hot dogs.

Here's a side view.  I covered Snyder's Nibblers in fondant for the feet of the grill. One thing I've learned from watching all those cake shows is that you gotta be creative and use everyday items in a diferent way!

Briana's Going Away Party - *sniff* - The Mad Scientist Geeky Cake!

My good friend Briana graduated from NC State this year with her 2nd master's degree (yes, she is little miss smarty pants! lol!).  I was sad to see her go, but know it is an absolutely awsome job opportunity in Cali for her.  So, I said goodbye with a Science inspired cake.  She loves amaretto and I'd been promissing her amaretto cupcakes for like 2 years, so the top and bottom tiers are chocolate and the middle layer is amaretto.

I used a paper template and an exacto knife to cut out the beakers and decorated them with royal icing so the colors would be intense and glossy.  The bottom tier is covered with elements from the periodic table.  (and in true geek-ness, the elements (Cu Na) happened to form a funny message - See you, naa.)

4th of July Cake

For the 4th of July, I was going to a cookout at a friend's neighbor's house.  So, I made a trial version of the cake and brought it to work the Friday before.  I cut strips of red fontant to mimic the strips on the US flag and put random blue stars around the edge.

The inside of the cake had interest too.  Alternating layers of chocolate and amaretto with almond buttercream filling.

Peppi's Birthday - A suprise cake!  After I attended my weekend of classes, a co-worker, Peppi, said she wanted me to make her a b-day cake then we never talked about it again.  So, I suprised her by bringing in a cake 2 days before her birthday. 

Christine Gets Her Foot Back - Sort of...

My friend Christine has a run in with a baby gate and lost.  She unfortunately broke her foot and was in a cast for 6 weeks.  Most of that time she was in Cali with her family.  Well, she through a party at her favorite restaurant to celebrate getting the cast off.  She's still in a walking boot, but I thought it would be funny to bring a Leg Cast cake.  I even used food writer markers to "sign" the cast from her friends. (Her favorate signature was from the people at the gym telling her they missed her.)

Here's Christine looking kinda scared as Nancy cuts the first piece.  Don't worry, no one was harmed during the carving process.

Jess' Housewarming Party

My friend Jess recently moved into an awesome new townhouse and last night she had us all over. So, I obviously made a cake for the occasion.  The bottom tier is green like the grass and the top is blue for the sky.  I used a picture of her townhouse and tried to replicate the outside.  I'm not an artist, but I tried and I think it looked adorable.  I used a paper template and an exacto knife to cut out the trees and the sun.

Well, that is all for now.  I still have a little bit of fondant left in my first bucket. So come back later and see what else I can make with it.

Sandra

Past Adventures

I have been decorating cakes for a few months now and have been enjoying every minute of it. Not to mention my friends have been enjoying the end products! Seriously, who doesn't love a good cake?

So here are some pictures of my past cakes...

May 2011 - Cupcake Envy Classes

So this was my VERY FIRST attempt at using fondant EVER.  Thank goodness for my classmates.  They helped me a lot when it came to covering the t-shirt.  Keeping the fondant from folding over is harder that you thing.  But, once you learn the tricks, it isn't hard.

The 2nd class was ALL ABOUT BABY! Here we got to carve and make baby related cakelets.

 I love the simplicity of the baby onesie.  The little flap at the bottom and single fondant accent duckie make it adorable. I also used a very small wheel to mimic the stitching details.

 The next cakelet was a pregnancy bump shirt.  I love the rope detail, but don't think any fashionable mommy-to-be would wear a shirt with those flowers on it!  Next time, I'll make it fashionable as well as good tasting.

This is BY FAR my favorite cakelet ofthe weekend.  I absolutely loved making the baby bag.  It might only be 3 inches wide, but it is full of fun, whimsey, and detail.

Here is the top and side of the baby bag.  Now you can see why I loved making this cakelet.

Day 2 of classes - All about details...

Here is the shopping bag.  The "tissue paper" is very thin fondant with small daisies inlayed.  The red fondant has a tiny embossed dot pattern.

This is a flashy princess dress.  The cake "skirt" was made using a shaped dome pan and the pink top part is dried fondant that was cutout using a paper template and an exacto knife.  The top was left to dry for two or three days prior to making the cake so it was stiff enough to sit upright when inserted into the cake.

Well it's summer in Carolina and everyone needs a flip flop, right?

Coffee anyone?  This cakelet was alot of fun to make.  The cake was make using a giant cupcake pan.  The "coffee" is actually chocolate fondant and it tastes like a tootsie roll!  The handle was made out of gumpaste by the instructor a few days prior to class so it had time to harden.

Here is a ringbox cake.  In class we cut the box shape, then learned how to layer the different pieces of fondant so the inside of the box is different from the outside.

And the final cakelet of the day... A handbag! (so appropriately me!)

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I *love* my handbags.  I bag is made by carving the overall shape of the cake then layering each piece of fondant to achieve the "designer" look.  Next time, it will be a louis!

Well, that where my adventure in fondant began... 

Sandra