After my first cake I gained a lot of confidence. My grandma's birthday was nearing so I decided I would make her a cake and bring it to the Easter celebration ( her birthday was Easter weekend). I wanted to make a cake that looked like a present so I did just that. I made a square cake, chocolate of course, and covered it in purple fondant. I found out quickly that square cakes were not as easy to cover as circle ones, but it didn't turn out half bad. I watched YouTube videos about how to make a bow and fell in love with Edna's tutorials. I followed her instructions and ended up with a beautiful bow. I brought the cake to the get together and after lunch I placed it in front on my grandma. She looked at it for a second and then asked, "Can I open it?" Hehe
I watched the Alice in Wonderland movie when it was out in theaters and the whole time I was watching I was thinking how the cat would look good as a cake. So I got out my colored pencils and paper and drew up the cat and how I thought he would look on a cake. I planned this baby out for few weeks and finally executed it. It was long, hard struggle for me. It took me 6 days total to finish but I did it. I took the cake to work but warned them that is was probably stale, so I brought in a fresh blue "velvet" cake just in case. He turned out pretty sharp, I was quite impressed with him. I got a little creative with him which again boosted my confidence.
Soon after the
Cheshire Cat was complete, I wanted to make a cake for mother's day. I had this little design in my head so I went through with it. This was my first stacked cake and I had to real idea what I was doing. I watched videos but they didn't help much. I drove it unstacked to my mom's and stacked it there. It was crooked but no one cared.
Then the biggie came in. I have been posting all my pictures on
Facebook thus far and my friend Sarah saw them. She asked if I could make a baby shower for her brother's girlfriend who was having a little boy. I agreed and she gave complete control. I went through a lot of different designs but ended up with this one. It was suppose to be brown too but I forgot why I didn't use brown. Oh well, it took be a long time and I was up late. The fondant tore and looked bad, but I used stars and circles to cover up the ugly parts. I had also made cupcakes. Green velvet cupcakes! They turned out pretty cute. The ducks are not mine, she added them there I guess.
At work, we had a luncheon and we were asked to bring in a dessert. I made a chocolate cake with
Oreo cream cheese frosting and pink lemonade cupcakes. I didn't much care for the taste of the cupcakes but they looked cute, and that is all that matters right?
My friend that I play World of Warcraft with, Thogoth/Ben, came up to Chicago for a family wedding so we decided to meet up. He knew about me making cakes so he requested that I make him one. The faction we play on is Horde, so I made a Horde symbol on the cake. It was very simple. I leared not to use an exacto blade on my fondant mat though. I am constantly reminded of this now because there is a Horde symbol cut out on my $40 fondant mat! Hehe
This cake was a low point for me. By this point, my confidence in my fondant skills was lacking. I wanted to make a cake for my grandpa's and my own birthday. He loves John Deere so that is why I went with greed and yellow. I covered the cake in
butter cream and added fondant accents. This was my 2nd attempt at a loop bow, I still am very unhappy with it.
And then came my favorite. I decided to order foam cakes so I could practice and this was my first practice cake. I covered the foams in fondant. My fondant skills were still lacking here but foam is more forgiving than
butter cream. This is the first time I used store bought fondant as well. I was making my own fondant but it was very inconsistent and stressful so I researched fondants and decided to try
Satin Ice in a vanilla flavor. I was making my own issues with the fondant. I was kneading it too much and when I went to roll it out and set it on the cake it would just rip. I later found out that this was my problem and have since fixed it! I have also mastered the art of making fantasy flowers. I was taking tin foil and bowling it into a coffee mug and placing circles of fondant into it to make the flowers.
My friend from highschool had seen my cakes on Facebook and asked me if I could make her god daughter a cake for her Quinceañera. I was freaking out at first cause she said she needed 4 cakes and I had never made that many. She later added another cake so I was freaking out a little more. The theme was Cinderella so she requested pink and blue. So I made white cakes with colored accents. The carriage stand was at the venue and the cakes were places on it there. I prepared for this order for a long time and was a nervous wreck the whole time but when the time cake to make them I calmed down. I made the fondant perfectly and everything else ran very smoothly. This order gave me my confidence back in fondant and since then I have had no issues.
After the dummy cake, I made a few other cakes here and there, but none were as amazing as Bob, Sponge Bob that is. My mom has been promoting my cakes to her friends and co-workers. Her bowling partner's, Dan and Mary, have a granddaughter Brianna who birthday was this month. Mary asked if I could make her a Sponge Bob cake. I was so excited, this was my calling. I looked up Sponge Bob, and grew increasingly excited when the date drew closer. The night before, I was working fondant magic and created this little guy who
immediately stole my heart.
A week after Bob, my mom was coming to the convention center
across from my work for a nursing
conference. Her friend Laura, also a nurse, was going as well, and it just happened to be her birthday. So I told my mom I would make her a cake. My mom
slyly asked her her favorite flavor. So I made a chocolate/chocolate 6 inch cake for her. I drove it over after work. They were getting in their car and my mom saw me and was like " Oh look who it is!" Laura saw me, " Oh hi Katie." I handed a shoe box and told her to open it and there was her beautiful cake. She was
sooo excited. She talked about it all car ride home I guess.
Here is the pretty little lady. She turned out better than the first time proving that practice does make perfect! I wish I would have redone the bow but oh well. I will next time. My boyfriend Joe even helped me out with all those polka dots! This was my first time using the letter cutter outer thingies. They were annoying at first but I got the hang of it now?
Yesterday I started working on the cake for my cousin Chloe birthday party this Sunday. I have never made numbers out of fondant so I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time. I was making the numbers and went to get wax paper to set them on to dry and I found the box empty besides for this tiny strip. The process of making them went very fast and I am pleased with the outcome. I am quite concerned on how I am going to get the 8 to stand up on the cake, but I will deal with that later. Best thing about this was that I got to used left over fondant from my last cake. It is always nice to reuse!
I also started to make the bow I will be wrapping around the top layer of the cake. It turned out bad several times and I am not completely happy with the final outcome, but then again, this is not a good picture. Since I ran out of wax paper, I let it dry on tin foil, probably not a good idea, but oh well.....
I watched the Alice in Wonderland movie when it was out in theaters and the whole time I was watching I was thinking how the cat would look good as a cake. So I got out my colored pencils and paper and drew up the cat and how I thought he would look on a cake. I planned this baby out for few weeks and finally executed it. It was long, hard struggle for me. It took me 6 days total to finish but I did it. I took the cake to work but warned them that is was probably stale, so I brought in a fresh blue "velvet" cake just in case. He turned out pretty sharp, I was quite impressed with him. I got a little creative with him which again boosted my confidence.
Soon after the Cheshire Cat was complete, I wanted to make a cake for mother's day. I had this little design in my head so I went through with it. This was my first stacked cake and I had to real idea what I was doing. I watched videos but they didn't help much. I drove it unstacked to my mom's and stacked it there. It was crooked but no one cared.
Then the biggie came in. I have been posting all my pictures on Facebook thus far and my friend Sarah saw them. She asked if I could make a baby shower for her brother's girlfriend who was having a little boy. I agreed and she gave complete control. I went through a lot of different designs but ended up with this one. It was suppose to be brown too but I forgot why I didn't use brown. Oh well, it took be a long time and I was up late. The fondant tore and looked bad, but I used stars and circles to cover up the ugly parts. I had also made cupcakes. Green velvet cupcakes! They turned out pretty cute. The ducks are not mine, she added them there I guess. 
A week after Bob, my mom was coming to the convention center across from my work for a nursing conference. Her friend Laura, also a nurse, was going as well, and it just happened to be her birthday. So I told my mom I would make her a cake. My mom slyly asked her her favorite flavor. So I made a chocolate/chocolate 6 inch cake for her. I drove it over after work. They were getting in their car and my mom saw me and was like " Oh look who it is!" Laura saw me, " Oh hi Katie." I handed a shoe box and told her to open it and there was her beautiful cake. She was sooo excited. She talked about it all car ride home I guess.
