The Evolution of Cake

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.

Welcome!

My name is Katie and I have recently started baking and decorating cakes. I had always been curious as to how the grocery stores got their frosting so smooth so I did a little research. Through my research I found out about fondant. I found a recipe and decided that I could give it a try; it didn't sound too hard. I would like to note I have had very bad experiences with baking and cooking prior to this. But I wanted to give a shot anyways.


And this is what I ended up with. This is my first ever fondant covered cake. I set aside a Sunday one weekend and decided to make myself a spotted cake. I went out and bought all the ingredients. I was making the fondant from scratch so I decided to do a boxed cake to save time. All and all the cake took me 8 hours total to finish. I had no idea what I was doing so I brought the lap top to the kitchen and watched youtube videos as I went. The biggest issue I faced then was the flour/corn starch all over my polka dots. It was a very nice experience for my first try and it encouraged me to try again.