Lots and Lots of Ruffles...

Today I designed a 4 tier wedding cake all done in ruffles... even the flowers were "ruffly." When I got this order, I had never done a cake like this, and so I went online to see if I could find out how to make the ruffles, and instead I found an entire tutorial on how to make a ruffle cake, and another tutorial on making the flowers that the bride wanted... yeah for technology!

http://acaketorememberva.blogspot.com/2011/11/ruffle-wedding-cake-tutorial.html

Each tier on this cake was a different flavor...

• Yellow with cream cheese and fresh strawberries
• Lemon with lemon curd and cream cheese
• Swiss chocolate with raspberry mousse
• Vanilla with raspberry and cream cheese

All tiers were covered with buttercream icing, and then covered in ruffles made from 50/50 modeling chocolate and fondant. The dough was rolled out thin and cut into 3/4 inch strips and ruffled with a wooden dowel dipped in cornstarch. The end result was just what the bride ordered. Not too difficult, just time consuming. The first tiers took quite awhile, but I got faster as I went along. If you want a cake that's a little different and impressive, give this one a try.

Whipped cream icing... tastes great, but not a favorite decorating medium

Yes, whipped cream icing tastes great, especially for those who like a "lighter" taste, but sometimes it can be a real "bear" to decorate with... and I found out  last weekend that edible pearls and stabilized whipped cream are not a good combination. I had never used edible pearls with whipped cream icing before. I decorated the cake the night before since it was a Saturday morning wedding delivery. Everywhere where I placed a pearl, the stabilized whipped cream cracked slightly. Still don't know why that happened, but I will not use them again. I will stick to the dots. Whipped cream is also very unforgiving, and is hard to get on the cake smoothly. Needless to say, whenever possible I will stick with the buttercream, ganache, and fondant. Thank you. 

Cake was vanilla with lemon curd, and yellow with whipped cream and fresh strawberries, covered in whipped cream icing.

Arizona Wedding

Last week I went to my friend LaDelle's wedding in Glendale, AZ. She requested that I come and do her wedding cake, so... because I had very limited time, I prepared everything except the cake itself before hand, and packed it into 2 check-in bags, and off I went to the airport. I made sure everything was labelled ... icings, fillings, fondants, flour, crisco, etc. ... along with cake pans and business card in each bag. Yes, both bags were inspected, but at least everything arrived intact. I got to AZ about 8 PM on Tuesday night, baked the cake, went to bed around 1:30 AM, got up at 8 AM on Wednesday to start decorating, and finished the cake about 10 minutes before time to deliver the cake... with a little help from my new friend Sara, who wanted to observe me as I decorated. I had an enjoyable time at the wedding, visiting with old friends while cutting the cake and giving best wishes and congratulations to my dear friend. Thursday morning I got up a little after 4 AM, and off we went to the airport for my trip back home to CO. Thanks bunches to my friend Denise, for letting me take over her kitchen to decorate, and for cleaning up my decorating mess and cake pans that I left because I ran out of time. A quick trip, but glad I could be a part of LaDelle's special day.

The happy bride and groom... LaDelle and Phil

Cake was chocolate with fudge nut filling and chocolate buttercream, and yellow with cream cheese and raspberry filling and vanilla buttercream, all covered in chocolate fondant.

Satin ribbon with antique gold embellishment, quilted pattern with ivory dots, and fondant rope border

Peacock feathers included in fresh flower arrangement on cake top. Sahuaro Ranch Park (where the wedding was held), is known for its peacocks which roam freely throughout the park and roost on the roofs of the building at night.

Sweet cake for a sweet girl...

Designed this cake yesterday for sweet little Ella Davis, who was baptized yesterday. Her favorite colors are, of course...pink and purple. Chocolate with bavarian creme. Perfect little CTR emblem to remind her to "choose the right." Congratulations on your big step, Ella. Hope you enjoyed your cake.

Sheet cakes vs. specialty cakes...

So, over time I have developed a dislike for sheet cakes at weddings...a few reasons why...

• they take up allot of room
• they don't look all that great
• only one layer of filling vs. two
• square little piece of cake looks tacky on plate
• usually not allot of variety

When my bride's want a smaller wedding cake, and want extra cakes to complete the number of servings needed, I now try to convince them to go with round specialty cakes instead of the sheet cakes. Not only do they look nicer, but serve up nicer, and give your guests more variety. The price is almost the same, and the results far superior, at least in my humble opinion. When I'm catering a wedding and also furnishing the cake, we have a separate table for the wedding cake (of course), and then at the end of the buffet table, I will set up the specialty cakes. That way, if the bride wants to wait for awhile before cutting the cake, the guests can still have a piece of cake early in the reception. I usually prepare about 3 different flavors, and set the cakes up on glass blocks. Some brides that are having more than one reception, will have their wedding cake at one reception, and then opt out for serving only the specialty cakes at another reception or open house. Also, for older brides or second marriages, some are going totally for the beautiful specialty cake set-up instead of a wedding cake. Some of my most popular flavors are chocolate lover's, raspberry fudge, carrot with pecans, strawberry shortcake, banana split, spice with cream cheese pecan, and Shirley Temple. Check out these pages on my website to read about each of these flavors...
 http://www.cathyleavittcreations.com/home/specialty-cakes
http://www.cathyleavittcreations.com/flavors

Specialty cakes in lieu of wedding cake...on separate table

Specialty cakes at end of buffet table

Whipped cream and fresh flowers...a great combination

I love fresh flowers on wedding cakes. I also love purple on wedding cakes...it's a very bold, beautiful, and striking color. So I designed this wedding cake for a bride yesterday...the flowers were beautiful. Lilies were a bit large, so I had to put on a few more flowers than I believe she wanted to balance out the size, but overall, I think the finished product was quite stunning. The cake flavors were lemon with cream cheese and lemon fillings, fudge marble with Bavarian Creme filling, and yellow with whipped cream and fresh strawberries. Used the Chantilly whipped cream stabilizer to whip up the cream to ice the cake.

Cute pink and white wedding cake...

This cute little cake was for a bride that loves pink. The wedding reception was on Sunday, so I delivered it Saturday night to the groom's parents' home, and they transported it to the reception site on Sunday, and arranged the flowers on top.   I made sure that I stabilized it with a wooden dowel going down the center of all 3 tiers. The cake was lemon with raspberry filling. Because it was decorated with fondant, and had a filling that did not need to be refrigerated, I knew they would be fine in transporting it, even though they were a little nervous. As you can see, it arrived safely. I airbrushed the fondant pieces with pink and pearl airbrush colors, which made the pieces glisten. My new airbrush works great with the thicker colors like the pearl and the metallics.

USAFA Bridal Faire...

After some mis-communications and not being able to participate last year, I was able to have a booth at this year's Bridal Faire at the Air Force Academy. I prepared most of the week (amid a house full of visiting grandchildren), and then set up on Friday morning. The event took place on Saturday between 10 and 3. I felt that it was successful and got some good contacts and leads, both prospective brides and vendors that will hopefully refer me. I was able to experiment some more with SugarVeil, which seemed to be very interesting to several visitors. Overall, a successful and hopefully profitable day...

My friend Nancy and I at our booth, getting ready for the Bridal Faire to begin.

Background display for booth, set up day before

Display cake

Display cake with SugarVeil lace over chocolate fondant. Lace made in SugarVeil silicone mat

3 out of 6 of sample cakes to taste...

SugarVeil heart piped on greased parchment over printed design...placed on chocolate fondant.

Cake was fudge marble with Bavarian Creme.

Chocolate mint with chocolate mint mousse and vanilla fondant.

Strawberry shortcake...yellow cake with whipped cream and fresh strawberries. Tried new Chantilly whipped cream stabilizer which worked like a charm...whipped cream held up through entire show.

Just for all of you chocolate and peanut butter lovers...

On Friday I had a cake order for one of my past wedding cake customers. She ordered my chocolate peanut butter cake for her son's birthday. It is chocolate cake with peanut butter mousse and crushed Reese's cups between all 3 layers. The cake is iced in chocolate peanut butter frosting and decorated with more Reese's cups on top...perfect for any chocolate and peanut butter lover...yum!

Never on Sunday...

Last Saturday, after I returned home from AZ, I baked and decorated a small 2-tier chocolate ganache wedding cake. I delivered it to the customer's apartment on Saturday evening for her wedding the following day. I normally don't stack tiers together until I get to the delivery site; however, on this small cake, I needed it to be complete when it arrived, and she needed to be able to transport it to the site the following day. The cake had a very stable filling (fudge), and was covered in chocolate ganache, with only ribbon, small buttercream roses and a little scrollwork for decorations. To keep the tiers intact, I used a long wooden dowel, sharpened with a pencil sharpener, and pushed down the center of both tiers.

Twin Cakes

The last party cakes I designed were for two sisters turning 18. One was on a swim team and the other was into ballet. I wanted the cakes to be alike, yet different, and be kind of abstract, so these are what I came up with. Both were vanilla cakes...one with whipped cream and fresh strawberries, the other with chocolate mousse...yum!

Chocolate Ganache at Craftwood Inn

This is a first...an entire wedding cake done in dark chocolate ganache...yummm! The flavor of the cake was yellow with delicious, freshly made, Bavarian creme filling...a great combination. Very simple decorations, yet very elegant. I felt the cake topper was a bit too large for this size of cake, but it still worked. I read somewhere to use double sided tape to give a cake top ornament more stability on top of the mirror or whatever other "platform" you may use. Why had I not thought of that before? It worked great. 

A couple of hints about working with ganache...use the lowest temperature you can to melt your chocolate with the cream. It will turn out smoother. Remember, if you get the cream too hot, the ganache will separate, not go on your cake smoothly, and give you a dull finish. Also, make sure you make enough to cover your larger cakes because the ganache will set up very quickly due to the low melting temperature. I always ice the cake in a thin layer of chocolate buttercream prior to covering with the ganache. Let it set up just a bit and then pour on the ganache. This will also help to give a smoother finish.

For an added bonus...the venue for the cake delivery was at the picturesque Craftwood Inn in Manitou...close to Garden of the Gods. I shot these pictures after the delivery and on the way home. This is why we live here...

Happy Birthday, Carissa!

Today is my youngest granddaughter, Carissa's 1st birthday. We had a party for her the week before they moved to Hawaii, and here is a picture of the cake I did for her. It was done in chocolate marshmallow fondant with a gumpaste bow. Baking cocoa is added to the soupy marshmallow mixture before adding the powdered sugar. It's yummy. The rest of the pink decorations were done in pink marshmallow fondant. The cake flavor was vanilla with raspberry mousse filling. I don't know which she enjoyed more...the cake or the ice cream.

Happy March Birthdays...plus yummy Bavarian Creme recipe!

This is the latest cake that I did for my friend, Michelle, who works at Wynwood Assisted Living Center.

The cake flavor was Swiss chocolate with a Bavarian Creme filling. Michelle said it was a huge hit. I have always used a purchased ready to use Bavarian Creme until recently, when I discovered a yummy fresh alternative that I now make from scratch.

Easy Bavarian Creme Filling

8 oz. package cream cheese, softened

2 (3 1/2 oz.) packages vanilla instant pudding

3/4 cup milk

12 oz. Cool Whip, thawed

Mix together dry pudding mix and cream cheese. Slowly beat in milk. Fold in Cool Whip. You may also use other flavors of puddings.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I needed a cute cake pattern for my latest cake that I designed for the February birthday folks at Wynwood. So I googled cupid coloring book pages, and found this cute little cupid...complete with boxer shorts with little hearts and heart-shaped glasses. My friend, Michelle, that orders the cakes, tells me that the whimsical cakes I do for them are always a big hit. I love looking for cake patterns on the internet...so much easier than it used to be in years gone by. The flavor of this cake was French vanilla with cherry mousse.

Dark Chocolate Buttercream on Whipped Cream

I designed a cake this weekend with simple, yet elegant decorations done with dark chocolate (to look like black). I didn't know how it would hold up on the whipped cream icing, but it did just fine. It is always a trial to set up a cake iced in whipped cream, as the whipped cream tends to be very unforgiving. The icing goes on very smooth and looks wonderful, but if any repair work is needed after the cake has set for awhile, it is very hard to make it look good, and it is almost certain that some touch up work will be needed somewhere.  That's when flowers, etc. come in nicely. . . or you can also make certain the touched up part is at least not in the front of the cake. The flavor of this cake was dark chocolate mint with chocolate mint mousse filling.

Chocolate Mint Mousse Wedding Cake

A visitor to my website requested some information about making a chocolate mint mousse cake for her daughter's wedding. First of all, she lives at a very high altitude, so it is necessary to make a few changes when baking the cake. For the chocolate mint cake, I use Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate and add 1 tsp. of mint flavoring to each cake mix. I also add 1/4 cup flour and an extra egg (4 total) to each mix. If I am using 2 mixes (I never mix more than 2 mixes at once), I add 7 eggs instead of 6. Also, be very careful not to put too much batter in the cake pans. Too much batter will also make the cakes sink in the middle. I used to always bake my cakes at 325 degrees instead of the recommended 350 degrees because the cakes turned out moister. At high altitudes, I have to raise the temperature slightly to 335 degrees. Just be careful not to overbake the cake. 


The layers of the cake are torted (split) and filled with a chocolate mint mousse. The recipe is as follows:

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese

Approx. 1/3 cup cocoa powder

Approx. 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2-3 cups of whipped topping

Andes mint pieces

Beat cream cheese until soft and smooth. Scrape bowl and gradually add the cocoa and powdered sugar and beat until smooth and fluffy, scraping the bowl often. Fold in the whipped topping and mint pieces.

I would normally ice this cake in a chocolate whipped cream with Andes mint pieces sprinkled on top, but for a wedding cake, I would ice it in a regular whipped cream. One of my past entries will give you the best recipe for a stabilized whipped cream icing. It is important that the cake stays refrigerated after decorating it until just before setting it up. Here are two pictures...one shows the chocolate mint mousse cake, and the other shows a wedding cake iced in whipped cream.                                           

Chocolate Mint Mousse Specialty Cake

Wedding cake iced with whipped cream icing

Using whipped cream icing on cakes

I had a request for whipped cream icing on the last wedding cake I designed. The best whipped cream I have found to use on wedding cakes is a stabilized whipped cream made with Rich's whip topping base. You add 2 parts of the base to 1 part of heavy whipping cream and whip with the wire whisk attachment of your mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form. For this particular cake, I also added vanilla and some ivory color. This is a great tasting whipped cream, goes on smoothly, and holds its shape well. You can also add other liquids to this base for different flavors. I buy it by the quart size, and it comes frozen, but I believe you can get it in larger sizes also. The flavors for this cake were spice with cream cheese filling, chocolate with coconut pecan filling, and banana split (layers of whipped cream with bananas, pineapple, and strawberries, drizzled with chocolate syrup and sprinkled with nuts). The flowers were very simple, yet elegant, as was the design of the cake. I displayed the cake on a 22 inch round silver plateau, which I believe adds greatly to the presentation, making it a beautiful centerpiece. The wedding venue was the officer's club at Petersen Air Force Base.

Combining fillings...

Yesterday we had a farewell party for our son-in-law Eddie, as he goes off  to AF basic training. He requested a yellow cake with raspberry filling. As I began decorating, I realized that I did not have quite enough raspberry filling to fill a half sheet, so I first put a layer of cream cheese filling, and then the raspberry over that. I called him after I had already filled and iced the cake and asked him if he liked cream cheese with raspberry, and thank goodness he said he did. I actually combine fillings quite often on cakes I do. Some of my favorites are cream cheese with fresh strawberries or lemon filling, fudge filling with raspberry, and whipped cream with fresh fruit. By the way, the cake was a big hit at the party!

Cake artistry...mixing colors

I have often considered myself an artist. However, because I am a cake decorator and not a painter, my medium is icing instead of paint. My tools are decorating bags, spatulas, and paste and/or airbrush food coloring. My palette is mixing bowls and plastic containers. I thought about this last night as I was decorating the above pictured cake. It had several different shades of browns. When I work with browns, I normally always use chocolate buttercream and add to that, because it tastes better than just using plain old brown paste color. For example, the shoes and the underside of the hat are done with full strength thinned down chocolate buttercream. The upper portion of the hat and jacket were made by adding white buttercream, and for the hair and middle part of the sunflowers, I added a touch of red icing to the chocolate. Even the gray color for the gardening gloves was made from white buttercream, with a touch of chocolate and a very small addition of blue. This was a fun cake to do. I designed it for Michelle, a friend of mine who works at a retirement home...hence the interesting birthday names. I wanted to do something with sunflowers, since this is sunflower season in Colorado, and I thought the woman with the green thumb and large nose added character. The flavor of the cake was strawberry with fresh strawberry mousse.