The word that cake decorators hate the most...

Well, I guess hate is a pretty strong word... how about really dislike... the word is CONGRATULATIONS. Why do I not like this word? It is because it has 15 letters to write, cut out, press out, mold, or whatever, and then try to get the placement just right.  And that takes a lot of time. Combine it with "Congratulations on your Retirement" and then it's really fun. 

Look at all of the wording on this cake!

Have you ever had one of those days where everything seems to go wrong that can go wrong? Well, I had one of those days last Saturday... what was supposed to be an easy cake turned into a nightmare. I had designed a cake similar to this before that turned out perfect. First of all, my edible ink printer quit working and so I needed to repair it to get it working properly. I didn't get it working in time, so had to cut out emblems and everything by hand. I could have used my Zing electronic cutter, but didn't think I'd have time for that either. Then I tried combining two different kinds of fondant to make a camo background for the cake, and the different color pieces split when I decided to cover the cake with it... what? Oh, by the way, I found a new fondant that I love to work with. Dream Fondant by Choco-pan is wonderful to roll out and cover your cakes without any tearing or "elephant skin." So then, because I spent too much time trying to fix the printer, I didn't have time to cut out the letters for the cake, so did the writing in free-hand cursive. Granted, my cake writing is pretty good, but this particular cake would have looked better with a different type of lettering. I ended up giving the customer a discount and told her that it wasn't my best work. It looked like an amateur's cake, and I AM NOT AN AMATEUR, I AM A PROFESSIONAL. At least I knew the cake would taste great.  Ok, I will now get off my soapbox...

This is how the cake should have looked. 

So, I learned several lessons - yes, I'm still learning - from this whole experience. #1 - always print out my images the night before, in case the printer needs servicing. #2 - prepare the lettering ahead of time, so you are not trying to get it done the last minute. #3 - Don't combine different kinds of fondant when making a camo background for an Army cake. 

I got online on Saturday night and ordered some tools to make my cake decorating life a little easier... Marvelous Molds has come out with a new line of molds called Flexabets. I had some of these already, but the one I really needed and ordered was "Congratulations." The Flexabets are a bit tricky to learn how to use correctly, but when you do, will save you a lot of time. 

The other thing I ordered was a steamer to clean my edible ink printer print head when it gets clogged. I ordered this from Icing Images. I love the quality products that I get from Icing Images. Hopefully, this will make maintaining my printer a little easier and quicker. 

And no, I did not take a picture of the cake that I was not happy with... didn't want any of those memories. 

Off we go into the wild blue yonder...

It's that time again... USAFA graduation time. I think this year there were 990 + cadets that graduated and became 2nd Lieutenants in the United State Air Force. A proud time indeed for the graduates and their families. I have only had the privilege and opportunity once to attend an Air Force Academy graduation, and it was amazing! Of course, my favorite part was the hat toss at the end and then watching the Thunderbirds fly over. Last year because of budget cuts, they cut the flyover... very disappointing. I was glad to see that this year they were back! Residing here in Colorado Springs, I always end up designing several AF cakes throughout the year for promotions and retirements, but at this time of year, I especially enjoy designing cakes for the new 2nd Lieutenants. When I originally started designing these cakes, everything was done with patterns pressed into the icing and filled with buttercream. The details became so much more precise and clean when I got my Cricut Electric cutter. But now... oh my gosh... with my new Zing electric cutter, I can cut out so much better details, especially with the lettering, than I ever have before. Thank you Klik-n-Kut for a great piece of equipment! And congratulations to all of the 2014 USAFA graduates!

One of the first AF seal cakes that I designed-all in buttercream... not bad, but not as precise and clean as this..

I use Tappits to cut out the letters outside of the seal.

Again, before cutter-nice, but not as precise as this...

One more... AF bars in buttercream...

AF bars in gumpaste with cutter

My Zing cutter makes it all possible. I LOVE my Zing!

Some of my other favorite AF cakes...

AF flag cake... one of my most popular retirement cakes

These are the planes he piloted... all edible images

USAFA Chapel for retiring chaplain

Patriotic Cakes...a flag should look like a flag

I just finished an AF retirement cake that was very involved with several different icing pieces, including an American flag, 2 different Air Force emblems, and a plaque...some made out of royal icing, and some out of fondant and gum paste. The cake itself was iced in buttercream frosting. Most cakes that I have seen using a similar design, all have something that sort of resembles a flag, kind of patchwork, or not enough stars or stripes, or something. I personally think "Old Glory" should look as close to the real thing as possible, so that's what I put on this cake...complete with all 50 stars. The scariest part of decorating this cake was placing the heavy fondant flag on the cake. I made sure that both single layer tiers had plenty of support.