Graduation, Promotion, and Retirement Cakes

It's that time of year again...graduations, promotions, and retirements. This is a cake that I did last last night for an Air Force retirement. Of course, living here in Colorado Springs I have the opporturnity to decorate cakes for military celebrations, especially Air Force. These cakes usually involve alot of work since they usually deal with creating detailed emblems in icing. I can also design graduation cakes for specific schools--colleges, high schools, and middle schools--customizing your cake with a specific logo or emblem. Prior to relocating to Colorado, this was most often my busiest time of year. One year I baked and decorated about 20 cakes within a 3 day period. Of course, I didn't sleep much, and was beginning to run out of room to place the completed cakes, but some how I managed to get through. I'm not sure I could or would want to be that busy again, but I do enjoy the opportunity to do these special cakes. My skill and talent for detail comes through.

Another free cake sampling day...

For those of you who are visiting my blog as prospective brides, here is some information about my free cake sampling day. If you call me at 719.597.6918 to schedule an appointment, I would love to meet with you on the afternoon of Saturday, May 9th. I usually have about 5 or 6 different cakes for you to taste...a variety of different cake flavors, fillings, and frostings, so you can choose the flavor and look that you like the best. I also have many pictures for you to view. If you would like to that day, I can sit down with you and design/customize your wedding cake. Just remember that you will need to put a 20% deposit down to reserve your date. I look forward to meeting you.

Kind and appreciative customers...a joy to work for!

I delivered another wedding cake out to Cathedral Pines today. The family of the bride was from a small farming community in Kansas, the family of the groom from Oklahoma, and they all came to Colorado Springs for the sole purpose of getting married, because they loved the area. I had been communicating only with the mother of the bride through mail and telephone calls. She had gotten my name from the manager of Cathedral Pines, and she just trusted me fully without ever meeting me personally. As I was setting up the cake, she had nothing but kind words, and was so appreciative. Then I began to think of the last several wedding cake customers I have had and how they have all been so kind and appreciate of my work. It is such a pleasure to work for them. Over the many years that I have been creating cakes, most of my customers have been kind, with the exception of only a few. What a wonderful thing it is to have people appreciate you for your talents...it makes it a joy to work. It makes me realize how fortunate I am to have a job where I can use my creative skills to bring others joy!

Valentine's Day Wedding Cake

I did an interesting cake today for a Valentine's wedding. Actually, the bride and groom were already married, but renewing their vows. The cake was interesting because all of the decorations were done in fondant, even the borders. The hearts were all done free hand by rolling strips of fondant and then just forming them into different size hearts and putting them randomly on the background fondant, which, by the way, sticks together with just a little water. The bride also had beautiful roses to put on the cake, which finished it off perfectly. She had sent me a picture of this cake that she found on-line and asked me to duplicate it. I think it turned out pretty well for being the first time doing a cake with these kind of decorations. I always enjoy new challenges.

Marshmallow Fondant

The last several wedding cakes I have done have been iced with fondant. I used to shy away from using fondant at all costs until I found a recipe on the Internet for marshmallow fondant. It is basically melted marshmallows and powdered sugar. I will leave the exact recipe later on this post. I love the way my cakes look when I use the marshmallow fondant. I used to smooth my buttercream icing to resemble fondant, since I wouldn't work with traditional fondant because I thought it tasted nasty and was very difficult to work with. I must say I did a pretty good job of smoothing it, but you could always tell that it didn't have that very smooth porcelain finish that fondant cakes do. Not only does the marshmallow fondant taste better, but it is more pliable and easier to work with, and it costs less than the traditional fondant. There is a lot of work involved in decorating a cake with fondant, and it still always takes me longer than I anticipate; therefore, the cost is higher, but is usually well worth the money. When a cake is iced in marshmallow fondant, you must first ice the cake in a layer of buttercream. This not only gives the fondant something to adhere to, but it makes that smooth finish on top. An added benefit is that if your guests still don't like the taste of the fondant, they can peel it off, and still have the buttercream underneath. Below is a picture of the cake that I did yesterday for Melissa Atkinson's wedding reception. The design and decorations were simple, but I thought the colors were striking, making for a beautiful finished product. The cake flavors were fudge marble with chocolate mousse, chocolate with chocolate mousse, and yellow with raspberry mousse.

Recipe for Mashmallow Fondant:

(1) 16 oz. package Kraft miniature marshmallows (it is best to use a quality brand)

3 Tablespoons water

Flavoring

2 lb. C&H powdered sugar ( I always use C&H)

Crisco

Cornstarch

In a large bowl, melt the marshmallows with the water in the microwave, stirring after each 30 seconds. This should take approx. 2 minutes total. Stir until completely smooth. Add whatever flavor you want to compliment your cake. I most often just use my butter vanilla flavoring. Also, at this point you can add coloring or chocolate, if desired. The mixture will be pretty runny. Add about 3/4 of the sugar and mix with a large spoon until incorporated; then add the remainder of the sugar and stir and knead with the spoon until you can't anymore. (If your sugar is lumpy, you will need to sift it before adding it to the marshmallow mixture.) Pour mixture onto a clean work surface greased generously with Crisco. Also, make sure your hands are greased well to prevent the fondant from sticking to them. Knead the fondant dough until all sugar is incorporated, and the dough is smooth and elastic. This usually takes about 5-7 minutes. Use more Crisco as needed. When finished, store in airtight container or Ziplock bag until ready to roll out.

When you are ready to roll out the fondant, smooth out a generous amount of cornstarch onto your surface and your rolling pin. I use a piece of clear vinyl sheeting that I purchased from the fabric dept. and Wilton's large white fondant rolling pin. Even though I don't always use Wilton products, I find that this rolling pin works the best. Roll out about 1/8 inch thick, a little larger than your desired size. Roll back onto the rolling pin and then, starting at one edge of your cake, carefully unroll the fondant onto the cake, just as you would if you were putting pie crust on top of a pie. Do not fold the fondant. Make sure your cake is completely cool and covered with a generous layer of buttercream frosting prior to putting the fondant on the cake. Now, shape and smooth the fondant onto the cake with your hands. Dust any excess cornstarch off of the cake with a finely bristled brush. Once you are satisfied with your results, cut the excess fondant away from the bottom with a sharp knife or pizza cutter.

Cake Wrecks

My daughter, Paula told me about this great blog, and I have laughed and laughed as I've viewed it. It is called "Cake Wrecks" and it is pictures of so-called professional cakes that have gone wrong, along with humorous commentary. So, for a good laugh,visit http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/ and if you see a cake that belongs there, send it in, even if it's your own. None of us cake decorators are perfect, and we've all had cakes that didn't turn out exactly as we had planned...let's admit it. Anway, enjoy the blog...

It's Fall and Halloween Time...

I love this time of year, with the leaves changing colors and Halloween, one of my favorite holidays. People want interesting cakes for Halloween also. The lastest cake I did was a coffin cake. I found a picture similar to this one on the internet, except changed the colors to a dark chocolate. I have found that I can get a really dark chocolate, resembling black, using Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa. I used to use black piping jel for outlining or when I needed black, but it tasted nasty and was difficult to use. Now I use buttercream made from the dark cocoa for all of my black. Tastes great, and handles much easier too.