It's a Top Hat!

Well, it's been a long time since I've posted anything . . . I've been super busy working my full-time job, building my home bakery business, and doing some volunteer work . . . feeling blessed!  I recently had a request for a woman's top hat cake from a customer.  She was having a hat-themed party.  This was my first attempt at a top hat. She sent me a picture of a real hat, and wanted the same color them.  I used two 6" cakes and two 7" cakes and carved in down.  Covered in fondant with fondant roses.  The feathers are the only non-edible item.  I did cover the feathers with floral tape on the bottom and another piece of fondant and put them in a small piece of a bubble straw.  It is never a good idea to put anything on a cake that is not food-safe without first prepping it.

I also made matching cupcakes.  The cake and cupcakes were french vanilla with brown sugar buttercream frosting -- recipe found here:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/apple-nutmeg-pine-nut-cake-with-brown-sugar-buttercream-recipe/index.html.  Hope you like it :-)!

 
 

Yo Gabba Gabba??

When a friend asked me to make a Yo Gabba Gabba cake for her daughter's 2nd birthday, I'm sure I had the "deer in the headlight" look!  My child is 25 years old, and I am out of touch with the latest cartoons and children's programs. . . well, I did all kinds of research and my imagination was going wild! Only thing is, she didn't need a very big cake . . . my answer, let's cram as much as we can on a little cake!  I made the character's out of fondant and it ended up being quite a fun cake after all!

It's Fall and Pumpkin is the Air!

I love the Fall season, even though I live in southern Arizona where we basically have one season -- hot! Nonetheless, I have my house all decorated with colorful Fall decor and wanted to experiment with a pumpkin cupcake.  After searching high and low, I came upon this recipe that was better than most I had seen online or in my cookbooks:  http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/11/pumpkin-cupcakes/

Pumpkin cupcakes with maple cream cheese frosting!

I must say, it was well worth the search!  I didn't have time to make the beautiful roses, but the sky is the limit on ways to decorate these for the season!  Enjoy!

Business Up and Running!

After months of preparation to start a legal home-based baked goods business in the State of Arizona, it all finally came to fruition.  This is a dream I have had for many years, but life had other ideas.  I am still working at a full-time job, which I will be able to retire from in eight years.  In the meantime, I can bake my heart away at my own pace.  I usually do a couple custom cakes or orders of cupcakes/cookies per week.  So, the lesson is to never give up on your dreams!

I had my own logo designed by the wonderful Josh Brown at joshandrewbrown.com and created a website on godaddy.com -- so, here it is -- simplycakesnmore.com!!

 

It's Barbie time!

I never get tired of making doll cakes . . . there are so many ways to decorate them, it's like being a dress designer!  This cake was fairly big.  I used the Wilton doll pan, and placed that on an 8" x 3" cake. The base was a 12" cake.  It was the first one I made that was frosted in buttercream, and then I added fondant accents.  Birthday girl was quite happy!