Red Velvet Request!

Red Velvet, so simple and classic. Moist cake with a hit of cocoa, frosted with Cream Cheese Frosting. Yum….

I tried out 2 new piping techniques with this cake! The first was a Pulled Dot Border. Named so because that is exactly what you do – pipe a large dot and “pull” it with an off-set spatula, then repeat until the whole cake is covered. The second was a Ruffle Border. You basically layer the frosting on top of itself going up the side of the cake. There are markings on the cake so that all the ruffled piles are the same size. I think they both turned out pretty cool!

For the top I crumbled some of the extra cake and scattered it around. This gives it some color, and a peek as to what is inside! Both of these cakes turned out wonderful. I heard from a client that my cake gave her Mother-in-law’s cake a run for its money! Now that’s a complement!

Littlest Pet Shop Cake!

Here is cake that I made for a Littlest Pet Shop Fan! It was for her Birthday. Littlest Pet Shop is just that – a little pet shop with little animals that you collect and take care of in your pet shop – super cute!

The cake was an 11×15 Marble Sheet Cake w/ Vanilla Buttercream. The decorations were piped on with Buttercream as well. In order to make this cake a little more personal I asked if the birthday girl had a few animals that were her favorite. I was then shown a picture of her 3 favorite animals. There was a Horse, Anteater, and Turtle. So, I set off to replecate her favorite animals!

To accompany the cake, there were also Strawberry Cupcakes w/ Vanilla Buttercream. They were topped with a Sugar Cookie piped with a Royal Icing paw and LPS logo.

I delivered this cake and had the pleasure of seeing the little gal’s reaction. It was awesome! She was very excited – It made my day!

Scone Time!

I made these towards the end of the winter season. I needed to use up some pumpkin. I missed the seasonal scones that they have at Starbucks. So, I made these!

Pumpkin Scones! One version had White Chocolate Chips and the other version had Dark Chocolate Chips. Both were topped with a Vanilla Glaze.

Wow – these were Moist! Much more so than a traditional scone which can be dry and crumbly. Not these, they were moist and flavorful with pumpkin, nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla. The Dark Chocolate Chips were more successful on the inside of these scones. The  white chocolate fell flat against the flavors of the pumpkin, but the dark chocolate stood strong and complemented the pumpkin and spices very nicely!

Monkey Baby Shower Cake!

Do you love baby shoes? Well I am a sucker for Baby Chuck Taylor’s. When I had a client approach me to make a Baby Shower Cake, I new exactly what I was going to put on it!

The mom-to-be wanted a boy/monkey theme with the colors blue and lime green. The cake was Vanilla Funfetti w/ Whipped Vanilla Frosting. I decided on decoating the cake with a Fondant Monkey Face and some Fondant Baby Shoes.

Oh boy ~ I loved the shoes! It was a learning experience in making them, and I am glad I did it, because now I know what works and what does not work so well when making things with fondant/gum paste. I also loved the detail in the little logo on the side. It’s true what they say about one little detail pulling together all the pieces!

I heard later that the cake was a hit with the mom-to-be and the guests at the party. Both the decorations and the flavors were spot on!

Kawaii Panda Cake

Kawaii Panda = Cute Panda! Kawaii is a comon phrase in the Japanese culture which means something is cute, lovable, or adorable. Let me tell you, this cake sure is!

I had a client approach me with the goal of making a cake to mimic invitations she sent out for her daughters Birthday party. It had this really cute Panda and a Girl, wearing a kimono, under a tree with Cherry Blossoms and a Bird. Super Kawaii!

The cake was a 11×15 Marble Sheet Cake w/ Vanilla Buttercream. The top was covered in Fondant and the accents were decorated with Fondant as well.

I really enjoyed making this cake, especially all the little details! It looked exactly like the invitation and cute as well….or Kawaii!

Cars Cupcakes!

Got a Disney’s Cars fan in your household?

Well, I made some Cars Cupcake Toppers for one! The toppers are Chocolate Sugar Cookies w/ Royal Icing and painted with Food Dye. There is a racing flag, piston cup, lightning 95 logo, and cars logo!

They were placed on top of Chocolate Cupcakes and Vanilla Funfetti Cupcakes w/ Vanilla Buttercream.

I really liked how the painting on the cookies turned out. I prefer to do toppers this way because cookies are more edible, read: taste better, than fondant toppers. Who doesn’t like something that both looks good and tastes good!

Minty Fresh!

The theme for this post is Mint. I know that a lot of people really love the combo of Mint + Chocolate….so here are some minty and chocolaty baked goods:

Chocolate Guinness Cupcake w/ Mint Buttercream

These were made for both St. Patrick’s Day 2012 and for a good friends birthday. They were a hit. The cupcakes were full of chocolate flavor, with subtle hints of barley and stout from the Guinness. The buttercream complemented them with a minty kick!

Thin Mint Brownies

Boy oh boy were these some fudgey and chocolately brownies! Rich and dense with mint flavor and a crunch from crumbled Thin Mint cookies. You need a big tall glass of milk with these guys!

Are you a fan of Mint and Chocolate?