Sweet Joy

Wedding Cake

2009-07-28T10:11:00.005-04:00

This was my first official/real wedding cake, and I am excited about how it turned out. Each tier was a different flavor. The bottom was vanilla/almond cake with almond buttercream. The second was lemon poppy seed cake with raspberry preserve and vanilla buttercream. The Third was coconut cake with lime curd filling and passion fruit buttercream. The whole thing was covered in rolled fondant. I made all the Calla Lillies myself, which took a good amount of time. It was stressful not knowing exactly what to expect since it was my first wedding cake, but it got done and looked great. It was down to the wire for the delivery, my husband, who was trying to help went out the start the car and accidentally locked the keys inside while it was running. We tried to get it open as long as I dared then we loaded everything into his little sports car (without a/c) and rushed to the chapel. It definitely makes for a funny story when told in full. Enjoy!

Summer is here!

2009-06-05T10:53:00.010-04:00

I am excited for summer. I think it is in part because, growing up, summer meant no school and lots of fun and it's still kind of a habit to get excited for summer. But I love summer also because "fun" just seems to be in the air. It is the time of year for outdoor activities like going to the beach, rafting, swimming, BBQing, picnicking etc. Of course we can do most if not all these things through out the whole year, but summer time seems to be filled with them. Not to mention vacations. Since the kids are out of school, summer is the time to visit family and places you haven't seen/been to before. At least, this is how I see summer.

Some of my favorite things about summer are the seasonal fruits and veggies, shorts, flip-flops, the beach, and grilling. So I tried to come up with some little figures or toppers for the cupcakes I was making for Goodie Day at Brandon's office. These are what I came up with and some still need tweaking. I had a lot of fun trying to work these out and figure out the best way to make them look like the things they were meant to look like, in the end I think they are cute.

HAPPY SUMMER!

A Promotion

2009-05-29T13:03:00.002-04:00

This one was, obviously, for someone who was promoted to Major. The cake was coconut, strawberry filling, and vanilla butter cream. It was the biggest cake I have ever done, and it took longer than I expected. It was fun to do thow, and it turned out well. There is always something that I wish I did different one way or another, and this one definitly has a few, but I am happy with how it turned out.

Easy!

2009-05-21T15:00:00.004-04:00

I am excited that it is getting easier, much easier and faster to frost a cake and do other basic things. This cake was very basic and something I had done before, just a week or so ago. This one turned out great. I was pretty proud to stand back and see that it looked almost perfect!

I got daring and tried to do a little decoration right on top, from memory without practice, and well needless to say I messed it up, lol. I fixed it best I could and did a different decoration that is a little easier.

The flavors of this one have been, apparently a big hit around here. Coconut cake, lime curd and passion fruit buttercream. And, well, it is one of my new favorite things to eat! I really love it!

Practice and a Taste Test

2009-05-08T12:52:00.004-04:00

My last post I wasn't to thrilled with how the cake turned out, so I made another for practice. I did the basket weave on the sides again. This time I took my time and it turned out a lot better. Like they say practice makes perfect, though it isn't to the perfect stage yet.

I also made this as a test for a cake I will be making later in the month. Coconut Cake, Lime Curd and Passion Fruit Buttercream. Well it turned out great. It is probly the tastiest cake I have ever made!
I can't wait to make the final thing in a couple weeks!

A thank you cake

2009-04-24T22:17:00.004-04:00

This cake is for someone my husband works with. They had a potluck lunch on Secretary Day or something like that, and he brought the dessert.

This was my first time making the flowers and I had a hard time with the daisy looking ones. The smaller blue and white flowers were easier to make and really make it look better. On the sides the basket weave piping was also pretty new to me. It turned out better than I had expected, but not as nice as I would have liked.

This one was a lemon cake with raspberry cream filling, and buttercream frosting. I really procrastinated on this one and the decorating was really rushed because of it. I wish I would have had a little more time to take my time and make everything look a little more professional. Next time for sure. I am definitely proving to myself that I need more practice, how fun!

My last few cakes didn't make it into posts because I wasn't very pleased with the results. They weren't bad but not something I was excited to share. Keep and eye out, because I am going to be practicing more.

Minnie Mouse

2008-11-28T22:59:00.000-05:00

I know it has been a couple weeks, but we have been busy. I really enjoyed making this weeks cake. Kept it simple in flavors. Yummy yellow cake with buttercream frosting/filling. The cake is obviously for a little girls birthday party. I couldn't find a Minnie Mouse shaped cake pan that was under $50 lol, so I cut the head shape out of a square cake. Then did the rest freehand. It was alot of fun. Who doesn't love Mickey or Minnie?! Enjoy!

For the Party

2008-11-04T13:58:00.000-05:00

The other night there was a halloween party at church for the kids. Brandon and I decorated the trunk of our suv. We passed out candy as the kids came by. It was fun. They also had games the kids could play, and one was the cake walk. I was surprised to see that almost everyone who brought cupcakes had bought them from the store ... and then again maybe not. Needless to say mine seemed to disappear the fastest! Enjoy!

Halloween

2008-10-31T20:20:00.000-04:00

Today is Halloween, one of my favorite holidays. My favorite part is passing out candy to all the little pumpkins, ghosts, and witches. Brandon's office had a little Halloween celebration today and I made them a cake, of course. I had big wishes for a haunted house with a graveyard, but time just didn't allow it. You know me if I am gonna do it, do it right. So we settled for just the graveyard.

It isn't fabulous but it is still cute. This one was yellow cake with strawberry filling and american buttercream, made with butter. Again I made all the little figures out of fondant. Enjoy!

Autumn Cake

2008-10-24T14:49:00.000-04:00

Last week I made a fall inspired cake, but got a bit frustrated with how it turned out. It wasn't like I pictured it. So when my husband asked me to make another cake this week, I knew I wanted to try again. I knew more of what to expect, and this one turned out much better. I am so happy with the finished cake this time around.

I made all the leaves and pumpkins out of rolled fondant. The flavor requested was lemon, so I made a lemon cake with a lemon soak and raspberry filling. Frosted the cake with whipped cream, and covered it in rolled fondant. Everything is homemade, and from scratch. It is delicious!
I finished off the leaves with a bit of bronze colored edible dust. Enjoy!

Spiced Pumpkin Macarons

2008-10-21T17:41:00.000-04:00

I am excited about my first post. Recently I have discovered a few blogs about pastries and sweets that have inspired me to write my own. I am from the west coast and in January moved to Florida. The majority of my family and friends live much too far away to share most of my new creations and projects, so this is my way of sharing with them. I miss having them to taste test everything for me, and to help my husband and I eat it all. We can only eat so much sugar. But this will do for now until we are close enough to share this stuff in person.

Now for what I made today. I have come across so many different flavor combinations for these fabulous little cookies, I wasn't sure what I wanted to try. Not to mention I have never seen these before I started reading baking blogs online, at least not that I can remember and I am pretty sure I would remember these. They are fabulous, and I think they just might be one of my favorites now. I have been wanting to make pumpkin everything lately now that it is fall so I thought that was where I would start. I got the recipe from a blog I read alot, but you will have to forgive me since I am new to this I am not sure how to link and give credit to them. I am sorry!

I wasn't very adventurous for my first try with these. I read that they could be difficult to get right and so I played it safe. I made a plain shell and just added a bit of allspice, and that was the extent of what I changed. I wanted them to turn out. For the filling I just used pumpkin and cream cheese, then sweetened it a bit with powdered sugar. I am thrilled with how they turned out, not bad for my first time. My next attempt will be a more adventurous flavor combination, I promise!