Sponge Bob Birthday Cake

As promised, here are the pictures for the SpongeBob cake I had made over a month ago now and for which I was asking for opinions in one of my previous posts.
As I said it turned out better than I thought but once I realized it wasn't going to be a disaster I started actually wanted to make it perfect.. but I got tired and lazy and didn't add SpongeBob's greenish patches. Perfection does not exist... especially when you get lazy. LOL.

Enjoy!

Easter Bunny Birthday Cake

Hello good people!!

I know, I know... I have gone MIA. I don't even know what to say except from, understand me oo, please understand me. I have been going through a lot lately, and it's hard to get inspired for writing anything.
There has also been this one serious issue that we have been dealing with, and I am just looking to God for this. Very challenging, especially when you have to put a front for people not to suspect that you are down... because you just can't explain your private problems to anybody.

I hope all is well with all of you. It seems that bloggers also have been a bit busy this past few weeks or months. I pray that God's grace and his mercies accompany you in the morning when you wake, in the evening when you lay in bed and everywhere you feet takes you. Amen!

Well, I never updated you guys on the SpongeBob cake. It turned out better than I thought it would be but then I got tired and skipped a few details. But people were still impressed. I will post the picture maybe tonight or tomorrow as it's on hubby's laptop and he is gone to work with it.
In the meantime let me share the cake I made yesterday for another of my nieces. She was turned 1 year-old. It was really a simple cake, deorating-wise, mainly because I was not inspired at all. I wanted to make a pink easter bunny cake and what I was picturing was brighter and more colorful than what it turned out to be. The difference: my actual performance to get to the level of what I was picturing. I decorate with really basic tools, I have nothing professional so it takes a great deal of creativity to make something really pretty with a lot of details and of course that's a lot of mental effort, time, and energy...
Anyways, let me stop talking. Enjoy!

Little Girl's Pink Birthday Cake

As I promised, here are a few pictures of the cake I made yesterday for my little niece, Anyi, who was turning 2.

It's a Red Velvet Lemon Curd Vanilla Cheesecake. See my Inspiration Wedding Cake #1 for details and pictures of the layers.

For the brief description: It was decorated with light pink fondant for the main color, medium and small fuchsia, yellow and purple fondant circles, and light pink purple bow, a figure "2" for the new milestone and other fondant details mimicking a wrapped gift as well as fondant flowers.

I baked, torted and iced the cake (it was actually 2 cakes that were assembled together) and also made the decorations the day before the birthday let them dry overnight, and put it all together yesterday morning.

The little rolled pieces of paper were for support of the little structures and helped keep the round 3-dimensional shapes. I took the pictures around noon and the birthday was later in the evening so I took the pieces of paper out before we headed out.

Actually here is a video of it before the pictures.

Inspiration Wedding Cake #1

I thought to myself since I have been inspired this weekend to blog a little bit, why not just keep going while it lasts?

So, I have decided that you might be craving for a little piece of heaven. After thinking that particular thought, another closely related thought crossed my mind? Who better could offer you, at this very present moment, that little bit of ohhh so smooth and moist velvety sweetness? Then, something lit up in my usually-sharp-but-lately-very-jelloed brain. ME!!!!! Of course, me!!!

Look at this pic? Can you find the object of our interest?

Good job!!! You got it!!

Let's not play easy here, let me present a few facts before I let you salivate.

Fact #1   I love baking

Fact #2   I love decorating the cakes I bake

Fact #3   No, but seriously though, I have high hopes of being able to open my own cake business (from home) hopefully very soon, once I feel my decorating skills are worthy enough to be making money off of it and once I have a solid base of friends and friends of friends who have seen or tasted my cakes.
I have always wanted to work for me, clock me in clock me out, pay me, review me, promote me... lol you get the picture. But I have just recently realized that in addition to this, I do NOT like being employed, as in waiting for a paycheck, calculating my hours, and having my personal life revolved around somebody else's business or company... And that's not good because that can potentially make me a not-so-good employee and turn me into a clock-watcher which I absolutely despise.

Fact #4 Uhm... I went off track with Fact #3. Anyhow. I have made an engagement cake before but it was a surprise gift so the cake was not requested or expected therefore even though I wanted to do a good job, there wasn't the pressure of doing what was asked and even more. I have made 2 birthday cakes. I am now waiting for the right occasion, or somebody to request a baby shower and/or a wedding cake. Uhmm... the wedding cake will be a challenge, more because of the word "wedding" itself than anything else.

Fact #5 While waiting for the opportunity to present itself, I thought I should inspire myself with designs that I could use on a wedding cake. My intention is to make a series of inspiration wedding cakes that I could just present into a portfolio format at some point.

Red velvet and cheesecakes are my favorite cakes so unless nobody request something different, that's what I make.
It turns out that my sister-in-law, the mother of my little niece for whom I was making the Little Girl's Pink Birthday Cake shares my taste so thats what I made.
*Cheesecake factory anyone? Have you tried their red velvet cheesecake cake?*

I made this mini-cake which is a replica (in taste) of the above-mentioned birthday cake, just so I can have an exact taste of what people will taste, eating that birthday cake (sorry for the redundancy). Basically it's my "control cake" and will let me know how it all tastes the next day, the 2nd or 3rd day, how moist it stays and how well the flavors remain and blend a few days later.

So this is a Red Velvet Vanilla Lemon Curd Cheesecake Cake.

With no further additions let me introduce to you Inspiration Wedding Cake #1

It has 3 layers of red velvet cake, one layer of vanilla cheesecake and one layer of lemon curd.

This was an absolute piece of heaven and I was really, I mean really pleasantly surprised. It was moist, almost spongy and almost melted on my tongue. The lemon and the cheesecake flavors complimented each other really well and it was richly sweet without being too sweet, or tasting too "fatty" or "buttery".

Hope you liked it (at least the sight of it!!)

Blue Birthday Cake

Time to share with you guys pictures of my second cake. It was made about 3 weeks ago for my auntie's birthday and it was a surprise!!!

Blue is her favorite color so there you have it. I did have a few issues with my bow, which this time collapsed entirely. I realized it was due to the texture of my fondant, and mainly because I used a different brand (store brand) of marshmallows. The fondant was very sticky which made it really difficult to make smaller shapes and decorations. I still have to perfect my buttercream technique which so far allows me to write and make smaller, finer details but not complex ones.

I'm really considering taking a few classes just so I can learn the tips and tricks of cake decorating.

I'm doing another cake for my little niece's birthday so we will see how that one turns out. I'm torn between a heart shaped diva cake or a more plain square buttercream covered cake. The thing is that a lot of people are really not fond of that buttercream.... too fatty. Oh well... I'll keep you guys posted!

Enjoy the pictures!!! (taken from my phone, sorry...)

Ps: It was a red velvet (you can tell it's my favorite right?) and chocolate fudge cake with lemon buttercream filling. It had 4 layers of cake and 3 layers of filling; so from bottom to top  ---->> chocolate fudge, lemon buttercream, red velvet, lemon butter cream , chocolate fudge, lemon buttercream, red velvet.

*** That wrapper is my signature lol. My other half
would love to have it thrown away or even better... burnt!!
But I love it to pieces lol ***

Did you say Cake?

I told you guys that I would be posting a little more and little wider than just wedding planning. So I just wanted to share with you one of my new hobbies.
I discovered that I was getting increasingly interested in cake decorating, mainly watching these amazing bakers on "Ace of Cakes" and similar shows on TLC. Not sure how I started googling cake decorating, and there I was watching youtube instructional videos, and reading all sorts of material cake related.

I then started longing for the perfect opportunity to give it a try. After a few weeks of reading and learning, mainly practicing in my mind, I decided to challenged myself and make an engagement party cake. Thing is, I didn't say a word to anyone until the day before the actual party, when I was one step away from being done with the cake.

I decided to make a 3-tier pink and purple cake, with the top tier shaped as a heart. I made the fondant 2 days before, baked the cake the evening before, and assembled and decorated it the day of. I woke up that morning very excited, not knowing whether I would need to throw the whole thing away or if it would look like something that was worth being displayed and eaten at such an important party. Then I just thought to myself I was crazy to even attempt such a thing. Why did I not start by making a smaller cake and tried my hand at decorating in a simple and easy way?

When I had shared my idea with my husband, he himself did not believe I would be able to make it and he lovingly said "I have to see it to believe it". He thought I would chicken out. And my sisters and aunties just laughed at me... that is until they saw this:

 

Yup!!! I did it!!! It really was a working progress as in, a mess the whole time, especially in my head, as my ideas and my inspiration were constantly changing. I wasn't sure what the end result would be and really, the colors and the shape of the cake as well as the details of the decoration took their final shape when I was done with it!! It was a huge success especially because it was a surprise gift. 

I have now decided to let friends and family now that this is what I do and I am willing to make free cakes (as long they pay for the price of the ingredients) so that I get a real opportunity to practice the skills I am slowly learning, until I get confident enough to maybe... sell? Who knows...

For details, it was a red velvet, yellow and chocolate fondant cake with vanilla buttercream icing. It was surprisingly and absolutely delicious. 

The cake is far from perfect but me thinks it looks pretty good for a first time. Don't you think??

This was made about a month ago, since then I have made another cake, this past weekend for my auntie's birthday, I'll share pictures with you in another post! Before that, here are a few more pics of my baby cake.

the cake (viewed from the back) chilling in the fridge, waiting to get picked up!

The front part of the cake

the heart-shaped top tier with a beautiful purple bow

the back of the cake (a friend said the top looked like boobs 0 _ o  )

Adding finishing touches after transferring it from the turntable.