Cake Decorating Gerbera Daisy

The last two cakes I've made I have been working on my Gerbera Daisies and I think that I finally figured it out. The next time I make them it will be perfect!!
This is the first attempt, I was going for Gerbera's and also Zinnia's. I think it was passable but there were a few things I wasn't thrilled about. The dusting powder I put on was too thick and took away from the flower, also the icing wasn't as smooth as it needed to be.

This is the second. I used a #104 tip.
To start I took a drinking glass and lightly used it to make perfect circle indentations on the cake. Then I took the #104 tip and started from the outside and placing the icing bag at a 45 degree angle and brought it into the center. The first cake I started from the center and was frustrated with how the outside edges turned out. After I finished the petal color I just filled in the center with a contrasting color. Next time I would use a small star tip and use it multiple times to fill in the center. I still love the effect that it had and thought it was beautiful!

Diaper Cake Centerpieces

We had my sister in laws shower the other week and one of the decorations was diaper cake centerpieces. These weren't the huge type they were the size of a normal 9" layer cake.
To make three of these I used:
3 receiving blankets
a package of 44 diapers
15 big silk flowers
contrasting ribbon
1 rubber band

Here is the breakdown of how I did it, the pictures above show chronologically how to do these types of cakes.
1. Lay the blanket down on a smooth surface
2. Place a glass in the middle and bring the blanket up and into the cup
3. Roll a diaper up and put a rubber band around it
4. Continue rolling diapers up and place inside the same rubber band
5. Place the glass inside the circle of diapers
6. Take blanket out of glass and smooth around the diapers
7. Take the glass out and fill the hole with wrapped up diapers
8. Flip cake over and tuck in the excess blanket
9. Flip back over and tie ribbons around the diaper cake
10. Tuck in silk flowers and arrange so that the dipaers on top are hidden.
11. Place on an elevated cake plate as a centerpiece.
Beautiful!

We used these and accessorized with fresh flowers that were also prizes.

Happy Birthday Baby!

So I used my cake decorating skills that I've been learning at my Wilton Cake Decorating Classes to make a cake for my nieces 4th birthday. I have made a Similar Cake before but this is the first one I've made all by myself.

I don't know if you realize how much icing is on this cake but let me just say, its a ridiculous amount.

The beautiful birthday princess. We were so happy to share in her birthday :)

Happy Birthday Daddy

So my dad is coming over tonight for a birthday dinner, so as is customary I made him a birthday cake last night. As you know my birthday cakes aren't usually the normal run of the mill type jobs, I like to have fun with them, and if you know my father you know that this one is especially appropriate.

The hubs and I were happy to have two really good friends over last night helping us with this tremendous undertaking. My friend Lisa kept singing "I think your tractors sexy" song and lets just say that after about 2 hours of cream cheese icing intake we were having a good time. There may have been another cake decorated with a plastic Captain Kirk and something about a sexy starship written on it but I'll just leave that to your imagination.

Wordless Wednesday-Weekend of Cakes

Above cake was made for my friend Mary's wedding this weekend by my best friend T who is AMAZING!


This cake was made by Dirkey for a friends retirement party. Its a yellow cake with buttercream and a raspberry filling; it was decorated with buttercream, fresh raspberries and fresh flowers.

Nintendo Birthday Cake

This is for Schmoop's friend Kevin's birthday. He's a big video game person so this seemed like the natural cake to make for him. :)

Pink and Purple Princess Cake

Gracie and Meggie's birthday party was this weekend so Tamara and I made this.

Gracie requested a pink and purple princess cake so we happily obliged. This was made with two 16" rounds, 6 hear cupcakes, one medium heart cake and one small cupcake. We cut the rounds to fit the two heart towers and then decorated with hearts, pink marshmallows and of course buttercream icing.

This is the beginning of the end.

Gracie tearing it up

The aftermath of her first birthday cake.

McDirkey Cooking-Lime Chiffon Cake

I was looking online for Pretty Cakes (Google Image) and found this cake and decided that I wanted to make that! So Schmoop and I had a little date night Friday and baked a cake. I've never made a chiffon cake but it was sooo good!!!
I've enclosed the recipe below with pictures of us making it in between. :)
Fresh Lime Chiffon Cake
Yield: 16 servings

Filling:
1 teaspoon finely grated lime rind
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

Cake:
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon cake flour
2 cups sifted cake flour (7 1/2 ounces)
1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons canola oil
1/3 cup fresh lime juice (about 3 limes)
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon finely grated lime rind
1 teaspoon pure lemon extract
3 egg yolks
8 whites
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Frosting:
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons lime juice (about 1 lime)
2 1/2 cups fat-free whipped topping, thawed

Fresh mint sprigs (optional)
Fresh blueberries (optional)
Lime wedges (optional)


To prepare the lime filling, combine 1 teaspoons lime rind, 1/4 cup lime juice, and sweetened condensed milk in a small bowl, stirring until blended. Cover and chill 3 hours.



Preheat oven to 325 degree F.

To prepare cake, coat bottoms of 3 (8-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray (do not coat sides of pan); line bottoms with wax papaer. Coat wax paper with cooking spray, dust with 1 tablespoon flour.

Lightly spoon 2 cups cake flour onto dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine 2 cups cake flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk until well combined.

Combine oil, 1/3 cup juice, 3 tablespoons water, 1 teaspoon rind, lemon extract, and egg yolks in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add oil mixture to flour mixture, beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth.


Place egg whites in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar; beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Gently stir one-fourth of egg white mixture into flour mixture; gently fold in remaining egg white mixture.


Divide cake batter equally among prepared pans, spreading evenly. Break air pockets by cutting through batter with a knife. Bake at 325 degree for 20 minutes or until ckae springs back when lightly touched. Cool in pans for 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pans. Remove wax paper from cake layers. Cool completely on wire rack.

To prepare frosting, combine 3 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoons lime juice in a small glass bowl. Microwave at HIGH for 30 seconds or until sugar dissolves. Cool completely. Fold into whipped topping.


To assemble cake, place 1 cake layer on a plate; spread half of filling over cake layer. Top with second layer. Spread frosting over top and sides of cake. Garnish with mint, blueberries, and lime wedges, if desired. Store cake loosely covered in refrigerator for up to 3 days. Slice cake into wedges.



Source: Cooking Light, date unknown

Wedding Cake

This was by far the most challenging cake I have ever made. Tamara and I tackled it for my friend Gelsey's wedding but it just involved soo much prep. I could never find a picture of it till I stole one from Tamara.



It was after this cake that I realized you shouldn't make a wedding cake for someone when you're in the bridal party. The only other time I did this was for my sister in law Amy's wedding and I've always regret not being there for her the week of her wedding. Amy had a very low key casual wedding. Gelsey had a regular church wedding with all of us wearing dresses etc and it was just tooo much. But it did turn out really pretty :)