A Lesson in Cake Decorating

Ah, youthfulness. I remember being a young girl, when learning new things was always an adventure to be looked forward to. I still enjoy learning new things, but I also love to pass

on some of the things I've learned to this younger than me generation. Last weekend I was fortunate enough to have my niece Gracie and nephew Lucas over for a lesson in cake decorating. What fun! Gracie, being the older sibling, got the added benefit of a measuring and baking lesson, as well. She did great! When the baking was done, Jesse joined in, and the result was 3 fantastic individual little cakes, from 3 fantastic and creative little individuals.

Look for yourself:

Aren't they just the BEST?!!

Well, I certainly have neglected THIS blog, now haven't I? Hmmmm. Well, 2010 was a very busy year. It's not that I wasn't creative. I spent most of my time (outside of the necessary day job and taking care of my kids and house job) making and decorating cakes. I had a lot of people asking for cakes, and not wanting to hurt any feelings, I generally tried to oblige. Unfortunately for my pocketbook, most people have no idea what it takes to bake and decorate a custom cake. For instance, I think most would be surprised to know that even my simplest cakes take about 3 hours of my time. And the smallest of cakes has a minimum of $10 to $15 in cake costs . . . so when they offer to pay me $15-$20 for a cake, well, they don't really realize they are asking me to donate half a day to them for FREE. But, well, I love most of the people I make cakes for, so I tend to cave and just make them a cake, ha ha. I do love to decorate them . . . Here's a few from 2010 that I made. You can always see all my cakes (most of them anyway) at my other blog at www.catscakecreations.blogspot.com.

This was a FUN take on a 57 Chevy . . . It's a HUGE cake, 22" x 15" and 3 layers high.

Hoppy Easter!

and Congratulations to the Grads! Here are a couple of the grads with their "mini me's!"

This was a "wild" jungle birthday cake . . .

and I LOVED these sunflower cupcakes, loved their rich colors!

I made A LOT of cakes in 2010 . . . only time will tell if 2011 brings just as many or more! ;o)

Fabulous Forty Birthday Card

Just a little birthday card for a dear friend. Forty is the new thirty, so I hear, so give it up for all the FABULOUS Forty-somethings you know! :o) LOL

Cheerful Bouquet

I made this paper bouquet for my dear friend and co-worker, Sharmelle, while she was in the hospital. I cut the flowers with the Cricut, using the George and Home Accents cartridges. Co-workers/friends wrote healing and loving sentiments on the backs of the flowers. Sadly, Sharmelle moved on to Heaven before her flowers could be delivered to her. They were given to her family, in hopes they would know how much we all love Sharmie too.

How to Create a Race Track Mountain Cake

I made a cake several weeks ago for a cousins adorable 2 year old, who is VERY into cars. I'd seen some race track cakes, but most of them were carved. Meaning, they stacked cakes, then carved away a portion of them and frosted over that. I wanted to avoid the carving, because 1. I hate to throw cake away, and 2. it can be difficult and messy. Plus, it's hard to frost over carved cake, as there are a lot more crumbs.Instead of carving, I opted to use rice krispy treat to sculpt the track. You can see how it was done in the photos below.

Once the basic structure is complete, you can finish decorating with buttercream frosting and fondant accents. Here, the only fondant decorations are the little race cars.

Lack of Posts Here

Wow, JULY was my last entry. Not because I've not been creative, mind you, but because most of my creativity has been cakes, which I've opted to post on an entirely separate blog: catscakecreations.blogspot.com.

I have made some cards . . . but my scrap "crap" is so unorganized right now . . . and what a daunting task that is, to get it put together in a manner that encourages me to create more. I took this Spring Break off of work, so hopefully I can set some time aside to get going on that. I'll post pics if I get it organized.

Oh, but I HAVE done some painting, and that reminds me, I need to call cousin Tammy and see when her house is available for me to come finish up. She is decorating the kids rooms in fun styles and I'm helping with a little bit of paint on the walls. A whimsical Japanese cherry blossom tree in her sweet baby Sydney's room and clouds (background for the airplane pasties) for Peyton, with hills and volcano (background for dino pasties) for Carson. Definitely will post pics when that is done!

I'm in a phase right now where I'm trying to get healthier . . . maybe that will spark me to be more organized at home (which definitely always makes me FEEL better). It's hard because I am not one who likes to clean. I detest it actually! LOL

Until later . . .

You can have your CAKE (and eat it too!) LOL

This cake was done for an auction . . . the winning bidder got to pick the cake of their choice (two tiered or 11 x 15). I went a little crazy and added an extra (small) tier, plus 12 coordinating cupcakes. This was for a birthday/4th of July party, with a golf theme. I just delivered it today, so hopefully they are enjoying it right now!




The below cake is a Tie Dye cake, done for the son of a friend of mine. I did the inside tie dye also, but haven't seen pictures of how that turned out yet. Hopefully it looked colorful and not inedible!


This is Jesse's 10th birthday cake. All buttercream. Freehanded the shark, and the kelp is done using a wilton tip.

A Couple New Cakes

Had a couple of cakes to make recently for birthdays . . . for some reason I'm really liking the doodle effect, random swirls and dots etc. Kind of fun and I was happy with the outcome. Thanks for looking!

Mothers Day Photo Op

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all the moms out there! Here's a recent pic of my boys (and Ellie), taken on Mother's Day yesterday. :~)

Pay it Forward

Who wants to play along?? I just read about this on Kimberly's blog and am excited to play along! Here are the rules:If you want to join in the fun and get a little something in return ... be one of the first THREE people to leave a comment on this post and you'll receive a hand made gift from me during this year.

There's a small catch...You knew there would be didn't you? Post this on your blog (or Facebook* wall if you don't blog) referencing this post then come back and leave a comment on this blog post, telling me you're in. Fun, huh? And by in, you do know that means you have to Pay It Forward and give something to three people on your blog or Facebook page. It doesn't have to be handmade, just give something thoughtful!

I can't think of anything better than spreading a little cheer, especially in the economic environment we're in right now.