My First Job

I have my first paying cake job! Every month Aarons company has a big lunch for everyone and a cake for all the months birthdays. And I get to make the cake this month! hopefully it goes well and they ask me to do it again. I'm excited to get to practice making sheet cakes to get ready for it. Wish me luck! I'll post some pics when I get it done and/or some of my practice ones.

Golfer

Aaron's new found love is golf. Even though he's only been on a real course a few times he can't wait for the weather to warm up so he can get out there again. He even got his own set of clubs for Christmas. So for his birthday I thought it only fitting to make a golf themed cake. I started with a bundt cake, but I could have just used a few round pans instead. The original idea was to have the golf ball in the cup in the center of the cake. So i though a bundt would be perfect since it already has a whole in the center. As you can see I changed my mind and did it differently. First I cut the top off the cake to make it flat. Then I filled it with a really yummy filling I found online at cooks.com. It's called Suzy Q filling for chocolate cake. Then I crumb coated the cake with vanilla buttercream. I covered the whole cake with green rolled fondant so I would have smooth area for the "green". Then with tip #233 I made grass on the sides an some of the top. I filled in the middle with cake crumbs to make sand(I saw that trick on a cake competition on Food Network). Then I made the flag form fondant and a toothpick and made the little man from fondant too. Fondant is getting funner to work with. It's almost like modeling clay only edible(but i wouldn't recommend eating it). this was a really fun cake to make, especially since it gave me a chance to try fondant covering a whole cake again. It went much better this time than the first. Next I might try to do a little white cake, like a mini wedding cake. ( and yes I know there are not 27 holes on a golf course, that just how old Aaron was turning)

Radiator Springs Lightening McQueen

Lightening McQueen is pretty popular at our house, Parker has 3 different ones. Regular Lightening, Dinoco Blue Lightening, and Radiator Springs (affectionately known as Fancy Lightening). For Parker's birthday cake I let him pick which one he wanted me to make. Fancy was the winner. I had to use 3 different size cakes. 13x9, 8x8 round, and 8x8 square. After some cutting and pasting(with frosting) I managed to get the general shape of the car. I let it sit in the fridge overnight and the next day did the rest of the frosting. To get the eyes, the side panels, headlights etc. I drew the shapes on paper and then traced them onto fondant and cut out. After they hardened I used food coloring to paint on the details. The wheels are also fondant. It all came together pretty well and Parker was so excited. He kept telling me it was going to drive away. I can't wait for KC's 1st birthday! Although he probably won't get so excited about his cake.

Buttercream Party cake

This was my next try, its just yellow cake with butercream frosting. It was fun to make and I got to practice making the buttercream smooth and shiny.

Fondant?

I bought a bunch of the ready to use fondant and thought I'd give it a try. This first one is pretty pathetic, but I learned how important it is to have the cake as perfect as can be under the fondant so it is smooth and holds the right shape. This was just a fun little cake to make to get a feel for the fondant and see what it really is all about. It can look cool, but it sure isn't very tasty. Anyone out there know how to make it taste a little better? I added almond extract, but still yucky. I guess fondant is more about the look than the taste. I'll have to give another try later...

My Kiddos

Just a quick pictures of my little Kiddos. Parker just turned 3!! And KC is getting 2 little teeth right now. He's kinda upset about it, but still as sweet as can be.

Learning to Make Cake...
Since I get to be a stay at home mom now I decided that I need to develop some more hobbies to keep myself busy and sane while spending my days chasing these kids around. Don't get me wrong, I love being home with them, it's just that after awhile I think you really need to do something for yourself and not just everybody else all the time or you just might go crazy. So I've decided to take up cake decorating. I've never really done it before, sure the occasional cake just with a plain layer of frosting spread on top, and that one time I made Parker a basketball cake for his 1st birthday. Otherwise I am a total beginner. Thank goodness for the library and Food Network. Have you seen the cake shows on there? They can do some incredible stuff. And I would love to be able to make something so cool.
So here I go. I'll post pictures on here of my various creations, good and bad, and you can see how I do different stuff. Once I get lots of practice and think I can do alright I want to try to have a little home business making cakes, we'll see how it goes.
Thanks for looking and for any ideas you might have to help me!!