Blue & Gold Dinner Cub Scout Cake

Happy Sunday! For some of us this is a three day weekend. From my day job I do get the time off but this only gives me time to work at this job which is quite a treat! I have a few big jobs coming up so the extra time to work on the little details is wonderful.

This week brought the annual Blue & Gold Dinner for Cub Scouts. I try to come up with something new each year and this year I found a wonderful new twist on a very popular combo. My lemon chiffon cake with lemon curd buttercream is always a crowd pleaser but this year I came upon a jar of lemon-lime curd and couldn't wait to try it out! Sure enough it was just outstanding. So don't be afraid of using something new and unusual to pump up the flavor of your cake fillings!

The "secret" of this cake is the logo. I'm a passable artist. I can sketch out a cake well enough that a client will understand what the design is but I can't really draw. In the case of logos there is a work-around that works beautifully. You just need to know the secret of how to use it and make it food safe. I find the logo online, print it out and then laminate it. Now you can't just plop that onto the cake because it's not food safe so all you need to do is put down some wax paper or parchment first then layer on the logo and seal the edges with buttercream piping. Before serving the cake simply lift the logo/paper off and serve!

One of the things I do love about this time of year, my "slow" time of year, is the freedom to take on last minute clients and get fun little projects like the one below.

Pretty Princess Cupcakes

These little lemon cupcakes are topped with fresh buttercream and baby pink sugared fondant crowns and candy pearls. The crowns are easier than you would think but make a big impact. Just cut them out a day or so before, lay them out on a plate or baking sheet, brush with a teeny bit of water and sprinkle the sanding sugar on. Then let them dry for at least 24 hours. 48 is better to get them nice and hard like candy. I have a Cricut, which is a wonderful machine that cuts out multiple items in one pass, but you can easily do this with a cookie cutter in almost no time at all. Then just pipe on the buttercream and stick on the crowns and you are done! I went a little bit farther by piping on curly ribbon like swags and decorating them with candy pearls which added a nice little elegant touch.

But sometimes it's the little touches that mean the most. It takes a very steady hand to do smooth swags but I wanted them to curl a bit so I let the thin line of icing wiggle a bit as I piped it. Then just pressed in the pearls. The two year old recipient was thrilled with her Princess cupcakes and that's just a wonderful payoff for me!

Next week brings an unusual cake and a new day for the blog. Due to work obligations this upcoming weekend I will be posting the blog on Monday instead of Sunday...in fact, this will be the case two weeks in a row. So I'll see you next Monday!

Cat