Baby Ballcap

Happy Sunday! This week has been a challenge. If you take a look at the photo above you will notice that cap has many pieces that make up the whole. Well, the rain this week, and it's been pouring in Northern California all week, has made for a rough journey to completion for this cap. I have earned my money on this one!LOL!

Step one was to make the bowl of the cap. To get the right "newborn" size I actually covered my son's magic 8 ball with plastic wrap, then crisco and then smoothed the circle of sugarpaste over that, trimmed it and let it set up for 24 hours. Normally this would only take an hour or two but the humidity was making everything dry at a much slower rate. Once that was set up enough I could add the ribbing and letter and then let it set up again for 24 hours. At that point I could attach the blue section of the bill and it took the full 24 hours to set up and allow the "glue" to dry enough to hold it onto the bowl of the cap. At that point I could put on the trim around the bowl/bill and let it set up. Finally, 24 hours later, I was able to add the red piece to the bill of the cap and 48 hours after that I could pick up the cap and hold it in my hands. I'm very happy this cake isn't due for 3 more weeks since it needs to get rock hard before I can place it on the cake and with the rain that is still predicted for around here I think it's going to take every second of those 3 weeks to dry as solid as I need it to be.

But, as with all patience trying aspects of caking, the end result is so worth the time and effort it took to get it from powdered sugar, tylose and marshmallows to the finished product that could just fit a newborns teeny head. I can't wait for the Mama-to-be to see the cap and shoes, both personalized with a B for the baby's first name, on her baby shower cake!

There is no "secret" this week. Decorating a baby shower cake can be as complicated or as simple as you'd wish it to be. But if you are hiring a cake artist to do something really special for your shower, or a friends shower, then going for a "realism" look with the embellishments might be the way to go. In this case it's the baseball cap and teeny sneakers but on your cake it could be a realistic looking stork with a baby bundle as a topper or a cake shaped like a crib or bassinette. Giving you the wow factor for your party is why we cake artists do what we do!

I also did cupcakes today for our CubScouts but I'm going to save those for next Sunday so I can give you lots of tips and tricks that you can use to make your own Springtime cupcakes for your next outing!

Cat