Happy Monday! This week starts a new series about Mini Cakes. These adorable little cakes are great for small family occasions and we are happy to give you some easy tips and tricks so you can make them too!

The question I hear the most is "You have to buy special cake pans, right?" and the answer is no, you don't. Sure, I have an adorable little mini set of cake pans that are sizes 1", 3" and 5". But you can, and I have, made a mini cake using just a round cutter and cake baked in shallow baking pan like a cookie sheet. Just bake the cake in the shallow pan and then use your round cutter to cut out the size of layer you want for your cake. Then stack them just like you would in a bigger pan. 

Mini cakes are great for small family birthday's, celebrating the new job or promotion, but I think the most common use for a mini cake is for a Baby's 1st Birthday "Smash" Cake. But they can be used for other kids birthdays as well. Make the mini cake for the Mom, Dad, kids and then serve cupcakes to your guests! 

The cake today is a white cake with vanilla buttercream filling. This happens to be my son's favorite combination so he was really happy that I started this series with HIS favorite cake! Once the cake was cooled and leveled (the dome trimmed off of it so that each layer was even and flat) I wrapped each layer well in Press & Seal wrap and popped it into the freezer overnight. 

A quick word about that. I have found that freezing cakes seals the moisture into the layers. Once I'm ready to fill them I unwrap them and, while still frozen, I fill the cake and ice it with a thin layer of frosting called a "crumbcoat". I then let the cake thaw out and "settle" over at least 3 hours to over night. As gravity starts to work, the cake will settle and will push the filling out to the sides of the cake. If you end up with a "roll" of filling sticking out you can smooth your crumbcoat again before the final coat of frosting. But this is why allowing time for settling is so important. Once you apply the crumbcoat onto the cake it will help seal in the freshness and moisture into the cake. After this step do NOT put the cake into the refrigerator. The reason is that refrigerators draw out the moisture and your icing will suck up all of the smells of the other food. It is a much better idea to put your cake out on the counter instead. After your final coating of frosting or fondant you still do not want to put your cake in the fridge because it will effect the look of the surface of your cake. It can cause "weeping" in buttercream or "blooming" on fondant. Weeping is when the butter oil separates from the sugar and cream and blooming is when moisture (condensation) forms on the surface of fondant making it shiny in some spots and dull in others. So keep your cakes and cupcakes out of the refrigerator except to put a chill on them before filling/crumbcoating and only if they are well wrapped.

Now onto the decorating. I just used a flat tip (Wilton #45) that has smooth sides on both sides. Like a basketweave tip only with smooth edges. You could do straight lines down the sides of the cake but I decided to go wavy. Once I finished piping all the way around the cake with the wavy lines I just used the same tip to make ruffled type circles, starting from the outside and working in, on the top. I finally trimmed the cake in that same manner, making the trim a bit ruffled.

I used small candy pearls for the snowflake design on the top and sides but you could use white frosting and a fine tip to do the same. But since I was making this cake for my son and he loves the candy I used the candy pearls instead. To do this I used one of the best tools I have added to my tool box in the past few years....my tweezers. 

You can see that they resemble the ones that might be used to pluck out an eyebrow hair or splinter but they are angled which makes it much easier for the placement of candy onto the cake. Now here is the great thing...they only cost a few dollars. A wonderful mini-investment for your cake tool box.

Once the pearls were in place the cake was done! This little 5 inch cake serves 5. It is about 4-1/2 inches tall so when you cut this into five pieces you will get a 1x4.5 inch piece of cake. This is what makes mini-cakes so perfect for a family event. Just enough for after dinner.

Next week I'll bring a new mini-cake with new techniques that you can easily do at home too! In the meantime you can join us over at our Facebook Fan Site for daily tips and tricks!

Cat

This week begins my Fall Break. There are a few cakes in the next two months but it's a nice slow down after a very busy summer. So this week I'm going to share with you photos, and a few tips, of some of my favorite Wedding Cakes from the past two years.

 This cake was the first time I had ever paired hot pink and black. It was also the very first time I had ever really worked with piped royal icing figures. That is when you take royal icing, pipe it out onto parchment or wax paper, allow it to dry for a LONG time and then peel it off and use it on the cake. You break as many as you save so, if you try it, make sure to make at least double of what you think you will need!

 My one and only "topsy-turvy" cake and still one of my very favorites. I have to say that making this one was more than a bit nerve-wracking. The tiers were stacked on dowels and held in place with royal icing and the bond of the sugars where the fondant edges met. When it was all done, even though I knew it was stable, it still gave me a heart attack to move it. I love this one but won't be doing another any time soon.

 One of my brides saw the cake above and decided that "feel" was how she wanted to go with her own cake. We took 3 different styles from cakes I had made before and created a one of a kind for her wedding. And I think that is very important to point out. If you are planning your own wedding and are thinking of cake you may want to consider taking a few photos of cakes you like to your cake designer so she can create your one of a kind work of edible art for your wedding. You deserve to have a cake that is beautiful and unique for your day, not a copy of what some other bride had on hers.

 I do a lot of "little weddings". But this one was my favorite. The design is based on their wedding invitations and it was the first time I had ever used paper on a cake. Occasionally a local bride will rent a cake stand from me and I had just the right one in stock that complimented her cake perfectly. 

 I have to put this one into the mix since it is my own! My husband and I celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary last year and the theme was World Travelers. Separately and together we have traveled the world so the banner, which says "No matter where I travel, the best part is coming home to you", was the perfect touch for this cake which features a man's valise and a ladies overnight case. Just a reminder that your wedding cake doesn't have to be the traditional 3 tier round or square cake. It can be anything you want it to be!

 I adore Art Deco and I love Disney so this cake was the perfect mix of the two! The man's tuxedo was easier than I thought it would be and a perfect example how we can talk ourselves out of trying something new because we think it will be too hard or out of our skill range. Try it anyways! This cake was one of those where I began it with a "what was I thinking" and ended with a "oh, that's JUST what I wanted". So don't be afraid to push yourself. You may just find that you are up to the challenge!

 The directions for this cake was "yellow and grey on white buttercream with pinwheels". Well, I had just been browsing Martha Stewart's cake section when I saw a cake they had decorated with paper banners! So I thought, why not! The cake is frosted and trimmed with buttercream and then decorated with paper pinwheels. It was perfect for this outdoor wedding!

Finally a word about making cakes I am really not sure will look all that great. When I met with the bride and she said her colors were pink and grey I flashed back on Steel Magnolias "Grey Icing? I'm not even sure how to make grey icing!". So I talked the bride into silver instead of grey hoping against hope it would help make the cake as beautiful as I wanted it to be for their wedding. Low and behold I was totally wrong about the color combination! She used this combo in her entire wedding and it was simply stunning! The blush pink of the pearls, fondant stripes and roses along with the silver lines and ribbon against the white fondant made for a very elegant cake for their very elegant wedding. Sometimes you just have to have faith that it will all work out perfectly.

Next week I have one of the few cakes for this Fall Season to share with you and, yes, it's a wedding cake!

See you then!

Cat

Jilly's Barbie Birthday Cake

Happy Tuesday? I know this is a few days late but here in the US we had "Labor Day" weekend and that always pushes everything by a few days.  My last cake of the summer was actually for our Grand daughters 4th Birthday Party! As you can see, by the cake above, the theme was pink and zebra print Barbie. 

The Barbie is a real doll, not just the top of a doll with a pick that sticks into the cake. She was cleaned up at the party and then redressed in her clothing and given to the birthday girl to play with after the cake cutting. What I used to bake this cake was a Pampered Chef Batter Bowl. To bake in a deep container like this you need to turn the temperature down to 300 and let it bake until it is completely done...so it takes a bit longer as well.

The inside of the cake was Zebra Striped too! It's really fairly easy to do but I wasn't sure it would work in this particular baking dish...I was SO happy that it did! Now what you do is make up your two batters of cake batter and set aside in separate bowls. Then use a measuring cup or ladle (it just needs to be the same size for both bowls) and, starting with the lighter colored batter, ladle in a scoop or two. Then into the center of the lighter color ladle in the same amount of dark batter. Alternate this until the container is full. Then don't touch it. Just bake it. And this is how it looks when it comes out! Zebra Striped!

After it was the cake was cooled I sliced it for filling and then wrapped it and put it into the freezer overnight. The next day I filled it and crumb coated it as well as, using a long bread knife, cut a hole into the center so I could slip in my Barbie doll when the time came.

After the cake was settled (I let it sit for 6 hours) I wrapped the legs of the Barbie in plastic wrap so that she wouldn't actually touch the food, and put her down into the cake. This is where I got into a bit of trouble. I have made Barbie cakes before but always with regular Barbie dolls. This doll is actually Ballerina Barbie and is about 2 inches taller! So when I slid her into the cake I realized that the cake didn't come to her waist, it only came up to her hip! So all of a sudden my dress became a dropped waist design!  What I ended up having to do was to spread buttercream up to the actual waist of the doll and smooth it down so it would look like part of the cake.

Then I started on the actual decorating. There is no easy way to do this. You have to eyeball everything. I added a bit of tylose to my white fondant and then rolled it out and cut that into strips and "ruffled" those up and placed them on the bottom right front of the cake so that she would have peek-a-boo ruffles in front. Then I cut out a heart shape piece for the front of the bodice and pressed it onto the doll, covering up the blue painted on "dress" she actually wears as a ballerina. Next I cut out the large triangle for the front of the dress and added it to the front of the cake, being careful to position it up and over the ruffles. I let that set up a bit before rolling out the black fondant rectangle. I have done zebra stripe before so I had learned that the best way is just to cut out the shapes from a big rectangle in a diagonal direction. Some of them are just slightly jagged strips and some of them are forked strips. Then I just used a tiny bit of water to position them onto the white dress front. You have to be SO careful here. Wherever you place the black is instantly died black. So there is no re-positioning or second chances. 

The light pink pieces are really just large "tear drop" shaped pieces that I cut out and placed, starting at the true waist of the doll and over lapped, first from the front to the back on one side and then from the front to the back on the other side, topping with one last tear dropped piece in the very back.  Then I rolled out a bit of white fondant for the back of the bodice and pressed it to the doll. Then it was time to add the dark pink fondant side/back pieces of the bodice. As with the front I just eye-balled it but they are basically large triangles.Once those were on I used a circle cutter to cut out the dark pink upper dress panels. For these I cut a straight edge onto the circle so it would fit easily to the waist. I just wrapped one from the front to the back on one side and then on from the front to the back on the other having them overlap in the center of the back.

The finishing touches were to add the piped on corset lacings (royal icing) and the black fondant bow. Then I just piped little white dots for trim on the light pink skirt and rolled dark pink ropes for trim on the dark pink skirt. Here is a tip...something I didn't think about till it was too late and ended up having to do it the hard way...trim the dark pink skirt BEFORE adding the bow. I ended up having to piece the trim in the back and it was much more difficult than if I'd just remembered to do that before adding the bow and ribbon tails. One last detail was adding the little black candy pearls to the bodice front to zebra stripe it too. I piped thin lines of royal icing on the bodice and then, using candy tweezers, added the pearls to the bodice. But the very last detail was the little present Barbie is holding. Since she is a Ballerina she has arms that are folded in such a way as to curve over Barbie's head like a ballerinas do when she is on pointe. So it looked awkward to me. That was when I decided she should be holding something. I didn't have time to let a purse dry so I took a bit of dark fondant, squared it off, cut strips of black fondant for the stripping and then made up a little bow. All of this I slid onto her thumb to hold it into place.

Here is Barbie at the party! Surrounded by the other decorations she really fits in and the Birthday Girl was over-joyed! I will be posting the party photos soon on the Cherry Party Blog so you can see all of the party details!

This week begins the time of year when I take some time off. I have a few cakes over the next few months so on my "off" weeks I'll share some of my other favorite cakes or spotlight friends wonderful cakes for you all to see. In the meantime you can always get daily tips and tricks on our Facebook Fan Site!

See you next there!

Cat

Happy Sunday! Another summer birthday came our way this week. This little beach bag cake is filled with everything Jayne can wish to take with her to the beach. There's sunscreen, her travel journal, her sunglasses and her towel all sticking out of the top.

I learned a great many things making this cake. It is a standard 8x2 inch cake that has been cut into thirds and then trimmed down to 5-1/2 inches across by 6 inches high and 2-1/2 inches wide with the trimmings adding height to the cake. Yellow cake filled with chocolate brownie buttercream is Jayne's favorite combo so that is what is inside the vanilla fondant "bag".  It is staked twice down into the cake board with wooden skewers, one on each side of the cake from top to bottom. Then it was crumbcoated with vanilla buttercream and allowed to set up.

I then started on the stripes. What I found out is that they don't "glue" together easily. I finally took the strips and laid them out onto a parchment covered rack and brushed water in between so they would glue together in pairs of two. Then I was able to put them on the cake, trim them down to fit the cake two at a time. One of the reasons I give myself plenty of time to decorate a cake is due to set backs like this one. It added 6 hours of wait time to this cake. 

Once I had the front strips on and the back strips on and trimmed down I added the white side panels. I mainly let the front semi-hard strips help hold the soft white fondant to the sides since it, like the hard strips, had to stand up, like a bag, but couldn't be stiff because I needed them to look like fluid fabric billowing on the sides. So I brushed water, not just on the cake but also the fondant edges of the hard front and back strips and then smoothed the side fondant on pressing it gently to the front and back wet edges. 

After they were dry and allowed to set up for a bit it was time to do the cording. I have an extruder that I simply love. It has many different screens with different size and shaped holes so I can just change out whatever I need to whenever I need to do it. The screen for today is the one with three small holes in it that allows me to make long thin "snakes" of fondant. I made white and blue snakes and then just twisted them together. Then I brushed on a thin line of water to act as glue and ran it along the edges of the front and back panels. I used just one strand of white to edge the top and bottom edges of the side panels.

I used this same screen to make the snakes I needed for the braided handles for the front and back. You have to work really, really carefully or the snake will break and you will have to start all over again. Once the braids were done I set them aside, the U shape of a handle, to firm up. While they were drying, I made the "grommets" for the bag. Just cut out with a piping tip and then punched with a smaller tip, I just painted these silver and let them dry.

While everything was drying I began working on the items to go into the bag. Keep in mind that they are supposed to be peeking out of the bag so you do not need full sized items. The panels stick about an inch or so over the actual cake so you only need a few inches of the item to stick out. The towel is only 4 inches long, the sunscreen is only about 2-1/2, as is the book. The sunglasses are fronts only with one partial earpiece folded under. For the book I took a block of white fondant and then rolled out a marbled piece of blue-green fondant really thin to cover it. Lastly I used my xacto knife to score the "pages". The towel is a thick piece of pink and white marbled fondant that was rolled and then texturized using scrunched up plastic wrap. Both the sunglasses and the sunscreen are just hand molded until I thought they looked right.

The last touches were painting the SPF 30 on the sunscreen and Jayne's initials on the journal in silver paint and then adding the grommets and braided handles to the bag. The grommets went on quickly but I did have to use toothpicks to hold the braided fondant onto the cake. I put them through the folded over braiding and then pushed them into the cake gently, making sure to hide the tip of the toothpick. The sand is just gold sanding sugar that I sprinkled onto the board using a small spoon.

Smaller cakes are sometimes the most challenging but being a "Beach Baby" myself I was very happy to do this cake! 

Next week is time to Party with Barbie! See you then!

Cat

Nate's Propane Tank Birthday Cake

Happy Sunday! It is always fun when I get to do a family members cake! Today is Nate's birthday. Nate is my son-in-law and one of the best guys you would want to know. Nate also owns a propane franchise. Thus the propane tank cake! LOL!

Making this cake wasn't the easiest but I did find out some pitfalls along the way. Making a carved cake can be challenging but the first issue I had was making the collar and the nozzle for this tank. Since it had to dry for several days I made it before I had actually baked the cake. Well, when I baked the cake I found out that the collar and nozzle were too small! So I ended up making it again. I was very happy that they were dry enough when it came time to top the cake with them.

The cake is 3 four inch layers. This feeds 10 people which was perfect for our guest list. I leveled off two of the layers and left the dome on the top one, just trimming off enough to give me a flat surface for the nozzle. Lastly I carved into the bottom tier so it would allow room for the bottom collar. In retrospect I didn't carve in enough so the collar doesn't look as recessed as it should. It is vanilla cake filled with chocolate brownie buttercream...and yes, it was very yummy! I stacked the cakes and then took a wooden skewer and nailed it through the top of the cake, slightly to the side, into the cake drum below. Then I covered it all with a crumbcoating of buttercream and let it set up overnight. 

Now it was time to cover the whole thing with fondant. It is a strange shape for a cake so I had to go very slowly and carefully with the fondant, smoothing it out one small section at a time until it was completely adhering to the cake. When this was totally smooth I nailed in another skewer into the top of the cake (also to one side) and down into the cake drum below. We had to travel 200 miles with this cake and with it being much taller than it is wide, it meant it could topple easily and I didn't want that going anywhere!

This is when I added the bottom collar and the middle roll of fondant. I use an extruder to make the long snake of fondant but it's still a real challenge to get it so it looks even around the middle of the cake so I brushed the roll with a mist of water and then put it on the cake and then adjusted as I needed before it set up on the cake. You only have seconds before the sugar bond occurs so you have to work fast!

I then set the collar up on the top of the cake where I wanted it to sit and marked the cake in three places. I removed the collar and piped in a layer of royal icing. This not only sets the collar up above the cake like a real tank but also sticks the collar to the cake securely. I went back a few times and piped more lines on top of the first lines to build it up, letting it dry between layers. Finally I set the color up on top of the last wet layer and then used the royal icing to smooth it out so it looked like the welds on a real tank. Next the nozzle was put into place with a toothpick and some water to hold it into place.

The last part on the cake was the hand painting. Now the logo of his company is something close to this one but you can't put a trademarked logo on a cake so I just changed it a bit. I cut the arrows out of blue fondant using two sizes of circle cutters. The I cut the circles in half and then carved the arrows with an exacto knife I have just for cakes. Then it was time for the hand painting. There really is no easy way to hand paint. You just dive in and hope for the best. Over time and with practice you do get better at it...I'm not quite there yet but I'm working on it! LOL!

Finally there was the writing on the drum. It's royal icing because I wanted to be able to paint on it and you can't do that with frosting. So I piped out the letters in white and then let them totally dry. After I made sure they were totally dry I started coloring them in. 

The birthday guy was very surprised by the cake so it was great! We all enjoyed eating it too! And there was the last challenge. How do you cut a cake that's not shaped like cake? I'd love to say that there was a tried and true method but there just isn't. With this one I removed the toppers, grabbed an extra paper plate, then just cut the cake right down the middle. I carefully took one half of the cake and put it on the extra paper plate and laid down the other side on the drum. Then I just cut the appropriate sized pieces which worked out perfectly to give cake and a bit of filling to everyone. 

This upcoming week brings another carved mini-birthday cake! I'll share with you on Sunday!

Cat

Broach Wedding Cake

Happy Sunday! This week brings another wedding! My last of the year...and a very simple but lovely wedding cake that is decorated by a replica of the Bride's Great Grandmother's broach. But there is a very special story attached to this broach and to the small wedding cake for this Bride and Groom.

You see, the Groom is being deployed in a few weeks. While he's going to be on the "back lines" and they don't fear for his safe return, they did want to be married before he left. So, while planning the big "To-Do" for next Fall after he returns next Summer, they decided to have this small wedding, including wedding cake right now. The broach is a symbol of how love can endure the separation of War. The Bride's Great Grandmother wore a beautiful crystal studded broach on her wedding day in her hair at a small ceremony before her husband was deployed. He returned home safely and now they have been married since 1942. Yup...do the math..that's 71 years happily married! I'd say that was one good omen for this new Bride who is about to send her new husband off to War as well. So the Bride found a replica of the broach for her own Wedding Day! We can only wish such a long marriage for the two of them as well!

The cake is just a 10x4 square Lemon Chiffon with Raspberry filling cake covered with vanilla fondant and then decorated with piped royal icing. The icing actually mimics the pattern on the wedding invitations for the ceremony next year so I can't share them with you yet. I piped royal all around the cake as trim and then added the little fondant flowers.

To make the fondant flowers I just rolled the fondant thin as a dime and then used a plunger punch to make the flowers similar to one of these. 

When you press the punch onto the fondant and push the plunger down you not only cut out the flower but emboss it at the same time. I cut out about a hundred flowers and then, using a flower sponge and a mini ball tool, I made the flowers into little cups. I let those dry for a bit before brushing them with ivory luster dust. 

Finally I attached those to the cake with royal icing and then added the little candy pearls. The broach was the last thing to go on the cake. It was attached with royal as well and will easily be removed from the cake and easily cleaned up afterward for use in her bouquet or on her cake next year. 

Best wishes to the new Bride and Groom and our hopes that he will return quickly and safely to his family at the end of his tour.

Next week is a "carved" birthday cake! See you then! Of course you can check in for our daily tips and tricks on our Facebook Fan Site where we still have a "Sharing" contest going on! Just head over once a day and "share" the tip, trick or photo of the day and you can win!

Cat

 Happy Sunday! This past week brought us a wedding with two Brides! Together for over a decade this couple decided to tie the knot right after the Supreme Court ruling and we were delighted to be involved!

 The custom cake topper was simply perfect for this fun loving couple. A great sense of humor, sense of playfulness and colorful joy was clearly represented by these funny flamingos!

The cake was an 8x4 inch square tier with a 6x3 inch round tier. Vanilla chiffon cake with strawberry filling was one of the Brides favorites so that became the flavor of both tiers. The outside is just vanilla buttercream. I then piped what are known as "Swiss" dots in their wedding colors of light green and aqua blue.

Swiss dots look complicated but they are actually very simple. Just start your dots going straight down the side of the cake. Space them an even amount apart as you go from top to bottom. Now, start your second row at the top but put the first dot even with the space between the first row dots. For this design I ended up with 4 dots of green and then 3 of blue, then 4 of green and 3 of blue for the top tier. Then I just put a candy pearl into the center of each dot to give it the Bridal look. The final detail was the trim and then writing their names on the cake plate.

As far as cakes go, it wasn't terribly difficult to do but it was wonderfully perfect for the couple celebrating their new marriage! The top tier feeds 8 and the bottom tier 32 so just enough for a small wedding such as this one.

For this small "at home" wedding reception the cake fit into the decorating plan perfectly! And speaking of that....I'll be featuring the details of this reception tomorrow on our Cherry Party Blog! So check back tomorrow there to see how this cake table fit into the entire reception plan!

We were very happy to be able to be a part of this small, last minute wedding plan and are very happy for the newlyweds! Thank you both for letting us be a part of your special day!

Lastly, there is a CONTEST going on over on our Facebook Fan Site! So stop on by, share one of our tips or photos that we post between August 2nd and September 2nd and you are entered into the contest! The person who shares the most tips and/or photos for the entire month wins their choice of one of 3 gift cards! So stop by every day, share that days tip or photo and you can win!

Cat