Puppy Cake

Theme: Toddler Birthday

Cake: Yellow

Icing: Vanilla and Chocolate Buttercream

I used an 8 inch round pan for the face and cupcake for the ears. I had to stack two cupcakes on top of each other for each ear. I used round tips for the eyes, nose and other facial details. I used a star tip for the textured look with the white icing.

This could easily be made into a bear as well!

The Cupcake Kids

Today, the kids and I headed out to sell cupcakes as part of the National Cupcake Kids Sale. All money raised goes toward Sixty Feet and the work they are doing in Uganda.

Here are some of the cupcakes we sold:

Theme: Ministry Support/ Spring
Cake: White and Funfetti
Icing: Vanilla Buttercream

The sprinkles are from Wilton, the cupcake picks were made by my kids using a Cricut Personal Cutter and the directions for the bunny cupcakes can be found here.

Elijah's Ocean

Theme: Child's Birthday
Cake: Funfetti
Icing: Vanilla Buttercream
Extras: Plastic Ocean Animals (from the Dollar Store), Jelly Belly jelly beans

My son, the dinosaur lover, decided at the last minute that he would rather have an ocean animal cake. I really enjoy making figures out of fondant, but I knew that he would enjoy having ocean animals that he could keep... so I headed to the dollar section and grabbed a pack of plastic animals.

The blue color is a mix of Wilton's Royal Blue and Teal food color gels.

Where To

Theme: Welcome Party
Cake: White and Chocolate
Icing: Vanilla buttercream

I started with a 10 in round white cake and cut it in half. I took a 10 in round chocolate cake and cut the rounded sides off to make a rectangle. I inserted it between the halves of the first cake to make a long oval. I took some of the extra chocolate cake to make the part that hangs down.

This cake was for my husband's graduate school program. They were welcoming new students.

Icing Tricks

 When I was taking cake decorating classes, this tip is probably one of the most valuable that I learned. I like it for several reasons. It is a handy way to store your icing and it cuts down on the mess involved in filling icing bags. You need plastic wrap.

 Lay your plastic wrap down on a flat surface.

 Put about a cup (or less) of icing in the middle of your plastic wrap.

 Roll your icing up in the plastic wrap like a sausage and tie off the ends. This creates an air tight storage for your icing. If you didn't use milk in your buttercream, you can store this on a shelf, out of the fridge for about a week. Or... you can throw it in the fridge until you are ready to use it. This is great when you want to get your icing prepared ahead of time.

When you are ready to use the icing, simply cut one end of the "sausage" and slide it down in your bag... so easy! No mess involved. When you've used up that icing and need to refill the bag, simply pull out the empty plastic wrap and repeat the process.

Lauren

Theme: Adult Birthday
Cake: Triple Chocolate Decadence
Icing: Almond Buttercream
Pans: 9in x 9 in square and 6in x 6in square

I had a four year old assistant in decorating this cake. She mixed the colors and helped fill the icing bags. She even did the leaves and vines.

Today was a chilly day in Florida. I didn't think the humidity would be a factor in mixing the icing. I was wrong. The roses are a little droopy because my stiff icing wasn't stiff. The normal recipe for stiff buttercream icing calls for 2Tbs of water. I usually do about 1 3/4 Tbs to balance out the Florida humidity.

Caking With a Cause

Hi Folks,

We have recently gotten to know a dear family who are in process of adopting from Ethiopia. To help with raising funds for their adoption costs, I have donated a few cake gift certificates... good for either one 10 inch round cake or thirty cupcakes.

We are currently in the Orlando area... so... if you are in Central Florida (or Atlanta as I will be up that way at some point)... please check out the Noll Family's Blog for more details on how you can snag one of the certificates and help them bring their babies home!