Before I go any further...

In my last post, I mentioned my friend Emily. I'm going to take a moment to mention that she's my best friend, and partner in "cake" crime. :-) She and I have known each other since junior high, were roommates in college, and now work on cakes together. She decided that after her son was born (he's 3 now), that she wanted to be the "cool" mom who made all of his birthday cakes and always had something unique on the birthdays. Even though I'd been to culinary school, she'd never decorated a cake before. We attempted a couple of cakes, and then decided to take the Wilton classes together at our local Michael's store. She is very artsy so this is right up her alley. Word is starting to spread about the cakes that we do so we're getting more requests for them. We also make cake balls, cheesecake bites, brownie bites, cupcakes, and decorated cookies.
As I get to the cakes that we did together, I will mention her many contributions. There are a couple that have beautiful details on them which I can take absolutely no credit for.

Diva cake part 2

I forgot to add something funny that was said while I was working on this cake. Emily's husband is an engineer and had the nerve to tell me that the diamond on the top tier were crooked. He asked if he should go get his laser level to help. He doesn't even realize how badly I wanted to make him eat that laser level by that point. :-)

The "Diva" cake

This was made the a coworker's cousin. When I initially talked to her, she wanted a topsy turvy cake. I have never made one of those before, was honest with her about that. She changed her mind to one that was flat on the top and carved in on the sides. I hadn't done one of those either, but it was a little easier to think about than the topsy turvy cake.

The top tier of the cake is strawberry margarita cake, and the bottom tier is chocolate fudge. Both tiers of the cake are covered with marshmallow fondant from the recipe that I posted earlier. I highly recommend the marshmallow fondant for those who like working with fondant. You would probably never know it from the pictures, but I had a problem with the top tier falling apart. I had to be extra careful with it because it wanted to give way once the fondant was added.

I'm glad it turned out as cute as it did, because I really had my doubts. I'm not a pink person and wasn't convinced that all this pink and black would be cute together on a cake. I was a little disappointed that the birthday girl wasn't there when I arrived to set it up, because I like to leave knowing that the client likes the cake. I heard from her the next day saying that she loved it.

All of the pink stones on the ribbon were placed individually. She wanted sparkle on the ribbon and I couldn't find a ribbon with sparkle on it, so I had to make my own. The same stones were hand placed on the top tier around the diamonds. All of those diamonds are hand cut, as are the zebra stripes. It was a lot of work and I actually have blisters on my hands from working with the fondant so much.

Marshmallow Fondant

Last night, Emily and I made our very first batch of marshmallow fondant. We're working on a birthday cake for tomorrow, and decided to give it a try. It was so easy to make, and it colors so well. For those that work with fondant on a regular basis, you know how important it is for a fondant to color well. It also tastes so good.

Here's the recipe that we used. I pulled this off of Cake Central so I'm in no way taking credit for this recipe.

Ingredients
Crisco for coating bowl
16 oz mini marshmallows
1 tsp clear vanilla
1 tsp butter flavoring
2 Tbsp water
2lb bag powdered sugar

Directions
1. Grease inside of microwave safe bowl with Crisco
2. Put marshmallows, flavorings, and water into the bowl
3. Microwave on High for 60 seconds. If not completely melted, stir and microwave at 30 sec intervals.
4. Put powdered sugar into large mixer bowl. (fit stand mixer with dough hook)
5. Mix until well incorporated.
6. Prepare work surface with sifted powdered sugar.
7. Turn fondant out onto work surface. Knead fondant into a loaf. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap for at least 1 hour before using.
8. To store fondant: Wrap in plastic wrap, and then put into resealable plastic bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible. Fondant will keep in the fridge for weeks.

If you try this recipe out, let me know how you like it.

First One

Probably the most interesting thing that I do in my spare time is make cakes. It's a passion of mine, but I have sworn that I would never work in the restaurant business again. I had the job from hell, and will never work for someone else in a restaurant.

One thing that I've come to realize is that there are some funny stories behind some of the cakes that I do. I don't always get to tell those stories when I post my pictures on Facebook or on Cake Central. I thought this would be a good place to tell those stories.

As I find all of my pictures, I'll post them along with any stories about making them. Hope everyone enjoys reading them.