I'm a Dork

I started Dive School today and I delivered a wedding cake when school was over and in all the excitement, I forgot to take a picture of the wedding cake. But the good news is that Dive School was a BLAST. In fact, it was so much fun that I have tan lines on my hands and theighs from my wet suit....lol!

New Toys

So I ordered an airbrush machine from Sugarcraft on May 12 and it just got here Tuesday, 3 weeks later. While I'm super excited to get my new toy, I am SOOOOO aggrivated with Sugarcraft so if you're reading this and contemplating purchasing anything from Sugarcraft, take my advice and don't do it. Go to Global Sugar Art.

Anyway...I tested out my airbrush machine last night and let's just say that I'm not going to post any pictures yet. It's a little rough to say the least. I did however airbrush some pearl shimmer on a wedding cake that I finished today. That was so cool! I'm so excited about this one because it turned out so good! This is my first wedding cake with a wedding planner I just started working with and I'm so glad that it turned out much better than I thought it would. I'll post a picture later.

I've got a busy week coming up. I'm catering desserts for a huge picnic this Saturday. I've got 3 cakes, gallons of banana pudding and dozens of brownie pops to make.

Should be a blast!

Brit's Topsy Turvy Graduation Cake

Well, this was my first topsy turvy cake and it was for my daughter's babysitter's high school graduation. I learned a lot from this cake and my next one will certainly bet much better. It ended up a lot different than my sketch but that's because I covered it and decorated it and then had to take it all off and start over again because of a buttercream issue. But, here it is anyway...

Doughnut Cake

First of all, let me just say that I apologize in advance for the poor picture quality. I think Olivia ate the memory card for my camera so I had to take these pictures with my phone.


I just finished a doughnut cake for a wedding this Saturday. The groom is, and I'm not kidding, a security guard. When I met with his fianace to work on a design, she said that a doughnut is exactly what he wanted. So...

I hope he likes it!

Here's the bride's cake:

Anxious

I got everything finished I wanted to yesterday along with a couple more things. I hate having to pace myself when I'm decorating because I get so excited to be able to decorate that I end up starting before I should. Meaning that I end up making the cake so far ahead of time that I'm afraid it won't taste good by the time it's eaten - like baking the cake a day earlier or decorating it and putting in the fridge a day earlier (the longer it's in the fridge, the more dried out it can be). I guess it's a good thing that I use very moist cake recipies. But...I'm pacing myself and even though I really want to dive right in, I'm getting some paperwork finished instead.

Grrrrr..... :)

Today's chores

As I mentioned in a previous post, time management is crucial this week. So my chores today were to get the strawberries and bananas for Brit's cake (one tier is strawberry shortcake, one tier is banana split and the other tier is mint chocolate chip) along with some other misc. supplies (check), then decorate cake boards and make the cake stand for Brit's cake and make more buttercream.

The ironic thing about shopping with Olivia is that she's wired for the beginning of the trip and always falls asleep in the car on the way to the grocery store so I end up lugging around 30 lbs of dead weight while I'm pushing a grocery cart with one hand. You should see the looks. It's hilarious. Then, as soon as we get back home, she's wide awake. It's insane! Forget bout getting anything accomplished in peace. I have to admit that I'm pretty lucky because she's nearly perfectly behaved.

Here's the cute little "crumb" (ha ha ha).

More sketches...

This first sketch is for a baby shower in a couple of weeks. She was really open to the design and really didn't care about the flavors except that the mom wants cookies & cream filling.


This cake is for a wedding professional's luncheon. It's not until October, but the next few months are going to be insane so I wanted to get the sketch finished when I had the time. I can't wait to do this cake. The planner organizing the event said I could do anything I wanted and I've been wanting to do this cake for FOREVER!! I can't wait.

This cake is for a bride...the 4th sketch. This is completely different than the first cake she wanted. I really hope she goes with this one because it's so elegant and gorgeous. This one should go so much better with her theme. She's doing antique, elegant decor in an old-world location. It should be beautiful. The cake is ivory and sashes are airbrushed bronze. She wants pink on there too so the swiss dots and monogram are blush pink. There are ivory pearls on the top and bottom tiers where the sashes meet in the back. I'm actually getting really excited about this cake. I hope it turns out well.

Busy, busy, busy!!!

Time management is crucial to my success this week.

I have a wedding which includes a 3 tier bride's cake, a doughnut cake a la The Simpson's doughnut and a dozen cupcakes on Saturday. Did I mention that I'm starting nursing school? I have the NLN which is a nursing entrance exam that morning in Pensacola and the wedding is in Ocean Springs, MS!

I have a 3 tier topsy turvy graduation cake due Sunday.

I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but when you're watching a toddler while you're preparing all these sweets, it seems overwhelming. I'm thinking of a babysitter on Friday.

In "Lydia" news...she finally got the final list of flowers from the florist and decided that she wanted a small cluster of flowers on the cake instead of the single bloom. So, I changed the single bloom to an oversized dark purple cornflower and added some white freesia with dark purple centers, green berries and some greenery. I also changed the piping along the top to match the embroidery on her dress. I'm still waiting to hear back from her about the design but I hope she likes it.

I've been sketching for the majority of the afternoon to get some other sketches out of the way. I'll post those later. One is for a topsy-turvy baby shower cake, an elegant anenome cake for a wedding professionals luncheon and the other is for a local elevator union picnic.

Review

I got such a sweet email today from a girl who I did a Sweet 16 cake for...

"Hey Nichole,
I just wanted to tell you that the cake was amazing! It was absolutely perfect! Thank-you so much for everything!...Thanks again!- Sam"

I love getting these!

Proof that there is work before a cake ever gets baked

I thought I'd post the sketches I finished today to prove that I was acually working.

This first sketch is for the woman I met with last Saturday. Her wedding is going to be gorgeous. She's having kind of an art deco meets moroccan jewls tones theme. She was very insistant on only having 3 tiers but for the number of servings she needed, I had to make the tiers super deep and a double tier in one instance. The entire cake is buttercream on the outside with white piping along the top and 3 white fondant ribbons around different parts of the cake. The flower is a giant deep purple anemone. I don't think they actually come in that color, but it matched the theme of her wedding and gave the cake a beautiful focal point.

Don't pay any attention to the color of the 4th tier of this cake. I accidently grabbed the wrong colored pencil then I tried to fix it then tried to erase it and it just didn't work out. Oh, and forget about the fact that it looks like it's leaning. Hopefully it won't lean in real life. Anyway, the bride wanted a cake that looked like a huge wedding cake even though it really wasn't. Well, it is, but it only serves 125 and the top tier is for them to save. Each tier is covered in periwinkle blue buttercream with swirley piped pearls and there is a white ribbon around the bottom of each tier. Each tier is set on a riser that is decorated with white chocolate starfish and there's a white monogram on the center tier to finish it off.

This cake is for a friend's niece's graduation. The gray parts will actually be super sparkly like disco balls. This one will be a lot of fun to make.

New Cakes

I've been sketching like a mad-woman on some new cake designs. I love every cake I design and can't wait to start working on all of them.

I'm thinking of adding some new filling flavors: mint chocolate chip & cookies & cream. I'm going to test them out on a graduation cake I'm doing for a friend of mine.

In other news, I spent WAAAAY too much money today ordering my first airbrush machine, a million colors and other misc. supplies. I can't wait for them to get here.

I LOVE MY JOB!

Why so surprised?

So I bake, right? I mean, that's what I do. Why do people act so surprised when I make them cupcakes or bake a cake for a special occasion?

I don't really expect a response to this question. I'm just sending it out into the cosmic void of the internet.

Happy Birthday Father-in-Law

My father-in-law's birthday was a couple weekends ago so I made him a chocolate peanut butter cup cake.

I LOVED the design, it was mod & whimisical and it tasted...OMG...delicious!

Here's a side view:

New Blog Site

I had a blog set up but, for some reason, it won't let me log in anymore....

So, I'm taking the opportunity to start fresh.

Here goes...