"Eintsein on computer"
As I try to type, read, balance the checkbook, my little gremlin crawls up on my lap and says this phrase until I comply. "Einsteins computer, see saw machee (Silly song Machine), Einstein on computer" In fact it's happening right now. So if you wonder why I have not been posting, or commenting on your blogs, it's because I'm trapped in Playhouse Disney listening to Silly Songs over and over and over and over again!!! HELP!!!
Friday, June 08, 2007
My Wilton Roses
I had my last class on Tuesday. I'm sad because it seems like I was just getting to know the people in my class and they aren't offering course 2 until the fall. They are doing Course 3 in July, so I will probably do that one. I would just buy the books and just figure it out for myself, but it's nice to get out of the house away from all distractions and really focus on just decorating.
Here is my final cake. I have been wanting to try a chocolate cake with a peanut butter filling eversince I saw the recipe on Cake Central, so instead of icing my cake in white icing like you are supposed to, I iced mine in Chocolate Ganache. One note on the peanut butter recipe, I cut the recipe in half and then added about 3 more cups of powdered sugar so that it was closer to the consistency of icing. I used it to crumb coat the cake before putting the ganache on. I still had tons left over. The ganache was very easy to make and very easy to use. I highly recommend it!
I am not very good at buttercream roses, they are so much more difficult than I thought they would be. I could not get the number of petals right and doubt I ever will. Not that it really matters, who is going to notice? The instructor told us "practice makes perfect" and to lay our roses out in order so we could see our progression. Mine actually got worse!
That's it for me right now. Hopefully I will figure out how to get the pictures off my camera's internal memory so I can post about our trip up to Salt Lake to see "Les Miserbles." My next post will be my list of books for Shayla though, that I can do!
Thursday, May 31, 2007
I was a "Popular Cake Photos -- Added Today"!!!
For those of you who do not know what I am talking about, you obviously have a life and are not completely and totally addicted to Cake Central as I am! I will fill you in. They changed the layout of CC recently and now they have three bars of pictures, one of all time favorites, one with recent favorites, and one of the most recently added cakes. I have mixed feelings about the changes they have made, but I am enjoying seeing the "favorite" cakes. In their galleries you can choose to add a picture to your personal favorites (love that!) and they select the cakes they show by the number of people who liked your cake. So it really was thrilling for a geek like me to be a "popular" cake, since popular is usually not a word I associate with myself! :)
Here is my latest cake:
It is three tiers, the top the Tink is sitting on is foam covered in fondant, the other two are white cake with strawberry and cheese cake filling iced in Italian Meringue Buttercream (IMBC). I really must say the IMBC is so heavenly tasting, there is no Crisco so no greasy taste and the full recipe only needs 2 1/2 cups of sugar, so it isn't too sweet either. It is very difficult for a newbie like me to smooth though!!! I have an idea I'm going to try next time and I will let you know how it works. So far no one has any tricks for smoothing other than "warm the spatula" I personally need more help than that! Luckily I covered it in fondant so you will never know! :) I love fondant!
A close up of Tink:
Yes, I did make the Tinkerbell. She is made out of modeling chocolate. I really like working with this chocolate. You can seam pieces together smoothly which is a huge bonus when making a scantily clad fairy! I did use gumpaste to make her dress and shoes. Do you want all the details? I can give them in another post if anyone wants. Just trying to get this one finished!
The birthday girl, Julia, and the cake:
My niece, Katelyn (the dark one) loves Tinkerbell. I think she really liked the cake although no one was very interested in eating it since they'd been eating cake since Saturday when she had her "friend" party. Had I know she was already having a cake and party, she would have gotten an edible image on a Walmart cake! I'm only kidding, it was a great experience for me, I had an excuse to try all these new techniques. And I got to be "Popular Cake Photo-- Added Today"!!
For those of you who do not know what I am talking about, you obviously have a life and are not completely and totally addicted to Cake Central as I am! I will fill you in. They changed the layout of CC recently and now they have three bars of pictures, one of all time favorites, one with recent favorites, and one of the most recently added cakes. I have mixed feelings about the changes they have made, but I am enjoying seeing the "favorite" cakes. In their galleries you can choose to add a picture to your personal favorites (love that!) and they select the cakes they show by the number of people who liked your cake. So it really was thrilling for a geek like me to be a "popular" cake, since popular is usually not a word I associate with myself! :)
Here is my latest cake:
It is three tiers, the top the Tink is sitting on is foam covered in fondant, the other two are white cake with strawberry and cheese cake filling iced in Italian Meringue Buttercream (IMBC). I really must say the IMBC is so heavenly tasting, there is no Crisco so no greasy taste and the full recipe only needs 2 1/2 cups of sugar, so it isn't too sweet either. It is very difficult for a newbie like me to smooth though!!! I have an idea I'm going to try next time and I will let you know how it works. So far no one has any tricks for smoothing other than "warm the spatula" I personally need more help than that! Luckily I covered it in fondant so you will never know! :) I love fondant!
A close up of Tink:
Yes, I did make the Tinkerbell. She is made out of modeling chocolate. I really like working with this chocolate. You can seam pieces together smoothly which is a huge bonus when making a scantily clad fairy! I did use gumpaste to make her dress and shoes. Do you want all the details? I can give them in another post if anyone wants. Just trying to get this one finished!
The birthday girl, Julia, and the cake:
My niece, Katelyn (the dark one) loves Tinkerbell. I think she really liked the cake although no one was very interested in eating it since they'd been eating cake since Saturday when she had her "friend" party. Had I know she was already having a cake and party, she would have gotten an edible image on a Walmart cake! I'm only kidding, it was a great experience for me, I had an excuse to try all these new techniques. And I got to be "Popular Cake Photo-- Added Today"!!
Saturday, May 26, 2007
My Favorite New Toy
Jessica asked where she could get a printer, and as my reply was growing longer and longer, I decided to just write a new post instead.
There are a lot of printers you could buy to make an edible image. Super expensive specialized ones or a Cannon or an Epson. I chose to go with the Epson C88 because I read so many reviews that said the picture quality with Epson printers cannot be beaten. I even found a couple of reviewers who had both a Canon and and Epson, and they preferred the Epson hands down.
I purchased my printer at Newegg for around $80. I was shocked at how quickly I received my order. And they have amazing prices, I will use them again and again. I ordered my edible inks and edible frosting sheets from KopyKake and that was closer to $200.
There you have it, it's a little expensive to get into, so if you don't want to jump right in you can always order a sheet from me. They cost me (figuring in price of ink etc) about $3 a sheet, so I would charge $6-8 that includes shipping. I'm not sure how much it would cost to ship and package.
Jessica asked where she could get a printer, and as my reply was growing longer and longer, I decided to just write a new post instead.
There are a lot of printers you could buy to make an edible image. Super expensive specialized ones or a Cannon or an Epson. I chose to go with the Epson C88 because I read so many reviews that said the picture quality with Epson printers cannot be beaten. I even found a couple of reviewers who had both a Canon and and Epson, and they preferred the Epson hands down.
I purchased my printer at Newegg for around $80. I was shocked at how quickly I received my order. And they have amazing prices, I will use them again and again. I ordered my edible inks and edible frosting sheets from KopyKake and that was closer to $200.
There you have it, it's a little expensive to get into, so if you don't want to jump right in you can always order a sheet from me. They cost me (figuring in price of ink etc) about $3 a sheet, so I would charge $6-8 that includes shipping. I'm not sure how much it would cost to ship and package.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
What was I doing ten years ago?
I was finishing up my second year at Ricks College. I was engaged, so I was probably spending waaaayyy too much time with my fiance. I would have been moving in to my scary old house apt for the summer, meeting my neurotic roommate, desperately trying to find a job, and get tan for wedding pictures!
What was I doing one year ago?
Going to the Dance Festival at Julia's school. They danced to "Under the Sea" and she was having so much fun I couldn't get her to leave after they were finished dancing. She just loves school.
Five snacks I enjoy:
1. Popcorn- every flavor, but especially white chocolate
2. Peanut butter cookies
3. Spinach dip with veggies/crackers
4. Any type of miniature candy bar
5. Hot Tamales, Cinnamon Bears, Chocolate Covered Cinnamon Bears!!!
Five songs I know all the words to:
1. Any Disney Princess Song
2. "Les Miserables" I could literally sing it from start to finish
3. "When Somebody Loved Me" from Toy Story
4. Most U2 songs
5. "Wish You Were Here" Pink Floyd
Five things I would do if I were a millionaire?
1. Show my kids the world (and bring a nanny or a granny!)
2. Open a cake shop
3. Pay off all my debt
4. Save for my kids college, missions, weddings
5. Give everything else away
Five of my MANY bad habits:
1. PROCRASTINATION!!!
2. Not exercising everyday
3. Starting a million projects and never finishing 80% of them
4. Ordering pizza for dinner
5. Assuming too much
Five things I like doing:
1. Cake Decorating
2. Knitting
3. Painting
4. Reading
5. Watching movies
Five things I will NEVER wear again:
1. Maternity clothes
2. Tank tops :(
3. Stretch pants
4. Banana clips
5. Neon anything
Five of my Favorite toys:
1. My edible image printer
2. Digital camera
3. X Box- solely because DH hacked it and it can play every Nintendo game
4. Cuisinart food processor/blender (the mini version)
5. My daughter's Easy Bake Oven, it just takes me back!
I don't have enough readers to tag anyone! Since Jessica tagged me that just leaves Kristie and Shayla, if you guys want to do it I will enjoy reading it! Oh hey, Stools, I tag you too. Not sure if you read this...
INSTRUCTIONS:
Remove the blog in the top spot from the link list at the top of this post and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot. Next, select five people to tag.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
My First Decorating Class
Last night I learned how to use the star and writing tips. I now know the "proper" way to use them instead of my imagined way! I pretty much knew how to do the star, kinda played dumb in class. The writing instruction was helpful, but feels totally unnatural to me still. I guess it will come in time. Since this class involved making something covered in stars which I've already done numerous times, I decided to try a new skill too. Painting with piping gel. I was really excited about this because lemon extract just dries sooo quickly it's a little tricky for me to work with it.
You are supposed to make a rainbow or character shaped cake for this class. I thought the rainbow looked cheesy, so I decided to do a sunflower and to paint a butterfly on the cake. Here is the finished product:
I transfered the sunflower outline using a piping gel transfer, I REALLY like this trick! I wish I would have done the butterfly as well, but I wasn't sure I was actually going to do it. I didn't want to be a show off or anything, but I decided to just go for it and had to free hand that outline on the cake. Scary!! I think it turned out okay, it's a little lopsided but I got over it. Here's a close up of the little guy:
I liked painting with the piping gel, but here are some things I learned about this. I wouldn't actually paint it on again. I would use a piping bag and then blend with a paintbrush. It would just be a lot easier and faster to do it that way. It doesn't come off the brush very smoothly. It's pretty sticky and thick stuff. In the future I might try thinning it a bit with some lemon extract to play around with the consistency. Also, I would have painted the flower too, but since I was supposed to do star fill in for class, I did.
Just in case you wanted to see the side of the cake as well. I just free handed the stem and leaf as well.
Some other things I learned last night:
1- I am not feeling the parchment triangle love. I'm hoping it is one of those things that just take practice, but for now I so prefer the disposable bags.
2- Piping buttercream is WAYY faster than fondant work.
3- Class buttercream icing tastes disgusting (to me) the other girls in my class really liked it.
4- Having a turntable really helps when smoothing icing.
Next class is figure piping and you are supposed to make a clown cake. Been there, done that! :) Speaking of which, Kristie can you send me the pictures?? I think I will still go to learn the techniques, I'm just not going to bother buying clown heads and making the cake. It's just fun to be with other people that have similar interests. It would be way more fun to have someone I know in the class with me, but oh well. Maybe next class.
Last night I learned how to use the star and writing tips. I now know the "proper" way to use them instead of my imagined way! I pretty much knew how to do the star, kinda played dumb in class. The writing instruction was helpful, but feels totally unnatural to me still. I guess it will come in time. Since this class involved making something covered in stars which I've already done numerous times, I decided to try a new skill too. Painting with piping gel. I was really excited about this because lemon extract just dries sooo quickly it's a little tricky for me to work with it.
You are supposed to make a rainbow or character shaped cake for this class. I thought the rainbow looked cheesy, so I decided to do a sunflower and to paint a butterfly on the cake. Here is the finished product:
I transfered the sunflower outline using a piping gel transfer, I REALLY like this trick! I wish I would have done the butterfly as well, but I wasn't sure I was actually going to do it. I didn't want to be a show off or anything, but I decided to just go for it and had to free hand that outline on the cake. Scary!! I think it turned out okay, it's a little lopsided but I got over it. Here's a close up of the little guy:
I liked painting with the piping gel, but here are some things I learned about this. I wouldn't actually paint it on again. I would use a piping bag and then blend with a paintbrush. It would just be a lot easier and faster to do it that way. It doesn't come off the brush very smoothly. It's pretty sticky and thick stuff. In the future I might try thinning it a bit with some lemon extract to play around with the consistency. Also, I would have painted the flower too, but since I was supposed to do star fill in for class, I did.
Just in case you wanted to see the side of the cake as well. I just free handed the stem and leaf as well.
Some other things I learned last night:
1- I am not feeling the parchment triangle love. I'm hoping it is one of those things that just take practice, but for now I so prefer the disposable bags.
2- Piping buttercream is WAYY faster than fondant work.
3- Class buttercream icing tastes disgusting (to me) the other girls in my class really liked it.
4- Having a turntable really helps when smoothing icing.
Next class is figure piping and you are supposed to make a clown cake. Been there, done that! :) Speaking of which, Kristie can you send me the pictures?? I think I will still go to learn the techniques, I'm just not going to bother buying clown heads and making the cake. It's just fun to be with other people that have similar interests. It would be way more fun to have someone I know in the class with me, but oh well. Maybe next class.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Waiting for pictures
Well, it didn't make it. My sis-in-law took pictures, but has not sent them to me yet. I'm not exactly sure how smashed it was, but she said it was pretty bad. On a happy note, she also said it tasted great and they all liked it. That's always nice!
If I had it to do over again, I would definitely remove all decorations from the cake and ship them separately from the cake. Then I would freeze the cake, use my food saver to seal it up, ship it overnight with ice packs and have it completely encased in styrofoam so it didn't matter if it was thrown around. The odds of me ever doing all this? Slim to none!! The most I would ship to someone again is a topper. I don't think that would be a big deal at all. Oh well, it was worth a try. Hopefully I will have some disasterous photos to share soon!
Well, it didn't make it. My sis-in-law took pictures, but has not sent them to me yet. I'm not exactly sure how smashed it was, but she said it was pretty bad. On a happy note, she also said it tasted great and they all liked it. That's always nice!
If I had it to do over again, I would definitely remove all decorations from the cake and ship them separately from the cake. Then I would freeze the cake, use my food saver to seal it up, ship it overnight with ice packs and have it completely encased in styrofoam so it didn't matter if it was thrown around. The odds of me ever doing all this? Slim to none!! The most I would ship to someone again is a topper. I don't think that would be a big deal at all. Oh well, it was worth a try. Hopefully I will have some disasterous photos to share soon!
Thursday, May 10, 2007
I did it!!
I have not been running in two weeks now. I went running once while we were in vacation in Midway and then I was sick when we got home and then I had a cake to make. I found so many excuses. After being totally stressed out and having a fairly crappy day yesterday I decided to make my sorry self go running. As I started running I thought, I cannot do this! It's been too long, I really need to start walking. I forced myself to keep running though. I did not want to start at week one again. After the first mile I thought, I wonder how much further I can go?? I made it another mile and nearly through the third!!! There is a long steady incline during my last mile and it just did me in. I had about a quarter mile left and I had to walk for 30 seconds, but then I ran the rest of the way! AND I'm not even sore today. I guess technically I should not say I "ran" anything because a- I didn't run the whole 5k, I walked for 30 sec, and b- I don't really "run" I "jog." I'm really excited at any rate, I have not run like this since high school. I am still running at night by myself, but it is now light out when I go and there are actually a lot of people out. I think it helped keep me motivated to keep going, I was too embarrassed to stop with people watching. I'm going to take tonight off, but hopefully I will be able to run it again on the 11th without stopping. I can't believe I'm actually this close to reaching a goal! I haven't lost a single ounce or inch off my body like I wanted to, but it still feels good to know I'm trying.
I have not been running in two weeks now. I went running once while we were in vacation in Midway and then I was sick when we got home and then I had a cake to make. I found so many excuses. After being totally stressed out and having a fairly crappy day yesterday I decided to make my sorry self go running. As I started running I thought, I cannot do this! It's been too long, I really need to start walking. I forced myself to keep running though. I did not want to start at week one again. After the first mile I thought, I wonder how much further I can go?? I made it another mile and nearly through the third!!! There is a long steady incline during my last mile and it just did me in. I had about a quarter mile left and I had to walk for 30 seconds, but then I ran the rest of the way! AND I'm not even sore today. I guess technically I should not say I "ran" anything because a- I didn't run the whole 5k, I walked for 30 sec, and b- I don't really "run" I "jog." I'm really excited at any rate, I have not run like this since high school. I am still running at night by myself, but it is now light out when I go and there are actually a lot of people out. I think it helped keep me motivated to keep going, I was too embarrassed to stop with people watching. I'm going to take tonight off, but hopefully I will be able to run it again on the 11th without stopping. I can't believe I'm actually this close to reaching a goal! I haven't lost a single ounce or inch off my body like I wanted to, but it still feels good to know I'm trying.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
A Cake in the Mail
The last few days have been a blur for me. I decided to try sending a cake in the mail. This would open my world up to all new possibilities giving me more excuses (or people if you like) to make cakes. My nieces' birthday is the 10th of May and since she was soooo helpful during Julia's Alice in Wonderland party, I decided to make her a cake. I didn't have time to take any pictures along the way or of my "amazing" packing job, but here is the finished cake:
It is a triple chocolate fudge cake with chocolate icing and caramel filling covered in fondant. I tried a new fondant recipe on CakeCentral and I actually think it tastes good. It isn't as sickeningly sweet. Don't get me wrong, I still love my buttercream, but I can eat this stuff.
My sis-in-law called me yesterday to see if I could make a Ford Mustang for the top. Ummm, no! But I did manage to find a little Hot Wheels. It isn't technically a red Mustang, but hopefully she won't notice and hey it's better than nothing right? I think the design of the cake would have been better without it, but hey it's what they wanted not me!
Here is the top of the hat. The numbers and horseshoes are made out of royal icing and painted and then dusted with my fave luster dust.
The hat is made out of modeling chocolate and I really like working with it. It also tastes very similar to a Tootsie Roll. It dries much quicker than fondant which was a bonus since this cake was pretty last minute.
Just one quick picture of the girls eating what Sydni thinks is "cake." FYI, she also thinks "pie" is whipped cream.
So you may be wondering, how on earth did you package that cake? If you weren't, too bad I'm telling you anyway! I took the numbers and the car off for shipment. The only reason they are on the cake is so I could get pictures of it. Gotta build that portfolio, right? I carefully wrapped the numbers in multiple layers of seran wrap. Then I took my Seran Wrap and carefully built up layers around the hat hopefully giving it good support. Then I wrapped and wrapped and wrapped the whole bloody cake over and over again. I used an old box I had from a "Cocoa Motion" my in-laws got us for Christmas one year (love that thing!) It still had the styrofoam in it because I am just that crazy about saving boxes. I cut a circle out of the styrofoam that the cake could sit in snuggly and then just packed it with paper toweling. I really hope it makes it, but I have serious doubts it will. I think just shipping a cake that had completely flat designs would work, but I don't really know. How do some online shops ship their cakes? Maybe I should order one and find out! LOL! UPS flat out told me there was no way the cake would make it. The USPS lady was more reassuring, but still doubtful. So we will see... If Angie sends me pictures, which I hope she does, I will post those as well.
The last few days have been a blur for me. I decided to try sending a cake in the mail. This would open my world up to all new possibilities giving me more excuses (or people if you like) to make cakes. My nieces' birthday is the 10th of May and since she was soooo helpful during Julia's Alice in Wonderland party, I decided to make her a cake. I didn't have time to take any pictures along the way or of my "amazing" packing job, but here is the finished cake:
It is a triple chocolate fudge cake with chocolate icing and caramel filling covered in fondant. I tried a new fondant recipe on CakeCentral and I actually think it tastes good. It isn't as sickeningly sweet. Don't get me wrong, I still love my buttercream, but I can eat this stuff.
My sis-in-law called me yesterday to see if I could make a Ford Mustang for the top. Ummm, no! But I did manage to find a little Hot Wheels. It isn't technically a red Mustang, but hopefully she won't notice and hey it's better than nothing right? I think the design of the cake would have been better without it, but hey it's what they wanted not me!
Here is the top of the hat. The numbers and horseshoes are made out of royal icing and painted and then dusted with my fave luster dust.
The hat is made out of modeling chocolate and I really like working with it. It also tastes very similar to a Tootsie Roll. It dries much quicker than fondant which was a bonus since this cake was pretty last minute.
Just one quick picture of the girls eating what Sydni thinks is "cake." FYI, she also thinks "pie" is whipped cream.
So you may be wondering, how on earth did you package that cake? If you weren't, too bad I'm telling you anyway! I took the numbers and the car off for shipment. The only reason they are on the cake is so I could get pictures of it. Gotta build that portfolio, right? I carefully wrapped the numbers in multiple layers of seran wrap. Then I took my Seran Wrap and carefully built up layers around the hat hopefully giving it good support. Then I wrapped and wrapped and wrapped the whole bloody cake over and over again. I used an old box I had from a "Cocoa Motion" my in-laws got us for Christmas one year (love that thing!) It still had the styrofoam in it because I am just that crazy about saving boxes. I cut a circle out of the styrofoam that the cake could sit in snuggly and then just packed it with paper toweling. I really hope it makes it, but I have serious doubts it will. I think just shipping a cake that had completely flat designs would work, but I don't really know. How do some online shops ship their cakes? Maybe I should order one and find out! LOL! UPS flat out told me there was no way the cake would make it. The USPS lady was more reassuring, but still doubtful. So we will see... If Angie sends me pictures, which I hope she does, I will post those as well.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Tennis Cake-- Ace! :)
Ha ha! I am so funny! I am also very late in getting pictures/explanations of my latest cake logged. Oh well, life has been too busy lately.
It all started with the racquet. My friend, Jill, asked me to make a cake for her son, Taylor's, 15th birthday. He is #1 on the Varsity tennis team so she asked for a chocolate cake with a tennis theme. It was a challenge for me, I've never made a "boy" cake before! So I turned to CakeCentral and searched the gallery for tennis cakes. Pretty slim pickings!! I did find one rectangular cake with the court on top and a 3D tennis racquet and balls on top. I liked it, so I found out he plays with a Prince Diablo racquet and decided to make a miniature racquet for his cake. I made two racquets out of fondant 2 weeks prior to the birthday, but the never dried!! So I made two more out of gumpaste and they wouldn't dry either!! I was panicking big time! The night before they still weren't dry, so I had a fan blowing on them and I used the cool setting on my blow dryer and desperately tried to get them to dry. They didn't!
I painted it and left it to dry as long as possible. I ended up piping royal icing on the back of the racquet to give it support. Here it is all finished. Can you see that I broke part of the handle and had to glue it back on in this photo? Well I did! :)
While things were drying I made the cake, torted, crumb coated, frosted and covered in chocolate fondant. I then cut different size circles etc out of different shades of chocolate fondant to go on the sides and the top of the cake. I also made the gumpaste tennis balls and bent the wires into spiral shapes. Here is a picture of the cake with the fondant details:
I then piped "Happy Birthday Taylor" on the side of the cake with black royal icing. I think it turned out nicely. I have a little trick for getting "nice" writing. I find a font and size I want on the computer, print it up and then transfer it to the cake by holding the print out up to the cake and poking through the letters with a pin. Clever huh?
The next step was to put on the racquet and the balls. I warmed the wire with a candle before putting a ball on, worked like a dream! I just poked the racquet in the cake with the wire I had inserted before it had dried. I used a little glob of royal icing to keep the ball in place.
I couldn't decide if I should put everything on before or after delivery, but went with before because I knew I was just driving down the street and I HAD to get pictures! So here is the totally finished product:
They really liked it and they also thought it tasted as good as it looked. That always means a lot to me, it has to taste good!
I thought I would also include a picture of what happened to one of the last racquets I was trying to dry on a drying rack on the table. I should know better than to leave anything below a 10' height!!
For easter we made Bunny Cakes. We made on larger bunny (6" cake cut in half) and then we made mini bunnies that we gave to Grandma and Grandpa and our Bishop. I unfortunately did not get pictures of those, but they turned out really cute. Didn't Julia do a great job? She gave him green eyes like her mommy! :)
Ha ha! I am so funny! I am also very late in getting pictures/explanations of my latest cake logged. Oh well, life has been too busy lately.
It all started with the racquet. My friend, Jill, asked me to make a cake for her son, Taylor's, 15th birthday. He is #1 on the Varsity tennis team so she asked for a chocolate cake with a tennis theme. It was a challenge for me, I've never made a "boy" cake before! So I turned to CakeCentral and searched the gallery for tennis cakes. Pretty slim pickings!! I did find one rectangular cake with the court on top and a 3D tennis racquet and balls on top. I liked it, so I found out he plays with a Prince Diablo racquet and decided to make a miniature racquet for his cake. I made two racquets out of fondant 2 weeks prior to the birthday, but the never dried!! So I made two more out of gumpaste and they wouldn't dry either!! I was panicking big time! The night before they still weren't dry, so I had a fan blowing on them and I used the cool setting on my blow dryer and desperately tried to get them to dry. They didn't!
I painted it and left it to dry as long as possible. I ended up piping royal icing on the back of the racquet to give it support. Here it is all finished. Can you see that I broke part of the handle and had to glue it back on in this photo? Well I did! :)
While things were drying I made the cake, torted, crumb coated, frosted and covered in chocolate fondant. I then cut different size circles etc out of different shades of chocolate fondant to go on the sides and the top of the cake. I also made the gumpaste tennis balls and bent the wires into spiral shapes. Here is a picture of the cake with the fondant details:
I then piped "Happy Birthday Taylor" on the side of the cake with black royal icing. I think it turned out nicely. I have a little trick for getting "nice" writing. I find a font and size I want on the computer, print it up and then transfer it to the cake by holding the print out up to the cake and poking through the letters with a pin. Clever huh?
The next step was to put on the racquet and the balls. I warmed the wire with a candle before putting a ball on, worked like a dream! I just poked the racquet in the cake with the wire I had inserted before it had dried. I used a little glob of royal icing to keep the ball in place.
I couldn't decide if I should put everything on before or after delivery, but went with before because I knew I was just driving down the street and I HAD to get pictures! So here is the totally finished product:
They really liked it and they also thought it tasted as good as it looked. That always means a lot to me, it has to taste good!
I thought I would also include a picture of what happened to one of the last racquets I was trying to dry on a drying rack on the table. I should know better than to leave anything below a 10' height!!
For easter we made Bunny Cakes. We made on larger bunny (6" cake cut in half) and then we made mini bunnies that we gave to Grandma and Grandpa and our Bishop. I unfortunately did not get pictures of those, but they turned out really cute. Didn't Julia do a great job? She gave him green eyes like her mommy! :)
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Running Again
I'm not sure if I mentioned it or not, but 2 weeks ago I injured myself running. I am a creature of the night and absolutely love running under the stars and moon. There is a small stretch of the path I run that is completely dark. I am usually pretty good about avoiding the cracks in the side walk, but this particular night I was tired and really forced myself to go running in the first place and when I got to that stretch the sidewalk got me. I was able to catch myself, I didn't get scraped up, but I almost wonder if I would have been better off if I had just fallen. I hurt my entire upper leg, front to back. It was nearly impossible to walk at all the next day. But with some rest and a lot of icing and a good chiropractor, one week later I was running again. I was completely shocked that I was actually running, not just walking, running! I was so worried I was going to have to start the program over again at week one, but I didn't. I stuck with the week 2 workout and will be starting week 3 tonight. I am still taking it pretty easy on myself. I am just doing the 3 workouts a week, even though for motivation's sake I really need to do something daily. I am hoping blogging about running tonight will make me more accountable. I love my Honey, but he is more than happy to tell me to sit on the couch and eat junk food with him. :) All my attempts at getting one of my friends to go with me have completely failed. They are all "morning" people. Can I just say how bizarre I find it that this entire neighborhood is filled with morning people. I have yet to find a single night owl. How did that happen????
I'm not sure if I mentioned it or not, but 2 weeks ago I injured myself running. I am a creature of the night and absolutely love running under the stars and moon. There is a small stretch of the path I run that is completely dark. I am usually pretty good about avoiding the cracks in the side walk, but this particular night I was tired and really forced myself to go running in the first place and when I got to that stretch the sidewalk got me. I was able to catch myself, I didn't get scraped up, but I almost wonder if I would have been better off if I had just fallen. I hurt my entire upper leg, front to back. It was nearly impossible to walk at all the next day. But with some rest and a lot of icing and a good chiropractor, one week later I was running again. I was completely shocked that I was actually running, not just walking, running! I was so worried I was going to have to start the program over again at week one, but I didn't. I stuck with the week 2 workout and will be starting week 3 tonight. I am still taking it pretty easy on myself. I am just doing the 3 workouts a week, even though for motivation's sake I really need to do something daily. I am hoping blogging about running tonight will make me more accountable. I love my Honey, but he is more than happy to tell me to sit on the couch and eat junk food with him. :) All my attempts at getting one of my friends to go with me have completely failed. They are all "morning" people. Can I just say how bizarre I find it that this entire neighborhood is filled with morning people. I have yet to find a single night owl. How did that happen????
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Finished Project
Wow! Am I glad that is over!! It was pretty stressful for me, but I think it turned out well. This is only the second cake I've done for a "client" and I am still learning how things work. I really should take a class, I'd probably save myself a lot of grief. Maybe someday...
Here is a picture of the cakes with their fondant coverings and the bottom layer wrapped in its gumpaste "ribbon." That ended up being trickier than I thought it would be. I had this super long piece of ribbon to wind around the cake and I didn't think to coil it up initially, so I just brought the cake to the ribbon and spun the cake around and tried to lift the ribbon, there were a few small tears, but it was covered up by the bow later so it all worked out! As you can see, I still struggle getting everything level and I had more trouble with my fondant this time around. I think I rolled it too thin. You could see the chocolate icing a bit and it's bubbly. I'll do better next time!
Here is a picture of one of the bows. I followed the How To Make a Gumpaste Bow tutorial off the Cakecentral website with a few minor adjustments. I ended up needing to roll my gumpaste out on shortening, not powdered sugar, and then lightly dusting them with powdered sugar before adding their Luster Dust shine. I love luster dust! It's my new favorite product!!
After I made the bows I stacked my cakes. Always a bit nerve-wracking but it went pretty smoothly. The top layer I made 7up cake and used a Lemon Cream Cheese icing. Both were super tasty, just not very good for layer cakes. The cake was too spongy and the icing was just the wrong consistency and didn't firm up enough for me. I'd use it as a filling though. I used bubble tea straws for my supports and foam board covered in foil for the cake bases.
Next came the frozen buttercream transfers (FBCT). I had a picture of the FBCTs in my last post, but I didn't take pictures of the actual transfer. It went fairly smoothly on the emblem, but it needed a good amount of touch up. The writing didn't go well at all, I ended up freehanding it, but it was kind of nice to have a bit of a guide. You can see the emblem well in the picture above.
This is a picture of one of the things I was dreading the most-- the center dowel! I read numerous posts on CakeCentral about transporting cakes and all said you needed the center dowel. The process for those of you who don't know, is to take a wooden craft dowel, sharpen one end of it with a pencil sharpener and then drive it through all the tiers of your cake. Sounds insane doesn't it? Sounds like there is no way a cake can survive that. Drive it through the foam board? And not demolish the layer underneath??? And can you really sharpen a dowel with a mere pencil sharpener? Alright you may be wiser than I am, but this whole process seemed impossible to me. It all worked just like they said though. I sharpened the dowel, drove it down as far as a I could, used a hammer to drive it down through the foam board and tuh duh! You can kind of see the dowel sticking out the top. Not the best photo sorry...
With that done it was time to figure out how to cover up the snipped dowel. Flowers ofcourse! I used some left over gumpaste to form little roses and dyed some leftover fondant green for the leaves, mounded up some royal icing on top and went to work. The picture above shows the cake nearly complete. I had to wait until I got to the church to put the bows on though. Here is a close up shot of the flowers and the mysterious "165."
Now we come to the second thing I was terrified of- the transport. I folded my rear seat down in my van and lined the back with that rubbery shelf liner. No I didn't come up with this on my own, I read it on CakeCentral ofcourse! I placed the cake and all my little boxes with my bow pieces and numbers and had a friend drive while I sat in back ready to catch anything that might fall over. To my utter amazement, nothing moved whatsoever. I can now confidently deliver my cakes alone. So here it is delivered and decked out in it's bows. I would do a few things differently with the bows in the future, but everyone loved the cake and were amazed that it tasted as good as it looked. Even one of the guys that worked in the nursery came in to tell me how fabulous it tasted. Made my night! He said, "My birthday is October 1st, the cake was amazing!" He may just get himself a cake for that!
Wow! Am I glad that is over!! It was pretty stressful for me, but I think it turned out well. This is only the second cake I've done for a "client" and I am still learning how things work. I really should take a class, I'd probably save myself a lot of grief. Maybe someday...
Here is a picture of the cakes with their fondant coverings and the bottom layer wrapped in its gumpaste "ribbon." That ended up being trickier than I thought it would be. I had this super long piece of ribbon to wind around the cake and I didn't think to coil it up initially, so I just brought the cake to the ribbon and spun the cake around and tried to lift the ribbon, there were a few small tears, but it was covered up by the bow later so it all worked out! As you can see, I still struggle getting everything level and I had more trouble with my fondant this time around. I think I rolled it too thin. You could see the chocolate icing a bit and it's bubbly. I'll do better next time!
Here is a picture of one of the bows. I followed the How To Make a Gumpaste Bow tutorial off the Cakecentral website with a few minor adjustments. I ended up needing to roll my gumpaste out on shortening, not powdered sugar, and then lightly dusting them with powdered sugar before adding their Luster Dust shine. I love luster dust! It's my new favorite product!!After I made the bows I stacked my cakes. Always a bit nerve-wracking but it went pretty smoothly. The top layer I made 7up cake and used a Lemon Cream Cheese icing. Both were super tasty, just not very good for layer cakes. The cake was too spongy and the icing was just the wrong consistency and didn't firm up enough for me. I'd use it as a filling though. I used bubble tea straws for my supports and foam board covered in foil for the cake bases.
Next came the frozen buttercream transfers (FBCT). I had a picture of the FBCTs in my last post, but I didn't take pictures of the actual transfer. It went fairly smoothly on the emblem, but it needed a good amount of touch up. The writing didn't go well at all, I ended up freehanding it, but it was kind of nice to have a bit of a guide. You can see the emblem well in the picture above.
This is a picture of one of the things I was dreading the most-- the center dowel! I read numerous posts on CakeCentral about transporting cakes and all said you needed the center dowel. The process for those of you who don't know, is to take a wooden craft dowel, sharpen one end of it with a pencil sharpener and then drive it through all the tiers of your cake. Sounds insane doesn't it? Sounds like there is no way a cake can survive that. Drive it through the foam board? And not demolish the layer underneath??? And can you really sharpen a dowel with a mere pencil sharpener? Alright you may be wiser than I am, but this whole process seemed impossible to me. It all worked just like they said though. I sharpened the dowel, drove it down as far as a I could, used a hammer to drive it down through the foam board and tuh duh! You can kind of see the dowel sticking out the top. Not the best photo sorry...
With that done it was time to figure out how to cover up the snipped dowel. Flowers ofcourse! I used some left over gumpaste to form little roses and dyed some leftover fondant green for the leaves, mounded up some royal icing on top and went to work. The picture above shows the cake nearly complete. I had to wait until I got to the church to put the bows on though. Here is a close up shot of the flowers and the mysterious "165."
Now we come to the second thing I was terrified of- the transport. I folded my rear seat down in my van and lined the back with that rubbery shelf liner. No I didn't come up with this on my own, I read it on CakeCentral ofcourse! I placed the cake and all my little boxes with my bow pieces and numbers and had a friend drive while I sat in back ready to catch anything that might fall over. To my utter amazement, nothing moved whatsoever. I can now confidently deliver my cakes alone. So here it is delivered and decked out in it's bows. I would do a few things differently with the bows in the future, but everyone loved the cake and were amazed that it tasted as good as it looked. Even one of the guys that worked in the nursery came in to tell me how fabulous it tasted. Made my night! He said, "My birthday is October 1st, the cake was amazing!" He may just get himself a cake for that!
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
What a tease
I will give you a few more hints. I should have some sort of contest for this! Hmmm... I will make your birthday cake if you can figure out what the 165 is for. One trick, you have to come to Utah to get it! :)
This one may not be very helpful. I already said it was for a 165th birthday.
This one really should give it away though. Yes, I know the words and images are backwards. They hopefully will not be once I transfer them to the cake.
One last image of where I am currently in the cake making process.
In response to Shayla, I would love to make an Ariel cake for Natalie! And any kind of cake Kenzie could dream up! I have seen some very cute ones online. I hear you about buying all the pans. It is pricey. But fun!! Just move here and you can have all the cakes you want! :) Good for you for joining Weight Watchers, you are going to do awesome and be teensy weensy next time I see you! Also the bow is not actually "tied" although I kind of think it would be easier... I think that was everything, better get back to baking I still have the 7up cake to make. And all the icing! Yiiiiiikkkkkkeeeessssss!!!
I will give you a few more hints. I should have some sort of contest for this! Hmmm... I will make your birthday cake if you can figure out what the 165 is for. One trick, you have to come to Utah to get it! :)
This one may not be very helpful. I already said it was for a 165th birthday.
This one really should give it away though. Yes, I know the words and images are backwards. They hopefully will not be once I transfer them to the cake.
One last image of where I am currently in the cake making process.
In response to Shayla, I would love to make an Ariel cake for Natalie! And any kind of cake Kenzie could dream up! I have seen some very cute ones online. I hear you about buying all the pans. It is pricey. But fun!! Just move here and you can have all the cakes you want! :) Good for you for joining Weight Watchers, you are going to do awesome and be teensy weensy next time I see you! Also the bow is not actually "tied" although I kind of think it would be easier... I think that was everything, better get back to baking I still have the 7up cake to make. And all the icing! Yiiiiiikkkkkkeeeessssss!!!
Monday, March 19, 2007
Sneak Peek
I know I am terrible at blogging, but I decided to share a sneak peak of my latest endeavor. I also could not resist sharing some pictures of the girls. They are really enjoying Mommy's new hobby.
A lot! "Arr! It's nummy Mommy!" I love my little pirate!
I have decided I can't really call myself a "business" just yet. It's just three cake orders and for I know the whole thing will shrivel up and die after that. Hopefully not, I really do love it, but it is entirely possible when you consider you can run down to Costco and buy a gynormous cake for at least half the price of what I need to charge. Enough about that though, here comes your peek...
One down two more to go. This bow is entirely edible, although I wouldn't recommend it. I made it out of gumpaste and may I just say, if you thought fondant was bad, well it is creme brulee compared to this stuff!!! Blech!!!!!
This is the cake topper. Also completely edible and possibly a bit more palatable. I did paint the gold luster dust with lemon extract... You be my guest. I will stick to the hopefully delectable cakes inside. Tomorrow I will be baking the lemon cake for the top layer, the white cakes for the center and the chocolate cakes for the bottom. Not to mention, finishing the other two bows, mixing the frosting, and cleaning out my fridge so I have room for the assembly! Fun stuff! Oh how I wish I had a dedicated freezer fridge... maybe some day. Wish me luck!
Oh in case you read this Shayla, I am making your Light and Fluffy Chocolate Frosting. I got the recipe from your Mom. Yummy!!!! If anyone is interested I will post it here.
I know I am terrible at blogging, but I decided to share a sneak peak of my latest endeavor. I also could not resist sharing some pictures of the girls. They are really enjoying Mommy's new hobby.
A lot! "Arr! It's nummy Mommy!" I love my little pirate!
I have decided I can't really call myself a "business" just yet. It's just three cake orders and for I know the whole thing will shrivel up and die after that. Hopefully not, I really do love it, but it is entirely possible when you consider you can run down to Costco and buy a gynormous cake for at least half the price of what I need to charge. Enough about that though, here comes your peek...
One down two more to go. This bow is entirely edible, although I wouldn't recommend it. I made it out of gumpaste and may I just say, if you thought fondant was bad, well it is creme brulee compared to this stuff!!! Blech!!!!!
This is the cake topper. Also completely edible and possibly a bit more palatable. I did paint the gold luster dust with lemon extract... You be my guest. I will stick to the hopefully delectable cakes inside. Tomorrow I will be baking the lemon cake for the top layer, the white cakes for the center and the chocolate cakes for the bottom. Not to mention, finishing the other two bows, mixing the frosting, and cleaning out my fridge so I have room for the assembly! Fun stuff! Oh how I wish I had a dedicated freezer fridge... maybe some day. Wish me luck!
Oh in case you read this Shayla, I am making your Light and Fluffy Chocolate Frosting. I got the recipe from your Mom. Yummy!!!! If anyone is interested I will post it here.
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Feelin' buggy!
Yesterday was the big cake delivery day. Everything went much better than I was anticipating, which is always nice. I did have a few bumps along the road, but it all turned out great in the end. I really had a great time planning and executing these cakes. It did get pretty stressful I must admit. When I have made cakes for my kids or my sister's kids, I've always known if things totally flopped I could just run to Walmart or something and pick a bakery cake up, but this time I would ruin poor little Camrie's 1st Birthday! I just kept reminding myself to relax and enjoy the process, this is something I love doing.
There has been a lot of preparation beforehand, mostly because I wanted to try some new recipes. I thought it was cheesy that I just use a cake mix, so I attempted to make a Perfect White Cake. I have never used a filling in a cake before and I also wanted to try some new frosting recipes. I made three cakes, a white with strawberry cream cheese filling, a chocolate with chocolate cream cheese filling, and a small white cake for the baby. I tried a Swiss Meringue Buttercream, a Crusting Buttercream Frosting, a Creamy Chocolate Frosting, a Cheesecake Mousse Filling, a Chocolate Filling from another cake recipe, and then I invented my own fillings! :)
First off, the Swiss Meringue was too buttery for me, and I had read that because they are so buttery, they will get super soft when left at room temp. I knew I wanted this frosting for the cake on the bottom, so not a good match. It had a very smooth velvety texture, but it really had a strong butter flavor that I am not sure I enjoy.
The Crusting Buttercream is awesome!! I love the texture and the flavor is mild and wonderful. I will be using this recipe for all my future cakes!
The Creamy Chocolate Frosting is also exactly what it says, creamy and absolutely delicious. I seriously could have sat down with a spoon and eaten the entire batch without cake, but I love frosting.
The Cheesecake Mousse is just what it says, a mousse. It tasted delicious and I will use it for crepe filling in the future, but it was just too soft for the bottom of my cake and the cheesecake flavor wasn't quite strong enough for me. It really is delicious though.
The Chocolate filling is awesome on the cake it belongs to, but was not quite firm enough for my layer cake.
So Saturday I worked on the chocolate frosting, the cheesecake filling and the cake from scratch. I made a little 8 in round and discovered the cake tasted delicious fresh from the oven, but after being chilled it was a bit dry and crumbly. Still good, but not that good. Sydni enjoyed the frosting! I also made the Easy Marshmallow Fondant and kneaded in the red coloring in one half batch. I made two other batches and left them white to cover the cakes. I also made the foam board stands for the cakes. I cut out a leaf shape and covered it with green craft paper for the baby's cake. The other two were round, but the big one was also edged in green paper and I purchased a white doily for the cake to rest on.
Monday afternoon I started baking the cakes from the box and mixing up the fillings and frostings. I cleaned my Kitchenaid mixer more times than I ever want to again!!! Monday night I tweaked some recipes to get my filling recipes, unfortunately the strawberry cheese cake was still too soft. But all the cakes assembled easily.
Here is a picture of the cakes all torted, filled and iced waiting for their fondant covers. I used the Viva paper towel method to smooth the icing. Love it!!!
Later that night I covered the cakes and started working on the lady bugs. That's when I discovered the fondant completely changed texture because of the red coloring. I had also read about this problem online and had used more powdered sugar and some corn syrup to compensate, but it still didn't work. So Plan B- make the bugs out of white fondant and paint them. I stayed up until 2:30 forming all my little buggies. I gave them overnight, or actually a few hours to dry. I got up at 8 and started painting. Here they are all painted and drying by an open window.
The white swirly thing was going to be the antanae of the little lady bug cake, but the fondant didn't dry so I ended up making them out of royal icing. Then came the really fun part, decorating! I had a lot of fun. I don't think I'm very good at writing with icing, but I really like Camrie's name. I also like the lady bug's "trails." Here are a few pictures- one when they are in the fridge right after they were finished and a few I snapped right before I delivered them. I didn't have time to take any more.
I really hope my friend took more pictures! She is a scrapbooker, so I'm sure she did. Transporting the cakes was really scary! I thought I'd be taking them to her house which is right around the corner, but then found out she was having the party at her MIL's house about 5 min away. Doesn't seem that far right? They are doing construction on the road I thought I'd need to turn on and we live in the foot hills. I was scared! Luckily my neighbor came over and knew some back roads I could take and even offered to come with me to help make the delivery. Julia came with us to hold the third cake. My friend had the big cake on her lap and held the little lady bug above it. Poor thing! She's so sweet to help!! Would you believe we got there incident free. Yeah!! So how do you like my lady bug cakes?
Yesterday was the big cake delivery day. Everything went much better than I was anticipating, which is always nice. I did have a few bumps along the road, but it all turned out great in the end. I really had a great time planning and executing these cakes. It did get pretty stressful I must admit. When I have made cakes for my kids or my sister's kids, I've always known if things totally flopped I could just run to Walmart or something and pick a bakery cake up, but this time I would ruin poor little Camrie's 1st Birthday! I just kept reminding myself to relax and enjoy the process, this is something I love doing.
There has been a lot of preparation beforehand, mostly because I wanted to try some new recipes. I thought it was cheesy that I just use a cake mix, so I attempted to make a Perfect White Cake. I have never used a filling in a cake before and I also wanted to try some new frosting recipes. I made three cakes, a white with strawberry cream cheese filling, a chocolate with chocolate cream cheese filling, and a small white cake for the baby. I tried a Swiss Meringue Buttercream, a Crusting Buttercream Frosting, a Creamy Chocolate Frosting, a Cheesecake Mousse Filling, a Chocolate Filling from another cake recipe, and then I invented my own fillings! :)
First off, the Swiss Meringue was too buttery for me, and I had read that because they are so buttery, they will get super soft when left at room temp. I knew I wanted this frosting for the cake on the bottom, so not a good match. It had a very smooth velvety texture, but it really had a strong butter flavor that I am not sure I enjoy.
The Crusting Buttercream is awesome!! I love the texture and the flavor is mild and wonderful. I will be using this recipe for all my future cakes!
The Creamy Chocolate Frosting is also exactly what it says, creamy and absolutely delicious. I seriously could have sat down with a spoon and eaten the entire batch without cake, but I love frosting.
The Cheesecake Mousse is just what it says, a mousse. It tasted delicious and I will use it for crepe filling in the future, but it was just too soft for the bottom of my cake and the cheesecake flavor wasn't quite strong enough for me. It really is delicious though.
The Chocolate filling is awesome on the cake it belongs to, but was not quite firm enough for my layer cake.
So Saturday I worked on the chocolate frosting, the cheesecake filling and the cake from scratch. I made a little 8 in round and discovered the cake tasted delicious fresh from the oven, but after being chilled it was a bit dry and crumbly. Still good, but not that good. Sydni enjoyed the frosting! I also made the Easy Marshmallow Fondant and kneaded in the red coloring in one half batch. I made two other batches and left them white to cover the cakes. I also made the foam board stands for the cakes. I cut out a leaf shape and covered it with green craft paper for the baby's cake. The other two were round, but the big one was also edged in green paper and I purchased a white doily for the cake to rest on.Monday afternoon I started baking the cakes from the box and mixing up the fillings and frostings. I cleaned my Kitchenaid mixer more times than I ever want to again!!! Monday night I tweaked some recipes to get my filling recipes, unfortunately the strawberry cheese cake was still too soft. But all the cakes assembled easily.
Here is a picture of the cakes all torted, filled and iced waiting for their fondant covers. I used the Viva paper towel method to smooth the icing. Love it!!!
Later that night I covered the cakes and started working on the lady bugs. That's when I discovered the fondant completely changed texture because of the red coloring. I had also read about this problem online and had used more powdered sugar and some corn syrup to compensate, but it still didn't work. So Plan B- make the bugs out of white fondant and paint them. I stayed up until 2:30 forming all my little buggies. I gave them overnight, or actually a few hours to dry. I got up at 8 and started painting. Here they are all painted and drying by an open window.
The white swirly thing was going to be the antanae of the little lady bug cake, but the fondant didn't dry so I ended up making them out of royal icing. Then came the really fun part, decorating! I had a lot of fun. I don't think I'm very good at writing with icing, but I really like Camrie's name. I also like the lady bug's "trails." Here are a few pictures- one when they are in the fridge right after they were finished and a few I snapped right before I delivered them. I didn't have time to take any more.
I really hope my friend took more pictures! She is a scrapbooker, so I'm sure she did. Transporting the cakes was really scary! I thought I'd be taking them to her house which is right around the corner, but then found out she was having the party at her MIL's house about 5 min away. Doesn't seem that far right? They are doing construction on the road I thought I'd need to turn on and we live in the foot hills. I was scared! Luckily my neighbor came over and knew some back roads I could take and even offered to come with me to help make the delivery. Julia came with us to hold the third cake. My friend had the big cake on her lap and held the little lady bug above it. Poor thing! She's so sweet to help!! Would you believe we got there incident free. Yeah!! So how do you like my lady bug cakes?
Sunday, February 25, 2007
I've been hired!!
Someone hired me to make their daughter's first birthday cake! I am soooo excited. And honored to be able to make someone's cake! She wants a ladybug theme and I had a million ideas, but I did narrow it down to a final design. It will be another fondant cake at the client's request and my delight! No other details for you though, you will have to wait for pictures the night before the big day, March 6th. I'm planning on making a couple smaller test cakes this week just because I am so new at this and I really don't want to ruin someone else's daughter's cake. I think the design I'm chosen should be fairly simple and not totally new to me. I really just want to try out a few new frosting and filling recipes I found.
Well time to put the gremlin down for her nap. Had to share my news.
Someone hired me to make their daughter's first birthday cake! I am soooo excited. And honored to be able to make someone's cake! She wants a ladybug theme and I had a million ideas, but I did narrow it down to a final design. It will be another fondant cake at the client's request and my delight! No other details for you though, you will have to wait for pictures the night before the big day, March 6th. I'm planning on making a couple smaller test cakes this week just because I am so new at this and I really don't want to ruin someone else's daughter's cake. I think the design I'm chosen should be fairly simple and not totally new to me. I really just want to try out a few new frosting and filling recipes I found.
Well time to put the gremlin down for her nap. Had to share my news.
Friday, February 23, 2007
In a daze
Well just when I was so excited to start some socks I could wear, wouldn't you know the toddler gets very sick. I still have not finished off my Asherton hat, my new needles from big sis are sitting on the desk behind me, and I know any second now Sydni will find me and in her pathetically sweet sick voice she will say "issue" (tissue) for the millionth time today.
I think I have decided to try the Cowboy Slipper Socks from Interweave Knit's Winter catalog. I was soooo happy they sent me that one as well. I absolutely LOVE it! There are so many patterns I don't know which to buy yarn for first.
Oh that's my cue. I hear a tantrum. Let's just hope she hasn't found my stash again!!
Well just when I was so excited to start some socks I could wear, wouldn't you know the toddler gets very sick. I still have not finished off my Asherton hat, my new needles from big sis are sitting on the desk behind me, and I know any second now Sydni will find me and in her pathetically sweet sick voice she will say "issue" (tissue) for the millionth time today.
I think I have decided to try the Cowboy Slipper Socks from Interweave Knit's Winter catalog. I was soooo happy they sent me that one as well. I absolutely LOVE it! There are so many patterns I don't know which to buy yarn for first.
Oh that's my cue. I hear a tantrum. Let's just hope she hasn't found my stash again!!
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Still Running
I went running again Sunday evening. I know, it's only my second run, why am I posting about it? This is how I'm going to keep myself accountable. You will be my "running buddy" since I have been completely unable to talk any of my friends into running with me. Anyway, I was soooo sore from running Saturday night, that I took things much slower to keep from injuring myself any more than I already have. If you really are a couch potato like I became over the winter, DO NOT RUN TO THE BEAT!!! or walk to the beat really. Maybe in a couple weeks I will be able to. I'm going to see how my run goes tonight, and if I'm still really sore, I will most likely repeat week one. I'm going to be running every other day and doing pilates on the alternate days. I have to work out daily or I will just stop altogether. Also I eat like a pig! :)
On a knitting note, I have been meaning to post pictures of my Twirl Hat for ages! Here it is:
It was knit for Julia, not Sydni, but I somehow never took a picture of Julia in it. Since she has lost it for the second time, I probably will never get the chance. Oh well, it was like a $2 hat. Don't you love knitpicks yarn?? I would not use the Totem yarn for this project again though. Well I guess what I would really need is a size smaller needle (this is not a plea to buy me more!! I really don't need them right now) I used a heavier yarn for my Asherton hat and like how that turned out much better. I still have some finishing to do on that one before I can take photos.
I went running again Sunday evening. I know, it's only my second run, why am I posting about it? This is how I'm going to keep myself accountable. You will be my "running buddy" since I have been completely unable to talk any of my friends into running with me. Anyway, I was soooo sore from running Saturday night, that I took things much slower to keep from injuring myself any more than I already have. If you really are a couch potato like I became over the winter, DO NOT RUN TO THE BEAT!!! or walk to the beat really. Maybe in a couple weeks I will be able to. I'm going to see how my run goes tonight, and if I'm still really sore, I will most likely repeat week one. I'm going to be running every other day and doing pilates on the alternate days. I have to work out daily or I will just stop altogether. Also I eat like a pig! :)
On a knitting note, I have been meaning to post pictures of my Twirl Hat for ages! Here it is:
It was knit for Julia, not Sydni, but I somehow never took a picture of Julia in it. Since she has lost it for the second time, I probably will never get the chance. Oh well, it was like a $2 hat. Don't you love knitpicks yarn?? I would not use the Totem yarn for this project again though. Well I guess what I would really need is a size smaller needle (this is not a plea to buy me more!! I really don't need them right now) I used a heavier yarn for my Asherton hat and like how that turned out much better. I still have some finishing to do on that one before I can take photos.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
My Big Sister Is Better Than Yours
Neener neener neener! I'm really just kidding, I'm sure your big sister is a fine person. I just really love mine and I will tell you why.
1. Did you read her comment in my last post? How sweet is that?? By the time I'd called to talk her out of it, she'd already placed the order.
2. She taught me how to knit and is my first resource when I run in to trouble.
3. She lets me call her any time I want day or night. I haven't actually called her in the middle of the night, but it's nice to know I could! :)
4. She helps keep me motivated to reach my goals. For example, she sent me a link to a Couch to 5k podcast. I tried it out Friday night and absolutely LOVE it. I'm totally going to run again.
5. She helped me figure out how to budget. For the first time in my life, I actually feel like I'm in control of my money, not the other way around.
6. She spent Christmas with me.
7. She loves my kids as much as I do and enjoys hearing me talk about them.
8. She understands motherhood better than most people I know.
9. She's my soft place to land. She's always taken care of me.
10. She taught me how to curl my hair and put on my make up.
11. She helped me gain a testimony of prayer.
12. She taught me about boys and how to deal with their stupidity. ;)
13. She shares her recipes.
14. She gave me Fearless Fiber sock yarn.
15. She shares my love of chocolate and baked goods.
16. She wrote that beautiful post on my birthday that really made a difficult day much brighter!
17. She reads my blog! :) I'm pretty sure she's my only reader!
I wish I were as eloquent as she is, but this is the best my feeble mind can manage. I know if I'd just had more sleep I could think of a million more reasons. It's been one of those nights. I am NEVER up this early (5 a.m.). Sydni is getting her molars and I feel like we have a newborn again. Three more to go and then we are done!! Hallelujah! Well I love you Kristie! I can't imagine my life without you. Growing up would be a million times more difficult. Thank you for always being there.
Neener neener neener! I'm really just kidding, I'm sure your big sister is a fine person. I just really love mine and I will tell you why.
1. Did you read her comment in my last post? How sweet is that?? By the time I'd called to talk her out of it, she'd already placed the order.
2. She taught me how to knit and is my first resource when I run in to trouble.
3. She lets me call her any time I want day or night. I haven't actually called her in the middle of the night, but it's nice to know I could! :)
4. She helps keep me motivated to reach my goals. For example, she sent me a link to a Couch to 5k podcast. I tried it out Friday night and absolutely LOVE it. I'm totally going to run again.
5. She helped me figure out how to budget. For the first time in my life, I actually feel like I'm in control of my money, not the other way around.
6. She spent Christmas with me.
7. She loves my kids as much as I do and enjoys hearing me talk about them.
8. She understands motherhood better than most people I know.
9. She's my soft place to land. She's always taken care of me.
10. She taught me how to curl my hair and put on my make up.
11. She helped me gain a testimony of prayer.
12. She taught me about boys and how to deal with their stupidity. ;)
13. She shares her recipes.
14. She gave me Fearless Fiber sock yarn.
15. She shares my love of chocolate and baked goods.
16. She wrote that beautiful post on my birthday that really made a difficult day much brighter!
17. She reads my blog! :) I'm pretty sure she's my only reader!
I wish I were as eloquent as she is, but this is the best my feeble mind can manage. I know if I'd just had more sleep I could think of a million more reasons. It's been one of those nights. I am NEVER up this early (5 a.m.). Sydni is getting her molars and I feel like we have a newborn again. Three more to go and then we are done!! Hallelujah! Well I love you Kristie! I can't imagine my life without you. Growing up would be a million times more difficult. Thank you for always being there.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Socks
Well I did it! I knit my first pair of socks and here they are in all their glory? ? ?
Bear in mind, they are my first pair. The first sock is on the left and I was actually very pleased by how it turned out. It wasn't as difficult as I had feared either. I did not have trouble with the gusset or the heel turn. I did have trouble with my sizing, the heel, and the bind off.
I ended up making a sock that fits my husband. I really need size 0 or maybe 1's to make socks for myself, I think... We'll see when I get new needles!
On the heel I kept my yarn forward when I slipped my stitches purlwise which I think was wrong to do. (don't laugh, I'm new at all this! ;) I kept the yarn back on the second sock and like how that looks better. Here are the pictures of both heels as well.
I did run into trouble again when it came time to bind off. I still need things spelled out for me, so to just tell me to "bind off" didn't cut it. The first time I bound off, it was so tight Ja couldn't get it on his foot. So I searched the internet and tried a few more instructions I found and finally decided that I just needed to use a larger size needle and the Russian bind off. One small problem though, I started doing the finances and buying new needles, yarn, etc just does not fit in the budget right now. Everything came to a stand still, but I really wanted to finish my second sock. What's a girl to do? I bound off sloppily(seen on the right) and figured I'd fix it later. So here are pictures of my first bind off on sock one and the improved correct bind off on sock 2 (pictured on the left). I discovered I really don't need a larger needle, I can be loose!
I keep debating on whether or not to felt these socks. I think I could get them to fit my daughter and then all my little flaws will be gone. Ja can wear them around the house until I decide.
In the meantime, I started smariek's Asherton Hat. I am knitting it in Lion Brand Wool-ease in the Heather colorway. Yup the same yarn I made the Braided Hat out of. I have tons of it left.
Well I did it! I knit my first pair of socks and here they are in all their glory? ? ?
Bear in mind, they are my first pair. The first sock is on the left and I was actually very pleased by how it turned out. It wasn't as difficult as I had feared either. I did not have trouble with the gusset or the heel turn. I did have trouble with my sizing, the heel, and the bind off.I ended up making a sock that fits my husband. I really need size 0 or maybe 1's to make socks for myself, I think... We'll see when I get new needles!
On the heel I kept my yarn forward when I slipped my stitches purlwise which I think was wrong to do. (don't laugh, I'm new at all this! ;) I kept the yarn back on the second sock and like how that looks better. Here are the pictures of both heels as well.
I did run into trouble again when it came time to bind off. I still need things spelled out for me, so to just tell me to "bind off" didn't cut it. The first time I bound off, it was so tight Ja couldn't get it on his foot. So I searched the internet and tried a few more instructions I found and finally decided that I just needed to use a larger size needle and the Russian bind off. One small problem though, I started doing the finances and buying new needles, yarn, etc just does not fit in the budget right now. Everything came to a stand still, but I really wanted to finish my second sock. What's a girl to do? I bound off sloppily(seen on the right) and figured I'd fix it later. So here are pictures of my first bind off on sock one and the improved correct bind off on sock 2 (pictured on the left). I discovered I really don't need a larger needle, I can be loose!I keep debating on whether or not to felt these socks. I think I could get them to fit my daughter and then all my little flaws will be gone. Ja can wear them around the house until I decide.
In the meantime, I started smariek's Asherton Hat. I am knitting it in Lion Brand Wool-ease in the Heather colorway. Yup the same yarn I made the Braided Hat out of. I have tons of it left.
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