Panda Cake

A coworker of mine ordered this panda birthday cake for her friend "Panda". An orange baseball hat and a baseball were added when I learned that he is a baseball coach and a San Francisco Giants fan. The panda is the emphasis on this cake so it was great to acknowledge baseball without it being too sporty. The cake board is orange and black to represent the SF Giants colors.

The panda is made entirely of gumpaste. I honestly wanted to have the panda standing rather than sitting but my lack of experience made it impossible. I tried to use rice krispy treats for the body but it still somehow flattened the panda's legs. And yes, even with reinforcements! The bamboo sticks were difficult than I thought to make. I had to figure out how to make them stick on the cake without breaking. After numerous failed attempts, inserting a 30 gauge wire inside the bamboo sticks solved the problem!

It is so frustrating making gumpaste figures. But practice makes perfect and I will continue learning until I master it. 

Hydrangea Dress Cake

I love hydrangeas! They are just so beautiful and these gumpaste hydrangeas are so simple to make. I had a different cake design in mind but decided to go with this design in the last minute. And I'm glad I did! It turned out to be one of the best cakes I've ever made.

The cake is covered with ivory fondant and airbrushed with a pearlized sheen. The top tier is piped with royal icing and the buttons are made of fondant which is lightly dusted with Super Pearl luster dust. The bottom tier has purple, lavender and ivory gumpaste hydrangeas. I applied luster dust on each individual flower to give the color more depth and finished the look with Super Pearl luster dust again.

I learned how to make the hydrangeas from the very talented Jacqueline Butler from Petalsweet Cakes. Here is the link to her tutorial and I hope you try them soon. 

http://petalsweet.blogspot.com/2010/01/hydrangea-tutorial-part-one-by.html

Tiffany box present cake

Working with modeling chocolate was hard work! Since I'm new at this, I actually thought that modeling chocolate was another term for fondant. Ugh, I know pretty idiotic. My thought was that they couldn't possibly cover a cake with plain chocolate. Modeling chocolate is simply made with melting chocolate and corn syrup. It has to be left overnight to harden and knead when ready to use. Unlike fondant, modeling chocolate is next to impossible to roll thinly with a rolling pin. But with a Kitchen Aid pasta roller attachment, the modeling chocolate were beautifully rolled into thin strips. 

I'm pretty proud of this present cake! Couldn't believe how beautiful my bow looked. Now I don't want to brag  (ok just a little) but my bow and cake was one of the best looking one in the class. Another skill learned. I can't wait until I start working on sugar flowers...

Oh and just in case you're wondering, it does taste as good as it looks!

Cake pops!

Cake pops are the cutest little things to make. I came across Bakerella's blog and I wanted to make them immediately. I purchased her Cake Pops book as well and it includes everything there is to know about making these delectable bite size treats. They look easy to make but boy was I wrong! So much detail goes into making these and they're very time consuming. Here are some pictures of cake pops that I've created so far....my very first cake pops are these chick pops...

It's Pandamonium! These are the most adorable cake pops I've ever made! 

Hello Kitty

And the most difficult cake pop thus far are the Elmo cake pops. 

I followed Bakerella's instructions but it didnt't quite work. The mouth didn't look right when I used the dark chocolate melt as suggested. It looked unnatural even when I built a base around it. 

I ended up using an edible marker to make Elmo's mouth. As you can see it turned out great! And since my cake pops are not all exactly the same size each time, a good thing about using an edible marker is that you can draw Elmo's mouth to fit the size of your cake pops. If you have any questions about how I made any of the cake pops, just leave me a comment below. Well, that's all I have for cake pops for now. I will be moving on to a different project...In the meantime, Happy Baking!

My first fondant cake

The cake pictured above is what started it all! I took my very first baking class (Intro to Fondant) at Baking Arts with my mothers group and loved it. Since the main lesson is how to work with fondant, this is a frosted pre-baked yellow cake.. All we had to do is cover and decorate it with fondant. You see, we have a love/hate relationship, fondant and I. It's very difficult to work with (to me anyway). You have to knead it to a workable consistency, handle it too much and it gets too soft, roll it too thin it rips and it's sticky. I can't tell you how many times I've given up on fondant. But boy when it works with you, it makes for one beautiful cake! So for all of you amateur bakers like myself, let's keep working at it!Happy Baking!

She bakes?

Like so many people, I too am a bit surprised. I BAKE?!! It's something that had never crossed my mind until recently. Baking just seemed so daunting and to be honest, boring! However, after my very first baking class seven months ago (via Golden Gate Mothers Group) from Baking Arts, I've come to realize how much I love it. I now bake twice a week. I search for a good recipe, try it and keep looking until I find the right one. I put myself on a schedule and do a big project once a month. I carry my baking books everywhere with me, read the science behind baking and look through amazing pictures of beautiful cakes and cupcakes which I strive to recreate. And when I lay in bed at night thinking about how fortunate I am to have my son and my family, the next thing on mind is once again...BAKING.

I often question why I even do this. It's an expensive hobby first of all and yes a number of failed attempts has brought me to tears. But the answers are simply these...Baking relaxes me, baking inspires me and most of all baking makes me happy...