Saturday, April 9, 2011

Blog for the cakes that have no blog!

Now I'm not saying that these cakes don't deserve their own showcase, because they do!  But I am saying that I have completely ran out of time for the moment and will have to come back and fill in the stories separately....for now, this will do!


First of all, I've had the pleasure for almost a year of baking cakes for a company called MarketStar.  Not only do they want a cake a month for birthday purposes, but they like themed cakes!  Here are a few of the cakes that I've made for them: 


I loved how these pumpkins turned out, they looked so real!

Close up of the Pumpkins!

December cake....brrr!  Still, three adorable snowmen all bundled up.  It actually did snow the day I delivered that cake!  Driving with cake in the backseat is nerve-wracking enough, but add cake to the equation?  Crazy idea!

Now I really loved this cake...I thought it turned out so whimsical and sweet!  And all of the hearts and pink makes it look like Dana and Heath are married, but in reality, they're not....whoops!

Love is in the air!


And then before we knew it, March was here!

You can kind of see it in this picture, but I had some fun with sugar confetti....

Stay tuned to know what the next cake for MarketStar will be like...I love baking for them!  They like half the cake to be chocolate, and half almond flavored.  And some lucky folks get a mix in the middle...Delicious! 

This cake was an anniversary cake for friends of friends, and while the top was pretty plain, I fell in love with the paisley-ish pattern that was around the base!





Then congratulations cakes for two dear sweet girls who got into VET SCHOOL!  And do you know how hard that is to get into?  Way to go ladies!!


I apologize for the sideways image.  Turn your head....its beyond me to flip this around for some reason...

Bachelorette is a really long word.  I tried for literally an hour to get this to go straight across this cake...red velvet, the bride's choice!


Now this cake is especially special!  Dustin is married to a good friend of mine from Elon, Lindsay.  Lindsay and I were NC Teaching Fellows together AND spent a whole semester frolicking around London together.  For Dustin's big day, she planned a surprise party for a UNC-Chapel Hill fan during ACC Tournament!  She 'got him good' and he had no idea about the party!

As a tried-and-true NC State fan, I couldn't stomach the sight of that Chapel Hill logo on my gorgeous cake (and it is gorgeous, isn't it?).  So instead, I did his new number...the big 3-0, on the basketball in Carolina Blue!

And as a side note, the chocolate buttercream on this one was melt-in-your-mouth good.  The chocolate gnache topping wasn't half bad either!


This cake was for a friend who was turning 40!  As she is known as "Eva the Diva," we figured leopard print was the way to go.  And turns out, she had a dress for her party to match!



This cake was for a big church choir party in Durham.  It was SO heavy, and had chocolate and vanilla layers!



So you're officially caught up, for the moment!  More stories and cakes to come, I promise....and I will follow up on all of these, but I wanted to get the pictures out here while I had the chance.  I love looking back over the last few months and seeing all of these cakes...I should buy stock in powdered sugar.  For real!

~Beth 


Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Showering Baby Showers!

Spring must be in the air, because its baby shower season!  Just this month I've made cakes for 2 baby showers, and I  have to say, they get cuter every time I look at them!  Themes thus far this year have included a pond/animal/turtle theme and a nautical sailing theme, and both cakes were such fun to put together. 

For the turtle/animal/pond themed cake, the mother-to-be really wanted some fondant 3-D turtles to grace the top of the cake.  When I googled a picture of a turtle cake, all I came up with were Ninja Turtle cakes, and as awesome as I think Leonardo is (I mean sword beats nunchucks ANY day of the week) I didn't think that was what Mom-to-be had in mind.  So, this is what I came up with, after the help of a couple of further online searches...


Unfortunately I don't have any more pictures of this one, in the crazy of that weekend I completely forgot to do THE most important thing...photo document the cake!




Still, it is reported that Mom-to-be loved the cake, and the turtles were a big hit.  I thought they were stinking adorable. 

Next, Nautical themed cake!  Mom-to-be for this shower is a friend of my friend Mary Beth, and it is rumored that she's not even a huge fan of cake.  Gasp!  In order to go for a lighter than air cake feel, we did a really fluffy, soft vanilla cake with lemon curd custard filling and vanilla buttercream...YUM.  I love this filling, you really can eat it with a spoon.  Dangerous!

On the top, I made a fondant boat....named after its soon-to-be captain, Grayson!  I wanted to call it the S.S. Grayson, but I ran out of room on my boat.  Hindsight, 20/20. 



Even the sails are furled!  Bring me that horizon....


Is this not the cutest sailboat you've ever seen?  I made a bunch of anchors, portholes, fish, and birds, but once I put the boat on the cake I fell completely in love with it, just as it was.   Everything else would have cluttered it up, whereas this cake is just a boy and his boat, out in the open sea.  Here's hoping for smooth seas and favorable winds for Grayson's maiden voyage!






And...legend has it that Mom-to-be loved the cake!  Mission accomplished.  Bring on more baby showers!

Bon Voyage,
Beth