Wilton Course 1 Final project

I started Wilton cake decorating classes in January and have learned a lot of great new techniques for making cakes.  I wanted to share a picture of my final project, a 2-layer 8" round decorated with a ring of purple "ribbon roses":

and me, showing off my new credentials.....

Teddy Bear 1st Birthday Cake

My sweet little baby girl turned one last month, and for her birthday I decided to make my first tiered cake.  The bottom tier is 9" chocolate cake with a delicious chocolate buttercream that I found here .  After icing the chocolate layer, I took the remainder of the chocolate frosting and added dark cocoa to it, just to make it a couple shades darker for piping the borders.
The top layer is a 6" round while cake with vanilla buttercream, covered in purple fondant (also a first for me).  On top, is Wilton's mini 3D bear pan decorated with buttercream stars.

I also made teddy bear sugar cookies to match the cake and send home with each guest as a party favor:

The mini teddy bear cake topper also did double duty as the smash cake!

 

Christmas Cakes for Gifting

Last December, I decided to make cute little cakes for Lily's wonderful preschool teachers as Christmas gifts.  I thought it would be a unique and useful gift they could take home and enjoy with family.  These are 9" cakes, one layer each, iced with vanilla buttercream.  I chose cookie cutters to lightly imprint the top of the cake, then used that outline to pipe in the frosting and complete the design.  I hope her teachers enjoyed them!

Monster Baby Shower Cake

My good friend Joan was expecting her first grandchild this summer and asked me to make a cake for her daughter Shannon's baby shower.  I was thrilled to make this fun cake and use the "monster" theme.   This is a 12" layer cake.  The cake was iced with vanilla buttercream and then sprayed green.  The mommy monster is a small cake baked in a pyrex dish, and then decorated using a star tip, pulling out.  The baby monster is a large cake ball. The big monster's eye is while almond bark melted into a disc, then a mini oreo wafer was attached using orange buttercream.  The baby boy monster's eyes are mini oreo halves.
July 2012

Pink Present Cake with big bow

I'm taking the Wilton Course 3 and learning to work with fondant and gum paste.  The first class I made this adorable bow, so I whipped up a pretty pink cake for it to sit on:

Rubber Duck Baby Shower Cake

My dear friend Jenna will be welcoming her third child this Spring, and I was happy to host a baby shower for her this weekend.  She has decided to keep the gender a secret from everyone but her and her husband.  At first, I was feeling a little lost and afraid that it would be hard to decorate a shower with out gender identity...until I realized how much fun it can be to not be limited by pink or blue.  

Before I had decided on a cake design, I felt that rubber duckies would be a fun theme.  So I found this adorable cake on Pinterest by Sweet Grace Cake Designs and thought that "Waddle It Be?" would be the perfect way to tie in the gender mystery.  After playing around with words and designs, I am so very happy with the end product:

This cake is two 12 inch layers.  White cake with vanilla buttercream filling and icing.  Yellow ducks on sides are fondant.

Pink Party Cake

I purchased the Cake Decorating Beginner's Guide from Wilton and it was probably the best $4 investment you can make if you are curious about decorating cakes and want to give the basics a try.  I had been loving the photo of a pretty little pink cake at the end of the book that used billowing swirls and combed edges.   For Christmas this year, my husband gave me lots of new decorating tools and some new pans in sizes I didn't have, so I was dying to try them out and this seemed like a perfect first project to use them.



The cake is two 8" diameter layers, decorated with vanilla buttercream.  I gave it to my In-Laws for their Wedding Anniversary.