June...and We're only Half-Way Through....

One thing I have noticed over the years is that some years, June is quiet and some months June can be completely insane. You can never predict from year to year, what it's going to be like. In the past, I have had a ton of weddings in May with few in June, but this year.. the EXACT opposite. June seems to be THE month to get married. Let's also add in the fact that it is also graduation season and people don't stop having birthday's either. We are only half-way through June so I thought I would post some pics of the cakes we have completed so far.

Buttercream piped basket weave flower basket with all hand made sugar flowers.

The following three cakes were created for a client (and upcoming bride of mine) who planned a "ladybug" theme party for her little girl turning 1. We created a ladybug smash cake, ladybug birthday cake for the guests and additional ladybug cupcakes.

 














One week later, I created this wedding cake for the mom "the bride". She had a destination wedding and then came back to hold her reception. We chose a bold blue color her wedding cake with some simple white scroll work. Chocolate seashells and fresh orchids were added at the end to complete the overall look.

Another wedding cake created last weekend was the this ruffled cake complete with yellow ruffled gumpaste flowers. The bride requested a design by Maisie Fantaisie. The original design had pink flowers which we changed to lemon yellow. I also added additional ruffles than the original design.

It's been a while...

I know I haven't posted in a while, so now that we are halfway through June, I sit back and look at the previous couple of months. After taking off most of April, my husband and I took our children to Disneyland and then after being home for a week, I headed back east to Kitchener, ON to attend a course taught by Karen Portaleo, of the Highland Bakery, hosted by Chrissie Boon of Icing Inspirations.  I was only there for one night and came down with the flu. Running a fever of 102, I wasn't about to quit. I gritted my teeth, filled up on meds,  and somehow got through the course. I spent lots of money just to attend with airfare, hotel costs, etc so I wanted to get my money's worth.  We learned a ton of stuff about modelling and working with chocolate. It was too bad being so sick with the flu that I didn't really have a the chance to thoroughly enjoy it. Hopefully, I will have the opportunity to take another course by Karen. Unfortunately, I never finished my cake (I WONDER WHY???), so ONE day when I have some spare time, I will finish it.

After my course was done, I headed to my sister's in Alberta for some R&R, shopping and visiting family.

May brought a whirlwind of cake orders.  Here are just a few of those completed...

I work closely with the wonderful Lana Hamilton of Lana Hamilton Photography. She specializes in family and children photography. She also does Smash Cake photography too. Her work is AMAZING, plus she is fun to work with.

Set of two Smash Cupcakes  for a set of twin girls.

Smash Cupcake for a little boy who was into Dr. Seuss  (who isn't... "Big A, Little a. A, A, A", yes I read that book to my son a ZILLION times)

Smash Cupcake featuring purple polka dots and matching bow.

Sculpted Martini Glass Cake for a young woman's birthday.

In addition, to the sculpted Martini Glass cake, we also created this pink cake with black zebra stripes. Matching fondant martini glass applique was applied to the top.

I received a lovely phone call from Mary Anne on Vancouver Island who wanted to order some cupcakes for a young lady's birthday (she had just moved up here). Isn't that sweet?  I created some Red Velvet cupcakes with Italian Meringue Buttercream sprinkled with silver dragees and purple gumpaste blossoms.

2011 Fort St John Bridal Show Part B

Here are the rest of the cakes I created for the Fort St John Bridal show.

Vintage Suitcase Cake
I created this cake using an assortment of handmade gumpaste flowers overflowing the top. To create a vintage feel, I brushed a mixture of vodka and warm brown gel paste on numerous times in varying strengths. Adding to the charm, latches were created from molds from some of my treasured brooch collection.
Simply White
This simple cake was created just for the sake of simplicity. I wanted to show brides the option of having a simple, yet elegant cake. Flowers were silk and the cake was decorated with a simple ribbon and scroll work.

Redneck Wedding Cake

This cake was created with a very specific couple in mind: my niece and her boyfriend. We are always teasing them about "when they are going to tie the knot". I always have said that if they were to get married, I would do their wedding cake. So, I thought why not design it for fun for the bridal show and show brides how they can personalize their cake. Since my niece is into horses, I designed the middle tier for her going with a denim look complete with belt, buckle and gumpaste flowers for the added feminine touch. The bottom tier was created just for him. He is a total fan of John Deere machinery and loves working with dirt and rocks. The top tier was to combine their love of hunting and shooting. I topped the cake off with modeled figures of the couple holding guns in their arms.

Ivory Brooch
This cake I ABSOLUTELY love, it is my favorite to date. The whole world of molds opened up before me when I was designing this cake. First of all, I wanted the look and feel of ivory and gold. I just love how those two colors go together. I then got out my trusted brooch and button collection and started playing around making molds. After narrowing down my design, I got to work and put all the elements together. The overall design included quilting, gold swiss dots, gumpaste bow, gold painted scroll work and hand molded cameo brooch and buttons.

Black Victorian

I know it sounds weird, especially in today's cake world, BUT I still love the look of the traditional cakes from the 80's. You know the ones with all the piping and scroll work. So, I decided to go with the design but give it a modern twist and make the overall cake BLACK with contrasting piping. Out came the molds again, in which I added molded draping, cameos and buttons to the design. To add to the final look, I brushed pearl luster dust on all the adornments to give it a polished look.