Cakes by the Sugar Cains

Volleyball Cake

2016-10-13T20:18:00.000-07:00

Kim asked if we would make a cake for Kaitlynn again this year. Last year we had a lot of fun making her a softball cake, so this year we got to make a volleyball cake!! Joy and I would both have to say that volleyball is our favorite sport to play, so that alone kinda pushed us both to make time for it. Kim had several great ideas she found, but with a short time to plan it out, we went with one of the easier designs.

The ball is made with Wilton's Ball pan and everything is simply covered in buttercream frosting with simple stars, shells and writing. This was the first time we have done the newer technique of putting writing on top of writing with two different colors. It was a little scary since we were putting it on top of the net - if we made a mistake, it was going to make it hard to fix... but all went well!

Thanks Kim for a fun opportunity for us to make a cake for Kaitlynn!

Monty's Football Birthday Cake

2016-09-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

My good friend Christy asked if I would make a football cake and some cupcakes decorated like sports balls for her son's first birthday party. Monty is always smiling and such a sweet little boy, I love caring for him in the nursery at church.

Christy has been a long time friend and is helping me learn sign language (which is not an easy thing to do... because I am slow, old and also nervous when I sign, yet she is so patient!) I worked my schedule to make these for her.

I looked at football shaped pans at the store, but decided against spending the money. As you can see here, I used an oval shaped pan and just cut it from there. Simple piping with zigzag and stars and writing for the laces. The cupcakes were also star tipped and a simple writing technique to make different types of sports balls.

Happy Birthday Monty! We love you!

Joseph's Birthday

2016-09-09T12:27:00.001-07:00

So.... I have been really bad about posting cake pictures. We have baked some... and taken pictures of some... but for some reason just a little too busy to take the time to post and share on this blog.

Today I plan to get caught up a little here while it is quiet at work... unless of course, if it gets busy.... then maybe I will try again next week!

Here is Joseph's birthday cake. He is my firecracker born on July 4th. Since we knew he wasn't going to be able to be home for his birthday, we made a special meal with all the family together before he left in June. It was sad for him to be gone, but grateful for the experience he had on the road with the Cola Clash this summer!

In the pictures, you can see Ella loves her Uncle DaDoo (her own personal name she made up for him - although she can say Uncle JoJo.) Whenever we talk about Uncle JoJo, she says, "funny" - because she thinks he is so funny!

The cake is just a simple two layer/two flavor cake with buttercream frosting and fondant covering it. We didn't have a lot of time while getting him ready to go, so it was made very quickly. Joseph LOVES fondant in any way or form: whether plain or on a cake, flavored or unflavored, etc. which makes it easy for us! Everyone knows his love for the piano and for music, but with limited time we needed a simple design and this was definitely it!

Although we really missed Joseph on his actual birthday, we were excited to hear how he had an amazing summer traveling with Bobby Bosler and the Cola Clash.

Christmas Fun - Cookies and Gingerbread Houses

2016-01-15T18:50:00.000-08:00

Joy and I have always wanted to do a gingerbread house... but unfortunately, we just do not have the time during the busy holidays to make them. After Christmas, we were so excited to find Wilton gingerbread kits for 50% off... although it wasn't exactly what we planned or envisioned us making, we decided it might be a good first try. We bought LOTS of candy and planned out a few hours on a Saturday. Well, we thought it would only take us a few hours, but it took over 6!!! It was actually a lot of fun and even relaxing... we also learned that whenever we decide to make a full gingerbread house from scratch, we had better set aside a good chunk of time!

Wilton Gingerbread Houses

Joy made her roof tiles out of rolled Starbursts... the bricks are made from Extremes.

My roof tiles, bricks and chimney stones were made from rolled spiced gummies. The chimney and porch were made with graham creackers and covered with candies.

Christmas Cookies!!

Someone asked us if we could make some Christmas royal frosting cookies... We have only experimented with this type of cookies twice before. Joy did this experiment but it took a lot of time, and we didn't have that kind of time for that weekend. We unfortunately had to decline, but would really like to experiment more with these. They are fun and look very clean and professional.

Christmas Royal Frosting Cookies

Thank you for stopping by!

Sherrard Softball Cake

2015-10-01T12:33:00.002-07:00

Cake decorating is a skill my daughter and I have truly enjoyed learning and teaching. We love making cakes for friends and family! Unfortunately, life slowly changes with jobs, a beautiful new grandbaby, etc.. and although we don't decorate as much and have had a hard time filling up our cake decorating classes, we still have a love and desire to work on a cake!!

Lately we had been talking more and more about making a cool cake, BUT, life is busy and other things just seem to keep trumping our time and continues to push our desire to bake and decorate to the side. In the middle of this, a friend (Ana) texted and asked if we could bake a cake for another friend, (Kim). Well... when we saw the cake they wanted... how could we resist? A fun, smaller, simpler three layer cake with dots and animal stripes, and a baseball. We had all the stuff for it... and we actually had the Saturday open... So, we jumped...

Cooking in a house where 4 people, 1 cat, and 1 dog live.. means we have a lot of prep. We have turned down many cakes... and maybe this will give you a good glimpse as to why!!

We clean by dusting, vacuuming, and mopping - to get the dust and hair out of the house... and our animals are banned from the kitchen with gates!!!

Yes, they have a hard time with it... and so do we... since our animals are our babies... our spoiled babies... and we wouldn't want it any other way!!!

We even clean ourselves off with lint rollers - to make sure NO HAIR of any kind can get in our 'masterpiece' - yep... we are kinda obsessed about the no hair thing...

We do research as well to make sure we know the exact colors, we shop, and then begin....

The fondant is colored while the cakes are baked... Frosting is made while the cakes are cooling... and then it is time to decorate!!! YAY!

And in the middle of all that - we have to stop to make lunch. For some reason, beyond my control, my family needs to still eat when I make a cake. I suggested fasting a few times and I get 'the looks' from them... so...

When we get back to it, we frost and stack the individual layers and begin rolling and cutting fondant for the cakes.

Joy is amazing and has so much patience to make all those balls just so perfectly sized!! I prefer to frost. Which brings us to another problem... We could bake cakes too long and make them stiffer and easier to frost... and we could make frosting with all shortening to make it easier and more beautiful to frost. BUT, I am big on flavor - if it doesn't taste good, it just isn't worth making!! So, we make this frosting with 1 full pound of butter. Which makes it sooo good... but also causes us a little grief on a warmer day (at least warm in the kitchen!!) No matter how much merigue powder I put in, it just didn't want to cooperate with me.

We finally get it frosted, add all our goodies to each single layer, stack the ball... and we are ready to roll... we usually finish stacked cakes on site when possible... to prevent damage.

We had our directions, and turned on our GPS... unfortuantely, as much as I love my GPS, it can really be dangerous!! It turned us too soon. Joy looked at the directions that we were texted and missed the city we were to drive to... but in theory, the fact that we got on a road with the same name going north should have gotten us there. But not this time... and not anywhere near the quad-cities... lol!! We got on a road that turned into a dirt road with huge ruts and almost mountainous (I am sure that is a word) hills that were scary!! This is one of those times I was SOOO grateful for my SUV! I am quite certain if I still had my car... I would still be there today...

Anyway.... we laughed a bit, but got nervous when this so called 'road' had water going all the way across it... I did NOT want to get stuck in the mud. Fortunately, we were not out of range for a few texts... a U turn was not possible, except when we got to an open gate to a pasture - YAY! I could not explain to you how glad we were to get off that road!! It was such a relief to pull into the driveway of Kim's house!! WOW.... No major damage to the cake - praise the Lord, although a few things slid around, we were able to fix most of it.

Joy putting on the final touches.

It was not our most perfect cake (yes, I know that is bad English)... and personally we were both maybe a little disappointed in our final product. But it should have tasted good - golden vanilla cake and chocolate cake, both with a true butter buttercream frosting and fondant accents.

Thanks Kim and your sweet family for letting us be a part of your celebration!! Thanks to those who stopped by to read and look! I hope you are enjoying the beautiful fall weather!

Purple and Gold Sherrard Cake

Baby Reveal Cake

2015-04-17T11:15:00.002-07:00

Baby Reveal Cake - Buttercream with Fondant Bow

I was asked by a friend, Christy, to make a cake for her baby reveal party. We have not made many cakes for others recently, because we have had so much going on.... but we squeezed it into our crazy schedule this time because I LOVE baby reveal parties... I think it is SUCH a cool fun idea to do as a family!! This is the second time we were able to make a 'baby reveal cake,' I wasn't able to get pictures of the other cake unfortunately, so we made SURE to get pictures this time!!

8 x 8 x 4 square Baby Reveal Cake

The cake is a simple white cake, that was colored BLUE since she is having a BOY!!

Pink and Blue Fondant Bow

It was frosted in a white buttercream with fondant that is colored in classic baby colors as requested - pink and blue with a bow, stripes and buttons.

Hat Box Cake with Gumpaste Bow

2014-12-04T13:24:00.000-08:00

Joy taught course 3 this past month and completed a cake on the final week.

In Wilton's Course 3 you learn to cover a cake with fondant, learn to paint on a cake,

make many realistic flowers, leaves, and a beautiful bow.

For her cake, she created a three color bow using two colors of fondant/gumpaste

and painted the edges for a stunning look!

The cake is a triple chocolate cake that is torted in four layers and frosted with a light chocolate frosting

and then covered with Wilton's chocolate fondant.

Here are the bow loops that are waiting to be put together!!

She painted on the sides of the cake, which is also taught in course 3.

The small flower buds you see here are taught in course 4 which will be in the month of February -

hope to see you there!!

Simple Christmas or Valentine Wedding Cake / Hobby Lobby Classes

2014-11-25T12:46:00.001-08:00

Joy and I made a simple Christmas/Valentine cake for a display at Hobby Lobby

in Bettendorf, IA. It is just styrofoam covered in frosting with sanding sugar

added to give it sparkle.

Red Ribbon Wedding Cake with Gumpaste Flowers

The red ribbon around each layer adds a bright contrast for a Christmas or Valentine wedding. The gumpaste flowers and leaves are made with Wilton gumpaste and Wilton products.

Wilton Cake Classes - January Schedule

There will be no Wilton classes for the month of December.

But we have a full schedule lined up for January!

Course 1 - Buttercream Skills

Tuesdays, January 6, 13, 20, 27 @ 6-8 pm

Course 2 - Flowers and Cake Design

Mondays, January 5, 12, 19, 26 @ 6 - 8 pm

Course 3 - Fondant and Gum Paste

Saturdays, January 10, 17, 24, 31 @ 10 am - 12 pm

This is a GREAT gift idea for Christmas!!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The winner of our Food Writer Contest is Katja P.

Thanks to everyone who joined and shared!

Wilton Food Writers Freebie

2014-10-22T12:19:00.000-07:00

We are going to give away one set of these awesome

Wilton Food Writers

to one of our followers for this blog!

These are really nice to have for decorating cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and/or anything edible!!!

In this set comes 5 colors: blue, green, red, brown, and black.

The fine tip helps for awesome detail work!

How to enter:

1) Sign up to follow us (in a link to the left that says "Follow by Email") with a correct email so I can get information to and from the winner.

2) Also leave a comment below stating your favorite cake from our sight, if this is your first visit, please look around!

Drawing will be held on
Saturday, November 15th.
Winner will be notified by email provided!

Thanks so much for stopping by!!
Margie and Joy Cain

Wilton Classes at Hobby Lobby

2014-10-22T10:29:00.003-07:00

Wilton Classes for the

Hobby Lobby in Bettendorf

start soon!!

Hobby Lobby has a great price of $22.50,

which is 50% off Wilton's regular price of $45.00

for the month of November 2014.

You get 8 hours of instruction and a course book

(a $5 value, given on the first night of class).

Each course meets 4 different nights

for 2 hours each night.

Do you know someone who loves to bake? watch cake shows? and/or cupcake wars on TV?

Wilton Classes make great Christmas presents!!

Course 1 - Building Buttercream Skills

Come and learn about cupcakes, cakes, cookies

and how to decorate these great items with buttercream!

We learn how to bake, frost and decorate a cake to look professional,

many buttercream flowers (including the Wilton ribbon rose),

and fun techniques to make cake decorating fun and easy!

Mondays, November 10, 17, 24, and December 1 from 6 - 8 pm

Course 3 - Fondant and Gumpaste

Come and learn how to cover a cake in fondant and

make beautiful gumpaste flowers to decorate cakes!

Wilton has designed easy techniques that anyone can learn to make

unbelievable showstopping gumpaste flowers.

Come join the fun and see!

Tuesdays, November 11, 18, 25, and December 2 from 6 - 8 pm

Sign up at a your Bettendorf Hobby Lobby today!

Hope to see you soon!!!

(For those waiting for Course 4 - it will be available in January!)

Panther Birthday Cake

2014-10-07T10:35:00.002-07:00

My favorite son-in-law, Garrett, (I can say that right now since he is the only one! lol) always asks for 'easy' cakes for his birthday - usually german chocolate, etc... and never really a cake I can decorate. So, this year, I didn't ask him... my daughter, Becca (his wife), and I planned to make his TWO favorite cakes - a german chocolate and a red velvet with an all butter mock whipped cream frosting and I decorated one of them with a favorite of his - a panther! When he was in college, his society had the panther as their mascot. Although I couldn't find the same simple design he had picked for a project Becca is doing, I did find a harder one of course - although it was easier than most I had seen online.

This mock whipped cream is a harder frosting to frost and decorate with, because it is made with all butter and melts easily and also does not dry to touch (noncrusting), so it never dries to be able to get it smoother with wax paper and a fondant smoother. I had a little more problems frosting that usual, but the good thing is, his family's joke is a messy frosting means a good cake - which actually can many times be true!! A cake that is moist and easily falls apart when frosting it, is usually the best cake! (So don't look at the frost job!! I was just keeping with family tradition - that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!)

The recipe is in an early post - Red Velvet Cake with Mock Whipped Cream Frosting - Just substitute butter for shortening for a buttery flavor.

Panther Cake

The panther was put on using piping gel on wax paper to transfer the basic shape to the cake.

Then a simple outline in orange and star-tipped in black made for a mostly easy cake.

The whiskers gave me a bit of a hard time too, basically because I forgot to keep some white frosting and had to use canned frosting for those. Even though there were a few 'mess-ups'... the cakes tasted great and that is what is important anyway!!

Happy Birthday Garrett!!

WEDDING CAKE - Gumpaste Flowers & Chocolate Fondant

2014-09-18T10:50:00.001-07:00

Saturday, September 13, 2014

David & Rachel Cain

What a beautiful wedding for my son David and his beautiful bride Rachel!

This was our first 'long-distance' wedding cake we have ever decorated. We did a lot of planning and prepping, and were mostly successful with a few speed bumps along the way.

David & Rachel - Cutting the Cake

Part of the planning was that the bottom three layers of cake would not be real cake, but frosting and fondant covered styrofoam. With the long distance, available kitchen space and time, there was no way to make a denser wedding cake to be stacked, filled, frosted, and covered with fondant. The top layer was chocolate cake from a nearby bakery that we covered with the same fondant. A simple shell border and some quick scroll work (since we had to scoot to get to the rehearsal dinner).

We made the gumpaste flowers and leaves before we even left.

This gave them time to totally dry and be packed for the trip to Pennsylvania.

Let me show you some pictures of the process...

Here we roll the green colored gumpaste very thin over a slot

that will be used to hold the stem of the leaf.

After the wire is folded into the gumpaste on the back side,

we put it on a veining mat to get the vein markings on a leaf.

The ball tool is gently used to thin the edges and get some natural shaping to the leaf.

The are set out on gumpaste formers to get the leaves into different shapes, folds, and curls - to give them a very realistic look.

Joy is amazing when it comes to making roses - here she is rolling and using the Wilton cutters to cut the petals of the purple roses.

They are also thinned with the ball tool, then formed on wire to make amazing roses....

I had the job of making the Tiger Lilies - Here I am set up at the museum.

After making the leaves and petals, I hand painted the leaves.

Joy then airbrushed them to give them a shine and sparkle that really made them stand out.

Gumpaste Tiger Lilies

Gumpaste Roses

We were a little worried about getting them there in one piece... We babied them carrying them in each motel and giving them special spots to keep them safe and moister free!!

An up-close picture of the top of the wedding cake flower bouquet.

Top angle of Fondant Cake with Gumpaste Tiger Lilies

Chocolate Fondant Cake with Gumpaste Flowers

Forgetting the fondant smoother and a very small kitchen table to roll fondant out were a few of the bumps throughout the weekend, but we were able to put it together successfully.

Luckily the flowers were so beautiful no one looked at the fondant... LOL!

Now for a few pictures to end this post:

Western Bridal Shower & Wilton Boot Cake

2014-09-17T13:16:00.003-07:00

Several years ago I bought an old Wilton cake pan shaped like a boot for a groom's cake I was doing for a wedding. I always wondered if I would ever use it again... Well, my new daughter-in-law, Rachel, absolutely LOVES cowboy boots!! So, for her bridal shower, Joy and I did a western theme shower and used this pan to make a cake.

Dessert Table

Wilton Boot Pan, Cake, and Frosting

I think it took us longer to bake the cake and mix the colors than it did to actually decorate it. It is a simple chocolate cake with a chocolate caramel frosting (Yes, I am on a caramel kick right now!!) To the right you can see the cake, the pan, and all the colored frosting and tips. (This makes it easier if we don't have to jump up every few minutes to get something.)

I found a pattern decorated online that I liked and tried to make it similar. It was nice to have something to look at and less time to think of what I want or don't want to do. It was outlined and then mostly star tipped. Although we did use the flat side of the basket weaving tip for the heel and sole. We used brown sugar for the desert sand to add some dimension.

Set-up and Started!!

Wilton Shape Boot Cake Completed

Rachel - telling 'their story'

It was a fun night: hearing their story, playing games, eating really good food made by our church ladies, opening gifts and a fun crazy skit that Joy (Wendy the Wedding Specialist) put together!!

LOTS of FOOD!!

Salted Caramel Chocolate Turtle Cake

2014-08-20T13:10:00.000-07:00

Salted Caramel Chocolate Turtle Cake

This is a very rich and flavorful, melt in your mouth cake... and I have dreamed of it ever since I ate TWO pieces on Sunday!

Those that know me, know I have been dieting for some time now, yet on Sunday, my lunch is my crossover meal and I eat a moderate dessert with it most of the time. BUT, this week, I just HAD to eat another piece before jumping back into the diet on Monday.

It is not so much the cake recipe... since it was just a box cake - double fudge I think. It was more of what we did after we bake it that made it sooo good!!

Read, Bake, and ENJOY!!!

Start by baking a box of chocolate cake mix. We did a fudge chocolate, but any chocolate cake mix should work. You can substitute milk for the water to have a moister cake, but is not necessarily important with this cake!

Next we have to make the caramel - I made a double batch (I like extra for ice cream topping). You can do this while the cake is baking, since it has to cool (measurement below are for a single batch.)

1 stick of butter
1 cup of brown sugar
1 T. water
1/2 t. salt

Boil these four until the brown sugar dissolves (may take as long as 5 - 6 minutes). Mine had a hard time dissolving, but was mostly dissolved.

Salted Caramel

Turn off heat and add:

1/8 cup of whole milk
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1/2 t. caramel extract

Stir, cover and allow to cool to room temperature.

** Remember to always use extract, not flavoring. Extract will give a stronger flavor than flavorings!! If you only have flavoring, use twice as much.

As both the cake and caramel are cooling, you can make the simple syrup. This is the key to a moist cake!!

In a small pot add:

1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar

Stir and simmer on low until sugar dissolves. Turn off heat and add:

1/2 t. caramel extract

Set aside.

We will make the frosting next (sorry, no pictures).

In a mixing bowl add:

2 sticks of butter
1 cup shortening
1 t. caramel extract
1 t. vanilla extract
5 T. water or milk

Do not whip, just beat until mixed well. Then add one at a time:

1/2 cup of cooled caramel (made earlier)
2 pounds of powdered sugar
2 blocks of melted unsweetened chocolate

This should be a medium consistency, if it is not, slowly add water 1/2 teaspoon of water at a time, until you have a medium consistency. (A good test of consistency is to put 1 cup of frosting in a measuring cup, put your Wilton 9" spatula in the center of icing. The spatula should stand up straight when inserted in, but when gently moved, it should slowly fall over to the side of the cup slowly.

Cover and set aside... Now you are ready to put this cake together!!

By now your cake should be cool - cut the rounded part off the top of one layer, turn upside down and set on your platter. Take a toothpick and poke holes all over the cake (about 1 inch apart).

Brush half the simple syrup over the first layer of cake. This will make the cake MELT IN YOUR MOUTH with unbelievable flavor!!

Put a ring of frosting around the first layer of cake using tip 12.

Mix together:

3/4 cup chopped roasted pecans
3/4 cup caramel (made earlier)

Fill the center of the cake, being careful not to be higher than the ring of frosting.

Now we are ready to prepare the second layer of cake. be sure to cut off the round top of the cake, turn upside down on top of the filling. Again, poke holes all over the top layer of cake with a toothpick and brush over it the rest of the simple syrup. By this time the smell of caramel and chocolate made me stop and eat one of the top pieces of cake cut off... adding a little caramel and frosting... ah... okay, now we can finish!!

Frost cake as taught in Wilton Course 1 - if you haven't taken a class yet, sign up!!

You will learn how to frost a cake smoothly and professionally!!

Next I had to decorate using some of the new techniques in the new course 1 book. I LOVED how easy this pulled dot technique is with tip 12! Hopefully one day I will be adding videos on some of these techniques for those who don't have classes near them, or for my students who want to see the techniques demonstrated again.

Wilton Pulled Dot Border

I made four different colors using Wilton brown food coloring gel.

Wilton Pulled Dot with different shades of brown... nice!!

On top, I made some 1M rosettes using the triple bag swirl technique in the new book. With all the caramel and chocolate on top, it is hard to see the three colors... I filled the center with remaining caramel, sprinkled a few tablespoons of pecans and drizzled a little melted chocolate chips (about a 1/4 cup) over the top of everything. Maybe a litte too busy and messy... but the flavor of it all definitely beat out over the looks!!

Enjoy! My family LOVED it and requested me to make it again soon!!

This recipe could be made as cupcakes too!!

Wilton Classes at Hobby Lobby

2014-08-19T13:37:00.005-07:00

Wilton Method cake classes start up again in September at Bettendorf, IA with NEW books and some newer and popular techniques! The price is 50% off the regular price of $45 per course which equals $22.50. This price includes four 2 hour sessions and a course book (provided the first night of class). Sign up at Hobby Lobby today!

Course 1 will be taught in both September and October, choose what works best with your schedule!

Mondays, September 8, 15, 22, 29 at 6:00 - 8:00 pm (taught by Margie Cain)

Tuesdays, October 7, 14, 21, 28 at 6:00 - 8:00 pm (taught by Joy Cain)

Course 2 will also be taught in October and check back for future dates and times in November!

Mondays, October 6, 13, 20, 27 at 6:00 - 8:00 pm (taught by Margie Cain)

We hope to see you SOON!!

Have questions? Give us a call at 309-781-1148.

Kid's Map Cake, Animal Cupcakes and Fondant Flower Cupcakes

2014-07-18T11:41:00.002-07:00

Joy is absolutely amazing when working with kids and cake decorating!!

She has amazing patience and has just a love for kids and teaching!

Here you can see one of her cakes she made in a project class.

It is frosted with buttercream and uses fun fondant techniques and a simple piping skill to complete.

Fun Simple Fondant Treasure Chest for Kids

Treasure Map Cake

Treasure Map Fun!!

One of Joy's Classes was teaching several piping skills and making animal cupcakes...

The kids loved them!!

Here are the cupcakes she made during those classes!

Cupcake Class with Joy

Cupcake Animals

In the next two pictures, Joy taught a few private lessons on fondant flowers!

Katie's grandma gave her a very special birthday present of cake decorating supplies and lesson time with Joy to learn how to make beautiful flowers and put them on cupcakes!!

Katie did a GREAT job!

Katie made these cupcakes for her Grandma and Grandpa's wedding anniversary!

Anniversary Cupcakes make by Katie

Engagement Stump Cake for Rachel and David

2014-05-25T21:23:00.004-07:00

I guess 'the' engagement celebration of each of my children will be with a "stump" cake! We were able to celebrate together with Rachel's parents and sister a week and a half after the official proposal. These first three pictures were taken by Rachel's sister Caitlyn Warner - an amazing photographer!!

David and Rachel

Full Picture of the stump cake - picture taken by Caitlyn Warner

David asked for a triple chocolate cake with triple chocolate frosting and the filling is rich chocolate gnache.

The flowers are gumpaste

Yummm...

We even made the roots of the tree come out.

I love making wooden planks and trees and any kind of wooden objects. This was simply put on with tip 789 then dragging a knife over it to make the bark look more natural and gnarled.

Gumpaste flowers w/ buttercream leaves, stems and grass!

Gumpaste Flowers climbing up the stump!

Close up of the frosting bark.

So rich and FATTENING!! but so worth it!!

Cow Cake - Happy Birthday Rachel!

2014-05-25T21:08:00.000-07:00

My sweet daughter-in-law-to-be had a birthday in April. Rachel loves cows, so Joy and I had a fun time planning and making this one!! We started by making fence posts and flowers out of gumpaste

Joy had the neat idea to do a marble cake so that even the inside of the cake had cow spots!!

I made the cows by hand with fondant using instructions online with the Lucy Cow...

I tweeked it to make a manly looking bull for David!

The top of the cake was blue so we did the writing and the clouds in white...

I don't think I got a picture of the cake as a whole... like duh, but...

You can see by putting all the pictures together what it looked like!

Aren't they cute?

Thanks for looking!!

Camo Cake with Shotgun Shells

2013-12-08T21:22:00.002-08:00

camouflage cake with shotgun shells

We have made several of Ty's birthday cakes, but this was one of our favorites! The cake is a chocolate cake with a peanut butter frosting that is soooo flavorful! We covered the cake in a chocolate fondant (the taste and texture is very similar to tootsie rolls... yummm!!)

gumpaste leaves and acorns

We made simple gumpaste leaves and acorns to add to the 'fall' season of the cake, but our favorite is the shotgun shells that Joy worked so hard to make! They look so real but are just red gumpaste hand designed with the tops spray painted with gold food coloring. The bright orange is for the bright orange colored vests they wear hunting.

Ty has been able to go hunting with his dad this year and will probably love hunting as much as his dad!

camouflage fondant ready to be rolled

Here you can see the bits of different colored fondant laid out on saran wrap ready to be rolled out to cover the cake. This was harder than it looked, and especially hard to get it to become one blob that would stay together! It took a bit of work, but we were happy with the results!!

camouflage fondant ready to be placed on cake

Red Ribbon Wedding Cake

2013-12-08T21:02:00.002-08:00

Joy and I swore up and down we would never make wedding cakes for other people... But, some friends from Fareway asked for a simple smaller wedding cake and we decided to do it!

Derek and Jeri are friends of my kids and we have enjoyed getting to know them as well over the past few months as they have come over occassionally for lunch. They even came the day after I fractured my leg and brought over lunch, a dessert and a card! (I was quite insistant that I was still going to cook lunch, but was also a little oblivious to how bad my leg was and what my limitations were at that point. No one let me get up to cook...)

They wanted a two layer marble cake with a cream cheese frosting. (The small top layer is a 'fake' layer) We put red ribbon around each layer and added gumpaste roses and small daisies that have been 'spray painted' with food coloring.

We wish them many happy years together!

Red Velvet Cake with Mock Whipped Cream Frosting

2013-12-08T20:46:00.003-08:00

My family loves red velvet cakes with a rich cream cheese frosting. As we were working through different recipes planning for Garrett and Becca's wedding, we found out that Garrett's grandma used a different frosting. We got her recipe and experimented on a cake for something at church. The frosting is a very creamy frosting that is similar to my mock whipped cream frosting. The only difference is that it uses shortening to make the frosting more stable and much more easy to frost and decorate as well!! We all fell in love with this recipe! Below is her frosting recipe and a variation that I use to make it! Enjoy!

Red Cake Icing

1 cup milk
1/4 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a double boiler cook the milk and flour until thick. Set aside to cool. With electric mixer, beat 1 cup sugar with 1 cup shortening at high speed until light and fluffy. Add cooled thickened mixture until mixed. Add vanilla and blend.

I usually do 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup shortening, but if you want it more stable in hot weather, keep it all shortening!

Pumpkin Roll Cake

2013-12-08T20:29:00.003-08:00

Fancy Pumpkin Roll Cake

Our family LOVES pumpkin rolls!! BUT, I don't always like baking them and rolling them, because somewhere along the way I end up cracking the cake, and then it doesn't always look as pretty (although they always still taste GREAT!)

So, instead I doubled my cupcake recipe and baked them in two 8" round pans. I used the cake leveler to torte the cake adding the cream cheese pumpkin roll filling between each layer. I then frosted it with my cinnamon caramel frosting and decorated it to look like fall, using all simple techniques from Wilton's course 1. I absolutely LOVE fall, fall colors, pumpkins, and everything with pumpkins; whether in desserts, salted/roasted seeds, or as decorations! This was soooo rich (and probably fattening too) and was enjoyed with one of our Sunday lunches!

The only problem with this cake was that it needed to be kept refridgerated, and doing it this way took a lot more space than a simple cake roll! Thanks for looking!

Package Baby Shower Cake

2013-12-08T20:15:00.000-08:00

Gumpaste Bow Package Cake

Making gumpaste bows is something we had to teach in Course 3 of the Wilton Classes... This bow was made in class and then used for a baby shower for a special friend. This is a chocolate cake (her favorite flavor) with buttercream frosting and LOTS of blue dots for a baby boy!

Happy Birthday Post Card Cake for a Special Family Get-Together

2013-12-08T20:08:00.001-08:00

Paul and Debby L had a special day when a LOT of their family would all be together at the same time. We all have family come and go at different times, but for so many family members to be able to get together at the same time is always a special occassion!

Paul is well-known for his birthday and Christmas post cards, so he wrote out and designed this postcard cake. There is one initial for each person that was at at the get-together. It is also a full size sheet cake, so everyone could enjoy a LARGE piece of cake - half being a marble cake and the other half a yellow cake with buttercream frosting on top.

Banana Cake with Browned Sugar Frosting

2013-12-04T10:37:00.000-08:00

This is a cake I absolutely LOVE!! I got the recipe from my son, who got it from someone at work... the flavors blend so well! At first I thought browned butter frosting sounded gross... but I made the cake for my son and we all absolutely fell in love with it!

At first I thought it would be easy to brown butter, I burn it all the time when I don't want to!!! But it was much more difficult than I thought! I will post the recipe below for those that want to try it!

The flowers are royal frosting flowers made in course 2 of the Wilton Cake classes. A Pink lily in the center, yellow daffodils, purple violets, and the yellow and purple pansy is from the old courses but I still taught it when we had enough time to squeeze it in.

This is not the easiest frosting to frost with, it has a different texture that must come from browning the butter. I add meringue powder to frosting to help stabilize the frosting to help it stay up where it is frosted, but this can be left out if you do not have it on hand.

Banana Cake Recipe

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed bananas
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs, room temperature

Grease two 8 inch round cake pans or one 13x9 pan. Set aside.

Preheat oven 350.

In a large mixing bowl stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add bananas, buttermilk, shortening and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until combined. Add eggs, beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Spread batter evenly into the pan(s).

Bake for 20-25 minutes for round pans, 30 minutes for 13x9 pan or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove cakes from pans and cool thoroughly on wire racks.

Browned Butter Frosting

3/4 cup butter
6 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon meringue powder
4 - 5 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract

In a small sauce pan heat butter over low heat until melted and continue to heat until butter turns a golden brown. Remove from heat. In a large mixing bowl combine powdered sugar, meringue powder, 4 tablespoons of the milk and the vanilla. Add browned butter. Beat on medium speed adding additional milk, as needed to spreading consistency.