Party Weekend--Crystal

This weekend I had two birthday parties to make cakes for.

First was for my nephew. I did a train cake. The cake was chocolate with buttercreme icing.

The second one was for my mother in law's 5oth suprise birthday. I did a yellow cake with chocolate frosting, fondant daisies and leave, and chocolate dipped strawberries.

They turned out great.

Bday Cake--Crystal

My birthday cake. Yellow cake mix, chocolate frosting, Kit Kat's on the side, and M&M's on top. Delicious.

Kenna's Cake--Crystal

We did a ladybug theme for Kenna's 4th birthday. She loved that we had a ladybug shaped cake. It turned out pretty good. She wanted cupcakes too. So I put grass on with tip 233. Then I made chocolate red ladybugs and piped dots and a head in black. Kenna loved it.

Easter Cake--Crystal

I made a cake for Easter. Kenna wanted one that was shaped like an egg. It turned out pretty good. I know I need more practice though. Adam helped me to shape it. I did a good job. I did a spice cake and cream cheese buttercream frosting. It was really good frosting. I can't wait to cut into it. It looks and smells so good. It's really fun making these cakes. Kenna likes the creations as well. We will be eating it after Easter dinner with Adam's mom and family. Which I need to go start cooking. Thanks for looking.

Course 2 Cake--Crystal

This was a fun cake to make. First I made 6 in round cakes and frosted with chocolate buttercream. YUM!! We learned the basketweave to put on the side of the cake and then attached the royal icing flowers and color flow birds we had made before to the cake.

I put Adam's name on it because he said he wanted it on the next one. I told him was going to be a girly one, but he didn't care. That's why I made it a chocolate cake with chocolate icing.

Mother-in-law Cake--Crystal

I made a suprise cake for Adam's mom's birthday. She didn't know that I was making it. She loved it. I made it a heart shape cake. Then used roses around it, then royal icing flowers attached. Then I used drop flowers all over and around the edge. Then made rosettes around the top edge. Kenna had fun helping me. She would unwrap the candy kisses I used as a base for the roses.

Boot Cake--Crystal

Adam's brother Billy turned 15 on Sunday. His mom wanted me to make a boot cake for his birthday as a suprise. I used the boot cake pan from Wilton (Catherine already had it) and used a chocolate fudge cake mix. I then frosted it with a thin layer on white buttercream as a crumb coat. Then I used chocolate buttercream icing on the boot and regular buttercream for the rest. I used yellow for the sun iced smooth. Then star tip 16 green for the grass. Then added detail in red for the boot. I then added black to the chocolate icing to add the the detail for the bottom and top of the boot. I then used tip 12 and added red, green, and blue balls for the accent around the edge.

Billy liked it. He thought his mom wasn't going to bake him a cake for his birthday and was sad. When we came over with the cake he didn't see us walk in with it and said he didn't know why we came over, there wasn't any cake. Then I told him to look on the counter and he was stunned. It was great. Catherine loved. It turned out pretty good for my first cake without help.

Cake Class #2--Crystal

Well I convinced Adam to let me do the second cake decorating class. We will learn more flowers using royal icing. Royal icing dries hard. It'll be fun to learn some flowers. The first night we learned the rosette and the rosebud (that one's hard) and the mum. I have to work on the rosebud. The rosette is really cute. It's fun taking these classes.

Rose Cake--Crystal

Today we decorated a cake with roses. I practiced them, but they aren't turing out so great. We'll have to keep trying. But still pretty. I do love how the frosting turned out to ice the cake. I think I whipped it too much and it was really fluffy. But it tasted good and spread really easy. It was fun learning all this stuff. I think I might have to take the next class as well. I'll have to convince Adam of that.

Cake Class--Crystal

Today was my third cake class. We had to bring cupcakes already iced to decorate. We learned new techniques... the shell, drop flowers, faces, and the rose. It was lots of fun.

My roses didn't quite turn out. I need to practice.

I think one of them really turned out

like a carnation, still pretty looking.

Update--Crystal

I wanted to write an update
about the cake I made.
We enjoyed eating the cake the other day.
Kenna had the best comment about it so I thought I'd add it here.

Kenna said, "Mom, you make the best cake ever!"

How cute is that. She is my favorite fan.

Past Cakes--Amy

I thought I might post a few of my favorite cakes that I have made over the years. They take a lot of time, but I love the end product and being able to take pride in the details. Most cakes don't turn out this well, but these are my best. A few of these are listed on Wilton.com. A few are my own thinking and ideas. The rest are from other magazines and other sites.



These I made for Haden's 3rd Birthday. I used color flow to make the face and symbols. It was easier than you might think. I used an old superman pan to make the body of Mr. Incredible.







This is a cake I made for 3 girls who were baptized along with their mother. They lived in my Branch and I loved them dearly. I covered the cake in fondant. And the loops of the bow and curls are also fondant and then dried in place before putting them on the cake.

This is a cake I made for a family reunion. I made the cookies that listed family members, put a hole in each cookie and then looped ribbon through each hole. The base is a double layer of half sheet cake which I mixed with a pound cake mix so it would be firmer. The leaves of the tree were made of wire with fake leaves and wrapped in floral tape. I put styrofoam inside the pipe and then put the in the branches. Then took a PVC pipe and placed it in the middle. Then used brown frosting up the pipe to make the tree. The tricky part was transporting it. If you ever try anything like this, I suggest you put the cookies on after you put it down for the final time (and bring extra frosting in case of cracking).


This is a 3D Mario Mushroom cake for Haden's 5th birthday. I took two large cupcake pans from Wilton and then placed them together. Then set to work turning it into a mushroom. I didn't do a very good job at making it stand up though and it ended up falling over before the party. I felt really bad but at least I got some good pictures.


















This cake was for my sister's 21st birthday. She had just gotten back from her life long dream of swimming with the dolphins. So I made this cake for her. It was made mostly with candies this time. I found the clams and shark gummies and a gas station. The sand is crushed grahm crackers. The umbrella is melted colored chocolate I painted in a bowl and then peeled out. I used Airheads to make the boogy board for the boy and the beach towel. Then I used my smallest tips to pipe the people. this one was my own idea and I was so excited it turned out so well. My sister loved it and so did everyone else.

Cake Decorating--Crystal

My cake decorating class started last Monday. We learned how to make buttercream frosting and how to frost the cake. This week we need to bring in a cake that is already frosted, so here it is. We decorated it in class. It's a rainbow cake. Kenna thought it was cute. We also learned the techniques to decorate it and many other techniques. It's such a fun class. I'll have to practice at home to get the hang of doing it. I can't wait to have all the classes done so I can make whatever cake I want.

My cake for class before the decor. Kenna liked helping make the frosting. Mostly she liked tasting the frosting. She also wanted to eat it, but I told her I needed to decorate it first. Then she could have some after that.

The cake after decorating. The rainbow was really easy. You use the star tip to fill it in.

Kenna with the cake. She wanted to eat it for breakfast for the next morning.

Me with my first decorated cake.

Upcoming Crafts--Crystal

My crafts planned so far:

*Cake Decorating*
I'm taking a cake decorating class from Michael's Crafts store. It's every Monday in Febaruary. My first class was good. We talked about the different consistencies of frosting and how to frost a cake.

*Messenger Bag*
I got the idea to make this messenger bag for school. I found the pattern I want to use online. Here is the the link.