Archive for December 18, 2008

Happy Birthday to Me!

Last summer, I turned 25 on the 25th of July. My “Golden Birthday”. To celebrate, I invited dozens of friends to a “Quarter-Life Crisis” party that would last the entire weekend. Naturally, no party would be complete without a CAKE!

Since it was for my own party, I used this opportunity to try my hand at making a two-tiered cake! I had never done one before, but my mom gave me plenty of tips and tricks to get started. I had also never experimented with fondant, so I did a little research and gave it a whirl.

I created a two-tier “funfetti” cake with classic white buttercream icing. I created green, orange, and pink fondant polka dots and a pink fondant bow.

Here I am piping the bottom border on the cake.

Here is the final product:

And here we are, celebrating!

(Until I saw this picture, I had no idea I blew air out the side of my mouth like that…weird!) :)

Oh, Boy!

My sweet friend Cindy Beall asked me to make a baby shower cake for her sweet friend Kyndal who was (and still is!) expecting her first child. I was told the colors of the baby’s soon-to-be bedroom, and I decided to make a two-tier chocolate cake with classic white buttercream and orange and blue decorations.

I offset the two tiers to give the cake a little flair and stuck to a stripes and polka dots theme. The final result:

I outlined each circle and filled in the shape with stars. I then piped a row of beads around the bottoms and tops of each tier.

I used a star tip to jazz up the writing. Yay! It’s a Boy!

I used the same star tip to pipe vertical stripes in blue, and then added orange stripes using a classic straight tip.

Okay, Baby Boy Braly. Your mommy got her cake and a fun shower. It’s time for you to make your big appearance!!! ;)

In Search of Cake Eaters (Part 3)

During the month of June, I volunteered to make fancy cakes for the price of ingredients. While most people would be willing to eat a delicious, FREE cake, no one took me up on my offer more enthusiastically than Marcy. In fact, the subject line on her email read: “CAKE—IMPORTANT!!!” My favorite snippet from her email request read:

saw that you are looking for people to make cakes for…..and let me tell you something…..CAKE IS MY FAVORITE FOOD. seriously.

Naturally, it was impossible for me to say no to making this gal a cake. About six back-and-forth emails later, we had narrowed down her flavor choices to one (she’s not joking when she says cake’s her favorite food!). For her birthday, she decided that she would like a wedding-esque cake. I was happy to oblige.

I’d seen people incorporating wire and beads into their cake creations, and since I was going for a very unique, elegant look for Marcy’s cake, I decided to give it a whirl. I did my research and learned how to correctly use wire and prevent food-safety problems.

I called my friend Jacee to help with the beading, since she has both the skills and the tools. She did a great job and Marcy’s cake turned out AMAZING. It’s one of the best cakes I’ve ever made (if I do say so myself). And it was fun to make, too!

The two-tier cake was a flawless white cake with classic white buttercream icing. To imitate a ‘wedding look’, I decorated the surface of the cake as well as the borders with dots.

While I cut and bent the wires, Jacee created the pendants out of fishing line and different combinations of black and hot pink beads with silver accents.

The wires were threaded through a fondant ball and into a small bit of fondant which was anchored in the base of a floral pick. The floral pick was then inserted into the cake (that’s how I kept the wires from actually touching the cake itself). Fondant spheres then surrounded the floral pick for both aesthetics and structural support.

Marcy was really pleased with the cake. Perhaps, even shocked. She didn’t know exactly what she’d be getting, and I think the final result really surprised her. She was also really excited that there were plenty of leftovers. ;)

Project Hope 2008

My friend Sean founded Project Hope in 2007 and I was fortunate enough to participate in the inaugural show. I am involved again this year and have donated two handmade journals that will be part of the silent auction. (I will be posting photos of my work in the next few days, so come back and see what I made!)

Project Hope is an incredible cause, and I’m blessed to be a part of it. I have included the details below and attached the promo poster. If you are in the Oklahoma City area, come on out! I hope to see you there!

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Here are the details for this year’s show. The benefit is the Dalit Freedom Network, a group we are thrilled to be supporting. This year we will be standing with 300 million people in India who have been oppressed for generations. This is not just another art show. The Dalits in India can and will be affected by you, Oklahoma City! Get in touch with us to find out how you can help!

WHAT
Project Hope is about lending aid to a global humanitarian crisis. It’s about dispelling the myth that we can’t help solve a global problem from thousands of miles away. It’s about art, music, and saving lives. This year we are teaming with Dalit Freedom Network to bring relief to over 300 million people in India that are oppressed and labeled as “untouchable”.

WHO
We are featuring Oklahoma artists that want to help abolish caste, now and forever! Giving of their talent and communicating in their own unique way to bring a little hope to a people who may have not been given any.

WHERE
Urban Art is located at 1218 N. Western and is home to the Istvan Gallery, Art Fusion Studio, and Blue Sage Studios.

WHEN
Saturday, December 6th from 7-11 pm. See you there.

WHY
Just to help. At it’s heart, that is all Project Hope is trying to do. To use the talent and work of local artists to be a small voice of hope in a loud world of injustice. To raise money for Health Care, Education, and other assistance to people suffering oppression in India. This is completely non-profit. All money will go to the Dalit Freedom Network.

In Search of Cake Eaters (Part Two)

Roger found me through my future MIL, Robin’s, blog. His youngest son was having a Kung Fu Panda party and they were in need of a cake. I jumped at the opportunity (I haven’t done many cakes for kids), and started scheming.

I wanted it to be quite different from the cakes you see in a store’s bakery case. Otherwise, what’s the point in having a custom-made cake?!

While I began sketching out design ideas, Roger and his wife Shelly set out to find the perfect Kung Fu Panda cake topper/action figure. Surprisingly, THAT was the most difficult part of the whole process! In the end, Shelly triumphed and found the most perfect Panda!

I wanted to experiment with Candy Melts, as I had read they are quite versatile (and taste good, too!). I got the idea to make ‘bamboo’ out of pretzel rods and Candy Melts and then add fondant leaves. Whenever I make a cake, I do everything I can to make sure that it’s nearly 100% edible.

The near-final result:

I used the candy-covered pretzels to make different lengths of “bamboo”, piped some jungle grass around the bottom perimeter and added fondant leaves here and there.

Their son loved his cake (I have seen him once since his birthday, and he greeted me with, “Hey, you made my birthday cake!!”) and Shelly snapped the following three photos (Thanks, Shelly!)

Doesn’t the Kung Fu Panda figurine just make the cake?!

Shelly and Roger, thanks again for the opportunity! Your son’s cake is one of the most fun cakes I have made this year! :)

In Search of Cake Eaters (Part One)

Back in June, I was wanting to do some ‘cake experiments’ and try some new techniques. The hard part? What do you do with a bunch of cakes after they are finished? I decided I would need to have a reason to make them before I even started. So, I posted on my blog that I was in need of some cake eaters.

I explained that I was by no means a “pro”, but that I was wanting to get better, and that I needed some reasons to practice. I offered to donate my time if the recipient would pay for the cost of the ingredients. Boy, did the requests POUR in!

For the next several posts, I will showcase some of the cakes that came from that exercise. Enjoy!

First, Donna requested a cake for her wedding anniversary (8 years, if I remember correctly). The cake was going to be a surprise for her husband. When I asked if she had any specific requests in terms of the design, I got a one word response: “Chocolate!”. Coming right up!

I hadn’t had many chances to work with my oval pans, so I started there and made a two-layer devil’s food cake. For icing, I took the opportunity to practice piping vertical lines, rope borders, and rosettes.

Rosettes are one of my favorite techniques to use. The piping motion is fairly simple, but the final result is so elegant!

I was pretty pleased with how the cake turned out, and Donna and her husband were, too!