A Few New Cakes

Final Cake

So two weekends ago I completed my Personal Growth Project. I made the cake for the 8th Grade Dance. This was a huge project for me because I designed the cake and it was the largest cake I have ever made. The theme for the cake was simple, V. Sue Cleveland High School. That's where we are all going next year so I figured instead of dwelling on the past, we should look to the future. My cake really stood out in the room because all the decorations were purple and black, my middle school's colors, but the cake was electric blue and silver. The cake was yellow and chocolate alternating, so everyone got a taste of both flavors. Once I got the cakes baked I had to start on the fondant. This was one of the hardest parts because the bottom tier was going to be electric blue. That is such a unique color and it's very important to me to get it right. I think in the end it all worked out. The bottom tier took the most time to decorate also. I did a quilting technique. I had to cut intersecting lines on the cake and where they met I put a candy pearl.The second tier had a checkerboard pattern. I left the background white because I couldn't find the silver spray that I needed. I incorporated the silver on the top tier. I painted the whole thing silver and put electric blue lightning bolts on the sides. The finishing touch was the writing on the top. I put "STORM Class Of 2015". That's when we graduate so I felt it was appropriate for our last middle school dance. The cake was a huge success. I wasn't at the dance but my friends told me that no one touched the sheet cakes the school bought. Everyone loved my cake and they said it was delicious. This whole project really showed my growth. I know that a year ago I would not have been able to make this cake. I didn't have the skills or the state of mind. I really taught myself a lot of techniques this year. From working with gumpaste to painting. I have also learned to calm down when making my cakes. I don't blow up like I used to when decorating. I have grown a lot as a cake decorator. This whole experience has just shown me that I really am interested in doing this for a living. There was always a possibility that at the end of this I could decide that I hate decorating cakes, but I didn't. I will definitely be making more cakes over the years.

Montana Cake

This weekend I made a cake for the Going Away Party for one of my pastors. I decided to make the cake in the shape of Montana since that's where my pastor and his family are headed. I made a chocolate cake because everybody loves it. I made two half sheet cakes. I put them together and then had to carve the cake. Montana has a fairly jagged side so I had to simplify it for practical reasons. Once the cake was carved I finished icing it. After that I colored the fondant green and covered the cake. Unfortunately there was a couple of rips in the fondant, but I decided to cover them with the state flower, Bitterroot. Making the flowers was a bit of a challenge. I decided that I didn't have enough time to use gumpaste and I really didn't want to, so I used fondant. They didn't have the same stability that gumpaste would have had. The flowers didn't turn out as well as they could have but  they were decent enough. The cake came together well and I'm proud of how quickly I got it done.

April Cake

This weekend I made my last cake before my final 3 tiered cake. I made a red velvet Charlie and The Chocolate Factory inspired cake. I started making my cake Friday night. I had to make all the gum paste decorations so they would dry in time. This was a big problem for me. Whenever I make gum paste I make it way too runny and it ends up sticking all over my hands. Sure enough the gum paste had too much water in it. I had to spend a long time mixing the gum paste before I could even start creating the decorations. The next day I baked the cakes. I made red velvet cake and everything went smoothly. The cakes came out of their pans perfectly. I split the cakes and frosted them. After putting the cakes in the freezer for a while I began to carve the cakes. I had to taper the sides to make it smaller on the bottom. On Sunday I had to assemble the cakes. I covered the cakes with fondant and put the bigger tier on the cake board. Then I stuck my plastic dowels in the bottom tier to support the top tier. I put the top tier on and put a wooden dowel through the whole cake to secure it. Once the cakes were put together I got to decorate. I stuck lollipops in and poured the chocolate river. I added the stepping stones and candy dots. The only decoration I had trouble with was the letters. I rolled the gum paste too thin when I cut out the letters so when I tried to put the toothpicks in the letters broke. All in all the cake turned out pretty good considering that it was my first attempt at making a tiered cake.

March Cake

This weekend I made my cakes for March. I think the actual cake might be my favorite. I made a carrot cake and it was really good. The process to make the cake was easy, but preparing some of the ingredients like the carrots took a long time. The cake was baked in a half sheet pan. Then I had to cut out 12, 4 x 4 inch squares. Then I covered the cakes with fondant and the decorating was up to my imagination. I varied from the cookbook, but a lot of the same ideas were there. I did not get to do the bow cake because I was supposed to make the bow two days before I assembled the cakes. I was disappointed with that, but the cakes turned out great anyways. I made one cake with dots all over it and I liked that one. My favorite one was the cake with flowers all over it. At first I didn't like it because it seemed unfinished, but then I added the dragees and that completed it. I liked these cakes because you could do anything you wanted with them. They are a blank canvas and you are the artist.

February Cake

About two weeks ago I made my cake for February. I chose the Conversation Hearts Mini Cakes. I thought that they were appropriate for that month because it was around Valentines Day. When I baked the cakes I was supposed to use a sheet cake pan and carve the hearts out, but to make it easier I used pans. I used a heart muffin pan to cook the cakes. I ended up with about 16 mini cakes. Once I finally got the cake out the decorating process went smoothly. I died the fondant pale yellow, pale green, pale pink, and pale purple. The colors looked exactly like the ones in the box of candy. I covered the cakes with the fondant and that was easy. I didn't have any problems with the fondant cracking or ripping. Once all the cakes were covered I got to be creative. I took the white icing and put it into a bag with a #3 tip. Then I used my box of conversation hearts to pipe on messages. There were some really weird messages like, "Tweet Me" which I didn't use. I think my piping has improved greatly. Overall I was really satisfied with the cakes. They turned out exactly how I wanted and everyone loved them.

January Cake

For January I made two MP3 player mini cakes. I made a yellow cake with chocolate icing to give it some flavor. I baked the cakes in half sheet pans so I could cut out the rectangles. After the rectangles were cut out I stacked them and then carved the so they had rounded edges. Once the cake was frosted I covered them with fondant. Then I painted them. One of them was blue and the other was green. I was supposed to add the little control buttons onto each of the cakes, but I was really frustrated with the gum-paste.  I could not get the shapes to look right. I finally gave up on the controls and left the MP3s as they were. I was very disappointed with the outcome of the cakes, but they were one of the more difficult cakes.