Cake Walk

We've Moved!!!

2012-01-04T20:57:00.002-05:00

With the opening of our new cakery, we've moved all our content to a new site! www.phdserts.com Update your bookmarks and check-in often for the latest news, tutorials, and contests. See you there!

Blue M&M Cake

2011-11-17T20:33:00.001-05:00

If you know me, you know I am a HUGE M&M fan! Love the candy. Love the characters. Love the commercials. Love the magazine ads. Love, love, love.

So I was thrilled when a new client called to order an M&M cake. She gave me full artistic freedom on the cake but just requested that it be blue and somehow involve M&Ms.

So I baked an 8-inch round cake and carved the edges to make them smooth like an M&M. Then, I carved the Blue M&M's face into it.

So fun! And best of all, it was a chococlate cake with bavarian cream filling. Yum!

Sand Castle Cake and Newborn Photography

2011-11-07T08:49:00.000-05:00

I know I said I'd try to keep my family off this blog since it's a CAKE blog...but I can't resist this post. One week after Mikaela was born, my friend Elise Kersey of Elise Kersey Photography took some newborn photos at a local beach.

We got there EARLY so we could catch the sunrise.

Little Mikaela loved the warm weather - and it made her so sleepy!

But wait! This blog post does relate to cakes! I made a sand castle cake for the photo shoot.

The whole cake was covered with light brown sugar, and I decorated it with hand-made gum paste shells and a piece of fondant driftwood into which Mikaela's name was carved.

Our sweet baby girl is now 7 weeks old. She's chubbier and she now smiles at us, but she's still a beach bum at heart. We have a picture of a beach hanging above her changing table and she loves to lay there smiling and coo-ing at it. We're excited to take her to the beach for her first ocean swim one day!

2011Tampa Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure

2011-11-04T21:59:00.009-04:00

Ok, folks...over a year ago I announced that I was going to walk in the 2011 Tampa Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure and it's now over! It was such an amazing experience in so many ways, and here's my brief (brief as possible, at least) recap:

3 weeks before the event, I was welcomed to join a local team - Team Hope. Here are the ladies of the team shortly after beginning the walk in Clearwater Beach. Looking so fresh and chipper! 20 miles to go til dinner!

If you follow this blog or know me personally, you already know that I have a 7-week old baby. So, being pregnant until September 16th really hindered my ability to complete long-distance training walks. Of course, you're silly to try to walk 60 miles in 3 days without training...but what choice did I have? I trained hard for the 3 weeks prior to the walk, but I still felt like I was going "0 to 60 in 3 Days." Here goes nothing!

Since I'm not very outgoing, I baked almost 300 pink ribbon cookies to give out to walkers along the route. I figured, if I give them a free cookie, that will force them to talk to me, and I'll meet 100 people each day!

What I neglected to consider was that 100 cookies is heavy. After carrying them 3 miles on the first day, I started just handing them out in handfuls to whomever would take them. So much for meeting 100 people! But I enjoy baking (obviously) and I was thrilled to offer something sweet to the walkers who'd already worked so hard to fund raise and were now committed to walking so many miles over the weekend. What's weird is that by the 3rd day, people had heard of me! When I was handing out cookies, people would say "You're the cookie girl! I heard about you!" Makes it all feel worthwhile.

But back to the walk...Each day's route is divided into little walking segments. About every 3 miles, you get a Pit Stop (with food, drinks, potty, and medical help), a Grab & Go (with food, drinks, and potty), or lunch. Breaking up the miles REALLY makes it easier to finish each day. Mentally, you tell yourself you can make it to the next pit stop. Then, you stop and rest and feel like you can make it to the next pit stop 3 miles ahead! And before you know it, you're at lunch! After a nice rest at lunch, you do it all over again until you arrive at camp for the night.

Here is a shot of a bunch of walkers at the very first Pit Stop on Day 1:

On the first day of the walk, the walkers were very bunched up. We had plenty of room to walk, but what I mean is that it was cool to see the river of pink flow up and down bridges all over town. You could see pink WAY ahead and behind you!

And sprinkled in among the route stops were Cheering Stations. These are designated, published spots where spectators are encouraged to gather and cheer on the walkers. This is the first Cheering Station on the route:

And I'd like to point out the age of the walker out in front. Hello! If she can walk 60 miles, you can too!

And here I am walking through a Cheering Station on Day 3:

The 3-Day is an amazing event. Not only do you have approximately 1500 people walking (think 1500 times the $2300 fundraising minimum = at least $3.45 million raised!) plus the 3-Day staff and the volunteer crew keeping us safe, fed, and on-route...but you've also got the spectators cheering the walkers on! And, as we walked through neighborhoods and communities, people came out of their homes to cheer us on. There were people outside their homes in the cold on Sunday morning at 8am cheering for us. Seriously? They could have been snuggled into their beds still! It really creates a sense of community as we stand up TOGETHER to fight breast cancer. Gives me goosebumps.

At night, all the walkers and crew gather at "Camp." Camp is where you eat dinner, check for mail, rest for the next day, do some 3-Day shopping, and SLEEP! Camp is another community experience - one I didn't get to participate in this year, but I'll get to that later.

Each night, as the last walker approaches camp, they make an announcement. Immediately, everyone drops what they're doing to walk outside and cheer on the walker! It's very emotional. The walker is usually crying and the entire camp is cheering them on. They carry a flag into camp and proudly raise it up a flagpole to signify that everyone is safely at home and camp is in session!

At the end of the 3rd day's route, all the walkers gather in a "holding area." Then, the 1500 walkers walk together to the Closing Ceremony where they're cheered on by spectators and their loved ones. Here is my team walking to the Closing Ceremony:

And out pops my hubby, Adam, with a huge bouquet of flowers! He's awesome. :) And I love Kristy's face in this photo (she's on the far left):

After the walkers march into Closing Ceremony, the crew and survivors follow. The walkers then salute the survivors by raising our shoes in their honor. After all, we're walking for them, aren't we?

Then, a select few survivors raise the 3-Day flag one last time. The Closing Ceremonies are very emotional for everyone. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find someone whose life has not been touched by breast cancer in some way so while the Closing Ceremonies are celebrating the funds raised and the progress that has been made in finding a cure, you can't help but think about those who are fighting or have fought their own battle with breast cancer.

But that whole recap was just a recap...Here are my personal experiences:

Like I mentioned above, I have a 7-week old baby. She's had some digestive issues and cannot take formula so I am breastfeeding her. Now, let's think about this for a minute...walking 20 miles a day for 3 days is VERY time consuming so how am I supposed to breastfeed her at the same time?!

Adam & I decided that we'd supplement with soy formula during the walk. Well, apparently the soy didn't agree with her stomach so the first day of the walk was difficult for Adam and our baby Mikaela. Poor thing! So we decided that we would try to coordinate our schedules enough that Adam & Mikaela would meet me along the route every 2 hours so I could feed her and keep walking. That is no small task since they do not publish the route!

I figured this would be too difficult and we'd never be able to pull this off so I was prepared to either quit the walk or have to take the Sweep Vans to lunch and camp in order to meet them. But, Adam's amazing! With help from his parents (who are also amazing), they were able to meet me every 2 hours. Mikaela was soon feeling much better and I was able to continue to participate in the walk. Yay!

On Day 1, I walked all but about 4 miles of the route. I wasn't prepared to be walking so many miles alone so I was emotionally beaten. When you walk alone, you have time to think about all your aches and pains - not good! I took a Sweep Van and skipped the last 4 miles before lunch. I felt somewhat rejuvenated after lunch and continued walking. Adam met me 1 mile before the end, and I told him, "I can't make it. I'm going to have to take a van for the last mile." It's only a mile though! I rested while I fed Mikaela and decided to head back on the route. Well, I did it! I finished that mile and walked a total of about 16 miles that day!

On Day 2, I felt amazing! I was ready to walk alone and was in much better spirits! Mikaela was feeling better so I wasn't stressed about that either. I met up with Adam, his parents, and Mikaela every 2 hours to feed her (and get emotionally psyched again). I was able to walk all 20 miles! In the last 2 miles, though, I started feeling a lot of pain in my left foot. I met a new friend and she is the ONLY reason I didn't Sweep to camp that night. She kept me walking, and I'm so glad I did.

On Day 3, I started out with the same pain in my foot. I wasn't able to get it taped up until lunch so I took one Sweep Van to skip 3 miles in the morning. At lunch, I got taped up and hit the road again. I was still meeting up with Mikaela every 2 hours and I was emotionally energized to finish this thing! By the end of Day 3, the pain in my foot had returned and I was walking at a snail's pace. But I was determined to WALK across the finish line, not roll across it in a Sweep Van. I did it, and - miraculously - I wasn't the last walker to finish!

But what got me through the 60 miles that weekend was...

1. My daughter. Meeting up with her every 2 hours really revved me up. This was the first time I was really separated from her since her birth so it was emotional to leave her for the entire day. Seeing her every 2 hours allowed me to love on her a little, touch her, kiss her, and smell her (you know you love that new baby smell). Knowing she was waiting for me just a few miles ahead is what kept me walking...just one foot in front of the other...

2. My personal cheering squad. My family sacrificed so much that weekend so that I could complete the 3-Day. When I signed up to do this, I never thought it would take an entire team to support one walker! Adam and his parents were such troopers running all over town to reunite Mikaela and I throughout the day. Taylor joined them on the last day and she had to be the best cheer leader on the route! And Mom was cheering me on from home while she took care of our puppy Nani. And did I mention that Mom cleaned our whole house by herself? It felt awesome to return to a CLEAN home!

3. Graham Snackers and G2. Seriously! These Graham Snackers were a favorite among the walkers at the Pit Stops! SOOOOO yummy! And G2 kept me hydrated enough to continue walking.

So why do I walk?
I walk because I can.
I walk for those who can't.
And I walk for my daughter.
As I saw on a T-shirt during the walk...let's find a cure for breast cancer before she has boobs.

So I started this post saying that I'm hooked on the 3-Day. Yup, hooked! Next year, I'm forming my own team. We'll walk TOGETHER and have so much fun...like a mobile party! Woot woot! Will you join us? I'll update this post as soon as we have a team fundraising page. In the meantime, email me if you're interested!

Getting Back in the Saddle

2011-10-24T09:56:00.006-04:00

I'm baaaaack!!! You did notice I was gone, right??? Ok, let's just pretend you missed me. *wink*

My last post was on Wednesday, September 14th. Some of you may already know this, but I actually went into labor late Thursday night and had my baby at 5:19am on Friday, September 16th! So, it has taken me a little over a month to get used to our new schedule & lifestyle. But I'm back and ready to start blogging and caking again!!

First, I've got a few things to follow up on:

I recently had the pleasure of virtually (we've only talked through email) meeting a diaper cake designer. A diaper cake is something that looks like a 2-3 tiered cake, but is actually made of rolled up diapers! It's so cute and makes really amazing party decorations and centerpieces (next to the real cake, of course). Anyway, Holli at Shower Cakez & Glitz made a Minnie Mouse diaper cake that would go perfectly with the Minnie Mouse cake I last posted.

So cute, right?! So if you're throwing a party (baby shower, bridal shower, birthday party, graduation party, etc), consider ordering something like this - and it doesn't have to be made of diapers! Check out Holli's website for more info but these things make GREAT gifts!

Going back a few more days, I posted another Sneak Peek on our Facebook Fan Page! Did you see it?! Are you a fan? I only post these Sneak Peeks to the Fan Page so you must be a fan to see them and have a chance to win the prizes.

This Sneak Peek really threw people for a loop. I got guesses like a Mighty Mouse, Stitch, a Pokemon character, Lemmings, Winnie the Pooh, etc. For this contest, I allowed entrants to guess as many times as they wanted. Each correct guess would count as an "entry" into a drawing for something sweet and hand made from me! But after 6 hours of guessing, I finally had to give a hint and I still only got TWO correct guesses!

The cookies are puppies! French Bulldogs, to be specific. Kate ordered these cookies to send to her brand new hubby overseas! She wanted the cookies to be something to remind him of home and something that made him really happy - their French Bulldog Munster! Here is the picture she sent me to base the cookies on:

So who won the goodies from me? I put Kristin's and Jane's names in a hat and the winner is....Jane! I will contact you through Facebook to get your mailing address. Congrats and thanks to everyone who guessed. That was the most fun Sneak Peek yet!

Ok, and the last thing I have to update you on is...my baby! One week after she was born, we had a newborn photography shoot at the beach with my good friend Elise Kersey of Elise Kersey Photography. Here's a sneak peek that she gave us from the shoot:

I am in LOVE with that photo, and of course our little girl too! Now, since this is a cake bog, I'll try to resist posting picture after picture of our baby...but forgive me if one slips through every now and then. *wink*

Minnie Mouse 1st Birthday Cake

2011-09-14T09:03:00.003-04:00

I love this Minnie Mouse-themed first birthday cake. The soft pink buttercream makes it the perfect cake for a sweet little girl.

The cake was iced in buttercream and decorated with fondant polka dots & daisies. The bow and ears topper was created out of gum paste.

Happy 1st Birthday, Khamari!

Pastel Wedding Cupcakes

2011-09-09T09:41:00.002-04:00

It's Friday! I'll keep the post today short and sweet. Here are some cupcakes we decorated for an outdoor wedding. The cupcakes were displayed on a stand made by the bride & groom and the top of the stand held their anniversary cake.

4 different cupcake flavors with 4 different pastel-colored icing swirls!

Stay tuned to our Facebook Fan Page for a sneak peak of something special we're working on today!!! They're may even be a prize involved!

Orange & Blue Daisy Wedding Cake

2011-09-08T09:03:00.003-04:00

It's traditional for wedding cakes to be white cake with white filling and white decorations. But, more and more, brides & grooms are choosing to incorporate nontraditional fillings (like guava, Bavarian cream, or raspberry) and using...*gasp*...COLOR on the cakes!

Of course, there is such a thing as too much color (think fluorescent green, orange, etc)...but bringing in touches of your wedding accent colors can really help decorate your reception.

Here's a cake we made for a bride and groom who were having an orange and blue wedding:

The cake was iced in white buttercream, and we wrapped real ribbon around the base of each cake tier.

The daisies were all hand-made from gum paste and attached to the cake. Then, we added a sprinkling of orange and blue polka dots around the daisies.

It's just enough color to bring the cake to life and still keep it elegant and formal. I love color on cakes, don't you?!

Purple Bat Mitzvah Cake

2011-09-07T09:08:00.002-04:00

Today is Day 2 of cake catch-up week! Here's a cake created for a fun bat mitzvah party in Gainesville, FL.

Emily's entire party was centered around different shades of purple, and they gave these purple lollipops as favors to all the party-goers.

The cake tiers were covered in white fondant and decorated with purple fondant accents. And, as usual, the purple bow on top was created with fondant!

Leopard & Zebra Print Birthday Cake

2011-09-06T09:29:00.004-04:00

I've got some cake catching up to do so I promise to post 1 cake each day this week! And, stay tuned for another sneak peak on Facebook! This one may actually accompany a PRIZE!!!

Here's a cake I made while still working at Ms Debbie's Sugar Art in Newberry. It was designed by the birthday girl herself. She wanted Tiffany blue zebra print, leopard print, a glitzy topper, the word "Diva" on there somewhere, some purple quilted pattern, and a beauty queen-like sash across the front. Wow, that's a lot! Luckily, it all come together in one cohesive design.

Now, that's what I call a custom, personalized cake!

Chic Designer Print Cupcake Cookies - Online Auction #AFundForJennie

2011-08-30T10:21:00.005-04:00

Tragedy - an event in which one or more losses, usually of human life, occurs that is viewed as mournful; a disastrous event.

We all know the definition of a tragedy, and yet when one blindsides us, we are left speechless. Who do we turn to for comfort? How do we comfort those experiencing the loss the most? How do we calm ourselves enough to sleep at night and then wake up the next morning to face the day?

I don't have the answers to those questions, and that's not the point of this blog post. The focus of this post is to hold an online auction for hand-decorated cookies to raise money for a fellow food blogger, Jennie, whose family has recently been struck by a tragedy.

But I would like to pause right here and pay some respect to 2 other tragedies that have touched my life this week. First of all, my Grandpa, who was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in 2007 and has fought a long, hard battle, is finally fading away. His body just has no strength left. He is primarily unconscious due to pain medications, but I pray that the Lord takes him soon so he experiences ultimate relief. I also pray for my Grandma and family members who are standing by watching him slowly slip away. Is it harder to cope with death when you have time to say goodbye or when you don't? I think they're equally painful...but very different...

The other tragedy is for someone I didn't get a chance to know very well. A woman in the Ocala Cake Club and her husband were recently struck by a head-on collision, leaving behind 3 children. Again, I'm speechless. I don't even know how to begin to help...or wait, can anything I do really help??? Still, my thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved.

And now back to the blog post at hand. Jennie's husband was recently killed by a massive heart attack while he was outside playing with his daughters. Members of the food blogging world immediately stepped up to comfort her, sending her Tweets, Facebook messages, emails, and comments on her blog. The outpouring of love was simply amazing.

But, now reality hits. Words of encouragement will only go so far. Jennie's husband's insurance coverage expires in December and the new insurance coverage will cost more than her mortgage. And let's not forget all the other month-to-month bills she'll have to cover on her own. In response to this news, the food bloggers have formed Bloggers Without Borders and are holding many, many online auctions to raise funds for her and her daughters. I won't go into details here, but just do a search for #AFundForJennie or check out Jennie's blog if you want to see what everyone is doing for her.

Now, it's my turn. I am auctioning off 2 dozen decorated sugar cookies. These cookies are made from scratch and hand-decorated with chic, designer prints and royal icing (pictured below, although colors and patterns may vary).

My friend Julie just auctioned off some decorated cookies on her blog. She got $65 for 2 dozen. But I'm competitive - let's beat that! How high can we go? And let's just say that if the bidding goes beyond $100, I'll do something extra special for the winner! So help spread the word about the auction and let's raise some moo-la for Jennie and her girls.

Action Details: I'll start the bidding at $40! Leave a comment below with your bid. (Please be sure your bid is at least $1 more than the previous bid.) 2 dozen cupcake-shaped decorated sugar cookies will be shipped to the highest bidder within 2-4 weeks donation is received. Donation will be made directly to Bloggers without Borders for the #AFundForJennie fund with 100% of the donation going directly to Jennie and her girls.

Bidding will end at 11:59 PM EST on Wednesday, September 7th. At the conclusion of the auction, I will contact the winner to assist with his/her donation to Bloggers Without Borders.

*If you'd like to donate via the Bloggers Without Borders button above and use PayPal, Bloggers without Borders is asking you to use the instant transfer via your bank account. This will allow them to avoid the PayPal fees and will allow your entire donation to go directly to Jennie and her girls.

Chic Designer Print Cookies

2011-08-24T14:07:00.005-04:00

I've been experimenting with combining edible prints with cookies lately. Here's a sneak peak at some of my successful attempts. Warning: These cookies are a bit racy, and may give a new meaning to Wednesday (today) being "hump day." *wink*

For these bustier cookies, I used blue polka dot, leopard print, and pink polka dot edible prints from my PhotoFrost printing system. The rest of the decorations were done with royal icing.

Stay tuned for more edible print cookies coming soon!

Masquerade 50th Birthday Cake!

2011-08-18T09:14:00.005-04:00

You may remember in March 2011, I helped plan the 2011 Florida ICED Cake Competition with my friend Lisa. Well, Lisa turned 50 in April and her hubby (and some amazing friends) planned a surprise party for her! When they asked me to make her birthday cake, I was thrilled! ...and then very nervous... How do you make a birthday cake for someone who makes cakes for a living?! It's only natural for her to notice all the flaws...The pressure was on!

Lisa loves all things masquerade so that was the theme of the party.

I carved each of the 3 cake tiers so they had a bit more of a whimsical, playful feel than simple straight edges. The whole cake was covered in white fondant, and I used Mardis Gras colors (green, purple, black, and gold) to decorate it.

The mask on top was created out of gum paste, and the feathers (sorry, not edible) were purchased at craft & party stores around town. A word of warning: If you're creating a cake that needs feathers after Mardis Gras, start your search early! It took forever for me to find enough feathers for this cake!

And Lisa's name and the "50" at the bottom of the cake were also created out of gum paste and glued in place with royal icing.

Coincidentally, Masquerade is also the theme of the 2012 Florida ICED Cake Competition on March 31 and April 1, 2012! I will be there as one of the judges and will be doing two demos, one on Saturday and one on Sunday (topics TBD). Check out the photos from this year's competition and start making your plans to be there next year! Want to enter? Be sure to read the rules carefully and consider my tips for successfully entering and WINNING cake decorating competitions!

Anniversary Cookie Bouquet

2011-08-10T09:19:00.004-04:00

My Aunt Debbie recently shared a photo of a cookie bouquet she ordered for my cousin's birthday and it reminded me that I never showed you this bouquet!

I made this one for my in-laws' 30th wedding anniversary a few weeks ago. The bouquet featured 2 champagne glasses, 3 red roses, 1 "Happy Anniversary" heart, and 1 bottle of champagne displaying the year 1981.

Then, my mother-in-law Leona wanted me to take a good picture of the 2 of them. Before you see the pictures, it's important for you to know that we were eating at Malio's Prime Steakhouse in Tampa. It's a fancy restaurant with spectacular food!

Ok, ignore my lack of camera skills in less than ideal photography conditions...

But I picked up the camera, counted to 3, and this is the shot I get:

Ok...let's try again...

Not a horrible shot, but why must we always pose with our alcoholic beverages? And J-Dawg (that's what I call my father-in-law) looks less than thrilled to be there. Third time's the charm, right?

Hm...maybe not...Ok, let's try ONE more time. We give Leona a little pep talk about calming down and looking "normal." I pick up the camera again, assured that this will be a good photo!

But, now we've lost J-Dawg...

I give up.

Diaper Bag Baby Shower Cake

2011-08-03T09:04:00.007-04:00

Last weekend, Adam's mom threw us another baby shower! There were so many people there to talk to and so much good food to eat that I didn't take a single photo at the shower. Whoops! I can't believe it! So I have no new baby bump photos to share with you, but I do have a gazillion photos of the cake!

It's the first official cake for Mikaela from Mommy! In other words, I made it. I spent almost all day Friday working on it because I wanted it to be just perfect for her.

The cake itself was shaped like a giant diaper bag and had a layer of chocolate cake, a layer of vanilla cake, and guava filling. The baby shower was held at Cafe Nuevo in Tampa (yum!) so I thought it was appropriate to have guava filling.

I made a tag for the bag and wrote "Mikaela" on it so it looked like we were ready to drop her off at day care. Although, I don't know if she'll ever go to day care with 2 sets of grandparents dying to babysit. *wink*

And I made a couple of pairs of shoes using cutters from Cakes N'Supplies by Ximena. Love them! I made these late at night on Thursday so they came out a little sloppier than I'd hoped...I think my eyes had started going cross-eyed...but the cake wouldn't have been complete without them! In fact, Taylor, who came over to help me deliver the garbage truck cake & cookies, helped me by making the buttons and cutting out the Converse logos. Perfectly done!

Then I made a key teether set using another cutter from Cakes N'Supplies by Ximena. So cute! And I had to make some safety pins to represent the fact that we're going to use cloth diapers for Mikaela.

And after we finished putting all the accessories on the board, Taylor and I noticed a blank spot towards the back. Oh no! That will not do! But Taylor came to the rescue and made this adorable baby rattle to fill the spot!

My due date is only 7 weeks away now and we can't wait to meet Mikaela!

Contests: 1 To Enter, 1 To Help Me Win!

2011-08-02T09:00:00.005-04:00

I've got a couple of contests to tell you about today!

First of all, if you've ever dabbled in cake decorating, enter your beach-themed cake into an online contest on Cakes We Bake by August 23, 2011. The rules of the contest can be found here. I just entered a cake Debbie and I did for a friend's wedding in early May:

After all the entries have been received, you'll have a chance to go back and "favorite" the ones you want to win! Good luck!

Secondly, I've entered a contest that I would LOVE to win! The contest is hosted by Elise Kersey Photography, and I had to submit my idea for a "dream photo shoot." Of course, mine involved our future baby, Mikaela, and baking!

Here's my idea:

"I just opened a custom cake shop, and I'm my happiest when I'm in the kitchen elbow-deep in cake batter or powdered sugar. The only thing that can top my fun time in the kitchen is spending time with my husband and our baby girl, Mikaela. I would love to capture some photos of me and Mikaela working on some sweets together in our home kitchen. I'm thinking they can be shot with a sort of vintage, home-style feel. Picture some old 1950s photos of women working in the kitchen...but we'll modernize it by adding some subtle color, softening the focus, and - of course - using my KitchenAid mixer! We'd have powdered sugar on our cheeks and noses, bare feet, matching aprons, and you can hear our giggles coming through the photo."

To help me win, just "like" my idea on the contest page on Facebook. Share it with your friends! The idea with the most "likes" gets extra entries in the random raffle drawing to choose the winner.

Garbage Truck Cake & Cookies

2011-08-01T12:31:00.003-04:00

Last week, I had the privilege of making a cake and cookie favors for a very cute little boy's birthday.

Apparently, West is really into garbage trucks! He gets excited when they come to pick up his family's trash or recycling. In fact, the week of his birthday, they even let him help dump the recycling in the truck! How cool is that?!

So when his Mom contacted me to order his birthday cake, they (of course) wanted a garbage truck. We designed the cake based on photos of cakes she liked as well as photos of their local garbage truck. There were a few specific requests though. West wanted to make sure the cake had a front-end lift for garbage pick-up, not the traditional back loader, since that's what their local truck has. And he also preferred 3 wheels rather than 2. In addition, they wanted a yellow caution light on the top of the cake near the back, a number 4 somewhere on it, and "Happy 4th Birthday West!"

And you see that awesome logo "West Waste"? West's father made that logo, resembling their local trash pick-up company, to coordinate with West's Halloween costume last year. So the logo was a MUST on the cake!

The wheels were made of Rice Krispies Treats covered in fondant, but everything else you see is CAKE! The cake was covered with green or white buttercream and the decorations were done with fondant. And the cake flavor? Vanilla cake with Bavarian cream filling - yum!

West's Mom also ordered some garbage truck cookie favors for each of the party attendees. They were mini versions of the cake and were personalized with each person's name.

Look, it's like a momma truck and a baby truck!

Happy Birthday, West!

Redfish Groom's Cake

2011-07-27T12:14:00.004-04:00

Here's a cake I decorated while still working up at Ms Debbie's Sugar Art earlier this year. And it was actually delivered to Clearwater Beach!

The cake was hand-carved, covered in fondant, and then airbrushed to add the color and detail typical of a Redfish.

Lego Pirate Cake

2011-07-26T08:47:00.005-04:00

I posted another sneak peek on the Facebook Fan Page last week. Did you see it?! I thought the photo was a little more cryptic this time, but you guys were still able to guess! I'll have to get a little more creative in my photography in the future...

So, yes, it was a pirate ship cake. But not just any pirate ship! It was a Lego pirate ship made especially for Adam's youngest cousin, who just turned 7 and is absolutely obsessed with all things Lego.

The ship was carved out of cake and "wallpapered" with wood grain-printed edible paper fresh from my new PhotoFrost edible printing system. Now, before you all ask me, "Where did you find the amazing wood grain image???" Here's a secret: I just googled it! Here's the one I used, which came up with a search for "wooden planks."

I made a special mold using real Legos so that I could, in turn, create edible ones for the cake. And all the decorations (anchor, Lego people, sails, treasure map, etc) were made of gum paste.

In fact, Noah specifically requested that his "squid man" be driving the pirate ship. Now, I wasn't about to try to carve that detailed, tiny character from red gum paste so I simply made a mold of the real thing! The one you see in the picture above is made from gum paste. I am now in love with molding putty!

Noah's party was held at the local skating rink. I used to spend all day Saturday at the skating rink when I was growing up...*sigh* those were the days. And you know what? They still use the same fluorescent carpet on the walls! When we arrived at the party with the cake, the staff put it on a counter so skaters-by wouldn't damage it. Noah stood there staring at it for at least 15 minutes.

Then some random little boy walked up and Noah announced, "That's my birthday cake! My cousin made it!"

I think he liked it. What do you think?

Firetruck Cookies

2011-07-22T08:46:00.005-04:00

A couple of days ago, I posted a sneak peek on Facebook of some cookies I was working on. It looked like this:

Did you guess what it was??? Yea, I guess it wasn't too hard to figure out...

The firetrucks were made for a sweet little boy's birthday. They were labeled with each party attendee's name and shipped out of town (arriving today). Happy Birthday, West!

Did you like the Sneak Peek game? I had fun with it! But maybe next time I'll make it a little more challenging...and maybe every once in a while I'll run it like a contest. I'm thinking the first correct guess wins a dozen cookies shipped directly to them. How does that sound? These Sneak Peek games and contests will only be announced on my Facebook Fan Page so be sure you "like" it so you can play!

Disney Wedding Favors

2011-07-20T08:22:00.005-04:00

I've been a bad blogger. With trying to get Ph.D.-serts & Cakes set up for business, blogging just hasn't been on the top of my to-do list! But here are some photos of goodies I did a while ago for a friend's Disney wedding.

The Disney chefs did the wedding cake itself (and it was gorgeous), but I was honored to be asked to do the party favors!

Of course, there were Mickey Mouse cookies:

And Minnie Mouse cookies:

Here's the cute couple now!

And then they wanted cookies that said "...and they lived happily ever after." To make these, I covered the cookies with white Satin Ice fondant and let it harden. Then I wrote the message with edible food markers and piped a tiffany blue royal icing border. But the last step was probably the most important...a little sprinkling of Pixie Dust (aka Disco Dust)! Can you see it? These cookies looked magical!

But that's not all! They also wanted chocolate-dipped pretzel sticks - yum! Each guest received a pretzel dipped in white chocolate, milk chocolate, and dark chocolate. Is your mouth watering? All of a sudden, I'm craving one dipped in dark chocolate...

Oooo! I almost forgot! The last treat the guests got was Chess Bars!

If you've never had Chess Bars, I feel sorry for you. They are rich, decadent, sweet, and irresistible. I can't share my recipe because it was a family recipe I talked my friend into sharing, but I know you can find a similar recipe online. Oh, look! Here's one you can try! Hmmm...maybe I'll make some this week...

Wouldn't you love to be a guest at this wedding? Not only is it at Disney, but then you get pampered with all these goodies!

Congrats, Chris and Kate! "All you need is faith, trust, and pixie dust."

A Rainbow-Themed Baby Shower!

2011-07-07T14:34:00.008-04:00

Last weekend, my Mom and sister, Robin, threw me an amazing rainbow-themed baby shower! The food was great (Pizza Gallery & Grill in Viera, FL), the games were fun, and the company was irreplaceable!

I have never been able to choose a favorite color because I love all colors! Colors are meant to compliment each other so why would you want to choose only one??? So when my sister picked the rainbow theme for the shower, I couldn't have been happier. One of my favorite parts of the decor was this rainbow jelly bean bar.

My crazy sister actually carried all these jelly beans on her flight with her from TX. HEAV-Y! But, oh so yummy.

My cousin Heather volunteered to make the shower cake, which turned out adorable and was also quite yummy! She even used the new Wilton edible paper decorations! And, since everyone was bringing me gifts, I felt like I should provide the party favors. Here's a shot of our colorful cake/favor table at the shower:

The favors included:
-Cupcakes topped with mini doughnuts (I bought this new Wilton pan at the annual Tent Sale.)

-Rainbow macarons (Not to be confused with macaroons, of which I have recently been guilty. Tutorial coming soon!)

-Baby candy sticks using this Wilton mold but I mounted them on Tutti Fruity candy sticks from Cracker Barrel instead of pretzels

-And lots and lots of decorated sugar cookies that looked like cupcakes, ice cream cones, lollipops, and dot strips

The table decorations were so cute, and I loved the Whirly Pops in the sequined Jelly Belly jars!

I have to tell you about the games we played because they were actually fun!

Birthday Cards for the Baby:
-While we were waiting for all the guests to arrive, we all made baby Mikaela birthday cards! Everyone was allowed to choose whichever year they wanted. The idea is that they were supposed to share a fond memory of themselves and/or me at that age. Or, they could give Mikaela some advice for that age. At first, it was hard to figure out what to write, but I'm so glad we did this! Mikaela now has birthday cards from her baby shower from age 1 to age 24! And they're all sealed so it will be fun to read them together as the years go by.

Gift Bingo:
-Robin pre-made bingo cards with things from our registry: diapers, swing, bouncer, Boppy, onesie, mittens, etc. While I opened gifts, the guests all played Bingo! I really liked this game because it kept people from focusing all the attention on me. I'm not a big fan of opening gifts in front of a crowd so this was a nice distraction. And, BONUS, one of the guests gets to win a prize!

Guess the Girth:
-And, of course, we played the Guess the Girth game. A ball of yarn was passed around and everyone cut off a segment they thought would fit perfectly around my baby bump. This game is always a fun one!

Amazingly, those are the best baby bump photos we got during the shower. Whoops! But here are my other 2 favorite photos from the day:

Grammy (my Mom), me & Mikaela, and Mimi (Adam's Mom)

And a photo with my beautiful sister, Robin.

*All photos without my watermark were taken by Julie from The Little Kitchen. Thanks, Julie! You're awesome!

The Big Cookie Reveal!

2011-06-27T16:27:00.004-04:00

Last week, I posted this picture:

And I told you the cookies were a surprise for someone very important in my life. Did you guess who that person was???

My mom!

Coincidentally, one of my Mom's former students (she's a 5th grade teacher in TX) was in Florida on vacation with her family. Her Mom saw my temporary Ph.D.-serts & Cakes website and called me. They wanted to bring some surprise cookies back to my Mom! How sweet is that?!

So I decided to do a "Summer Teacher" cookie mix.

She received chalk boards, pencils, watermelon, beach balls, sunglasses, cupcakes, and ice cream cones. When I think of "teacher on vacation," that's what comes to mind!

The best part was that Mom had NO CLUE! *insert evil laugh here* I love being sneaky like that.

Rolled Sugar Cookie Process & a Sneak Peak

2011-06-24T08:41:00.006-04:00

People ask me all the time how I bake my sugar cookies so that they don't burn or spread while baking. I've posted my sugar cookie recipe here before, but let's go through my whole process today so you can see it from start to finish.

*Disclaimer: There are MANY different methods to rolling out cookie dough. This method may or may not work for you. It's what works for me. Period.

Step 1: Make Sugar Cookie Dough
I use this recipe from Cooking Light Magazine. I always mix up the dough at least 1 day in advance and store it in the refrigerator so it's nice and chilled when I'm ready to bake.

Step 2: Roll Out Dough
Here are the tools you'll need:
-1 rolling pin (silicone-coated works best)
-nonstick baking spray
-cookie cutters of choice
-SilPat
-1 batch of sugar cookie dough

Spray SilPat with baking spray and place dough on top. I give my dough a good smoosh with my hand so it's a little easier to roll (remember, it's chilled so it's very hard). Then spray the top of the dough with baking spray.

Roll out the dough. If it's sticking to your rolling pin, spray the top of the dough again with baking spray. You don't need a perfect rectangle/circle when you roll. In fact, I usually use only 1/4 of the sugar cookie dough (the rest is stored in the fridge) and work on only one side of the SilPat.

Do you have trouble keeping your dough an even consistency throughout? Try using Wilton's 20-inch rolling pin with guide rings to get an even thickness. Or, place one wooden dowel on either side of your cookie dough and roll on top of that. Both the guide rings and the wooden dowels will only let you go to a certain thickness so you won't get super thin spots in your rolled dough.

Step 3: Cut out Cookies
Using your chosen cookie cutter, cut out your cookies from the rolled dough. Don't cut them too close together, though, because they will spread a little bit while baking.

Step 4: Tear Away Excess Dough
Peel up the excess dough around the cookie cut-outs. Simple as that! It should come up really easily since you sprayed the SilPat with baking spray. If it gives you trouble in spots, slide a thin spatula underneath it. Of course, be careful not to nudge your perfectly shaped cookie cut-outs.

Step 5: Repeat Until SilPat is Full
Now, I have to mention here that some people like to freeze the shapes at this point. Then, you could pick them up and move them around the SilPat. This would allow you to fit more shapes on 1 pan and reduce your total amount of baking time.

I'd rather just bake what I can fit on a pan, and continue rolling on another SilPat. When I bake cookies, I have 4 SilPats going at a time so I've always got one ready to go in the oven.

Step 6: Bake!
Baking time will depend on your oven and the size of your cookie. If I'm unsure how long the cookie size will take to bake, I usually set the timer for 7 minutes and check it then. Your cookie should not be shiny at all when it's finished baking.

That being said, it'll take some practice to know when to remove the cookies from the oven. Ideally, you want to remove them JUST BEFORE the edges start to turn brown. In the image below, two of the cookies are perfect, but the one in the left rear started to get a little brown. A little brown like that is ok because your decorations will probably mask it. Yay!

Let the cookies sit for 1-2 minutes on the pan. This will allow them to harden a little. When they're hard enough to lift (they don't break when you lift them), move them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Step 7: Repeat!
Just keep repeating the above steps until you've used all your dough. If the dough starts to get too warm, it'll get really sticky. When I'm done working with some dough, I throw it back in the fridge or freezer. The key is to keep it chilled!

Now you may have also noticed in the picture above that after you bake, the baking spray on the SilPat turns brown. Not very appetizing, right?! Well, it won't do much damage. If you roll your dough on top of that, the dough will start to turn brown a little, but it won't change the flavor. If you want to avoid the color change, just wipe the SilPat with a paper towel before you roll dough out on it again.

So, why was I baking cookies this week? Well, I can't reveal that yet...but I can tell you it was a surprise for one of the most amazing people in my life. Here's a sneak peak of the finished cookies:

And I have no problem showing you that sneak peak because these margarita cookies actually broke while I was packaging them! So this person won't even receive them...I already ate them! Stay tuned for the big reveal of the rest of the cookie batch and the recipient next week!

Baby Gender Reveal Parties

2011-06-24T08:21:00.003-04:00

(Photo from MailOnline.com)

Have you heard of the baby gender reveal parties? I am in love with this idea, and I've been dying to convince my friends to let me bake their gender reveal cake. Ok, let's backtrack. What's a gender reveal party?

Well, this is a trend that's getting more and more popular. Instead of finding out the gender of their baby in the doctor's office during a sonogram, expectant couples ask their doctor to write the gender on a piece of paper and seal it in an envelope. Then, they deliver that envelope straight to their cake baker. The baker decorates the outside of the cake with a gender neutral design...but the inside? Is either PINK or BLUE!

(Photo from iVillage.com)

So the couple picks up the cake and takes it home to a party, usually filled with friends and family. When they cut the cake, everyone discovers at the same time whether they're having a boy or girl!

When Ph.D.-serts & Cakes opens its doors, we will definitely offer this service! In the meantime, if you are pregnant and want to try this, email me! Even if you live outside of Tampa, FL, I have ideas for how we can do this and ship the goods to you!

And, by the way, did you catch the big reveal of Ph.D.-serts & Cakes' website and logo on Facebook this week? If not, check it out at www.phdserts.com. The website is still under construction, but if it's anything like the amazing logo that Allison Anne Stevens Designs created for me, I know it'll be out of this world!

Princess Birthday Cake

2011-06-21T09:21:00.006-04:00

Last weekend, I made my first cake in Tampa! It was only supposed to feed 25 people, but I hadn't touched a cake in weeks so I went a little overboard. I made it 2-tier, and it probably should have fed about 60 people. But, from what I'm told, there wasn't much cake leftover after the party so I guess they didn't mind!

The cake was for my mother-in-law's boss, Debi, who owns a clothing boutique called the Princess Boutique. They told me they wanted the cake decorated in shades of pink, topped with the Princess tiara, and to somehow incorporate high-heeled shoes.

So there you have it! I decided that using black silhouettes of the stilettos would look the most chic and help to contrast the "little girl" feel that the pinks & tiara were portraying. And I used the new Fabric Fondant & Gum Paste Mold from Wilton that I picked up a couple of weeks ago at the Wilton Food Blogger Workshop (stay tuned to see more of what I'm making with my loot).

But Debi wasn't the only one celebrating a princess' birthday last week! Our puppy Nani turned 4! In dog years, we're the same age now!

Taylor and my mother-in-law brought Nani some goodies, including this adorable ice cream cone cookie for puppies!

Nani was eager to please. Sit! Shake! Lay down!

Then she carried the cookie around the house for a bit...

...and finally settled down and smiled (or snarled?) for the camera.

Happy birthday, Debi & Nani!

Farm-Themed Birthday Cake

2011-06-06T17:03:00.004-04:00

It's been quiet on the blog lately. There are a lot of exciting things going on in my life! I'll share some "sneak peeks" with you in a minute, but first let's talk CAKE! Here's a cute cake we just made for a 2nd birthday party.

They wanted it farm animal-themed so I made fondant cows and pigs and stuck them to the sides of the cake.

We also decorated with corn stalks, white fences, a farm tractor, and a huge #2 topper.

So, what's so exciting that it can possibly keep me from updating this blog regularly? Well, it involves moving, opening, birthing, and caking!

My family just relocated to Tampa so I can open my own custom cake shop. The cake shop is already in the works and I'm sure you'll read more about it on this blog. Be sure to stay tuned for the official unveiling of my new logo and website!

And, as you know already, I'm now 25 weeks pregnant with our first child! It's an exciting process and I'm loving every minute of it. Forgive me if setting up my baby girl's nursery occupies more of my time than it should. Some call it nesting...I think I'm just overly excited to welcome her to our family!

Last, but certainly not least, I'm gearing up to attend the Wilton Food Blogger Workshop in Chicago later this week! 27 food bloggers are going to be there, and I think if we find time to sleep, we'll be lucky. They're showing us the test kitchen, we're having cake decorating competitions (I'm game!), we're going to the annual Sidewalk Sale, etc, etc, etc. I'll definitely blog the whole adventure when I get home. There are so many things I'm looking forward to in this trip, but I'm definitely dying to meet the peeps behind Cake Spy and Cupcakes Take the Cake who will also be there! Woohoo! Wilton HQ, here I come!

A Casino-Themed Birthday Cake

2011-05-18T08:13:00.004-04:00

Here's a fun cake we made for a man's 30th birthday party!

They wanted the cake to be casino-themed so we made a roulette wheel out of Rice Krispies Treats for the topper. The cards and poker chips were made of gum paste and we "glued" them to the cake to make the cake come to life.

They didn't want the cake to specifically say "Happy 30th Birthday!" so we subtly hinted at this birthday milestone. Can you find it? *HINT: You can see it in the picture below if you look very closely.*

ANSWER: The roulette ball came to rest on #30!

Owl Baby Shower Cake

2011-05-05T09:00:00.004-04:00

It seems like we've been doing a lot of baby shower cakes lately! Here's one we created for Betsy, the owner of The Plant Shoppe here in town.

The whole cake was iced in white buttercream and decorated with fondant polka dots. The bow was also made of fondant and rested at the base of the bottom tier.

The owls on the topper were straight from the baby shower invitation! They were printed on icing sheets using a PhotoFrost machine and mounted on gum paste to give them some rigidity.

Cute, simple, and to the point.

And don't you love the name Andrew Joseph?!

Brush Embroidery Lace Wedding Cake

2011-05-02T13:04:00.002-04:00

Many brides ask us to replicate the lace pattern on their gown. Of course, there are many ways in which you can do this on a cake, but one way is brush embroidery. We used it on this Rustic Elegant wedding cake back in October 2010. It gives a very elegant, almost-sewn look to the pattern. Want to try it?

-Here's a tutorial by Wilton.
-And here's another video tutorial on YouTube.

This time, however, the cake was covered in white fondant and the brush embroidery was also done with white buttercream. White on white is pretty, but you lose some of the details so I went back and outlined the pattern again with white buttercream to add some definition.

The wedding reception was held outdoors at Haile Plantation Golf & Country Club. *Notice the golfer in the background. I'm sure he was gone before the wedding started.*

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups Groom's Cake

2011-04-27T08:20:00.002-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, we did a wedding and groom's cake at Sweetwater Branch Inn in Gainesville. And now that I think of it, I can't remember what the wedding cake looked like for the life of me! Whoops!

That's ok though. The star of this blog post is the groom's cake. If you follow Mel's Cake Walk on Facebook, this cake will look familiar. I posted a very similar cake by Cup a Dee Cakes almost a year ago as a "Friday Feature."

This bride and groom wanted a close representation of that cake. If you do a google image search for Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cake, you'll find a bazillion of them. Apparently, there are quite a few Reese's fanatics out there!

For this cake, we created a Reese's Peanut Butter Cups package and left one cup peeking out the opened end of the package. Here's a shot of the cake just after completion in the bakery:

At Sweetwater Branch Inn, the bride left a LOT of Reese's cups for me to spread around the cake. I have to admit that the cups really completed the look of the cake. And they really smelled delicious, but by the time I opened my 200th Reese's cup, I was sick of them! Of course, I still ate the 2 damaged cups on the way back to the bakery...but that's besides the point...

Teddy Bear Baby Shower Cake

2011-04-22T08:44:00.003-04:00

This is one of my favorite recent cakes because it was done for a friend. Karen, a good family friend, contacted me and asked me to make a cake for her daughter's baby shower. Of course, everything had to go through Ms Debbie's Sugar Art, but we were thrilled to do the cake!

Karen sent me this photo of the bedspread they're using in the nursery:

How cute is that?! She left the cake design totally up to me and just asked that I use the bedspread as inspiration.

A few days before I made the cake, I created the teddy bear topper out of gum paste. I was so excited with how it turned out that I sent this photo to Karen from the bakery. It's poor quality because I took it on my non-smart, horribly annoying phone...but I think can see the bear pretty well.

And here's the finished cake!

Karen picked up the cake in Gainesville and drove it all the way to Tampa (without incident) for the baby shower. Thank you for letting me do the cake! I really enjoyed it!

Cake for a Hair Stylist

2011-04-14T09:04:00.004-04:00

Last week, we created a cake for a hair stylist. The customer brought in a picture of the cake and asked for an exact replica. No problem!

We carved the blow dryer out of a chunk of cake and covered it with red fondant. Then we used black airbrush color to add dimension and shadowing to the blow dryer. And, finally, we added the stripes, personalized "B", and the power cord.

And all the accessories around the hair dryer were made of gum paste by yours truly.

That reminds me, I'm due for a hair cut! *wink*

2011 Florida ICED Cake Competition - Finally Over!

2011-04-04T14:25:00.008-04:00

Well, it's been a long time coming, but the Florida ICED Cake Competition has finally come and gone! Lisa & I began planning the competition about a year ago so it was awesome to see it finally become a reality.

I'm posting about 200 photos taken by our Show Photographer, Elise Kersey, on Picasa so I thought for this blog post, I'd show you some behind the scenes and sometimes goofy stuff.

To give you an idea of the size of the competition, we had 111 pre-registered competition entries. Of course, a few didn't show up the day-of the event, but we also had a few extras show up with cakes to be entered! Lisa & I were expecting between 200 and 300 people to attend the show so we had 300 programs printed. The doors opened to the public at noon and we ran out of those puppies around 1:30pm! We also had over 300 chairs brought in for the awards ceremony, and there was still standing room only! Needless to say, it was a MUCH bigger event that Lisa & I ever dreamed!

Now, sure, Lisa and I had planned the event as well as we could, but there are always hiccups. Even if you've only thrown a birthday party for your kiddo, you know things always come up to throw you for a loop! So when you're dealing with 100 competition entries sometimes not so patiently waiting to be checked in, people trying to purchase demo tickets at the last second, and probably about 500 people from the public just hoping to gawk at and eat some cake...those little hurdles turn into mountains that must be conquered immediately to keep everyone happy!

That's when you turn to your right- and left-hand man/woman for help. My right-hand woman is my Mommy, who flew all the way from TX just to help with the show! Isn't she amazing?! Afterward, she said she'd never worked that hard in her life...and, believe me, she wasn't exaggerating! I had her running all over the place!

And my left-hand man is my adorable hubs, Adam. (I put him on my left because that's the side that wears the wedding ring...makes sense, right??) I had him running all over the place too, including a lunch run to Burger King. In fact, that's him, below, taking lunch orders from a few volunteers.

We had over 30 volunteers at the show, and it really wouldn't have been a success without them. Lisa & I were being pulled in so many different directions that I'd often tell someone quickly how/what to do and then run off to take care of something else. I didn't even have time to check on them to see if I'd made sense or if they were doing it correctly. And for the record, there was no need because they were all awesome!

We had 3 teams of judges. The first team was comprised of Mercedes Strachwsky of Bake Me a Cake in Orlando, FL, Edna de la Cruz of Design Me a Cake in Orlando, FL, and Rebecca Sutterby of Sugar Creations in Savonburg, KS.

The second team was Susan Clippinger of Sweet Designs Kitchens in Orlando, FL, Debbie Busser of Ms Debbie's Sugar Art in Newberry, FL (and my boss!), and Grace Jones of Frosting on the Cake in Orlando, FL.

And the 3rd team, judging the cupcakes, was Cindy Morales of Sweet Stop Bakery in Ocala, FL, Cindy Dinges of Decadence a la Carte in Ocala, FL, and Kathy Wyatt of A Wedding & Catering by Kathy in Daytona Beach, FL.

In fact, one of the cupcake entries was by one of my Wilton students, Candace Palmer!

She didn't get any awards at the competition, but I'm so proud of her for entering! Way to go! It's hard work to enter a competition! And, look, Elise captured a photo of Candy (in purple) and another student Michelle! (There was a 3rd student, Allison, next to Michelle but you can't see her from this angle.) Hello, ladies!

So anyway, the day was crazy. People were in and out all day long, and the seats we had set up for the awards ceremony filled up fast! Some people were sitting in seats as early as 11am! We kicked them out because competitors were still trying to set up their entries then...but I guess people really wanted a good seat for the awards ceremony.

In the midst of the chaos, Lisa and I were interviewed for the 11 o'clock news. What, you missed it? Yea, I was sleeping by then too. But here's the video on YouTube.

People told us all day how impressed they were with how organized the show was, but I think the look on my face in this picture captures how I was really feeling:

"YIKES!" And notice Debbie behind me just giggling away!

But when it's all said and done, it was a fun day! We raised about $4000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Central & Northern Florida so all the hard work was worth it.

Want to see more about the competition? Check out these links:
Our official website: www.floridaiced.com
Our Facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/FloridaICED
Our Shutterfly online album: https://picasaweb.google.com/mjudge83/2011FloridaICEDCakeCompetition#
The Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3_Kqlm6F3w
A blog post on The Little Kitchen: http://www.thelittlekitchen.net/2011/03/29/2011-florida-iced-cake-competition-ocala-florida/
A blog post on Love & Sugar Kisses: http://lovesugarkisses.blogspot.com/2011/03/florida-iced-cake-competition.html#comment-form
A blog post on The Cake Engineer: http://www.cakesbyroxanne.com/2011/03/wedding-gum-paste-stilettos.html
A 2nd blog post on The Cake Engineer: http://www.cakesbyroxanne.com/2011/03/romantic-wedding-dress-cake.html
A blog post by Ms Debbie's Sugar Art: http://sayitsweetly2.blogspot.com/2011/03/florida-iced-cake-competition-held-in.html

Ice Cream Cone Cookies

2011-03-15T10:58:00.003-04:00

I'm so tired of cold weather...can we all pretend it's summer already??? I love the feel of the sun on your skin, especially while you're licking an ice cream cone!

I actually decorated these cookies back in December (I live for the summer) but I've been waiting to post them until the weather was at least a little bit warm.

Yummmm....double and triple decker ice cream cones!

Ladybug 1st Birthday Cake

2011-03-09T09:01:00.004-05:00

Here's a sweet little cake we made for Maddie's first birthday.

The cake was iced in light green buttercream and was decorated with buttercream grass and white gum paste daisies. And the ladybug topper was made of Rice Krispies Treats and covered with fondant.

Debbie gave me artistic freedom on the ladybug so instead of going juvenile with the face, I went a little more adult. I tried to make her look like a sweet little lady - one Maddie might see in one of her storybooks.

Happy Birthday, Maddie!

Ketchup Bottle Groom's Cake

2011-03-08T10:45:00.002-05:00

Here's a groom's cake that's close to my heart. Growing up, my best friend Amy put ketchup on everything - even potato chips! She was a definitely ketchup lover!

So I totally understood when a bride & groom came in to order a cake that looked like an old-fashioned ketchup bottle. The groom is apparently a ketchup fanatic too!

The cake was hand-carved and covered with red fondant. And, when we delivered it, the groom oohed and awed over it! So here's to you Amy and Mr. Ketchup Groom!

Calphalon 7 Quart Digital Slow Cooker WINNER!

2011-03-07T08:48:00.003-05:00

The wait is finally over! The winner has been chosen!

Tamara B. said... 41: Follower GFC
(tamaraben)
tamben7996(at)aol(dot)com
February 22, 2011 10:50 PM

Congrats, Tamara! I have emailed you! You have 48 hours to respond to the email or another winner will be chosen. Thanks to all who entered and to Calphalon for sponsoring the giveaway!

Panhandle Cake CRUMBS - LIVE 1-Tip Contest!

2011-02-24T09:11:00.006-05:00

During the 2011 Panhandle Cake CRUMBS Competition, they have a couple of live mini-competitions to keep the crowds entertained. Susan, show chairman, asked me to participate in the 1-tip competition. The idea is that 3 different cake decorators are given all the supplies they need to decorate a cake - spatulas, icing, piping bags, colors, etc. - and only ONE decorating tip. The decorating tip is kept a mystery until just before the competition. So, you can pretty much expect to see some crazy tip that no one ever uses anymore!

Well, I'm a nerd at heart so I brought a few cake decorating books in the car with me. I was hoping to study up on some of the weird tips. I mean, we had a 5.5 hour drive to the competition so I might as well use my time wisely, right? Well, it didn't help because the tip we were given was not in any of my books! Bummer!

We were given tip 100:

...Ready? ...Set?...Go!

I started the competition by dropping one of my spatulas on the ground. Whoops! Luckily, they gave us a bunch so I didn't have to use the dirty one. Then I colored my icing yellow to add a pop of color to the cake.

I think this is about the time Susan (on the far right) asked me if I'd ever used that tip before. "No ma'am, never seen the dang thing in my life!"

After I got my cake iced, I colored the rest of my icing 5 different colors. I figured, I'll get the mixing overwith so all I have to do is decorate! Did I mention we had 30 minutes to complete our cakes? Yea, that's pretty fast. After I mixed all 5 colors, I realized we only had 3 piping bags.

Me: "Susan, are we only allowed to have 3 piping bags?"
Susan: "Yup!"
Me: "Fabulous!"

So I loaded 2 colors in one bag. If you look really closely in the picture below, you can see the pink on the bottom of the bag and the orange on the top. It created a pretty cool effect on the cake when I piped the border.

Then, I taped off half of the tip, loaded a bag with blue icing, and piped stringwork around the outsides. Now, of course, I did this part in about 5 minutes so it's not even or consistent. But I had to do stringwork - it's become sort of like my signature at competitions lately.

And you can't tell from any of the pictures Adam took, but I also piped flowers and polka dots on top of the cake. Oh, and the word "groovy" since it is a 1960s-themed cake competition!

Now to present our cakes to the audience!

Here's Rhonda Motley's (Did I get her name right? Oh, I'm so bad with names!):

Here's mine:

And here's Sandy Bishop's:

Of course, I have to mention that Rhonda and I are professional cake decorators and Sandy is not. But she had plenty of personality to make up for her lack of experience. *wink*

And the winner? Surprisingly enough, me! Susan said the judges (those people hovering in the background of the pictures above) chose the winner based on the creativity of using the tip, the overall design, and the relevance to the competition theme.

I'm sorry that we didn't get a better close-up of all the entries, but trust me when I say they were all great! So different and so creative!

Calphalon 7 Quart Digital Slow Cooker Review & Giveaway

2011-02-22T13:33:00.004-05:00

I am a slow cooker addict. There, I said it. I'm not seeking an intervention, though. Instead, I want to convert you to a slow cooker lover if you're not one already!

I mean, what's better than coming home after a long day at work (and they're all long, aren't they?) and having dinner already cooked and smelling delicious?! I use my slow cooker almost every week for at least one meal, and then the following evening we have leftovers for dinner. So when Calphalon offered to let me try out their brand new 7 Quart Digital Slow Cooker and do a review, I was jumping up and down in my chair. And, best of all, they're going to give one away to a lucky reader! That's a $149.95 value! Aren't you excited?!?!

I'll get to the giveaway in a minute, but first I have to talk about the slow cooker itself. It's fabulous! The sleek stainless steel and black design would look good in just about any kitchen. My husband loves it because the crock fits easily in the sink for washing. And I haven't even told him it can go in the dishwasher! *evil laugh*

The digital display is so easy to operate. I usually read the instructions before I start using anything electronic...but this was just too easy. Just dump your food in, click a couple of things on the digital display, and head to work! It's got 4 mode settings - auto (cooks 2 hours on high and then the rest of the time on low), high, medium, and low, and it's equipped with Calphalon's exclusive Opti-Heat system that helps distribute heat so the food cooks evenly. The timer can be set for up to 24 hours - perfect for the best fall-off-the bone BBQ short ribs!

Since I use a slow cooker all the time, I wanted to try a new recipe for the review. Ever made a cake in a slow cooker? Sounds perfect, right? You have company coming over for dinner so you're bogged down with all the food preparations. Who has the time or effort to make an amazing dessert too? Ahhhhh, let the slow cooker do it! I made a Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cake using a recipe I found on about.com. I set the cake to bake while we ate dinner and it was ready shortly afterwards! Spoon a little vanilla ice cream on top of the warm, molten cake and drizzle some chocolate or caramel over the top...pure bliss...

And for a quality control test, I also made my favorite slow cooker pot roast dinner in the Calphalon 7 Quart Digital Slow Cooker. YUM! Perfection! And if you're curious, it's my favorite recipe because I just throw whatever I want into the crock and it's always delicious. Here's a list of what I add if I have it on hand:
1 boneless pot roast
1 chopped yellow onion
1 can diced tomatoes (undrained)
1 small can tomato paste
1 garlic clove, minced
1 can low sodium chicken broth
petite red potatoes, quartered
sliced carrots
pinch of dried rosemary, basil, oregano
1 bay leaf

I think that's it. But if I don't have something, it doesn't go in! No biggie! It's always yummy, and no one ever notices the missing ingredient.

And now on to the part you've been waiting for! The giveaway! Calphalon is giving away 1 7 Quart Digital Slow Cooker (US residents only, 18 years and older, please) to one of you! For a chance to win, visit Calphalon's website and leave a comment telling me what else you'd like to have in your kitchen. Note: This part is mandatory and must be completed before extra entries can be awarded.

Extra entries:
1 entry - Be a Cake Walk follower on Google Friend Connect (in the left sidebar).
1 entry - Subscribe to Cake Walk's RSS feed.
1 entry - Like Mel's Cake Walk on Facebook.
1 entry - Add the Cake Walk button to your blog.
1 entry - Follow @MelsCakeWalk on Twitter.
1 entry - Retweet the giveaway. (Use the Retweet button at the top of this post. You can do this 2 times/day; leave a comment here each time.)
3 entries - Make a post about this giveaway on your own blog. (Leave 3 comments here to get credit.)

Leave one comment per entry please. If you already do any of the above, please say so in a comment to get credit for the extra entry. This contest is open to adult US residents only. The giveaway will end Sunday, March 6, 2011 at midnight eastern time. Good luck!

*And after you've entered this giveaway, head over to thelittlekitchen.net to enter her Calphalon 2-Slot Toaster giveaway!

2011 Panhandle Cake CRUMBS Competition!

2011-02-21T20:36:00.006-05:00

Well, you probably haven't noticed, but I've been pretty quiet on the blog for the past week. That's because I've been busy finishing my entry to the 2011 Panhandle Cake CRUMBS Competition. I entered last year's competition, fairy tale-themed, with Shrek's & Fiona's Wedding Cake. Here are a bunch of photos from last year's event if you're interested.

I don't want to overload you with photos so I'll just post photos of my entry today. Stay tuned for photos from the on-site 1-tip Decorating Contest and the other competition entries!

Here's the view of my entry from the front:

This year's theme was the 1960s so my cake was called "Sweet 16 in the 1960s." I tried to recreate edible versions of things you might find in a teenage girl's room in the 1960s.

And here's the back:

Of course, if it was a Sweet 16 cake, there had to be a birthday cake on it somewhere! Martha Stewart did a similar cake, and I like the mod look...so I adapted it: changed colors, added a few things, and here ya go:

And this particular 16-year-old has a scrapbook turned to a page showing her boyfriend Mark and her best friends at the drive-in, the skating rink, and the science fair. I found all these photos in one of Adam's uncle's high school yearbooks from the 1960s. Treasures!

This is my absolute favorite part of the cake - the lime green go-go boot made entirely of Rice Krispies Treats! I love how the pom poms came out! Wanna know a secret? I only made the pom poms to cover boo-boos on the boot! I didn't have the pom poms in my original cake sketch, but I'm happy with how they look. They add a little fun & flirtatiousness to the boot!

I built the cake stand for the birthday cake out of foam board and Rice Krispies Treats. Of course, I could have used a store-bought cake stand, but you don't get points for purchased and non-edible items. To decorate the sides of the cake stand, I use a fondant crimper and piped both traditional and Oriental stringwork.

And, on the back of the cake, I had an orange phone made of Rice Krispies Treats, and I propped up 2 record albums - The Beatles' Yellow Submarine and Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Now, if you're a Floyd fan, you know that Dark Side of the Moon was actually released in the 1970s. Ooops! I didn't realize that until after I'd made the album cover, and it came out so awesome I just had to use it! Luckily, the judges didn't seem to notice. *wink*

So did I win anything? Well, that's the exciting part, isn't it!?

I won 1st Place in the Professional Division, Best of Show, and Decorator's Favorite.

And here's a photo of the massive cake, me, Lew Churnick (owner of PhotoFrost), and Lisa Menz. I used PhotoFrost images to make the scrapbook and LOVE their product! Lisa has a PhotoFrost printer so after I scanned the images and edited them a little, she printed them off on the icing sheets. Thank you, Lew and Lisa!

You can be sure that when I get my bakery going in Tampa, one of the first pieces of decorating equipment I'll purchase is a PhotoFrost printing system!

Wedding Cake with Bride's Custom-Made Flowers

2011-02-10T09:42:00.003-05:00

Here's a gorgeous and interesting cake I did a few weeks ago:

The cake was iced in buttercream. The flowers & leaves were all made of gum paste and the brown swirl piping was done in chocolate buttercream.

The bride purchased the rhinestone centers for the flowers and asked us to build the flower petals around them.

So I made hot pink 5-petal blossoms for the larger jewels and purple stephanotis-like flowers for the smaller jewels. I love how they came out! Bright with color...and just a little touch of sparkle!

Gator Color Flow Cake

2011-02-09T08:55:00.003-05:00

This is a giant groom's cake I did a few weeks ago. The oval-shaped cake was covered with blue fondant. Then, the UF Gators logo was piped right on top of the cake in royal icing and flooded with thinned down royal icing.

It's the same way you would decorate a cookie, but this was much, much bigger!

At the wedding reception, the bride had set up a little shrine thingy for the groom's cake with pictures of them at UF football games, a cheerleader's pom-pom, and orange & blue rose petals!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Cookies

2011-02-07T10:40:00.002-05:00

By far, the cake I get the most comments and emails about is the Very Hungry Caterpillar 1st Birthday cake I made shortly after I began working for Ms Debbie's Sugar Art. So, I decided to make some cookies to go along with the cake!

I used an watermelon cutter I found among Debbie's many, many cookie cutters. Here's a similar one from Sugar Daddy's Cake Design.

And my favorite part of the cookies are the little fuzzies all up and down his back!

Super Bowl XLV

2011-02-03T08:20:00.002-05:00

The Super Bowl is this Sunday! Are you excited?! I'm not...not about the football part at least. I'm more excited that all my shows will be starting up again - Survivor, Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, etc.

But here is a football groom's cake I did a couple of weeks ago. I thought I'd post it in honor of the upcoming super bowl.

We're Having a Baby!

2011-02-02T08:54:00.003-05:00

Well the news is out! We've called all our friends & family and even announced it on Facebook. Announcing it on Facebook was a little intimidating for me...once you say anything, EVERYONE knows! That's a little scary!

So, it's only fair to announce it here too...I'm pregnant! My husband and I have been trying to conceive for 15 months so the fact that there is a baby (currently the size of a blueberry, according to what I've read) growing inside me is a bit surreal. And since we'd been trying so long, we had to come up with a creative way to break the news to our immediate families!

I made cookies in the shape of onesies using this cutter & texture mat set from Country Kitchen Sweet Art. On each cookie, I hand-painted a special message for each family member.

These are the cookies for my Dad, Mom, and sister:

And these are the ones we gave to my in-laws:

And, of course, I made a little surprise for the Daddy-t0-be:

The doctor said I'm actually due Sept 22nd, but I was close! How did you break the news to your family and friends? I'd love to hear about it!

Fondant 101

2011-02-01T09:29:00.005-05:00

It's time for a new tutorial! Today, instead of showing you how to do a specific project, we're going to talk about fondant.

What the heck is fondant, anyway?

Well, I like to think of it as edible play dough. Pretty much anything you can do with play dough, you can do with fondant!

You can purchase pre-made, ready-to-use fondant from a variety of sources:
Wilton
Satin Ice
Fondarific
FondX
Choco-Pan (actually an alternative to rolled fondant and made with white chocolate)

Or make your own from scratch:
Rolled Fondant Recipe
Rolled Marshmallow Fondant Recipe

The first think you need to know is fondant dries out quickly so you need to store it wrapped tightly in plastic wrap. I like to wrap mine in plastic wrap and then put it in a zip-top bag for extra protection against air exposure.

Working with fondant is very hands-on so you MUST wash your hands before you begin! Also, be careful what you wear. Any lint or hair particle on your shirt will show up in your fondant as you work. For this reason, knit tops and dark colors are usually avoided. Or just wear an apron!

When you first open your fondant, it won't have much elasticity. If you pull the fondant in opposite directions, it will just break as shown in the pictures below.

So you have to knead it for a while until it become stretchy and elastic.

Now, you're ready to work with it!

You can do so many things with fondant, including but not limited to:
Cover Cakes with Fondant
Decorate Cookies
Add Fondant Accents/Cut-Outs to Buttercream or Fondant Cakes
Make Fondant Bows
Make Fondant Pleats

For many of these applications, you'll need to roll the fondant out to a thin sheet. If you're just beginning, you may want to use Wilton's rolling pins with guide rings. On the rolling pin pictured below, the purple rings allow you to roll your fondant to 1/8 of an inch thick and the pink rings let you go all the way to 1/16 of an inch thick. Using these guide rings helps you get an even thickness throughout your fondant sheet and ensures that you get the thickness you're aiming for.

Before I begin rolling the fondant, I always "smoosh" it with my hand. Just flatten it a little so it's easier to roll.

Then start rolling! Roll from the center of the fondant outward. When you reach the end, go back to the center and roll the other way. Keep rolling until the fondant is so thin that the rolling pin is just gliding over the surface of the fondant. That means your guide rings have worked and you've rolled to the right thickness!

And now you have a sheet of freshly rolled fondant to use for whatever your little heart desires!

AutoFrost Demo Machine

2011-01-28T08:57:00.002-05:00

How many of us hate writing on a cake?

The cake looks perfect...and then you have to write Happy Birthday or Happy Anniversary, praying that you don't misspell it or write on a slant.

Well, as part of their class project, engineering students at Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering have created a robot to write on cakes FOR YOU!

Here's a picture of their creation:

Check out the video to see how it works.

It needs a little bit of tweaking...the icing comes out in squiggles and blobs. But I'm impressed! Aren't you???

Orange & Blue Gift Cake

2011-01-27T08:53:00.003-05:00

I'm behind on editing my cake photos again so I'm down to slim pickings for posting...but I like this cake so I don't feel like you're getting gypped!

It's just a simple square cake covered with blue fondant, topped with a fabulous orange gum paste bow, and decorated with white polka dots.

What better way to say "happy birthday" than with a cake that looks as good as the gift pile! And it tastes SOOOO much better.

New Year's Eve Cake Party!

2011-01-24T08:48:00.003-05:00

The cake decorating birthday parties at Ms Debbie's Sugar Art have really been picking up lately!
Here are pictures from one I did on New Year's Eve:

These girls were very organized. I showed them how to make ribbon roses, fondant bears, zebra print, and various piping techniques. As usual, I brought a bunch of different sprinkles for the to use, but the party mom really got into it and purchased a bunch more so the girls had lots to choose from!

I loved her bright orange finger nails!

And the girl who created this cake has a passion for cake decorating. She brought along a plethora of her own tools and cake decorating books. In one of the books, she'd already picked out which cake she was going to make - one with 4 teddy bears eating a picnic. Her bears were sitting on couplers - how creative! And she hand-made all the food, plates, birthday cake, etc!

When the girls finished their cakes, they moved on to decorating cupcakes the party mom had baked. Yum!

With all that sugar, I don't think the girls had any trouble staying awake until midnight.

Successfully Entering and WINNING Cake Decorating Competitions

2011-01-19T08:54:00.004-05:00

Well, the 1st Annual Florida ICED Cake Competition is only about 2 months away now! If you're planning to compete (which you should), you're at least beginning to think about your entry.

At most cake decorating competitions, the competition pieces are actually completed ahead of time. Typically, the competitors decorate "cake dummies" which are Styrofoam pieces in the shape of cake tiers. And then they decorate them using edible mediums like buttercream, royal icing, fondant, gum paste, modeling chocolate, etc. There are many places to buy cake dummies, but I buy mine from Dallas Foam. In fact, if you use another source, leave it in the comments!

Here are my 10 suggestions for how to successfully enter and WIN cake decorating competitions:
1. Know and Understand the Rules

Competitions come in all shapes and sizes with very different rules. Read through the rules a few times, making notes in places that are unclear or raise questions in your mind. Don't be afraid to ask the show coordinators your questions! If something is unclear, I'm sure they'd be more than happy to help you understand.
Don't be disqualified or lose points in the competition because of a simple rule misunderstanding!

2. Know Your Judges and Their Likes & Dislikes

The judges make the ultimate decision of who wins and loses so please them with your entry. If you know one judge is particularly fond of stringwork, use it! If you know one judge absolutely hates "elephant skin" on cakes, be careful to avoid it at all costs.

3. Think Outside the Box

Most cake decorating competitions have a theme. Go above and beyond the theme with your entry! Make people think, "Wow, why didn't I think of that?!" Draw the eye to YOUR entry and impress both the public and the judges with your creativity.
For example, the FL ICED Cake Competition theme is Romantic Wedding Dresses. Think crazy! Do a wedding dress from the Victorian Era, or one from the future, or one made entirely of peacock feathers!

4. It Must be Your Original Work

It is OK to draw inspiration from other cakes or works of art, but you need to change them to add your own twist. You cannot and will not win if you are merely copying what someone else has already done.

5. Make Your Entry Visually Appealing and Appetizing

Use appropriate color combinations. That's not to say you can use black and hot pink - as long as it looks nice and goes with the theme. But don't use colors like black, orange, and red if it's a Christmas-themed competition!
This is a tricky thing to do correctly. In the long run, you're going for a design that has mass appeal. It's ok to go funky at times, but there has to be something in it that everyone will like. For example, if you go with the peacock feather wedding dress: Not everyone would like that kind of dress. But you'll appeal to the masses because they'll be impressed with your use of color and your talent in pulling off a difficult technique like that.

6. Demonstrate a Mastery of Techniques

You must use precision, uniformity, and (near) perfection on your competition entry. You have to demonstrate that this is NOT the first time you've attempted a technique (even though it may, in fact, be). You need to make the techniques look very cleanly executed and as if they were easy for you to complete.

7. Demonstrate a Number of Techniques

This is another tricky one. The judges will want to see that you are well-versed in many different cake decorating/sugar art techniques. Can you cover a cake with fondant? Can you make fondant figures? Can you do stringwork?
However, there is a fine balance between demonstrating that you can do many techniques and overloading your cake with "over decoration" just to demonstrate the techniques. Choose your favorite techniques - ones that go with the theme, fit your cake design, and show the highest level of difficulty - and use those.
A cake decorating competition is not typically where you want to try a new technique for the first time, unless you are confident that you can MASTER it (see #6).

8. It's All in the Details!

Make people stop at your entry and try to get closer to examine all the fine details on your cake. Give them the impression that they need to admire your cake for hours to get a full appreciation of everything on it.
You want to impress the judges and the public with your overall design...draw them over for closer inspection...and blow them away with the little details!

9. Prepare for the Worst During Delivery

Things happen - bumps in the road, bad drivers, etc! Prepare an "oops" kit so that you can repair ANYTHING that gets damaged upon delivery to the competition. At this point, you've spent hours on your competition piece. If something breaks, take the time to repair it!
Similarly, take advantage of the set-up time the competition organizers have allowed you. If they give you a 3-hour block to set up your piece, get there early! If you have time leftover, great! But you never want to run out of time setting up.

10. Please Yourself

At the end of the day, YOU are taking the cake home again. Are YOU happy with the design? Are YOU happy with the effort you put into it? If YOU aren't happy with your competition piece, how can you expect anyone else to like it?!
Please yourself and learn something from your competition experience. Talk to other competitors about their experiences and techniques they used.
AND HAVE FUN!

Scientific Groom's Cake

2011-01-17T09:28:00.003-05:00

This is the groom's cake that sat alongside the Mango Calla Lilly Wedding Cake at Sweetwater Branch Inn.

Jeremiah & Megan are in the same doctoral program I was in at the University of Florida. Jeremiah specifically studies pain receptors and uses an apparatus that looks a lot like this one (and is technically called a Thermal Preference Apparatus):

So the goal for the groom's cake was to replicate it! Here's the cake:

The yellow is all buttercream. The walls of the apparatus were made of gum paste that was allowed to dry for 1 week. The other decorations are fondant, and the numbers are hand-piped with royal icing.

Oh, and the little rat was made out of modeling chocolate.

Hershey's Baking Pack WINNER!

2011-01-16T15:48:00.003-05:00

Wow, you guys must LOVE Hershey's! This is, by far, the most comments I've received during a giveaway - 421 eligible comments!

And the winner is...

cstironkat said... 160
1/7 tweet #2 http://twitter.com/cstironkat/status/23420656339132416
January 7, 2011 11:49AM


Thanks for entering, everyone! And keep baking!

My Sugar Cookie Recipe

2011-01-13T11:11:00.002-05:00

People keep asking, what recipe do you use for your rolled cookies? It's no secret. I got it from Cooking Light Magazine (my favorite, by the way)!

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 11 1/4 oz)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
10 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large egg whites

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt, stirring well with a whisk. Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla and egg whites. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until combined. Divide dough in half. Shape each dough half into a flattened disk; wrap each disk in plastic wrap. Chill 1 hour.

To bake: Unwrap 1 dough ball and place on heavy-duty plastic wrap. Cover with additional plastic wrap. Roll dough, still covered, to 1/4-inch thickness. Repeat procedure with remaining dough ball. Chill dough 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Remove one dough portion from refrigerator. Remove top sheet of plastic wrap; turn dough over. Remove remaining plastic wrap. Using a 2 1/2-inch cutter, cut dough into 18 cookies. Place cookies 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on pans 5 minutes. Remove cookies from pans; cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough half.

Ok, that's the recipe straight from Cooking Light. But, now here's how I do it:

-Prepare the dough as directed, but I like to chill mine overnight.
-Spray a Silpat with Pam for Baking spray. Set the dough on the Silpat and spray the top of the dough a little. Roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness, and cut cookies with desired cookie cutters.
-Remove excess dough. Rewrap it in plastic wrap and place in the freezer or refrigerator to stay chilled.
-I work on 3-4 Silpats at a time so that I have one loaded with cookie cut-outs and ready to go in the oven.
-Each cookie shape will bake a different length of time so I just keep an eye on the first batch. I remove them JUST BEFORE the edges start to brown. It's tricky...that part takes practice.
-The key is to keep the dough chilled while you work with it. If it becomes too warm, it will stick to EVERYTHING. If that starts to happen, wrap it back up and stick it in the freezer for a few minutes.

When I decorate my cookies with Royal Icing, I use Wilton's recipe. And, for fondant, I like Satin Ice.

Fondant Cupcake Cookie Tutorial

2011-01-13T10:02:00.009-05:00

I decided to try a new technique on a cookie yesterday. So many people decorate sugar cookies with royal icing or glaze...But can you make them super cute with fondant?!

I'm thrilled with how these came out. And - best of all - you don't need any special tools! My tools were all at the bakery so I had to do with what I had lying around the house. So, because I love all of you, here is a tutorial so you too can make adorable fondant-decorated cupcake cookies. Enjoy!

Here's what you'll need:
-fondant in your choice of colors
-the cookies, of course!
-the cookie cutter you used (I used this one from Crate & Barrell...a gift from Nicole!)
-a rolling pin
-a sharp knife

Step 1: Roll out your first choice of fondant color. I don't measure the thickness of my fondant when I work, but you probably want to shoot for about an 1/8 of an inch thick.

Then use the cookie cutter to cut the cupcake wrapper part out of the fondant.

Step 2: Use your knife to cut the top of the cupcake wrapper in a wave motion. Discard the excess fondant.

Step 3: Spread a thin layer of buttercream icing on your cookie and set the cupcake wrapper part on it!

Step 4: Roll out white fondant to 1/8 inch thick, and use the cutter to cut out the icing part of the cupcake.

Step 5: Trim the cherry off the top and trim the bottom with a straight cut - all the way across. Then, stick it on your cookie!

Step 6: Use your finger to push the white fondant down into the waves of the pink cupcake wrapper. Work relatively quickly to get the fondant where you like it. If you work too slow, your fondant will crack, tear, wrinkle, or have any number of undesirable consequences.

Step 7: Use the BACK of your knife to put creases in the cupcake liner. To do this, I just pushed the knife down into the fondant. If you have a straight edge on the back of your knife, there's no need to actually move the knife up or down (which could tear the fondant)...just push down into the fondant and lift!

Step 8: Choose another color of fondant and roll a super thin rope out of it. The thickness of your rope will determine the size of your sprinkles so keep it thick if you want big, whimsical sprinkles. Then, using your knife, cut the rope into pieces that range between 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch long. Again, you can adjust this to how you want your sprinkles to look.

Step 9: Lay your sprinkles on the top of the cupcake in a random fashion. These are just sitting on the cupcake at this point - they are in no way adhered to the fondant so don't make any sudden movements or bump the table.

Step 10: Using your rolling pin, gently roll over the sprinkles to "smoosh" them into the white fondant. This should adhere them to the surface! If not, apply a small amount of water under the sprinkles and that should do the trick.

Step 11: Choose a third color of fondant and roll it into a tiny ball. Using a little dab of buttercream, attach the ball to the top of the cupcake.

Step 12: Then "smoosh" the ball with your finger!

Done and done! Great job! If you make any cookies using the techniques or cookie cutter I used, send them to me! You may be the Friday Feature on Mel's Cake Walk Facebook Fan Page! Ooooh, aaaaah. *grin*

Mango Calla Lily Wedding Cake

2011-01-12T09:26:00.003-05:00

Here's another wedding cake from back in October 2010. This one was done for some friends who were in the same doctoral program as me at the University of Florida. I'll post the groom's cake tomorrow - it's very "scientific."

Megan and Jeremiah got married at the Sweetwater Branch Inn, where they set up the wedding cakes in front of a gorgeous mirror in the foyer area.

The cake was iced in buttercream, and here is a close-up of the gum paste Mango Calla Lilies cascading down the cake and the hand-piped details that matched the embroidery on Megan's dress.

Their wedding photographer was another friend of mine: Elise Kersey. Here are the shots she got:

Seven-Tier Wedding Cake in St. Augustine, FL!

2011-01-11T08:54:00.004-05:00

This wedding cake is from back in October...why haven't I posted it before now? Your guess is as good as mine! But I think you'll all really like it.

It was a seven tier wedding cake - all decorated with white and ivory fondant.

The cake topper was a dome of white and ivory gum paste flowers, and the top two tiers were decorated with fondant swags, lace, and quilting.

Then we had some ivory fondant stripes, more lace, more quilting, and a lot of fondant pleats around the base!

While I was in the middle of setting up the cake, the bridesmaids announced that Caroline was dying to see her cake! So, I moved all my stuff aside and...here comes the bride!

I think she liked it.

And I think she was even more excited to cut into it!

After tasting the cake, Caroline gave the camera a thumbs-up...yummy! But, wait a minute, Rob has icing on his finger...and a rather sinister look on his face. Don't do it, Rob! Do NOT rub that icing on Caroline's gorgeous nose!

*Thank you to Dana Goodson Photography for providing such amazing photos of the cake and cake cutting! See more of her shots of the wedding here.

BCS National Championship 2011

2011-01-10T09:50:00.005-05:00

Tonight will wrap up this year's college bowl season. I LIVE for college bowl games so I'm sad to see it ending again...but I can't wait to watch tonight's game! It's the BCS National Championship Game - Auburn versus Oregon!

Two of my good friends, Ben & Shelby, moved to Oregon last year and are HUGE University of Oregon fans. Shelby wanted to surprise Ben with some Oregon cookies for the big game...so this is what I sent them:

Go Ducks!

Black & White Damask Wedding

2011-01-06T08:47:00.005-05:00

This has to be one of my favorite cakes that we did recently. The bride wanted the cake to be black & white Damask. Now, normally, we just do black Damask royal icing on a white fondant-covered cake, but for this one we alternated the tiers with black and white fondant. Then, we used the opposite color for the royal icing Damask pattern.

Oh, and this was my FIRST time attempting the Damask technique!

Isn't it purdy???

I thought so. And when we arrived to deliver the cake, I thought it matched the rest of the wedding PERFECTLY!

I love this black & white candy favor bar:

And while I was zipping around taking photos, I noticed the hubs was slowly, silently wandering the room. What was he doing? Checking out the air conditioning. That's what an HVAC mechanical engineer does...checks out the venting and duct work in EVERY building we go to. Joy!

The room decorations and event planning were done by Adore Events. Check out their page for some before & after shots and more photos from the wedding.

Pistachio and Pink Wedding Cake - And a New Technique

2011-01-05T08:51:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago, a bride brought us a picture of a gorgeous wedding cake that she wanted replicated. No problem! ...except that we'd never done a cake like the one pictured. So we experimented with different techniques and were able to replicate it! Yay!

Now, maybe I'm just not "up" with current wedding cake trends, but I've never seen a cake like this before:

Don't you just love it?

The technique was created by slightly marbelizing the green and white fondant, cutting it into strips, and applying it in an overlapping pattern to the cake. It was time consuming, but I love how it turned out.

And all the roses were hand-made to match the color swatches the bride provided.

while I was editing the pictures, I thought I'd have a little fun with Photoshop and give the cake a more soft, romantic, vintage feel...

Loving the subtle tones of that shot!

Boy Bear Baby Shower Cake

2011-01-04T11:04:00.003-05:00

Have you all seen enough of Christmas/winter stuff yet? Well, I'll give you a short break today, but I've got more winter cakes to post later so deal with it! *wink*

Here's a cute cake we did for a shower for a baby boy:

They wanted the bottom tier to be quilted, and the top tier to have polka dots that matched the party colors - lime green, dark blue, and brown. Then, they wanted a cute teddy bear sitting on top. We decided to add the baby blanket to give the cake an extra pop of color!

Awe, what a sweet little bear...He looks like he's perfect for hugging, don't you think?

And then we decorated cookie party favors to match the cake! Here are a couple of close-ups of the cookies:

So cute. I'm definitely a fan of the blues, green, and brown color combination!

Hershey's Baking Pack Giveaway!

2011-01-03T08:59:00.005-05:00

Let's start off the new year right...with a Hershey's giveaway!

If you recall, in December I was given the opportunity to interview Linda Stahl, the baking authority, at Hershey's Test Kitchens. To accompany the interview, they sent me an awesome gift package to give away to one of you!

Here's what's included:

Reese's Peanut Butter Chips

Hershey's Milk Chocolate Kisses

Heath Bits 'O Brickle Toffee Bits

Hershey's Natural Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

Hershey's Milk Chocolate Chips

And an adorable chocolate-colored Hershey's apron!

Click on over to my previous post about cookie exchanges for tips/hints and the Linda Stahl interview. But be sure to leave a comment here to enter for a chance to win the Hershey's gift pack!

Official Rules: For a chance to win, leave a comment telling me what your favorite cookie to munch on this holiday season was. Note: This part is mandatory and must be completed before extra entries can be awarded.

Extra entries:
1 entry - Be a Cake Walk follower on Google Friend Connect (in the left sidebar).
1 entry - Subscribe to Cake Walk's RSS feed.
1 entry - Like Mel's Cake Walk on Facebook.
1 entry - Add the Cake Walk button to your blog.
1 entry - Follow @MelsCakeWalk on Twitter.
1 entry - Retweet the giveaway. (You can do this 2 times/day; leave a comment here each time.)
3 entries - Make a post about this giveaway on your own blog. (leave 3 comments here to get credit.)

Leave one comment per entry please. If you already do any of the above, please say so in a comment to get credit for the extra entry. This contest is open to adult US residents only. The giveaway will end Friday, January 14, 2011 at midnight eastern time. Good luck!

2010-12-25T10:39:00.002-05:00

Well, the 12 Days of Cookies are over, and Christmas is here! It's tradition in our family to watch A Christmas Story all...day...long... My dad's a HUGE fan. So, to make him smile, I decorated these leg lamp cookies:

'It's a major award!"

I got the cutter from A Christmas Story House and highly recommend them for any Ralphie-themed gifts you need to get in the future!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Dat 12 - Santa is Coming to Town!

2010-12-24T12:03:00.003-05:00

The sleigh is ready, the gifts are all packed, and Santa is coming to town!

For the Santa cookies, I decided to go back to the classics we probably all decorated when we were a kid.

Are you ready for Santa? Do you leave cookies & milk for him?

Day 11 - Reindeer Cookies!

2010-12-23T11:26:00.003-05:00

It's the day before Christmas Eve so Santa is preparing his sleigh for the big trip. The reindeer are resting up, and they're anxious for the fun to begin!

Day 10 - A Star Cookie

2010-12-22T16:52:00.003-05:00

I'll keep it super short and sweet today - here's Day 10 of cookies! Have a great day!

Show Your Duff Photo Contest

2010-12-21T09:05:00.003-05:00

I've just entered the "Show Your Duff" photo contest! Please visit the page and vote for my sneaker cake!

You can vote daily, if you'd like! *wink*

Day 9 - Mittens and Stockings

2010-12-21T08:49:00.003-05:00

It's Day 9 of the 12 Days of Cookies! I hope you're all staying warm - wherever you are in blogger land!

Both the mittens and stockings were flooded with thinned down royal icing and then the extra little details were added after they dried.

Have you been making holiday cookies? I'd love to hear about them and see them! Email them to me or leave a comment with your own blog post link!

Quick and Beautiful Christmas Cakes

2010-12-20T10:29:00.005-05:00

Ok, folks. Christmas is quickly approaching. If you've thought about bringing a festive cake to your family celebration, you better get baking soon!

But you don't have to spend hours and hours on a cake for it to look gorgeous, elegant, and Christmas-y!

Make a cake that looks like a gift!

Here's one I did for my friend Nikki's office holiday party:

It's a simple buttercream-iced cake with a fondant bow. You could slap that together in a couple of hours, right?!

Here's a close-up of the bow and the gift tag:

Next up, here's a display cake I made for the showroom. It's covered with fondant and airbrushed gold. Again, the bow is made out of fondant.

Here's a similar concept, where the cake was covered in white fondant and topped with a big loopy gift bow. Here, you have to have a little more time because each of those loops has to completely dry before you can assemble the bow.

And, if you're feeling particularly ambitious or you're trying to feed a small army, here's some inspiration for you:

That's 4 cakes covered in white fondant and decorated with blue fondant box tops, ribbons, and bows.

Will you be making a cake for your get-together this week?

Day 8 - Joy!

2010-12-20T08:41:00.002-05:00

Can you believe we're only 5 days away from Christmas! Not much time left for your many to-do lists! Am I stressing you out? Sorry! Ironically enough, I JUST ran across this website 100 Days to Christmas. It helps you plan and get ahead for the holidays so you don't feel so frantic. Might be worth checking out for next year...

Day 7 - Let it Snow Cookie!

2010-12-19T08:29:00.002-05:00

For today's cookie, I searched in Google Images for "penguin snow." Here's a cute image I found:

To make the cookie, you have to flood the background first (the sky and snow on the ground). When that's dry, go back and pipe on the penguin and falling snow. He's just so cute, don't you think!?

Holiday Cookie Exchange - Lessons Learned, Tips, and a Giveaway Sneak Peak!

2010-12-18T20:11:00.005-05:00

One of my favorite holiday traditions is baking Christmas cookies, and I like to share them with others at a cookie exchange. While cookie exchanges are meant to be a time to relax with friends, exchange recipes, and eat yummy food, many people find them frustrating and stressful.

However, Hershey's has launched a new campaign to make cookie exchanges easy for everyone! I recently had the opportunity to interview Linda Stahl, who is the baking authority at Hershey's kitchen. She had some great tips and ideas for both the host and the attendee (see video below)!

I have been hosting cookie exchanges for the last 6 years so I've learned lots of things to make the whole thing more enjoyable for the host. Here are my top 5 tips for hosting a cookie exchange:

1. Plan your menu well in advance so you have plenty of time to grocery shop, pick up the festive plates & napkins, and figure out if you have enough platters on which to display the food.
2. Plan a menu that doesn't require much last-minute prep work. As guests arrive, you should be able to greet them, chat, and invite them to start eating. Don't get yourself stuck in the kitchen taking the hors d'oeuvres out of the oven and miss the party. I try to make things that can be served at room temperature so it can all be set up 30 minutes before guests arrive.
3. Bake your cookie for the exchange at least a day in advance. The cookies will stay fresh as long as you store them properly, and this will allow you plenty of time to prepare the rest of the food for the party.
4. Keep your guests informed! Let them know how many people are coming to the party so they have enough cookies and recipe copies. Also, let them know if you'll be serving a sit-down meal or just hors d'oeuvres so they can plan accordingly.
5. Relax and enjoy your guests! Abandon the kitchen during the party so you can chat with your guests and enjoy the holiday ambiance.

If you're attending a cookie exchange, don't make the assumption that the cookie you bring needs to be complicated or "impressive." Often, the most simple recipes are the tastiest ones! Unless you have plenty of time on your hands, don't try a cookie for the first time the day before or the day of the exchange. Stick to a family recipe or one you're familiar with! You'll arrive at the party in a much better mood, and you might even have a great family story to share about your cookie!

If you're hosting an exchange or have been to one this year, think about 1 tip you'd share with others. And stay tuned because I'll be posting a giveaway from Hershey's in the next few days! To enter, you'll leave your suggestion in the comments section of the giveaway post (not this one)....so start thinking now!

In the meantime, you can go to Hershey's website and register for a chance to win TWO $10,000 kitchen makeovers - one for you and one for a friend!

Also, check out my friend Julie's interview with Linda Stahl on her blog thelittlekitchen. She's got her giveaway up now so head on over!

Zebra & Leopard Print Cookies!

2010-12-18T10:10:00.002-05:00

Last Wendesday, my baby sister turned 24! Twenty four! She's really starting to catch up on me.... *wink*

For her birthday, I made her zebra and leopard print cookies.

The animal print patterns were made with royal icing. The hot pink "R" was made of fondant, and the glitter around the border was just black Wilton Cake Sparkles!

Happy Birthday, Robin! I hope you like the cookies!

Day 6 - A Gingerbread House & A Peppermint Twist

2010-12-18T09:58:00.003-05:00

It's Saturday, and we've all got a million things to do before Christmas so I'll keep this short and sweet!

A gingerbread house!

And peppermint twists!

Day 5 - Christmas Lights

2010-12-17T08:09:00.002-05:00

For Day 5, here are some Christmas lights sugar cookies. These are much more simple in design than yesterday's ornaments, but I love them all the same.

I've been getting quite a few emails asking for my recipe so I'll share that with you in an upcoming post! Happy Friday, everyone!

Day 4 - Ornament Cookies

2010-12-16T08:41:00.003-05:00

These are some of my favorite cookies that I've included in the 12 Days of Cookies. They're simple Christmas ornaments, but each one is different...and so easy to do!

For the blue one on the left: Flood the ornament with blue royal icing. Let that dry overnight, and then go back with white and 2 shades of blue royal icing and add the dots, curves, and lines.

For the Peace ornament: Flood a rectangle in the center with green royal icing. Then flood the top and bottom sections with white royal icing. To make the red polka dots, just add them to the white flooded icing while it's still wet! Once the green dries, go back and write "peace." Easy!

For the Joy ornament: Use the same technique as the Peace ornament, but drag a toothpick through the flooded icing to get that cool pattern. Then write "joy" after the red icing has dried.

For the blue ornament on the left: Again, flood the ornament with blue royal icing. After it dries overnight, go back with white royal icing and add all the details.

For the ornament on the far right: Flood the center portion red. Then, go back and flood sections white and green. Once all the flooded area has dried, just go back and add the details.

Need a more detailed tutorial, check out this one on Bake at 350.

Bertie Heating and Air Holiday House Cake

2010-12-15T08:11:00.004-05:00

This week, we got to make a fun cake for Bertie Heating & Air's holiday party. They wanted a cake in the shape of a house decorated for Christmas! But they also wanted it to resemble their company logo:

No problemo!

The cake itself was 2 stories high, meaning it was equivalent to 2 tiers of cake...or about 10-12 inches tall. The chimney was made of Rice Krispies Treats, and the bricks were individually cut and set in place.

I made the front porch awning out of Rice Krispies Treats and hand-cut the letters for Bertie logo.

Of course, we had to include an air conditioning unit!

And the Christmas lights. They were SO tiny! I had to take a picture with my pinky finger next to one so you could get an idea of how small they were. They were individually glued in place with royal icing!

But it was all so worth it when the customer picked up the cake. She said she'd dreamed of the cake the night before and had goosebumps when she saw it.

This kind of reaction is what we cake decorators live for!

Day 3 - Florida Christmas Trees

2010-12-15T08:07:00.004-05:00

Of course I have to follow up the Florida Snowmen with Florida Christmas Trees!

Palm trees with lights or ornaments. I'm thinking Miami right now...and it's really making me feel slightly warmer!

Day 2 - Florida Snowmen

2010-12-14T15:20:00.003-05:00

With Day 2 of my 12 Days of Cookies, I thought I'd include some snowman cookies since it's been so darn cold outside lately! Last night, we hit lows in the teens...in FLORIDA! Yikes!

So I was thinking...what does a "Florida Snowman" look like? This was what came to mind:

But let's face it, THIS is what a real Florida Snowman looks like:

*This adorable cookie was created by Meaghan at The Decorated Cookie. She calls him Mr. Melty. Don't you love that?! She's awesome, and has a book out!

12 Days of Cookies - Day 1

2010-12-13T09:48:00.002-05:00

From now until Christmas, I'll be posting a different decorated sugar cookie for your viewing pleasure. I'll sprinkle a few cakes in too - because I can't resist. We've done some pretty cool cakes in the last few weeks, and I can't wait to show you!

Day 1 - Christmas Trees 3 Ways.

How do you decorate your tree? With lights, ornaments, garland? Do you use ornaments that have memories and special meaning to your family or do you color coordinate everything?

Is your tree up already or are you one of those who waits until Christmas Eve?

White Buttercream Wedding Cake, Black Bow, and a SURPRISE!

2010-12-06T16:09:00.004-05:00

Here's a very clean, elegant, gorgeous wedding cake. It was 3 hexagon tiers iced in buttercream, with each tier wrapped with a black satin ribbon.

The bride provided the shiny, ornate monograms and the broach to go in the center of the large gum paste bow I made. I love how the bow is offset on the top of the cake, and the tails just drape down over the other tiers!

But, wait! What's this peeking from around the back of the cake???

Oh my! It's a gecko!

Yup, they wanted a sugar gecko climbing up the back of the cake! The bride has a pet gecko, and apparently it represents the couple's quirkiness. Just like no two couples are the same, neither are their cakes!

Or their geckos, for that matter. This is actually the second gecko I made. I based the creation of the first one off a quick Google search for "gecko." The bride & groom were in the bakery the week of the wedding so we excitedly showed them the gecko. It didn't pass inspection. You see, she doesn't have an ordinary gecko. She has one with a stumpy little tail like you see in the photo. The tail actually mimics the head so if the gecko is attacked by a predator, it can fool him and escape!

You learn something new every day, right?

Twitter, anyone?

2010-12-01T08:24:00.002-05:00

Well, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm finally on Twitter!

Are you on? Find me!

Fall Cookie Bouquet Class at Ms Debbie's Sugar Art!

2010-11-30T16:26:00.005-05:00

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, we had a Fall Cookie Bouquet class at the bakery. I posted about it here already, but now I'll give you pictures I took during the class!

We started out by outlining our cookies. Traci had beautiful nails so she became the class' official hand model!

Here's Jerry concentrating on his cookie and pretending I'm not taking a photo. I don't know how he decorates standing up...I forget that I'm standing and lose my balance. Seriously. The whole class was standing so I decided to stand, but I almost toppled over sideways! Does that happen to anyone else???

Then, I taught them how to thin down their icing to flood the cookies. There were 5 people in the class and 5 colors to thin down...perfect! Each person took care of a color. I love it when things work out like that!

Emily was the only person in class who hadn't taken the Wilton Method classes at Michaels - but you couldn't tell! She was awesome!

We lined all our cookies up and aimed a fain on them so they'd dry super fast!

After a little drying time, we added the final details. Don't you love how Corinne marbelized the flood icing on her acorn?

And Anita's turkey turned out super cute!

This is a close-up of the turkeys in process.

And the finished bouquet!

Handmade Christmas Cards

2010-11-29T17:09:00.005-05:00

I don't know what's gotten into me lately, but I felt ambitious enough to make my own Christmas cards. I guess when you have the energy, you've got to put it to work before it fizzles out!

The cards I made were pretty simple and relatively cheap. I didn't price everything out, but I'd guess I spent no more on these cards than I would on store-bought ones.

To make these, I bought 2 sheets of scrapbook paper (at $0.69 each) that had ornaments all over it. I cut out the ornaments and glued them on to the page with a little brown ribbon and a colored bow. So easy! You can't tell from the photo, but the ornaments are sparkly so they're classy and festive too!

For the top two pictured here, I cut a strip of scrapbook paper that had the red and white stripes on it and glued it to the card stock. Then, I glued a ribbon across the seam. The tiny Christmas trees are actually metal brads and the snowflakes are just plastic (got them both at Michael's Craft Stores).

The bottom card was also made with scrapbook paper! I found a page that had rows and rows of presents and another one that had "Ho" written all over it! First, I glued down a strip of the presents. Then, I cut out one "Ho" and framed it in a piece of blue card stock. I glued that in place with a little white bow accent. It's "Ho" cubed...get it? Ho ho ho? You do get it, right??? Maybe I missed the mark on that one...

And these are my favorite because they're so colorful. The center rectangle is scrapbook paper I already had. I've actually had it for years so I'm happy to be finally using it! To make these, I framed the patterned scrapbook paper in a piece of colored card stock and glued it to the card. Then, I glued down 2 strips of ribbon (one with a knot tied in it, offset) and stuck two foam candy cane stickers on top! Again, super easy!

I am not gifted when it comes to paper crafts. So if I can make cards that look somewhat decent (at least, I think so...), you can too. Of course, if you don't feel up to it...check out your other options. Some people are actually PAID to make this stuff!!! Like my good friend Nicole in her Etsy shop.

Happy crafting!

Rivalry Week in College Football and Snowman Cookies

2010-11-27T00:08:00.003-05:00

It's rivalry week for a lot of college football teams across the nation. Adam and I are psyched to watch our teams play...against each other...this afternoon!

I'm predicting a tense afternoon. We have to silently cheer for our teams so we don't upset each other. After all, neither of us wants to sleep on the couch tonight! We can usually get through the day relatively unscathed. It's our parents that do all the trash talking and cause all the trouble! Hush, you guys! *wink*

Lately, I've been on a sugar cookie decorating kick so in honor of the most exciting game of the season (in my opinion, at least), I made two snowmen wearing our school colors.

Notice the University of Florida (orange & blue) snowman's nose is pointed downward while the Florida State (garnet & gold) snowman's nose is point up? That was my subtle way of predicting the outcome of the game. The Noles will win!*

*Adam rarely reads my blog posts so I don't predict that this little comment will cause much trouble in the Judge household. hehe Go Noles!

Fall Cookie Bouquet

2010-11-24T08:35:00.007-05:00

Last Sunday, I taught a Fall Cookie Bouquet class at Ms Debbie's Sugar Art. There were only 5 students, and I think that was perfect! There was plenty of room to move around, lots of individual instruction, and enough time to socialize. Best of all, the students completed a cookie bouquet just in time for Thanksgiving! Yummy!

This is the finished bouquet:

There were 3 fall leaves, 1 pumpkin (with orange sparkles!), 1 turkey, and 1 acorn.

Notice that little blemish on the left side of the turkey? Well, as the instructor, I had to sacrifice the perfection of my piece to demonstrate what would happen if you touch the flooded icing as it dries. Yea, that's the ticket...

I think the turkey and the acorn are my favorites. So cute!

Check out more photos on Ms Debbie's Sugar Art Facebook Fan Page. And, if you're interested, we'll be doing a winter cookie bouquet as well as a gingerbread house class in December! Check Debbie's website for more info on those classes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wedding Dress Cookies & Tutorial

2010-11-22T14:59:00.007-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted a tutorial for you guys! But I think you'll enjoy this one. These cookie are pretty easy to make if you have the right tools.

Here's what you need:
Wedding Dress Cookie Cutter Texture Set from Country Kitchen Sweet Art
Sugar cookies (cut with the Wedding Dress cutter, baked & cooled)
Fondant colors of your choice
a paint brush
water
an angled spatula or knife
a rolling pin

Step 1: Roll the fondant out to 1/8-inch thickness. If you use the Wilton 9-inch rolling pin, the purple guide rings are 1/8-inch so just roll the fondant out until you can't get it any thinner.

Step 2: Choose one of the texture mats included with your cookie cutter set. Lay it on the fondant and press firmly. Be careful that the texture mat does not slip/move on the fondant. Then remove the texture mat and set aside.

Step 3: Use the Wedding Dress cookie cutter to cut out the imprinted fondant.

Step 4: Slather a thin layer of buttercream on the sugar cookie, and lay the fondant cut-out on top.

Step 5: Decorate the dress! For this tutorial, I'm going to make 3 mini ribbon roses to sit on one side of the dress at hip level.

Roll a piece of fondant paper-thin.

Step 6: Cut the fondant into 3 strips approximately a 1/2 inch wide. Then fold the strips in half lengthwise.

Step 7: Starting at one end, roll up the folded fondant strip. I like my ribbon roses to have little pleats in them so you can do that too, if you like.

Step 8: Now, you probably have a bunch of ugly fondant on the back of your ribbon rose so just trim that off with your spatula/knife.

Step 9: Apply a tiny bit of water to the wedding dress, and place the ribbon rose on top.

Repeat Steps 6-9 for the remaining 2 ribbon roses.

You can make so many different dresses with this cutter and texture set from Country Kitchen Sweet Art. For example, here are a few bridesmaid dresses.*

*Please ignore the damaged bow on the dress on the right. I took these cookies to Daytona for an ICES Day of Sharing and, of course, dropped them. Whoops!