Wood Grain Wedding Cake

Elaine wanted a wood grain wedding cake to match her beautiful venue up in Millcreek Inn. At this point, I had done a few wood grain cakes but I wanted to try a new technique. This cake is all buttercream with a marshmallow fondant border, bows, and pine cones. I frosted the cake a few times and let the buttercream set up. Then, I went over the cake with a modeling tool to create the grooves to look like wood grain. Then, I took brown food coloring and traced over the grooves with the color. I used a much wider brush and a bit of water to smooth out the color to give a much lighter wood grain color throughout the tiers. I darkened the tops of each tier, then added the forest green marshmallow fondant border and pine cones. I wish I could take credit for the base but that was provided by the wonderful bride and groom. That piece of real wood weighed A TON! I wasn't strong enough to put it into the car or carry it up to the venue myself! But it was so beautiful with the cake, and therefore totally worth it. :) Oh, and the whole cake was Can I Have Smore's Cake (You can check out my full flavor list at www.SaltCakeCity.com)

Mini-Minnie & Mini-Mickey Cakes

 

I love how some cakes come in waves. Last week I posted a few 3-tiered Mickey Mouse cakes that were due on the same time and this time, I had 2 mini cakes. This cute little Minnie Mouse cake was used for a fundraising event because Hilary didn't want to bake something herself... haha. I was happy to help! They raised $130 for this cake... top seller of the night! Yay! The cake on the right was a little mini- Mickey Mouse cake for Emma's second birthday. Both cakes were covered in marshmallow fondant and the ears were MMF as well. It's much easier than it looks! Take some black fondant, use a circle cutter and cut out two pretty thick round circles. Insert 2 toothpicks or flower wire into the ears and let them dry overnight. When they're ready, stick them into the sides of the top tier. Super easy! :)

A Distinguished Gentleman's Birthday Cake

Joshlin was throwing a mustache themed distinguished gentleman's surprise birthday party for her hubby and wanted a very unique cake for the shindig. Everything in this picture is made of cake or sugar. We did a bottle of Brandy, a bowler hat, a folded shirt with his favorite "relax" logo and cuff links, a replica of his favorite watch, a bow tie and a gentleman's loafer shoe. Oh, and there's a mustache in front of the shirt box that you can barely see.

The cakes were Lemon Supreme Cake, Banana Cream Pie Cake, and Caramel Macchiato Cake (check out all of my flavors at www.SaltCakeCity.com). Everything was covered in homemade marshmallow fondant and the box, Brandy, and shoe were all hand-painted. This cake was so cool to make because each piece was very different. Joshlin has since moved out of Utah and I was so sad to see her go! She came up with such fun cake ideas and challenges! More cakes for Joshlin to come on the blog :)

Ladies that Luncheon (or Ladies that Cake :)

WOW! That's not me patting myself on the back, I promise :) I believe it stands for Women of Worship. Carol wanted a unique cake for her women's church group gathering. She specifically wanted "girlie" and "pink" and more "girlie." We decided that a purse, hatbox, and present box would be perfect. I accented the cake with some edible sugar pearls, sugar brooch, sugar flower, and sugar bow. The whole cake is edible, including the "tissue paper" in the present and hat box. 

I had so much fun making this zebra printed purse. First, I made the sugar flower with a pearl center and the brooch that's all sugar pearls and let those set up for a few days. I didn't want this whole cake to be black and white because Carol was pretty specific in her need for PINK! Haha. I shaped out the purse, frosted it, then covered it in marshmallow fondant. I added a flap over the top and used a quilting tool to add seams to the purse. I cut out zebra stripes freehand because it's way more fun that way. I added a purse strap, the flower, and brooch and Ta-Da!

 I used a cool stencil design I found a while back for this present box and topped it off with a fondant bow. The lid was made out of rice krispies and then I propped it up just a bit to add the edible tissue paper.

 The hatbox was extra tall (to fit a hat, of course) and topped off with a rice-krispie hatbox lid. I draped the sugar pearls around the box to give it a little more detail.

I believe the flavors were Banana Cream Pie, Mocha Java, and Brownie Lovers. Yum! I would've stayed to eat all three flavors, especially because the ladies were so much fun! They were shocked that this was their cake! They were setting up for the ladies weekend and stopped to come huddle around the cake. They took pictures of the cake and with the cake. Haha... they were awesome! Thank you ladies!!

Princess Tiara Birthday Cake

Jen was having a fun princess themed birthday party for Madeleine's 3rd birthday and wanted a cutesy birthday cake to go along with it. We thought it only fitting that she have a princess tiara made of sugar for the day along with a wand (Do princesses have wands? Hmm, I guess so). Everything was made out of marshmallow fondant including the roses and bow. Jen's husband, Keldon, came to pick up the cake (there's nothing more enjoyable for me than to watch men carry out adorable princess cakes from Salt Cake city :) Keldon was so excited about the cake that he insisted on taking pictures of it even before leaving. I later heard back from Jen that Madeleine and all of her 3 year old friends loved the cake. Yay! 

Here's an up close shot of the roses, wand, and pearls. :)

Red Bows & Pearls Cake

Jesse, a former student of mine, emailed me saying he was getting married. You can imagine how shocked I was considering how young he is but then again, I do live in Utah :) He asked if I was able to make his wedding cake and I said, "Absolutely!" He was a great student and so I knew his fiancee was a lucky lady. Tori emailed me later and said they both trusted my judgement and to make whatever cake I wanted to make for them. Well, as fun as that may sound to some of you, it's MUCH harder than just doing whatever I want to do. I think a wedding cake should reflect the bride and groom, or at least the feel of the wedding itself. If your wedding is a very traditional and formal wedding, a bright colored topsy turvy cake probably wouldn't be the best. On the flip side, if you're having a fun wedding to reflect your outgoing personalities, a plain white wedding cake wouldn't do either. So this means I had to go on the hunt for more details. I asked about her dress, her venue, her invitations, etc. I soon found that they were having quite the wedding at the Grand America Hotel in downtown Salt Lake. A wedding at the Grand America for a beautiful couple should be grand itself, don't you agree?

This was the wedding cake for my adorable former student and his new blushing bride. We decided to do alternating borders of overlapping fondant and pearl beaded fondant. On the tiers with the pearls, I did 6 layers of the beads so that it created a very thick border on the cake but still an elegant touch. The large bows are also made out of fondant and I added a few edible white pearls around the cake (you can't see it very well in this picture but they're there). The only thing not edible are the crystal brooches in the centers of the bows because Tori wanted some bling on the cake. Finally, I painted the red bows and borders with edible shimmer to give it more sparkle.

The couple chose After Dinner Mint (Minty chocolate cake layered with mint chocolate ganache and mini-chocolate chips) & Southern Butter Pecan Cake (Butter pecan cake layered with caramel, pecans, and cream cheese frosting)

Congratulations, Tori and Jesse. You are a beautiful couple and I was thrilled to make the cake for you :)

Light Pink Mouse Cake

Sireesha and Sunil wanted a special birthday cake for their daughter, Ananya's, first birthday. They were throwing a big party and even renting out a special venue to get the friends and family together and celebrate. The party was Minnie Mouse themed so we came up with this cute design to match the decor of the room.

They chose a really soft pink rather than the vibrant pinks I've done in the past for other "pink mouse cakes." It's hard to see in this picture but I love how the soft pink contrasts with the black because it still pops off the cake. The whole cake is covered in marshmallow fondant and the hat on top is made out of rice krispies. Everything on the cake is edible. They chose strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting and Emerald City cake (pistachio flavored cake layered with pistachio cream filling and pistachio nut). Yum!

When I got to the venue, the space was beautiful! They had a ton of balloons and decorations which gave the room a fun feeling. I had to chose you a picture of it here... not the best picture of the cake but the space is awesome! :) I love the mouse ears made out of balloons!

Maroon & Brown Shimmer Cake

I was asked to make a display cake for an awesome venue that I partner with (The Gathering Place at Gardner Village) because they were doing a wedding show. I've been to their main reception hall and it's warm and rustic so I wanted to bring in those tones with this display cake. The whole cake is covered in homemade marshmallow fondant. This top tier is quilted and I placed little impressions in the corners so that it looks more like a cushion or pillow or fabric. Then, I placed little edible dragees in the center of the corners. I added a beaded border made out of MMF to top off this tier. The second tier has an edible brown ribbon with a brooch studded with more dragees. I layered fondant around the tier a few times to give it the look of fabric as well. The third tier is a hexagon and I covered it in white fondant. Then, I used a sponge and food coloring to sponge on a brown tone. I let it dry and then sponged on another layer of brown dye.

Lastly for this tier, I used a damask stencil up against the dried fondant and essentially spray painted edible shimmer onto the cake so that it only showed up in the light. It's such a soft pattern that's barely noticeable but it's one of my favorite touches on the cake. I added a very small pearl border around this tier as well. The fourth tier repeated the design of the second tier with a maroon background and the "fabric" fondant border and a larger edible bow & brooch. The last tier was similar to the top tier. For this one though, I did a little something different.

I have done the quilted pattern on many cakes but I wanted to make it unique for this display. Rather than quilting the whole base, I centered the pattern on each side and only quilted a triangle shape onto the cake. Again, this was such a subtle touch but I love it. This final tier had a pearl border as well. I sprayed the whole cake down with the same edible shimmer that the damask pattern was sprayed with and made the whole cake pop a little more.

The ladies at the Gathering Place said it was a big hit and it looked like it belonged in their wedding set up at the wedding expo. It was home :)

Chocolate Truffle Box

Mona wanted a unique birthday cake for her mother-in-law and she thought a chocolate truffle box would be great since she loves chocolates so much. For this cake, I wanted to make cake truffles in the place of chocolate truffles and they are peaking through the lid there. The whole box is edible including the lid and bow. The cake was Chocolate Dipped Cherry Cake (chocolate cake with baked cherries layered with chocolate buttercream) and it was covered and decorated with marshmallow fondant. I love how simple this cake looks while being very elegant and realistic as well. Enjoy!

Cake in the Hat?

Reena needed a small but fun cake for Sawyer's second birthday. She wanted to do a themed birthday cake and was thinking the Cat in the Hat would be fun. We came up with this design together and I actually think the real cake came out better than the sketch! The whole cake was Truffled Chocolate Cake (chocolate cake layered with chocolate cream filling and mini chocolate chips along with chocolate buttercream) and it was covered in homemade marshmallow fondant. The bow and the #2 at the top were also MMF so that Sawyer could really eat the whole thing.

To make the top cake, I layered stripes of white and red fondant over each other to make it look like fabric. Then, I used black food coloring and a paintbrush to paint on the infamous black lines from the book. When I delivered the cake, Reena loved it! It was just such a cute, whimsical cake :)

Brown & Burgundy Wedding Cake

Elise was getting married and wanted a brown, burgundy, and white wedding cake to match her decor. She wanted something elegant but still fun at the same time. The top tier was Brownie Lovers (chocolate cake layered with actual brownies and chocolate ganache), the middle tier was English Toffee Cake (sweet yellow cake layered with chocolate buttercream and toffee chunks) and the bottom tier was Spices & Cake (spice cake layered with cheesecake filling and buttercream).

The whole cake was covered in marshmallow fondant and the bow on the top was also MMF. The floral pattern was stenciled on using a designer stencil and buttercream. I've recently had many people ask how I do stenciling on a cake. It's been a learning process and I have to say, I've learned a lot in making mistakes first. The first time I did a stencil, it worked beautiful so I thought to myself, "Yay! That's so easy!" Then I went through a rough patch where I would stencil, it wouldn't come out to my liking. For example, if the cake is white and I'm using brown buttercream to stencil, the brown can bleed or get smudged and unfortunately, it's not like I can just "erase" the errors. Essentially, I had to take the fondant off, recover the whole cake, and try the stencil again. With this technique, it's quite noticeable when there's an error and on my cakes, that's not okay for me. On this cake, I took my time to make sure my buttercream job was perfect, then made sure my fondant job was good to go before attempting the stencil. If the buttercream or fondant aren't done correctly, the stenciling will just not work right. I really think that's half the battle (G.I. Joe... knowing is half the battle.... :)

Anyway, when I went to deliver the cake, they had this amazing cake table set up under a gazebo with a great table and lighting. I thought it was such a beautiful set up and the bride and groom were there taking pictures (they looked beautiful). Thank you both for allowing me to make such a fun cake! Congratulations!

Quilted Shimmer Cake

Sylvia wanted a simple and elegant cake for Krystal's birthday. She wanted to incorporate gold and shimmer into the cake with a quilted design. This woman knew exactly what she wanted and I love that! I added a bow to give it a little more detail and then added edible pearls for the corners of the diamonds.

The cake was Lemonberry (lemon cake layered with raspberry cream filling and buttercream) and then it was covered in homemade marshmallow fondant with a MMF bow as well. I sprayed the cake with edible pearl shimmer and then the bow and sign with edible gold shimmer. I actually don't use a quilting mat or a diamond cutter to make the pattern but instead, I measure the circumference of the cake and then use a needle to poke the spots where the lines should meet. Then I take a straightedge and carefully press it into the side of the soft fondant. The hard part about this method is that if I miss it by even a fraction of an inch, I have to take it off and start again. On the other hand, this way, I'm able to adjust the size of the diamonds to fit each cake. Ah, so much fun! :)

Fuchsia & Black Wedding Cake

Kirsten & Jason were such a fun couple! When they told me they want a black and fuchsia wedding cake, I thought "Yeah, I'm in!" Then, they came to a tasting that was really just a great time (it was like I was hanging out with friends while getting a sugar high). We ended on this design which I loved and then they said they wanted to add a special detail at the top. They wanted me to cut a hole in the top in order to put a small flashlight so that they could shine a light through a crystal topper. It was a first for me but I loved the end product.

The whole cake is covered in homemade marshmallow fondant. The top tier was sprayed with edible pearl shimmer after I imprinted the diamond pattern. The black dots are actually edible dragees (basically like tiny little jawbreakers). The middle tier was a custom made ribbon with a jeweled broach and a special monogram that they brought to me. I thought it gave the cake a really elegant look. Lastly, the bottom pattern was stenciled on with a designer stencil and fuchsia buttercream.

The cakes they ordered were Brownie Lovers (chocolate cake layered with actual brownies and chocolate ganache), Spices & Cake (spice cake layered with cheesecake cream filling and buttercream), and Banana Cream Pie Cake (banana flavored cake layered with banana cream filling and fresh bananas).

They came back later to get the flashlight and said that the cake was a huge hit. I was so glad to hear that because we really worked hard to get the perfect cake for this beautiful couple. Thank you, Kirsten & Jason, for being awesome clients to work with on this awesome wedding cake!

Mod Cake & Cupcakes

Sarah was having a sex-reveal party for her future baby and wanted a modern cake and cupcakes to match. We decided early on that Sarah isn't much of a "pink ducks" and "baby blue rattle" type of mother and since it was her shower, we wanted the theme to match her personality. In our discussions of the party, she mentioned that this baby was her "VERY.LAST.ONE" which I thought was hilarious. I suggested that we integrate those words into the cake because it was too funny to let slide. You can hardly see it in this picture but the cake topper (made of marshmallow fondant) says "VERY LAST ONE" on it.

The cake was covered in marshmallow fondant and the cupcake toppers were also MMF. We went with yellow, orange, brown, red, and white as the color scheme because this was during the fall. The cupcakes are Chocolate Dipped Cherry Pie Cake (chocolate cake with baked cherries) topped with cream cheese frosting while the main cake was White Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cake (strawberry cake layered with white chocolate ganache).

Because this was a sex reveal party, Sarah had her doctor call me immediately after her ultrasound and told me the sex of their future baby. It was pretty crazy that I was the second person to know :) Anyway, I dyed the cream cheese frosting and the white chocolate ganache blue so that when they cut into the main cake and when the guests bit into their cupcakes, they saw bright blue all at the same time finding out that they were having another boy. Sarah later wrote and told me that the sex reveal was a huge hit and they are thrilled to have another boy. Congratulations, Nathan and Sarah! Very. Last. One, right? If not, I'll be here for another sex-reveal cake. haha

Polka Dots & Mouse Ears

Jill wanted a fun and bright cake for Oakley's second birthday. She had seen a cake I made a while back with a similar pink, black, and white color scheme with polka dots and wanted something like that. This cake was so much fun because I love the colors and the design. The little bows and ears just make it so cute for a birthday party. The bottom tier was Brownie Lovers (chocolate cake layered with brownies and chocolate ganache) while the top tier cakes were Rainbow Bright (sweet vanilla cake dyed to match the theme of the birthday layered with buttercream and sprinkles). The whole cake was covered in homemade marshmallow fondant and accented with MMF decorations including the bow and ears.

I have to say that it was pretty tedious to place each of those dots one by one on the borders and to make sure that they are spaced equally. Yes, I'm the type of person that needs there to be equal spacing between the dots :) In the end, this was a fun and bubbly cake for Oakley's 2nd birthday. Yay!

Holiday Present Cake

The Department of Communication was having its annual Holiday Luncheon and so to celebrate, I wanted to do a fun and festive cake. This cake ended up being much bigger than I anticipated but I had fun making it so that's all that matters. Rosie helped dye all of the fondant since I only had one day to put this all together. Consequently, her hands are still dyed red and green while mine are nice and pretty. (Now THAT'S a good friend!) Hmm, I'm not sure what else to discuss about the cake but if you have questions on how I did anything, just let me know. If you search for the other cakes with the "bow" tag in my cake blog, I have explained how to make these bow that I've done here.

The top cake was Peanut Butter No Cup Cake (chocolate cake layered with sweet peanut butter buttercream), the middle was Thankful for Pumpkin Pie Cake (pumpkin cake layered with pumpkin cream filling and buttercream) and the bottom was Rosie's favorite, Banana Cream Pie (banana cake layered with banana cream filling, banana slices, and buttercream).

The whole cake is covered in homemade marshmallow fondant including the top present bow and the bottom red bow. Each of these was made to look like a different type of present with different holiday aspects. I especially loved the blue box on top with the snowflakes. I had such a great time making this cake with Rosie and my department was so gracious with their compliments at the luncheon. A special thank you to Dr. Darling. You are always so supportive and I don't tell you just how much I appreciate your thoughtfulness.

Blue Brooch Cake

I made this cake a while back as a wedding showpiece and it was inspired by another cake I had seen on cakecentral.com (my total addiction). The cake is covered in marshmallow fondant with a blue MMF border and bow. The brooch is made out of MMF and then I added edible silver dragees to give it a little more sparkle. There was a row of edible beads round the second tier. Other than that, there's not much else going on. Trust me, I wanted to put more but I resisted the urge and tried to keep it classy.

In order to get the bows to stay, I rolled out some fondant till it was pretty thin. I laid those stripes over a PVC pipe (clean PVC pipe of course!) and adhered the ends with a dab of water. I let them dry in place over night and then they were hard and ready to go. Wow, I think that's it. Wasn't that easy?! :)

Balloons on a cake!!

Colleen wanted a colorful and fun birthday cake for Leah's first birthday party. Since Leah has begun a recent fascination with balloons, we thought we would incorporate those into the cake. The colors were inspired by the other decor of the party and for some reason, purple always looks blue-ish in my pictures. In any case, it was green, purple, orange, and pink :)

The cake was covered in homemade marshmallow fondant and everything on the cake is edible, including the balloons and bow on the top. One tier was Ruby Red Velvet cake (bright red velvet cake layered with cream cheese frosting) and the other tier was Rainbow Bright cake (sweet vanilla cake dyed to match the colors of the party and layered with sprinkles and buttercream). Leah obviously needed her own cake to "smash" into so I ended up making a matching cake. It was pretty big for a 1-year old but that's okay. I'm sure she loved it :) The streamers popping out of the cake are also made of fondant. This cake was so much fun to make because I always love when people order colorful and vibrant cakes. Happy Birthday, Leah!!

Hawaiian Luau Cake

Amber needed a "girlie, princess, hawaiian" themed birthday cake for Madeline's 3rd birthday. She saw a beautiful cake done by The Pink Cake Box and wanted something similar for the party. She decided on a Rainbow Bright Cake (multicolored vanilla cake layered with sprinkles and buttercream) for the top and the bottom and Brownie Lovers Cake (chocolate cake layered with real brownies and chocolate ganache) for the middle tier. The whole cake was covered in homemade marshmallow fondant and all of the accents were also marshmallow fondant.

To make the shells, I cut out large round circles and then shaped them into shells. I used an exacto knife to make the indents in the shells and then painted the shells with a light blue color and shimmer dust. I waited till they dried a bit and then added the green.... string? I'm not sure what to call those. :)

The grass skirt was a bit tricky. First, I rolled out the green fondant into one long and wide strip. Then, I used a pizza cutter to cut the grass strips into large pieces. I ended up putting two or three layers of "grass" all around the cake to make sure there were no open areas. Ah, the trouble with the weight of fondant :)

Although I'm not even in the same ballpark as the Pink Cake Box, I ended up loving this cake because of its bright and vibrant colors. Thank you for inspiration and I hope Madeline loved the cake as much as I did!

Connect2Utah on 2News This Morning

On August 3rd, I was invited to be a part of Connect2Utah on KUTV's 2News This Morning in Utah. First, you need the back story. I received an email from Tom, KUTV's photojournalist pictured above in the blue shirt, a while back asking if Salt Cake City would be interested in being on the news. Then, I noticed that Tom's name sounded familiar... turns out, I was his public speaking instructor three years ago. It was quite a coincidence since he didn't realize it was me either. After putting this off for quite a bit, Tom and I finally found a date that worked. I made a few fake cakes for the occasion and since our topic was Groom's cakes, I made a poker themed cake and a Dallas Cowboy's cake. The poker cake was a nod to my brother who loves poker and the Cowboy's cake was a nod to my dad. Since I technically have never made them a cake, this was a way for me to kill two birds with one stone :) haha. I hope they realized that... probably not, huh.

Anyway, on the day of the live shoot, I met with Casey (the host holding the cake in the picture above) and Tom at 5:15am to start the set up. I came prepared with several fake cakes including a Twilight themed cake and a few wedding cakes to set a little background while Casey and I went to work on discussing fondant and making a cake. I made a tuxedo themed cake (since I had just had someone order this as a groom's cake) and the flavor was Tuxedo Cake (layered chocolate and vanilla cake with buttercream and chocolate ganache. Then, I threw in some dark and white chocolate chips into the mix for funsies). You can see the finished product here after Casey cut into it and ate a slice. This cake was covered in homemade marshmallow fondant and decorated with fondant accents (that Casey put on while we were on air).
Here are the two shots of the groom's cakes I made. Again, the cakes are covered in fondant and even the football was made out of fondant. You can't see it well here but the silver parts of this cake were sprayed with edible silver shimmer.
This was the poker cake and everything on here is edible from the chips to the cards to the playing table. I loved making this cake because it was so colorful and vibrant.
Now to the video footage. We shot four segments between 6:15 and 7:45am but it's okay, it ended in eating CAKE! :) hehe. I was definitely nervous before the shoot but I was really relaxed while shooting, which is ironic since my former public speaking student was watching me basically do a live impromptu speech. Tom was really awesome though to help me feel comfortable with bright lights, mics, and all the energy that Casey had to offer at 6 in the morning. :) Thank you so much to Tom and Casey and Skippy (the intern who had to eat gross tasting fondant on air) for allowing Salt Cake City to be showcased.

Here are the links to three of the four segments for those of you who either live outside of Utah or who aren't usually awake at 6am. Enjoy!

The first segment is the opening introduction from Casey:

http://connect2utah.com/2news-this-morning-story/?nxd_id=102145

This next segment is about fondant and the different types of fondant:

http://connect2utah.com/libraries/nxd/media/?data=media_player&v=161905

The last segment is Casey making a fondant bow, or at least a semi-descent fondant bow :)

http://connect2utah.com/libraries/nxd/media/?data=media_player&v=161915