13th birthday

This weekend was the birthday party for last week's birthday girl. It was fun to do. I got to try out a few new techniques! It was great! Although I'm still having troubles with some of my recipes here in the high altitude of UT. My white cake fell, both of them. So I used the bottom half of both cakes to get the right height. I was able to use parchment paper to get more height out of my pan, and I think the layers look better carved out of a 4 inch tall cake instead of a 3 inch tall cake.

Also after the cake was done I used my steamer to make the fondant get all shiny! What do you think? It won't look right with every style of cake, but it worked really well for this cake! I have to say I LOVE this cake. Anyway, Happy Birthday Emily, I hope your sleepover is a blast!

To all the January birthday's out there...

Once a month the women in our church get together for a dessert night! This year they decided to also celebrate all the months birthdays during the evening so I offered to make a birthday cake. Of course something I've noticed at these things, women seemed scared to eat treats! I don't get it. Of course I live off a diet of chocolate with a side of chocolate and wash it down with hot chocolate! So very little of the cake was actually eaten! I brought plenty home for my sweet (and slightly chubby) husband.
You can't see very well, but I used my new pearl airbrush paint for the letters and small flowers. We have terrible lights at our new place and I can't seem to get a good picture of anything these days! I only had a few hours, so it was a quicky. It's not the most detailed, extraordinary or amazing cake ever, but I figured it's been so slow these days here on the blog I'd post it anyway.

Itty Bitty Birthday

A friend of mine turned 27 today. She's been going through some interesting challenges lately and her husband really wanted to make her birthday special, and was trying to plan some fun stuff she'd really like. Since she'd mentioned she liked my cakes he called and asked me to do something small in fondant for their family (this little cake feeds 12-14). After talking over ideas he decided to use their wedding flowers/colors. Bright Yellow, Orange and Pink Gerber Daisies. And he really liked the idea of a crazy silly wonky cake. It was a white coconut cake with cream cheese frosting (although not much, it was so warm today- and my air conditioner is broken, that it all squeezed right out the bottom...) and almond marshmallow frosting. It was a new recipe, and I was really pleased with it. A nice texture, firm, holds the shape well. A subtle flavor, the coconut is great, but not too strong or over powering. Something to make again.