Monday, September 29, 2008

OSSAS!

OSSAS=Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show. And it is a huge deal for anyone in the cake world! It is pretty much the biggest competition in the US, and there were SO many famous cake decorators there that my head was spinning. One of the coolest things I got to do was sit in on a class taught by Marina Sousa and her adorable assistant Dawn of Just Cake. It was a lot of fun!
My cake ended up taking a different turn from what I had expected. I had intended it to be taller-four tiers, with the bottom being a 14 inch petal shape. But, for some reason, I just could not get the bottom tier to behave. After several hours of wrestling with it, I trimmed it down to three tiers.
I waited until Thursday to cover my dummies because I was afraid of the colors fading on them. I was working late into the night (with my husband sitting at the kitchen table finishing up his work to leave early with me Friday), and took a step back to look at it. The mermaid wasn't on there yet, but with the turquoise crown, and the ocean-y colors, I turned around and told him that it looked like a mermaid princess cake. He agreed, and we felt like a good way to add an extra element to the cake, and also to help buffer the issue with the missing tier, would be to add the mermaid on to it. What a great decision that turned out to be! It's funny how differently things can turn out from what you intended!
The mermaid I think is really special. Her body and tail are all one piece of sculpted fondant. The tail I made using the end of a #5 tip for the scales, and then painted it with a mixture of Vodka, turquoise gel food coloring and white sparkle dust.
The purple flowers are whimsical dogwood blossoms made from gumpaste. I used a lilac cutter for the turquoise flowers, and then used pearl dragees for their centers.
I piped the middle tier in turquoise, and then added more pearls for some extra details.
The crown on top is from gumpaste. I used lace cutters for the top points, as well as the pretty detail around the base. The pearls on top are hand rolled pearls dusted with Super Pearl.
Then over the entire cake, I very generously brushed White Sparkle Dust all over it to make sure it would shimmer and shine. I was pretty proud of it...
And very happy to announce that I won second place in my division! Woohoo!

Now on to some of the other AWESOME cakes I saw. First, let me say that I don't know the names of the artists who created these, so if you do, please email me so I can give them credit!
There were so many there that were just amazing....I'm going to start with my favorite one.
This one was an Alice in Wonderland themed cake. It's so inspiring to me to see that a cake that is whimsical and pretty could still be entered into the main competition, because honestly, competition cakes can be so stuffy sometimes.
I love all the cute little details on it. I really like the Cheshire Cat on the top. I also really admire the tea pot shaped tier in the middle. Amazing.











My next favorite is a cake inspired by Coco Chanel. This cake is really beautiful in person, but I am sad to say that it was damaged by a spectator. Can you even imagine? Working for weeks on a cake, only to have to damaged by someone's wandering hands? The Do Not Touch signs are there for a reason!
Everything on this cake is in the theme this artist intended. From the black quilted fondant to replicate a Chanel bag, to the fabric looking roses, this cake was breath taking. And very original.









My husband loved this one. It was really cool in person. This was not in the wedding cake competition, but in the general competition. To me, it looks like something Duff would have made!
I'm guess this person made the cool things on front by layering paper thin piece of fondant, then rolling them, and then slicing them like cookie dough. I'm not sure, but that's my best guess.





Unfortunately, last night I snuck out before the competition was over because of the 5 hour drive home, but from what I understand, Rebecca Sutterby of Sugar Creations took the top prize! Her cake struck me when I saw it, because of the flawless turquoise piping. How in the world do these people get their piping so perfect? But against the white cake, it was stunning.
Congratulations to everyone!
There was so much inspiration this weekend...and so much to learn. I've always thought my cakes were pretty good, but compared to the flawless ones around me, I can't believe how much I need to learn! I better get to practicing for next year...

Friday, September 19, 2008

Polka Dots and Paw Prints

Weeks like this make me LOVE making cakes.
I always get butterflies in my tummy when making cakes, anticipating how people will respond to it. But this week, it's worse because I am actually invited to the party! This is the first time that I have been invited to a client's party, and this is for a child in my son's preschool class, so I am nervous to see what the other mommies think.
I am so glad that they chose the color turquoise, because it isn't a color you see very often and when you do, it really stands out. She wanted a darker turquoise for the background with lighter blue polka dots, and then a couple of flowers and butterflies. Even I can't help but admit that it is so pretty!
The second polka dot cake I made was for a baby shower for a woman that lives in my neighborhood. I have had this cake saved in my Cake Inspiration folder on the computer for about a year now, and am thrilled to finally complete it.
The fondant is cream with chocolate fondant polka dots. The bows are made from straight fondant, which worked really well. It's a very elegant cake, just perfect for this kind of party. I hope they like it!
Last but not least is this little Puppy Cake. This idea was sent to me through an email, and I have no idea who made the original, but the design is adorable. The puppies are all fondant, as are the paw prints. The letters were done with a special cutter-let me warn you that these cutters are exceptionally difficult to use, so make sure you have plenty of time and patience if you chose to use them. There is a video on You Tube by Aine2 which helped me and made the process a little easier, but I still spent about an hour getting these suckers out of the cutters.
The overall look is perfect though, which definitely makes the whole process worth it!

Friday, September 12, 2008

Hurricanes and Luaus

This week I had a bit of a luau theme going. I had a luau cake, and also an order of cookies with the same theme.
Misty was one of my first ever clients. I've always felt a bit grateful to her, because she gave me one of my first "breaks" when she ordered the first ever cupcake cake exactly one year ago. I hadn't had much experience yet, but she took a chance on me, and since then, business has been booming!
This year, her son is turning two and she wanted a Luau type of cake. Her invites and party decor had monkeys on banana surf boards, palm trees, things like that. I scratched my head on this one, trying to figure out how to make it cute. This is what I came up with.
The top tier has the palm trees, each one with 6 leaves and hand sculpted coconuts. The bottom tier was pretty time consuming, as it features 8 fondant monkeys in various types of beach wear. Some sport swim suits while others wear grass skirts. Some are drifting across the waves on their surfboards and the others are hanging upside down from the tier below.
On the top of the cake, two fat monkeys sit below a palm tree in the "sand". The sand is Vanilla Wafers that I pulverized in my food processor.
On the cake board I wanted something a little different, so I tried to make the name look like an SOS sign you might see on the beach. Very cute! I am really happy with this cake.
The next cake is a repeat-a three tiered version of my Ducky Cake. These are always fun to do because of the bright, girly colors. With the hurricane rolling through tomorrow, I had to convince my client to let me deliver it tonight to Amazing Jakes. It is a huge place, and heaving that cake through there turned my arms into noodles! But all the nice compliments and people goggling the gorgeous cake made it worth while.
I also made two dozen matching ducky cookies, which I didn't get a pic of.
To finish off the week, I did some really cute flip flop cookies for a little girl's birthday party. That client was a bit dismayed that for her fun luau party they would all be stuck inside to avoid the nasty weather. Hopefully they will have a great time anyway!

Friday, September 5, 2008

Wall-E Cake

This weekend is my gorgeous daughter, Charlotte's, birthday. Charlotte is obsessed with Wall-E. I think this summer we ended up seeing it 7 times-and we are planning on seeing it again tomorrow afternoon after the party!
Charlotte has been talking about her Wall-E birthday since the movie came out in June. When I did a Google search on Wall-E cakes, one similar to this popped up on Flickr, and was the main source of my inspiration and direction. The orignial was produced by http://www.donbuciak.com/, and his Wall-E cake far surpasses my own!
Wall-E was a tough one to build. He is an 8 inch cube of cake, covered in bright yellowy-orange fondant, and then piped with royal icing for the details.
He has two wheels which are tough to see in the photo, complete with tire treads.
His head was sculpted out of rice krispy treats, and then attached to a peice of PVC for the neck, which was also covered in rice krispy treats and fondant.
His little arms are from cardboard wrapped with fondant and decorated like black and white hazard tape.
The cake board is covered in "dirt" and "mud", which is really cake crumbs and brown sugar mixed together.
All in all, Wall-E is pretty cute in person, and Charlotte loves him. I hope he tastes great, too!
Happy Birthday sweet girl!
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