Tuesday, October 20, 2009

I know...I know

So I know it's been forever since I have posted, but I have a good excuse, which I will share with you later. :)

I took most of the summer off this year, because it was the last summer I had with my little boy until he started Kindergarten! And then life in general got hectic, so I only made a few cakes for a select group of friends and family.

Earlier this summer, I made a sweet little princess cake for a friend of Nate's. They went to preschool together last year, and I just love her mom! I also made a cake for her last year, my Girly Dinosaur Cake. This year she wanted a pink cake, with some turquoise and purple on it. We decided on polka dots, with a beautiful princess on the front, and a crown on the top.

Once summer began to come to a close, I made this cake for Charlotte! It was her 4th birthday this year, and all she wanted in the world was a Little Mermaid cake. At first she wanted me to make Ariel from fondant (yes, my four year old thoroughly knows what fondant is!) but after a trip to the Disney store, she coerced me into buying a set of figurines that were of Ariel's sisters. Charlotte and I made this cake together, and I am very proud to say that she made all of the starfish. The shells and starfish were liberally doused with disco dust, and the sand is brown sugar.

Soon after that, I entered the Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show again. I wanted to make a cartoon-like cake. The coffee cup on the top was from chocolate fondant mixed with Tylose. The whipped cream is royal icing, and the cherries are fondant. At the last minute I decided to add on the cute little strawberries. This was a super fun cake to make, but it did not place in my division.
Last but not least, I made my son, Nate's, 6th birthday cake. Nate is absolutely Bakugan crazy, and he wasn't too particular with the
design of the cake as long as it had lots and lots of Bakugans on it. I ordered some edible images, and then decorated the border of the cake with Bakugans instead of my regular fondant balls. He was very happy with it!

I have been receiving lots of emails asking why I am not taking orders, and would like to make an announcement regarding this. At the end of October, my family and I moved to the Denver area after my husband was relocated for a job position. We are very excited to start this new chapter
of our lives, but I am sad to leave behind all of my wonderful clients in Dallas. I am hoping to start making cakes in Denver soon!

Monday, August 3, 2009

Butterfly Sweets Featured on AOL!

I am so proud to share that Butterfly Sweets has been featured on AOL's new site, Party Central! Three of my cakes were featured, including my Circus Cake, Princess Cake, and Raggedy Anne Cake. Please check them out at: http://www.holidash.com/party-central/birthday/food/bizarre-birthday-cakes

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Wedding Season!

I love June, and all the weddings that are associated with it! The two cakes that I have recently made are both designs that I have been dying to make for quite a while.
First is this beautiful Tiffany Box inspired cake. These are 3 square tiers, 6, 9 and 12 inches. The color was achieved using Americolor Turquoise. For the bows, I wanted them to be messy and unfurled, like a present wrapped coming unfurled. The bows are all gumpaste and I painted them with white disco dust. And then lots of pretty, gumpaste cutout flowers and hand sculpted roses.
The border was made with a bead maker, and is also gumpaste.
Next, I made this really pretty purple cherry blossom and dogwood wedding cake. This one was fun, because I love making gumpaste flowers!
The cake was painted purple to achieve a nice, bright color that would be less likely to fade. It was painted using a large brush, Americolor Electric Purple food coloring and vodka.
The branch that twists its way around the cake is chocolate fondant. I detailed the branches with a gumpaste tool to impress a wood like pattern onto it.
The flowers were all made from gumpaste and cut from blossom and dogwood cutters. Once they were dry, they were dusted with Cosmo pink petal dust. I attached them onto the cake with royal icing, and then piped pretty little centers onto each one.
I really loved making both of these cakes!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Partridge Cake

My wonderful repeat client Eleshia, whose family has ordered at least 5 cakes from me in the past, ordered another cake from me for this weekend.

This family loves the Pink Cake Box as much as I do, and ordered a version of one of their cakes, only in different colors. The original was done in red and blue, but since was Morgan's First Birthday, they wanted me to change the colors to pretty pinks and greens to match her nursery bedding.

The partridges were hand molded in bright pink fondant, and the details for the eyes and beak were black fondant. The butterflies were also fondant.

The ribbon around the bottom of each tier were done using my ribbon cutter so that the top of the ribbon was done in a zig zag pattern.

On the bottom tier are abstract flowers. They are layered with dark pink, light pink and black fondant discs, and then have green royal icing dots piped around the border. They also have teeny little green leaves!

I hope that Morgan had a wonderful 1st birthday!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Pink Alligators, Purple Leopard and Blue Turtles

My oh my was I ever overwhelmed this week!  Mostly because it was the last week of school, which meant fun parties, graduations and other ceremonies to attend.  But add several cakes in the mix and I am officially swamped!
In addition to my son's Tae Kwon Do cake, I had some other orders to take care of.  One for a friend of mine, and then two other high labor orders from some very, very good clients.
Last year, Audra ordered the Over The Top birthday cake http://butterflysweets.blogspot.com/2008/05/over-top-birthday.html for her beautiful 1 year old daughter.  This was an extremely lucrative design, because I am constantly getting requests to replicate it.  This year, she ordered from me again to help her celebrate Brynlie's 2nd birthday.  
She had decided on an accessories theme-purses, shoes, cell phones and the like.  We both did research and finally decided on a design first done by Cakes By Ashley.  We tweaked it a little bit and added the purple leopard print to the middle tier and turquoise as an accent color.  
The accessories are all gumpaste and hand painted.  The leopard print is also hand painted, and I was so excited to get to do this.  I normally will dilute food coloring with some kind of clear alcohol (vodka for example) to paint with, but this time painted with straight good coloring and a tiny brush, to make sure the color was strong enough.  Audra also ordered 3 dozen cookies from me, but I did not get a good photograph of them.
I hope you had a great 2nd birthday Brynlie!

There is a great family who has ordered several cakes from me in the past year.  They are the sweetest, nicest people and I loved working with them!  This year, Eleshia ordered three cakes
 from me and some cookies.  
One of her friends is expecting a baby boy, and is very excited about the turtle bedding she has picked out for the nursery.  Being as enamored with the Pink Cake Box as I am, she decided on a cake like this one-blue and chocolate brown-with the pretty pregnant lady made from fondant on the top.  And to compliment the cute turtles, I made these turtle sugar cookies!  It is all so cute together.  Thank you so much, Eleshia!  See you again in a couple of weeks!

Last but not least, I also made this Pink Alligator cake.  Once upon a time, my husband and I were very good friends with another couple, Sam and Kate.  Our two husbands have known each other since the 8th grade, and then I came into the picture in high school, then the three of us went to the same college.  On the night of our rehearsal dinner, we met Sam's new girlfriend, Kate.  We were very close friends for years but with school, jobs and babies, our weekly get togethers have dwindled down to about once per year. :( 
Kate sent over an email about a week before their daughter Emma's party, asking me to make her birthday cake.  I was already a little overwhelmed with all of the end of year festivities, but I have a soft spot for Emma and worked her in.  Emma wanted a pink alligator party, and Kate picked out a repeat cake of mine-the Girlie First Birthday Cake.  But to add a funny touch, I put on the adorable little pink alligator onto the front of it.  Happy 3rd Birthday, Emma!  

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Proud Mommy! (And A Tae Kwon Do Cake)

Since there was a cake involved, I can officially post this.  My 5 year old son had a big night tonight-testing for his orange belt in Tae Kwon Do as well as his preschool graduation ceremony.  I am always looking for a reason to have a house full of people, so thought it would be a perfect excuse for a party.  And more importantly, a cake!
The graduation cap is all fondant, but the top is fondant mixed with Tylose.  The tassel was made by running some fondant through a pasta  shredder.
Everything else is pretty standard stuff-all fondant.  I used an impression mat on the orange belt fondant to replicate the fabric pattern on his belt.  Also, I had to put wired stars on the cake, but had a fun time making the wires spiraled.  
I also made my little boy's likeness in fondant, which he had a fun time devouring.
Nate had a great party and a full house full of family.  Congratulations on all your accomplishments Nate!  We love you! 

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Hunny


Last year I made a cake that some of you may remember-the very cool Indian cake that was for the police officer that was being shot at when I called to fill her order.  She was so happy with that cake, that she hired me again this year to make her daughter's 2nd birthday cake.


Anya wanted Pooh and the gang on the cake, but her daughter Morgen had a hard time deciding what she wanted on the top of it.  After much discussion, she settled on Pooh holding a hunny pot.

As usual, all my animals are made from pure fondant.  On Eeyore, you can see that he has delicate stitching, which is really cute and makes him look more authentic.  Also, all the details, for the stripes on Tigger and the bumble bees, the eyes, etc, are all hand painted with black food coloring and vodka.

The hunny pot is also made from fondant, but the honey pouring from it is yellow royal icing-perfect  touch!  Also perfect-the dozen honey bees swirling around the cake, hoping to get a taste of the yummy stuff inside.  

I hope Morgen has a great 2nd birthday!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Parent's Pick Awards!

I am so excited to announce that Butterfly Sweets was nominated for Best Birthday Cake in Nickelodeon's Parents' Picks Awards! We need your help to win! You can vote for us once a day, every day, from now until July 15 at http://www.nicksparentspicks.com!   Thanks for your support!

Friday, April 24, 2009

Sugar Wonders Cake Show

Exactly two years ago was when I made my first serious decorated cake, and it was for the same cake show that I entered again this weekend.   The cake I made that time was the Rose and Hydrangea Cake on my website, and I love looking between the two to see how much I have progressed.

This cake was an absolute monster for me to make!  I estimate that it took me about 30 hours, which honestly seems a bit excessive and ridiculous to admit, but all I know is that I had 8 hour days Monday through Thursday, and even spent more time on it on Friday and even last week some, too.  Yikes!

When I first sketched this cake on paper, I was planning on only using black, pink and a little white.  But it looked and seemed a little blah.  I love color, and in the end decided that a great pop of color would be to use turquoise ribbon, and I am so glad I did, because it really helps with the color scheme.

So, I will start at the top.  I made the same type of bow that I made for my gift box cake last weekend (good practice!) and it is absolutely drenched in White Sparkle Dust.  I used the grosgrain roller again, and of course added the pretty little pearls.  I also lined all the ribbons on the cake with the pearls as well.  That took a ton of time!

For the box top, I wanted eyelet lace.  I purchased some eyelet cutters online, and then rolled out gumpaste at a number 2 on my pasta machine.  Once the panels were rolled out, I used a scalloped cutter for the edges and then used the eyelet cutters.  The next step was to very carefully wrap the panel around the outside edge of the cake.  The holes were then overpiped with white royal icing. 
 
The black filgree was done with my Stephen Benison cutters.  Also, the top of the box is gumpaste, and then edged with teeny tiny little pearls, that I hand painted with vodka and luster dust.

The middle tier was hand quilted with a stitching tool.  At the junctions I used ribbon roses, and hand painted sugar pearls.  I also did a quilted black gumpaste top and panels for the lid, and lined them in white pearls.  
  
The bottom tier is black stripes with a Swiss Dot design, also in black.  The box top to this one is also gumpaste eyelet, and also overpiped in royal icing.  I also added more gumpaste pearls where the box top and lace meet.
  
After completing the three tiers, I changed my design a tiny bit.  At first I had planned on making this into a topsy turvy cake, by placing each tier on slanted styrofoam wedges, a la Collette Peters.  Instead, though, I decided to fill the bottom space of each tier with a lush amount of ribbon roses, liberally dusted with luster dust, again.

The cake board was covered in black fondant and then, loving the turquoise color, using my filigree cutter to decorate it.  It is finished off in a pretty pink beaded trim.

I am happy to say that I received 2nd place in my division-not too shabby.  :)

Also this week, I took on a cake for a client that I really like, Ashley.  (We both have sons named Nathaniel who are approx. the same age.).  She wanted my Cupcake Cake, and I changed it just a little.  It looks beautiful in person! 

The inside is White Chocolate Cake with White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Frosting.

Happy First Birthday Ruby!!!

Friday, April 17, 2009

Gift Boxes and Giraffes

I know I have been slackin' on the blog lately, but I am back!  For the past couple of weeks I took off for Spring Break, and then just took some more time off.

SO, this week, I made two really lovely cakes.  I'll start with my favorite, which is this beautiful box cake.   I have been wanting to expand my techniques lately, and when I was hired to make a gift box cake for a bridal shower, I desperately wanted to do something more intricate than I usually do.  
I am a big fan of Sharon Zambito, with Sugar Ed Productions (SugarShack to those of us in the cake world) and she produces a series of wonderful instructional DVDs.  She just came out with one entitled Boxes and Bows, so I quickly snatched it up.  I think the techniques are difficult, and I fudged with them a little bit, but I love the gumpaste tops to these boxes.   They are dusted with a mix of Cosmos Luster Dust and Super Pearl.  The bow on the top took me forEVER, but it is so beautiful in person!  SugarShack used a fondant roller with a silk pattern on it.  I don't have that, but I did have a grosgrain pattern one, and used that for an extra detail.  If you look closely, you can see that the loops are lined with teeny tiny pearls that I used a bead maker to make.  And then, I'll admit that I splurged on some Stephen Benison gumpaste cutters for the pretty scrolls on the front.   I really, really like the technique, and hope that I can perfect it.  Also, I stamped the cake board with "love" and "forever", just like SugarShack did.  :) 

Not too long ago, I made a cake for a client, Neatherly.  She ordered a 3 tiered blue cake that had a modern twist, and she was happy enough to place a second order with me for a baby shower!
Neatherly has an invitation business, and so I designed the cake around her invitations.  The stripes are in various widths, and then I attached gumpaste giraffes to the side, which are replicas of the cartoon giraffes on the invites.  For the Baby Boy on the bottom, I use a grosgrain roller, and then cutout circles.  Next I used some letter cutters to cut out the letters, and it looks really great.  
I hope they both enjoy their cakes!

Friday, February 27, 2009

That Takes The Cake! Sugar Art Show

This weekend I ventured down to Austin, and all my cakes miraculously made it in one piece.  It was hot hot hot when we got there, even though it was near freezing when we left DFW earlier that morning.  This made me nervous, because I was afraid that the cakes might melt or fade in the sun.  But much to my relief, all was well when I repeatedly checked on them during the five hour journey.  :)  
I am so proud of these cakes that I can hardly stand it!  
The wedding cake was technically challenging for me, but it is stunning and by far one of the best cakes I have made so far.  
I wanted a design that was lovely and sweet, but wanted unfurled, unruly flowers for the topper.  I looked through lots of photos and decided that I wanted to make pink and white peonies.  The gumpaste peonies took several days.  For anyone interested in learning how to make them, a wonderful place to start is with Nicholas Lodge's Gumpaste Gardenia and Peony DVD.  Also, I used my pasta machine at a level 8 to roll out the gumpaste, and then dusted some of the petals with Pink Petal Dust.   
The cakes were covered in fondant as usual.  Next, I bought a lace silicone mold to make the lace embroidery.  These molds are pretty cool-you get two pieces that fit together kind of like a puzzle would.  There is the part that you press the fondant in to, and then the part you place on top of that.  You press the top piece in firmly, and then pull the fondant out.  For me, the pieces did not come out clean and needed to be trimmed with a knife.  I applied all the lace pieces to the sides of my cakes with some water, and then did some over piping with thick royal icing.  
Next, I rolled out pink gumpaste very thin for the ribbons and bows.  I used my pasta machine for this at a level 4.  After it was rolled out, I cut it with my ribbon cutter and dusted with White Sparkle Dust.  The ribbons and bows were applied to the cake as normal.
Wow.  After describing it, it sounds pretty simple!  I wonder it took me so long....
 
The next cake was inspired by my daughter's bedding, which she got from Santa.  The bedding is from the Pottery Barn Kids.  I just love all the patterns and colors on her bed, and thought it could make an adorable cake!
The top tier is a replica of a pillow-robin's egg blue with white Swiss dots, and an embroidered owl.  I used a stitching tool around the edges of the owl, to make it look like fabric.
The green tier I placed on stripes of fondant that I stitched with my stitching tool.  I also added the bows.  Next, I cut out the partridges freehand, using lots of different colors, and then added on the flowers that were cut from a daisy cutter.
The 3rd tier is a replica of a patch of fabric on her bed that has whimsical trees on a background with chocolate Swiss dots.  The dots are chocolate.  The trees were cut free hand, and the flowers were added using a daisy and violet cutter.
The fourth tier is the bed skirt, which has pretty, colorful leaves on it.  With this, I just tried to mix and match the colors to make it as bright, fun and gorgeous as possible.  And then the cake board is the pattern of her sheets.
My favorite part of the cake is the owl toppers, which are exact replicas of the stuffed animals that came with this set.  I just love it.  I think I love it mostly because it is so original and not something I have seen on a cake before.
Unfortunately, I did not place in the competition, but am still happy with the experience and how my cakes turned out.  
First place went to this cute cake that had tons of hand sculpted mice sitting on top of drums.  How great is that?
Second place was this argyle-type of cake done by Natalee Klotz.  I have been a fan of her cakes for a couple of years, ever since we competed
 together at a competition in McKinney.  I still haven't met her in person, but really admire how perfect her cakes always are.  
Last year she won best of the Intermediate Division, and this year came back to the Intermediate Division to win 2nd on this perfectly adorable cake.
I didn't get a photograph of the 3rd place cake, but wanted to share a photo of this AMAZING cake.  I cannot believe it did not place in the competition, because it was simply wonderful.  Can you believe that the coral on top is white chocolate?  And then the gumpaste orchids?  Holy cow, it's just stunning.   :D  (By the way, my son the aspiring photographer took these pics.  He's 5!)
Congratulations to all the winners of the show, and to everyone who made such gorgeous cakes!  I can't wait till next year! 

Friday, February 20, 2009

Monkeys and Zebras

Purple is my absolute favorite color, but unfortunately, I don't seem to get to decorate with it much.  Luckily this week, I got to make a cake for a little girl who loves purple, too.  
The mom wanted monkeys on the cake, because that was the theme of the party.  Since she is one of four girls, she wanted 4 monkeys total on there.  I wanted the cake to be cute and girly, and ended up deciding on doing them like on my Luau Cake I made a few months ago.  I added the purple flowers to their heads to help with the girlishness.
After I put on the monkeys and the bow, I took a step back to look it over.  The cake still seemed empty, so I piped on some sherbet-green vines, and added more flowers.  Then I piped the 6 as well.  It is a really sweet cake.
The next cake I made was a little bit of a repeat.  They wanted the bottom tier with zebra stripes, but wider than the ones I have made before.  They also wanted them horizontal.  At first they wanted the top tier to be giraffe print (ack!), and I am grateful they changed their mind about that, because it would have been a tad too much.  They ended up deciding on the top tier being polka dotted.  I think it is perfect.  
Happy Birthday to Hailey and Ciann!  

Friday, February 13, 2009

Abigail Bo Peep

I love this little sheep!  She is so cute, I think I will sneak her off the cake to keep her, and see if Shelley (Abigail's mommy) will notice.  ;)
Shelley requested that the cake be pastel colors-pinks, purples, yellows.  She also adores sheep, and wanted an adorable one for the top.
The sheep is larger than most of my fondant animals, so that it would be the same size on the 1 on the top.  I molded the body, arms and legs like normal, then made the head.  I added some eyelashes to be extra feminine, and then being inspired by her sweetness, added some pink petal dust onto her cheeks to give her a girly blush.  The wool is made with royal icing and a small star tip.  She is the cutest little thing ever, and I hope that Abigail has a fabulous first birthday!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Nathaniel's Valentine

I love Valentine's Day!  
When I went to drop off my son at preschool this week, I was too late to pounce on bringing cupcakes or cookies for the Valentine's party.  I was the third parent to drop off their kid, but, the other two moms seized the opportunity before I could.  So, trying to avert "Punch" or "Snack Mix", I scribbled my name under "Other".
Tuesday after dropping him off I went to the cake store, and they had the most beautiful display of chocolates at their entrance.  Lovely things that I have never seen before, like jewelry made of chocolate.  And jewelry boxes.  Gorgeous!  But what caught my eye was the most adorable little chocolate lollipops.  It didn't take me long to decide that's what I would make for the party.
Nate got to help me, and we melted the wafer chocolates, then poured it into piping bags, which was the piped into heart shaped molds.  The next day we bought ribbons and bags, then assembled them together.
It's funny because my kids are so used to cakes and cookies that they don't even bat an eyelash at them.  But chocolates on a stick, well, that was a novelty.  Nate was super excited to take them to school on Thursday.
Happy Valentine's Day!

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Takin It Easy

This week I took it easy, and just did one fun cake.  I love making my zoo animals, and this client wanted them ontop of my 1-tiered zebra cake.  She absolutely loved it!
Next week is also an easy one for me.  However, I am getting ready for a cake competition in a couple of weeks, so the two cakes I will be taking with me will be taking up quite a bit of my time.  Last year I didn't get to go to this competition because my fondant wouldn't cooperate.   http://butterflysweets.blogspot.com/2008/02/competition-cake-finally-done.html  So I am hoping this year will go off without a hitch.

Friday, January 30, 2009

I Need A Nap .

So this week was incredibly busy, so much that I am now ready to curl up and take a long, long nap.
About a month ago, I got a "last minute" (in the wedding world, anyway) order for a 4 tiered version of my very large wedding cake-the white Sparkly Cake. The only change was that they wanted red bows in place of the white ones.
The hardest part of this cake was the baking. The cake sizes are 6-9-12-15, which doesn't mean a lot until you see the sizes of the pans. When I shopped for supplies, I underestimated how much would be needed (I had only bought 6 dozen eggs, 18 cups of sour cream and 4 lbs of butter. It wasn't nearly enough). And when an ice storm hit during the week, I couldn't go out to get the rest of the supplies I sorely needed to get some of this work done! Ack!
The top tier is White Cake with Chocolate Mousse and Vanilla Buttercream. The 2nd tier is Italian Cream with Strawberry Mousse and Strawberry Buttercream. The 3rd tier is Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Mousse and Raspberry Buttercream, and the bottom tier is Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting. Phew! I would love to be able to say I took this on like superwoman and it was a breeze, but it actually took me hours upon hours upon hours, and I was beyond exhausted. Luckily, the decorating process wasn't nearly as bad!
So, as before, this cake is dusted with Super Pearl. The rhinestones are not edible, but are beautiful and stunning. There is just something about walking into a room with such a sparkling cake that catches the eye. The pipe work this time is a little more elaborate and elegant since the cake I made last year. I think it brings the cake up a notch and was done in Royal Icing.
This bride also wanted a Bleeding Armadillo Groom's Cake, ala Steel Magnolias. He is so cute! His insides are Red Velvet (for the "bleeding") with Cream Cheese Frosting. His body is cake, but his head is Rice Krispie treats. For the decor, I saw a similar cake online and followed their basic design scheme, with a few extra details. The body was covered in grey fondant, then in scales which I made with the wide part of a piping tip. I also added on some stripes. For the scales on the face, I used the small part of a #5 tip, and imprinted them all over. This is quite time consuming! His eyes were made with a leaf cutter, and the ears were free form.
The tail is a long rope of fondant, and his toes and claws are also ropes of fondant. I imprinted the scales on the toes in the same way I did the face. My husband thought that I should add a tongue hanging from the side of his mouth, but I don't know, he looks too happy for that! I think he is adorable, and I am pretty proud of it.
I also had a birthday cake this weekend, but was too tired to remember to get a photo of it. It was like my zoo animal cakes, but with monkeys only. The colors were dark brown, yellow and red. There were two smash cakes that came with it, also with monkeys. It was pretty cute, and I think the client liked it.
Well, it was a very productive cake week, and I am very proud of my work. But, I am off to bed for the rest of the weekend to catch up on all the TV I missed of my Tivo!

Friday, January 23, 2009

The Blue Period

It's funny to me that cake weeks can have themes, and that this week was blue cakes.  The first cake I made has been planned for quite a while.  Neatherly (cool name, huh?) contacted  me several months ago.  She is a very organized person, someone who plans ahead very well.  She is celebrating her 33rd birthday this weekend, and wanted me to design something around her invitation.The invitation is beautiful-royal blue, pale blue, black and white.  Along the side on the border was a sunburst pattern which she wanted incorporated on the cake. She said that she wanted to cake elegant with a modern twist, and not too busy.  So, keeping all that in mind, I came it with this design.  The scroll work always looks elegant, and I piped on the sunburst pattern onto the top tier.  I  hope she loves it, and has a happy birthday!
The next cake I made is a repeat of one I have done before, just in a different color.  I am glad that I had the opportunity to make it in blue, because I think blue and chocolate are so beautiful together.  This is for a baby shower, and there are 18 petit fours decorating the cake board.  I really love this cake, the coolness of the blue and the gumpaste J on the top.  It's adorable!
Next week is very, very busy for me.  I will be doing a 4 tiered wedding cake, a bleeding armadillo grooms cake, and a zoo animal/monkey cake.  

Friday, January 9, 2009

The Backyardigan Disco

This was a week for colorful cakes!

First up was this Backyardigans cake that I made for a friend of mine.  It isn't often that I get to make character cakes, but since it was a friend at no charge,  I was able to make this adorable cake.  I just love it-it is a two tiered version of my Over The Top Birthday Cake, but with Backyardigans in place of the butterflies.  She had only requested two of the animals, but I was able to fit in making the rest of them into my schedule, and surprised her with all five.  I am happy to say that I think it made a big difference in the cake to have all of them on there.  Too bad I can't make this for a client!

I also made this Disco Cake for a woman's 40th Birthday Party.  This was a surprise party her husband was throwing her, so all the ordering had to be done covertly.  This was inspired by the Pink Cake Box, and my biggest regret with it is that the background is too dark to see the outlines of the dancers.  However, he really wanted it to be chocolate fondant!  

On the Pink Cake Box Version, the borders were done with just plain ropes of fondant.  This is what I did at first, but as I continued to look at the cake, it just looked off.  Also, the only colors I had done were blue and purple, so it just seemed blah.

When I finally put the disco ball on, it still didn't seem right.  I looked at the clock, saw I had an hour before my customer would be here, and decided at the last second to add on more colors, and change the borders into the signature fondant balls that I almost always use.  I think it made the cake so much brighter and cuter-much more colorful, and the balls always look great!

The disco ball was made from Styrofoam covered in fondant pieces.  I painted it with silver highlighter and vodka.

I received an email telling me the cake was a huge hit, which always makes my day.  I am glad he loved it!


© Butterfly Sweets. Powered by