Tuesday, May 24, 2011

A New Friend...

A few weeks ago I had an amazing opportunity to meet Elisa Strauss, from Confetti Cakes in NYC! Check out her work at her site (confetticakes.com) or on YouTube. You may have seen her on Last Cake Standing or several Cake Challenges on the Food Network.
Anyway, her designs are beautiful and her work is meticulous. I spent several days with her perfecting techniques and learning all sorts of tricks of the trade. This time was so valuable and I have enjoyed putting everything into practice since I have been home. What an honor to spend time with you, Elisa!
In Elisa's new studio...
Learning to perfectly edge my fondant cakes!
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Monday, May 23, 2011

From Concept to Completion

Kate, my 6-year-old daughter, wanted to help with a special cake. Her kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Reeb, is retiring in a week and her last class, or the moms to be more exact, wanted to throw her a surprise party. We decided on an owl cake, because Mrs. Reeb is smart, and a heart pocket because "she loves us!" We wanted to do a stack of books that she might read in her "retirement". Kate drew this lovely sketch for us to work from. I love that she enjoys being involved!

And here is what we came up with in the end: 



We decided to add the graduation hat since Mrs. Reeb is kind of graduating from kindergarten. Of course, we needed an apple somewhere on the cake, so we stuck in on top of her Journal of a Grandma and her book, "Life after Kindergarten". Then we had to give her some reading glasses. We also decided to change the heart pocket into a pocket with a giant heart button. We made chocolate cupcakes with owls, flowers and button hearts for all kids in Mrs. Reeb's class. 

What we love most:

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