Kate's Monet Masterpiece

One of my darling daughters turned 9 this month!! I cannot believe how fast time has gone...in some senses. I remember the wonderful day she was born like it just happened. At the same time I can't hardly remember life without her! Her creative, generous, compassionate and peacemaking soul greatly blesses this family. We love you, dear Kate!

Of course, birthdays bring cake. Actually my kids plan their birthday cakes year round...drawing ideas and sketching out elaborate {and nearly impossible} elements of spy labs and underwater coral reefs. I don't stop them since I know it's part of the process...and ALL of the fun. But, eventually, we have to cement the final design. I'm not sure if I get much more enjoyment...in cake making...than seeing my children's plans go from pencil scribbles on paper to an edible work of art.

Kate finally settled on an "artist" cake...because she is, in every way, arty! She threw around various ideas on how to execute this broad subject. At first I was going to copy a painting that she had made a while back, but when it came right down to it she really wanted Monet. No contesting here...

We made the painting first and then worked the rest of the cake around that. Kate knew that she wanted a teal cake and the gold on the frame just popped. We decided that we needed to add coordinating gold throughout the rest of the elements. Paint brushes were a natural place for gold...but the idea {which, I must admit, was my husband's contribution} to paint gold strokes down from the top edge of the cake was genius! It ties the cake together and gives it an overall elegant, aristocratic feel. 

Starting at the top, we made a wooden palate covered with the colors we used for the actual painting. I made the paintbrushes all one piece, with white gum paste, and then once it was dry I painted those with powder colors. The paintbrushes look a little too real, though...my four-year-old kept picking them up to use on his own creation he was making next to me. I cringed every time...trying to delicately unwrap his fingers from around the brush. I can't believe it never broke. And, yes, I did move them, but little boys move faster!

The Monet piece itself was painted on a canvas of dried gum paste. I used powdered colores mixed with a tiny drop of lemon extract until the "paint" was thick and opaque. I am not taking any credit for this work of art...I am not trying to make a forgery here. {Smile} We were inspired by Monet, and wanted to express that spirit here. The frame is made from bits and pieces of extruded gum paste, molds, and flat strips. It looked like nothing before we covered the whole thing in an antique gold finish. Kate let out a sign of relief, "Okay, now it looks like a frame!" We were going for elaborate-antique...good enough!

The last little detail came last minute. I had thought to hang the picture on the cake but it just didn't seem right. I wanted to bring a whimsical element to the cake that still showcased the painting but brought it to life a little bit. There are a few elements in the painting that we tossed around {the Japanese bridge, trees, grasses} but settled on the iconic and beautiful waterlilies. We added a touch of glamour to them painting a touch of gold here and there. The painting then looked quite "in its element" sitting on the lily pad. The end result was worth the extra work.

Kate, dear, I hope your birthday was as beautiful and wonderful as you! Thanks for working by my side to create this masterpiece. I love you, darling!


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The Cat in the Hat for Norah!

Well, friends, a year has past since I put my cake shop on hold! I can't believe how time flies when you are having fun...or trying to survive! What a great year. A heart-wrenching and trying year, but a great one. And now that we are on the other side of just trying to navigate the chaos of adoption, our family is back to enjoying little things like game nights and family outings...and I have energy to make cakes!

I don't take for granted this gift of relative calm in our lives. God is merciful and gracious as He works out His purposes in us. He is our Creator and knows how we work inside and out. He knows what we need, even down our expression of creativity. It is such a blessing for me to have an artistic outlet and I absolutely LOVE working with all of you!!

I love working with little Norah, who is turning 4! I have had the privilege of working on three of her birthday cakes over the years. I love her excitement as she recognizes familiar elements and takes in all the intricate details. This year she chose "The Cat in the Hat"...so fun!

I basically went through the book and pulled out as many elements as I could make. I wanted to start with the most iconic pieces...although I wish I would have had time to make the pink polka-dotted dress, too. Of course, the actual hat had to be in there somewhere, and the most logical place was the cake itself. I know, I didn't think outside of the box on that one, but it's a thread of predictability in the rest of the crazy Seuss world.

I thought about doing "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" but they are so over done. I went with something I hadn't seen before.

I decided to try stacking the elements like in the book, even though I am super concerned about the 45 min drive it will have to endure! 

And of course, I had to have the kite on there, with the string winding around the side of the cake. I chose to use the "Things" number circle for Norah's name. I think it ties in well.

So, Happy 4th Birthday, Norah! I am so thankful that I can be involved in a small way in celebrating the life of such a sweet girl. It's a blessing in so many ways! 

Hope you love your cake!!

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An Icing Smile for Trace!

I don't often share much about my clients...privacy, and all that. But, one time I do feel it is important is when my little cake-eaters are referred to me through an organization called Icing Smiles. I want to first do a shout out for the people who run this amazing program and second I'd like to highlight Trace and his 4th birthday cake!

Icing Smiles is a remarkable group, who's founder acknowledges that this is her calling from God. In fact, she comments, "We are not a faith-based organization. But without my faith, we would not be an organization." I respect this position since I, too, feel compelled by God to use my passions for His Glory. Icing Smiles is a nonprofit organization that provides custom birthday cakes for families impacted by the critical illness of their child. Birthday cakes are often luxuries that a family battling illness do not have. Bakers around the United States partner with Icing Smiles to create custom cakes for these children or their siblings. This gives them temporary escape from the day to day worries and helps build memories with smiles, bringing a glimpse of normalcy to the lives of these families.


I highly recommend that you check out the Icing Smiles website, and if you are a baker in the United States, I ask you to consider volunteering with Icing Smiles. You could contribute to making wonderful birthday memories a reality for these families.

Now...to infinity and beyond!

Buzz. Such a recognizable character. The enormous chin. The crazy eyebrows. The ball-and-socket arms. Then there are all the badges and buttons. I wouldn't have chosen to do a gigantic Buzz but there was a very special reason...actually a very special boy.

Trace. And he was turning four. What a miracle! To date he has had several open heart surgeries and a stroke. He is scheduled for surgery again next year. It is hard for me to imagine a childhood full of doctors and hospitals, but this boy was all smiles when I finally met him.

When Trace's mom contacted me and said Buzz Lightyear was his favorite, I really had no choice but to start craving this cake. The arms were made out of rice crispies and the rest was carved cake. That chin did prove to be a challenge!

"Space Rangers" badge on the left arm.

The "Laser Button" was a last minute decision, thankfully. Trace's mom asked him as we were walking in to get the cake..."Trace, are you excited to eat Buzz's Laser Button?"  Whew! I'm so, so, SO glad I put it on.

Isn't he adorable? Trace, that is! On his way to the car he showered me with kisses and hugs. I even got his signature "puppy dog kiss,' which, as you can imagine, was a bit too wet for me. But, I think that meant he was happy. (Insert smiley face for me...it really did make my day!) Here he is pictured with Buzz during his party. After a long drive Buzz started to lean...I think the sheer exhaustion from posing with that grin on the long car ride home. It makes my face hurt just thinking about it!

Happiest 4th Birthday to you, Trace. I pray that you were able to build great memories with your family, and that God would supply you all with strength and perseverance for the months and years ahead.

Those are TWO Icing Smiles!!



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Baby Owl Birthday

I thought this sweet baby cake would be a great example to show the process I go through with my clients in designing their cakes. It really isn't anything earth-shattering but the design aspect of cake making is really one of my favorite parts...so, I'll share this one with you.

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My client emailed me a picture (this is just a detail) of her baby's special quilt, delicately embroidered and appliqued. I loved it from the start! Exactly my style with the vibrant colors, the little curls of the branches, and all the itty bitty animals everywhere. Acorns, a bird's nest, butterflies, ladybugs...all quilted and sweet!

After I gather information on style and size, I sketch out two or three cake designs. Although, I felt like I could have taken this one about 10 completely different directions. I guarded my already divided time and settled on two ideas to present to my client.

Option 1: The hand-painted tree background goes all the way up the cake. This one mostly resembles the quilt. It is delicate with lots of little details. It also looks more like a picture, with the green grass at the bottom and the full tree. All of the leaves, acorns and most animals are then 2-dimensional "quilted" appliques on the tree. The exceptions would be the yellow bird topper, the coral squirrel on the middle level and a few butterflies and dragonflies.

Option 2: This cake is less delicate and more stylized. The tree is only on the bottom tier and is made out of thin swirls of gumpaste, slightly three dimensional, instead of being painted. The larger grey areas have stitching along the edges to duplicate that "quilt" feel. Some small branches and a "1" are wrapped around the second tier. All the elements are flat on the cake except the owl and mushrooms on top and the acorns on the bottom. Another option is to have other small creatures interspersed among the acorns to break up the brown and create interest.

And my client chose...(da, da, da, daaa) Option 2! I think it turned out pretty cute. I ended up placing the little animals around in the acorns. I like how it brightened the browns and tied in the colors from the rest of the cake.

You can see the stitching on the branches and the leaves. I actually did stitching on the animals too. For the acorns I decided on a puffy patterned top with stitching all around, maybe giving the allusion that they are plush, quilted acorns. Why anyone would want plush quilted acorns, I don't know, but it seemed to fit the theme! And I actually really like the effect.

I purposely made the acorns all different sizes so it would look very organic and handmade.

The owl was so adorable! I pressed feather patterns into the wings and belly and added stitching down the "seams". The mushrooms added the perfect touch of whimsy to the baby cake.

Well, that's all, folks! I hope you enjoyed seeing the step by step pictures of this cake design. Maybe I'll have to showcase some gumpaste modeling tutorial pictures sometime. I get so caught up in just getting my cakes finished that I very rarely stop to take pictures. We'll see...

And Happy Birthday, sweet boy!

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Braden Digs His Birthday

So, you all have kept me busy this summer! It is a good thing that I like what I do...well, most of it! I love the design stage. I love taking clients' ideas, pictures, event decor and turning it a complimentary piece of edible art. I love the planning stage, although this is my most stressful step. This is where I go over and over and over in my head every detail that needs to be made and when. Since drying time is so critical the plan needs to be orchestrated perfectly. I also love the creating stage. I can get so absorbed in what I am doing that when I am in the zone several hours could flash past and I wouldn't know it. Which is why the planning stage is so important for me.

Then I get to the not so exciting parts, at least for me. The cutting of the many foam boards, the lining of the pans, the making of the batter, the waiting and waiting for the buttercream to whip, and the washing of the stack of dishes! Sometimes it's enough to make me never want to make another cake again. But then I get to pull out the fondant. And I get to put on all the elements that I so diligently labored over. Once it comes together in the end I decide that I actually do LOVE what I do. (You do know that this is really not what I do...I have four lovely children and they are what I really do!)

Anyway, on to the cake...a dear little boy, Braden, and his grandfather share a birthday. This year the theme is, I bet you can't guess, construction! He wanted a digger and that's about it. His mom helped out with a few more ideas. She wanted it to coordinate with the orange and yellow decorations. She also asked that I make a mini cake for Braden's grandfather with the two of them on top. Simple, but clean and cute...and perfect for a little boy who only really wants the digger!

 Generally, I do figures and big elements like the digger a week ahead so all the piece can dry and then be assembled. Thinner items, like the signs and rocks, I usually do while I am waiting for cakes to bake and buttercream to whip. (It really does take a while for that stuff to get fluffy!)

I am sure that a certain yellow "digger" company in Peoria will be contacting me soon wanting to get their hands on my new arm design! To be honest this prototype has not been field tested yet, but I am willing to sell the rights to the design as is. Sometimes I am so intricately detailed and real-life accuracy is very important to me, but other times I use a lot of artistic license. I love the "2" sign being hoisted up the side. It, also, brings a touch of whimsy to the cake.

An old wooden construction sign, with reflective orange flashers on top. It kind of reminded me of an abandoned gold mine...

Here they are, the construction crew themselves! Love how the hats and vests turned out. If you look closely you can see stitching and pockets on the carpenter jeans. The sign was just an adorable idea from my client. I just realized looking at the picture that I forgot the reflective orange on the flashers! Oops! Well, it's a good thing no one will ever know.

Well, folks, that's about all I've got for this post. Hope you enjoyed the fabulous pictures taken by my fantastic husband. And thanks to the new bulbs he bought me recently our colors for the last few posts have been so vibrant and true! Thanks for reading and have a great long weekend.

And...Happy Birthday, Braden and Pop!

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Hello Kitty Carnival Birthday

Okay, so my kids play their birthday cakes all years long! On rainy days or on long car rides, they go through stacks of scrap paper drawing elaborate ideas ranging from super secret spy labs to 3D rainbows and clouds. I just go along with it and help them create...their minds change so many times I don't really worry about if it is something I can make or not. Annie had a Hello Kitty Mermaid cake for last year's birthday. I thought she would have moved on to something else by this birthday...but, no...we are still pals with Hello Kitty! This year we had a carnival theme so we tried to tie that all in.

Around the top tier I wrapped a little pink and red pennant string. It was a really simple element to add to a tier. I'll have to remember that for construction cakes too! I placed pink pearls all around the base of that layer, too. For the bottom tier I covered it with red and added pink and white stripes all around. The little pink swags add a theatrical touch to the cake. Another theatrical element was the feather headpiece in front. I tried to match the headpiece on Hello Kitty. I was in a time crunch, here...but it turned out okay.



The Hello Kitty on top was dressed like a circus performer. I love the headpiece with the feathers. A combination of red and pink dress layers adds to the whimsy. Once again Annie insisted that Hello Kitty have a smile. So Hello Kitty got a smile...and so did Annie! Happy 5th Birthday, Annie!



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Puppies for Kate

My little client, Kate, knew what she wanted for her birthday! She loves dogs and actually wants to be a vet when she grows up. Here were the cake requests: hot pink and lavender, puppy theme, and a 3D chocolate lab. She also wanted chocolate cake with cream cheese butter cream. I'd say that Kate got what she ordered!

So from left to right, we have Dachshund, Bulldog, Chocolate Lab, Yorkie, and Bloodhound. Each of the puppies has a toy or bone and the lab sat on a quilted dog pillow. I used paw print elements around the sides and butterflies in various places to sprinkle around the lavender.  Around the bottom I made a dog collar with stitching around the edges and a little tag that read, "KATE". Pink and purple are very difficult colors to work for because they fade so quickly, even when kept out of direct sunlight. I painted the majority of the pink and purple elements to keep their vibrancy.

The Yorkie and Bloodhound...I think they are so cute!

Here are closeups of the other pups. My references for these dogs, and lots of other animals, are real photos and polymer clay pieces. I like to reference polymer clay sculptures because people usually construct the elements with more detail than other mediums. The only dog that is directly from a polymer clay piece is the bulldog, but I thought it was so adorable. See http://www.etsy.com/transaction/9096256.

Well, Kate, I hope you enjoyed your puppy cake and your happy birthday! Pin It

What's Grillin'?

What do you get when you have a "grilling out"-themed couples baby shower and the daddy's birthday all at the same party?? The Grill Cake...

The colors were, obviously, yellow and grey and chevrons were to be incorporated. Oh, did those chevrons give me problems!! This was a rush order, too, so many things that I usually do 5 days ahead had to be done the day before. But, it turned out cutesy enough to be on display at a baby shower all the while gently declaring, "man".

I wanted to set the grill on something so it wasn't so lonely on top. We settled on a weathered grey deck. I think it turned out well. I love the nails...I actually always love doing nails! I do them every chance I get because I think it adds such nice dimension. On the charcoal bag I used the spaces for the labels to write, "Happy Birthday, Sam". Any other time I would have made a bag with more charcoal-bag colors like red and blue, but I didn't want that to distract from the color scheme we had going. On to the food! The burgers and hot dogs took 10 seconds to make and I think they are my favorite part!

I extended the deck to the base of the cake for some added detail. I know the chevrons are already plenty of detail...but I wanted to balance out the busyness on the top. I couldn't resist adding this neoprene and yellow quilted BBQ mitt. I even made little stitching around the bottom! It was really cute!

Happy Birthday, Sam! And congratulation on the baby! Pin It

Hawaiian Sweet 16

I love that I can do what I do (make cakes, among other things) while supporting a cause that helps save lives! Last year I had the honor of donating a silent auction gift certificate for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Gala in Peoria. And the winner is...a very sweet girl, Emily, who turns 16!

Emily had her idea all ready...she wanted Hawaiian hibiscus flowers and a turtle somewhere. We waffled between purple and blue-green, but eventually landed with the washed up sea foam for the backdrop for the flowers. I am so happy with her choice! Though she didn't need a three tiered cake, we both really liked the look. I made the top tier out of foam so that Emily can have the effect of a big cake and keep part of it for the memories!

I love the blue bamboo sign...so beachy but pretty and delicate too. I used "tiki"-style letters to write the birthday message, complete with little nails. I needed something to make the sign pop so I added the pink and orange hibiscus on the corner.

This little sea turtle is adorable! I wanted to incorporate the flowers and Hawaii into the design. I found a clip art drawing on a similar design and thought it would fit perfectly. I love how it turned out!

Well, Emily, I hope you have an amazing Sweet 16!

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Hello Kitty Mermaid

My kids spend all year long brainstorming on what they want for their birthday cake. So now it's Annie's turn to work on her ideas. Here is her list: Hello Kitty Mermaid, goggles on her head, rainbow nose, starfish, blow-up pool, a turtle, and a mouth on Hello Kitty. (She insisted that everything has a mouth so Hello Kitty should too!)

Here is the finished cake. I love the mermaid suit and I have to admit her goggles were a nice idea!

Annie loves turtles so of course, there has to be a turtle!

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