Baby Shower Cakes

I am so thankful for my ability to take a fondant design and make it happen in frosting.  I just dislike fondant.  It tastes funny, has a weird texture, and I want people to enjoy eating what I make, not just enjoy how it looks.  So thus far, I refuse to use fondant on my cakes.  However, it hasn't stopped me making some stinkin' cute designs!  A friend from high school saw pictures on my Facebook page (one of the few reasons I'm still on Facebook, people can see what I'm capable of quicker) and called me about making a couple baby shower cakes for the same weekend.  She's a darn good friend, hosting two separate showers in one weekend, and travelling over 5 hours across the state to do so!  The first shower didn't really need cake, but she wanted to have a cupcake bouquet to give the mom-to-be, so I made this:

I was told the theme was "rustic country" and I felt the cup fit that really well.

The other baby shower was jungle themed.  We sent pictures back and forth and finally decided to use this one as a pattern:

This sure is a cute cake, but as I said, no fondant.

 

This was a new trick for me, I don't often have cakes that have multi colored backgrounds.  I left the background a little rougher than I normally would because I knew there would be foliage to help cover, plus it's the jungle!

 

Outlining the giraffe.

 

 

Working the monkey, they sure look funny without eyes :)

 

I just had to throw a vine in to see how it would look with the leaves.

 

And I allowed the monkey to have a banana, because I'm nice like that.

 

A baby elephant joins the party.

 

Monkey finished!

 

Elephant finished!

 

Giraffe finished!

 

And foliage finished!

 

I made sure to have a picture of the cake without writing so people can see it and imagine their own message in the blank space.

 

Also, it was an amazing change when I added those darker green leaves, the cake looks so much better for them!  The original designer knew what she was doing for sure, and I appreciate being able to learn from her.  Every time I would catch a glimpse of this cake out of the corner of my eye I would squeal a little because it turned out so well!

 

And all done!  The blue is Wilton Sparkle Gel I had leftover from being used in a pond on a construction themed cake.  The only thing I dislike about the gel is that it doesn't harden, which makes putting plastic wrap over the cake nearly impossible.  Fortunately I have a cake container that I bought from the grocery store that this was able to fit in, which protects the cake from dust.

 

The most amazing thing about this cake is that it is a white cake, and I don't like the taste of white cake (I'm a chocoholic) but this one was delicious!  I used Duncan Hines cake mixes, and had farm fresh eggs on hand so I used them, and I think the eggs made the difference.  And my friend told me the girls at the shower couldn't believe she didn't pick the cake up at a bakery!  Their so kind.  I'm glad they enjoyed it as much as I did!

 

So, in case you're wondering, I used 2 Duncan Hines White cake mixes, made two batches of frosting, used at least 8 different tips, and this took ~5 hours to decorate.  This is a single layer cake, and serves 15-20 people.  I have decided I need to re-evaluate how much I charge, as I definitely didn't take into account the time consuming nature of having 8 different colors (the pink roses were made at the same time) and getting them all mixed together added an hour to what I forecasted.  I learn something new every time I make a cake!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

~Brandy

Christmas in July is happening for me!

I am so excited because I have just made myself a promise that I will allow myself to work on Christmas projects the next two weeks!  I adore Christmas fabric, and have some set aside for a bed runner that is inspired by this:

 

 

I love how the faces have so much personality!

 

I have been working on a couple other projects as well, actually have a finish too!  I had seen the video from Missouri Star Quilt Co about making a dresden plate block with their tumbler, and as I have the mini tumbler I decided I needed to know how big a block would be when you make it.  9.5 inches is the answer!

 

Turns out the tumbler dresden only needs 16 pieces, so I left a couple out.

Inside look at the dresden making process :)

Yup, ~9.5 inches

My personal favorite piece

Here is the finished product!  I for some unknown reason, ending up closing the binding on the front.  That was not the plan... But it still looks good!

I used this as an opportunity to practice FMQ on my Bernina 750 QE, and I feel pretty good about it!  And I did the overlapping fabric as the backing, so technically this is a pillow sham and will be going to my cousin in Portland as soon as they get moved back into their house (her room caught on fire, fortunately everyone is fine including Butch, her cat).
 

Picked up some Timeless Treasures fabric from Craft Warehouse (until that day I was unaware CW even carried fabric, and not only that but MODA fabric!)

Actually didn't follow a pattern, read somewhere that this table runner uses equilateral triangles for the end pieces and figured it out for myself!  It wasn't difficult for me, but math/angle type things are not difficult for me, so there you go.  I plan on a post that is focused on this runner, and I definitely want to pick up some Christmas themed striped fabric now!  I will say, one of these times I'm going to remember to actually measure my pieces and think it thru a little in regards to my backing, I ended up ~2 inches short of having the right length of backing fabric.  Not a huge deal, I pieced 2 pieces of it together, but you know, sometimes it's nice to have a solid backing.

And this beaut is actually a 3 week late wedding present!  Hopefully my friend isn't reading my blog, but if so, surprise!  hahaha, I'm so excited to get this done, I just cut out the fabric for the border (a deep blue with the red as cornerstones) and will finish getting those on this week for sure, then take it to my mom's place to baste it all together.  John helped me choose a sandy colored flannel backing.  I am going to quilt it on my Bernina and am thinking a large feather-type pattern will look nice.

 

Other things on my holiday list include:

 

*Hunter's star for dad

*Scrappy four patch for sister

*Strawberry quilt for John and me

*finishing my lap blanket for work (needs batting and sewn up, should be easy enough...)

*make myself new sweatpants

 

Oh!  And I made a super fun cupcake bouquet the other day, and got paid for it!  Always a fun perk :)

 

Have a wonderful day!

~Brandy