If only things went according to plan................

.....it would be a refreshing change!  The plan for one of the cakes for the upcoming cake show I'm attending, was to have daffodils on it.  Now, I've never really made daffodils before - though I have taken a class with the awesome Kim Morrison.  The one we made in class went great!  However, the life-size one(s) I tried to make did not go so well.

I got my hands on some real daffodils, and promptly pulled one apart to trace and measure the petals and throat (or trumpet).  I then cut out the throat shape and attempted to frill the edges and actually form the throat.  All was going ok until I tried to close up the bottom of the throat....for the *&(*&%( life of me I can't figure out how to do it without the paste ripping!  Sticking the (already) dried centers through it did not prove to help the situation at all.  After about 4 or 5 attempts I went in search of alternate directions via the interwebs.  I came across a technique where you take a ball of paste, and hollow it out into a trumpet shape.  This worked better, but I was still not happy with the results. 

Time to re-group and think of options!  After much discussion with a friend, I settled on doing sunflowers.  Have I made sunflowers before?  Nope.  Hey - it's how I roll!  I do have Nic Lodge's instructions from his Potpourri of Flowers book.  Since I had no appropriately sized styrofoam balls (for the center) and no chocolate fondant (again, for the center), I set about figuring out the petals of the sunflower.  Nic's instructions call for 30 petals...PER FLOWER.   I am making three flowers.  That's NINETY individually wired petals.  I found an appropriately sized petal cutter and set about making a ton of petals.  I believe I have 95 or so petals.  Got those done, and they are drying.  Also made some sunflower leaves and those are drying as well.

Also got some hydrangea blossoms made this weekend.  They are GORGEOUS!!!!!  They are light green and blue. 

The plan tonight is to get the sunflower centers made.....let's hope all goes according to plan!  Assuming those get done, lol, the petals and leaves will get dusted also.  HOPEFULLY all can be assembled tomorrow, but if not, there's some stuff I can switch around in my plan.

~Chelle

Eeeeek!

I am planning entries for a cake show in May.  I finally sat down to work out a schedule to get everything done on time.....and guess what??  The show is in three, yes THREE, weeks!  Yikes!  How did that happen???  Last time I looked it was 6 weeks away.  Oh, and did I mention I doing FOUR entries?!?!  Well, four is what's planned, but I've learned over the years it's quality over quantity!  So, four are planned, and I will make a valiant effort to put forth my best work for them all, but if some don't get done, they don't get done.

I am doing a wedding cake (3-tier), an any occasion cake (2-tier), another any occasion cake (1-tier) that will be buttercream, and an International/Special technique cake (1-tier) that will be lambeth.

Thankfully I have no plans for any weekends (and need to keep it that way!), so between working after work and having weekends free, I should have enough time to get it all done.  Just need to stick to the schedule I made!

I'll give a brief description of what's going on the cakes:
Wedding Cake: oriental stringwork, gumpaste daffodils, stephanotis, and hydrangea
Tiered Any Occasion: quilting, piping, gumpaste bow
Non-Tiered Any Occasion: buttercream piping
Int/Spec Technique: lambeth

Wish me luck!  I'll try to post every few days or so and let you know how the plans are coming.  I may or may not include pics - I haven't decided....it also depends on if I remember to take the pics, lol.

~Chelle

Garden State Cake Show - Burlington NJ

This past weekend, I traveled to Burlington NJ with some friends of mine to attend the Garden State Cake Show.  This is the second year we've gone (I believe it's the show's third year, but I may be wrong).  I have to admit, I was skeptical about going this year since last year was not the experience I had expected.  I went this year because friends asked me to go (I would not have initiated the idea to go).  I was pleasantly surprised at how well-run the show was after last year's experience. 

It is a rather small cake show (compared to others I go to) but has a good number of entries, vendors and classes available.  The friends I went with took a couple of classes while at the show: a cake decorated using Jacobean cutters and a high-heel shoe class.  I, personally, don't get the fascination with "shoe cakes" but the shoes were very nice that they made. 

Knowing that I wasn't taking any classes, I decided to bring along some stuff to keep me occupied.  I have been neglecting drawing out the collars for the Nirvana part of my Certification cake, so I brought that stuff with me.  I did manage to draw out the collar and side panels, as well as decide what size dummies to use.

~Chelle

Certification

You might be asking yourself "What is Certification?"

If you are, I can answer that!  If you're not, then stop reading, lol!!!!!

The international cake group that I belong to has devised a Certification program to be certified as either a Master Sugar Artist or Sugar Artist.  There are pretty detailed rules regarding the test. 

In a nutshell, I will have to completely decorate a three-tiered cake, a non-tiered cake and a non-cake display piece in the span of 8 hours.  Yes, you read that correctly 8 HOURS.....not 8 days, lol!  Very little can be done ahead of time (the point is to see how well and quickly you work).  Of the four cakes two can be iced at home and two have to be iced at the test.  One in buttercream and one in fondant.  All cake boards can be fully decorated ahead of time. 

To decorate the cakes and display piece, you have to chose 8 decorating techniques from a list of about 30-40 techniques, arranged in categories by skill level.  They range from the simple (simple stringwork and piped flowers) to the complex (Lambeth and Nirvana).  There are particular rules about how many techniques in each category can be picked, etc.... but I don't want to bore you with the fine details.  The 8 techniques you choose will be the ones you are judged on.  You can incorporate other techniques in your pieces, but only these 8 will be judged, the others will count towards your overall asthetics score. 

I have spent a few years working on which techinques I would choose, and figuring out which ones I needed classes in.  I have taken classes in the techniques I needed to be better at, as well as those I haven't really done a lot of.  I have been trying to incorporate some of the techniques in competition cakes that I have done over the last few years - though not in earnest.  That's about to change!!!!  My plans for my certification cakes have to turned in by April 1, 2013, so I have a little over a year to perfect my plans and practice them to make sure they are viable. 

I have done competition cakes in the Nirvana style (and won two Best of Shows) and Lambeth (3rd place - know what needs to improve).  I have gone back and forth a few times with the techniques and trying to design a cohesive cake that incorporates the techniques.  I am happy to say that I have settled on a final design for the three tier cake!  The only variable is the type of flower, but that's easy enough to change and adjust the colors accordingly.

So.....what skills have I chosen to be judged on?  Those without a description can be searched online :)

Piped embellishments (piped swags, compound borders, etc...)
Fabric Effects in Rolled Fondant (bows, swags, etc....)
Brush Embroidery
Basic Stringwork
Gumpaste Flowers
Oriental Stringwork
Nirvana
Lambeth

I have a sketch drawn up on paper as well as the computer.  My next step is to print it out and use colored pencils to get an idea of how it's going to look all finished.

So, after all this, are you wondering WHY I want to do this?  I know I still ask myself that question, lol.  I am doing this for me, and no one else.  I'm not doing it to further my business (I don't have one) or my standing as a decorator, or for letters after my name - none of that matters to me.  I'm doing it for me, to prove to myself that I can do it.  Plain and simple!

I will try to keep you all updated on my progress through the Certification process!

~Chelle

No, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, lol!

Hello to everyone still reading this blog (if there any, lol).  I haven't dissappeared, I've just been busy and though I've done some cakes, there haven't been too many.  I am going to try to post more to this blog, since I will be working on more and more cake stuff in the coming year.  I will try to post some pictures tonight of cakes that I have done.

I hadn't been posting as I did the cakes (especially the competition ones) because I had decided it was best to not "show my hand" to any potential judges beforehand.  Well.......that led to me not posting at all, lol.  So, judges be damned, I'm going to start posting again as I'm working on a project.  :)

So....you might be wondering why I'm going to be busier with cake stuff in the next year or so (and if you're not, I'm still going to tell you, lol). Next summer (2013) at the Convention in Lexington KY, I am going to be one of the candidates for Certification. Yes....I've bitten the bullet and decided to do it! This wasn't a decision that was arrived at lightly....I have been thinking about it and learning about it for the better part of three years. I signed up after the Convention this past summer in Charlotte and my application was accepted. I will post more at a later date explaining Certification a little bit more.

I have deliberately not mentioned which Convention I am talking about, but those of you that are part of the international cake group that I belong too will be able to figure it out.  Since I am a State Rep for a little while longer, I am choosing to not have this blog associated in any way with the Group.  I do not wish my rantings and such to reflect on the Group, therefore I am hopefully not creating a connection on this blog between me and the Group.



~Chelle

A Stunning Wedding in July

I was asked a while ago (I think in January) by a friend of mine if I could do her wedding cake.  I of course said 'yes', I love doing wedding cakes!  We talked extensively via email, and as the day drew nearer, we met in person to go over flowers, colors, etc....  I brought some of my flowers to show her and we decided on the type of flowers (dendrobium orchids and tea cup roses) and the colors (teal-ish orchids and pink-ish roses).

So, I set about making the flowers.  The dendrobium orchids weren't so bad, I had the cutters for them and made the flowers.

I also made the tea cup roses, but unfortunately didn't take any pictures of them, lol.  I ended up using a wire with a floral tape bud on the end of it and the smallest 5 petal cutter in the PME cutter set.  Next time, I would use a slightly larger floral tape bud than the one that I used, but they turned out gorgeous!

After they were all dry, I dusted them.  The orchids were dusted on the edges with a teal blue, and the roses with a pale pink.







Here's a close up of the top of the cake - you can see the dusted tea cup roses and dendrobium orchids:

I taped the flowers into a long lei-type vine and draped them around the cake, starting at the top.  There were also smaller accent cakes that went with the big one.  Those got a small spray of one orchid and one tea cup rose.  For the sprays, I used some white and teal 1/8" ribbon and made some cute loops and taped them with the flowers.

Here is one of the smaller accent cakes:

The main cake was three layers, with alternating ribbon patterns around the bottom of the cakes.  The bride requested real ribbon, so that's what I used.  I took the color sample with me to the craft store, and luckily found the right color first shot!

I had wanted to elevate the main wedding cake and kind of have the accent cakes almost "under" the main cake.  I started thinking on how I could do that.  I ended up taking two 10" styrofoam round cake dummies, taped them together to get a height of 8".  I then draped some white satin material over them, followed by some sparkly teal fabric that I happened to have laying around the house (amazing, isn't it?  lol).

Here are some pictures of the finished cake and table all set up:

Let me tell you....as a cake decorator....it's pretty tough to impress yourself with a cake you've done.  Believe when I say, I finished the cake table, put my stuff away and grabbed my camera.  I turned around to take a picture and was absolutely STUNNED at how gorgeous the cake and table looked!

The last two pictures (and the one of the top of the cake earlier in the post) were sent to me by the bride.  It was so bright outside that day, that my camera just didn't take very nice pictures.  In her email with the pictures she also thanked me.  With her permission I am sharing what she wrote.  It just makes me, as a cake decorator, love what I do so much more when I get thanks like this from someone!

Thank you so much for everything you did! The cake was PERFECT! And there wasn't a single complaint from the peanut gallery. The fondant, icing, and all the cakes tasted fantastic! It was so pretty, I just couldn't have pictured it differently. If you didn't know the flowers were sugar, you wouldn't be able to tell till you touched them. Unbelievable.

So, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you thank you thank you so much for everything.

 ~Chelle

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

When you hear the words "Mother's Day" in conjunction with 'cake', if evoked images of flowery cakes and whatnot (at least it does to me).  Well, I asked my mom what kind of cake and decorating she'd like for Mother's Day.  She is a very easy person to please most of the time.  Her absolute favorite cake in the entire world is a yellow cake mix (undoctored) with Betty Crocker Milk Chocolate frosting on it.

Well...........how can you NOT give your mom what she wants for Mother's Day?!?!?!?!?!

Here's her cake!

She love it, and that's all that matters!  (even though, secretly, it KILLED me to frost with canned frosting!)

~Chelle