Spring Has Sprung!

With Spring arriving, of course I have to make flowers the main aspect of my cakes and cupcakes when possible. I've been keeping busy with spring flower-y cupcakes for my family's Easter celebration, along with my first attempt at cake pops- beach ball themed for a luau bridal shower for my sister-in-law. I think they were a pretty good success...of course I like other opinions as well! Here's a few pictures of what have been keeping me busy.

As part of my growing experiences, I am now providing baked goods to a local consignment shop for the owner to give to her customers. This is just a sample of what she will be getting...a white cupcake with white frosting colored with blue and purple for spring and topped with a purple pansy and some vines. Of course, I have to make it all look pretty and gorgeous, so I bagged it up, stuck a sticker on the bottom of the cupcake and tied it with a bow to match the cupcake liner. I love how the purple polka-doted flower just makes the whole thing POP!

Well, there's plenty more to do in the coming future. I think at this point, I have another first birthday cake, two wedding cakes in the same weekend, tropical bridal shower cupcakes....whew, sounds like alot of work and fun for me!

Cake Class #3 Graduation, Recent Projects and More

Well, For those of you that follow on a semi-regular basis, you know that I've been taking the Wilton cake decorating classes and I am proud to say that I have successfully finished the third of four courses! Of course, with Easter being yesterday and spring showing up all around and birthdays, bridal showers and weddings, it's definitely keeping me busy. Take a look to see what I've been up to....it's been busy, but oh so much fun! I can't wait to get my next cake orders.

I love the care-less look of this- it's called cornelli lace and is really easy to do, but definitely takes a little time. It is supposed to be one continuous line the whole way around your cake in different squiggly motions. I think it looks so neat- so much that we had it on our wedding cake and I've seen it on quite a few cakes recently. I used this to decorate a wedding cake that I made for our church's vow renewal ceremony. They asked for a wedding cake and chose the green color above and the pink color of the flowers below for a spring-related celebration. It was such a unique and special event since my husband and I could share our vows again and our families could be there to share it with us. Anyway, here's the top cake and cupcakes that I made for it.

A view of the top cake, all decked out and ready to show off. Everything is edible aside from the silver hearts on top.

Another view of the top- closer to see some of the details of the flowers.

A view of the cupcakes with a fondant type icing and each flower is individually made for the cupcake. I think they look so smooth and simply pretty while still incorporating the wedding theme colors.

This was a quick cake that I made for my husband's boss who was leaving for another position. I'm sure they will miss him, but their new boss is nice too!

My cousin's son was turning one and she asked for a jungle-animal themed cake so of course I went for the zebra print for the largest cake. I love the black with white stripes- or is it white with black stripes?

Of course every one year old has to have a "smashing" cake and Josh's was a lion. I think it turned out darling and was very simple with just a little creativity and thought. Isn't he so cute? I might have to make this again, just in a different animal.....we'll see!

I absolutely love this cake because of the giraffe pattern and then of course the little elephant, lion and giraffe on top makes it even cuter. The animals are all made out of fondant and painted so they are edible. I think they just "make" the cake. I know all of the guests enjoyed it and the birthday boy will have pictures to last a lifetime of his first birthday, made special by cousin Katie!

I know you've been so patient in getting through all of the other pictures to see what my final cake looked like for the third cake class. We learned how to make daffodils, a bow, how to cover a cake in fondant and even how to use different patterns. I love it......it's so simple but still so pretty. I'll definitely be trying the bow again in the future to add just a little "something" extra.

This is a side view of the final cake for the third cake class. I had other flowers that I was planning on using, but another member of the class needed them since she hadn't prepped any ahead of time and I decided the cake looked better without them! I love the pink "spots" on the bottom. I'm doing something just like that for an upcoming wedding cake. Keep an eye out for practice cakes that will mimic that cake soon.....I can always use the practice you know!

Oh, and don't forget to check out my pinterest boards to see what I've been viewing. I get tons of inspiration from there and keep a board of all of my cakes, cupcakes and treats there as well if you are just interested in the pictures.

Thanks for stopping in and come back soon to see what else I've been up to. I've got big plans this weekend for another project and possibly a cake for next weekend as well....we'll just have to see what comes about I guess! I might even see if my niece and nephew wants to help me decorate a cake when we watch them at the end of this month- you never know what inspiration a four year old will have!