Laser Level Learning

Sometimes you happen upon something that's just too good not to share. I have used this technique before, but was doing it again this weekend and decided to record it, document it, and pass it along to all my cake decorating friends.

There have been several times when I needed a mark on a cake for some sort of decorating challenge. I tried using plastic strips, but they were slightly cumbersome and would sometime still leave a mark on the cake. One day while rummaging through Chad's tools I ran across his laser level. That day I used it and positioned it just by placing it on a stack of cake boards.

This weekend I kicked it up a notch and mounted it on my camera's tripod. It made it SO much easier to position the laser where I needed it. I was then able to pipe my band of swirlies right where I needed them! Hope you guys find this useful!!

Bridal Show Goodness

Wednesday already? Where has the week went? I must still be reeling from the wonderful Premier Bridal Show we were a part of on Sunday. This is the first time we have had a 20x10 booth and we had to scramble to get our layout just right. We brought all of our new faux cakes and they were a big hit, as we hoped they would be. I haven't got the final tally back from the show producers yet, but we met hundreds of brides and most knew exactly what they wanted; something very contemporary that matched their style and personalities. We have already had brides contacting us and we have a whole pile of names that we will start scheduling consultations with today.

In the last 2 pictures, pay particular attention to the AWESOME columns and cake stands that my talented big brother made for me! Aren't they just great?!? He made all the cake stands except the silver and glass ones. I keep telling him he needs to setup a website and sell these professionally. I'll keep on until I get him talked into it - that's what bratty baby sisters do!

Bake Like a Pirate Day!!

Avast ye mateys! OK, so it's not exactly "Bake Like a Pirate Day", but it is Talk Like a Pirate Day! So I thought that besides talking like a pirate, we would showcase a couple of pirate cakes from the Cup a Dee Cakes archives. On the top cake, we used a plastic gold doubloon and pressed it into gumpaste discs to make our own shiny gold pieces. some stock clipart and our trusty edible image printer made the map. We molded white chocolate gems and painted them with edible glitter to make them look more like real pirate's booty.

On the bottom cake, we used a lot of the same techniques as in the top cake, but we also molded 2 little pirates for the birthday boys. And each little pirate needed their own treasure chest smash cake. They turned out really great, even though they took us forever! We made each wooden slat out of fondant and built up the sides and top just like a "real" chest would be. I made this before I had my wood grain roller, so we used the tines of a fork to grain and distress the wood.

Well, get out and enjoy Talk Like a Pirate Day. Here at the bakery we'll be busy all day today making tons of cupcakes for all the couples visiting us the Premier Bridal Show at the Chattanooga Trade Center this Sunday. I will certainly blog more about that later! Until then, get out of here before I keelhaul you, ye landlubbers! Arrggghh!

Scrolls and Red Rose Wedding Cake

The lesson with this cake you ask? Bring a tool box/repair kit on every cake delivery. I didn't have any cake tragedies here, but I did need several things. First, I had to cut all the flowers and install them on the cake. Then I needed my sticky roller to clean up some of the mess I made on the table. Then I needed a Shout wipe to clean a little buttercream off the table cloth. Lastly, I had to use green floral tape and skewers and rig all the letters so they would sit up above the roses. The small stake in the plastic letters was barely big enough to hold them if you stabbed them directly into the cake, much less towering 4" over. I'm just saying, make a tool kit so you can grab it on your way out the door. Always keep a little of the cakes icing in a bag in cake of a larger tragedy. Last lesson for the day, wrap your ribbon around twice so that it doesn't get soaked with fat from the icing (then secure with a corsage pin). Happy caking!

Piped baby shower with ?

If you don't already know, I am not personally a fan of using plastic on a cake. I'm not judging mind you, I do it. I just try to do it as little as possible. It sure would make life easier and you don't break copyright, which not breaking the law is always a good thing. I'm referring to Elmo and such, not these booties of course. The first tiered cake I ever made was a cake in a similar style of this one. Boy have I learned a lot! I've also learned that people don't always want to spend the money on all gum paste items like booties. Once a customer sees the plastic on a cake, it's hard to "up sale" them to handmade. Just keep that in mind if you don't want to ever "do" plastic. I have such a hard time doing cakes like this that aren't really my "style" anymore. I really do love it when the customers say "do whatever you want". That way you can try that great cake in your head and they get an awesome cake for less than you will charge next time!

Black Vine Wedding cake

There seems to be a lot of weddings this year with a black and white color scheme. I'm a fan, especially when it's done right! For this 3-tier wedding cake I used my house buttercream with some white color added to it. Most people know this, but just in case you don't make your black icing at least a day before. It will deepen overtime and you don't have to use as much color. This is especially important when you are mixing colors like red or orange that have to match ribbon or an invitation. Make it ahead and make plenty. The only tricky thing with a cake like this is making sure you "caulk" the seams in between the layers so that it looks very clean. When you pipe in black, you'd better mean it. It is hard to undo. This design was given to me by the bride. I tried to reproduce it the best I can, but piping is a little like hand writing, everyone has their own style.

Red & Black Show Cake

I know, I know, I'm like the worst blogger ever! But if you only knew HOW busy we've been lately. I am teaching a decorating class beginning September 15 at Dalton State College and then we have a HUGE bridal show on September 20th!! I have been so busy getting my syllabus ready and my booth designed that I have had no time left over for anything else. I am also trying to make some new show pieces to bring to the bridal show. Case in point - this "little" red and black number I have been working on for the past few weeks.

This is a dummy cake, so no actual cake, just Styrofoam layers, but it has been decorated with actual fondant and food safe materials. The beads are plastic beads that my poor husband lovingly cut from a beaded curtain I purchased online and then hot-glued to the bottom of the separator plates. The cat toppers are a pair of Jonathan Adler kitty S&P shakers that I have had for a while. They may or may not make it to showtime. What do you think? Kitty topper or no kitty topper?

I wanted to do one really huge, striking cake that I can put up at the show that will really draw people in. Here's hoping this does the trick!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a great week!

Modern Baby Shower Cake

It's been a crazy week here at the bakery, but it's been over a week since I blogged so I want to share a quick pic with all of you before I jump head first into this eyelet lace wedding cake I'm working on for this weekend.

This particular cake I did for a baby shower a few weeks ago and had a fun time making it. Nothing technically hard on this one, just fondant shapes and fondant spheres on a wire (affectionately known here in the kitchen as "doomies"). The Mommy design was an edible image.

Sorry for the shorter than usual post, but the cakes, they are a calling! Have a great weekend!!

Bright Heart Cake

Well, we have had a lot of white cakes lately so I thought we'd mix it up a little. This is the only heart shaped cake I have done to date. It's even hard to tell that it's a heart after I told you! I like the bright colors, but wow it's a lot going on. I'm more of a simplistic design type of person, but when the customer give you specifics then that's what you do! This cake had a lot of silver dragees on it. Wouldn't it be nice if you could put those on ahead of time? The cooler makes them dissolve, even if it's just overnight. ARGH! I really don't like last minute work because so much can happen and you have no time to fix it, but I guess that's the way the cake crumbles. For the border, I just cut a circle in half and used an food safe marker for the design. The piping is thick, #5 I think, but the white helped to break up the color some. This was a sweet sixteen cake and the event was in a big fancy barn. They had giant posters of the birthday girl hanging from the rafters, a dance floor, lights, DJ, the whole works. They had a giant crane directly over the cake table when we got there and I wouldn't put the cake there because I'm protective of my little babies. I waited patiently until the crane was moved. It's bad enough that they cut them, but I couldn't bear it to be squished by a crane!

Wedding Filmed By TLC!

Faithful readers of my blog will surely remember that just last week I mentioned that one of my weddings was being filmed by TLC's Say Yes to the Dress. I made the delivery on Saturday and everything went off without a hitch, but I am sad to report that I did not get to meet any of the TLC staff or see any of their crew. As usual, everyone's off getting married while we were setting up the cakes! I did hear back from a friend of mine that attended. She said that the cakes were filmed and pictures were taken. I usually only hope my cakes don't end up on the floor; now I have to worry about them ending up on the cutting room floor! TLC told my "insider" that the episode should air in late September to early October. I will let you know more when I find out!

My bride in this wedding was in a wheelchair and thus wanted to make sure the cake did NOT tower over her, so we opted to do a small 8" cake on each table and then a smaller bride's and groom's cake as the main centerpiece. It was held in the ballroom at the beautiful Sheraton Read House in Chattanooga, TN.

The groom was a big LSU fan, so we recreated the LSU Eye of the Tiger Fleur de Lis just for him. We cut the shapes of the fondant and pieced them back together like it was a big cake jigsaw puzzle. It was very difficult to do, and sometime around midnight we began to kick ourselves for going that route, but when it was finished we were glad we went the extra mile.

I must admit that with a total of 31 cakes to deliver and setup that it was definitely the most complicated setup I have had to date. It took us 2 hours to get everything setup and JUST right. Even logistically getting all those cakes there (in one piece) was a feat.