Cake - Chanel Purse

I know Purse cakes are pretty popular yet I don't receive many requests for them so I was extremely thrilled when I finally did get asked to make one.  This was an rather easy cake to make because the design was simple so it was a perfect "starter" purse cake.  I'm hoping to get more orders to make this kind of cake, it'll really tests my skills. 

Cake - Pain

Funny story about this cake.  See this picture....

The character on the left is Pain, and on the right, his name is Naruto.  The request was to make a cake that depicted the character Pain.  Well, in my own little world of not paying attention to the email that was sent me I started to make Naruto.  Not until I re-read the email, which is a good habit of mine, did I realize that hmmmm I think I might be making the wrong guy!  First, I've never even heard of this cartoon because well I'm in 30's and the only cartoons I know these days are Family Guy and The Simpsons, which I doubt (and really hope) 13 year olds are not watching those, and 2nd, my son isn't old enough to become a fanatic of japanese animation.  Lucky for me though I had only started to attach the hair pieces which should of been orange instead of blonde. 

I didn't have time to make a new batch of fondant and dye it in orange so I did the next best thing...grabbed my food brush and painted over the blonde :-D   Problem solved....the end.

Cake - Naughty Cake II

I tried pixilating the picture so I could post it.  I think it's okay in the pixalating department but it's good enough right?  Fun cake to make as always.

Press - The Book! The Book!

Here it is!  The cover to the book where my some of my work is being showcased.

The book is to be released in October and can be purchased through Amazon.com.  I've provided this link, 1000 ideas, where it is currently available for pre-orders.  I don't, in any form, receive royaties or incentives for promoting it.  I am putting it out there because I am so excited that I will be published, well not I, but my work will be published.  I will, again not me specifically me, but my work will be in print forever!  I hope this is the first of many.  I will pursue this craft indefinitely and I hope to inspire you as well. 

Parties - Disney Cars and Racing theme

Here is a Disney Cars themed dessert table created by yours truly :-D

The table included popcorn, candy coated pretzel rods, sugar and chocolate chip cookies, and of course cake, made of course, by yours truly :-D

Here's a close up of the cake and cookies.  The cookies had edible images on them of Lightning McQueen.

The pretzel rods were covered in candy shaped like racing cars and they were delicious!  Party hats were used as popcorn cones.

A seperate table was used for gifts and was decorated with a Cars pinata and the birthday boys picture. 

Baby snack trays were also placed on this table to seperate them from the adult food.  Each tray contained a snack bag of Gerber Crunchies, a peach fruit cup, a baby banana, and a sandwich with Apple Butter spread to avoid an allergic reactions from using peanut butter.

These cute little coolers were handmade and provided by the birthday boys grandmother.  Aren't they the cutest thing?  The were filled with Capri Suns and Sunny Delight juice bottles.  Two of them were made and one was placed on both the dessert table and baby snack tray table.  Darling!

Each table contained a chips and salsa tray and decorated with a few plastic cars on the tables for the kids to play with.

Of course a Cars themed party wouldn't be complete without the Cars Pinata!  The little guy looks a litte sad to be hitting his Car friend. Awwww, but there are so many yummy things inside.

Cake - Maroon & Eggplant Colored Bridal Shower

The cake was iced in buttercream and beautiful, fresh maroon colored blooms were used.

Each of the boxes you see on the tables had a cupcake in them.  You can make these yourself, I've posted a tutorial on this blog, click on this link to view DIY-Cupcake Favor Boxes.  What you can't see is that each of the cupcakes had the bride-to-be's monogram on them in the coordinating color.  Pretty cute idea right?

Cake - Football Season is here!

Football season is here and of course the requests for football cakes are starting to roll in.  This one was made a few months ago.  The nice thing about this football cake is that you can add any logo to the cake.  Maybe even doing a halfer, like half a logo of one team with half the logo another team.  Although, the more I think about it, the more I'm thinking it's a bad idea.  If you know a true football fan you'll know they would give you the evil eye or worse if you dare put another teams logo next to their precious team logo.  So never mind on that idea unless you're a brave lad, which I'm not.

Parties - Toy Story

This is a cool pinata, yah?  It's unordinary because it's a box filled with ballons, books, and other toys.    This is such an innovative way to keep tradition without decaying our childrens's teeth!

Anyone thirsty for some green radio active liquid, aka punch.

How cool is this!  A bubble machine.  Give your party a kid fun atmosphere by turning one of these on at your outside party.  You could use it if your party is indoors if you don't mind the blotches it will leave on your couch, curtains, dog....etc.   

Another awesome idea...an outdoor movie viewing corner.  A TV was set up outside with chairs for the little viewers.  A popcorn machine right next to the space added a little more fun to the space.  What movie was being shown, you ask?  Toy Story, the movie, of course!

Can't have a party without cake.  The cake had little Toy Story figurines on it.

And to compliment the cake...a side of Jello a la Toy Story.

And the coordinating plates of course my horse ;-)

All in all, it was a super fun party.  It was awesome for the kiddies and adults alike.  The day ended in Toy Story bliss.  Great job Robin!  It all looked so awesome :-D

Parties - Bringing my inspiration to your home!

I, myself, love looking at pictures of other parties so that I can get ideas, or in other words "copycat" ideas for other parties or parties I may host myself.  Is it wrong to copycat?  I don't think so, especially when things don't ever turn out exactly the same as what you had seen.  In any case, the times I have taken ideas from others is merely for the purpose of using their great ideas to my party, and isn't that a compliment rather than a "stab in the back".  Or if that was the case, we'd have to pay Martha Stewart "royalty fees" or some other fees to use her ideas and what fun would that be?  It's all about saving money and doing this yourself these days, is why I myself love to share things I've done and hopefully inspire your inner "Martha" :-D  So on that note, the sections titled Parties will be pictures of real parties from others and myself.  Enjoy!  You copycat....just kidding ;-D

Fine print:  No, Martha doesn't endorse this blog.  In fact, she has absolutely no idea who I am.  I am only a small person in this big world with Big dreams.



Cake - The Godfather

Very simple cake and easy to decorate once I got the hang of it.  Printed the logo then traced over it on a piece of parchment paper.  Then I used the parchment paper to trace the logo once again onto the black fondant.  I indented the design onto the fondant with a gumpaste tool.  Then using a tip #3, which is pretty fine, I proceeded to outline the logo and fill it in with buttercream.  The end result.....see picture above.  Not much to it but to do it :-)

Cake -- Naughty Cake!

Woo hoo!  My first naughty cake.  I'm not happy because of what it was but because it's always a challenge to make something like that.  I won't be able to post a picture of it though because I don't want the police knocking on my door for posting indecent pictures.  So if you'd like to see it, please send me an email at janet@theprettylittlecakeshop stating that you are over the age of 18 and you would like the picture sent to your email address.

DIY - Cupcake-in-a-(cute)Box Shower Favors

Wanna make these?  Here's how!......

These are the supplies you'll need.  I'll show them in a little more detail below.

Ribbon of your choice. I selected a 1 1/2" in, wired ribbon in colors Firefly Copper and Organdy Eggplant. But of course you can choose whatever color

you like and suits the color palate for your event.

This is a single cupcake box.  I purchased this box at a cake shop.  You can also find them on the internet on various cake supply internet stores.

The seals and scalloped hole puncher were both purchased at JoAnn's.  There is such a variety of both seals and hole punchers.  You can easily find something that fits your needs.                                         

The cardstock will be used to paste the seal on.

Punch out the scalloped circle using your hole puncher and stick on the seal.  Set aside.   

Wrap the box with your ribbon and cut right where the ribbon end meets in the middle.

                      Pinch the end of the ribbon to form a triangle at the edge and tape it down using transparent tape.

This is what it should look like.  Sort of like an inside out bow.

Make the back of the cut-out, you set aside, sticky using either tape or glue.  Adhere to the middle of your bow.  And ta da!.....

Now they are ready to be filled with a yummy cupcake and given to your guest as a Thank You for showing up to your party/shower/wedding.   

Toy Story

I made this cake to match Woodie's wardrobe.  The three tiers were different flavors to satisfy the differeniating palates of the party guests.  Flavors were, Chocolate-Raspberry, Banana-Strawberry, and Strawberry.  The entire cake was made of fondant that tastes delicious. 

Click here for the recipe I like to use...Fondant Recipe.  The cake was pretty easy to make, not too many details to concentrate on and pretty fun to make!  I love to make children's cakes and love to see their cute little faces when they see their cake.

                                                                                                                                     

{DIY} Marshmallow Fondant

So it's been hectic around here and I haven't had a chance to upload any pictures of the new creations we've come up with.  I only have a short period of time before my family and I go on a mini-vacation for Labor Day so I've decided to give you a quick Do-It-Yourself recipe to make your own Marshmallow Fondant.  If you've ever tasted Wilton's Fondant I'm sure you've been dissappointed on the taste and have been reluctant to use it on your cakes.  Well, this recipe is delicious and will help make your works of art look spectacular. 

There are many different recipes out there, some pretty complicated that ask for weird, almost unnatural ingredients.  But this one is so easy and you can find all these ingredients at your local grocery store making it a breeze to make.  Unfortunately, I don't have pictures to include but it's so easy that you can print it out and keep it on hand for future reference.  Here it is....

Ingredients:
16 oz - Bag of mini-marshmallow (purchase the name brand, generic doesn't work well)
2 tbls water
2 tspn Vanilla Butter flavoring
32 oz (2 lb) - Bag of powered sugar (use the C&H brand, other brands use beet sugar which doesn't work well)
1/2 cup - Crisco shortening

Directions:

1) Prep a large, microwave safe, bowl and spatula by covering it with Crisco using a paper towel.  This will prevent the marshmallows sticking to them.
2) Pour in the bag of mini-marshmallows
3) Add 2 tblsp of water
4) Place in microwave for 30 seconds.  Take it out, stir with your Crisco covered spatula.  Put it back into the microwave for another 30 seconds.  Take it out again.  The marshmallows should start getting puffy and should start losing their shape.
5) Stir once more so that all of the marshmallows are melted.
6) Add 2 tspns of Vanilla Butter flavoring and stir well.
7) Let it sit for about 2 minutes so that it has a chance to cool.  You will be kneading the sugar into it with your hands so you must be CAREFUL THAT IT IS NOT HOT or you will burn yourself.
8) Cover your hands in Crisco as well.  The marshmallows will stick to you if you don't. 
9) Pour about half of the bag of powered sugar into the bowl with the melted marshmallows.  Start kneading it in.  Keep pouring sugar and kneading until the marshmallow doesn't stick onto your hands and all of the sugar "balls" are gone.  It should be pliable and soft but not sticky.
10) Roll the marhsmallow "dough" into a ball.
11) Cover it in Crisco and wrap it in plastic wrap.
12) Place it in a plastic bag and store overnight. 

You may add food coloring to it if you'd like.


If you have any questions or something was unclear, send me an email at janet@theprettylittlecakeshop.com .  I will try to clarify.