Gumpaste Flowers

I finished my first Wilton Decorating Basics class at Michaels. It was fun. I had signed up for the Gumpaste flowers course, and the night before it was to start, I received a phone call saying the class was cancelled. Bummer!! So, now the next class starts in August, a whole month away. Not wanting to wait that long to start making flowers, I went to Michael's and picked up Wilton Gum Paste Flower Cutter Set and the impression mat.  I have to say that it has helped to look at actual photos online of some of these flowers to get a better idea of what they're supposed to look like. Here are some of the ones I made with these new tools.

Calla Lily

Dogwood flower

I'm finding there are innumerable tools that can be used to make all kinds of stuff from flowers to shoes to animals and people. I want to get all kinds of impression rollers, and an airbrush kit, but I am limited to funds and kitchen space.

And there is so much inspiration online of photos and videos of those who have been doing this kind of thing for ages. Someday I'd like to actually be able to be at a level where I can begin competing in cake competitions. Until then, I have a LOOOOONG way to go, and lots more to learn. My next challenge is to make a stacked cake. We'll see how it goes. But for now I'm LOVING this baking stuff! And the best thing is seeing someone's face light up when they're the recipient of something that was made just for them.

By the way...if someone is out there reading this...please leave a comment so I know I'm not just talking to myself :-)

Xbox Controller Cake

It's been a while since last posting. I was inspired to attempt an Xbox cake from my nephew Tony who is a big video game fan. I ended up making a controller since my son Jake had the same one I could use as a model. Here's how it turned out.

I scanned in my son's controller on the computer, then printed out a copy, cut it out, then placed it as a template on 2 layers of chocolate cake.

Didn't turn out too shabby. It was also my first fondant covered cake, so had a learning curve there as well. A lot of the carving, and fondant stuff I learned from watching TONS of youtube videos. I LOVE YOUTUBE!!!

The cake was kind of small, and not knowing how many people would be at the birthday party, I made some cupcakes to boot.