XBOX360 Cake

Good Evening Ya'll
   I don't know how I let so much time passed before I put up another post! I just happened to look at the last date and realize OMG it has been almost 2 weeks! So I am now back with new post:) So obviously from the title that the post about an XBOX360 cake that I did about 2/3 weeks ago for a local client. She ordered the cake for her son's birthday. She said he loves XBOX and that he specifically likes the black one (not the white one:( I think that one looks better lol). So of course I told her no problem. About a year ago I did a PS3 cake (with the help of the hubby), so I knew if I can do a PS3 then I knew I could do the XBOX360. She also asked for the controller but it wasn't a very important part of the cake so I decided to work more on the XBOX part of the cake than the controller. Next time if I get an order for a bigger one, I will definitely had more detail but the key to being a cake decorator is to not spend sooo much time on a design that you don't make money from it. Meaning since this was a smaller order I can't spend the same amount of time on it that I would for a bigger order (more expensive order). The key is to price accordingly to how many hours you think it would take to decorate that particular order plus the ingredients/supplies needed to make the cake. If I had my way I would work longer on all of my cakes, but then I wouldn't make any money lol. So yeah below are some pictures I took before the hubby delivered the cake.

White Chocolate cake with Vanilla Buttercream filling. 

Peace & Blessings
Kima

3-D Alligator Cake Tutorial

Hi Ya'll!

So I have been keeping my promise and blog more often. Well last week I had a very challenging cake for a wedding at the York Country Club here in York, PA. This cake is hands down the most complicated cake I have done so far..everything else was a cake walk (pardon the pun) compares to this cake. The reason why this cake was soo difficult for me was that 1. my hubby decided that this was the cake I was going to learn how to sculpt cake all by myself with out any help from him (insert angry face here) 2. The cake needed to look very to close a picture that the bride provided to me  and 3. The cake was had a curve it and needed serious shading to it.... Well needless to say that I was feeling a bit overwhelm looking at all of the sheet cakes before me trying to figure out where to start first. Seeing my very confused face, the hubby did help me initially by helping me line up the head (hand molded by me and made from rice krispy treats) with the first sheet cake and started carving the outline. I thought at this point he was going to carve the whole thing but noooo..he passed me the knife and said "now is where you have to stop relying on me for the carving of 'your' cakes". Well of course I said a few choice words before I set to the task of carving this big mama of a cake.

In the middle of carving the idea came to me that I should make this a tutorial since I couldn't find any on the internet. I know that some other cake decorators have had this same problem before me and probably after me. By doing this tutorial, I hope to help someone else out too from going through the frustration that I went through to get this cake done. OHH and ALSO I forgot to mention that the bride wanted the cake to be 2 different flavors..yep you heard me 2 different flavors. So I have to mid-way through the carving process stop and glue together with buttercream the second half of the cake. Also the cake had 2 different fillings as well.. I wanted to hit my head up against a wall sandwiching the two sections together while trying to make it look seamless. The picture below is of the cake carved with just the first crumb coat of the two different flavors.

Once I let the cake sit over night then I added the second crumb coat layer which was vanilla bean buttercream.

Now after this point is where I forgot to take more pictures of the process. I was running a bit behind schedule for me. So I can tell you want I did from the crumb coat part. I first covered the cake in a dark green fondant which I made from white, brown and green colored fondant. Once the gator was covered I start with the spine and pinched (while trying to space is evenly) up sections of fondant to replicate the scales on the gator. I worked my way from the back to the front of the cake. I then took a sculpting tool and engaged the lines running in between each scale. After I did that, I then worked on putting in the details on the face and adding the eyes. After that was done I begin to do the shading of the cake by hand with petal dust. Now most decorators would probably use a air brush machine (its much faster), but since I don't have one yet. I had to do it by hand. The coloring was a mix of a dark green and brown dust colors. Once that was done, I think hand molded the legs and glued them to the cake. The final touch I did was mist the entire cake with water to add a sheen to the cake to make the skin look like skin.

All in all I think I did pretty good job. You all tell me what you think....

Well that's it. I took myself out for a much deserved nice dinner after delivering that cake.... :)

Until next time...
Peace & Blessings,
Kima

3-D Cakes

Hi All,
I know some of you are thinking wow she is posting again soo soon... LOL see I said that I would be committed to posting more often and I am living up to that promise. I will explain why I have so much more time in the next post, but for this post I want to talk about 3-D cakes. Yep, 3-D cakes. So in the last couple of months I have gotten more and more calls for 3-D cakes. I don't know if its because of the few that are on the website, but people are definitely calling more than they have before. Though most of the calls are things are can do...every now and then I will get a call from someone asking about a design for something that they saw on television. Now I think I am pretty decent at what I considering I haven't been doing it for that long (2.5 years). But some of the things people are ask for are just shy of outrageous and then when I quote them a price even if I was able to do it I get the famous saying,"all that....it's just cake". Some times I wish I could respond with well if it's just cake then, order something more in your price range or simply go to Wal-Mart then. No people don't go to Wal-Mart because they want a custom cake, well custom cake comes with custom cake price especially 3-D cakes, so if you want that cake then you need to be willingly to pay the price. Which in my area, I don't think I charge that much for 3-d cakes, considering there aren't that many decorators in the area that do true 3-D cakes. Fortunately most of the people that call who want 3-D cakes, will pay the quoted price that I give them. The one cake by far was the craziest request yet as got to be the woman who asked my assistant could we make a Winnie the Pooh cake standing up. LOL. I knew she must have been watching one of those Food Challenges on the Food Network because they do those kinds of cakes all the time. So with all of that being said, you will be seeing more 3-D cakes from me in the next couple of months. And for your viewing pleasure, here are some of the 3-D cakes from the last couple of months:

PS3 Groom's Cake with Controller: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pound Cake with Cheesecake and Mocha Buttercream Filling 

Electric Guitar Groom's Cake: Chocolate cake with Peanut Butter Buttercream

Spalding Basketball Birthday Cake- Vanilla Pound Cake with Vanilla Buttercream filling

Bushel of Crabs Birthday Cake: 4 layers of Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Filling 

Small Submarine Cake- Vanilla cake with Chocolate Buttercream Filling 

Spongebob Birthday Cake- Vanilla cake with Vanilla Buttercream

Until next time,

Peace & Blessings

Kima

Mother's Day, Communion & Graduation

Hi All,
     So I have been busy then not busy then busy again... and as always blogging gets put at the end of the list of things that need to be done:( Sighhh.. but since I have so many new photos of cakes and things that are going to be happening soon that I need to get on the ball and blog more..Plus I know you are dying to see more pictures of cakes right??? So I will begin with my Mother's Day cake class..where I taught a mother-daughter duo to make cakes that look like flower pots. They had soo much fun and were quick learners too..its nothing like the banter between mother and daughter that makes me smile...especially since this is the 6th Mother's Day that I have gone through without my own mother. Their cakes were vanilla with vanilla buttercream frosting and they dyed there own fondant a terra cotta color to cover their cakes with after I showed them how to carve their cakes. The class took about 2 1/2 hours from start to finish so  I say that is a success. Below is a picture of the class with their cakes:

Other than Mother's Day and wedding season.. it is the season for graduation and communions besides the birthday cake orders I always get. I have also been working on some display cakes for the bakery in order to show off the different types of designs I can do. Below are some pictures of display cakes as well as some graduation, communion and birthday cakes over the last couple of weeks. 

White & Black Wedding Display Cake 

Jungle Birthday Cake - Chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream

Communion Cake- Vanilla cake with Strawberry Mousse filling 

Lime green & White Zebra/Heart Cake and Cupcakes- cake is Oreo Overload and cupcakes are Butterfinger 

15th Birthday Cake- cheesecake flavored cake 

Burgundy Calla Lily Wedding Cake- delivered to the Stone Mill Inn in Hellam, PA

Purple & White Heart Wedding Display Cake

Sea Theme Display Cake

Purple & Blue Birthday Cake- vanilla cake with oreo buttercream filling 

Purple & White Coach Purse Cake- Red Velvet cake with vanilla buttercream filling. Shipped to Bloomfield, NJ. 

Cupcake 1st Birthday Cake- Berry Overload cake flavor and the smash cake is Peanut Butter and Jelly.

Louis Vuitton Suitcase Cake- cake is chocolate with peanut butter buttercream. Hand molded handle and hand cut out Louis Vuitton symbols. 

Pink Graduation Cupcakes- Cupcakes were in a few different flavors: Dark Chocolate, Red Velvet, Vanilla & Peanut Butter. The cuppies were for a York, PA graduation and picked up at my bakery.

Well that is it for now, don't want to overload you guys on the goodness of cake so I will be posting again tomorrow with more delicious pictures of cakes including more graduation pics. 

So until next time..

Peace & Blessing

Pictures & More Pictures!

Hi Everyone!
So I figured that I would blog early in the week while there is quiet instead of trying to get it in while its busy. So my little man has been spending all this week at my mother in law's in New Jersey and I miss him like crazy! This is the first time he has been away from me since he has been born and I am having a tough time. He misses me too which I knew he would, so we will both be happy when Saturday comes and my hubby goes and gets him. I have a wedding cake this week that I will start working on tomorrow as well as a huge muffin order for the same client for her guests. I also have a big cake decorating class with a bunch of teenage girls so this is going to be an interesting weekend. I figured that this post will be catching up on pictures of past cakes instead of another product review. I am in the process of finding another product I want to try, so when I find one.. you will hear about it :)

Sooooo on to the cakes!

 Almond Cake Pop Bouquet

 Jungle Theme Birthday Cake- vanilla and chocolate tiered cake with vanilla buttercream. Fondant accents and 3-d hand molded figures. 

 Mini Dummy Cake- I have been making more display cakes or "dummy" cakes for the shop this is one of them.

 Easter Cake- Chocolate cake with fondant accents and fondant 3-d bunny. 

 Red & Black Polka Dot Cake- Red Velvet cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Icing. 

 Chocolate Dipped Marshmallow Peeps

 Bowling Ball & Pin Cake- lemon cake with vanilla buttercream filling. 

 Mario 25th Birthday Cake- White Chocolate Pound Cake with vanilla buttercream filling. Fondant accents and 3-d hand molded Mario. 

Bird's Nest Baby Shower Cake- vanilla and chocolate tiers of cake with vanilla buttercream filling. Covered in moldeling chocolate with moldeling chocolate accents. 

Until next time...

Peace & Blessings

Kima

Cakes & Cupcakes Part 2

Hello Again,
So I am trying to be more consistent with my posting like I mentioned before so here I am posting again. So some pictures will be newer ones, while others will be older ones. I think the shop has hit the winter slump that happens to small businesses because orders are coming but not like they were the snow hit. Darn snow! But I can say that the snow has allowed me to seriously think about the goals for my business for this year and changes I would like to do to the shop. I have also been working on some up coming events that I would like to have in the next couple of months. One of them is a Valentine Cupcake Party for kids on February 12th. So instead of the Mommy & Me classes which only allow for 4 kids at one time.. this party will be for a much bigger group where kids can really interact with one another also they will be doing some crafting besides decorating cupcakes. We are also having out first Poetry Cafe on the 25th of February featuring local poets and of course there will be plenty of yummy cupcakes and gourmet coffee for everyone.


I have also finally come up with a design for the cake competition I will be in next month. I am soo excited about this because the cake decorator who wins will be featured in Susquehanna Style Magazine and that can do big things for a small business like me! So I will be working on some sugar flowers next week and will be taking pictures to chart my progress. I will also be posting pictures on here and Facebook of some of my Valentine's specials so if any of you are interested in ordering you will be able to see some of the goodies.

Now on tooo the cakes!

Monkey Zebra Theme Cake- Neapolitan cake flavor and decorated with 8 fondant monkeys all at different ages and doing different things. By far one of the cutest cakes we have done. 

Eagles Birthday Cake- Everything is edible with the exception of the Eagles symbol. Footballer is made from fondant. 

Sweet 16 Topsy-Turvy cake- Vanilla cake with Vanilla Buttercream. The client brought in a picture and wanted me to replicate it which I did with some minor color changes. 

Purple Zebra Print Sweet 16 Cake- Chocolate cake with Vanilla Buttercream. Another client who brought in the picture of what she was looking for. Doing the spirals on top was a bit of a challenge because the balls didn't want to stay where I put them but I told them who was boss! LOL.

Thomas the Tank Sheet  Cake- Chocolate & Vanilla cake with Whipped Icing. Thomas is made from fondant along with the other decorations. I don't really do cake covered in whipped icing or buttercream but when a client asks for it I deliver. 

 Chocolate Hazlenut Praline Cupcakes- another new cupcake flavor that I just came up with last week. Chocolate cake with a hazelnut praline sauce baked into the cake. Topped with Chocolate buttercream and more sauce on top. I made these beauties for a donation that ended up at a baby shower.

21st Birthday Cap Cake- So this is another attempt at carving 3-D cakes and I am getting so much better. Lemon cake with Kit Kat Chocolate Buttercream filling. Black geeky glasses and an IPOD nano complete the cake. Design was based on what my client said her son liked. 

Air Jordan Retro Sneaker- 3rd attempt at cake carving. This one was way more difficult than the other two I have done. Vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream. 

Well that's it for now..but more pictures are coming along with more Valentine's information and pictures. 

Until then..

Peace & Blessings