Cake of the Week: Winter Snowflake Cake

This week's beauty was created for very lucky 16 year old celebrating her sweetest birthday in Queens. The theme of the cake was so appropriate because we just had a major snow storm and it was still piled high wherever you went.

This cake marked the tail end of my busiest weeks to date: 11 orders! This may not sound like much but I have just these two hands and sometimes my office manager jumps in to make royal icing or help paint. It was also one of my biggest, not counting the behemoths I'm sometimes called upon to make for SNL. She was 12" around the bottom tier and about 20" high, not including the 16 and the snowflakes.

This cake could also be the most delicious. The bottom tier was Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Buttercream, the middle was Butter Cake with Vanilla Buttercream and the top was Chocolate with Chocolate Buttercream; all Swiss Meringue, of course.

The construction and design was fairly straight forward. The hardest part was keeping the cake white while covering and stacking. Once the cake was covered and stacked, I finally got bust out my shiny new snowflake cutters that I ordered from Lindy Smith.

After the fondant design was complete, I finished the look by airbrushing a pearlescent shimmer on every snowflake, stripe and snowball. I then followed up with a mixture of pearlescent shimmer and a hint of blue to match the party decor.

After discovering to my delight that my new boxes fit this giant cake perfectly. We packed her into the car and took off. After passing the venue twice, clearing a huge snowbank and navigating some tricky stairs we delivered the cake safe and sound to a very excited and beautiful 16 year old.






Well it's bake to work for me!
Thanks for tuning in. Until next time!

Cake of the Week: Sassy Circus Cake!

Last Thursday I got the call every cake designer loves, not! Yup, that just happened. hello 1992.
It was a desperate husband looking for a spectacular cake for his wife's birthday...that weekend.
I would've immediately said no while staring at the wall full of clipboards listing things that had yet to be molded, sculpted or crumb-coated but this guy was a total sweetheart and convinced me that a few hours less sleep this week was definitely worth making this cake. The rush fee I tacked on didn't hurt either.

His wife wanted a Topsy-turvy cake similar to the style they had at their wedding and was celebrating her 30th birthday with a Circus themed party. How fun is that?! I was in.
The goal was to capture the colorful, whimsical spirit of the circus while creating a cake that was sophisticated enough for 30 year old.

The flavor for the top tier was Old Fashioned Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Swiss Meringue Butter cream; the birthday girl's favorite, and the bottom tier was Very Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Swiss Meringue Butter cream.

To create the Topsy-turvy effect I used two Styrofoam wedges slightly smaller that the tiers they were supporting. Once the cake was together it was time to paint.

I painted the tiers of cake with patterns of warm colors and the supports with patterns of cool colors. I accented the patterns with royal icing painted with silver luster dust. For an added touch of fun I trimmed the bottom for the support tiers with gold gum paste ropes and tassels.
I finished the cake with cool colored fondant "balloons" and a silver 30!

I was having so much fun with cake and the hours flew by; when I finally delivered the cake to the venue I had moments to spare. The birthday girl, who was dressed as a ringmaster, loved the cake; as did all her guests and I, as is usually the case with my favorite cakes, was sad to see it go but was glad it found a good home.

Well it's "bake" to work for me!
Thanks for tuning in... until next time.