Opening up another session of the FNCC. Everyone is welcome to come share their work, photos, ask for help, provide help if you can. Hope to see lot so photos tonight!

Cat

Hi Everyone...as I mentioned last week, my one cake for this weekend was cancelled at the last moment. Thankfully she understood that she had forfeited all payments. Her husband took her to Vegas instead and she was just so happy to be running away that the money didn't seem to matter to her! So I have all the stuff here to make the cake but no need for a two tier cake anymore. I think I'm going to go ahead and make the buttercream tomorrow and use it on a dummy form tomorrow afternoon after my son's game and make the cake anyways! I need the practice with buttercream and with royal icing piping so it would be good for me. 

Good week for the biz tho...got two more full weddings (party planning plus cake) as well as another birthday cake order. We have Disneyland coming up so any and all profit from the biz is appreciated! LOL!

How did everyone else's week go?

Cat

Cat, good for you!  Sounds like a good business.

I made my first big cake this week and it was a success, thankfully.  I have decided to stick to cakes for 100 people or less, this cake was for 200 people.  It was a 14", 12" 10" cake and it weighed a ton. I also made a 14" kitchen cake.   I was a nervous wreck wondering if they would like it, if it came out okay, e.t.c.  

The good thing is that now I have made a cake this big everything else will be easy.

I am taking it easy this weekend!

The cake is lovely...is that a fountain on top??? It looks like it even has dripping water!  Big cakes are pretty much a nightmare to me too. It is how my husband got recruited as my assistant because I can't lift them! In the early days I would assemble on site but now I have a cake safe and, when he carries it to a cart, I can deliver the cake in one piece minus only the topper. Most of my clients are about 150 miles away in the City so traveling with a stacked or tiered cake can be nerve wracking. Glad to see you survived! LOL!

Cat

Hi, everyone! I just have stuff on the fringes of cake this week/weekend. Prepping for a cake show planning committee meeting and ICES DOS on Sunday. I'm the chair of the show and secretary of my ICES chapter. also started working on gardenias. I'd love it of you would pop over to my other thread and give me some opinions.

http://cakecentral.com/t/763631/feedback-on-my-gardenia-pleae#post_7443566

Cat, sorry your cake was cancelled but glad your client was great about the money! I hope you enjoy your unexpected free time! Congrats on the bookings!

Norasmom, those big cakes are hard...I did a 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 a couple of years ago and it almost killed me. Just the SPACE needed to work on them is daunting. Even now, with more experience, I don't think I'd want to do it again. I'm doing a much smaller 5 tier in December (5, 6, 7, 8, 9) that feels much more doable.

I could see immediately it was a gardenia, lovely, but looking at the other flowers I can see the variance. Maybe make some a little more pointed and some a lot more pointed? Mix them all in together?

Cat

Yes, it is a fountain.  I'm glad you knew what it was... I made the base with RKT and then I molded the tops with candy melts. I put brown sugar in a bowl to make a mold and then melted the candy melts into them.  The water is isomalt.

There's a fountain at the center of the PT rehab facility where this event was held, so I figured I'd try to replicate it.

She wanted a replica of the brick building, but I thought a tiered cake would be prettier and come out better.

Now I want my husband to take me to Vegas....!

Norasmom, nice cake.  I do more big cakes than the smaller cakes.  And when I get a small cake order I tend to procrastinate because I feel it will be a drop in the bucket.  Then rush to get it done. lol

Elcee, just love those gardenias.

Cat, take a break, they don't come often as you know

For the weekend I only have 1 small order.  A carved dog cake with 1 dz cupcakes.  I've been studying all my craftsy classes to make sure I get this one right.  Not like my cat cake I posted it the topic "Worst Cakes"  

I also have an order for a bust of a man.  Its for his birthday on Tues and his co-wokers are surprising him.  I sure hope its not them that will be surprised.  I've never done one before.

But my most excitement is I got my beautiful cake base from BatterUp.  If anybody is not sure, let me tell you, it is beautiful. More than worth the money.  I thought I knew what cake I was going to put on it, and know not sure. At the end of the month I will be doing a photo shoot with this one and another I have.  So exciting.

Ginn, I have never done a bust either! I'd be SO intimidated! I have two carved cakes in October...one is a poker table cake and the other a football cake. The client in the last one sent me a photo of an ok football cake and told me she knew I could make it look totally realistic...the pressure is on! LOL! This is the 4th year I have done her husband's birthday cake so she feels like she (or rather, I) need to top last years efforts. LOL! I also have never had a custom printed transfer done before and for the poker cake I'm going to do that for the playing cards. I'm a little nervous about that and am wondering if I should make two copies of each card just in case??? What do you think?

Thanx for the help!

Cat

Cat, I totally agree the pressure is on.  The bust cake is for a co-worker at a local police station.  In other words a cop! Yikes.  If it doesn't come out good I might be going to jail for who knows what rofl... j/k  Still the pressure is on.  I have done other cakes for them so they know my work.

I bought and have watched the craftsy class on bobbleheads.  Mike is amazing and has answered all my questions.  I feel like I'm in his class and he's answering all my questions.  That is something I didn't expect.

Frosting sheets are amazing stuff, I use them all the time. Most of the local cakers and bakeries come to me to get theirs printed.  It wouldn't hurt to get an extra set and play with it.  Give me a holler if you have any problems.  I'll pm you my number just in case.

Ginn,  thank you for the help!! Good luck with your Cop...I'd be doubly nervous! LOL!

My computer has been sooooo slow the last 3 days so I can't open any pictures...grrrrr. and It's brand new  I am doing a batch of cupcakes for today. I made 7 minute frosting which turned out really good but then I got the idea to mix in peanut butter cream and it completely deflated. I have it in the freezer right now. I have upcoming orders for a semi truck and a purse sitting atop a1/4 sheet.

Ginn thank you for the endorsement! I am so glad you like your cake stand. Things have been really exciting with that part of my business. I got mentioned in a blog by Wicked Goodies and we are teaming u to do a give away of one of my stands. Joshua John Russell also got the same stand that Ginny did and sent me this "Wow this thing is even more beautiful in real life.  Thank you!!  I just posted a pic on facebook.  I have a couple blog posts already done and ready to go but I will totally place my next fashion cake on this baby!!  I will let you know when I post!  Thanks again. Joshua"

Batterup, your cake stands are so beautiful!  Congratulations on your write-ups.  I think you will be quite busy soon filling orders.

I wish my cakes were as pretty. I have had little time to practice lately...

Batterup, I'm so happy for you, I think Norasmom is right.  Soon you'll be too busy for cakes.  I think cakes was just the intro for you, on your way to something bigger and better.  By understanding how cakes are made you can appreciate a well made base.  Everyone who sees the base gives a Wow reaction over here.

Cat, I'm so glad you were not out of any money. 

Nora's mom, what is the fountain made out of, that is so cool!

Batterup, I can't wait to meet you at the show! Are you taking any classes? I take that back, you will probably be manning your table the entire time.  I forgot how soon that show is coming up, I need to think of something to enter.

Here a a couple I cakes I did. The first is for the celebration of the birthdays of three science reporters. It was a fun cake to work on. It was really three cakes in one.

The second is one of my favorite simple designs. I just love using that starburst stencil.

I'm getting ready for a busy week ahead! Finalizing the design of my logo with the graphic designer. We have tons of cupcakes to make and a table to man at an open house for a local kid's gym along with three cake orders. I normally don't start on Sunday, but I'm going to have to make the frosting tomorrow to stay ahead of the game.

Oh..you are going? Want to share a hotel???

Cat, sorry about the cancelled order but I'm glad you got to keep the payments.

Norasmom, love the fountain cake topper. Great job!

Tdove, I really like your starburst cake...so clean and elegant.

I made this cake after a month's hiatus. I made this for a friend's daughter who turned one today. She wanted to do a hearts theme to celebrate her daughter overcoming heart surgery at a young age of 3.5 months. My friend didn't want it to be Valentine-y, so she went with coral/teal/gray/pink color combo. I incorporated the chevron pattern, as inspired by her birthday invite.  Bottom tier is a dummy, top 2 tiers are lemon cake with raspberry filling.

Thank you Elcee!! I am still looking for the perfect design for the claw feet stand. I want something really gothic and I think that would be perfect for his style...OtCakes...that is really adorable!

Hi everyone, the cakes look great. I especially love your starburst stencil tdove.  What brand is it?

No cakes for me but who cares, I am in love!  My new Grex trigger action airbrush arrived this week.  Got out the anniversary cake from a few weeks ago and sprayed all the roses on it red and the leaves teal.  Then turned the sky blue.  I was on a roll then and am now wearing a spotty looking teal wedding dress.  It all looks really horrendous but who cares, it was such fun.  I am pretty new to (read that as useless) airbrushing apart from spraying entire cakes one color.  This little beauty gives you such control.  I can feel where the color kicks in.  Lisa Berczel likened it to driving an automatic after driving a manual car for years and she is so right.  I am so happy.

show pictures of you in your teal wedding dress!! lol BTW, do you always wear wedding dresses when decorating?

Late to the party but here is my cake!   LURVE IT!   Made it for our 4th anniversary this past week!  I didn't have a lot of time to work on it, like usual.   But I tried mud cake for the first time, and made this crazy coffee reduction for some mocha IMBC.   It is amazing.   I don't want any other type of chocolate cake again, meh, who am I kidding I will eat all cake (that was you know baked and served fresh, no stale cake for me!). 

I can't take entire design credit of course.   But the pop art cakes are the most "wedding-y" I seem to get.   I put my own quirky twist on it though :)   The banner says, "Mutually weird forever" which is a play on a quote from Robert Fulghum that true love is falling into mutually satisfying weirdness with someone.   Suits the silly cake topper based on a t-shirt design.   

Here's today's cake.  It almost made it to Cake Disaster.  I decided to try the All Butter-Buttercream recipe recommended by Mike in the Craftsy class ( bobblehead)  Big.... Mistake.  I left the cake sitting out all night as I usually do.  In the morning the head was tilted.  As I was trying to adjust it, I noticed the bc as so soft ( like melted) all the fondant on the body was sagging.  I had to put everything in the fridge and let it set up just so I could then tear it down and redo it.

The cake arrived 3 hrs late BUT.. the customer was really happy.  She ordered the cake just for her daughters birthday and the family gathering.  Whew!!! 

Auntginn-Oooh, that sounds like a close call.  I'm glad it was no biggie for the late delivery.    It is really cute though :)  My daughter would go nuts for it!

Manic I LOVE strange cakes!!! The Swiss Army knife shaped like a lobster is such a cool idea. And Ginny The dog cake is adorable. Those are the kinds of cakes I love doing....

I've wanted to make a cake from that design for years!   I could never picture it though, seemed to go with the pop art cake :)   The somewhat funny story is that my husband tried to tell me a funny story of asking his friend to find him a stuffed lobster in Alaska (because they have crabs not lobsters).    For some reason, I thought he asked even thought it would be really hard to find because he loved lobster.   haha, so for months I was like "Here is some lobster junk for you."

He doesn't actually like lobster.  The joke was on his friend who did have a hard time finding a lobster. Among my many assets, listening skills aren't really one of them, LOL.