Brooklyn's Princess Castle cake

Brooklyn's 1st birthday cake was a castle fit for a little princess! The square bottom tier and top round was white almond sour cream cake, with a layer of pink Swiss meringue buttercream inside. Pink marshmallow fondant draped the tiers. The towers were made by wrapping gumpaste around cardboard tubes, which dried nice and stiff for stability. Turrets were inverted ice cream cones also wrapped in gumpaste. Marshmallow and gumpaste details.

The castle door was made of marshmallow fondant, with a gumpaste border and edible pearl door doorknobs.  Royal icing held everything in place quite nicely.

Here's a side view. I am still a little amazed that I managed to get all of the towers staggered in the same way I had pictured in my head before beginning the cake.  I think I got lucky!  Special thanks to Brooklyn's mom Leslie for an opportunity to make this castle cake. 

Happy Birthday, Brooklyn!

Matt & AJ's Wedding Cake

Three tiers of chocolate fudge cake with chocolate Swiss meringue filling.   Frosted and piped with buttercream.  Fresh stargazer lilies and satin ribbon decor. Chocolate fudge cupcakes topped with Swiss meringue buttercream and edible pearls.

 I had stargazer lilies in my wedding bouquet - I forgot how they pretty they are.  The whole cake was designed around the awesome pinks that just pour out of those lilies.

The tiny dot piping (#1 tip! So small!) was pretty easy; start with the top row, and eyeball about 1-1/2 inch spacing apart. Then pipe the bottom and middle rows, both lined up with the top row, then pipe the second and fourth rows where the gaps are.   Not terrifying at all.  OK, maybe a little bit.

 Congratulations Matt & AJ!!

Erica's Baby Shower

It's a girl for Erica! For her baby shower, we had a two tiers of white almond sour cream cake draped with pale pink marshmallow fondant and filled with pink Swiss meringue buttercream as well as strawberry and vanilla cupcakes to boot.  Harper Quinn is due to arrive in December.

Fresh mini carnations topped the cake, surrounding the gumpaste name badge. I also used sugar gems on this cake for the first time.  They were placed at the intersections of the white diamond shapes on the bottom tier.  They looked exactly like real diamonds and were a delicate touch. This was also the the first time I got to play with my new fondant extruder to make the stripes and thin ropes - love it. My new favorite toy.

Strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese buttercream frosting.  Marshmallow fondant flowers.

 

 

White cupcakes with pink Swiss meringue buttercream frosting.  White chocolate topper embossed with an "H" for Harper. 

Congratulations Erica!!