Desserts for a Bridal Shower

The week following my first wedding "cake", my sister, again, talked me into doing something I have never attempted to do.  I helped her put together SEVERAL different desserts for her friend's bridal shower.  The theme was Fall In Love sprinkled with Disney; given the wedding would be in September and the honeymoon in Disneyworld.  Over a span of two days, my sister and I worked together to make the following desserts:

Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Leaf Shaped Fondant Toppers

Lemon Cupcake with Raspberry Frosting

Caramel Apples

Candied Apples

Candy Dipped Pretzel Rods

 Minnie-esque Sugar Cookie Favors (Pictured w/o the Personalized Names)

On top of all of this, my sister with the help of a friend also made all of the decorations; from the banner to the tissue pom-poms to the food label cards with Disney Characters on them.  She even went as far as making leaf shaped tortilla chips!  It was a lot of work but definitely a lot of fun helping put together a full on themed party.

Cupcake Stand Topper Cake

When my sister heard that her friends would be ordering cupcakes with no cake topper for their cupcake stand at their wedding, she offered my services to them.  It was a bit nerve wrecking thinking this was going to be at someone's wedding but it all came together without a hitch.  Cake was 3 layers of chocolate cake with raspberry buttercream frosting and chocolate buttercream frosting.  Entire cake was covered and decorated in marshmallow fondant.  I wish I was provided with ribbons but instead I made fondant ribbons.

In addition to the cupcake stand topper cake, I made over 50 fondant daisies for their cupcakes.  I love how everything looked after the professionals came and set it up with the stand and real flowers.

Optimus Prime Cake

I knew I wanted to make this cake for my brother for his birthday for several months now! At first, I thought I might have been too ambitious but it wasn't as difficult as I imagined. I should've made the bottom tier 3 layers and I should've allowed the antennas to dry a few days earlier but all in all, I'm quite happy with the results.

The cake was made of 2 8-inch lemon cakes with raspberry buttercream frosting and 2 6-inch red velvet cakes with cheesecake mousse filling and vanilla buttercream frosting.  I used a mix of Duff brand buttercream fondant and homemade marshmallow fondant to cover and detail the cakes.  Adding tylose powder to the store bought fondant did not speed up the drying process.  It did work wonders on the homemade fondant though.


The toothpicks actually kept the antennas from bending over and by the evening, they were finally dry enough to stand up on their own. Tylo glue was my best friend.  It held up the pieces through the entire 45 mins drive without a hitch.

I couldn't make this cake without incorporating the autobot logo somewhere, so I attached it to the back.  I used the good ole pumpkin carving technique to get an exact replica of the image.

DDR and Pokemon Cake

I love making cakes for my family members and friends because it gives me a chance to whittle down my list of cake flavors and frostings I want to try.  Funny I say this because lately, it seems for every recipe I cross off, I'm adding two or three more, hah!

So, this week, for a friend's birthday, I combined his two favorite things - Pokemon and Dance Dance Revolution.  This was a lemon cake (adapted from Cake Central) with raspberry buttercream frosting (adapted from Cake Central) covered in marshmallow fondant which I painted with luster dust.  The pokemon figurines I made with gumpaste earlier this week, were stuck tight to the sides with the tylo glue.

 

I had a few problems with this cake.  I noticed that the top layer was a bit dry once we cut into it.  Almost like that one time with my R2D2 cake.  I torted/filled/crumbed the cake and left it overnight in the fridge in my cake carrier before covering it in fondant.  I thought having it in the cake carrier would prevent any dryness but I guess not.  I also didn't let the cake come to room temperature before covering it in fondant and I think this caused those stupid air pockets.  So, no more letting my cakes rest in the fridge (which is okay since I don't use any perishable fillings and frostings anyway).