Two Great Sources of Inspiration

Well, I didn't get around to decorating any cakes today. Chris and I had a work day in the apartment :) We'll probably have another one tomorrow. It's very likely that I won't be making another cake before next week, but we shall see :)

So why am I blogging, you may ask? I just happened to find my muse. A lovely British woman named Debbie Brown makes some of the sweetest cakes (no pun intended) I've ever seen! Here's her website:

www.debbiebrownscakes.co.uk/index.htm

She has written many books and created many cakes, some of which are adorable...




some are magical...




and some are even a leeetle risqué! ;)...


(and this is even a tame one!!)

I have her 2 magical books and the easy party cakes book on my amazon wish list :) Once I learn how to make and use fondant, I'm going to give those a try!

Aside from Ms. Debbie, I stumbled across this lovely website:

www.pinkcakebox.com

and fell in love with their cakes as well, particularly this one:



Yep, that's a cake. It's amazing to see how cake decorating has evolved :) Hopefully someday I'll be able to make cakes like these. But first, I need to learn how to make fondant, and that's 2 courses away! Until then, piping is my weapon of choice. And what a lovely weapon it is :)

First Cake of the Summer!!

Well they were right; cake release is AMAZING!!! Not that I've ever used a bundt pan before, but I've heard bad things about how they don't release well because of the crevices. Well this cake slipped out no problem!



And then I made a nice chocolate glaze to go on top. It was a little runny, but I think it might have worked out a little better if the apartment weren't 86 degrees! (OH, the AC is fixed now! Nice and breezy 73!) Either way, it got eaten :)



I think tomorrow I'll start the actual Wilton cakes from the course book. Or maybe I'll just practice piping :) We'll see tomorrow!

Not much of a challenge, but good, much needed practice...

Well I read the course book (yes, I walked to the school to get it and everything!). Baby stuff. I could do it in my sleep. BUT! The fact remains that I have not done this in a long time and a good warm up can't hurt :) I can't wait to start tomorrow!!

Another great thing about this book is that it introduced me to something apparently marvelous: Wilton Cake Release. I googled it and discovered that I could either buy it at a craft store for $3.49 OR that I could make it myself :) Basically all it does is grease and flour the pan for you in one step, so in order to make it you just need to blend 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of shortening, and 3/4 cups of vegetable oil. Apparently it's the bee's knees. We'll find out tomorrow when I make Melissa's bundt cake for her birthday :)

The book is also refreshing me on little (yet very, very important...) details that have been long forgotten. Like how thick/thin icing needs to be in order to properly ice a cake :\ That bit of info could have been helpful last year at the start of the semester. I tried making a fancy cake for DXD, but the icing was way too thick and dragged crumbs up to the surface of my lovely, white buttercream :( I had to improvise and it looked awful. But not this time!! My Wilton Master Tip Set is in the mail and on its way!! Cakes, prepare to be fabulous!!

Cake-Bakin' Time!!

My first Wilton Course book is in!! :D I have limited supplies as of yet, but I do have a few tips and parchment paper to get started!! And as always, I can improvise a bit!

This means that there will be pictures up of my progress soon! I'd also like to put up some pictures of cakes I've made before, but they seem to be missing :\ My friend Amanda and I had our open houses (graduation party for those of you who don't call it an open house) together and made one big cake. Let me rephrase: one REALLY BIG cake. That sucker was 5 9x13's in the shape of a giant H for "Hastings" (our school). We pre-made and froze 24 roses: 12 big blue ones and 12 little yellow buds. Then we had an 8x10 picture of us printed on that sugar paper stuff and put that in the middle. We piped on the rest of the blue and yellow frosting and voila! A beautiful cake :) If I ever find those missing pictures, I'll post them.

Anyhoo, time to go pick up my book! Chris was supposed to be back by now...guess I'll walk!

New Last Name = New Email = New Blog!

I even got a new web browser. Yep, the inevitable upgrade to Google Chrome has finally come to pass! And Chris was right; it is a lot faster!

Well now that I finally have a new blog that corresponds with my Gmail account, I'll maybe start updating more frequently. The purpose of this new blog is to act as a dumping ground for my creative endeavors. I have SO much I want to do! If I had any say, I would sit around and decorate cakes all day for a week. Or two. Then, I'd rotate between everything else I want to do: draw, write, paint, sew, knit, crochet, dance...you name it, I probably want to do it. If I had a yard, I would also love to garden.

The name of this blog corresponds with my old blog, "a patch of wild strawberries." Here's an excerpt from the old blog explaining the meaning behind the name:

we lived on about 6 acres of land (though there were 20 at my disposal since my uncle owned the neighboring 14) and in our enormous backyard, i found a small spot of grass about 4 feet in diameter. the grass that grew there had a finer texture than the rest of the grass in the yard. i remember sitting there, mimicking pooh bear's "think, think, think." and that's all i'd really do there; sit and ponder my 8 years of existence. of course, i wouldn't stay long :) i preferred climbing trees or going on long hikes through the fields and into the woods. this is where the berries come in.

our fields had a plethora of wild strawberry plants amidst ridiculously tall weeds. during strawberry season i would go through the fields hoping to find sweet treasures hidden under the leaves. wild strawberries are much sweeter than domesticated ones.

i'm not about sitting down. i'm about exploration. the wild strawberries in my backyard surrounded my little thinking spot. i want this to be a place not only of quiet reflection, but of bold discovery. i'm tired of sitting down.

...that, and i like strawberries.

So, yes, here is my new patch of wild strawberries, now cultivated into a beautiful garden. Mon jardin des fraises.