Let Them Eat Cake

Before I ever tried upholstery or making iPhone accessories, I tried decorating cakes. Growing up, we used the boxed cake and icing to make fun Christmas, Easter, and Fourth of July cakes.   Looking back, I realize that they were nothing spectacular, but I always enjoyed making (and eating!!) them nonetheless. 
Fast forward through college to the months leading up to my wedding. We tasted cakes at several bakeries but decided to meet with a lady who had her own cake company. The cake was moist and tasty and I ate several pieces of it at that meeting. I told you all of that so I could tell you this: the lady who made that yummy cake lives in a neighborhood off a back road outside of a town about an hour from my hometown. Behind her house is an extra building about the size of a three-car garage. Two-thirds of that space is occupied by a really cool professional kitchen with a meeting/eating area. It even has its own bathroom!

When we walked out of that place I couldn’t help but think that I wanted to work toward having a space like that one day and learn how to make fun, fancy cakes. While I currently work out of my regular old kitchen and only make the occasional cake, it’s still in the back of my mind for the future.

Keep reading for a peek at some of my favorite recent cakes!

The first cake I made by myself for a special event.  In this case, a co-worker’s last day on the job.  It was a yummy dark chocolate cake with chocolate ganache icing, crushed Reese’s cups between the layers, decorated with Reese’s pieces, Reese’s cups, and chocolate-flavored icing for the writing.  It was yummy.

The real USC

iPhone cake A year later, and my first attempt at using fondant. Woke up that morning having never used it before, so despite the fact that it’s definitely not the best cake I ever made, it’s one of my favorites since I literally had no clue what I was doing

 

Fast forward 6 months, and I enrolled in classes and officially learned how to use fondant.

I made the cake at the beach that summer with the help of my cousin’s daughters, who created the artwork on the pan, along with the fish’s eyeball and lips.

 

Judy’s basket full of black-eyed Susans (and a ladybug!)

In the fall, I taught myself how to make cute cake pops. The first attempt I ever made at dipping the pops was for my brother’s party for his business school graduation. My sister-in-law made the pops themselves, and my mom and I did a terrible job of covering them. But they tasted good! 🙂

My brother’s Clemson Tiger birthday cake! One of my favorites.

Kettlebell cake (and a real kettlebell) that I made for some of the personal trainers I work with.

 

Another favorite – our friends’ baby’s first birthday! She loved the little green marshmellow fondant balls on her mini cake.

My cousin and I made these cute turkeys for Thanksgiving!

Above: Some of my family members’ likenesses represented by little cake people for my grandmother’s 90th birthday party. Below: The finished product ready to be transported 30 miles down the road in my lap because I was too afraid to put it anywhere else in the car! Again, a favorite. But I’m pretty sure it gave me some gray hair!