Cake Mania!

Sound the trumpets! Drum roll, please!
Today I am finally going to be sharing something creative with you!!
I have been waiting to write this post since the day I started conceiving all of my grand ideas!

When the subject of cakes came up for my grandparent's 50th Anniversary Celebration,
I eagerly volunteered for the job.
There were already a few Pinterest pins calling my name,
and this would be a funtastic opportunity to finally try some out.

These were my Pin-speration sources.

1. Gumdrop Roses  2. Wedding Picture Topper  3. Chocolate design toppers
4. Chocolate Heart  5. Sugar and Berries  6. Cake Banner 
7. Pineapple Flowers  8. Picture Pick Toppers  9. Strawberry Roses

 

Not to forget this awesome chocolate butterfly.

After one whole day of 'research' (I love Pinterest!), and one day of shopping for all
the necessities and ingredients, I was able to get to work!

I gave mom the task of making all the paper and picture decorations, like the anniversary banner,
wedding picture topper, and cake labels...which left me to man the kitchen.

Let me show you what I cooked up!

 #1 Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
This was a two layer sheet cake with frosting in the middle, that I quickly
decorated with a '50 Years' flag, some pineapple flowers and a lacy chocolate heart.

The heart was made from melted almond bark that I piped onto parchment paper,
 then re-hardened in the fridge.
 I didn't trace a design for this one, I just did it by freehand.

#2 Gluten-Free Carrot Cake
Also a two layered, cream cheese frosted cake,
I decorated this one with my version of the wedding picture cake topper (made by mom!)
surrounded by pineapple flowers.
I was told later that those dried flowers tasted great!
 

#3 Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake
Don't let the gluten free part scare you, this is the best chocolate cake I have ever had!
I'm dead serious. And I don't like chocolate cake.
Want to know a secret? We didn't tell people this was gluten free, and it was our most popular cake!
I used my go to chocolate butter cream recipe to frost this single layer cake,
then topped it with almond bark chocolate words and gumdrop roses!

These roses were awesome!

If you click the link in my collage above it will take you to this video tutorial!
They are so simple to make, yet add so much!
They don't show you how to make the leaves, but it didn't take much to figure those out.
Just roll out your green gumdrop as shown in the video, then cut out a leaf shape.
Voila!

#4 Gluten Free Three-Tiered Cake
Not as many tiers as my inspiration source,
but I liked the simple beauty of the exposed cake, fresh fruit and powdered sugar.

 

The strawberry rose bouquet was a nice touch, though it didn't turn out as good I would have hoped.
 I couldn't get the 'petals' to lay open like in the picture. But still, a nice topper.
 

#5 White Raspberry Cake
Three layered almond white cake, with almond butter cream frosting and raspberry preserve filling.
I only frosted the middle layers and the top cake for two reasons.
One, 'naked cakes' are in style, didn't you know?
And two, the frosting was a little stiff and I was running out of time.
Mostly....it was reason two.

To make this cake look fabulous,
we stuck a very long "Happy Anniversary" banner in the top!
I love the way it turned out! My mom did a great job!

  
#6 Coconut Cake
You guys.
This was my favorite cake!!
Just look at that! It is beautiful! And it tastes wonderful too!
I am dying to make another one of these, with a few little recipe changes.

This double layer coconut sheet cake was frosted with sour cream coconut frosting,
between the layers and all over the outside, sprinkled with toasted coconut
then adorned with almond bark butterflies!
I was so, so thrilled that I was actually able to make these!
I mean...look at them!

 And finally....

I made just over 70 Lemon Cupcakes!
This is one of our family recipes for rich lemon cake, topped with another family creation,
lemon frosting made by folding lemon pudding and Cool Whip together!

 

These little darlings were decorated with various almond bark chocolate designs,

and family picture sticks, combining two inspiration sources.

All of my cakes had to survive an hours trip before

reaching the location of our family reunion.

That means I only frosted the middle layers of my sheet cakes to hold them together, 

and the rest of the frosting, assembling and decorating had to take place on site.

We had a certain time frame between scheduled events that we were able 

to use the facilities...umm...kitchen (more like rollings tables, a sink and some counter space),

so that made things a little crunched.

But thankfully there was lots of family (thank you everyone!) to give a helping hand.

I'll admit it was a little hard at first to delegate some of the tasks 

to someone else, but I had no reason to worry, it all turned out great

and I was able to do the really important details myself.

If I look a little tired and frazzled, you know why.

In the end it all paid off.
Presentation was awesome, taste was wonderful, and Nana cried.
Everything was a hit.
I was asked by several people if I did this for a living,
and those that didn't ask, outright told me that I should make this a business!
It was so great to have such supportive feedback.

Now, I went back and forth about breaking this post down
into individual cakes and details, but I decided on covering it in one fell swoop.
There will be a post on making almond bark chocolate designs, with tips I discovered along the way,
but if you want more individualized details on anything else,
just let me know and I'll see what I can do!

To sum it up:

One week.
Six cakes.
13 layers.
70 cupcakes
Five different frostings.
One hurried hour of assembly.
An anniversary to remember.

Looking Back: September

September...

where have you gone?!

My goodness...in all honesty, I can't believe we are already done with this month!

Since being chosen to participate in the second season of Refashion Runway,

I have been busy, busy, busy sewing and planning, and posting! Oh my!

The time has just flown by.

 

Looking back,

it has been a good, full, roller-coaster of a month!

 

Speaking of rides...

here are some funny shots from my first Refashion Runway project, the plaid dress.

These pictures didn't make the first cut,

but I thought I would share them with you now.

 

 

 

 

Just for fun, I was told to pose with our Gator while we were

out in the woods taking pictures.

 

 

 

Yeah...I could sell this...

 

 

 

I kind of love these next few pictures....

we were driving through the bumpy field path,

and were coming up, rather quickly, on a large terrace (big bump!)

and my brother wasn't slowing down!

While steering with one hand, he held the camera in the other,

and just started snapping away...he wasn't even aiming!

 



 

*See the bump*

 



 

*Assess the bump*

 



*Fear the bump*

 



 

*Brace for the bump*

 

*Scream*

 

 

Don't worry we survived.

And actually, we were still in tact enough to take this pretty cool shot right afterwards.

 

 



 

Big Texas Skies.

Or, pretend you are on an African safari...

both work.

 

 

 

September was also the month of my birthday.

Sorry, we didn't take any pictures.

But here are a few lovely things....

 

 

 

 

This is the pattern on a new scarf I got!

I love the ethnic print on it and the colors!

It looks very fall to me, which has me excited.

 

And then...

 

 

 

 

...my new cast iron tea pot!

I love this little dear!

Seriously, the colors, the weight,

the fact that it is cast iron and will probably outlive me...awesome!

I bought this beautiful item at World Market, one of my favorite stores!

I'm registered with them, and apparently, they give you a spending gift card for your birthday!

How wonderful is that?!

So, this is what I chose to get.

 

Sadly, I have already had a rather painful lesson in using her.

 

Steam burns.

Bad.

Like, really, really bad!

 

I was being lazy and didn't grab a pot holder to hold my

tea pot lid on, and decided to pour my piping hot water anyway.

Bad, bad idea.

The lid slipped, releasing an angry, billowing cloud of blistering steam...

right...on...my...fingers.

 

I couldn't just drop the kettle, because, it is after all heavy cast iron and full of boiling water!

So I had to endure the brutal elapse of time it took to purposely set it down.

It was really only a few seconds, but it felt like forever.

So yeah...that is how I got some nasty second degree burns on my right-hand pinky and ring finger.

Seriously, I felt a little bit like a witch, they were all blistered up and nasty looking on my birthday

(which was last Saturday, by the by).

Thankfully, they have now progressed to the really itchy, dark red, hard crusty skin stage.
TMI, I know, sorry.

 

And there you have it, my September in review!

How was your September?

What special sort of things happened in your life?

DIY Name Plaque

I am a chronic procrastinator!

There, it is now blog official.

Once again, I was attending a wedding this past weekend and didn't have a gift!

Talk about cutting it close...I came up with a brilliant project the day before the wedding!

 It's just a fact, my creative juices flow better with
a shot of panic.

And I'm being completely serious.

So, what was I going to do?

Well, a couple days before while perusing one of my favorite blogs, ReFashionista,
I came across a post where she made some adorable invitations
by sewing paper and fabric pieces together.

It inspired me!

I decided to make a name plaque for the newlyweds using that same idea.

After a quick run to our local thrift shop, I had just what I needed.

 

 I picked up this slightly beat up black frame 

with a cheep computer printed picture stuck inside.

 

And this old antique looking book with small print words.
Also, a few pieces of fabric scraps.

Then I set to work.

First, I typed up the last name in all caps, each letter in a different font.

I printed those out a plain white paper for a test run.
I wanted to be sure of the sizing and look before I printed them on the paper I intended to use.

Tearing some of the pages out from my book, I laid them overlapping onto the back of the picture board.
Then I started experimenting with how to arrange the letters.

 

Next came the material scraps.

I tried finding colors and prints that worked with each other

and were in the bride and groom's color scheme. 

 

 Once I liked what I had laid out, I reprinted the letters onto my stationary,

cut them out, and sewed them onto the material pieces using a zig zag stitch.

I was being particular, and decided I wanted the letters closer together,
so I trimmed down the fabric blocks until I got them to look like this.

When I was completely satisfied with it all,
I used a glue stick and glued down the pages.

Then I secured the letters in place with double stick tape.

Next, using a pair of scissors, I set to work distressing the frame.

It had a few scrapes already, but after I was done with my scissors,
it looked like it was supposed to be that way. :)

 

 Almost done...

 

Lastly, I twisted a piece of copper wire around a pencil to spiral it, 

then stapled it to the back of the frame.

 

 

Ta-da!

You can't see and fully appreciate how well the distressing of the frame
turned out from my poor photos, but trust me...it was beautiful!

I was oober pleased with my afternoon project,
it looked like something you pay good money for at a boutique.

Spent:
Frame: $2
Old Book for Background: $0.25
Material scraps: $0.10

Total: $2.35 (plus materials on hand)


Creativity pays off!

 

Field Trip

Today I had an early day off from work.

The sun was shining, the weather lovely, and I do so enjoy a good summer's day car drive.

So, by whim of the wind, I convinced my home-bound family members to go on a drive with me out to the old railroad track and bridge Mrs. P had shown me on one of our outings.


It was pretty country and a very pleasant little excursion.

Vibrant yellow flowers  dot the countryside

A beautiful wild flower.

The two young ones walking the abandoned tracks
 in search of rocks.

Stepping on the past.

Wild, Texas scenery.

The boys explored under the bridge.
Can you get a feel for how high it was?

A wee bit windy.

We came home with a trunk full of rocks, a couple railroad spikes, and these pictures. Hope you enjoyed 'em!