Professional Photography Makes a HUGE Difference!

I've done my fair share of research online, trying to find the best tips for taking nice pictures of my cakes. Those tips have definitely helped my pictures improve (things like having a nice backdrop, natural lighting, interesting angles, etc.). However, I have to say that professional photographs really make a huge difference.

My talented photographer friend Rebecca attended the party where these cakes were served, and I'm so grateful she shared her photos with me. I LOVE how clean and bright the cakes look in these pictures.

 

I love this sign that Aubree's mom made. Isn't it cute?!

I created polka dots inside the cake by first baking some cake balls and then baking them into the cake layers. I'm so glad Rebecca got a picture of the cake after it was cut.

Polka Dot Cake Tutorial 

 

Just to give you some perspective, here's one of the pictures I tried to take of my cake:

So, yeah. The colors look off and the whole photo is grainy. Something about it just isn't as fun, either.

If you're working on creating a cake portfolio, try hiring a professional photographer.

You really will see a difference.

Rebecca Fedele is a Family Photographer who also specializes in Birth Photography.

She is based in Illinois.

http://rebeccafedelephotography.com/

https://www.facebook.com/RebeccaFedelePhotography

Twirly Girl's 3rd Birthday!

Twirly Girl loves pink and purple...and princesses.

So, a pink princess dress on the outside...

 

...and purple stripes on the inside.

The Historian decided this slice needed a little extra frosting for the birthday girl.

The kids and I had fun decorating together.

To make the purple stripes, I used the technique found here http://www.azcookbook.com/zebra-cake/ for making a zebra cake. I just colored half the batter purple and decided not to make as many stripes.

This is what it looked like after I trimmed the top and edges:

We just wanted a small cake, so I cut some small circles out of the cake, stacked them, and carved them down to make the skirt for the princess. (The doll is a mermaid toy that my girls already had that we washed to use in the cake.)

STATS:

Zebra Cake

http://www.azcookbook.com/zebra-cake/

Rhonda's Ultimate Marshmallow Fondant
http://cakecentral.com/recipe/rhondas-ultimate-mmf

Happy Birthday, Aubrie!

I wanted the inside of the cake to have a rainbow of colors, so I divided the cake batter into five small bowls and added food coloring. Then, I just dropped spoonfuls of the batter into the cake pan.

This is how it looked baked.

I found an image of a hibiscus flower online and printed it out. Then I used the pin prick method to make an outline of the flower on my fondant-covered cake.

I used glace icing to make the large flower.
(1 cup powdered sugar: 1 Tbsp. milk: 1 Tbsp. corn syrup...add milk a small amount at a time to the desired consistency.)

I used homemade marshmallow fondant to cover the cake and to make the small flowers attached to the side of the cake. I used a small flower-shaped fondant cutter to cut out all of the tiny flowers. I used glace icing to attach them to the cake.

A tiny dot of glace icing was piped into the center of each flower to finish the cake.