Duckies

I've seen some really cute baby shower cakes online, decorated with bubble-shaped fondant and a real rubber duckie. I thought it would be fun to try a similar design on a cupcake.

First, I made tiny ducks out of fondant.



I used sugar pearls (big sprinkles) around the edges and a few on top for the bubbles.



My three-year-old got to decorate her own. She was so proud!



Look at that perfect line of little pearls she placed one at a time, all by herself!



STATS:

Box mix of lemon cake

Buttercream Frosting:
http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/vanilla-buttercream-frosting/39107a19-be94-4571-9031-f1fc5bd1d606

Rhonda's Ultimate Marshmallow Fondant:
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/3183/rhondas-ultimate-mmf

Luggage Cake

*** UPDATE: He's going to México! ***

Time to knead some sugar into homemade fondant. This gets really messy, but it's fun!



I baked two 9x13 yellow cakes and placed them next to each other before frosting them with chocolate chip cookie dough frosting. Yum!



I covered the cake in 3 sections of fondant (instead of one big piece like I normally would). I layed the sections down slightly overlapping each other to create the raised seams.



I used a toothpick to poke little holes in the fondant for the stitching. Yes, it was tedious and I'm sure there is a faster way or better tool to use, but it worked.



I printed out my brother's initials in a font I liked. Then I taped plastic wrap over that and piped over the letters using royal icing. I let the icing dry and then painted it with gold luster dust. Once it dried again, I peeled the plastic wrap off and used the royal icing letters for the monogram.



I printed off images of a passport, name tag, and flags at home and used the printout to order a frosting sheet printed with edible ink from a bakery. I cut the images out of the frosting sheet and attached them to fondant with white piping gel.



Everything you see is edible. Ta-dah!



I can't wait to find out where my brother is going on his mission!


STATS:

Rhonda's Ultimate Marshmallow Fondant
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/3183/rhondas-ultimate-mmf

Rhonda's Ultimate Chocolate Marshmallow Fondant:
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/3193/rhondas-ultimate-chocolate-mmf

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frosting:
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/7600/chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-icingfilling

Royal Icing:
http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Royal-Icing-1

Daisies and Ladybugs + Caking with Kids

My six-year-old son loves to cook and help in the kitchen. He designed this really cool pirate cupcake. It has blue water, black sand, and he even added toothpicks for posts to hold up a hammock for a pirate. He has such a good imagination and creative ideas! He was disappointed that I couldn't think of anything we had on hand for the net, but he was still happy with his cupcake and he shared it with me. What a great chef!



We worked on our cakes together in the kitchen. Mine was just a quick cake for a friend.



STATS:

Box Mix of Lemon Cake
Buttercream Frosting (green background and flowers)
Glace Icing (ladybugs)

Happy Birthday, Becca!

This was a fun cake to make because I got to decorate it with my sisters and my mom (plus a friend)! We took turns piping the border and we all made some flowers out of homemade white modeling chocolate. Ta-dah!



Becca made the biggest flower and I thought it turned out really pretty. Here it is!



STATS:

Sylvia Weinstock's Yellow Cake:
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/FOOD/news/02/09/sylvia.weinstock/yellow.cake.html

Raspberry Filling:
Heat jar of Polaner seedless raspberry jam in microwave for 15-30 seconds, until spreadable. Stir in packet of raspberry jello until jello is dissolved. That's it!

Modeling Chocolate:
Melt 10 ounces of any kind of chocolate you like in a microwave or in a double boiler. Stir in 1/3 of a cup of light corn syrup. Stir for a couple of minutes until well combined. Spread on waxed paper and allow to cool at room temperature for 2 hours. When cool, break large chunks off and knead until soft. Store in the refrigerator in a ziplock bag for up to a month. Break off small pieces and knead when you are ready to make something with your modeling chocolate. Return to refrigerator for 10-15 minutes if it starts to get too warm and sticky from the heat of your hands.

Have fun!