Mmmm...cupcakes....

Delicious!!! Carrot cake with cream cheese icing and some walnuts on top. I love carrot cake and these cupcakes went to one happy friend on her birthday.

Monster Birthday

My next cake attempt had a lot of meaning for the little guy receiving it. This cake was meant to resemble the Monster Energy logo. A close friend had passed away who always wore Monster gear and the cake was for Maison so the M fit. :) This cake was actually never eaten! Maison saved it to remember his best friend.

Cupcakes and Babies

Months went by. Many Birthdays and various events. Cupcakes came to be the norm whenever I needed to bring something with me. I attempted another small cake with fondant again for a friend's baby shower. We welcomed baby Lily with some chocolate cake and my first attempt at making a gum paste flower. :)

Another Birthday, Another Learning Experience

A few weeks later I had another family member with a birthday. By now family and friends were interested to see what I could come up with when faced with the challenge. I decided to stick with the marshmallow fondant and starting investing in more tools to create my "art". :) A Texas Ranger fan, a birthday, and some chocolate cake...

I used two, eight-inch cakes, topped with a portion of a smaller six-inch cake for the ball shape on the top. I used a cream cheese icing and all decorations were fondant.

Lemon?!

My next cake was for a friend. A couple of friends encouraged my new hobby by buying me a fondant/gum paste kit. Another birthday, another attempt at fondant and this time I even tried to use gum paste too. I switched from a buttercream fondant to a marshmallow fondant. This was much better and easier to work with. I told my friend she could pick whatever flavor she wanted for her cake. After all, it was HER birthday. When she told me she wanted lemon cake with lemon icing I responded with, "Lemon?!".
I guess I figured everyone would want a chocolate cake and later learned that lemon is a really awesome flavor. :) I used a lemon cake, lemon icing and even made a lemon curd filling. Delicous!

A year ago...

It has been a year since I made my first "custom cake". My first cake was for a family member's birthday. Who else is going to try out new creations and give you honest feedback? I know I bit off more than I could chew and went with a three-tier topsy-turvy cake. What was I thinking?!
The idea came to me a month before after I finished watching an entire season of Cake Boss on TV. I thought I could make a "cute" cake. I had never even heard of fondant before watching that season and used the first recipe I found online for a buttercream fondant. The cake was heavy and the fondant was thick! I didn't realize how expensive all of the materials would be and how much space all these necessities would take up in my kitchen.
It makes me giggle when I look back at this cake and remember everyone's faces when I walked in with it. I think I've scaled back quite a bit since then and realized that bigger isn't always better. :)