Smart Idea via the Artisan Cake Company

I've always had a problem trying to form my flowers, and I wasn't going to spend a bunch of money on shallow cups at the craft store. I've been trying to find a way to form flowers without using a bowl that's too deep or too wide, but I couldn't think of how to do it. I ran across this tip on Facebook from the Artisan Cake Company.

How cool is that? It's a great way to do a bunch of flowers, or succulents, at one time, it's really cheap, and you can use things you already have. I'd probably use shorter cups just because I wouldn't want it to be too tall, but that's just me.

I'm so glad for innovative people like this!

Where's My Inspiration?

We all know, or at least we should know, that custom cakes are a form of art. Cake artists take a lot of time thinking of a design, working with the customer, baking and making the parts of the cake, putting it together, and making sure the whole cake flows not only with itself, but with the event/venue. This all takes a keen imagination and eye. Many people want cakes based on other cakes, but where do those original artists get their ideas?

Truth is, there's inspiration literally everywhere: the outdoors, random items people buy or own, other works of art, etc.

Personally, before I started making cake, I was just another artist. I would draw mainly with pencil, or paint with acrylic. When I want decor for my home, I try to do it myself rather than buying everything. So I painted this painting for a room in my house: 

Mostly because I wasn't going to pay $40 for a nautical print on canvas.

 One of my cake colleagues saw this painting and immediately saw a cake She persuaded me to make a cake based on my painting, and since I had some extra cake stuff, I decided to go ahead with it.

The top is supposed to be the sky (I still need to work on my blending when it comes to buttercream), with a gumpaste sailboat riding the buttercream waves of the second tier.

Before the painting inspiration, I was inspired by something I found on Pinterest.

It's not my style, but I found it very pretty and something in my head just clicked.

I had been wanting to try a new technique in this tutorial by Kara's Couture Cakes, and I really wanted to do it in gold. It just so happened that I came across this skirt after I read the tutorial. Anyway, I bought the tools and ingredients, made the sequins, and went about placing those tiny little sequins one by one on the cake. It was totally worth it in the end.

A close-up of the sequins and the top border.

See? Inspiration comes in many forms, and can be found anywhere!

You can find more of my work on my Facebook page. If you would like to see higher quality pictures, check out my Flickr photostream.

More Cake Memes

More cakes memes!

Now, this first one is quite funny in caker circles, but for the average customer, it might be a bit offensive. (I didn't make this one, by the way.) This cake meme is referring to a specific group of people that cake artists encounter almost everyday: people who simply don't value a cake artist's time, experience, or skills. These types of customers are only looking for a bargain rather than a work of art that also tastes great, and it's more likely that it's just because they don't want to pay for a custom cake instead of not being able to afford a custom cake.

If you made the cake yourself, though, that's a different story. Any cake you make for someone you love will be awesome.

This next meme is based on those requests that kind of make you squint a little. Some people will scour the internet for a cake they have pictured in their mind, but often times they won't find it. Instead they will find a cake that is similar, then when the cake artist they are talking to asks what they want, they are sent a picture of a cake, but the customer will list many things to be changed.
Sometimes a picture is helpful, especially if specific parts of a cake are desired. However, if almost every part of the cake is going to be altered, might as well describe what is wanted, or come up with a drawing. Better still, have the cake artist come up with a drawing because that's (sometimes) part of what they do.

Complex cakes aren't the problem in this meme, by the way. When a person asks for "this exact cake," then changes everything, it makes a person think, So, you don't want this cake in the picture?

I hope you enjoyed these tidbits of cake humor. Sometimes explanations ruin a joke, but I felt it was necessary this time.

Have a great Fourth of July!

My Little Pony Cake

I don't really post tutorials, and I'm not about to break that streak.

This is more like a post that happens to have progress shots, because I'm sure you're pretty curious.

I've been wanting to make a My Little Pony cake for my oldest daughter's birthday since two birthdays ago, but 1) I didn't have the time to, and 2) I didn't have the experience. So this year I finally did it.

Obviously, to make a standing, sculpted cake, you need something to support it. Originally I was going to use PVC piping, but even the smallest widths were too big. I didn't need to make a big cake because it was just me and my daughter eating it. I used wooden dowels instead.

I used a dense-ish double chocolate cake (which tasted amazing) for the body and head, since they're the biggest parts. I then used rice crispy treats for the legs, neck, and ears, and I also used them for the bottom of the body and head.

The buttercream is purple just because that's what I had leftover from making her entire class cupcakes. I only made a double batch, but it was still more than enough. (48 cupcakes and a pony. Oy!)

To even everything out, the bumps and whatnot, I covered the entire thing in a thin layer of buttercream. I personally don't like a lot of frosting, otherwise I would've added more.

I used a 50/50 mix of purple modeling chocolate and white fondant to achieve the color that I wanted. The detail - her cutie mark, eyes, and hair - were cut out of varying ratios of fondant and modeling chocolate.

 I hope you enjoyed seeing my few progress shots. I also hope it inspires you in case you ever need to do something like this. Feel free to post any questions. Obviously I left a lot to the imagination, not because I don't want to reveal my "secrets," but because I believe true art comes from instinct and imagination. Plus, if a first-time cake sculptor can figure out how to turn a 2D pony into a 3D cake, I'm sure you wonderfully talented, much more experienced, and good-looking cake artists can figure it out, too. ;)

Cake Memes

I haven't posted in a while because I've had a lot of family stuff going on. I also haven't made too many cakes recently besides a tiny smash cake for a friend, and a birthday cake for my daughter.

I love memes, and I'm kind of surprised no one has made cake memes before. Here's two I made recently:

 I know, I know, "bitches" isn't exactly eloquent, but I'm just going with the language of memes, ok?

Some decorators are quite handy at making small cakes, but if you only need to feed a small amount of people, don't expect your decorator to be able to give you a 5 to 7 tier cake. Also, you're going to pay for the complexity of that cake no matter how small.

I'll make more eventually. They're quite fun to make. :)