Rach's October Challenge: Spooky Cookies

For the October challenge I planned sugar cookies and had big plans. Then I ran out of time so I ended up doing basic decorations. I rolled out fondant very thinly and cut out shapes the same as the cookies. As soon as the cookies came out of the oven, I placed the fondant cut outs on the cookies.

I had plans to add more detail but was out of time, but they were still pretty cute!

Please visit the other participants in the challenge:

Lisaloo

Monica

With Thanksgiving and my son's birthday falling at the end of November and with my baby due in December, I am taking a hiatus from the challenge until January. I really appreciate everyone who has participated and I enjoy doing it. I am just not certain I'm going to have the time or energy to get something done and posted during the next couple months. I'll post a new challenge at the beginning of January.

Cake Class

This past week I got to take a class from the Sweet Southern Ladies from Louisiana and recent winners of the Ultimate Cake Off on TLC. This was my first class outside of the Wilton classes and I was amazed by how much I learned.

I was a bit intimidated as I was by far the most novice person taking the class. Most of the other participants had at least 10 years experience. About half of the 21 participants came from outside the state. The "cakes" we decorated were styrofoam and then covered in fondant and decorated with fondant and royal icing. I did not finish the cake during class so once I got home I finished the cake and added some fresh roses.
This cake was created by the Sweet Southern Ladies. This was a real cake although the vase on top is styrofoam.
This cake was created by Geraldine Kidwell. She is probably one of the most respected cake artists in Kentucky. She owns her own business and has written a book, Cakes for All Occasions.
This cake was created by Angela Luttrell. She has been decorating cakes for over 50 years, although she did create her first tiered cake as a child. Instead of owning a shop, she travels around the country and bakes and decorated wedding cakes on site. Her cakes match the bride's dress. She recently did Miss Kentucky's wedding cake. She was sitting at the table next to me and helped me a ton. I was very glad she was near me.

This cake was created by Sandy Guthrie of Michigan. It was probably my favorite out of all the cakes, I wish I had taken a picture with a backdrop. This picture doesn't show the detail, plus it was taken before the cake was finished.

When I got home from class I wouldn't let my husband see the pictures of the other cakes until I had showed him my cake. I feel like my cake was pretty impressive but not compared to some of the others in the class. I can't wait to take another class!

Pretty in Pink

One of my best friends is expecting a little girl 3 weeks before me. Her shower was this weekend and I got to make the cakes. I used a design from Peggy Porschen's Pretty Party Cakes. Her design was for mini-cakes, instead I made 3, 3-layer 6" cakes.

One cake was toffee with white chocolate icing, one was vanilla with raspberry buttercream filling and vanilla icing, one was peppermint with peppermint icing. I labeled each of the plates with the flavor. The stripes are royal icing. The roses are gumpaste, my first.

An hour and a half before I needed to leave for the shower I thought I was only going to show up with 2 cakes. I attempted to make a white chocolate ganache using the same ratios of chocolate and whipping cream as I would with milk chocolate. I ended up with a soupy mess! After a last minute run to the store for more white chocolate I managed to save the icing. I melted more white icing, stirred it into the soup, then added that to some creamed butter. I then added powdered sugar until the consistency was correct. It resulted in a delicious icing. Usually I like to follow recipes to the letter so I was pretty happy with the results.

This past weekend I made 4 cakes (the purple bridal shower cake and these), I was worn out! I don't have any more cakes on my calendar until next May, but I always seem to end up with one or two a month.

Bridal Shower Cake

A lady who is like a grandmother to me was hosting a bridal shower this weekend. She asked me several months ago if I would do the cake, but until 2 weeks ago I didn't have any details. I was told that the bride's color was purple and that she is "out there". The hostess wanted something elegant.

Flour Confections decorating shop was featured in American Cake Decorating recently. The top tier of one of the wedding cakes was this design in different colors. I felt like it would be a nice compromise for the bride and the hostess.

The cake was vanilla with raspberry buttercream filling and vanilla buttercream icing. The rose and leaves are gumpaste. The stripes are fondant. I used my clay extruder to make them even.

Circles, flowers, & bow

This was a birthday cake for a 20-something girl. It was a last minute order and I was told to do whatever I wanted. Those designs seem to be the most difficult! I like having a little guidance.

I ended up making a vanilla cake with raspberry buttercream filling and regular buttercream icing. The bows, circles, and flowers are fondant. The bow is actually sparkley but it doesn't really show in the picture.

Rach's October Challenge

The theme for October will be Halloween.

You can bake anything that reminds you of Halloween whether it be a decorated cake, or using pumpkin as an ingredient. Be creative and have fun!

Here's the rules if you would like to participate:http://rachescakes.blogspot.com/2009/02/challenge.html

Rach's Challenge-September, Chocolate

Sorry I am running behind! So you would think it would be easy to come up with something chocolate for a chocoholic. It wasn't! I planned to make brownies in the car pan my mother-in-law got for me. However the only recipe I had for brownies didn't have any chocolate.

Instead I am using the groom's cake I made. It is a yellow half sheet cake with 3 pounds of chocolate and about 1.5 pounds of butter. It is the best icing I've ever made. The logo is made from fondant mixed with a small amount of Tylose.

Please visit the other participants in the challenge:

1. Jennifer

2. Lissalou

3. Monica

4. Carla