Halloween Treats

Over the Halloween holiday, I had a few cake requests that were a lot of fun to work on. First, I created Mr. & Mrs. Frank N. Stein for a costume party for a friend. I got this idea from a fellow cake baker on Cakecentral.com. I think they turned out super cute!

The other cake and cupcake order that I got for Halloween was for a pink lemonade flavored cake with chocolate cupcakes. I used my cricut for some of the decorations, including the haunted house, bats, and pumpkins. The tombstones were freehanded.

Happy Birthday to a REAL Trooper!

I made this cake for my best friend's step-dad who just celelbrated his birthday and is a retired NC Highway Patrolman. He LOVED the cake and could not believe how real the hat looked! I had such a great time watching his face as they brought the cake out to surprise him. Happy birthday, Willie!

Cherry Blossom Cake

I have always loved the simple beauty in cherry blossoms. I had a final cake project for my last cake class and decided to take inspiration from the cherry blossoms. I made an almond-flavored cake with raspberry filling and covered it in marshmallow fondant and added beautiful cherry blossoms made from tinted royal icing. I think this cake turned out beautiful and would make a great design in a multi-tier version for some springtime weddings. I'm just saying...order up!

A Birthday Cake with REAL Yellow Roses

I received a request for a cake with three yellow roses on top for a special birthday gift. Since the roses were real and needed to be kept in water and the cake kept clean, I used the little water viles that came with the roses to insert directly into the cake and keep the roses hydrated. I think the cake turned out simple yet sophisticated. Thanks for the order, Alex!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

This cake was created for a special gal in my bible study group who loves her Daddy as much as I love mine! She had me create a cake for his 63rd birthday in his favorite flavor...carrot cake with cream cheese icing. She said it was as yummy as it was pretty. Thanks for the order, Tracy!

Tenacious D Guitar Pick

So while Michael and I were in the NC mountains this weekend celebrating our 1st wedding anniversary I received a phone call for a cake order. She said she would send me a picture of the cake she wanted me to design for her boyfriend's birthday and warned me it was going to be the ugliest cake I ever decorated. A day or so later, she sent me an email with this picture for inspiration...

Tenacious D Pick of Destiny

Boy, was she right! This thing is so ugly it's kind of cute! I can't wait to begin working on it and see how she and the surprised boyfriend will like it. Thanks, Jessica, for giving me the opportunity to test my extreme food coloring skills!

Keep those custom cake orders rolling in...I always love a good challenge!

A Gift of Sophistication

I finished and delivered one of my favorite cake designs to date this afternoon. This cake was for a friend's 50th surprise birthday party and the client asked for a stacked package design in square and black and white. The rest of the design was left up to me, and I throroughly enjoyed working on this one! I think it turned out beuatiful and very classy.

The bottom layer was a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream icing and filling. The top layer was a strawberry cake with strawberry fruit filling and strawberry buttercream icing. The fondant was all vanilla flavored marshmallow fondant made from scratch. I truly hope the client was as thirlled with the look and taste of this cake as I was! I can't wait to see what the next order will bring. The creativity of the design is what keeps me truly excited about cake decorating!

Passed the Test Again!

Well, I took my fall cupcakes to bible study and the ladies went NUTS for them. I may have even gotten a cake order from it. The gal that runs the bible study mentioned wanting to order a cake for her dad's birthday! That would be super!!! I love to see a person smile while enjoying a great cupcake -- it makes me feel warm and fuzzy!

I Passed The First Test!

Well, I passed the first test...the folks at the office LOVED my spice cake and cream cheese fall leaf cupcakes!!! The second test will be tonight at bible study...I will keep you posted of my next cupcake test grade!

Cupcakes for the Fall

As we begin to welcome in the Fall season, I thought I would bake some cupcakes to get us in the mood and ready.

I started with a spcie cake recipe for my cupcakes and topped them with a creamy and rich cream cheese icing. Then, I took red, yellow and orange fondant and combined them to create the perfect coloring for some fall leaves. Once I got the fondant rolled out, I used some mini cookie cutters to cut out the leaves. I used a toothpick to add in all of the leaf veins to make them even more real-life looking. I put a little bit of golden yellow sugar on top of the cream cheese icing and then topped them off with the beautiful and yummy fall leaves.

The real test will be when I take these to the office and to bible study to see how the real judges weigh in!

Cupcakes from Wilmington, NC

I received a call the other day from a lady in Wilmington, NC that wanted me to deliver an order of assorted cupcakes to her friend here in Winston-Salem who is celebrating a birthday today. Here are the oh-so-yummy cupcakes he gets to enjoy...

Happy Birthday, Ted!

Birthday Boots

I finished my Boots cake and delivered it Saturday morning to a very happy birthday boy celebrating his third birthday. This cake took A LOT of time, buttercream icing and patience. I had to hand carve this from the template I made. Let's just say that cake is not the most sturdy medium to try to carve and then ice with buttercream. At any rate, it all turned out well and everyone was happy!

Step One: Make a Template

So I have already started on the basics of my Boots cake. I have found an inspirational image and have created a template of it to help me carve the perfect shape. Tonight I will begin baking my cakes, carving them and doing a crumb coat of icing. I will keep you posted of my progress and post pictures as I go.

This cake is going to be a chocolate cake with raspberry filling and a vanilla or raspberry buttercream icing. It is going to taste INCREDIBLE and hopefully look just a adorable when I am all finished. Stay tuned....

Boots Cake

I just received an order for a Boots (from Dora the Explorer) cake for a little boy's thrid birthday. I can't wait to get started on this one!

I have found a picture online for inspriation and will be sure to share my final product pictures as soon as I have it complete. Stay tuned...

A Shower for Baby Landon

Well, I have a 9:15 am pick-up time on Saturday for a baby shower sheet cake. It is for a baby boy named Landon and will be decorated in baby blue and light green. We will have a sports theme worked in with football and baseball. We may even find a way to work in the fact that the parents-to-be are big Red Sox fans. It will be a fun cake to work on and I will certainly be posting pictures once the cake is completed. Stay tuned...

A Cake Creation to Remember

Well, it's finished! The big cake project of the week is completed and delivered to the client as of 11:30 this morning. She was THRILLED with the final outcome of my cake design. I hope her mom who turns 88 today enjoys it also.

This cake was so much FUN to work on and complete. It went pretty smooth. My first attempt at the molded letters wasn't so great...it helps if you read directions first! Once my husband pointed out that the directions stated I should have lightly dusted my molds with corn starch, all was good. They second attempt went beautifully!

We had one mishap during delivery with a rose on the side of the hat...it decided to take a leap to the pan half way there. No problem, though. I had extra buttercream and my rose nail with me. We got the cake in place and I just piped out a new one. All was good.

A big thank you to C. Itterman who recommended me for this job and to M. Darradji who allowed me the pleasure to create the sweetest expression for her mom's special 88th birthday!

Check out more photos of this specialtycake project on my Facebook page and on my website at http://www.sweetest-expressions.com/

Cake In Progress

So last night I found myself up to my elbows in buttercream until 11:30. I am working on a large three-tier cake in fondant for a friend's mother's 88th birthday. I got the bottom two layers baked and crumb coated last evening and still have the top tier to finish up tonight, plus all of the fondant work. It is a big project, but it is going to be a really FUN cake to finish up!

Here is a picture of the proposed design. As I finish up the cake, I will post pictures of the finished product. It's going to be a WHOPPER to deliver, but I can't wait to see my client's reaction! :o)

Cake of Many Colors & Flowers!

Tonight I decorated a cake in beautiful and vibrant flowers. I used two flower techniques - ribbon roses and swirl flowers. It was a very tedious and time-consuming project, but I think it turned out beautiful!!!

To make the swirl flowers, I used a 2D tip and piped my flowers ahead of time on a piece of wax paper. This way, I could put the flowers on a cookie sheet in the freezer for a bit and get them hardened up a bit. To make the flower, you touch your tip lightly to your decorating surface and while applying pressure to your decorating bag you twist the tip to form the petals. Then, use a #3 tip to pipe a white dot center into each flower. Once I had my cake decorated with the basic white coat, I added a bead of white icing from a #12 tip to the base of the cake and then used a spatula while the flowers were a bit hardened and scraped them off the wax paper and placed them around my cake.

As for the ribbon roses, they are a bit more involved and I will describe that technique at another time and date. I think the combination of these two flower techniques complement each other quite well.

The next time you need a cake for a special occassion, give this colorful flower cake a try. Then, if you need someone to rescue you, give me a call and we will help you give the Sweetest Expression!!!

Chocolate Bliss Birthday

In the past when I was invited to a gathering, folks wanted me to bring my salad and homemade poppy seed dressing. They loved the dressing and when I make a salad, I put everything in but the kitchen sink. Now, when there are gatherings, I tend to be the one baking and bringing the cake...go figure!

At any rate, my friend is celebrating his birthday and some of our friends wanted to get him a cake...guess who is in charge of that task?! I know that Gray LOVES all things chocolate, so I made him a scrumptious milk chocolate cake with strawberry filling and chocolate buttercream icing. It should be a real crowd pleaser!


How I Decorated This Cake:

To decorate this cake, I used tip #17 for the shell border on the top and bottom edge of the cake. I used tip #2D to make the swirl flowers and used tip #17 again to put the brown star in the middle of the flower, then tip #4 to put the yellow dot in the middle of the star. I continued using tip #4 to make the dots along the side of the cake and finished off with tip # 352 to make the leaves at the base of each flower.

I also baked a butter pecan cake and used chocolate buttercream as the filling in between the two cake layers. I have the white icing base on the cake, but have not finished decorating it. I plan to decorate this cake with lots of beautiful flowers in vibrant yellow, orange and pink colors. I will be sure to post pictures of this cake later once I complete it.

Anybody got a celebration coming up and need a special cake? Bring it on! I would love to help make it even better with one of the sweetest expressions around...a yummy and beautiful cake!

New Cupcake Designs

Tonight I worked on a couple of cupcake designs with various flower shapes and sizes. It was a lot of fun, but Lord help my kitchen! I think every square inch of counterspace was covered in buttercream icing at some point! Below are a couple of pictures of the new designs I tested (and tasted).

I started with chocolate and vanilla flavored cupcakes and then added a strawberry filling to the middle of each. It was a nice compliment to the taste without overpowering the cupcake or being too sweet. Next time, I may try a carrot cake with a cream cheese icing filling. Or maybe a strawberry flavored cupcake with whipped cream in the middle...too many flavors, not enough time.

Welcome To My Blog!

Welcome to Sweetest Expressions!

I am a cake artist and hope to share my experiences as a cake artist with you. I will use this blog to provide updated photos, tips and fun along the way of my cake and cupcake creations. I hope you will sit back, relax and be sure to have your cake and eat it too!

You may also follow me along on my website at http://www.sweetest-expressions.com/, Facebook and Twitter. I always love to hear from fellow cake lovers (whether you make them or just like eating them)! If you have any questions along the way, be sure to drop me a line!