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!