Cake Inspiration

 I hope you become inspired to give cake decorating a try. 


How did I get into cake decorating?  

Well,  I wanted to make birthday cakes for my children (at the time I just had my son) and I needed a challenge.  I had stopped working and was a full time mom. 

In June of 2007 I started to think "How cool would it be if I could make my son's 1st birthday cake".  Unfortunately I didn't make his first birthday cake, my timing was too late, his birthday is July 1.  I didn't even think of making him a simple cake.  I wanted something big for his first cake (that's me always thinking big, sometimes part of my down fall).  I thought that I had to take special classes to do so (you really don't, really).  Lucky for me his aunt had taken culinary classes and was in town.

Classes are really not needed.

He got his special cake, full of wonderful memories.  I can still see his aunt piping all those stars on the cake in the shape of a tractor.  If I knew, at that time, what it took to pipe all those stars, I would have done something different.  HA HA HA!!!

Go simple. 

Anyway, after that, I still went ahead with my plan of learning to cake decorate.  I thought "Maybe I wasn't able to make his first cake but I can make them from now on, and not to mention I'll have more experience".   So I signed up to take those Wilton Classes.  I was hooked form the very beginning.  I started to realize it was a new medium for me to express my self with.  I took all four classes that was offered at the time, and took three sugar flower making classes.

Now a days with the internet you can find how to make just about anything. 

Here are some of the cakes I made for the classes.  

The rainbow cake would be great for St. Patrick's day. just add a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

After taking classes I had to keep my skills up and started to crate my own designs.  Here are a few pictures of cakes I made beyond cake classes.  I started making cakes for family and friends birthdays.  I would sign up to make desserts for other events,  anything, just to get the practice.

 If you add bunnies and Easter eggs, the carrot cake would be cute for Easter.   

I started to go further into exploring the cake decorating world.  I went the next step and used cake as a sculpture medium and created 3D objects.  

Lighting McQueen was my first sculpted cake.  I almost pulled my hair out, but it didn't stop me from continuing my exploration. 

I did get to make my son's 2nd year birthday cake.  The brown and yellow Curious George cake ( a three tier cake) below, was for him.  The blue cake in the middle was for my daughter's 2nd birthday.

When asked, I'll make wedding cakes, the swan cake below is one of those.  The red cake with the chocolate leaves was for a live auction fund raiser, it sold for $175.  The beehive cake was for a teacher appreciation luncheon.

I don't know if I want to pursue cake making as a career, but I sure do have fun making them. 

    

I hope you give cake decorating a try.  You can be as crazy as you want, or as simple as you want.  If it doesn't turn out you can eat it and try again.

I bet your thinking how much did she gain making these cakes.  Well, let me tell you,  at the beginning I probably did gain a few pounds.  My husband gained 10 lb.  But we eventually got tired of eating so much cake.  Oh, and my husband was getting his doctorate degree so he was able to take cake to the college students.  Also, I become comfortable with just throwing the cake away (crazy, I know), because there was a period of two years where I also became an instructor in cake decorating I had to put it in the waset .
  
In the future I will be posting some cake making tutorials, but for now you can go to my Strawberry cupcake post, and find a tutorial on piping with chocolate.  You can use any stencil you want, you can even make your own on the computer. 



Mamita's Next Thing:

It's been a week,  with my 5 year old on spring break and my 2 year old being sick, it's a wonder I was able to get this post done.  Although I've had lots of fun figuring out Photoshop and laying out pictures differently.  I'm still working on those ideas floating in my head.  Being a newbie at posting, I don't have much to show you yet.  Please stay tuned though, I'll have things coming.  It'll be a surprise.  Also, with my 2 year old being sick there's a possibility I will be too.  Keeping my fingers crossed that I don't.    

Any body got some vitamin C!!!

Have a great weekend!

Lola