Baby shower cake

Here is my latest cake! I made it for a good friend who is pregnant with a baby girl. I designed this cake to match the invitation. I had a lot of fun making this cake! The booties were especially fun, and surprisingly easy. I love the way they turned out! If you're interested in making the booties, click here for the video how-to and here for the pattern.

The booties. Too cute!

The baby shower set-up

The mother of honor

Lemon cake with lemon filling and frosting

Minion Cake

I received a very special cake request from a friend (we go way back!) for a cake for her boyfriend. He likes these characters called "Minions" from the movie Despicable Me, so she asked me to make him a cake with the Minions on it. I loved making the little figurines! Most of all, I loved seeing my old friend again after 10+ years and catching up!

I made the fondant myself and usually it turns out great, but the last few times its been giving me grief. I'm wondering if it's the marshmallows I'm using or the fact that it's so dang hot here, because lately it has been tearing real easily and turning out lumpy and bumpy when I put it on the cake. So it didn't look as great as I had hoped.

However, the recipients of the cake loved it! My favorite thing about making cakes (besides eating them) is seeing the happy expressions when they see the cake! Makes my day.

Red Velvet cake with homemade cream cheese frosting and vanilla pudding filling.

I love this pic!

The Curious Case of the Shrinking Cake

Did you know........that a cake shrinks about a quarter of an inch within about 24 hours?? I didn't know that either, but according to Duff Goldman from Ace of Cakes, it does!

Hmmm...that would explain the buckling here (to the left, just above the yellow flower):



Truthfully, I have never noticed any shrinkage, besides this here cake. And it could have very well been the icing sliding off the cake from the heat. Who knows. Perhaps I've never noticed the shrinkage because the fondant hardens a little after a time and creates a sort of cast around the cake. The most likely case would be because I'm a pig and eat the cake as soon as humanly possible.

So what to do about it? Duff Goldman recommends when trimming the bottom of a fondant cake, trim it a bit higher than you normally would so the fondant will stay smooth and straight when the cake shrinks.