White Quilting with Blue Sweet Peas

Here is the wedding cake I worked on last week... I love the way it came out!  The bride had sent me a picture of a cake she found on The Knot... I'm not sure who the original creator was but this is my rendition of the simple, elegant and classic design!

This was a white almond cake with strawberry buttercream filling and sliced fresh strawberries, and coated with vanilla buttercream.  Covered with white fondant and embossed with a quilting pattern and small white sugar pearls at the cross points.  Embellished with blue gumpaste sweet peas and the topper the bride purchased!  The tiers are 14"-10"-6"  So beautiful, so sweet... I am so pleased with this and happy I had the opportunity to create this cake!

 

 

 

If you love this cake topper, it is by Willow Tree and you can purchase it here on Amazon.com or from many other vendors I'm sure :)

I hope you enjoyed looking at these pictures and maybe found some inspiration!

Happy Caking :)

Turtle Cupcake Recipe!

My "Turtle Cake" is one of my most popular.  It is one of the first recipes I created when I set out to start a business and wanted to have some "specialty" flavors.  The flavor combination (caramel, pecans and chocolate- for those who haven't heard of it) is one of my favorite.  It has been since I was a kid and my parents sent me some turtle candies when they were on a vacation in Hawaii.

UPDATE 1/24/2013: If you think this cupcake looks delicious... click below to vote for my entry in the Cupcake Crown (voting starts 1/30/13!)

A few weeks ago, I was going to a get together at my cousin's house and she asked if I could bring a cake... well my time was booked solid, so I didn't have time to make a cake, but I offered to bring some cupcakes.  Having recently listened to the latest CakeFu webinar with Wendy Paul, I was inspired to come up with a new and yummy cupcake recipe.  I submitted this recipe for the contest they were advertising, but haven't heard anything about the winners yet.... the contest is closed, so I feel that it is safe to share this recipe with you now!

*Don't be scared if you're not a scratch baker, this recipe is adapted from a boxed mix so everyone can try!

Yields approximately 2 dozen cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 Box Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
• 1 Cup All Purpose Flour
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 2 TBSP Instant Coffee
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 2/3 Cup Water
• 8 oz Sour Cream
• 2 TBSP Vegetable Oil
• 3 Large Eggs
• 2 TBSP Vanilla Extract
• 2 Dozen Turtle Candies (DeMet's)

Also:

• Chocolate Buttercream (for frosting- recommended Swiss Meringue Butter Cream with Bittersweet Chocolate)
• Dulce DeLeche
• Chocolate dipped toasted pecans for garnish

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Add instant coffee to water to dissolve
3. In a mixing bowl sift together remaining dry ingredients mix on low for 1-2 minutes to mix the dry ingredients
4. In a separate bowl (or big measuring cup), combine the wet ingredients (water/coffee, sour cream, vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla), give the mixture a whisk to combine (you'll probably still see some bits of sour cream, but that is OK, you want to mostly combine the ingredients and break up the eggs).
5. With your mixer running on medium, add the wet ingredients to the dry.  Beat on medium for 1-2 minutes until the mixture is combined and will lighten slightly in color. (batter will be on the thick side)
6. Fill your muffin tins/liners approximately 1/3 full with batter.  Put a Turtle Candy in each cupcake liner and fill with more batter on top to about 3/4 full.
7. Bake approximately 16-18 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean when tested (it's OK for some gooey caramel to be on the toothpick, but should not have any raw batter)
8. Allow cupcakes to cool completely

Cupcake Assembly

Swirl with your favorite Chocolate Buttercream, drizzle with dulce de leche and top with a chocolate dipped toasted pecan!

Tips

• If you don't like or can't find Turtle Candies you can substitute any chocolate covered soft caramel candy and either sprinkle in chopped toasted pecans or omit the nuts all together.
• This is a VERY sweet cupcakes, I recommend Swiss Meringue Buttercream (recipe here) because it has a lightly sweet flavor compared to American Buttercream, but by all means use your favorite recipe, however I would use Bittersweet chocolate to cut the sweetness some.
• You can usually find cans of Dulce De Leche in the international foods aisle of your grocery store (I believe Nestle makes some), but it is really easy to make your own (recipe here)

Happy Caking :)

DIY Gumpaste Extruder!

So, since I made the graduation cake from my last post (specifically the tassel), a gumpaste/clay extruder has been on my "must buy" list.  I've been doing a bit of research and was trying to decide between the very popular Makins Model or the Walnut Hollow one that I came across on Amazon.  I went to YouTube so see if anyone had compared the models and found this tutorial to make your own! 

Because the models I was looking at are $20-$26 I think I will give this a shot before investing the money in a "fancy" one.  She mentions in the video that the she spent about $0.99 for most of the pieces, and the others I'm sure are not too much more.  The extruder "discs" are Wilton Tips, held on with a coupler... Hey, I've got some of those!  I love "Do It Yourself" projects... There is something incredibly satisfying about building, making or fixing something all on your own, and having it work!

So enough of my gushing!  I just want to be clear that this is not my tutorial, I wish I was the genius who figured it out, but I am not.  The credit must go to GardenOfImagination over at YouTube!  Here is the video if you want to check it out for yourself:

I'm hoping to make it to the hardware store this weekend to put one together, if I do (and have time to play with it) I will let you know how it turns out!  Oh, and for the "food safety" concerns...  The pipe and fittings are for plumbing, a faucet part in fact.  If my drinking water can flow through it, I'm guessing it must be food safe - along the lines of PVC used in cake decorating.

Happy Caking :)

Soccer Graduation Cake

So, I promise I have some tutorials and other things coming soon.  I finally have a few weeks off before my next big cake... but for now, here is the cake I made over the weekend!  It was a graduation cake for a soccer player!  The graduate plays goalie, so there are goalie gloves on there and the two logos are for his graduating high school and the school he will be attending in the fall.

The graduation cap is black gumpaste and the tassel I hand rolled the rope/tassel from yellow fondant (with tylose mixed in) and then painted with gold edible dust.

The Soccer Ball is cake too!  I used the Wilton Sports Ball pan.  I covered the cake with white fondant and then cut out the shapes from white and black fondant so the seams would look realistic.

 

I piped a goal with royal icing and then in honor of the graduate, the silhouettes are a kicker and a goalie catching a ball (cut out of black gumpaste)

 The gloves are rice crispy treats!  Covered in fondant with black fondant decorations.

 The school logos were painstakingly cut from different colors of fondant... including the letters.  Which is why a set of tappits are going on my next cake supply order!

 Well, I hope you enjoyed looking at yet another cake of mine! 

Happy Caking :)

Hibiscus Baby Shower Cake!

Hello!  So, I have some tutorials that I desperately want to get to, but just  haven't had the time!  These past few weeks have been crazy, and the next few weeks look to be shaping up to be the same!

So, today, I will leave you with the other cake I made for the past weekend.  I actually, kind of really love it!  It's a baby shower cake.  They wanted something elegant (similar to my Magnolia Baby Shower cake that I entered in the CT Cake Competition).  Hibiscus flowers have special meaning to the expectant couple, so we chose those for the decor.  I used gender neutral colors and I think it came out just perfect!  I think this would also make a very elegant tropical/summer themed wedding cake.

 I really love how the gumpaste Hibiscus turned out!!

 I think that yellow one is my favorite :)

The baby was made with the First Impressions baby mold.  You can check out my tutorial for it here!

If you would like to learn how to make these beautiful Hibiscus flowers for yourself, you can find my video tutorial here!

I'm sorry I don't have more to share, but I hope you enjoyed the photo's!  I know I always enjoy looking at cake pictures :)

Happy Caking :)

Inspiration!

Wow, I've been a busy girl!  Last week I had two cakes to do.  While I had a moment I wanted to share at least one with you all.

This was for a joint birthday party and the design was totally up to me (love when that happens!).  I was watching the Food Network sow Aarti Party and when I saw the title design I thought it would look awesome on a cake!!

Since I've been "caking" I see patterns and designs that I can just envision in cake form.  I don't often get free reign on the design, so I really love these occasions when I can pull from my "idea box."  OK, o it is not a literal box (yet), but it should/will be.  I have quite a collection of "stuff" at this point, scrapbook papers, fabric, napkins, T-shirts, bits of jewelry....  As soon as I have some free time I'm going to organize all of these things!

I just wanted to show that you can/should look for inspiration everywhere!!

Happy Caking :)

I'm Back! Cupcakes & What I've been up to :)

Hi Everyone!  I'm so sorry about the loooong break between posts!  I have been insanely busy the past few weeks.  Here's a little of what I've been up to!

After my last post I got very busy.... making cupcakes... 210 Cupcakes for a wedding!  And we were guests at the wedding, 2 states away...  So I was also busy packing my family and packing the cupcakes, and my "emergency kit" and making Buttercream (buckets of buttercream!)...

The cupcakes were a hit, the bride and groom were incredibly grateful and the guests couldn't get enough!

This adventurous couple picked Chili Chocolate, Chai and Vanilla for their flavors.  They were all delicious, but I have to say I think the chocolate was the favorite, it certainly went the fastest!  I am not much of a "spice fan" myself, but even I thought this was a superb cupcake.  A rich chocolatey flavor with a hint of chili and at the end a kick of heat.. very exotic, very YUM!

I made the orchids using the New Wilton Gumpaste Flower Kit .  I plan on making a tutorial soon, I really love how they came out.  In fact, everyone thought they were real! 

Here is a full view of one of the stands I created (I was very proud).  It was my intention to make a photo tutorial, but it was a learning process and I didn't get pictures of all of the steps I ultimately took... Next time though, I will certainly do it!  Anyway, the stands held approximately 30 cupcakes and the catering staff kept them refreshed, but the method I used could certainly be used to make a bigger stand.

So, after a wonderful time at our friend's wedding, I was away for 2 weeks at my mother's house to babysit my nephew.  BUT, I got a lot accomplished while caring for two toddlers!  I am happy to announce I am officially the proud owner/operator of Happy Cakes by Renee, LLC!!  That's right, I finally got my business registered with my state as an LLC!  I've also gotten myself an insurance policy and one last step until I will be up and running, operating from a licensed commercial kitchen!  I can't wait, this kitchen is HUGE compared to my tiny apartment kitchen.  I am very excited to have made this progress towards growing my business.  I can't wait to make more people happy with cake!

Happy Caking :)