my newest hobby

so, i've not blogged in quite some time. and i struggled with how to start blogging again. so much time has pasted, and so many things have happened...i just don't know where to start. so, i've decided to just start with a random blog, and i'll do my best to just start fresh, and blog more often.

so, i've developed yet another hobby. back in january i took a cake decorating class with my sister @ michael's. it was alot of fun, and we learned lots, so i decided i can be a 'cake lady' too! so, get ready....

first was cora's birthday cake. as you can see it's a duck! i was pretty happy with the way "walter" turned out, but not the way he tasted. i was told you should use pound cake when making a 3D cake such as this. no big deal since i love pound cake. problem is...pound cake don't rise, man! and a no rising cake results in 1/2 of a duck. so, i tried martha's recipe, and then some random recipe i found that contained baking powder...neither of which worked. so. i took one of my half baked ducks to my cake lady (at michaels) and she says there is a great pound cake MIX..as in a box cake mix. well, i don't do box mixes so often, so it was news to me. well, anyway, the mix rose and filled out the duck (not 100%, but good enough..as i was not willing to make a 4th duck. good thing i tried a practice duck earlier in the week. normally i would have waited until friday night to bake it...then there would have been no "walter" for cora. thanks, breanna, for the pan!

and then here's the cupcakes. i looked all over for tiny little ducks to put on top, but couldn't find any...so, i made my own little icing ducks. they don't have eyes...i couldn't get them to look right, and decided ducks don't need eyes anyway!

next up was jay's spiderman birthday. i found this awesome blog with the instructions. i found the beauty of cake mixes. but so far i only like the butter recipe ones. and i found a new buttercream recipe i love. lesson learned: red and black icing...it's hard to make. but the cake was pretty easy..and jay and his friends loved it.

then there is the candyland castle! it was made for my friend, breanna's little girl, renee. it was in the wilton 2008 yearbook, and i think we matched it pretty good. it had some transportation problems, but was able to be fixed...somewhat.

and here's the candyland express that was renee's brother, elijah's cake it was more of a group effort, so i'm not taking credit for it, but isn't it cute?

and most recently we have a wedding cake! i know, you are asking yourself, what crazy person was willing to let a beginner make her wedding cake? well, it was a very laid back, and trusting bride! it was quite a learning experience. and all in all i'm thrilled with the way it turned out. it's just buttercream icing with brown ribbon, and truffles on top. thanks to bridget for her help and guidance, and to marissa for her pans! and to breanna..the wedding planner with all the faith in my ability. and of course amy, the bride who was willing to let a newbie do her cake!


so, that's all i have for now. i'm off to get my warm sheets out of the dryer and then crawl between them! happy wednesday!