Fun With Baking

I am not a professional baker by any means, but that doesn't mean I can't have fun with my baked goods when I'm decorating.  I try out new recipes when I make small cakes and cupcakes, but if I am making a large cake, I use the same white cake mix every time.  So, to add a spark, even though it is very yummy cake, I get creative with the decorating.  Here are some pics of cakes and cupcakes I have made in the past.  Remember, your first taste is with your eyes!

To start out any decorating project, I plan, whether it is with ideas I have previously seen, pictures or sketches.  Then I execute, but I always stay open to changes.  Not every idea works out perfectly, so I try to go with the flow.

The first thought that I have is if there is a theme for the event the cake is for.  This was the cake I did for my nephew's Star Wars birthday party.  They brought me the figures and I we went from there.

Is your baked good for a holiday?  Google images and look up ideas in books.  The possibilities are endless.  This is my twist on the bunny feet idea from "Hello, Cupcake" by: Karen Tack & Alan Richardson - Rabbit Holes.  I added the Peeps.  Have fun and play around.

Try new recipes.  This is the Darkest Chocolate Crepe Cake (A Martha Stewart Recipe-January 2006 issue).  Keep in mind, if you are doing a specialty cake, use something that is in the recipe to decorate the baked item.  It is a simple, yet elegant idea.  This cake has hazelnut liquor in it so it is topped with candied hazelnuts.

Another idea is to keep in mind the age of a person if your baked good/goods are for a birthday party.  This is my dad's 62nd birthday cake.  I google age 62 and realized he was eligible for Social Security, so I thought I would make his cake comical and decorate it with a Social Security card.  Other mile stones are 16, 18, 21, 30, 40, etc.  Think outside the box!

Here is a birthday cake for my mother-in-law.  You can't go wrong with icing flowers, so pretty.  A trick I learned from my mother, you can build the icing rose around the tip of a pencil and then lift it off with scissors and then place it on the cake.  That makes it super easy!

Another way that you can't go wrong is using fresh items like fruit or flowers.  Keep the icing plain and just add some produce or some flowers to the top and/or sides.  Would you guess that this was a red velvet cake?  I made this for a Memorial Day picnic at my brother's house.

Last but not least, this is the first large scale cake I ever made.  It was for my daughter's first birthday party and it was pink themed.  I wasn't sure how well my decorative icing skills would be on a large scale, even though one of my jobs in and after high school was at Dairy Queen.  (Where I used to decorate ice cream cakes.)  It was so long ago and they were usually fairly simple.  I was making sugar cookies for the party favors, so I decided to add a few more cut outs to the batch.  I kept it simple and it ended up perfect!

Always look for ideas, everywhere!  There are pieces to your puzzle everywhere you look.  Keep a notepad with you or even take snapshots to remind you of ideas you like.  I always say that copying is the most sincere form of flattery, just remember to give credit where credit is due!

Until next time,

Blair