Candy Heart Cake

This was a suggested cake design from www.Wilton.com. You know you're a cake nerd when you get regular emails from a decorating company, but I have to say that I am unembarrassed about how excited I get to see the various suggestions for each holiday season.

I made this cake for Soup Lover's Lunch, which is an annual event at work that always falls the Tuesday before Valentine's Day. It was a Dr. Pepper cake--very similar to a Coca-Cola cake, but with the obvious substitution. People have described the flavor as almost like a spice cake, so I'm sure it would be good with cream cheese icing. However, in this instance, I went with a light pink buttercream because it's what I know and I love it best.

The candy hearts were cut out of marshmallow fondant that I made myself and colored with liquid food coloring. It was my first experience with marshmallow fondant and I found it to be waaaaaaaaaay easier than traditional sugar dough. The instructions on Wilton's website say to use your heart cookie cutter to create interlocking pieces, making it so that you essentially have one smooth layer of fondant. Well, I did that for a while and then got lazy, so there ended up being some pieces of hearts that were raised, and I actually preferred that look because it added an extra dimension (literally) to the final product.

Finally, once the hearts were all on I was able to pipe on the words. Some came easily; others took awhile. Remember, this was for work so I couldn't go too racy, but I think I came up with some good sayings. I'll almost definitely make this cake again, so I'll do some research (aka buy a box of candy hearts) before the next one. Can't wait...it'll be so good!

4-year-old Fun

Leopard Print Birthday Cake

Wow! I can't believe it's been a full year since I made this cake for my friend D's 30th birthday. Since she was getting ready to go on an international trip for work in the summer, we threw her an "Around the World"-themed surprise party. After all of the planning, the night couldn't have turned out more perfectly. D was totally surprised, the food and drinks were awesome, and I think everyone had a great time.

The cake was a Devil's food recipe straight out of The Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook (classic!) with my basic buttercream frosting. The cupcakes were yellow cake with the buttercream, and I honestly can't remember if I made them from scratch or not (It's my turn to turn 30 this year...my brain must be getting old). I bought the sphere pan specifically for this cake so I could achieve my vision of 1/2 baseball-1/2 globe (It makes more sense when you know that D was traveling with a baseball team for her job). I cut the continents out of premade Wilton fondant, and piped the baseball seams right onto the baseball. Honestly, the most difficult part of making this cake was procuring the right mix of toothpick flags. Start looking for an assortment of international flags & it's hard to do without buying a trillion. I finally found (online) a small shop in Glen Burnie, MD, that was able to help me out. The most expensive portion of the whole transaction: expedited FedEx shipping ($17.00!!!). It was totally worth it, though, because the cake turned out just like I had planned, and how often does that ever happen?

Anyway, after we hacked into the globe/baseball, it was delicious & there were no leftovers. All in all, sweet success. So good!!