Amharic, anyone?

This week, we were commissioned to make 2 birthday cakes for friends of friends that are Ethiopian. He asked if we would write "Happy Birthday" in Amharic, and we of course obliged. It's difficult enough writing legible English in icing, but we are always up for a challenge! Now we know we can do it, and do it well:-)


Right now, there is an orange-infused yellow cake in the oven. Tomorrow, we will work on making a creamsicle icing. Thus bringing together the Orange Creamsicle cake. Doesn't that sound like a wonderful (and tasty) idea?

More Cake!

This week we are working on 2 customer cakes. Our first paying customers! The first is a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream and purple roses and the second is our choice! So, by the 8th we need to think of something fabulous!
As for the experimenting, we worked on a Strawberries and Cream cake. White cake,strawberry cream filling and whipped vanilla buttercream icing with fresh strawberries on top. The texture of that icing was so dreamy, but too thin for icing and a little too sweet. With a few adjustments, it could be our signature buttercream icing!

With summer coming, I would like to try adding in more fresh fruits. And alcohol! Wouldn't you love to sit on the porch with a nice, light, creamy Pina Colada cake? Or a Margarita cake? I have no idea how to make those happen, but I'll be dreaming about them!

Experimentation

Today, we made "The King" cake, and it was delicious! The banana cake needs a little tweaking, but the peanut butter filling and chocolate buttercream were amazing! Once perfected, it will be decorated with chocolate candies and banana chips. We'll get some pics up once it's on the market!

The Kahlua cake, which is actually the Bailey's cake made with chocolate instead of vanilla and Kahlua instead of Bailey's, was a fantastic idea! But, the cake cooked too long and the mocha icing was a little too sweet. So, back to the drawing board! As you can see, it was still good enough to eat :-)
The business cards have been ordered! Once they come in, we will definitely be posting our price list and have some specialty cakes perfected. Next, we work on a white cake with strawberry filling and maybe a white chocolate buttercream icing. Haven't thought of a name for that one yet...

In the beginning...

A few months ago, my friend Lisa asked me if I would take a cake decorating class with her. I thought that sounded fun (plus I would get to eat cake), so I signed up too. I asked my cousin, Stephanie, if she would like to as well. She was less than enthused, but thought it would be good to get out of the house. Plus, we had made her son's 1st birthday together (which was a first for both of us, and it was a 3D duck) and we were so proud of it! So, she signed up too.  We were both hooked after the first class! It was so much fun, and so rewarding! We have now signed up for our third round of classes, and can't wait to get our hands on that fondant! Now, looking back on that duck, we can see all the mistakes we made. And you can too...

It had many imperfections, but we will always remember him fondly.

He was delicious!

As our skills grow, cake decorating becomes more and more of a passion. I can't wait til this weekend! We are going to be working on our King Cake (banana cake, peanut butter filling and chocolate buttercream icing), and making a fondant bow in class! Check back in a few days for the pictures!