From Sketch to Cake

Alisa found me on ksl and asked if I could make a cake for Ashtyn's 16th Birthday Party. She had told Ashtyn she was going to make the cake, but decided it would be cool to surprise her with a custom cake instead. Her birthday party was a week before Halloween. They were having a Halloween costume party at the Wheeler Farm. Ashtyn loves gothic colors, Halloween, and her costume for the party was a masquerade ball gown with a gold mask. When she told me those details my head starting spinning with ideas...always a good sign. Alisa gave me full creative control so I was WAY excited to do this cake. I started sketching that night.

Here are the sketches I made of the cake. I had a few different ideas.

Alisa and her husband came by to help me decide on a final design.

This is the final sketch before I started making the cake.

I had to adjust a few things from the drawing in order to make it work, like the drapes and the tombstones didn't fit as they were drawn. I had originally planned for the feather to black, but everywhere I went was out of black feathers (being Halloween and all). Good thing. I think the red is perfect!

Everything, except the feather and the wires the bats are on, is edible. The skulls, bats, and mask are made of gumpaste, which is basically like fondant, but it dries and hardens.

The skulls are my favorite! Hollowed out eyes and gold ruffles!

It was a bit tricky to get the mask to stay in that position. I used a dowel about 4 inches long, painted it gold with edible paint, stuck a ball of gumpaste on the end and stuck that into the cake and glued the ball to the mask with royal icing. It took several tries to make it stick, but it did, even through delivery!

Alisa brought Ashtyn with her to pick up the cake. Ashtyn was so pleased with it, she gave me a huge hug. The smile on her face was the coolest. They were happy to report that everyone LOVED the cake. Red velvet with white-chocolate cream filling? Who wouldn't love that?

Stack of Books or Cake? Cake, silly.

This cake was for my dear sister's 24th birthday who LOVES books. So much that she would rather buy you a book then lend you one of her own and have it looking slightly worn (that's how I own Twilight). My sister didn't always love reading. It wasn't until she read "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" that she fell in love with books. She now owns many many books, several she's never read, and some she refuses to finish, so as to not end a series. So, it seemed very fitting to make her a stack of books cake of her 3 favorite titles.

(inside: rich dark chocolate cake with light whipped ganache and strawberry slices for the filling. It tasted like a chocolate covered strawberry. Milk highly suggested.)

I love you, Taryn. You're one of a kind :)

Happy Birthday Gracie!

It's been a while. I'm really bad at taking nice pictures of my cakes when I'm in a hurry and stressing. So, some of my recent cakes unfortunately were only documented with my trusty iPhone. I'm even worse at blogging about my cakes. I'm a busy woman.

This is Gracie and her doll Julie. Always nice to see the customer with the cake. She loved it!

She was having a Wizards of Waverly Place party. The cake matched the napkins and Wizards of Waverly Place birthday party plates and cups and such. Inside was vanilla cake with a strawberry cream cheese filling.

Justin Bieber!

Mickinzi and her brother Easton contacted me last week to make a birthday cake for their daughters who were having a combined birthday party. They had an idea of a Justin Bieber cake they had seen online and wanted something similar. Inside the bottom tier is Pink Velvet cake with cream cheese filling, and in the top is Vanilla Cloud cake with chocolate buttercream. It was so fun to make! I only wish I could have made it sing "oh baby, baby, baby oh!"

Ally's Wedding Cake

My cousin Ally (short for Alejandra) is my favorite cousin. We grew up together. Spent weeks together in the summer at her home in Monroe, Utah. We both praised the two laziest cartoons in cartoon history, Garfield the cat and Homer Simpson. We have so many memories.

She was married on Saturday and asked me to make her cake. I had another cake to do the same day for Tanya, that I had to deliver to Syracuse. Luckily, I was able to deliver that cake in the morning (talking 7am. 1 hour drive.) and head to Ally's wedding later that afternoon down in Richfield. It was a loooong two days. I'm still learning how to organize my time when I have these big projects, and sometimes things go wrong and end up taking a lot of time to fix. So, I didn't really go to sleep on Friday. I took a nap at 9am Saturday morning for an hour and a half. But I'm so happy with how the cakes turned out.

Unfortunately, with all the craziness that caused me to not have time to sleep, I also forgot to find time to take a picture of Tanya's cake. I got one pic with my iphone, but I'm hoping I'll get some better pics from her photographer.

On top of my cousins cake are black ribbon roses. These are easy to do, which is very convenient when the gumpaste flower you made falls apart the minute you are supposed to be leaving for the wedding :).

PS3 and Mission Farewell Cakes

My sister asked me to make a Playstation 3 cake for her husband's 28th surprise birthday party. She was going to tell him that she wanted to buy him the real thing, but couldn't afford it, so the cake was the next best thing. Little did he know, she had been saving up and he would indeed get the real thing. I've never made a cake like this one before, so I was a little scared. But despite it's imperfections, I think it turned out pretty well! They loved it! And I had a few people at the party confuse it for the real thing (at a quick glance :))

The next cake was for a young lady's mission farewell. She was called to the Philippines and her mother wanted a figurine of her daughter wearing a ponytail. Heads are tough to make. Fondant dries quickly, so too much handling and well, things get messy. After smashing two heads in frustration, I finally got it on the third. The cake is the Philippines flag and she sits on top. Her bags are packed, Book of Mormon in hand, she is ready to go!

Raspberry Limeade Cake

Yesterday was my mother-in-law's birthday and we had a barbecue to celebrate. I made a Raspberry Limeade cake for the occasion. It went perfectly with the other outdoor grub. If you like tart desserts (think Key Lime pie) you'll love the flavor of this cake. Limeade cake and frosting with raspberry lemonade filling. I love summer barbecues!

Mini Tiers for the Bake Sale

The bake sale has come and gone, but I thought I'd quickly post pictures of the cakes I made. They were featured on my facebook page, but just in case you missed 'em. They are both mini tiers, the bottom cake is 6 inches and the top is 4 inches. The strawberry cake is strawberry cake on the inside as well. Made from scratch with real strawberries, no artificial flavors. This is one of my favorite flavors! Especially for the summer!
This cake is rich, dark, devilish chocolate cake with vanilla frosting.

I hope whoever bought them thoroughly enjoyed each bite! They are so cute! I'm hoping someone has me make more of these mini-tiers. Maybe for centerpieces at a reception?

No Kid Hungry BAKE SALE! This Saturday!

I don't know why I've waited so long to post about this! My dear and very talented foodie-friend Tiffiny (she is always there to answer cake q's for me), is hosting a Bake Sale this Saturday, May 22, from 10:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. at the Goldenwest Credit Union in Herriman on 13400 S, across from the Smith's.

This is part of Share Our Strength's Great American Bake Sale.

Share Our Strength is a national non-profit organization whose mission is to end childhood hunger in America by providing healthy, nutritious food to children who would otherwise not have access to it. The Great American Bake Sale is just one of Share Our Strength's 5 programs. During the bake-sale season of March 1-October 31, 2010, volunteers all over the country will hold bake sales in an effort to help Share Our Strength reach their goal this year of $1.8 million. It sounds like a lot of money to be raised by selling cookies, but since Share Our Strength was started in 2003, they've raised almost $6 million through the bake sales.

I will have 2 cakes at the Bake Sale to help raise some money. So, if you want some home-baked goods for the Labor Day weekend, and you don't want to bake them, stop on by! It's for a great cause and you get something yummy in return!

What the Sheet Cake?!

Many of you may know this cake as Texas Sheet Cake or Chocolate Sheet Cake or even Buttermilk Brownies (found in Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book). If you don't know this cake, then you should. It is moist and the perfect amount of chocolatey-ness.

I grew up with this cake. It was guaranteed to be at every Langton family gathering, thanks to my beautiful grandma, and there was always two sheets - one with nuts and one without.

I have found several variations of this recipe over the years and have combined them to make it just right.

Chocolate Sheet Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup water

1 cup butter

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting:

1/2 cup butter

5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

6 tablespoons buttermilk

3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Whisk together and set aside.

3. In another bowl, mix the buttermilk, eggs, vanilla, and baking soda. Mix with a fork and set aside.

4. In a medium saucepan, combine water and butter. When the butter is just about fully melted, add the cocoa. Whisk together to combine. Bring the mixture just to boiling, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

5. Pour the chocolate mixture into the flour mixture. Stir together until combined, then pour in the egg mixture. Stir together until smooth.

6. Pour into an ungreased 17x12x1-inch baking pan. Bake 20 minutes. (If using a smaller sized pan, then you may need to bake longer, so measure your pan!)

7. Frosting: When the cake has about 15 minutes left, begin making the frosting. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. (I wash and use the same saucepan as before). Add the cocoa and stir until smooth. Add buttermilk and vanilla and stir. Then add powdered sugar and stir together. Dump in the chopped pecans and stir until well combined.

8. Immediately after removing the cake from the oven, pour the warm icing over the top. Try to distribute the icing evenly as you pour. This will make it easier to spread. The less spreading you do, the better it will look.

Cupcake Bites!!!

I have been wanting to make these for a while now. They are Cupcake Bites. Much like Cake Bites. Only they look like tiny cupcakes. They are completely edible. They are delicious. They are probably the cutest cupcake you'll ever stuff into your mouth.

The flavors pictured include (from left to right): Vanilla cake w/ strawberry flavored coating, vanilla cake w/ butterscotch coating, chocolate cake w/ mint coating, and chocolate cake w/ orange flavored coating.
The green one with the white non-pareils is my favorite. I was gitty when I made the first one. They are sooo cute!

Getting my name out there

About a month ago I was putting up fliers to promote my business. I wasn't having the best luck finding places to stick em (Universities only allow university related fliers to be posted on campus). In my defeat, I stumbled across a little toy store called Funfinity. I noticed they had cake supplies in the window. I walked in and asked if they would post my flier, and a nice old lady said "We'd love to post your flier!" I wasn't too hopeful about it, seeing as it was so small a store, but it lifted my spirits. About a week after that I received an email from the owner of Sweet Creations, the cake and chocolate supply portion of Funfinity. She had seen my flier and visited my website and really liked what she saw. She then told me that she was opening a retail store in Springville for her Sweet Creations, and would like to feature my cakes in her store.

So, starting April 24th my cakes will be featured in Shay Bee's, Sweet Creations new store front, in Springville. I will be featured along with Cake Couture and Sweet Tooth Fairy, which is some hefty competition, so I need to step up my game. I will also have my cake pops there to be sold. I'm working on a cake display for the Grand Opening on the 24th. I'll post more info as it comes.

I will also be sampling my tasty cakes at a fundraiser for the Salt Lake Chamber Women's Business Center on April 21st. Flier pictured above. There should be a nice spread of yummy things to sample. If you're interested, register by visiting www.slchamber.com You'll see my name if you click there, too.

So, things are happening. I'm getting my name out there. All this is good. :)

Thank you!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend. Today was definitely a happy day for me. I delivered the last of the cake pops this afternoon, and spent the rest of the day with family eating a lot of chocolate.

It was a busy week and I have all of you to thank! So, thank you for your business and support. It means the world to me! I hope you enjoyed your Easter treats. Now, on to the next project!

The Cutest Baby Shower Cake EVER!

Alright, people. I have new and exciting things happening with Tate's Tortes lately, which is causing me to make cakes just for the heck of it. I'll be telling more details soon, but let's focus on the post at hand.

I hosted a baby shower on Saturday for a neighbor of mine, and since I haven't yet been asked to make a baby shower cake, I went ahead and made one for the occasion. As I was looking for inspiration for this cake, I realized there are a lot of cheesy baby shower cakes out there. So, in coming up with a design I was trying to steer clear of that. I think I made it work.

I love the idea of the mama and the papa bird waiting for the egg to hatch.

She's having a boy, so the blue birds seemed appropriate.

Anxious parents. I love it!

Sheep and the Newspaper

The Women's Business Club (WBC) is a group of women that own their own businesses and come together to network and share what they have to offer. Last week I went to a meeting for the first time. Lucky for me, the Salt Lake Tribune was there, and who do they decide to interview? Me!

It's really a small blurb, but hey, I'm in the newspaper! Click here to view the article.

Today I attended another WBC meeting, this time downtown. I brought a bunch of my Easter cake pops to show. They were a hit! I was up late last night making these and in such a hurry this morning, so the picture was quick. The lambs are a little stuck-up, if you ask me.

Last Minute Cupcakes

I wasn't going to do anything with these cupcakes because most of them had the same problem as the mini cupcakes a couple days ago. Same batch, same problem. Ya know whatum sayin'? Anyway...

Yesterday I decided to just quickly decorate em.

I love the teal blue (or whatever blue that is) frosting.

P.S. I'm making a new batch of Easter cake pops today. Wouldn't cha know it, people want to see more of em. I'll be posting pics.