It's Graduation Season

It's graduation season, so what better way to show your graduate a little love, than with graduation inspired pastries! A neighbor asked me to make cupcakes and I wasn't quite sure what and how I wanted the design to look like. 

I ended up going with the traditional, a fondant graduation cap and diploma. I also went to my local Michaels and purchased 2015 graduation baking cups which came with 2015 picks. Believe it or not, this project was super easy! I colored some Wilton fondant black, used a small square fondant cutter (also by Wilton) to cut out the top of the cap and enhanced it with a small ball of black fondant which I placed in the center and smacked down a bit to give it that button (is that what it's called?) look. I rolled out the remainder of the fondant so I could make the portion of the cap that goes around the head. It was a little tricky making sure I didn't have to much fondant for the bottom portion, it needs to be in scale with the top part. I cut it in strips and sliced those in half. I took one end and slightly overlapped it to the other end, then brushed on a little water to secure it. The tassel was made from red fondant. I cut which skinny pieces, and with a pairing knife I indented the bottom to resemble the stringy part. The diploma was a breeze, I rolled out a thin piece of white fondant, cut long strips, cut those in 3 shorter pieces and rolled each one to resemble a diploma. I topped it off with a small piece of red fondant to mimic a ribbon. 

Tada! And there you have it, fondant diplomas and graduation caps!

Cake Decorating Business

This past week as I was sitting in the classroom teaching one of my decorating classes, I started thinking that I should start my own pastry decorating business. On my way home I was contemplating how and where I would execute everything. After the thought had passed I proceeded with my day. Later on I was speaking with a friend of mine and she started asking me about decorating and how someone would go about learning if they did not take my class. Then she started saying that I could probably do my own classes, I responded with, "What a coincidence, I was just thinking about that earlier". So she responded very simply with, "You know what this is"? "That's confirmation". "I had no idea that you were even thinking about it earlier". All is all, she offered to help me get started, and that I shall do. To the drawing board I go!...

Vendor Shows

I've been participating in vendor shows since Feb. of this year and have done a total of 4 so far with two or three more in the works between mid-April and the first week of May. The first one was okay, the second was a total flop and the last two were awesome. There's always the initial trust issue that I have to get over because I didn't know any of the event coordinators I was dealing with or if it was legit. There's only so much you can find online and I didn't see anything negative so I went with it! I found all of my events via Facebook groups and so far so good. This will allow me to get good exposure and get my name out there. I also want to start selling at Farmer's Markets, but the apps/registration fees are so expensive. But, the good thing is, I have liability insurance, my business is registered as a LLC with the state I'm in and I have my food safety manager certification. So, I think that I'm ready to get going! 

Fondant Baby

I purchased a mold that I've been wanting to test and finally got around to it. My lighting was off, but what do you think?

Cake Pops

My uncle called me a couple of weeks ago and asked if I could make Batman cake pops and I was like sure! Ugh...I didn't realize that they were so time consuming and messy! I mean seriously, how difficult can it be to put cake on a stick? I found out very quickly, lol...

Candy/Gumball Machine Giant Cupcake

I love YouTube and I love My Cupcake Addictions (I forget her name), but this was inspired by her video and I HAD to try it! She used gumballs which seems to not exist where I am, so I substituted with M&M's! The base is a German's Chocolate Cake, and the outer part is Wilton's red candy melts, melted and placed in the base of my giant cupcake mold to obtain the baking cup (aka cupcake liner) shape. The remainder of the decor (except the jar & ribbon) was made out of fondant, and I airbrushed the cake circle red. 

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

I made these for a vendor show that I participated in and had soooo much stuff left over (angry face)! But anyway the folks @ work loved the leftovers (happy face). This wasn't all of the designs I made, as I did distribute some at the show. The pretzels that are sprinkled have either almonds, sprinkles or graham crackers (just incase you're wondering).