Little Girl's Safari Dream Cake

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

Hi everyone...

I know I haven't been keeping up with my blogginessing (is that a word?!?!), but it's been a busy week and a lot has happened... I will do another post to share all the fun things I learned a lot from our first Bakers Expo!...

Well this cake is for the cutest little girl from our church... and she loves animals... her mom, just like I tried with my daughter, tried to let her know how much fun it would have been to have Dora for her birthday cake... but she "stood her ground" lol and here we are making a cake for a cute girl that loves animals... It's funny because we want our baby girls to have the cute pinks and the purples and everything girly girly... and they want animals.... hehehe.... I think that they might become Veterinarians when they grow up... so it's a good incentive and we will encourage them... :-)

Ok... so this cake is a buttery vanilla bean yellow cake with strawberry filling (Ooohh Soo YummY) and the most delicious buttercream you can dream of... all covered with a rich chocolate marshmallow fondant...


Here is the cake... freshly baked and cooled.... then torted and filled... doesn't it look delicious?! I like showing pictures of the step to the end result because it shows you that we take pride in not only the look of the cake, but most importantly the taste of what's under all that prettiness (is THAT a word?)...

After we filled the cake... we iced it with snow white buttery buttercream and the covered that with our homemade chocolate marshmallow fondant... I tend to lean towards homemade fondant instead of store bought fondant, I find that the store bought one doesn't taste as good as when we make it with marshmallow as the base... you get that taste that's so good and familiar to you... so it's one of the things that we pride ourselves in making to ensure that the taste is as good as it looks! :-)

Here is Melman, I know I know... he is NOT Melman but I like to name all my fondant figures...
This Giraffe was so much fun to make... I love how the expression on the face came out... it's so cute... I was originally going to make it standing up... but it was too long and I was afraid it would have collapsed before getting to the venue...so I like this funny sitting position...

Monkeys... well most times... my monkey end up looking like teddy bears... why? I dunnooooo! lol but after a lot of research... and DH explaining that I needed to make the head of curious George bigger... then it all came clear... so this is my best one so far... and the hands look awesome!!

Here is him again, holding a banana and of course another one next to him 'cause he is never happy with just one lol....

This is Simba (you know.. I have to name them lol) and He was a joy to make... I just enjoy getting that paste in my hands and being able to just transform it into something that looks adorable... I loved his cute tail and his chubby face :-)

Here is the finished cake... I was going to just add little stalks (sp?) of grass along the border... but I played with the leaves and liked how they looked going around the cake... The letters are in green and yellow and I like how the yellow really stands out...

This is a close-up of the leave border and the happy birthday letters...

This is another shot of the cake from another angle...

We delivered the cake and they loved it... Which for me is what is all about... I like to make my cakes as close to the delivery date as possible without compromising the quality of the product and we accomplished that for sure... the cake was a buttery yellow cake with our specialty buttercream... strawberry filling and covered with marshmallow fondant (did I mention this already?) I think I did... humm... oh well... just in case you didn't read it before lol....

I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed putting it all together....

I have 2 more cakes that I need to do a post on... but have been working on our Bridal Show and been a little swamped, but bare (or is it bear?) with me and I will post it soon... I promise...

Until Next Time... this is dalis signing off....

:-)

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Latest Haul

Friday, March-19-2010

Hello to everyone out there.... OR hello to the few of you that read my blog... hehehe

Anyways... here is a run-down of the new "toys" I just got.... I always say toys because I feel like my sugar tools are my toys... I look forward to using them... I take very good care of them and to be honest with you... if someone asked me to borrow them.... I would probably be like a little kid that refuses to share... I don't think I could... what if they brake it? huh? :-)
So here is the run down... I won't make this long because I know there are a lot of pictures... just a small description and maybe a word or two as to why I got them and/or why I like it so much.

Cake Central Magazine
There isn't really anything else to say... we, cake artists have been waiting for this magazine for a long time now.. and it was worth the wait... awesome magazine and what better person to have on the Cover of the First Issue than the Julia Child of Cakes, Kerry Vincent! Review: 5 Stars! Love it, Would buy it again, would recommend, gorgeous cakes, awesome articles! ______________________________________________________

Square Shape Dummy Cake Set with Silver Plated Cake Stand. I will be decorating this one and the upcoming ones very soon, so stay tuned for the finished work of art.

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Hexagon Dummy Cake Set

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Round Dummy Cake Set

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SPS System (Round), this is my second shape ordered, I have the square one, it's A MUST!

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Sugar/Isomal Diamonds.... Can't wait to use these on a cake!

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Sugarshack's "GoTo" Flavor / Wedding Bouquet.
Sugarshack (Sharon Zambito) is one of the best cake artists out there today, she competed recently in "The Ultimate Cake Off" and In My Opinion, got robbed of $10,000.00, but on to the flavor, I have not tried this as of yet, but I smell it everyday, the smell is incredible, I have never smelled something so good... I can't wait to make her buttercream.

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Here is a picture of the Haul (minus the dummy cakes & My Cake Central Magazine), read below for the breakdown:

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The Famous PME 00 Tip... this is so small, you can barely see the hole, it's like the eye of a small needle! I got some UG (Unbreakable Gel) and can't wait to try it with this tip....

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The Frilling tool, this is "A Must" for making gumpaste flowers with individual petals.

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This is a baby bootie cutter, it makes a smaller version of a baby's bootie. (get ur mind out...)

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Baby's dress cutter, I will be making a baby shower cake and this will be the main decoration.

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The Silicone Brouche molds, this one is medium size and has 7 cavities.


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The Silicon Baby Mold, this is my second one... I just fell in love with how good they come out...

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Magnolia Center silicone mold, the Magnolia is a gorgeous flower and now the center will be a sonch to make.

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This can be used ad a leave cutter and as a sunflower petal cutter to name a few...

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Edge Cutter, Border Cutter, you can use it to border cakes or even drape then in a fashionable way.

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FLower Wires, need I say more? hehehe I rather get them already covered, so much easier...

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Here is weverything you just read and saw.... in a video... hehehe...

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She's Got an... Itsy Bitsy Yellow Polka Dot.... Dress!

Tue-Mar-9-2010

Hi everyone....

WOW... I took a week off and I feel like I have not posted anything here for years....
To start off... yesterday was my birthday! yeahhhhh and DH took a day off and spent the whole day with me... took me out to a nice dinner.... got me some gifts that I had been wanting and just made the day special...
I have not been idle this week... I can promise you that... but I am working on a special special wedding cake that requires a lot of my time because of all the flowers that I am making...
I love making flowers... wait until you see it...

Anyways... on to the task at hand.. this is a special request project that I am doing... I am very exited to get started with it... so today is THE DAY! I will begin shortly so... come back.... you will be seeing some progression pictures that I know you will enjoy...

Talk to ya in a bit...
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Wed-Mar-10-2010

Hi...
Well... progress is going great.... outline done... dried... flooding done.... I have pics I promise... tomorrow I will post them.... well... maybe tonite..

This is the "scoop" ... today DH (Dear Husband) got the house all set-up with FiOS!! it's awesome... super duper yuper cuper superfantastic!! fast... so so fast... cable resolution... incredible... so I see him setting up a box in the kitchen (ps. we do not have a tv in our kitchen) and I'm like: "Are We Getting A TV for the Kitchen?!?!?!" and he's like... well... we will.... BUT NOT NOW! later on when we can afford it... but sinse the install is today I got it done so when we do get it... it's already set with the signal... so I'm like... fine... as soon as he goes back to work, of course I get on the computer to look at Kitchen TV's... as I am cooking... he gets home and we start talking about the TV's I was looking at... he says: "They are too expensive".. I say: "I saw one really affordable"... he says... "Show me a TV for the kitchen that's affordable and I will go get it right now"... I start searching like crazy and he keep repeating the same thing... so as I turn away from the PC to serve our dinner... what do I see?
A BOX! huh? yeah A BOX! right behind me... and it's a NEW TV BOX! so I start screaming and hugging him... he is the besttttt... he got me my Kitchen TV on his way home from work.... now he's mounting it... I can't wait... Ohhh and BTW, I can hook up my PC to it and use it as a Monitor also!!! woohooo...

I know... I know... what does that have to do with the itsy bitsy yellow polka dot.... dress??? nothing... just thought I'd share hehehehe
I do have pics and they will be here shortly... this project I am doing is one of those that I am really really enjoying... I love using RI and flooding... well maybe I just like saying flooding... lol

Talk to ya in a bit
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Sat-Mar-13-2010

Good Morning!

It's the weekend... and a wet one... today I will deliver on all the promises of pics I did before lol.. anyways... there is a story... and might be a long one but a story none the less.... here is what happened....
As I mentioned... having a great time with this project... I got all set up with my "mise en place", I like to have everything I need right at hand...

I did my RI batch and colored the batch with all the colors needed to do the transfer... i use the "plug & pipe" method... it's the best...
I got all the colors ready and the best part is that with this method... I don't have to stop what I am doing to change bags... or change tips or anything... I can just "plug and play"! Now time to play.... we begin with a blank canvas.....
After that I cleaned up and got my mise en place for the next phase of our project....

I tape my image and place parchemnt paper over it to be able to see a clear picture of what I am about to pipe...
So I start myoutline and seems a bit too runny for an outline but it's working fine... it's holding and it's also setting wuickly... so I don't let that bother me at all... here is the outline....

I let the outline dry for a few hours... 3 maybe 4.... the on to flooding... that was tricky.. FUN... but tricky cause you kinda need 3 hands for this part... you have to flood and use a scriber to make sure all the corners get RI in them... otherwise you might risk have your corners with gaps.... but I was able to do it and I wa happy with the result.... as you see here... it's looking pretty good so far.....
So.... after a few more hours.... I am antsy and can't wait to see what it looks like so I decide to take a pic (mind you... if I would have done what I KNEW I should have done... there would have been no need to peek 'cause the pane would have given me the liberty to do so... BUT! you know me... always wanting to do things "The Dalis Way" and that way doesn't always pan out.... as I carefully remove/cut the taped parts... get a nice sturdy foam pad and place it on top so I can plid & see... the tails "b r e a k s"! I gasped... but quickly snapped out and reminded myself that with RI this WILL happen and there are ways to adderss it... so no worries... but when I flip and look underneath.... hummm...

As you can see... looks "better" the other way... so I go back to my resources and research my concerns... well turns out I used the BC Method instead of the RI Method and this piece is not going to work as planned... we need to re-DO the whole thing over... so as it was I really really wanted to do this as a 3D before I began... but didn't think I would be able to model minnie mouse just like that... DH wasn't too confident either... so I started thinking and decided to try another thing... so Here is plan B.... FONDANT! fondant pieces! parts! think puzzle pieces!

I print another image... carefully use my blade to cut all the pieces to minnie....

Then... I start putting them in the new image I set up with some wax paper over it...
Above is with fondant on the hands and all the black pieces already placed....

Here is everything but the face... waiting for it to dry... then I will detail...

So.... as I look at it while going about and doing my wifely duties... there is something that has kept bothering me the whole time... my big head keeps telling me that I CAN do this 3D... I can model this girly girl! I know I can... but I try to brush it off... of course unable to... I get my girl on the car and we run to the toy store.
I'm thinking....2D... that would be very very possible... with a nice plaque behind... there I go and buy a little minnie figurine... and I start modeling it... carefully... confident... as you see here... I started with the bottom of her... and so far so good... of course! so far so good... I havent' done the hardest thing... THE FACE! that can make or brake this project... but I continue on....
Here is another pic with more details already done....
Here is another picture with the plaque already done... I will detail it when it's dry....

and here is the latest one... almost finished... and I tell my my friends... this just goes to show you... never think you CAN'T do something... if you set your mind to it... you can do ANYTHING!.... Last night I did some of the finishing touches... let me go get the camera and upload a pic... brb....
(3 hours later....)
I'm back... ok here is the other pic....
So... whatcha think? not bad huh?.... hehehe... after the hands dry... I will decorate the plaque and post the finished project alongside Plan B's finished with the details...
Right now the hands are drying... so once they are dry... we will see how it all cones together... I am also working on outlining the fondant puzzle... then I will see with of the two is better and that's the one that i will go with....

Cya in a bit...
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Tue-Mar-16-2010

Hi my friends..

Well as you can see it has been a while since I posted... reason being... we are working on a Bridal Show coming up and a expo and that's taking a lot of our time but none-the-less I have NOT forgotten about the yellow polka dot....... dress.. hehehe...

Good News.... It's finished... BOTH are done...
Bad News..... NONE.... thank God :-)

Here are the pics of both of them... this is a topper that I am doing for a very cute little girl from our church and this will be our present to her...

The First Minnie (Yellow Dress), made with fondant, lays/stands flat.

The second Minnie (Pink Dress) hand-modeled by looking at a Minnie toy...

After I finished both of them... I went to my cake artists forums and we voted on the best one.... although I like them both... I was leaning towards the 3D one, just because I feel it's more personal and it reflects my modeling abilities.... the other one it's really nice but the comments I got was that it looked more "store bought", let me make it clear... I made them both... really... so don't you go and say I bought one and passed it off lol....
But most people chose the fondant "puzzle" one... so that's the winner as so far... DH likes it better and my circle of bakers also picked that one more than the other.... just as I am typing I just changed my mind... I will not give her the one that got the most votes... I will show them both to her and let HER make the final choice...
But... I will see how I can add a voting "thingy" here so you guys can let me know which one you like best...

I must tell you that this project took a lot longer than I had anticipated, but it was only because I am a perfectionist and I am never satisfied with just "good enough"... I must be able to look at my work and be in awe myself.... so I tried quite a few ways and the ones posted here are the 2 best ones, in fact I'm so happy with both of them that I truly still don't know which one will be picked... if I go by what my peepz voted... then it's the yellow dress... so we will see tomorrow...
lemme check for the voting thingy....

Which Minnie You Like Best
	Minnie in Yellow Dress (2D)
	Minnie in Pink Dress (3D)
pollcode.com free polls

Kewllll I found it! hehehe... the Internet never ceases to amaze me.... anyways... take you time, you at both of them, be honest as to which one you like best... and please please please vote...
Well... this is it for now... I also wanted to let you know that I will be posting a new thread on something new that I am working on and just to give you a hint... it's super YummY... super Cute... Delicious... and you can order some for this coming Easter Holiday... so keep coming back for more updates because it's getting better by the minute lol...
Ohh... before I forget... I will email the pictures of both Minnies tonight and after she replies with the one she wants... I will tell you who the real winner is... so for now... it's still "UP FOR GRABS".

Sat-March-19-2010

Yellow Polka Dot Won... :-)

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