Gift Box Cake

My first experience with covering a cake with fondant:

I added some fondant flower cut-outs to make it look more like wrapping paper:

I used Wilton Fondant, which doesn't taste the best, so I'm looking forward to trying other brands and types like Satin Ice and Fondarific to find one that looks beautiful, but also tastes sweet like buttercream icing.

Pumpkin Cupcakes

EASY PUMPKIN CUPCAKES

I decided to make these pumpkin cupcakes after coming across a very easy recipe:

1 cake mix (ex. yellow cake, chocolate, spice cake etc)

1 14 oz can of pumpkin puree (pie filling works)

Mix in bowl, grease cupcake pan (or use paper liners) scoop out into baking pan, and bake on 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Voila, you have pumpkin cupcakes!

I decided to make two varieties. I added chocolate chips to half of the batter to make chocolate chip pumpkin cupcakes, and topped with chocolate ganache icing. The rest were plain pumpkin cupcakes with orange colored buttercream frosting (which I melted and poured onto each cupcake for smooth finish)

I took them to work and they were gone within 30 minutes! I was impressed, but I guess they were too haha :)

60 year highschool reunion cake

My grandmother asked me to make a cake for her highschool's 60 year reunion, Class of 1949:

School Colors were Orange and Black:

With the black details added:

Music Note Cake

Music note cake made (with my sister) for my sister's boyfriend's birthday.

He's our church's worship leader, hence the music notes :)

Chocolate ganache icing, with cut out fondant music notes, bordered with buttercream icing

Oreos cut in half, dipped in chocolate, and topped with chocolate transfer sheet designs to make music notes on chocolate!

Directions on how to use chocolate transfer sheets here: http://www.fancyflours.com/site/chocolate-transfer-sheet-directions.html

Featured in a Newsletter

I know it's hard to see but one of my cakes was featured in this newsletter advertising one of Sandra Byrd's new novels. Sandra Byrd wrote three novels about an American girl who got the chance to go to Paris, France to learn to be a pastry chef, and in the third novel, she learns the art of cake decorating and wedding cake making. Sandra heard about my passion for cake decorating and asked if she could include a photo of one of my cakes in her newsletter announcing the release of her third book:

I know it's hard to read, but it's all about her new book, which you can read about here: http://www.sandrabyrd.com/adult.htm

I would highly recommend this book series if you enjoy fiction, christian fiction, romantic fiction, Paris/France or BAKING!

Father's Day Cake #2

Pound Layer Cake filled with whipped topping and sliced strawberries

Buttercream icing on the outside in basetweave pattern

Father's Day Golf Cake

Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes

I recently received a box of King Arthur Flour's Deliciously Simple Chocolate Cake Mix in the mail.

Using it, I made some wonderful chocolate, chocolate chip cupcakes topped off with ganache icing, leaf shaped sprinkles, and green sanding sugar. They were DELICIOUS and so easy.

One of the things I loved about this cake mix is that it didn't leave any dry mix clumps when I was mixing it, and that it did not require the use of a mixer, only a whisk or wooden spoon.

Feel free to check out their other products at:
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/

I enjoyed this product and others by King Arthur, so most likely other bakers will too!

On Vacation

Readers,

I will be on vacation this week celebrating my one year wedding anniversary in Punta Cana, DR (a bit early, I know), so I won't be blogging again until after Easter.

So please expect a delay in response to your comments/questions/emails.

Thanks!

Melinda Joy

Mom's Birthday Cake

My Mom's Birthday Cake:



** Fudgy, chocolate, 2-layer cake with chocolate chips, with mint buttercream frosting between the layers, topped with chocolate ganache frosting, and buttercream flowers & vines**

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From the start of icing to the finished product:

- chocolate ganache (semi-sweet chocolate and heavy cream)...very easy to make and pour over the cake for a smooth shiny finish

-Using a round tip, i piped these vines on with light green buttercream icing

- Using a leaf tip, I added the leaves to the vines (if you use a coupler, you can change back and forth from the round tip to the leaf tip and use the same icing bag)

- The night before I covered cardboard with wax paper and made these pink flowers using the flower tip and pink butter cream icing, then left them covered overnight to harden

- A attached the premade flowers with a dot of buttercream icing, and that's it...it's done!