Sea Theme Cakes

As I live in the beautiful city of Montecito, near Santa Barbara, California, I thought I would share some of our sea themed cakes. The first cake is a true sea theme.

A Whale Shark and Diver 

Sea Star

Ahhh...The Sugar Cookie as a Pallet

The sugar cookie has never been so beautiful. I have to credit my dear departed friend Marie Dorsey for introducing me to the art of the sugar cookie. Marie flew from Wyoming to Virginia twice a year to teach eager students how to create beautiful sugar cookies. 
Since Easter is upon us, I thought I would share this basket of Easter egg cookies created by my friend Marie for Fancy Flours. Aren't these adorable? I just love them. 

These are some examples of Christmas cookies she taught me how to create. 

The favorite design was the Christmas Penguin. 

These moose cookies were created as gifts for a rehearsal dinner. Each cookie was wrapped and tied off with red velvet ribbon. The Christmas cookies are decorated with lemon flavored royal icing. The moose is covered in Chocolate fondant. The fondant is secured with royal icing underneath. 

Giving Recognition Where it is Due

Jessica Harris at Jessicacakesblog.blogspot.com inspired me to update this blog. If you have not visited her blog and you desire to become a cake designer, don't do another thing until you take one of her courses or visit her blog.

My blog has been sitting dormant for a long time while I figure out what to do with my life. For so long I was the "go to" cake shop in Lynchburg. I worked endless hours with my snap staff of amazing artists and my wild and crazy Chef turned pastry chef, Lance Yeatman and it wasn't until I closed the doors that I actually took time to breathe.

I learned a lot from that experience and from what I learned, I know that if I ever opened a new cake store, I would do a lot of things differently. The stories I could tell anyone who even thinks about opening a cake business....

I hope you will read my blog and enjoy the cake photographs. If you live in Montecito, please see my friend Katie Teal at Montecito Confections. She is one hard working woman and her cakes are awesome!

Four Alarm Cake - Vintage Fireman's Hat Cake

This cake was designed by one of my very talented cake artists, Leigh Carrington. Leigh came along way in a short period of time. I found that it was easier to hire artists and teach them how to work in sugar than to hire cake decorators and teach them how to be artists. This cake was designed to replicate a vintage fireman's hat. The cake was the exact size of the original in shape, size and color. I was floored when I came in the next morning and saw it. This was a grooms cake. 

Ruffle Cake

Someone recently asked me to post a photograph of our pink ruffle cake. As much as I would love to take credit for this beauty, I have to give it to Martha. Someone brought me a photograph from one of her magazines and asked if I could make it. The cake inside is pink champagne cake with Vanilla custard filling and vanilla buttercream. What you can't see in this photograph is that the cake is a little sparkly with a light dusting of pink luster dust.

Scrabble Theme Birthday Cake

Scrabble Anyone?

With Words With Friends and Scrabble all the rage, I thought it might be fun to share this scrabble cake we made for Nancy's birthday. The cake is her favorite yellow cake with chocolate icing but the design is a perfect life sized replica of a scrabble board.  The top of the cake is made from gumpaste. We extruded flat strips and lay them in perfectly measured lines using a ruler to keep them straight. Once it was constructed we airbrushed the top with silver food coloring.

It's Graduation Time

The past few weeks have been slammed with graduation cake orders. These are not just any cakes but cakes with elaborate designs. People rush in the doors of the bakery begging us to take one more cake on and we do it. One of my favorites is a topsy turvy cake for someone who graduated with a teaching degree. Leigh Carrington, one of my new young designers took this on and I love the result. Everything on this cake is edible. The apple is made from Rice Krispy Treats and covered in modeling chocolate. The pencil is made from modeling chocolate. The hat is cake covered in fondant.

Here is another graduation cake: