is called to order.

Who's up?
Whatcha workin' on?


Seriously, can you believe it's the middle of JANUARY already???

no cakes for me, but getting some things together for my second wedding show of the year. Three more to go by the end of February.

Oh! And I did a live spot on local TV this morning. I talked about budget wedding cake (all bc) high end (fondant, handmade flowers, sugar gems), cupcakes and the MYTH that your guests can't tell the difference between a slice of wedding cake and a hunk of sheet cake. I had a slice of each on plates side by side and the camera guy held a close up on them. phtbb

Well, it's only 5pm here in Hawaii...so yea, I'm up!

I have a 2 tier Toy Story/Daddy's Favorites themed cake (father & son bday).
One of the tiers will be black forest 'inspired'....I've never made a black forest cake so hopefully it goes well

mmmmm . . . any version of black forest.

no cakes for me this week either. Having some nice down time!

leah..you live in Lexington? I am in Somerset, do you ever do classes out of town?

or i should have ask do you ever do classes?

I'm in Louisville, and my goodness, no I don't do any classes. I (my networking group) do produce wedding shows, though - 5 in 7 weeks in January and February.

I literally just finished a Finding Nemo two tier baby shower cake. And tomorrow the husband and I are headed to the "big city" (AKA Casper) to buy a new range and hood for the kitchen, I'm pretty excited about that!

well my face is red for asking. good thing you cannot see me. doyou mind if i PM you and ask where your shows will be held.

btw....I wasn't able to find Kirsh at my local grocery store. I did find a substitution for the Kirsh, but I was wondering if there is another place I should look for it?

Any link to your morning spot, Leah?

I'm once again trying to conquer the rose. This time, it's 50/50 gumpaste and fondant mixed. I don't understand how people place the third row of petal and beyond so it doesn't look funky. Mine are too low and the bottom of the rose is far too tall. When I pinch it to try to remove the bottom weight, the whole thing starts to fall apart.

I don't believe roses and I will ever be friends.

cupcakes, Kirsch is a cherry liqueur and will be at your local liquor/spirits store.

kimber, why on Earth would your face be red for asking? It was an honest question. I certainly didn't mean to embarrass you. Just not my "thing." Our shows are at Sawyer Hayes on 1.16.11, Mellwood Arts Center on 1.28.11, Frazier on 2.6.11 and Shelbyhurst on 2/27/11 - all in Louisville.

cheatize, when I made roses (I buy them now) the third and subsequent rows of petals went on a bit "high". Place the top edge of the petal where you want it to be, rather than matching the bases of the petals. While it's still sift enough, work off the extra at the bottom or simply cut it off. You'll put a sepal over that part.

okay! Thanks for the info! I will be passing this along to my dear soon to be DIL.

That was my next plan, Leah. Thanks for confirming that for me!

I've watched so many videos and read so many directions and I can't recall any of them saying to put them up higher, but if it's not working lower, if makes sense to try up higher.

I did figure out that the best way soften the edges is to use the thin Wilton pad on top of the thick one. The thin one is stiff enough that using it alone tends to rip the petals while the thick one is so soft that I can't get them very thin.

Does anyone know if a metal ball tool is heavier than the Wilton green one? I have to work the petals a lot to soften the edges and I suspect it's because the Wilton one just isn't heavy enough to do the job fairly quickly.

Hey FNCC
Taking a break from making a 3D bouncer house cake for the son of one my besties. It is mostly done--I need to finish the columns and the personalization. Party is tomorrow, late afternoon at one of those inflatable party zone places.

This has been a major proto-type, try-out-new-things sort of cakes. I usually buy fondant but since I needed SO many colors, I tried out a MMF recipe that I found through here. So far, I'm pretty happy with the results. I'm also testing out ganache under the fondant--not sure yet if I'm happy with that. It gives a really firm surface and clean edges but it isn't very forgiving if you don't get it mirror smooth. Putting my clay extruder to a lot of use and did some embossed fondant w/plastic grid for the windows/door.

BEST NEWS--I ordered my AGBAY! YEAH!!! DH sprung for that and a bunch of "toys" from GSA (including some SPS components to practice with) Agbay is supposed to be here Wed next week.

DH is finally home. I suppose I should feed him


Kristy

I just checked to see if my TV interview was posted yet, and of course, not. There were four interviews and mine was the third segment. Only the first two are posted on the TV station's website.

Hi, All!

If your metal ball tool is sticking to your gumpaste, it could be that -

* You are pressing too hard. You will know if you are because the edges will ruffle.

* You are running the ball along the edge too slowly.

* Your ball tool needs cleaning. Best cleaner - Barkeeper's Friend (found in the cleanser section near the Comet)

* Your ball is too far in from the edge of the paste.

Theresa

It's a late night for me here at the bakery. I have been working on a Notre Dame Leprechaun cake and a 3-tier square wedding cake covered with pictures of the wedding (they married couple of weeks ago in the Bahamas). My edible image printer was giving me a fit, and the leprechaun, which I'm cutting out using the Cricut, took me much longer than anticipated.

Wahhhhh I've been told absolutely NO CAKING FOR 7-10 DAYS by my OB this baby isn't happy about the hours upon hours I spend on my feet! I tried working from a chair but the only thing I can do is detail work.....so I guess I'll have lotsa time to practice flowers and bows LOL. This is my 3rd baby, you'd think my body would be accustomed to babies and caking

Cake for me ladies and I will live vicariously through you all!

I am working on a "barrel of beer" cake!! haha. Pretty simple obviously but it's huge..like 100 people! I did get to do sugar ice cubes for it and that was pretty exciting (my first time!)

Just finished up a Florida Gator cake for a friends daughters bday, love of music and the gators. only 2 pics posted having trouble uploading more than one photo in the album, came out cute though. check it out!

Crazboutcskes......that is super cute and that's coming from a FL State and TN fan! LOL

Nite y'all!

The bouncer cake is DONE! No pics yet. I need to clean the kitchen and I've had probs all week w/my computer (hijacking the DH's pc now).

I can access the home page for CC on mine but if I try to view a thread or pic, I get a "404" page not found redirect. I got hit with a virus this AM and my techie SiL fixed that but CC is still not workin. Not sure if they are related probs.

Kristy

making a 3 tier baby shower cake...10,8,6...10 and 6 chocolate and 8 white...

Just finished a casino cake - craps table. That was some crazy piping!

Evening all! I've lurked on this thread for 4 weeks straight so might as well throw in.

I just finished 12 dozen cupcakes and dropped them off at a club for an after-hours party.

Tomorrow I have:

1 6" carrot birthday cake, will cover in fondant, still need to do the happy birthday lettering on Cricut, but I already made the fantasy flower for the top. Gonna be the 1st time decorating with black royal on white fondant so hopefully I don't mess that up.

1 8" cheesecake, is an anniversary version of a wedding cheesecake I did last year - I already made the lemon curd for the glaze and the white chocolate cigarellos to go around the sides. Still need to make monogram on Cricut. Pretty happy to reproduce this (sand tiers) since I got really bad pictures the 1st time around.

Aaaaand while I'm at it, 1 dozen blackberry cheesecupcakes for party later that evening.

Sunday looks like a day of rest.