Butterflies and Pills

I made up another batch of the Key Lime Cupcakes for a small celebration with the neighbor girl, who is always helping me with things like what Disney Princess is worth creating on a cupcake or just generally stroking my cake ego with oohs and aahs.  Such a sweetie!
I had bought some of these tiny butterfly cutters and I am really enjoying them!  These ones are white gumpaste that I let dry then airbrushed a few different colors.

I made the letters using Tappits Funky Letters lowercase set.  I found the best way to get the letters out was to use some marshmallow fondant with Gum-Tex, then roll it into a very thin sausage shape.  I'm talking thin enough to read a newspaper through!  Let it sit for a minute like that, then cut the letter you need with a very well sugar dusted cutter, then smack the cutter on the counter edge very hard.  The letters should pop out.
Anyway, I attached the letters to toothpicks with royal icing and stuck them in.  And found out I'm in love with Tappits and butterfly cutters.  Ah the joys of new cake toys!


I was given the opportunity to recreate a wedding cake in a cupcake for a ten year wedding anniversary.  This is what I came up with:

Basketweave buttercream with fondant rosettes and little pearls.  It's not the greatest photo, but you can see the custom cupcake box I make for my cupcakes a bit.  Guarantees they don't slide around and mess up the design!


This cake is for a graduating pharmeceutical rep.  It's what's known on the street as a "Perc 30" but is actually a 30mg Oxycodone and a yellow Paxil bar.  Strawberry cake with marshmallow fondant, and the Paxil bar is Rice Krispie Treats with fondant.  The prescription slip is just painted fondant.

I found a very cute picture of Dora online and made her out of fondant for the top of this tiny 6" round cake.  I got to use the butterfly cutters again!  This time I wanted a more simple look so I just used colored fondant, but I did airbrush the base cake to give the illusion of sky and grass.

I really love this little figure's cute little face!  At first, I didn't have Backpack and Map on Dora's back, but my kid came downstairs, saw the cake, and insisted that Dora ALWAYS has Backpack and Map and I had to include them.

This cake is a Baby Minnie Castle cake for a sweet little girl turning 1!  The mama gave me the candle topper and I worked around that for the colors and design.  I used the Wilton castle set for the towers and covered the spires with fondant and little vines and flowers.

And I got to use the Tappits again!  Yay!

Crown and Draping

I should have posted this days ago!  I am a slacker :)

  This cake is a 2-layer 10" round, yellow cake with vanilla buttercream frosting and filling.  The accents are fondant.  The crown is fondant with a smidge of GumTex mixed in to help it harden.
  The crown was a hassle to make, but I figured it out. I wrapped it around an oatmeal container after cutting out the basic shape and sealed the back edge.  I wanted the tips to point outward but without support they would just flop down, so I decided to place the fondant wrapped oatmeal container into a large salad bowl and fill it with flour, then mound up the flour where necessary.  I left it to dry for a whole day then carefully removed it and brushed off the flour.  I painted it with a thick mixture of vodka and gold luster dust (the alcohol evaporates completely).
  The quilting was much faster this time, as I'd done it on the previous cake.  It's time consuming but simple once you get the distances marked.

  This was my first time making a drape, and it was fun and informative.  I love the way it looks.
  I made the rosettes by rolling a thin strip of fondant, shaping and rolling it up, then forming the frills.
  It still needed a little something, so I cut out about 40 little flowers, shaped them, and dusted the centers with red and pink petal dust.  I attached them using a smidge of buttercream.
  This was a fun cake and I had a blast making it.  It still surprises me that I love doing this so much.  What a blessing!
  I took a bunch of time off to concentrate on family stuff, but now I have quite a few cakes coming up and I'm really looking forward to them.  This is a blast.