Perfectly Lit Candles

It's uncertain of the origin of this story but I remember hearing that if you drop your ring through a birthday candle and blow the candle out after making a wish, the wish will come true. I probably have a partial of the story remembered but couple years back when this photograph was taken I remembered the story clearly and told my friends. When it was time to blow out the candles, couple of my friends dropped their rings, hoping the birthday girl would make their wishes come true as well.

Last post I shared how to turn a simple cake seem more special and today I wanted to show you how candles could make a big difference. Although you cannot see the details on this white meringue buttercream covered cake, if it weren't for the candles I think the cake would have looked more plain. This white cake had pink iridescent gumpaste ribbon with the same colored pearl shaped balls scattered around and the number "22" piped in royal icing then sprinkled with pink sanding sugar. It was an inspiration from a Cynthia Rowley dress I wore that night. The lighting in the restaurant was terrible so I wasn't able to capture the details but I feel the blue and white candles brought out some warmth to the otherwise washed out looking cake. Next time when you spend hours making a cake, remember to spend some time choosing the appropriate candles instead of just picking the multi-colored dull ones from your nearest grocery store!

Simply Green Cake

Until recently, I had not experienced much gum paste experience. I was a home caker who played around with gum paste but had no formal background or knowledge of making gum paste flowers. So I tackled the simplest forms of flowers or flower like shapes. I had just returned from a week long trip and had little time to make a cake for Bo. And I had bought these Juliska cake stands that I was dying to use. So I killed two birds with one stone. My small simply green cake was presented on the Juliska cake stand thus making the humbly simple cake look more special. A lot may depend on the cake but I think presentation carries a big weight as well. If I had put this cake on a plain cake board or even worse on a plastic plate, this cake would look sloppy and boring. The delicate glass stand made this tiny cake look more extordinary. If you have a great cake stand or find something special always remember that that could be the special touch that would make your cake from ordinary to extordinary. It doesn't necessarily need to be a cake stand, anything could be substituted as a cake stand so I stress again to be creative and think outside the box. Did you know that the Thirty Cake's stand is actually a piece of mirror bought from Ikea placed on top of a flower pot?

Character Cake

For some reason I prefer round cakes. That is why most of my cakes... almost all my cakes are tall round cakes. I then design within this round surface. My friend B who was turning twenty-three, has the cutest smile. She's the quintessential happy person who always has a grin on her face. Because she is such a happy person she reminds me of cartoon characters. No one in particular but just general cartoon figure. Thus I made a small gum paste figure to resemble B and her outfit for the night. She had told me that she would wear a white lace dress so I dressed her mini-me in a white lace dress with glittery red shoes. Then I put a small basketball by her side. The inside story is this- couple months before her 24th birthday she met this perfect boyfriend. To congratulate her on her birthday and meeting the perfect boyfriend for her I added a basketball because his nickname is from a comic book called Slam Dunk. And to prop the figure I added a crystallized ribbon and on the sides I placed simple ribbon flowers made from gum paste. The side walls of the cake was painted in pink shimmer and I piped royal icing to separate the colored from the non colored areas and made it look like some sort of wallpapering. The flavors of this cake was white-choc-white sponge with vanilla buttercream. I loved the simplicity of this cake with its very squared off edges. So my advice is this, even the simplest cake should begin with a cleanly cut cake where the edges are crisp and sharp. This will make your cake look more professional and make any decoration look even better.

A Birthday Brunch Cake

Last Summer I joined a large group of just female friends for a Sunday Brunch in the West Village. I am blinking out so I cannot remember the restaurant's name but it was very suitable place for a Sunday brunch birthday celebration. So unlike my bright and fun cakes I like to present for birthday celebrations, I decided to go for a low key but something lovely and sweet for Audrey's 25th. The cake was a mildly sweet banana sponge with honey-cinnamon buttercream. I thought that a banana cake was the most breakfast-like cake and I didn't want to overwhelm the other guests with something overly sweet so banana cake in my opinion was the way to go. And instead of fondanting I chose to buttercream the cake with the same buttercream I filled the cakes with. When Audrey told me about her birthday brunch I automatically thought of large windows and a room filled with sunlight. I wanted to work with a soft palette of colors and make a cake that was natural and just lovely. You see, Audrey is very lovely, sweet and down to earth. So I wanted to portray a cake with blossoming flowers that were natural but pretty so I tried out dogwoods. Dogwoods are one of my favorite flowers, the way it lights up a dull tree with flowers is so enchanting. They may be less vibrant and familiar than cherry blossoms but the woodsy and lightly hued dogwoods are my favorite. The abundantly topped dogwoods went naturally with the cinnamon specked ivory buttercreamed cake. I piped some green tinted buttercream to make vine-like growth on the sides of the cake and added the same hued leaves here and there. This would've been almost like a wedding cake top tier but in my opinion I thought I had created a lovely cake suited for my lovely friend on a very lovely Sunday morning.