Let’s Talk About Cakes

Remember the old me? The girl who made cakes day in and day out? That girl?

Well, I just can’t do them all the time anymore.

The blog is my business now, the business that pays my bills. I develop recipes for several companies, I write cookbooks (gosh, that’s a process), I write for a magazine. Plus, I have to keep posting here, to keep five or six of you entertained on a weekly basis. (Hi, Mom. Hi In-Laws.)

I used to rely on cakes to pay the mortgage, and I did love the process. Not the baking as much as the decorating, but, there’s something very organic about starting with ingredients and ending up with something people treasure and want to take photos of. Something I made. Me. It’s rewarding, but very time consuming. Since I travel a lot now, on media trips, to conferences, and to host events, I am scared to take orders, for fear I won’t be able to follow through. I am a person who follows through. If I say I am going to do something, I really, really intend to. A cake is not something I want to back out on.

So, that being said, besides missing the creative process of making the cakes, I miss actually sharing them with you all. You’ve always been really nice about that, and that means a lot to me. Before the blog began, 5 short years ago, I never made a cake. Well, not a real cake, anyway. You want to see the first “stacked” cake I made for my grandmother back in 2008? I was brave enough to post it. I did. Really, truly horrid. But that should give you hope, should you have the desire to become a cake artist yourself. Just go for it. Practice, play – do it. It really is a positive thing I am glad I taught myself to do. And while I don’t do them very often anymore, I can still make every birthday cake my son will ever have, and, I can make cakes for friends and their own special occasions.

This is the wedding cake I did for our friends who got married a few weeks ago. As a surprise, it was my gift to them, and I was thrilled to do it. It was half lemon, filled with blueberry cheesecake buttercream, and half dreamsicle.

Four tiers, and sprayed with pearl luster, using Duff Goldman’s Airbrush kit. Yes, I consider him a friend, but believe me when I tell you – I love this machine. I also love his fondant, which I used on this cake. (well, all of my cakes now.) It rolls so well, doesn’t dry out too quickly, and tastes so much better than much of the competition. You can get it at Michael’s and a few other stores, or even online. More expensive, yes, but worth it for the flavor alone.

Because the groom was a huge Jimmy Buffet fan, the bride wanted to surprise him with a Margaritaville inspired grooms cake. I went with a tropical tie-dye effect, then sculpted a parrot and used a few of Duff’s wire curls to jazz it up. It turned out pretty cute, considering it was small – I prefer huge cakes but smaller was better for this cake. The flavor? Key Lime Pie with Meringue filling.

Here are a couple of the other cakes I’ve done over the past several months. If I back up too far and you’ve seen one, just pretend it’s new to you. I’m a crazy person, you know…there’s no need to attack me in a vicious email because you’ve already seen one of these cakes. Not that I get ugly emails like that.

Well, not everyday.

And here is the cake I made at Duff’s CakeMix a few months ago when I was in LA. It’s such a fun place! You can peek in through the window to watch the pros at work next door at Charm City Cakes West – whoa – those cakes are something else! Here’s the post I wrote all about my time there, in case you want to make a point of visiting yourself, and I do highly recommend it!