From Cake Lab

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Circles and Swirls Cake

I took some time off from making cakes because I needed to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Being young and single I feel like the options are somewhat endless...I just have to figure out what's most important to me and still makes sense.
After spending about a year experimenting with cake techniques in Cake Lab, I wondered if maybe it would be better for me to travel elsewhere and learn from a more experienced decorator. Kill two birds with one stone! Warmer weather and less stress from doing your own thing...but after giving it some more thought, I realized I love making cakes. I love making MY cakes. While I'm sure it would be nice to have a helpful hand guiding me once in a while, I have kinda gotten use to taking responsibility for all the successes and flaws. It's also been reassuring to receive lots of positive feedback after the cake has been delivered and consumed, and I even ran into two customers in the past couple weeks who told me how much they loved the cakes I made for them and told me when their next cake will be needed. Definitely a good sign. I felt like I kinda had to continue doing my own thing, but with a new look. I decided on Cake Haven, but may actually still end up using Cake Lab (more on that later).


I had lots of freedom with the design of this cake. The only specifications were two tier format with colors like green, pink, and red. These colors reminded me of a cake I had recently seen in a book that was topsy turvy with lots of flowers. Then I remembered a circle and swirl design on a pack of Orbit gum I really liked...the ideas kinda just kept flowing around in there. Even once I started I wasn't really sure what it was going to look like (like most of my cakes!), but those are the most fun to make and the client was very pleased.


Luau Mini Cake & Cupcakes


So, I'm kinda terrible at keeping up with my blog. This cake was made over five weeks ago!
The cake/cupcake presentation was for a joint 40th birthday celebration, and was exactly what I needed to get myself out of my creative slump.
I love just about everything on this cake. It's relatively simple but so pretty to look at. The fish, shells, colors and surfboards...love how they all go together. Oh and how can I forget the buttercream waves that adorned the risers. This little project proved to myself that unless I'm making an object out of cake, I really need to let the design come from my head otherwise it just doesn't work as well.