Inspirations

The sweet ladies of Lolliblog have these awesome "inspiration to creation" posts and a couple weeks back they asked me to create a visual way to show readers my thought process in creating various cake designs.   Inspiration can come from anywhere as you can see here:  a vase, a hand bag, birthday decor, and a valentine's day card.  You can see these and the others (jcrew sweater, 3-ring binder) by visiting the posts over at Lolliblog:  4/12, 5/5, 5/6.  Enjoy!

1,000 Ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies, & Cakes

Rockport Publishers/Quarry Books has released a number of a "1,000 series" books such as 1,000 Jewelry Inspirations, 1,000 Ideas for Creative Re-use, 1,000 Artisan Textiles, etc and I'm pleased to share with you that their newest addition is 1,000 Ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies, & Cakes! 

Seven of our portfolio cakes will be featured alongside 993 great sweets :)  This is definitely a book you should get if you need design inspiration, want to see various techniques for all three mediums, or simply like looking at pretty desserts!  It's also a great book to give as a gift to all the home bakers in your life. 

The book will be out in November, but you can pre-order copies now at Amazon.

TLC's Ultimate Cake Off

 

A couple months ago I went to California to assist Katie Robinson of The Painted Lily with a cake competition: TLC's Ultimate Cake Off.  Well, it aired last night and if you missed it you can watch the entire episode on TLC's website!   It was a fun experience and it was awesome to meet all the contestants, judges, crew, and the other girls on the team.

 Left to Right: Alison, Katie, myself, Eva

   The assistants

Damask

Damask has been an increasingly popular pattern to apply on cakes and here is one version we did for a cake this past weekend. 

Cymbidiums are so pretty :)

Cricut cake

If you're an avid scrapbooker or crafter, you've probably have heard of the Cricut.  It's a paper cutting machine and there are various cartridges with many designs you can choose from.  Well....just last night Cricut Cake was launched for purchase on HSN.  Although it was midnight and I rarely tune in to home shopping channels, I was curious and found myself watching the demo for Cricut Cake and I'll admit, it's pretty cool.  You just have to load a thin sheet of gumpaste into the machine, choose your design, and press cut.  What you are left with is a clean, fast, and easy applique for your cakes, cookies, and cupcakes.  I think it's an innovative product for beginning/home bakers, but you've got to be making a lot of treats to make up for the price of this machine and the cartridges :)  As for me, I think I'll be sticking to my own devices (aka my hands and an x-acto)

Here are some examples of cakes decorated with the Cricut Cake from their website.