Bring On The Cake!

After my hair appointment this afternoon, I headed over to Hobby Lobby. First of all, I've been doing quite a bit of reading and watching YouTube regarding cake decorating. I've decided to look into decorating a cake using fondant. I might regret it on down the line, but I've never been all that great with regular piping. I know the presentation of a fondant cake looks so much better & creative verses your basic piping cake. After a few days of viewing tutorials from YouTube & tips off of Food Network.com, I think I'm ready to try it. Today, I put in a little bit of an investment (rolling fondant, pattern cutter, cutting mat, texture triangle, flourish embossing, rose pink food coloring, medium spatula, small spatula, writing icing tubes, decorator's icing, piping bags, & tips). I'm sure I've left out something, but overall that's just for making cake. Let's not forget the ballet slipper candy molds. I went ahead and purchased the vanilla candy melts & bottles. They didn't have any pink candy melts available, but I'm going to try adding a little rose pink food coloring to the vanilla melts. I'm sure that will be just as good. I think this weekend will be a good time to practice making the ballet slipper candies. I'd like to get into kneading that fondant & experiment with it. Of course, I'll be watching a lot of "Ace of Cake" & "Food Network Cake Challenge" shows in order to get some ideas. Oh and by the way, I have a recipe for fondant, but I thought it would be easier for me to first try the already prepared rolled fondant. Maybe the next time, I'll make the fondant from scratch.

You're probably wondering what I'm doing with fondant when I've decided to make cupcakes for Katie's party. Well, I got to thinking and felt Katie needed a cake of her own. Besides have you ever tried placing 4 candles on a little cupcake? Even if I placed a numbered candle (4) on top of a cupcake, it would over take it. I've been going over and over in my head. What simple design am I going to use for Katie's little cake (6")? I know I want a white cake with a pink bow. I kind of want to tie in the slippers, but I thought pink polka-dots would look really good. I'm going to test embossing the fondant with a flourish design. I think that would look really cool. If it works. It's all going to be trial and error for the next few weeks until Katie's party.

Something like the above example, but I'll be using white w/pink bow & polk-a-dots

Hobby Lobby was having a fantastic sale. Almost all Home Accents were 66% off, furniture 40% off & lots of other miscellaneous stuff was 50% off. I did a little Christmas shopping. Doug needed a short, long basket to put all of his stuff (spare change, wallet, beeper, keys, ipod, zune, washers, screws, nails, & cell phone). What is it with men and their screws & washers? I know my brother-in-law, Pat, keeps a few washers and screws in his pants pocket every day. He said, they help him think better. What? Anyway, I found some really good deals on a few things. The only thing I really wanted, but couldn't find was a ballet accent of some kind to decorate with for the party. Ugh! I love a good challenge!

If you work with fondant and cake decorating a lot, I sure do appreciate any and all the advice I can get. Thanks!

Can you believe Hobby Lobby had their Christmas, Fall and Thanksgiving items already out on display? I couldn't believe it! You know I thought the stores bringing out their Christmas, Halloween & Thanksgiving items in the month of July & August was awfully early. Now, we are bringing them out in the month of June. What's up with that?

Cool Gadgets
I found the neatest thing from Hobby Lobby. I don't know about you, but eating popsicles & ice cream cones around here is a very messing event with Katie.
How cool is this? Hopefully, these neat gadgets will make my life a little easier. It's suppose to cut down on melted ice cream & popsicles from dripping all over the house. One side, you can place an ice cream cone (cycliner or cone shapes can be used) and it's suppose to catch the liquid. On the opposite side, you can place a popsicle stick through this slit and again it's suppose to catch the liquids. Bonus, it's easy for the kids to hold their Summer time treat without the mess all over their hands. That's the biggest trouble around here because Katie hates having messy hands. She spends more time cleaning her hands than eating her dessert.