Butterfly Cake

It was a an honor to make a cake for my grandmother's memorial reception today. It's amazing what you learn about people at a memorial service. I had no idea she almost signed a record deal as Las Hermanas Islas, or she cooked gangsters dinner as she told them about Jesus. Pretty remarkable stuff. Life's a vapor, live it.

She loved the color purple and I wanted to make something pretty...

I saw these butterflies in a Wilton magazine and I thought I would try them out. Here's how to make them.

1. Make royal icing.

1 egg white

1 tsp of lemon juice

1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar

Whip the egg white till foamy add the rest of ingredients and mix for a few minutes till it's shiny.

2. Spray foil with aerosol oil.

3. Pipe our your butterfly wings with a #2 tip. Let dry overnight.

4. Gently lift the wings off the foil. Pipe a thick line for the butterfly body and tilt the wing into the body. Let it rest on a cotton ball and dry for a few hours.

Tah-dah! Aren't they purdy? I love, love, love this cake. And the inside we gorgeous too. 3 layers of chocolate cake with chocolate butter cream. Needless to say there wasn't a slice left. That's a good sign to a baker :)

Chocolate Buttercream

This is one of my favorite frostings. It's your average buttercream but I add cocoa powder and it turns into this fluffy chocolate texture thats just lovely. My sister Beth runs the Homeless Ministry at our church and she asked me to bake up some cupcakes for the people she ministers to. Here's the recipe...

Chocolate Buttercream

frosts 12 cupcakes generously

1 stick butter room temperature

2 cups of powdered sugar

1/4 cup of cocoa powder

1 tsp of pure vanilla

Add milk a tablespoon at a time to avoid it getting too runny

A dash of salt

Whip that butter up add the ingredients. Whip it all together for a couple minutes for maximum fluffiness.

Let me tell ya about this Homeless Ministry, it's not just about getting people food, clothing and shelter (which we do) but it's really into building relationships with them and when they want to get off the streets my sister tries every way she can help them. She's really good with relationships. She's kept in touch with a homeless couple who was pregnant for years now. I remember her throwing them a baby shower. Now that couple has been in a home for years and go to church. God is so good!

Here are some other cupcakes I did this week. Sesame Street!

My friend's daughter turned 2 and she had a Sesame Street Party.

I tried to do most of the characters.

These came out so cute. They are super easy to decorate. Here's how you do it.

1. Rainbow Gumballs (2 bags). Use them for eyes and noses.

2. Oreos. Separate, cut in half for the mouths.

3. Wilton icing tip #233 for the fur.

4. For Cookie Monster cut large marshmallows in half for his eyes.

Doom Shoes!

Last Tuesday was a special birthday, my brother (in law) Robert turned 28! In fact Richard (my husband) and his brother are the same age for 1 month! Crazy, I know.

I wanted to make him a special cake. I was trying to figure what my brother likes and how I could make it a cake. I could do a drum because he's a drummer, pokemon because he has some funny stories about them, but then I then I began to remember he loves his shoes. I mean this guy takes care of his shoes.

So Richard and I remember him always talking about his MF Doom Shoes. I tried my best to mimic it. As you can see it came out a little stumpy, perhaps an elephant would wear it, but I think we can see the resemblance.

At the end of day I realized, cakes that resemble real things are still fun. He loved it!

60 Years and a CD Release

I got the privilege of doing a cake for an amazing person's 60th B-day. I see this woman in church helping her kids as they do ministry. Not only her kids but her grandkids and she has like 20! Anyways, her beautiful daughter decided to surprise her with this cake.

Her daughter found a picture on the internet and we just changed up the colors from gold to a FUN pink and black. Just because she's turning 60 doesn't mean she can't have fun colors!

I love the sparkles on this cake. I ended up having to make my own colored sprinkles, which I'll explain in another post :)

Here's a pic of my cake waiting for the table at Claim Jumpers, we were the first ones there!

Next baked good I got to do this week were these amazing cupcakes. My friend is releasing her new CD "Transformed" and she wanted some cupcakes there to celebrate with!

She loves the whimsical style and the colors green and pink.

Cuteness, I love the spirals!