Summer Mantel

Finally I was able to decorate *some* of my house for summer. I have been way too busy lately. Baking cakes, summer vacation with two boys, baseball....it goes on and on. Anyway lets get right to my fireplace mantel decorated up for summer. I went very simple. Our house is for sale and I did not want to overdo anything. My instinct is to always overdo..but in the spirt of "staging" our house for potential house buyers, I went simple. Here is the finished mantel:

Overall:

The dog is sleeping in the bathroom right there.

Up close

and one more big overall shot:

Thanks for checking out my mantel

Stacy



First Birthday Cake

Just wanted a quick post with an idea I had for a first birthday cake. I love how the first birthday child usually has their own cake to eat/smash/smoosh all over face. I had a cake order for a little girls first birthday cake recently and I wanted a unique little cake. Here is a picture of the large cake. The mother wanted a bow, all pink and while, and pearls. This is what I came up with:

Now here is what I came up with for the little girls own cake.

A two tiered mini cake just for the birthday girl!

Here is the finished cake. Thanks for checking out my cakes!

Stacy



Happy Memorial Day

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day to all my readers and blog followers.

I hope this day is spent with friends and family

and remembering those who are not with us.

Have a great day!



Stacy

Tuna sub recipe

My boys are on summer vacation!

The best time of the year.

Cookouts, camp fires, late nights, I love it all!

I have been really wanting to make Tuna fish subs like Subway lately.

I have tried many, many recipes to figure out how to get it just like Subway. Well today I think I may have figured it out and I wanted to share.

I had been using sugar in my recipe because I think the Subway tuna fish is a little sweet. Well I happened to have lemon juice on hand so I tried that instead of sugar and I think that is what it is! Here is the recipe I used:

6 cans tuna fish in water, drained

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/3 cup mayo

2 teaspoons lemon juice

Stir a lot to break up the tuna chunks and use an ice cream scoop to scoop out tuna onto sub bread. I added pickles to my bread and yum! It taste just like Subway!

Perfect summer time lunch or dinner.

Enjoy

Stacy



Making a Wedding Cake

The making of a wedding cake

When I was called to make a wedding cake I was beyond scared. I sorta figured I could pull it off because it is basically just a bigger version of a pretty cake. But still...I had never ever made a wedding cake before. After talking with the couple..I realized it was possible to do. They wanted three large cakes..all white with lots and lots of flowers. The flowers had to be white, dark brown and light brown with dark green leaves. They wanted a "camouflage" look to the flowers but still have a pretty flower cake look. Okay so here I go....

First I had to figure out how to make a flower. A rose, specifically. Many attempts at icing roses followed. Many unsuccessful attempts. I can not make a rose out of icing for anything! I turned to fondant. Specifically homemade marshmallow fondant. Here was what I created

Great now the roses were figured out. I spent days and days making roses. Thank goodness for the T.V. in my kitchen. Reality T.V. helps the cake decorator :) I made 80 roses.

And I made leaves..lots of leaves...

The day the cake was to be picked up I made lots and lots of cake

A. Lot. Of. Cake.

Next I covered them all with icing and fondant. The fondant made it look so pretty. I thought, maybe I'm done now?

But it they needed the flowers





This is the creative process of placing the millions of flowers.

This took alllll daaayyy to do. I was also taking care of my two little boys and doing laundry and cleaning the house too. The cake making was the fun part of the day. I am thankful to have two very good boys. They played outside most of the day.

So here is the finished cakes.

I love them. I think they turned out very nice. The bride to be loved them.

Here are some more pictures of all the cakes

That was an experience! It was very fun though and I loved making the cakes. A big "Thank You" to the couple who ordered the cake for believing in me the whole time. I hope I will have more wedding cake orders to come.

Thanks for checking out my cakes

Stacy

Cakes I have been making

I have been baking cakes!

Lots and lots of cakes

Here are some cakes I have made recently

Baby Shower elephant cake

The bottom layer of this cake is done in "camouflage print"

I used fondant and pieced it together

16th Birthday Penguin Cake

The penguins and igloo are made of fondant

Adult Birthday Cake

branches and flowers are made of gum paste

Graduation "wild" Cake

I have been busy! I am going to decorate for Memorial Day today so I will be making a patriotic decorations post very soon. Thanks for checking out my cakes and what I have been working on lately!

Stacy



Some of my favorite things post

Let's not bake today :)

Since I am not making any cakes until next week I thought I would just take a moment to show off my favorite things I use as a cake decorator. Some things are brands and some are just old junky stuff I've collected!

My Kitchen. My favorite place! This is where I make my cakes.

Those flowers are my mother's day gift ♥♥

My number one cake decorating tool. My 8 inch Wilton cake pan. This is usually the base to all my cakes. I love the size. It makes perfect round cakes. Every. Time.

Well this stuff helps make every cake perfect. It is cake release. Made by Wilton. I use this on every cake. I won't make a cake with out it. My cakes come out of the pan perfectly because of this stuff.

Looking around my kitchen some more. This is what I do when I am cake decorating.

Okay, back to work.

My well used and loved cutting board. I kneed my homemade fondant on this thing.

My kitchen T.V. this is very important for cake decorating. I have to be caught up on my entertainment news and reality shows. No, no, I'm really watching....uh...CNN or the Weather Channel. Yeah, that's it.

My giant icing spatula and broken rolling pin. Both very important. I love that rolling pin and refuse to buy a new one.

Oh, it's Happy, the dog. Yes she is a favorite thing! She "hangs out" in the kitchen a lot. She wants to be close to me. Or food.

Flour and sugar jars. I love them. That's all, I just love them.

My refrigerator wall and Stacy'Sweets apron. I love this part of the kitchen.

My mixer! I vinyled my mixer to show it my appreciation. I love my mixer. It is not even a KitchenAid mixer, it is just one I bought a few years ago. I am not even sure of the brand name.

I am almost to my favorite thing

My kitchen window. I love this window because of the shelf my husband made for me. I also love the light I made out of a mason jar. I covered the cord to the light with burlap.

Now my most favorite thing in my whole house. What helps me the most to bake cakes. My greatest accessory. My cake inspiration. My love.

My Boys.

Stacy