I really wasn't ready to try and sell cakes when I ordered these cards, but Vistaprint had a great sale going on, and I knew I would eventually need them. 

After being asked for business cards at dad's birthday party, I decided that i needed to start really practicing if i was ever to actually sell a cake. This strawberry topped chocolate ganache cake, was that first practice cake. I had such a good time making it. the bottom tier is 3-9" rounds and the top is 2-6" rounds. Each round was separated by a thin layer of buttercream, and a made from scratch strawberry filling. the entire cake is was iced in a bourbon vanilla buttercream and topped with dark chocolate ganache and glazed strawberries. it was delicious.

Record Cake for dad's 50th

This record cake was my next lesson in cake decorating. It was baked for my dad's 50th birthday and presented at a 50's themed surprise party. I did all the baking and decorating at my aunts house to avoid spoiling the surprise.  I was really nervous about this one because the party was kind of my culinary debut. But despite my trepidation I think it turned out pretty great, and the party goers started asking me for business cards! a very awesome experience
     The cake is a cherry-chip cake with a black cherry filling. the decorating was pretty simple. My biggest problem was making the icing as black as possible. It seemed like no matter how much color gel I used, I could only manage a darker shade of gray. I did some research online, and found out that if you start with dark blue or purple, then add the black from there, the icing will become black. I started with a dark blue base and added about half a bottle of Wiltons black gel into it, and eventually came out with a suitable black. after frosting the cake, I used the serrated edge of a bread knife to get the record's grooves and a piece of white fondant for the label.
       If I could go back and do it again I would have changed the border around the record to a black and white twisted rope, and replaced that white center-piece fondant with an actual food-safe printed record label that read "Randy's 50 greatest hits."

Tie-Dye Cake

 After the stress and potential disaster that could have been my last cake, i decided to seek some professional help in the form of a wilton cake decorating course offered at michael's arts and crafts.
      The class was a lot of fun and taught me some of the essentials of piping, tools, concept and preparation.  this cake was one that they had us make to practice smoothing buttercream icing, when done correctly buttercream can look just as good as fondant, and has a much better taste and consistency.  I'd planned for the outside to be smooth and white so i wanted the inside to be a little different.



 to create the tie-dye effect of the cakes interior, i separated the batter into 5 different bowls and colored each of the batters a different shade. then I poured them directly into the nine inch round, one on top of the other. the effect is fun and makes for some awesome kids cakes.

Cake Number Two

So, while this is not my best work it was a great learning experience for me. This cake, Made for my younger brothers twentieth birthday was a testament to the importance of preperation. While the cake was baked and cooled on time i had very little time to come up with fondant, frosting, colors and a good idea. I decided to go with something simple, so the cake is filled and frosted with a vanilla buttercream, covered with marshmallow fondant, and decorated in Garretts favorite colors (or variations of them). while the cake ended up tasting good and looked okay, i learned that to make a good looking and great tasting cake takes up to three days, not one afternoon.

My First Cake

This was my first attempt at making a cake and decorating in fondant. I bought a package of fondant and was surprised to find out how terrible this stuff tasted. When i think of cake my mind tends to wander to Willy Wonka's chocolate room where everything is edible and delicious! so i scoured the Internet to find a solution to the inedible icing. i stumbled upon a YouTube video that described a fondant made of marshmallow. i watched and watched and watched again until i built up enough courage to try making it myself.  After two hours and a powdered sugar coating on the entire kitchen I was left with a small and barely manageable ball of "fondant". so i took what i had and started working with it. the taste was great but the consistency was that of dried up play-doh so i set back to work adding a few touches of my own, and after a ton of experiments i created a recipe worthy of the chocolate room. after that it the cake practically made itself. it was chocolate cake with a butter cream filling that was pretty tasty!