Fraggle Rock Cake

I was absolutely thrilled to be asked to create the Fraggle Rock 30th reunion cake.  The talented, creative and fun team came together a couple weeks ago to celebrate at The Spoke Club.  Some of you may have seen this cake posted on the Fraggle Rock FB page the other day. 

© Henson

Here is the original cake design by the creative genius Michael Frith.  I must say it was the MOST challenging cake I have ever had to create with all the detailed characters, colors and character expressions - but I loved every minute of it!  I was also determined to add a few extra surprise features to the cake.

© Henson

Here are some close-ups of the characters:  Marjory the Trash Heap, Boober, Mokey and Gobo.

 Red enjoying a little too much cake!

 Wembley decided which cake to eat.

 A couple of Doozers.

 A surprise appearance from Cantus.

I also took a few photos of the process of the cake creation.  I will share those photos next week! Hope  you enjoyed the cake photos - Happy 30th Fraggle Rock!

Craftsy Review and Contest Giveaway!

Have you heard of Craftsy?  Some of you might be like me, as you may have signed up but haven't had a chance to take a course.  They have created this wonderful system where you can easily take online classes for cake decorating, sewing and so much more.

I am not trying to sell you anything - I'm actually going to tell you about 2 of their FREE cake decorating classes.  They are not paying me or giving me anything to do this review - they will actually give one of you a free Craftsy cake decorating class - so make sure you enter to win.

If you are a cake decorator, seamstress or crafter - you probably have lots of quiet time working some late hours.  Usually when I'm decorating or creating sugarpaste decorations, I have my iPad playing in the background with food network or some mindless reality show.

It only took me a few minutes to figure out the Craftsy system and the neat features. I realized that I could watch a course while I was in cake-mode and easily re-watch later.  I watched these 2 free classes.

1) Modern Buttercream with Joshua John Russell

• Firstly, this class is free and jam-packed with a ton of information.  If you've seen Joshua on Food Network - he's pretty awesome and generously shares how he does things.  Whether you are a beginner or professional, there is a cool tip to try or just interesting to know how another caker does it.

• I'm not sure the full length of the videos as it was in several parts, but it must've been a couple hours total.  I kept thinking that it would stop and you'd have to pay more to see how the cake turns out.  You really got to see the cake from start to finish - tons of tips along the way.
• Joshua is quite a perfectionist like many cakers.  I really like how he said it was "simple".  But in actual fact, he is really passionate about making his cakes perfect and he provided "simple in the highest quality".  It allows the viewer to decide what degree they want to follow the techniques.  It also allows people to appreciate what goes into making a cake.
• I would highly recommend this class and if all the other classes provide as many tips, viewpoints and ideas - that is awesome!

2) The Hand Painted Cake with Erin Schaefgen

• Another free class that I watched during my late nights making sugarpaste decorations.  Erin shares some great color tips like "How do you make grey?" and I just had that problem the other week.  She also gave the best explanation about the use of a little pencil to outline designs on a cake.
• She also re-affirmed my thoughts when I do free-hand painting on cakes.  A lot of this video was her painting in different techniques, which I probably couldn't sit there and watch.  But, it was actually nice to to have this in the background, glance up once in a while and listen to her talk.  I actually didn't feel so lonely in the wee hours caking :-)

I would definitely recommend that you at least watch the free classes.  Make sure you enter to win a free Craftsy cake decorating class:

1. Jump over to Craftsy to enter your name.  One entry per person.
2. Deadline for entry is Monday, June 17th, 2013 at 8pm EST.
3. One winner will be randomly selected and notified in a week. 

Lastly, if you want additional free tips, you have to check out their blog and youtube channel.  A ton of helpful info for everyone!

Wedding Cake Tasting

The other week, I held a cake tasting for a few couples who were getting married this year.  Here is one of the photos I posted on Instagram of the cakes for the first couple. 

And look at the wonderful surprise inside... fun!  Have a great week and see you next week when I have a couple reviews of Craftsy Cake Decorating classes and a giveaway!

Bridal Shower Cupcake Tower

I had the pleasure of creating this pretty cake topper for this cupcake tower.  I was given the lovely color palette below to create whatever I wanted.

The cupcakes were chocolate sour cream with chocolate buttercream and vanilla bean cupcakes with lemon swiss meringue buttercream.  I loved how it turned out and so excited to create their wedding cake in one month!

 

Butterflies and Flowers

A pretty cake with some butterflies and flowers for a 2 year old.  Have a fabulous week everyone and thanks for stopping by!

Wedding Mini Cake Tower

There are a few colors that go really well with chocolate brown.... all shades of pink pink, light blue and definitely teal.  This was a fun wedding mini-cake tower.

Nurses Week Cupcakes

It's National Nurses Week which is celebrated every year starting May 6th to 12th.  Everyone of us knows a nurse - whether it be a family member, friend, acquaintance or someone who has helped ourselves or a loved one.   

They truly are very special people who do a very special and tough job.  And there are always those extra special ones that go beyond the call of duty.  Thank you to all the Nurses in our lives!

1st Birthday Cake: Sesame Street Cake

I sure love making Sesame Street themed cakes!  Here's a simple and fun design for a 1st birthday cake.

My daughter's 2nd birthday is a couple months away and Cookie Monster will be the main theme of the dessert table.  I'm so excited and found so many great ideas on Pinterest.

2nd Birthday Cake: Bubble Guppies Cake

There are so many different TV shows for kids out there... have you heard of the Bubble Guppies?  A cute little show that my daughter also loves, but calls it "Buggies".  And she recognized the characters so I knew it was toddler approved.

The cake was strawberry vanilla cake filled with strawberry preserves and vanilla swiss meringue buttercream.  I was able to use some of the design techniques that I learned from the Cakelava Clownfish cake design.

5th Birthday Cake: Transformers Cake

I say this every year, but one of my favorite things is to make a birthday cake for my wonderful nephew.  Here's a review of his past birthdays!

• 1st birthday was a Heffalump cake 
• 2nd birthday was a Tractor 
• 3rd birthday was a Crane 
• 4th birthday was a Stegosaurus

This year, Maseo turned 5 and he loves Transformers.  The cake was 6-layers of zesty lemon cake with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream.  He even saved all the handmade sugarpaste decorations.