Relief Society Birthday Dinner

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

This is a cake I made for the Relief Society Birthday Dinner. The inside was checkered vanilla and raspberry cake with strawberry filling between the layers. The green on top and the brown basket weave were done with buttercream. The flowers and the leaves in the middle (the lighter ones) were done with gum paste. This was my first time working with gum paste, and it was incredibly fun. The roses did take a long time, but I got pretty good by the end. The centers of the forget-me-nots are edible sugar pearls. The darker leaves are made out of fondant and gave me the look I was going for on the sides. I wanted the leaves to drape over the edges of the basket, so I used fondant. Unfortunately, I didn't match up the greens just right, so the leaves came out different colors. Next time I will definitely try to match them up better so it's not so obvious.

Pregnancy-Friendly Sushi

I have always loved sushi, and when I introduced Jeffrey to it, he became an instant fan of the taste, but not of the price. So I learned how to make it at home. I didn't really feel comfortable handling raw fish myself, plus I was already pregnant by this point. So I started making sushi with crab meat (well, imitation crab meat). Other fillings we used were cream cheese, avocado, cucumber, and carrot.

So you start with white rice. They have sushi rice, but it's more expensive, so I use plain old white rice. Then you add seasoned rice vinegar.

I use thin, flat cutting boards as my rolling mats, because that's what I have. After the vinegared rice has cooled, you spread it out in a rectangle. Then you add thin slices of your fillings. On this particular day I used cream cheese and crab meat.

You roll up the rice, and then you have a nice long sushi log that you can cut into bite-sized pieces.

Serve with soy sauce and wasabi, and voila! you've got great pregnancy-friendly sushi for a fraction of what it would cost at a restaurant.

Gingerbread House

 Just from a kit, but it was fun to put together. I'm even a perfectionist when it comes to this kind of thing =P

Swamp Monster Cupcakes

 I made these guys for the ward Halloween party. I colored some fondant green and used it to make the heads and tentacles. I drew the mouths and pupils with edible markers.

Viva Brasil!

April 2008

I made this cake for my Portuguese class end-of-semester party. It was just for fun, so I didn't try to make it professional. Just yummy vanilla cake with an awesome design done with colored vanilla frosting. Viva Brasil!

The Big 2-0

Friday, April 11, 2008

Well, I was pretty excited to be leaving the teenage years behind, so Meghan and I made my birthday cake. That way we would definitely have a party. It was a simple three-layer heart-shaped cake covered with green-colored fondant. The flowers and leaves were also made out of fondant, and the yellow centers of the flowers were done in buttercream.

Foerster Wedding

February 2008

>3-tier
>square
>vanilla cake

>white buttercream frosting
>hand-done text with edible ink on edible paper
>ribbon and topper provided by customer

This was the third official wedding cake I did, with help from my best friend Meghan. It was the first time making a big cake with buttercream frosting. It came out nice, but I decided that I prefer working with fondant.