Happy Thanksgiving!

This is my second adventure with cake pops... They are supposed to be a pumpkin and an apple.

Boogie Man Cupcakes

These fun cupcakes I made for my Mom's Wednesday night church class. The class was going to watch the Veggie Tales "Where's God When I'm Scared?". It was also a couple of the kids' birthday, so it worked out perfectly. The hardest part about these was mixing up the all the different colors of frosting. The horns, teeth, and white parts of the eyes I cut out of fondant, but they could have easily been replaced with some sort of candy.

Lego Fun

I completed these cupcakes and cake pops for my lego crazy brother. The legos on the cupcakes are actually candy that I found at a candy shop. They worked perfectly and saved a lot of work. The lego cake pops I ran across on the internet and decided to try them out. They turned out adorable, and my brother loved them.

Lazy Frog In The Pond

This adorable frog cake I completed for my uncle. The cute little frog is made out of half a marsh mellow and is covered in fondant. I formed the legs and eyes out of fondant also. His face I drew with edible marker. The cattails in the background are tootsie rolls on painted skewers; and the leaves, lily pads, and flowers are fondant. I used chocolate frosting on the sides to make it look like mud and blue frosting for water. Using my cake spatula, I made tiny ripples and waves in the water. Finally, I added the green border. Pretty simple!

Dragon's Attack - Castle Cake

I completed this cake for one of my younger brothers. My siblings and I love fantasy and adventure (Narnia's a favorite!), and often used to play that we were kings, queens, and knights. As a result, it wasn't too surprising that he requested this cake. Having never done a castle before, I looked up various ideas on the internet and then designed my own from there. The towers are ice cream cones: two flat bottom ones on the bottom and a waffle cone on top. I would suggest using sugar cones which are smaller than waffle cones. My small town store didn't sell them, so I had to break down waffle cones. Also, to glue the cones together I would suggest using royal frosting (sets up harder, makes a perfect glue, can find mixes at cake shops or recipes online). I used regular frosting and toothpicks. The waffle cones I covered in fondant tiles glued together with a little water. To make the tiles, I cut out fondant circles using the large end of a decorating tip.

The cake itself is 8in. round chocolate with gray frosting. Since I did not have a very small cake pan, the lower part of the middle tower is a plastic container covered in grey fondant. I used halved marsh mellows painted grey with food coloring for the top edge of the cake. The door, windows, and stones are all made of different shades of grey fondant. A graham cracker worked perfect for the draw bridge. One could always cover it in fondant, though, if they wanted to disguise the cracker. The chains for the draw bridge was the tricky part. Fortunately, one of my brothers had plastic Lego chains that worked great. I added the path with my leftover stones and added a green border and grass for some color. Finally, I used some of my brothers' knights and a dragon to make the scene come to life. I let the birthday boy and my little sister help with this cake, and I believe they were a little sad when it came time to cut the cake.


Tip of the Week: If you don't have black fondant and need to mix some, start out with chocolate fondant and then add black food coloring. The result will taste less of food coloring, unlike if you would start out with white.

Recipes Page

Check out the new recipes page by clicking on the recipes tab above. I don't have much up yet, but I'm planning on adding to it.

Check Out My Most Recent Project

I apologize for not posting earlier. I've been super busy but having a blast. Here is what I have been working on recently:

These items are for a cake that my Grandma is making for my cousin. I stayed with my Grandparents for a week and helped my Grandma with this project. The french fry box is made out of fondant mixed with a little gum paste, and the fries were also created with fondant. To make the cup, we covered a small paper cup with white fondant and a red strip at the bottom. The stars we also cut out of fondant. Both of the McDonald's M's are edible images printed off of the internet.

The ball pit is my favorite part. We took a small box lid and covered it with fondant/gum paste. Sixlet candies made perfect balls. We wanted to put my cousin in the ball pit so we printed off a picture and cut him out. Finally, we put in the picture and added "i'm lovin' it" to the front.

Lastly, my Grandma made the slide also out of fondant/gum paste. Shortened straws made perfect legs. Eventually Grandma will add fondant chicken nuggets to our collection. When the cake is finally finished, I'll post the completed project.

Tip of the week: Mix a little gum paste with your fondant to help it set up harder.

Butterfly Dreams

 On my siblings' birthdays, I usually let them choose the theme for their cake. This cake, which I titled "Butterfly Dreams," was requested by my little sister. She had it all thought out way ahead of time. The little girl and her net was top on the list. Immediately I sketched this cake out on a sticky note.

The cake is a two tiered chocolate, made with the wonderful Pillsbury cake mix. An 8 in. round cake pan was used for the bottom, and a 6 in. round pan was used for the top. The frosting is pale green and flavored with vanilla. I used white edging to border the cake, which helped bring out the pale green. (I'm planning on posting the frosting recipe that I use soon.)

The daises, butterflies, and drop flowers are all made out of fondant. (Eventually I plan to post more detailed directions for beginners on how to make fondant butterflies and flowers. It's super easy!) To add to the girly theme, I added edible sparkles to my butterflies. These butterflies also look elegant on cupcakes. I've had people actually believe the butterflies were plastic and throw them away because they thought they weren't edible.

Finally, I formed the little girl out of fondant and piped on frosting hair. I used edible marker to create her smiling face. The butterfly net is also made of fondant. Although, the handle I piped on since I was out of brown fondant. My sister loved the cake, my mom decorated according to the theme of the cake, and the party went well. Of course, it ended quickly; but it was well worth the work for that special person.

No New Posts For Awhile

I'm am getting ready to leave on vacation and will not have time to write for about a week, but please come back. I'll have lots of new posts to share then.

Dragon's Treasure

This cake I created for one of my cousins who is a big fan of the Dragons in Our Midst book series by Bryan Davis. At first I wasn't quite sure how I was going to tackle the project; but with some helpful tips from my Grandma, I made it. The dragon itself is made of rice crispy treat formed to look like the body. Next I covered it with fondant and attached all of the dots, wings, eyes, etc. which I had previously made. He was also going to be breathing fire, but unfortunately I left the materials I needed at Grandma's.

The mountains in the background are simply waffle cones covered in frosting, with a little bit of powdered sugar sprinkled on top for snow. Crushed jolly ranchers made perfect gemstones. Excalibur in the stone was not planned, but since I had leftover cake I went ahead and added it. The poor plastic knight was originally planned to be a more important part of the cake. However, the monstrous dragon kicked him out.

Simply Sweet Suggestions Blog Introduction

        I love art. It's always thrilling to create something new and feel the satisfaction of finishing. Drawing, painting, and jewelry making are all fun; but my favorite type of art by far is cake decorating. There is just something about making an edible masterpiece for that one special day. Not only does it taste good, but it looks wonderful. Sometimes the masterpiece is gone in less than a day, but the smiles I get from it are worth it all.

Creating smiles and telling a story is the purpose of my cakes. Kids especially love having a cake decorated just for them. Making cakes that show their personalities and interests can be challenging. However, that one cake can set the entire mood for the party. I want to make it a fun one.

I'm always looking for new ideas that are cute but simple. Extravagant wedding cakes may never be my thing. I would like to share some of my ideas with you, in hopes that they will be helpful to you. As a beginner cake artist, they won't be anything fancy, but I still hope they may be of use to you.