Category Archives: Decorations

Commissioning

Creative Cakes, Decorations, special occasion June 3, 2013 1 Comment

The commissioning ceremonies at USAFA took place on May 28.  For those of you who are not military, this is when the seniors (or firsties) are commissioned from cadets into the air force becoming 2nd lieutenants.  It’s a big deal.

I was asked by two different cadet squadrons to make goodies for their ceremonies.  First I will show you the order for cadet squadron 10.  They ordered 2 half-sheet cakes.  Each cake had two flavors and specific decorations.

First cake was half strawberry and half vanilla with vanilla buttercream.  I was asked to put the AF patch and the squadron’s Tiger Ten patch on the cake.  I think they turned out pretty well…

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The second cake was half chocolate and half red velvet with cream cheese buttercream.  They wanted it to be a red, white, and blue cake congratulating the new “Lts”.

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They were fun to make.  Congrats Tiger Ten Class of 2013!

Next up, the order for Squadron 6.  This is the squadron my husband was the AOC (Air Officer Commanding).  They ordered 300 cupcakes in 3 different flavors.  So I made 9 dozen chocolate with chocolate buttercream, 8 dozen red velvet with cream cheese buttercream, and 8 dozen vanilla with vanilla buttercream.  I didn’t get a picture.  And, quite honestly, if I don’t see a cupcake for a little while I’ll be able to live with it.  But it’s nice to know that I can make that many cupcakes.

They also wanted to have a cake just for the seniors being commissioned.  I was asked to make it vanilla with vanilla and look good.  So I tried.  I made one 10 inch square layer and one 6 inch square layer.  I torted each layer and filled them with vanilla buttercream.  I covered the cakes with vanilla buttercream.  I used silver tint for the 2013 and red to congratulate the class and then used red, black, and silver to design a Bull for the top.
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IMG_0005Congratulations Ragin’ Bulls class of 2013! We are proud of you and look forward to seeing you again in your AF career.

Angry Birds

basic cakes, Decorations April 9, 2013 Leave a comment

My son turned 6 in March.  He ordered up an Angry Birds cake complete with “a king pig, a mustache pig, and a few birds”.  He also wanted chocolate cake with chocolate icing and a special chocolate surprise in the middle.

So I went to work on the fondant birds and pigs…IMG_0006I used an edible marker for their faces since I didn’t allow myself enough time to actually make faces.  But the Birthday Boy was pretty please, especially with the “king pig”.  He also thought the sling was pretty cool.

I made his special birthday cake which is chocolate and used my chocolate buttercream and iced the cake smooth.  I tinted vanilla buttercream green for his birthday message.

IMG_0003And his special chocolate surprise?  I put a layer of chocolate chips in the middle with the chocolate filling.  He was happy when he took his first bite.  The kid love his chocolate!

IMG_0004 Overall, I was pretty happy with how it turned out.  And my birthday boy was please, which was really what matters.  Happy Birthday, Jacob!

Baking

basic cakes, Creative Cakes, Decorations, seasonal goodies January 20, 2013 Leave a comment

Here’s what’s been going on at Stahrs Cakes.

December:  There were lots of goodies made.  Peppermint bark, peanut butter fudge, cornflake wreaths, lots of cookies.  I attempted a cookie I saw on Pinterest.  Chocolate Melted Snowman.  Copy (1) of IMG_0006

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I used my own triple chocolate cookie recipe and white royal icing for the snowman but I used the same design I saw on Pinterest.  I used a mini peanut butter cup for the hat and some red and green sprinkles for the eyes and mouths.  They were cute and the kids say they are part of the Christmas cookie line up.

 

January started out with a Chocolate cola cake.  That’s what my husband asked for our New Years dessert.  So moist, chocolaty, rich.  I dressed it up a little with miniature chocolate chips on the glaze.

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Then my husband’s birthday with his red velvet cake with peanut butter buttercream.  I’m not sure what my obsession is with mini chocolate chips but it does dress up a cake…

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Since there are only five here, I made a six-inch round and torted the layers so it was a tall cake but still small to not waste.

Then my oldest daughter turned 11!  Aside from her first birthday (which was chocolate cake), she has always asked for strawberry cake with strawberry icing.  This happens to be the pinkest cake ever.  This year she had a hard time deciding.  She actually wanted to have peanut butter fudge.  But when she asked if she would get her star-shaped cake (a tradition I’ve been doing since she turned one) and was told no, she decided on chocolate cake with strawberry icing.

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And, yes, she got her little star…

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I also had an order for a special birthday.  Twin boys who were turning 11!  Mom wanted them to have individual cakes but similar and didn’t want a lot of cake left over.  So we decided on 6 inch one-layer cakes.  Mom also said that boys were, well, boys and didn’t really have any ideas on what they want their cakes to look like.  She had a picture of a cake she thought was neat and decided on gold, purple, and black for colors.   I tinted chocolate icing black and covered and filled each layer with it.

I rolled out purple fondant for straight ribbons and white fondant for curvy ribbons.  I used edible gold spray on the white.  I also used a star-shaped cookie cutter for some star confetti.  While I still used the same decorations, I wanted the cakes to be different for each of the boys.  So I purposely placed the fondant decorations differently.

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I finished the cakes off with Happy Birthday and their names in gold gel.

Birthdays

basic cakes, Decorations January 16, 2012 Leave a comment

We have two birthdays in January in our house.  My husband loves red velvet cake with peanut butter buttercream and I make it for him every year…He is my clown!  And I love him.  And this cake lasted for two days.

My oldest turned ten this year.  She had ideas for her cake since September and designed it mostly on her own.  All I had to do was make everything.  She wanted star-gazer lilies and she wanted a chocolate cake with a strawberry cake on top. Strawberry really is her favorite.  I mean, what girl doesn’t like a pink cake? But since she was having a few friends over for her party, she decided that the bottom layer should be chocolate so that everyone was happy!  And they were.I thought it looked pretty with the candles all litTen candles on an 8 inch cake and a 6 inch cake is a lot!  I was happy with it and so was she and so were her friends!

Flowers

Decorations October 4, 2011 Comments: 2

As many of you know, I teach cake decorating classes at Hobby Lobby.  This weekend I was in Denver for a training seminar to teach the Advanced Gum Paste Flowers class that will be offered starting in February.  I was so excited and couldn’t wait to try out these flowers!

Here is what we learned…

The Gerbera Daisy…

This little bundle is of blossoms (pink), a stephenotis flower (white) and some ivy leaves…

The final project was to put together some of the flowers to make a bouquet.  This is of some stephenotis flowers and bud, blossoms, and some sweet peas (yellow) with some ivy leaves…

And my favorite, the star-gazer lily…

I can not wait to put these on some cakes!

Landsharks

basic cakes, Decorations May 18, 2011 Leave a comment

One of my daughters signed up for Landsharks Running club through school this Spring.  She enjoyed it so much.  The practices and three meets.  She ran her little heart out.  So when it came time for the team to have a party, she wanted me to make a cake!  Of course, I obliged.  She insisted on chocolate cake with vanilla  buttercream and I had to put the Landsharks shark on the cake.

She goes to Odyssey elementary and their color was red.  I think the Shark looks kind of cool.  What do you think?

Hot Air Balloon

Creative Cakes, Decorations, special occasion May 1, 2011 Leave a comment

My middle child turned 7 yesterday.  She wanted a balloon cake.  After discussing it in detail, she decided that she really wanted a hot air balloon that stood up.  So that’s what I attempted. 

I started with rice krispie candy molded in a pail and a Pyrex bowl to make the balloon part of the cake.  After it was completely cool and formed to the bowls, I put them together with dowel rods and covered it with purple fondant.  After finishing the rainbow that my daughter wanted for the balloon, I added some stars in the same colors on the top of the balloon and 7s around the balloon with purple edible marker.

I then made chocolate cake (my daughter’s favorite) in 6 inch square pans.  I did a basket weave with peanut butter icing (again my daughter’s request) to make the squares look like a hot air balloon basket. 

To make the balloon attach to the basket, I sharpened the ends of dowel rods to make them stick into the cake board covered with fondant.  I drove them into the rice krispie candy and then put it into the cake.  I was so happy with how it turned out.  Jamie was thrilled that it stood up!  Thanks to my engineering husband who helped me with the design!

Super Mario Bros

Creative Cakes, Decorations February 8, 2011 Comments: 3

Does anyone out there remember when the Nintendo came out?  I mean the real Nintendo.  Not anything with an EX or any other letter behind it.  It was light and dark grey and you actually had to put cartridges into the machine to play?  Remember Duck Hunt?  And Super Mario Bros?  Wow I was good at those games.  Now they are even cooler with whatever system they run on.  There are more characters and things to do. 

I had a nice lady call me in a little bit of a panic this past week.  The party she was planning for her soon to be 7-year-old son had to be moved up by three weeks because of her husband deploying.  And when she searched for someone to make the cake she wanted, they were pretty overpriced.  Then she found me.  I gave her the right price and told her that I could do it.  She even dropped off figurines that she wanted to be placed on the cake and a picture of what she wanted it to look like!

So after making strawberry cakes and lots of vanilla buttercream, I went to work on decorating.  Since she had given me a lot of the figurines, we decided that adding clouds, stars, boxes, and shrubs to make it look like the game.

I’m with Mario on this one…I was ready to “high-five” anyone who was around when I was finished.  I was pretty pleased with the outcome since it was a last minute order…

I hear the birthday boy was thrilled with his surprise cake.  I was so happy to help!  I love it when things turn out so well.

Small Tiers

basic cakes, Creative Cakes, Decorations November 13, 2010 1 Comment

My mom bought me this pan set for an early birthday present.  I decided to try it out. 

First of all I love the way it makes the smallest cakes.  There 2 each 4 inch, 3 inch, and 2 inch in the set.  I have to say that I am not a fan of dark pans but these worked very well.  Second, I love how the cakes baked.  The whole cake was done in 30 minutes of baking time (which for here in Colorado Springs says something!)  The cakes cooled and I went to work.

I used my chocolate cake recipe and had more than enough left over.  In fact, I probably could have used the rest of the batter for another whole cake.  I used them for cupcakes instead, in case you were wondering!  I also used vanilla buttercream icing.  I wanted to try out the Duff Cake Tattoos to see how they worked and what they looked like on a cake.  They are edible and easy to use!  It makes the cake look pretty sharp, don’t you think?

Just to show how small the tiered cake rally is I put it next to a 5X7 of my husband and kids

After I made the cake, I was talking to my husband about it.  We both think it would be a cute cake to duplicate a wedding cake for an anniversary or for a fabulous birthday party with only a few guests!  For whatever reason, this is a fun, fancy cake!

Cadillac Lovers

basic cakes, Decorations November 3, 2010 Leave a comment

Anyone out there love Cadillacs?  This customer’s husband does.  In fact, he has a Cadillac CTS-V.  I’m not a car person but it is a sharp car.  So my customer ordered a red velvet cake with cream cheese icing.  She said he loves layers because it allows him to eat more icing!  So the cake is torted for more layers of icing.  She also wanted the icing to be tinted to a similar burgundy color of his special car.  And the cadillac V emblem would be fantastic.

I hear he was so happy with it that he made everyone wait until he took a picture before cutting it!  That’s what I like to hear.  He also enjoyed the many layers of icing.  Love that!

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