Cupcake Cake

Here is the BIG cupcake:




Not so much a "cupcake" as a "cake" because it is a cake. DEEELISH! Chocolate Orange with Vanilla buttercream! I'm pretty jealous of Susan. Although of course one of the perks of being the cake decorator and baker, is that I can nibble on the scraps at the end! Happy Birthday Susan!

Cupcakes!

This weekend will be very much focused on the finishing of the jewlery box cake, and CUPCAKES! So to kick off the cupcakes, here are some flower cupcakes I made at work today!

By tomorrow afternoon, I'll have a GIANT cupcake CAKE up here too! And for the Silpada party on Sunday, I'll be making MINI cupcakes!!!!!!!! YUM YUM YUM!

Jewlery Box Cake Beginnings

Here's a sneak peak at the Silpada Jewlery Box cake for this Sunday!

Little Treats

This week focused on small cakes. I designed a few mini cakes for some tastings this weekend, as well as some spring time cupcakes for work.

The cupcakes had 3 flavours altogether, chocolate, orange and vanilla. Truly it was an AMAZING mouth experience! The flavours all together, the moistness, the absolutely dreamy buttercream topped with some pink flowers... needless to say they all sold out as soon as they went on display!



Mini cakes made it to my Easter dinner as well. Flavours included strawberry, lemon, orange, chocolate, chocolate orange and strawberry cheese cake. No one could pick a favourite, but for me the chocolate orange is tops! Yes, it is a re-occuring flavour combination, but when you taste it I'm sure you'll agree!



Next week: Jewlery box cake for the Silpada open house, 422 Masson St Oshawa, April 11, 1pm to 5pm.

Argyle Cake

You may remember that many posts back, Eileen suggested I try this cake. So I did! And here are the results:



I changed up the colours a bit to suit my likes a little better, but overall I think the same effect is achieved. Thanks Eileen!

Around the Clock Bridal Shower Cake

An Around the Clock bridal shower assigns each guest with a time of day, and their present must be related to that time. The cake shown here, was for an Around the Clock shower. OF COURSE it's a chocolate cake! (YUM) And at 12, 3, 6 and 9 I designed gumpaste items relating to the time of day to follow the theme. The clock is set at 1 minute to 12, where there is a wedding band and engagement ring, how very exciting! At 3 there is a coffee cup (look closely for the lipstick stain!), at 6 a dinner plate with a fork and knife, and at 9, the most sparkley pink high heeled sandal in the WORLD!

This cake was a lot of fun to work on, and it gave me an excuse to buy pink disco dust! EDIBLE SPARKLES! How fabulous is that?

Next week: Finally, the demo cake Eileen chose!

Coming weeks: April 11th from 1-5 is an open house party at my place where my mom will be showcasing new items from Silpada, a gorgeous line of jewlery. I'll be making a jewlery box cake for a raffle, and my mom will also be giving away a gift certificate for free jewlery of your choice! RSVP to emily.milling@hotmail.com if you'd like to join us for delicious snacks and fun!

Surprise Nissan Cake

I decided to surprise my dad's dealership with a cake, because I got a new car! A 2010 Nissan Versa. Because they were so nice to me, and because this year is actually the 45th year the dealership has been in business (from my opa and co-owner Nick to my dad and co-owner Nicolas) I made the cake with a Datsun Fairlady, which was a type of Z model from 1965, with a 2010 370z beside it, and their respective dealership signs.

I sculpted the cars with rice krispies, and then painted them with liquor and food colour powder. As you can kind of see, the 370z came out a bit streaky, and that is because of the vodka. Darn vodka! Lesson learned!

Either way, I'm pretty proud of how the cake turned out! And I learned a wicked tip: when sculpting with rice krispies, use coating chocolate to stick pieces together, and then to smooth out the lumps. But make sure you brush an even coat of chocolate on with a good sturdy brush. :D

CHOCOLATE CAKE!

Up next: Sunday's Bridal Shower Cake

Ryan's Call of Duty Plays Soccer birthday cake

Ryan, my cousin, has just had a birthday! To celebrate the event, I combined two of his favourite past times in entirely edible form. YUMMMM! Call of Duty (the video game) and soccer, are Ryan's FAVOURITE!







I love this cake because of the flow I got into while making it. I know it's a little rough around the edges, but that's how I like it! The guys took all week, and for some reason all came out with orange heads and hands. The camo colours however, turned out very well! You may notice that a net has been crashed into by the goalie! Just another of the crazy ideas that came out while making the cake, as I had no backup net. I had a lot of fun painting the expressions on their faces, and in the end it definetly looks like an "Emily" cake! I've had a very strange style of artistic expression since I was a kid. My friend Eileen once said, "I love how everything you make looks like it came out of you." SO never fear! If you want something authentically "Emily", OR if you want something completely different, I wont disappoint!

Next week: Bridal Shower Cake!

Bridgette's Wedding Cake

Tonight I completed my first wedding cake! The cake is very traditional, with several different shades of purple on 6 tiers. White royal icing piped decoration, completed with separated tiers and purple gumpaste flowrs.

"How long did it take?!?!" you may ask! Well, today alone, I spent 17 hours straight on it. WOOOO CAKE PARTY! I think in total, it must have taken at least 30 hours altogether. When it was all put together however, it was TOTALLY WORTH IT! The best reward for me, is seeing the final product all together, complete, and beautiful. It turned out just as I wanted it to, and hopefully Bridgette (the bride) will feel the same way.

That is all for now! Next week: Ryan's birthday cake!

Suzanne Colmer/Jessica Dexter/Lea Ann Belter Event...and also.. DONE SCHOOL!

Finally, after 2 long years, I have finished school! I have completed George Brown's Baking and Pastry Arts Management program! I am officially capable of providing everyone, with scrumptious chocolates, cakes, pastries and confections! How wonderful is THAT!?!?!?

After a 3 day exam, I came home, and literally, ate my exam. It's still in the kitchen, so anyone who's around can come and try a Marjolaine pastry (hazlenut almond dacquoise, chocolate chiffon, chantilly cream, praline buttercream, ganache, ... and a few other layers!) OR a milk chocolate coffe rum truffle! Although most of the later are already in my tummy, they're rather amazing.

This Sunday I also attended "Colour, Shape and Texture" by Jessica Dexter who is a planner and consulter for weddings and events, and Suzanne Colmer who is a personal shopper, at Lea Ann Belter's Bridal shop, 785 Queen St E. Toronto. I have a picture of one of the confections I made, it is a chocolate shortbread sandwich cookie, and the "meat" in the middle is a delicious caramel!



The other part to my giveaway treat was a lemon flavoured petit fours, covered with white poured fondant and topped with a little pink spiral. Unfortunately no pictures of the petit fours made it into my hands, but rest assured, the delicious lemon curd and marzipan combination simply melt in your mouth and provided great contrast to the cookie!

The event itself was wonderful, with a colour analysis by Suzanne, and a fabulous giveaway draw by Jessica! My mom ended up winning some dazzling Swarovski earrings that she has promised to share, but I have a feeling she'll be hiding them away from me! Very lucky! There was also a fashion show where we learned how to choose the proper gown for our body types, so I'm pretty much all set to get married!

Other contributors included the Vintage Gardener, located in the Distillery District, represented by Dawn Marie who provided some gorgeous flower arrangements, Creative Classics Stationary & Invitations who provided some gorgeous thank you cards, and Cake Beauty, a makeup company who provided a delicious smelling smoothing hand & cuticle buffer.

The amazing swag bag was put together by Jessica, and it must be said that she did a fabulous job on the whole event! What a perfect girls day!

To cap off the day/weekend/semester, GO CANADA GO!!!!!!!!!! Good job Canada, most gold medals EVER at the winter Olympics! Unbelieveable!

'Till next time,

Pink Champagne all around! Cheers!

Jessica Dexter
Your Shop Girl, Suzanne Colmer
Vintage Gardener
Creative Classics
Cake Beauty

Sugar Work

So I've been busy busy, trying to finish school and keep up with work. It's been a hectic few weeks! I do have something to show for it though, I've created a blown sugar showpiece! There is a blown sugar ladybug (painted on the spots) sitting with some pulled sugar leaves atop a poured sugar base. I'm pretty proud of it seeing as sugar was one of the hardest mediums I encountered during my 2 year stint at George Brown.

Alas, in other news, this week was my last week of learning at George Brown, and by the end of next week I'll be finished the program! Hard to believe that I've spent the time that I did there, but I think it has all paid off!

Finally, I'll be providing delicious treats at an event for Lea Ann Belter next Sunday, February 28th. The event is called "Colour Shape and Texture" by Your Shop Girl and Jessica Dexter, and it will be all about choosing the right wedding dress! Very exciting! Please RSVP to Suzanne@yourshopgirl.com if you're interested in attending, it will certainly be an event to check out for brides of 2011!



That's about it for now, and as promised I will be posting pictures of the demo cake that Eileen chose very soon, hopefully by this monday, so keep watching!

Facebook Group

So this week for Iris and Olive's cakes, I've asked the members of my facebook group as well as some friends to choose different cakes for me to attempt. Each week for the month of February, I'll be making one cake and this week I've selected a submission from my dear pal Eileen! Here's what I'll be attempting:
http://www.charmcitycakes.com/images/gallery/6/Bowtie.jpg
Pictures should be up by monday at the latest.

Check back here often for more news and updates, as well as my facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=41296085548&ref=ts

Remember, I'm available for charity work as well as custom orders.

More updates soon!

Classic Style Wedding Cake

Today I practiced making a classic style wedding cake. It's my first attempt, so it's a little rough around the edges, but overall I think I've achieved the effect I wanted to. I'm especially fond of the golden roses, an idea I got out of "Wedding Cakes" magazine. Although, they did use bronze instead of gold.

My next project will be gold roses to place atop the cake, for a more finished look. I'll be pickig up ingredients for gumpaste tomorrow and making GIANT roses! Probably three in total.

Hope you like what I've done so far!

Also, join my facebook group for more updates and events! Choose my next demo cake by sending me a link to a picture, or the picture itself! More info at http://www.facebook.com/#/group.php?gid=41296085548

Fancy Cookies

So since I've learned some new piping skills, I decided to test them out at work. We had an order for red elephants as an engagement present for a Hindu wedding. I suggested we add some henna to make them really special, and they turned out so well! Here is just one of the elephants I decorated...


I was also mucking around with some Valentine's hearts and came up with the next one. I really love bleeding hearts, so I thought I'd try it out. It turned out very well also.


More Valentine's to come! I'm STOOOokeD!

Wedding Cake and Flowers

So here is my finished cake, complete with little birdie toppers! I do indeed like to make little figurines, they're so cute! Even though a lot of people were skeptical about my cake for the past 2 weeks at school, I've received so many compliments, and I'm thrilled to say that I've finally succeeded in allowing my vision to come to life! This is the start of something great, I'm so excited!!!!

The whole premise of my cake was about a couple that loves nature. Picture yourself in a clearing in the woods, where flowers surround you and the sun shines down as you commit your love to your partner. It's fun, and the colour palette is very unique.

When I look at my cake, I can see that in the future my work will impact the lives of others in a very positive way, and that's all I could ask for, to make others happy!




We were also required to make some flowers, and use petal dust to accentuate their features and make them more realistic. I'm pretty pleased with my roses, the colours are unconventional, but I like that about flowers. They can be any colour you want! The cala lillies I left white because I didn't realise I could make them into any colour as well. Today in a magazine I saw black ones, green ones with pink tips, so many! Martha Stewart Living has a very nice collection of roses for February which was pretty inspiring.





So there is my cake, and there are my flowers! Hope you like them!

Wedding Cakes

So I'm starting into wedding cakes at school, and I've been practicing a bit at home. Here are a few samples of what I've been doing. Once I finish my green nature cake I'll post more pictures!

Long Overdue Update

SO! After quite some time, here's a short update of some things I've been doing lately. First up is a pastillage box with marzipan fruits and a royal icing peacock using the flooding technique. I also attempted lace for the first time, and it turned out pretty well! Although this piece is kind of cool, to me it seems like a lot of elements that dont necessarily belong together, have been thrown together. So having said that, enjoy the elements separately as they're not really meant to be together, but more of a practice! (I'm quite proud of my fruits though, my pear looked so realistic!)

I work at a small cookie shop called Robyn's Cookies, and once in a while we make cupcakes! These cupcakes were exceptionally fun to make, because I was able to make and decorate some tiny reindeer and gingerbread men. Tiny is always better! They were so cute! The buttercream icing was piped on with a star tip, and then rolled in coloured sugar. Pretty nifty effect I must say, my boss is very creative!

Here is something that I'm very very proud of. It is a chocolate covered marshmallow snowman! I made the marshmallow myself with the help of a friend named Will, and it tasted absolutely heavenly! Next i cut out one large circle and one small circle, and impaled them respectively on a candy stick. They were dipped in chocolate (oh yes, I can temper chocolate!!!) and decorated with silver balls for a sleek finish! These went in my christmas baskets this year, along with gingerbread boys and girls, as well as shortbread, sugar cookies, and of course truffles!


Thanks for reading, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

XUYUCHG4P9TB

Grandma's Birthday Cake and Sculpting Competition

In this entry I have a few things to update. I placed in the top ten for a cake sculpting competition at school! Also I'm going to post some pictures of a cake I made for my grandma for her birthday, as well as a calculator cake that I made for my boyfriend for his graduation.

The competition consisted of two days of sculpting madness and it nearly drove us all insane! While I was satisfied with my final product I know that my fondant could have been a lot cleaner, and I could have put more thought into how i sculpted the head. Having said that, it should be noted that my cake went missing on the morning of the second day of the competition, and I had to start over! SO for a cake made in about 6 hours, I'm pretty pleased with the results! The competition cake is a peacock.


The cake that I made for my grandma is a flower basket with a fairy sitting in it. She loves fairies and flowers, so I thought I'd try my hand at some gumpaste flowers for the ocassion. I had never made them before, and they were pretty difficult, but with some practice I'm sure i'll get the hang of it! I really enjoyed making the carnations, the ruffles on the petals were difficult at first, but became easier as I went along.


The calculator was just a simple little congratulations to my boyfriend Henry, who has been slaving away at school and just graduated last week! Hooray for Henry! It was modeled after the calculator he used all through university. Now on to bigger and better things, congratulations honey!


Hope you all enjoy the pictures, and I promise to make bigger and better cakes for next time!

Emily

Pictures

Up to this point I've made a few things here and there that I thought I'd post just to give a little preview of what's to come! Hope you enjoy!

Emily