Almond cake!

After watching the recent movie Julie & Julia my mom went out and bought Julia Child's cook book Mastering the Art of French Cooking! It is amazing! I can't believe we didn't have it before now. We have so many cook books, but we didn't have hers! So I wanted to make the cake featured in the movie, because it looked delicious! I have to say for my first ever Julia recipe it went great! The only thing I found that I need to change is the cooking time. I followed all of the directions to a t. I even whipped the egg whites by hand, something I have never done! Today's technology has prevented us from learning a lot of basic abilities and arm strength! The cake tasted great and had a wonderful flavor to it. I just need to watch the time. It was a little dry around the edges. The icing was so simple I think I didn't whip it long enough. That or it was just to warm during transportation to my mom's. (yes I had to share it with her since she bought the book) She was very surprised! The icing was really soft, so next time I will whip a little longer. All in All I congratulate Julia! I have always been a fan, but now I appreciate her a lot more! Yummy Yummy! Bon Appetite!

Wedding

Hanna Baskin's wedding:

I finally took the pictures off my camera and found these. This wedding was a few weeks ago in New Albany, MS. I only got a few pictures, but I think the whole wedding turned out great.

This is the fruit and vegetable display.

We had 2 tables that look just like this one, the only difference is the other one had shrimp on it instead of the spinach dip.
I made 2 cheese balls. One was savory with pecans on the outside and this one which had craisens and almonds.

I think the wedding was beautiful and hope that they all enjoyed every bite!

Baby Blessing cake for the Britt's

Well it has taken me too long to post these pictures. I have had a few day's off work but I just haven't touched the blog until today. I made this cake for a friend who was blessing her twins at church. She had family in town and wanted something special for them. The cake is a lemon cake with lemon butter cream icing. I decided to decorate it in the colors she used in her nursery. The fun part that I found out after making the cake is that each boy has a blanket in there color just like the teddy bears are holding. I am so glad they had me make this cake for such a special occasion.

I sprinkled the tops of the cake with sanding sugar to add a little bit to the flat off white color.

Each teddy bear is made out of fondant and then painted to look more real.
I'm sad that the pictures came out so fuzzy the blankets were scored to look like a quilt.
Thanks again Britt family I hope yall enjoyed every bite.

Aiden's birthday cake!

Happy Birthday Aiden!

Every now and then I get to work on a cake with my sisters. This one was for my nephew Aiden who turned 7 this past week. He had a sponge bob themed birthday party. Usually his mom, my sister Jamie, makes all of there cakes (you can see her work herehttp://southernsweetcakes.blogspot.com/). Unfortunately she was sick and couldn't touch anything in the kitchen Christie my talented younger sister made the cake and while she did that I made sponge bob and his friend Patrick. Christie also has a site to show her work here http://christiescakes.blogspot.com/. I wish we lived closer so we could open a shop together. We are kind of like Ace of cakes in the aspect that we each excel in different areas of the pastry world. When we combine our talents we create these wonderful edible creations.

I made sponge bob out of fondant and gum paste.
Patrick was fun because he looked the most like himself! We kept imitating his voice saying, "Hey Sponge bob!" And then we would dance him around the counter.


I can't wait to make another cake with the girls it's so much fun!

Taylor Grocery Meet and Greet!

On July 14th we held a meet and greet reception at The Taylor Grocery restaurant. It was to share with some of the event planners in oxford some of the new things we are doing. Most people associate Taylor Grocery with catfish only; however, we do much more!

This is me with my mom Rhonda Webb. She helped me with the groom's cake and took all the pictures that night. We made the groom's cake look like the ole miss football stadium.
Here the owner, catering manager, and myself are getting our picture taken for the Oxford Invitation magazine!

This is me and the catering manager Butch Scott.

I think the cake turned out great!

The theme was rustic to match the store and we used chocolate brown and yellow linens with sunflowers for decorations. So I decided to design the wedding cake around that theme.

I used a chocolate fondant to cover the cake and piped on some sunflowers. The ribbon is made out of fondant that is painted with a sunflower orange edible powder.

I made the fruit arrangement with grapes, blueberries, and strawberries.

We served pecan tassies, and fruit cups as some of the desserts.

These are key lime tassies.

We also served hors d'oeuvres.

These are our chicken salad cucumber bites and tomato salad cups.

My pictures are a little out of order. Here are some more desserts. We made chocolate bites, some in white chocolate and some in milk.

I'm a little sad the some of the pictures looked great on the camera but when we put them on the computer they were fuzzy. I had to include some though because I still think they look OK even with the fuzz.

Everyone raved over my fruit dip garnished with some fresh mint from my mom's garden.

We served this raspberry lemon punch for our non alcohol guests such as myself.

All in all I think it was a great evening and we have gotten a few events from it, so I think it was well worth the work. For those who came or helped in anyway thank you so much. And I hope all those who missed out can book there next event with us and enjoy some of the same wonderful food!

4th of July Trifle

I helped my mom make this trifle for dessert Saturday! It was so yummy! The great part about it was how light it was, you don't feel like you have eaten a heavy dessert. It had a white cake layered between whipped cream, strawberries and fresh blueberries from her farm. This dessert is so easy to make in any size. You just have to find a glass or bowl. You can make it individual in goblets or large like this one in a trifle dish.

Cool Tip!

Tip Of the day!

Ok so I was thinking about my blog and I know I use this as a site to show customers different cakes and desserts I have made. However, I have decided I need to share a little knowledge along the way. So whenever I get the chance I will give a little tidbit of decorating knowledge from my vaulted brain. And yes my brain is a vault. I guard my recipes and a lot of how I do things, because this is my career and I don't want people to think it's so easy I don't need to pay her! I have put a lot of time, money, and practice into what I do to make it better. And a lot of love! So with that being said, I'm going to try and share my gift of cake decorating and desserts with whomever is interested. Please use my knowledge don't abuse it and hopefully you can gain a little from my tips.

Today I decorated this 2 layer cake with butter cream icing. I wanted it to be a little different from what I normally do. Let's face it birthday cakes tend to look the same! Same shell border, flowers, and greeting. The only difference is the shape and color. I decided to make the border have 2 colors. The way to do this is really simple. Take your decorating bag with tip attached. Use a butter knife or flat edge spatula(one that is skinny) and spread a single line of the darker colored icing into the bag. Make sure to only put about butter knife width line no more. Then fill the rest of the bag with the lighter color as normal. Remember too much icing in the bag will make it harder to handle and harder on your hand. Practice a few times on the counter or onto a plate squeezing out the desired shape. If done correctly the colors will come out at the same time giving a border that looks like the trim below. Have fun and good luck decorating!