Beer Mug Cake Tutorial

Wow! I can't believe it's been an entire year since my last post! This seems a bit ridiculous. I could go on and on about how incredibly busy I have been but that's boring. Although I have to say, last year was probably one of the CRAZIEST years ever!


On the bright side, the very end of my year was topped off with my great big, beautiful wedding!!! *insert very girly yet annoying squeal here* I really do feel like the luckiest girl ever! I mean I did marry a handsome, sweet, amazing Army pilot in a great big beautiful ruffle ball gown dress at the most amazing venue EVER! Not to mention the incredible, family I was welcomed into that day. I feel so blessed and it truly was the best day ever!

Well enough of that mushy stuff right? Let's be honest, you're here for the cake. :) Soooo one reason I have had little time for my blog as of lately is because I have been hangin' out over at the YouTubes. I don't know if you've heard of this YouTube stuff or not. I mean it's kind of a big deal. What's that? You HAVE heard of YouTube and you're on there all the time!? Sweet! Because I recently did a video on how to make this awesome Beer Mug Cake just in time for St. Patty's Day and I would love for you come hang out with me there on YouTube! :) 

Here's the video below. Scroll all the way to the bottom to see a list of things you will need and P.S. Don't forget to leave comments or questions and let me know what other tutorials you would like to see!

 -Reva

THINGS YOU WILL NEED:
- White cake mix (and all ingredients on box)
- Green food color
- "Golden Yellow" food color
- Vanilla or butter-cream frosting
- Small angled spatula
- 1tsp cocoa powder
- Small paint brush
- 1 Pastry bag
- 1-2 large round piping tips
- Baking spray
- White fondant

DIY: FONDANT VINTAGE FLOWER

This is a cake that I did almost a year ago. It was a beautiful four-tiered vintage style wedding cake that had a delicate ruffle border with fondant pearl accents, a lace bow between two of the lower tiers, and let's not forget those adorable, hand made vintage flowers. 

I made it for a stand that I had at a local Catholic church. The theme for my stand that day was Shabby Chic, complete with ruffle cakes,  lace, pastels and CUPCAKES!!

I remember selling completely out of my signature Chocolate Peanut Butter cupcakes that day. Everyone was telling me as soon as they walked into the room, all they could smell was peanut buttery goodness tempting them before they even had a chance to look around. There was no resisting once they got a whiff. My best friend Chasity (who was kind enough to volunteer to help me that day) and I, got a kick out of watching the people who walked past the cupcakes starring at them clearly thinking, don't stop. Keep walking. "Give it thirty seconds, they'll be back," she would smirk. And she was right. She was always right. Her dry, sarcastic (but hilarious) personality would kick into full bloom that day as I basically "forced" her to interact with the community. But what are friends for right? :)

Now let's talk about how I made those super easy but adorable vintage-style flowers for the cake.

 First, I will mention that I would normally use gum paste for flowers, but gum paste isn't always readily available, and if you're a busy Momma like me, you may not always have time to make it. So I tend to have Wilton fondant on hand for projects like this because it turns out you can roll this stuff pretty thin, and it dries pretty hard. Besides, these aren't exactly the kind of edible flowers that need to look as delicate as other, more life-like floral decorations.

What you will need:

• Fondant or gum paste (color of your choice)
• At least four circle cutters (I used an icing tip for the smallest size)
• Small rolling pin
• Baller tool
• Edible pearls

    Step 1:
 

Start by rolling out a small amount of fondant, and using your cutters to make four circles just like this.


Step 2:

To create the ruffled edges, take the largest circle and place it in the palm of your hand. Using the smallest end of your balling tool, gently press down with half the ball on the circle, and the other half touching your hand. Carefully rub back and forth going the whole way around the circle. Repeat for all four circles.


Step 3:

Now all you have to do is put them all together using just a tiny dab of water to glue them in place. Then another dab of water in the middle and you can glue your pearls on there.

Tada! Now you have a delicious flower for your cakes and cupcakes! The easiest flower I 
have ever made. Hope you guys enjoyed this tutorial.  I received a specific request for this tutorial and I absolutely love sharing these things but I never know what everyone wants to see. So let me know what else you guys would like to see and I will make it happen!


-Reva 

EASTER EGGS CUPCAKES

 I know, I know, Easter is over...but I couldn't resist sharing these cute little guys with everyone and I finally have a moment to sit down and blog. Between working full time, being a mommy, and doing all these cakes and cupcakes, my free time is so limited right now. But busy is a good thing right?  :)

Since Spring is finally here it's wedding season in the cake decorating world which means lots of opportunity to get my creative juices flowing and making some awesome wedding cakes! I have so many great ideas and designs in mind for this season and I can't wait to share them all with you! But for now let's talk about these adorable cupcakes. :)

 I first saw this idea on Pinterest and I just had to give it a try. Not to mention I rarely have an opportunity to do anything in pastels which I'm really LOVING right now. I love that this idea is so simple and yet so ADORABLE! 

I'm not sure how everyone else was doing them, but at first I thought that everyone was just using a small round tip to make the nests which I thought might take awhile. So I had the idea of using a a Wilton #233 Grass Tip like this one here. This worked out great and made the process so much quicker and easier than I had planned.

The only thing I would do different? Maybe next time I won't use Reese's Peanut Butter eggs since I know I am a SUCKER for peanut butter and couldn't resist eating the leftovers...

Hope you guys enjoy these as much as I do!

KITTY CAT CUPCAKES

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I LOVE cats. So you can only imagine how much I enjoyed making these guys. When I was first asked to make kitty cat cupcakes, I never imagined that they would actually include fur. :) But with the help of my handy Wilton Grass Tip I had some furry cupcakes in no time! Okay that sounds weird but you know what I mean. ;)

 

 For the most part I was able to do these all fairly quickly. I think the most time consuming part about these little guys was cutting out 144 eyes including the white, green and black. 48 ears, and 24 noses. Then I just painted the whiskers and mouths using black or white gel color and vodka (perfectly safe for children because vodka evaporates immediately). 

I'm super happy with the way these turned out. I only wish I had some better lighting to photograph these in but unfortunately it isn't always sunny in Alabama. :) 

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! As always feel free to leave comments and questions.

DIY: CAT IN THE HAT CUPCAKE & CAKE TOPPERS

A couple of weeks ago, all of the schools in my area were celebrating the birthday of Dr. Seuss. So when someone requested some Cat in the Hat cupcakes I got super excited to make some fondant toppers!! 

I really wanted to go about making these the simplest way possible so I thought what a great opportunity to grab my camera and show everyone how I did it. :)

So as promised via my Instagram "teaser" pic, here is a little tutorial on how I made these adorable toppers. 

The Hat:

I started out by rolling out red and white fondant. I rolled them both at the same time to make sure that they were the same thickness. Using a Wilton 4B tip I cut out two white circles, and four red circles.

 

 Once I had my circles cut out, I put them together like little sandwiches using a paintbrush and a tiny bit of water as glue.

Tip: If you don't like the seams to be so noticeable, you can use a tiny bit of water and your finger to rub around the seams and this should help make them less noticeable. If you have the time and patience, the longer you do this, the less noticeable they will be. 

In this case, I was a little pressed for time, and wasn't able to spend too much time on this part but they still came out looking just fine in the end. :)

 Next roll your white fondant a little thinner, and cut out a circle that is a little bigger than the red and white circles to make the brim of your hat. 
Once you have your "sandwiches" stacked on top of your brim, use your finger to press down (or "smoosh" as I would call it) on one side to give it that whimsical look and you're all finished! 

 Green Eggs & Ham:

Now for the easy stuff. :) For the green eggs I first used an oval cutter to make a white fondant oval.

 Okay now remember that Wilton tip we used earlier to cut out the white circles for the hat? Now we use that same tip to cut out a green circle to make the yolk. :) 

 For the ham I started by forming the fondant into a small ball in the palm of my hand. Once I had a perfect ball, I used the outer edge of my palms and rolled back and forth to form a tail and then bent the "tail" a little at the end.

 Yay! Now that we have all of our figures formed we can start painting. For the paint I used gel food coloring mixed with a tiny amount of vodka (yes this is safe for children because the vodka evaporates almost immediately) to paint the details and lines. And now we're all finished!

The cool thing about making fondant figures like this, is that you can make them as big or as small as you want them, and they can be used on cupcakes or cakes depending on your project. I hope everyone found this helpful! If you have any questions or comments I would LOVE to hear from you! 

XO
 -Reva