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

DIY: OWL CAKE & CUPCAKE TOPPER

Just stopping in to say HAPPY MONDAY with this quick cute little Owl tutorial! 

I was SO excited when someone finally asked me to make an owl cake. I have been waiting for an excuse to make these cute little guys for so long! They are absolutely perfect for a little girl's birthday but since I have all boys none of them were interested in owls. :)

  

You can make these things as big or small as you want to depending on what you need them for. The size that I made them would probably be the perfect size for cupcake toppers. But I actually made two, and used them on top of a cake. 

They are really easy and quick to make. Not to mention super cute! The whole process is very simple so go grab your fondant and let's get started! :)

First roll out your darker color fondant. In this case I went with a pink theme owl so here I have the darker color pink rolled out. Cut out one large circle using a round cutter.

Now use the same cutter to take off just a little from the top so that we have a nice curve for the ears of the owl.

Next I have my light pink fondant rolled out. Cut out a circle using a round cutter that's a little smaller (left) than the one we used earlier (right)

 

While you have your light pink fondant rolled out, go ahead and cut out the two wings using a leaf cutter like the one I used pictured above. Note: If you don't have leaf cutters, you can also use small upside down hearts to make the wings which also looks cute. :)

Next make two small impressions on each wing. You can pretty much use any tool that you have on hand to do this,
 

 

Here I have my smaller light pink circle. Using a tiny round cutter, or the other end of an icing tip like I did, I just cut two curves into the circle to make room for the eyes.To make the eyes, just roll out white fondant and use this same icing tip or cutter to make two white circles.

Now for the beak: First take a small amount of orange fondant and roll it into a tiny ball. Then using your finger, roll it into a tear-drop shape in the palm of your hand.

Using a small paint brush and a tiny bit of water,you can start putting the pieces of your owl together. 

   To make eyes stand out more, roll out black fondant and cut out two circles using a cutter or icing tip smaller than the white ones we just did. Here I used the bottom of a Wilton 1A to get the perfect size.

To be sure that the feet are consistent in size, cut out two orange circles for the feet using a cutter or icing tip, and roll them into little balls. Then use a small amount of water to attach them to the owl.

I hope you guys found this helpful. Please feel free to leave questions and comments below! :) 

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE-DOUGH CUPCAKES

 This week I had a craving for something amazing. So my first thought was cookie dough. In all honesty y'all, I was really tempted to make cookie dough, drizzle chocolate over it, grab a spoon and dig in. But then I pictured myself doing that, and thought it seemed pretty silly. :) I wanted to bake something that was going to satisfy my craving and then some! Besides, cupcakes are a much more elegant way to stuff our faces right?

 

So when I searched the internet and came across the idea of putting raw cookie dough (without eggs of course) inside of a chocolate cupcake, I knew this was the cupcake for me! Everything about this thing is amazing!

 

If you have any excess cookie dough after filling your cupcakes. You can just flatten it out a little on the top like this. A little extra cookie dough never hurt anyone right?

 

This is the cookie dough scoop that I used to get a consistent amount of dough for the filling. If you don't have one of these that's okay. You can just use your cute little peepers to eyeball the amount you will need to fill each cupcake.

WARNING: After you have your mini cookies baked, I would recommend throwing away any cookie dough you have left. I made the mistake of keeping it around and found myself eating it right out of the container the next day...

Inspiration:  The cake and filling recipe was adapted from The Cake Blog, and the frosting was adapted from Tidy Mom.

Chocolate Cookie Dough Cupcakes

 For the Cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups water
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

•     Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pan with liners.

•     First combine all dry ingredients: flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.   Whisk until well combined.

•     Add oil and sour cream and mix at a medium speed.

•     Gradually add water and continue to mix.

•     Add vanilla and eggs and  until combined.

•     Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full with batter.

•     Bake for 16 minutes or until your toothpick comes out clean.

• After your cupcakes have cooled, hollow out the centers. I used a large icing tip (pictured above) to do this.

 

For the Cookie Dough filling:

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

•     In a mixer beat butter, sugar and vanilla until creamy.

•     Gradually add in flour and sweetened condensed milk and mix until well combined.

•     Stir in chocolate chips.

•      Fill center of cupcakes with Cookie Dough.  I used a cookie dough scoop  to get a consistent amount for each. Then I used my hands to roll the scoop of cookie dough into a cylinder shape and pushed it into each center.
• If you want to decorate your cupcakes with mini cookies, use some of the remaining dough to bake mini cookies at this point.

For the Frosting: 

3 sticks unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup light brown sugar
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp, salt
3 tbsp, milk
2 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

• Beat butter and brown sugar with paddle attachment  until creamy.

• Mix in confectioners' sugar until smooth.

• Beat in flour and salt.

• Mix in milk and vanilla extract until smooth.

Decorating:

• Fill a piping bag fitted with your choice of icing tip and swirl on top of cupcakes. 

• Sprinkle with chocolate chips. 

• Top each cupcake with one of your mini cookies.  

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DIY: DUCK DYNASTY CAKE

Duck Dynasty is all the rage lately! People around my neck of the woods are pretty enthusiastic about this show. I haven't really had much time to sit down and watch it myself but I have to admit, the characters seem pretty interesting. Well with all the fascination surrounding this community of hunters I wasn't surprised when a few people finally asked me to do a Duck Dynasty cake. I have to admit, I was really hoping to do a beard cake. I might be a beard lady. Hard to say really. Okay let's not talk about that. Beards and cakes don't mix well. :) 

Anyhoozles, the best part of all the new fads for me, is always the opportunity for a new cake. Something different. Or even something simple. In-fact that's what I love most about cakes like these. Some of the most appealing designs to me are always the more simple ones. 

This logo was really simple to achieve. There are several ways to transfer an easy logo like this. When possible, I almost always make them from fondant. For me, fondant is just my go-to. Here's how I did it: 

Making the Logo:

•  To make the logo, print a picture of the "duck"  found online like this one here. Then cut it out to use as a template. 

• Then I roll out black fondant and cut around the template using an Xacto knife. 

• Next  roll out white fondant and cut out a large oval to put behind the logo. 

• Then take the duck pieces that you have cut out and place them on the white fondant oval, using a tiny bit of water to secure them in place.

• Once you have your symbol you can use letter cut outs to write any message you want.   

 Hope everyone found this helpful!  Be sure to leave comments and let me know what other kind of tutorials you would like to see. 

Here is an example of another Duck Dynasty cake I did using this same method.

 *Side Note* The only reason some of my cakes have the "CakeTheDay" water mark is because that is what my website used to be (a long time ago) before I changed everything to RevaCakes.