Disney’s Frozen Elsa Doll Cake

26 Tuesday Jul 2016

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Disney Frozen Elsa doll cake, doll cake, double chocolate cake, homemade marshmallow fondant, rosette, Sour cream vanilla cake, vanilla buttercream

Doll cakes are making a comeback. Really.

I haven’t had a request for one in 4 years, but have made 3 in the past month… Crazy! This most recent one was for a darling little girl who just turned 3.

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I remember my mom getting me a doll cake for my 5th (I think?) birthday. I’m pretty sure she didn’t make it and, when I laid eyes on it, I thought it was the most wonderful, glorious thing I’d ever seen in my life (wish I had a picture). It was covered in thick pink and purple icing and, up until that point, was the most treasured thing I’d ever received for a birthday (until I got my horse, Cactus, when I turned 10).

Because I raised such a fuss when it came time to cut (i.e., “destroy”) it, my dear mother only cut cake out of the back of the dress to preserve it as long as possible….I recall we kept it for waaayyyy too long (it got pretty stale so my mom eventually threw the uneaten cake away).

Of course this was all before the Disney princess craze, so it was just a regular old Barbie Doll, but I loved that Barbie forever…

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This was a 4-layer vanilla cake (9″-8″-7″-6″ rounds) with blue vanilla-bean buttercream between the layers. After carving, I iced on a thin crumb coat, inserted Elsa, and popped the entire cake into the fridge to firm up.

The blue rosettes (tinged with white) were piped on with a Wilton 1M tip and the ruffles around the bodice were piped with a 104 tip. I added small snowflakes cut with my punch cutters and crystal sugar flakes to add the illusion of snow.

I also made a dozen chocolate cupcakes with blue rosettes and adorned each with a single fondant snowflake.

A fondant inscription was added to the cake board.

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So fun to make and brought back many happy memories of my own childhood.

Happy Birthday, Claire! I so much enjoyed making your Elsa doll cake and cupcakes!

First Communion Part II…cakes, cookies, and lovely memories

11 Wednesday May 2016

Posted by Laurie in Cakes, Cookies, Cupcakes

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blue velvet cake, chocolate mousse filling, cookies, cross cake, cross-shaped cookies, double chocolate cake, marshmallow fondant, religious cakes and cookies, rosette, royal icing, vanilla buttercream

I’m still trying to recover from the past 2 weeks and all of the First Holy Communion cakes and cookies I baked…not to mention helping to prepare my own sweet 8-yr-old Hannah for receiving this special sacrament.

We didn’t do the traditional first communion religious portraits that are popular in this area. But I loved the shots my husband got of her before and during the ceremony on this beautiful spring day.

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Isn’t she lovely…?

Absolutely the apple of my eye….

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Anyway, I digress….I did do a number of cakes, cookies and cupcakes that I’ll share briefly with you all.

LOVED this sweet dress cupcake cake I did for my daughter’s dear friend, Katie. Her mom had about 50 guests and wanted all white-iced rosette cupcakes with pink beads as details. I was able to fit about 40 marbled chocolate and vanilla cupcakes on the 18″x24″ board, the rest were displayed on a cupcake stand. They were filled with chocolate mousse and iced with vanilla buttercream.

Her mom had a neat Celtic cross that we added to the pink bead belt, but I didn’t get a picture with it :0(

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This cake was SO KATIE–absolutely sweet and lovely, just like her. Love this girl so much!

I just adore the rosette style cakes popular right now….they are so versatile and even works for boys’ cakes.

Speaking of, I did a rosette cross with blue fondant details for Carson’s 1st communion, along with personalized cross cookies…The cake was a 9’X13″ double-chocolate cake cut into a cross and filled with chocolate mousse filling. The banner was made of homemade marshmallow fondant hand-cut into a banner shape that I let dry for a day to keep its billowy shape. The letters were made with my tap-it letter cutters.

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I also did a few more cross cookies in pink and blue for Tessa and Gabriella.

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I made a larger version of Carson’s cross cake in blue velvet for Gabriella, but didn’t get a good picture before I sent it out the door. Things were pretty crazy around here for a few days…But here is a lovely picture of Gabriella and her half-sheet rosette cross cake at the celebration party.

Congratulations to all of these wonderfully blessed children for making their First Holy Communion! What a big day for them!

Believe it or not, I made cookies and a cake for Hannah and our small family celebration, but didn’t get a single picture. However, she didn’t seem to mind…the day was hers and she shined!!

Love you my sweet, gentle girl, so very proud of you….you’re growing up way too fast.

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1st Communion Cakes, Cookies, and Cupcakes

21 Monday Mar 2016

Posted by Laurie in Cakes, Cookies, Cupcakes

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cookies, cross-shaped cookies, double chocolate cake, First communion, homemade marshmallow fondant, rosette, Sour cream vanilla cake, Swiss Meringue Buttercream

I made this cake for a daughter of a dear friend for her 1st Communion gathering last Spring. As confirmation and 1st Communion celebrations are being planned with the coming of Easter and Spring, I thought I’d share a few ideas.

This cross-shaped rosette cake is one of my favorites…simple elegance comes to mind whenever I make it. This cake was sour cream vanilla cake with vanilla-bean Swiss meringue buttercream used to pipe the delicate rosettes. If you haven’t tried Swiss meringue buttercream, it is not as sweet at traditional buttercream but much more smooth and silky, just perfect for piping rosettes. And best of all, it tastes heavenly.

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The pink banner was hand cut from homemade marshmallow fondant and left to dry draped over some rolled up paper towels to add the illusion of movement. there were also a few dozen chocolate cupcakes piped with the same rosette for the dessert table.

Here’s another 1st communion cake idea for a smaller gathering. This is an 8″ 3-layer double chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling. The icing is vanilla-bean with white swirls piped on a smooth-iced buttercream cake. The crosses and lettering are cut from homemade marshmallow fondant. Simple and elegant.

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I love these delicate, blush pink cross cookies I made for a little girl’s 1st communion last Spring. They’re iced with fresh lemon Royal icing and piped with white dots and swirls.

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Here’s an idea for cupcakes with white chocolate crosses and pale blue buttercream swirls. And another 1st communion celebration double-layer sheet cake I did a few years ago. The Royal icing crosses and cornelli lace piping details really dress up an ordinary half-sheet cake.

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It’s always such a treat for me to creat these special sweets for such milestone events. Congrats to all the 1st communion and confirmation candidates out there!

Pink Buttercream Rose Swirl Birthday Cake

15 Sunday Feb 2015

Posted by Laurie in Cakes

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homemade marshmallow fondant, pink ombre, Raspberry Frosting, raspberry mousse filling, rosette, Sour Cream Almond

I made this cake for a dear friend for her Mother’s 80th birthday last summer. She wanted a simple, elegant cake and this buttercream rosette swirl design fit the bill.

It’s a 3-layer 8″ sour cream almond cake with raspberry mousse filling, covered in raspberry flavored buttercream with swirls made with a Wilton 1M tip. The pictures don’t show it very well, but the swirls were actually pink ombre (graduated darker at the bottom to lighter at the top). I added pink pearls to give a little shimmer and made a monogram plaque with her initials and age from homemade marshmallow fondant.