Mosaic Pillow Cake!

I'm especially proud of this one, even though it didn't turn out like the one I was trying to replicate out of my book. The cake itself is butter cake with a meringue vanilla buttercream frosting and lemon filling. It was delicious!! The cake is covered first with tinted fondant, then I used a ruler and xacto knife to create the cuts, then hand painted each one with lemon extract mixed with different colors of luster dust. Then I created a rolled fondant cord and wrapped it around the perimeter. Super fun!

Fairy cake for a five year old little girl

So I made this cake for one of my daughter's little friends, and though i had a very tough time getting the fondant around the cake rounds, I definitely learned alot. I'm so lucky to have such great friends that let me practice on them! Everyone absolutely loved this cake, flaws and all, and I was thrilled that the birthday girl was so happy. The cake is actually a "checkerboard" cake, made with chocolate and vanilla cake, layered and baked in a way that once stacked, the three layers form a checkerboard pattern on the inside. It's easier than you might think in that there are cake pan inserts that allow you to parse out the two batters, and the recipe is provided on the back of the insert box. I did use that recipe, however next time I'd use the 1-2-3 butter cake recipe from Kate Sullivan's book, Fun & Fancy Cake Decorating: Tips and Techniques for Decorating Unique Cakes For Any Occasion. I'd definitely recommend this book if you have at least a basic background in baking. It's challenging but doable!

For this cake, I made the fondant and gumpaste flowers in advance, so they could dry. I then painted them with pink paste food coloring and luster dust to give them a lovely sheen. I also made the red butterfly in advance, and just used fondant, although there is another technique I'd like to use, where you cut out the wings, then attach them to a royal icing body, and hold the wings in place with wadded up pieces of paper towel. Once dry, you can paint them. Although all i had at the time was red food coloring paste, I'd recommend using the powder instead, as it tends to give it a more robust color with less streaks. I made the fairy out of marzipan, then painted and gave her a final dusting with pink luster dust. So sweet!!

Welcome to Kelley's Cakes!!

Welcome to Kelley's Cakes, a labor of love started in my home kitchen.
Combining my infatuation with all things sweet and fun, I strive to deliver the
best cakes possible, tailoring each cake to the uniqueness of my clientele,
and using only the best ingredients, including organic butter, eggs and flour. I tend to specialize in the whimsical as you can see from the picture to the left, rather than the traditional, and offer very competitive prices. I have tons of different shaped pans, and can make just about any cake type of flavor. The cakes to the left were made for a graduation, and each "book" cake is layered with chocolate and vanilla cake, with a bittersweet chocolate ganache and strawberry filling. The decorations are fondant and gumpaste, painted with food color paste and luster dust. The diploma is fondant, and written on with food coloring pens.

I started this blog to talk about cake making, get ideas and allow customers to check out the cakes I've made and are working on. Hope to hear from you!