Baby Shower and a Frosting Tip

 And here is the final cake project of the month.  I made three dozen orange crush cupcakes (rememberthose?) with teeny, tiny gum paste toppers for a baby shower.

 

Because the toppers were small, I used fine point food coloring markers to add the details.

I also tested an AMAZING tip from Dollar Store Crafts that I discovered on Pinterest.  How on earth did I manage before Pinterest?

Generally, I don’t mind getting messy and sticky while playing with food.  It’s all part of the process. However, after the glow of another successful cake has worn off, dealing with a messy clean-up is another matter altogether.

 

Instead of filling the frosting bags, scoop the frosting onto a piece of plastic wrap.

Wrap the plastic wrap around the frosting and twist the ends closed (check out the video).

Put the coupler in the bag like you usually do and drop the wrapped frosting inside, pulling one of the twisted ends through the end.

Snip off the plastic tail and attach the frosting tip.

Clean-up is even easier – just pull the plastic out of the bag.  Genius!

Baby Cakes

My thoughts keep turning to the beach these days, partly because it’s August and just about everyone I know is on or returning from vacation, but mostly because I’m waiting for a very important call telling me it’s time to head to the shore. My sister (the one who lives at the beach) is expecting her third child. About ten days ago, her doctor told her she could deliver at any time. Now, every time the phone rings, I make a mad lunge for it, hoping it’s my sister or brother-in-law calling with good news.

In honor of my nephew’s imminent arrival, I thought I’d share some baby shower cakes.

The sand castle was for a tropical shower. I iced the chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting and then covered it with crushed graham crackers. The decorations are chocolates molded in various seashell shapes.

I created a jungle cake for a baby with a jungle-themed nursery. For the party, guests were asked to bring items to hang on a clothes line. I incorporated that idea in the cake by attaching fondant baby outfits to a wire strung between the cakes.

The wire served another purpose, as well. It was a humid weekend and unfortunately, the fondant palm leaves started to droop - a lot. I ended up creating wire frames to attach to the tops of the pretzel rod tree trunks. Then I draped the leaves over the wire supports. Now I know it would have been better to use gum paste instead of fondant for the leaves. Lesson learned.

The shower guests may have felt a bit like cannibals eating these cupcakes, but the idea was so cute I just had to try it. To celebrate the arrival of a baby girl, I baked pink strawberry cupcakes in bright pink liners.