Cake Decorating Final!

I graduated! But before I could I had to make this final cake. It was supposed to be a wedding cake, but it was like a mini wedding cake. We had to meet certain criteria, and I tried to make that work as much as possible and still have a cute cake. I think it turned out pretty good! It is covered in Italian buttercream, and has fondant and buttercream accents. Here are some pictures:

The tealish stripes are fondant and the flowers on top are made out of gum paste. Gum paste is like fondant but it can dry much harder than fondant. 

I think that having fondant and gum paste accents on a buttercream covered cake is a great alternative to having a cake completely decorated in fondant for a couple of reasons. Reason one, I don't think fondant tastes that great, and yes people can peel it off but buttercream is just so much more delicious. Reason two, I think it is really cute! You can still do everything you would do with a fondant covered cake. Reason three, it is cheaper, I know some people are not concerned with this, but for those of us that would rather pay less, you get a better tasteing cake for cheaper, and it can look just as great! Win Win Win!

Birthday Cake

I made this birthday cake for my friends birthday. It is a yellow cake with grapefruit curd filling and swiss butter cream. I got the recipe for the frosting from Martha right here. I think it turned out pretty good! Here are some pictures:

Also this next month I will be doing two wedding cakes so I will get those posted as they get done.

Cupcakes!

I made these cupcakes to try out a new frosting, it is an Italian meringue buttercream flavored with white chocolate. This frosting is much smoother and lighter than an American buttercream (powdered sugar, butter, and milk).

To decorate them I used a large closed star tip and a large rose tip.

So here they are: