Papertrey Ink meet Cake

Now as some of you may know...I'm a Papertrey Ink junkie...they are my "go to" sets...and what do I do when I'm stumped for ideas for decorating a cake...go hide out in my rubber room and get inspired... and that's what Papertrey Ink's "Wreath for all Seasons" did...inspired my Thanksgiving cake below. This is a devil's food cake, the chocolate buttercream icing and a rasperry jam filling (TIP: to get a jam type filling to setup nicely, 1st make a ring of icing about 1/4" from the cake's edge, being sure that it is a completely solid ring. 2nd ADD a box of jello that is the same flavor as your jam. I used seedless raspberry (Smuckers) and added a box of raspberry jello... I micorwaved the jam for 60 seconds, stirred and then continued microwaving in 30 second increments until the jam was liquidy...I then poured it all into a bowl, added the jello and then put approximately 1/2 on the cake. I then put the cake in the refer for about 15 - 20 minutes...long enough for the jam to solidify some, I then added the second layer). I then iced my cake with buttercream icing and then I melted some chocolate candy wafers and piped my grapevine wreath on top. I then melted some red candy wafers and made my "berries". Then I added my shell border. Thanks for joining me today!

Cupcake Bouquet

When I saw this on one of my favorite cake decorator sites (cakecentral.com), I had to recreate it...and let me tell you this is impressive and ssoooooooo easy... I'll give written directions here, but for those that have fast internet here's the You Tube instuctions, it's super easy! You'll need:
Flower Pot
1/2 ROUND styrofoam ball
Toothpicks
Approximately 5 Cupcakes decorated like roses (use tip 1M for frosting)
Greenery
Wire cutters (for greenery)

• Place styrofoam ball in flower pot, rounded side up, making sure the top is even with the top of the pot.
• Place 2 toothpicks in the center and top of the styrofoam ball, giving them an inch or two in spacing...this is what you'll put the cupcake on...
• Repeat this going around the ball, spacing your toothpicks out for the cupcakes
• Now, starting with one of the sets of toothpicks on the side, pull out, put toothpicks 1/2 in cupcake and then place cupcake with toothpicks back into the styrofoam ball with the holes you just made. Repeat with the remaining cupcakes, ENDING with the cupcake on top.
• Fill in the spaces with the greenery, trimming as needed.
• Done!
  

Diaper Daze...

Ok, true enough, this is yet "another" cake...but it's a DIAPER CAKE...non-edible...LOL.... I just LOVE making these...I'm always excited when I hear about a mommy-to-be...I start planning my diaper cake post haste! Then I wait on pins and needles to find out girl or boy and nursery decor. This cake in particular I'm not at all sure about Nursery decor, but who doesn't LOVE a teddy bear?

The particular cake below is called a BOUTIQUE DIAPER CAKE and you can find FREE INSTRUCTIONS HERE. The reason I PREFER Boutique diaper cakes is because they are quicker to make and the diapers don't have to be rolled, making it easier for the parents to use later on. My particular cake here uses 3 different cake pan sizes...12", 8", and 6" (and I didn't pack the 6" too full so I could "squeeze" it a little smaller.)
There is a dowl rod going through the center of all the cakes for stability and the teddy bear is attached with a rubber band around his hand that goes around the dowl rod...I then tucked a foot underneath the 2nd layer of the cake to keep him stable...once the diaper cake is put into shrink basket wrap and shrunk he will be securely in place. I also added some silk flowers as a topper...I collect inexpensive silk flowers through out the year for just such purposes...I also like to wrap with them too instead of bows...so pretty!
A view from the top looking down....