Gum Paste Flower Cake and Cupcakes

This beautiful cake and cupcake tower was created for a retirement gathering.  The cake was taken home by Joyce, the lucky retiree, while the 90 cupcakes were quickly devoured by her colleagues remaining on the job! 

The tower consisted of red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, lemon poppy seed cupcakes with lemon curd and Swiss meringue buttercream as well as chocolate cupcakes with chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream.  Every cupcake had a handmade gum paste leaf and flower.  The cake was a chocolate cake with a filling of bittersweet ganache and chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream frosting.  It was covered in handmade fondant and more than 50 gum paste buds and blossoms.  I love how the cake resembled a spring hat.  I loved the way it all came together and I wish Joyce many years of happiness and good health!

Wedding Reception Cake & Cookies

After a small and beautiful Cuban wedding at Christmas time, Sarie and Larry planned a reception closer to home for the family and friends who could not attend the wedding.  Using their invitation as inspiration, I was asked to create a cake and bonbonnieres for their guests.  This project was a labour of love and the gold and cream invitation provided a great jumping off point to create the two-tiered cake and matching cookies.

I achieved the golden flowers on the cake with fondant and royal icing and used 24 carat edible lustre dust to bring some sparkle to the cake. 

For the cookies I used royal icing in various shades and used the 24 carat edible lustre dust on a few of the flowers' elements to bring in the sparkle.  I wrapped each cookie in a celephane bag that I finished with a card thanking the guests.  Wishing you a happy life together, Sarie and Larry!

Bridal Shower Cake and Cupcakes

Jan was put in charge of her niece's bridal shower cake.  She knew she wanted something feminine, with a purple colour palate and something that would be easy for the guests to enjoy in the casual atmosphere of the bridal shower.  I suggested that a cutting cake might add a nice touch, so, we settled on a small cake and cupcakes, with a custom stand to match.  The flavours are chocolate butter cake and white butter cake (alternating layers in the cake) with Swiss meringue buttercream and various shades and sizes of purple gum paste flowers and leaves.

Wishing Jan's niece and her husband-to-be wonderful life filled with happiness.

Fantasy Flower 65th Birthday Cake

Designing and creating a cake for a special occasion; a milestone birthday, a child's birthday, an anniversary or a wedding always fills me with such a feeling of joy.  As I work on the cake I feel my craft will help make the occasion even more special and I always feel honoured for the request and the ability to add something really special to the day.  When the delivery takes place, I leave before the guests arrive and rarely witness the guest reaction to the cake and its taste. 

Last weekend my wonderful mother-in-law turned 65 and my father-in-law planned a surprise party for her.  He hesitated asking me for the cake because the party was two hours away on a hot July day.  I really wanted to do this cake and I went to work creating an elegant design that I felt would suit her beautiful, kind and loving nature.  It is not often I get to design a cake from scratch and this one was an extra special project.

I started by creating these fantasy flowers that shimmered with lustre dust and reminded me of sea shells, perfect for my m-i-l who loves to travel.  Then I baked up layers of chocolate butter cake and white butter cake and alternated them with my delicious Swiss meringue buttercream tinted the softest shade of coral.  I fashioned an elegant 65 out of gum paste and placed it on top of this beauty.

After a harrowing 2 hour drive in 32 degree celcius heat, the cake arrived at its destination intact.  It was a different experience to be there as the cake was cut and served.  I suspect that like every cake delivery I make, the cake became a focal point that people could talk about, study and eventually taste.  The incredibly positive feedback added a happy element to the party for me and I was so happy that my mother-in-law loved it as well.  I wish you many more happy and healthy years, Jackie!

Sequined Wedding Cake

Just as fashion styles change over the years, so do wedding cake styles - do you remember the style of your wedding cake?  Since the fall, fashion-inspired cakes have become all the rage.  With this in mind, I designed and created this simple, yet beautiful wedding cake.  With a sleek colour palate and the added sparkle of the silver and white sequins, this cake embodies this year's hottest wedding cake style!

Photo Frame Birthday Cake

To celebrate my mother's 80th birthday, I wanted to make an extra special cake. What could I create to commemorate 80 years of a wonderful life? I decided to frame photographs in handmade sugar frames, flowers and other little touches to honour her.  This is the design:
 

I started with green fondant (her favourite colour) covering the 4 tiers. I spent many, many hours crafting picture frames out of gum paste and royal icing, which I then tinted silver with edible lustre dust.

I made roses out of gum paste, which I coloured in varying shades of orange.  Orange is the colour (and last name) of the Dutch royal family.  It is the colour all Dutch people consider their very own - have you ever seen the Dutch fans at a sporting event?  Since we are Dutch, it was the colour of choice!

Then I added the street signs of her most significant addresses, including the Valentijnkade in Amsterdam where she was born on Valentine's day! In Holland the street signs, in blue, are attached to the corner house of the street. For this reason I attached the Dutch street signs directly onto the cake. Her most significant address in Canada is in green on a post, as is typical of that street.

My mom has always loved crocheting, knitting, embroidering and made a living with sewing for many years. I honoured that with yarn, embroidery floss and thread made out of fondant and a crochet hook, needle and thimble out of gum paste. On the embroidery thread and the crochet hook I made a few small references to the number 80, that being her number of years!

Lastly are the flags of Holland and Canada, to signify the exciting move my family made in the 1970's.

This was an incredible project that was extremely special for me to undertake and I hope you like it!  Happy birthday Moeder Miep - wishing you many happy and healthy years!

Flavours - Red Velvet Cake

Red Velvet Cake is a popular flavour of cake, originally achieved with the addition of beets and traditionally served with Cream Cheese Frosting.  The more modern way to achieve the red colour is with red food colouring, as I do here.  My recipe also includes a small amount of cocoa for a mild chocolate taste. 

Layers of my Red Velvet Cake are filled and frosted with Cream Cheese Frosting.  Delicious! Just one bite and you'll know why this traditional cake is still so popular today!

Flavours - Double Almond Cake

One of the best memories of living in the Netherlands as a little girl might just be coffee time.  On the day my parents were expecting company or on a special day like a birthday, one of them would hop on their bicycle and ride to the local bakery where they would pick up a variety of "gebakjes".  These small, individual pastries would range from Dutch Napoleons made with puff pastry, whipped and pastry creams, to fresh fruit pastries, to various slices of cake, including mocha, chocolate and whipped cream and fruit.  Soon, there would be hot, strong coffee, lots of loud and excited voices, happy feelings and the sweet tastes of the delicious Dutch pastries.

I live in Canada now, and now I make sophisticated cakes and desserts in the North American style.  The recipe for my next cake came from a Julia Child cooking show which aired in the mid-1990s.  A relatively unknown Martha Stewart was a guest and she demonstrated this cake.  I searched high and low for the recipes, and when I had them I put them all together.  Then I tasted the cake,... this taste I had experienced before - on one of those long ago mornings with my parents and brothers and cousins.  This was on the menu at those Dutch pastry shops!  Happy, happy memories and awesome taste!

This one starts with three layers of Dense Almond Cake.  Each layer is brushed with Apricot Preserves and topped with an Almond Dacquoise, which is essentially an almond meringue.  The dacquoise is topped with and the entire cake is frosted in a Rum-flavoured Swiss Meringue Buttercream.  The result has a slight boozy taste, there is a bit of crunch from the dacquoise and a hint of sweet from the apricot.  The cake is moist and delicious and this will be my birthday cake from this point forward.  I'll brew some strong coffee and add the love of my family and friends and it will take me back in time!

Flavours - Chocolate Lover's Cake

This one's for the purist!  This cake is all chocolate; no fruit, no nuts, nothing to adulterate the true flavours of the chocolate. 

It starts with layers of Devil's Food Cake, made with coffee to bring out the chocolate flavour. The  layers are filled with Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache and Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream and the entire cake is covered in Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream and is just plain awesome!

Flavours - Caramel Apple Cake

This lightly spiced Apple Cake is dense and moist.  Each of the four layers is smothered with Caramel Cream Cheese filling and the entire cake is frosted in luxurious Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream.  It is a lovely flavour very suitable to autumn, although it's fresh flavour will be welcome all year!

Flavours - Banana Cake

Chocolate chip banana bread is a family favourite and I knew I needed a similar flavour on my cake menu.  This is the cake I came up with and it surpasses all expectations!  It starts with four moist and fragrant layers of Banana Cake studded with pecans, and it is filled with rich bittersweet Chocolate Ganache and frosted in Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

Flavours - Mocha Cake

Today's flavour is my delicious Mocha Cake.  It starts with three layers of sinfully rich Devil's Food Cake, each generously brushed with Coffee Syrup.  The bottom layer is covered with a delicious layer of Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache, the next layer with Swiss Meringue Buttercream and finally the whole towering cake is covered in Coffee Swiss Meringue Buttercream.  A coffee lover's dream.

Flavours - Brown Sugar Marble Cake

Introducing a flavour that once and for all ends the rumour that vanilla is boring!  This is my Brown Sugar Marble Cake and I make it by combining two vanilla batters, one made with white sugar, the other made with brown sugar and marbling them to give this subtle but delicious effect.  Frosted in Brown Sugar Swiss Meringue Buttercream, this cake combines all the simple but beautiful flavours my products are known for, fresh butter, eggs and milk, pure Madagascar bourbon vanilla, sugars and flours.  For your next event, you can prove that vanilla is awesome.

Flavours - Carrot Cake

A classic!  This beautiful dessert features three layers of moist and delicious carrot cake, flavoured with vanilla beans and buttermilk and spiced with a hint of cinnamon and ginger and cloves.  The layers are then filled and topped with sinfully delicious cream cheese frosting.

Flavours - Chocolate Cherry Cake

Today I am presenting my Chocolate Cherry Cake.  It starts with four layers of rich Chocolate Butter Cake, each brushed with a Kirsch syrup.  This cake is then filled with a Dark Chocolate Ganache mixed with Kirsch-soaked Cherries and frosted in Whipped Dark Chocolate Ganache.  This cake is a chocolate-lover's dream and is rich and moist and full of boozy flavour.  Is this the one for your next special event?

Flavours - Coconut Cake

This beauty starts with three delicious layers of my moist Coconut Cake, it is filled and frosted with Coconut Swiss Meringue Buttercream and is covered with shredded and flaked coconut.  Luscious Coconut Crème Anglaise is spooned onto each plate before serving.  Through much experimentation, I have found this is the perfect recipe with just the right amount of coconut flavour.  If you are a coconut lover and think this is the flavour for your next special occasion cake, let us talk!

Flavours - Chocolate Mint Cake

Sometimes guidance is nice.  With that in mind, over the next few weeks I'm describing my most popular flavours.  And, because a picture is worth a thousand words, each flavour will be accompanied by a picture of how a slice will look on your birthday or wedding reception plate. 

My Chocolate Mint cake starts with 4 rich and flavourful layers of dark Chocolate Devil's Food cake, and is filled and frosted with Mint Swiss Meringue Buttercream and covered in fondant.  The slice of cake is made complete with these handcrafted mint-chocolate leaves.

Chocolate Mint Cake

This simple but beautiful cake combines the classic flavours of chocolate and mint! Chocolate cake and mint buttercream, covered in mint green tinted fondant and enhanced with simple satin ribbons make this cake gorgeous and delicious!

Meringue Flowers and the Cake Show

A few weeks ago I had the privilege to learn the art of meringue flowers from the great Wendy Kromer, who was guest teaching the Bonnie Gordon School. Afterwards, I decided to put a cake showing off my newly acquired skills in the Cake Show, held this past weekend in Toronto.

And so here is the cake I made and exhibited at the show. A beautiful 4-tiered cake, covered in white and pink meringue flowers and leaves, with the bottom tier covered in a brown sugar meringue basketweave.

The idea of covering a cake in meringue flowers and decorations really appeals to me. It has an organic look I really love and the crunch and taste of the meringue is so wonderful. They are beautiful decorations your guests will really enjoy eating. An added bonus is that these decorations are both gluten and dairy free.

Gum Paste Roses Cake

A friend came to me with a special request. She wanted a beautiful cake for a birthday celebration and one last delicious indulgence before starting a diet. Inspired by my cupcakes with the gum paste flowers, she gave me some freedom to create something beautiful. I, in turn, was inspired by a beautiful small cake I had once seen in a wedding book - cakes that did double duty as both cakes and centerpieces. 

I crafted beautiful pink roses, smaller light green and white roses, as well as buds and leaves and sweet little bell flowers out of gum paste.  Almost forgotten are the flavours of this cake - which were delicious Chocolate Butter Cake, Chocolate Ganache Filling and Vanilla Bean Swiss Meringue Buttercream. I think the tiny vanilla bean seeds add real character to this cake.