A New Year

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After much debate, a return to blogging is pulling at my heart. I have been so fantastically inspired by so many cake designers, I have to come back. I love cakes. Let the New Year begin!

Happy Holidays To All

I am a bit tardy on wishing you all a fabulous holiday season. We are still celebrating in our home, and will continue throughout the New Year. I am browsing online today looking for an amazing New Year's recipe to bring to my sister's party. I decided to pop over to see what Matthew Mead had been up to lately, only to find his recent post on my favorite kitchen accessory, The Cake Stand. He sums up how I feel precisely about my personal cake stand collection.

Please stay tuned, I am finding the perfect recipe for all of us cake devotees. Here is a hint: Champagne + Butter=Celebration!

A Little Uplifting For a Wintry Sunday

"As long as we can breathe, or eyes can see. So long lives cake, and cake gives life to thee."

-Shakespeare


So little posting here, but I had to share a Chocolate Rose Tutorial I found on a favorite blog of mine, Cake On The Brain. Enjoy! Another very pretty chocolate rose cake can be found at the blog, Jenny Bakes Cakes. Check out this picture.

Happy Fall!

Amazing Wedding Cakes Show

Where have I been? Well, apparently not watching television. I have heard for a few weeks now about the Amazing Wedding Cakes Show. How could I not want to watch this? We, however, did not get the We(T.V., that is). Rumor had it my not-too-far-away cake designer favorites, The Cakegirls, were on the show (please check out their fabulously updated site). That was enough to get me an upgrade. I now have 250 channels so that I can watch one hour of television per week. Really, I have four kids and work full time outside the home. I don't watch t.v.

Why are the Cakegirls my favorite? When searching for modern cake inspiration over two years ago, I looked for cake and Chicago and their site appeared. I told my daughters, "these girls should be on Food Network". Well, now they have been there, done that. Another swell reason I love the Cakegirls? Michiganders. Detroit-area Michiganders. They look like family, or some friends I would see at the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in Detroit. I hope the show gives me some hints....we will see! I am off to watch!

It's a Blogger's Life

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Phew! Summer has come and gone and not much blogging going on here! Our family just ran a three month long race of weekend trips to the farm, and almost nil time on the computer (gasp!).

Amid my quick trips to my favorite store, I was able to pick up some cake stands for a steal. What baker cannot use more stands for their goodies? If you are looking for a great buy on cake or dessert stands, online give ABC Distributing a try. Very reasonable for stands!

Lazy Swell Days of Summer

Blooming Hydrangea Cake

Why am I so out of commission these days? I can't even answer that one. I miss my blogging desperately, however, summer has been more than busy. My days are filled with working and nights are filled with beach time, laundry and cleaning. Thoughts of turning on the oven fade quickly when my air conditioning is already cranking. The baking bug bites me though at night when the sun has faded and our house is cooling. I realize I can't wait to get back at it....

That being said, I am taking the second Wilton class finally. Time goes by so quickly here at our Swell House and before I know it another month of no cake learning is happening. I finally have an excellent teacher who really wants us to learn the ancient art of piping.

I am still seeking knowledge from other places, and I found a great clay tutorial on Martha that is really appropriate to use for gumpaste. Check out her link on how to make a hydrangea. Just substitute gumpaste for the clay and you are all set--the best part is virtually no supplies are needed to make her hydrangeas. That is really a bonus because most cake ventures require a purchase of some sort. For a full-bloom tutorial on the buttercream hydrangea, check out Whimsical Bakehouse's tutorial on their Blooming Hydrangea Cake.

More Swell Stuff

I am having big problems uploading my favorite apron pictures, but I will send you to her website anyways. Just get an eyeful of Callie Mick's aprons and I think even the most defiant baker will agree that the apron should never go away. The logic of the apron defied my sensical ways until recently when I realized I was the only modern baker still wiping my hands on kitchen towels. Tired of looking for the towel, I realized the "always on another counter" towel could easily be replaced by the good old fashioned apron! Oh, and when you are looking around for cute aprons, you also need to try Sommer Designs. Carrie Sommers and her apron's could not be any cuter and may just make your husband want to pull out his pipe while reading the newspaper.

Not that I don't already own one. A picture of my female cousins and I was taken ten years ago at Christmas when one of the Aunt's gave each of us an apron from our beloved Grandmother's collection. It was in those apron's she made her Irish Mashed Potatoes, of which I could not stomach, onions and all. Thank goodness she usually made the onion-free, or American version, for my carb loving self. I refuse though to wear the apron from my Grandmother. Yet. First, I feel it may just be too special to wear. She died in 1988, after living since the turn of the century-last century. Second, it is in the Valley of the Unknown, a.k.a., My Hope Chest. I just don't know if I could bear to open a box full of so many momentos from years past. I fear the afternoon would be gone before me.

Thus a minuscule history on how we came to love the apron again. I will happily wear the new ones making cakes. Maybe Grandma's should be brought out on special occasions. Please pass the ba-tatas.