Its Official!!

Pink Box Bake Shop has officially taken the step and secured the location for the new shop. 

We have been truly blessed to have found a GREAT location with plenty of parking, blessed to have found an AWESOME landlord (God Bless him & his brother) for all they are doing to contribute to our success. An awesome church family.  The best Plumber we could ever have been blessed with .... Pookie from Pookies plumbing, who is not only fair in his pricing, but is the most patient and professional plumber John and I have ever met... since he has had to figure out the enigma of pipes and sample ports *sigh*.

Generous and wonderful friends who have pitched in, picked up a paint brush and helped me get my kitchen officially painted. (Thank you Lois and Tracye!)... even though they were anti-mint green... so design change.  (Gotta please the customers lol) 

Most of all I have been truly blessed with the most AWESOME kids and AWESOME husband!!  With their support, none of it would ever have happened!  Love you guys.

So, a little about the shop.

First off the website for it is http://www.pinkboxbakeshop.com/

The shop features an area for me to create Cake Art with big windows so you can watch if you want.  The front part is a retail and classroom portion to teach beginners to advanced classes in cake, details, flowers you name it and offer supplies for our love.  We will learn everything there is to learn.  Maybe when things get up and going we an invite some big names to grace our prescence.

PBBS has a fun and whimsical side with its light pink walls, hot pink, green and chocolate accents (sounds weird but looks GREAT!).  We are set to open the Cake shop by Oct 15 (thats the goal at least), but the retail portion is getting worked on a bit more.  So hoping before Christmas... if not then Januaryish.

The retail portion will have a book and DVD area with video of cake shows and techniques playing. 

With Gods blessing, we are geared to having a place where everyone can come together and share our love of cake, cookie and candy art!!

So keep in touch.  The business has offically been blessed!  Now its up to God to do what he wants with it.

S

Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend

Diamonds ARE a girls best friend, especially if you are getting hitched!  Here is my latest adventure in cake for a wonderful lady tying the knot in October. (Good Luck Crystal).

The cake was a yummy RED VELVET with CREAM CHEESE filling and iced in CREAM CHEESE ....yummm!!

The box was made by using fondant panels that were cut just a bit larger than I would need and dried for 3 days with a bit of Tylose kneaded in to help it harden (aka Gumpaste), then "gently" cut to size after the cake was baked, torted, filled and iced.

The lid was made by using the same size pan (10x10)  I was going to bake the cakes in.
It is made out of gumpaste which was rolled out and dried a top the pan that was doused heavily in cornstarch on top and criscoe on the sides to prevent lifting.

I wish I could say the diamond is made of sugar... well, I tried... 9 times!!  But working with sugar is sooo TEMPERMENTAL!!  It was either not cooked to the right temp so it turned into a big blob, it was too humid and sticky, it turned amber colored....and each time it takes about 30-45 minutes to cool on top of the 30 minutes it took to get the sugar measured and cooked!!  ARGHHH!

So...the next formal sugar class that is offered I AM TAKING!!!

Icing Smiles

Sometimes we get a bit wrapped into our own little world and we miss that there is a world out there bigger than us . 

I want to share something that has inspired me...

There is an awesome lady out there starting a Non-Profit Organization called ICING SMILES (http://www.icingsmiles.org/Site/Welcome.html) This is a place where we can, as bakers and cake artists contribute our talents to those families who have children that are very ill. 

The mission is stated best by this following quote :
"The smiling face of a child can light up the darkest room and warm even the coldest heart. When a child is seriously ill, sometimes a smile is the thing they need most. That is why we are so excited about the mission of Icing Smiles. Birthdays can be very difficult for children who are enduring a difficult illness in the hospital and receiving a very special cake helps children feel especially loved. Everyone loves to be surprised with a cake on their birthday. It is a tradition that is loved by children and adults alike. The gift of a cake that is specially designed for each child can make a tremendous difference in the life of a child when they need it most. We are thrilled to be partnering with Tracy Quisenberry and her team of bakers to brighten the lives of children being treated at Nationwide Children’s Hospital."
- Ryan Wilkins, Ronald McDonald House of Central Ohio

If you are interested in volunteering your time, or teaming up with me to volunteer.  Please let me know and I would be happy to partner with you.!!

Ahoy There Matey!

Hi everyone!!

It's been a while since I have posted...but here it is.  I know, I know... I'm such a slacker!

Well here is my latest cake fun... all for a good friend...someone who is worth their weight in gold.  Her son had his 21st birthday... so she left me in charge (with creative liberty I might add) of the cake!!  Ohhh myyy.

So this is what I came up with.  She told me he was a tattoo artist and loved pirates.  What better combination than a skeleton pirate ...lookin scarrry and cool at the same time.

Only specific request was ... it had to be strawberry cake.  So it was... with white chocolate truffle filling.  YUM!!

Only thing is... this was cake number "2"  as cake number "1" decided to give me grief and fall apart, due my terrible support system. (the arms didnt have support so they fell off) .. soooo cake number 2 had to be thrown together without any sleep starting Midnight on Saturday night.... and delivered to the birthday BBQ (catered by the Mustang....YUMMMM) by 1pm Sunday.

But God works in mysterious ways... Cake number 2 looked a heck of a  lot better than #1... so all worked out for the better.

...only drawback is that when I took this picture, I forgot to add the other treasure chest full of jewels spilling out....and more of the edible gold coins.... *sigh*  lack of sleep... brain fried... all a terrible combination.

Blessings for looking!

Below are pix of the disaster  ... my sweet love is trying to help me "Rigg" it so it will stop splitting down  the middle... to no avail.  I had to scrap it and start baking and re-doing EVERYTHING at midnight *sigh*

My Baby Turned 5!!!

Here is the youngest of my children.  Jess.... she goes off to school this year..((yikes)).  So she decided she wanted a "Princess Swim Party"... is that an oxymoron or what??  Swimming and Princess??  

But before we could swim in our princess attire... we had to celebrate our family tradition.  "Teddy Bear Pancakes" ... every birthday we all wake up (early sometimes) and make teddy bear shaped pancakes.  The kids get to load it up and decorate their own personal teddy head with whipped cream, cherries, chocolate chips, sprinkles... anything I can find in my baking cabinet that can stuck on a bear head and eaten.

Here are their masterpieces!!!

All the wonderful people who came to join us at Jess's birthday...and a Pinata (she called a Yadda)

And here is the Princess herself.  (Of course I had to make her a cake... what kind of mom would I be if I didn't)

Graduation Time

Hi... its that time of the year.  Kids becoming kids no more.  Now productive members of society going off to college and making their parents proud. 

Here is my latest bit of cake fun.  Kassidy's Graduation Cake.  For a wonderful young lady who is into Musicals, Hot Pink, Shopping and Fun.  She is graduating from St. Josephs and going on to TLU so I tried to incorporate the colors of her past, future and present onto her cake.

St. Joe's Royal and White
TLU's Black and Gold
and her favorite color HOT PINK (gotta love that girl!!)

She also loves the musicals Grease, Hairspray, and High School Musical (Zac is soooo dreamy... LOL)
so I added a bit of that into her design.

And her two favorite kitty cats.

Kassidy was also encased in sugar.  Yup... that sugar.  Fondant/Gumpaste to be exact.  I used a tutorial by Lorraine out of the UK which was AWESOME and easy to follow.  Also a wonderful friend (Tracye) who does exceptional sugar figures was my beginning inspiration and taught me the basic how-to's.  Thank you TRACYE!!!

Just like anything... I make a preliminary sketch which is always subject to change and improvement as the art comes together... it started with this sketch and turned into ...

Without futher ado... here is my art.

A bit of bling on the Marquee announcing her graduation.  That was made with Piping Gel and Hologram glitter.

Here is Kassidy on her phone bragging to her friends about earning her Diploma and going off on her own!

Thanks for checking me out!

Latest Cake Fun

Hi everyone!! Welcome back!!

Here is the latest round of cakes that I have had the pleasure to play with.  The first one was for a wonderful lady's retirement.  The flowers are made with a 50/50 fondant gumpaste mix and color washed to add depth of color (although my junky camera can't show it)

The next cake shown was for my sons best friend and Bakugon fan.  My inspriation came from Claudia of Cakerific (who is my newest favorite blog to visit).  She does phenominal work.  If you get a chance stop by there and check out her ART!!  It is jaw dropping.  Of course her version puts my cake to shame (I proudly wear the cone of shame next her)

Mine (pix left)

Hers:  http://cakerific.blogspot.com/2009/02/carzy-cool-cakes.html

No comparison... hers blows mine out of the water!

(Someday I may grow up to be like her... but it wouldn't be until I'm well into my 100's)