Last blog post here

I am happy to announce the launch of our new website.   With the new site comes a new blog so everything can be streamlined.   Please visit our new blog and follow along with us there.

This page will remain active so you can view older posts of cakes however no new blog posts will be entered here.

Looking forward to staying connected with everyone on the page.   I would also love to hear your reviews of the new site. 

Changes are coming!

Over the last few months we have been putting a new website and blog together with Studiodpi.   If your a facebook user you will now be able to follow the new blog through your facebook account by following this link.

We will be adding more details in the next little while about the blog move so stay tuned and be sure to follow the new blog for upcoming contests, tutorials and more!

Fall Cake Decorating Workshop

Lets embrace Fall with a fun fall themed cake!!

In this workshop you will learn how to make some gumpaste pumpkins and a scarecrow figure. We will also decorate your cake so that it resembles a hay bale.

Date: Sunday September 18, 2011

Time: 12:00pm - 4:00pm

Location:  Jarrett Hall, Horseshoe Valley Road (in between Barrie and Orillia) 

2 workshop options are available, so please let me know which option you would like when signing up.

Option 1: Do it yourself
Cost $50 per person which included the workshop time and instruction. Use of some specialized tools. You bake your own cake and bring your own fondant, icing, tools etc. A list will be provided approximately a week prior to the workshop.

Option 2: Full Workshop
Cost $80 per person which includes the workshop time, instruction, baked cake, icing, fondant and cake boards. Use of some specialized tools. You will be required to bring a few tools such a rolling pin, knives, etc. A list will be provided approximately a week prior to the workshop.

Space is limited so sign up early to reserve your spot. Your non-refundable pre-payment must be submitted to hold your seat. E-mail transfers sent to info@smashingcakedesigns.com are accepted or please send an e-mail to arrange other payment options.

Please fell free to pass this workshop onto anyone you know that may be interested in attending or hit the share button and post it to your facebook page.

*You don't need previous cake decorating experience to attend this workshop. So feel free to join in the fun if you would like to try your hand at cake decorating for the first time.

Wedding Fun

So what happens when a cake decorator gets married?   Lots of late nights!! 

The last few weeks have been very busy.  My wedding was fast approaching so there was all the regular things to take care of and then of course the cake and treats on top of that. 

It started about 3 weeks ago with making the wedding favors.   Each favor was 2 chocolate hearts drizzled with white chocolate.

Then it was onto cookies.  I didn't want regular cookies, so I made these 3 tier wedding cake cookies.  Each cookie actually consisted of 6 cookies with 2 for each tier.   Rather then normal cookie icing, they are iced with white chocolate and finished with some gum paste flowers. 

Cake Pops make a great treat at a wedding.  They are a great finger food that also tastes great!  These were vanilla cake with cream cheese icing dipped in milk chocolate. 

Finally the cake!  I went with a simple wedding cake design because I LOVE the look of simple, elegant cakes.

 

The dessert table looked great thanks to the help of some great friends that set everything up.  Once I get the professional photos in I will share that with you. 

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

This past weekend was a birthday party for my two little munchkins.   My kids birthdays are 3 days apart so we do one big joint party every year.   It's getting a bit harder to pick themes they will both like, but since they both love ice cream this year was lots of fun.   I thought I would share some photos from this ice cream filled event with everyone. 

We played some fun ice cream themed games.   The first one was a spray painted Styrofoam ball on a ice cream cone.   They had to walk around the yard trying to keep the ball on the cone.   Once they made it back they traded in their cone for some ice cream treats.

 

Then changed up the old fashioned game of pin the tail on the donkey and everyone got some ice cream lip gloss for playing.  

The kids then made their own ice cream sundaes.....yummy

 

 For the cake I made a large ice cream bar style cake.   Lemon flavoured cake (picked by my son) covered in fondant.  The stick is made from gum paste so it would hold up in the heat.  

To keep on track with the theme all the items in the loot bags were ice cream themed as well.   I made some ice cream bar chocolate treats that were also included in everyone's bag.  

 

That was our ice cream parlor birthday party.   The kids are already putting in their requests for next years party, so let the planning begin again :) 

My, my it has been some time since I posted something.   I don't know where the month of July has gone.   I took some time off to do some more kitchen renovations and I have been working on some fun treats that I will post later.

Today I wanted to share a link to another blog called Birthday Girl.  She posts some great ideas and I am particularly in love with the S'more blog from yesterday so I thought I would share these fun treats.  http://www.birthdaygirlblog.com/2011/07/please-sir-may-i-have-smores.html   Enjoy!!

School Books

Yesterday was our book cake workshop.   I took this opportunity to turn my books into something fun and suitable for his Kindergarten class.  

The thing I love about book cakes is that each time you do them you can achieve different looks and personalize them for the recipient. 

This will mark the end of our workshops for the summer months.    We will start back up again in September, so be sure to keep your eye out for updates.   Also you can send an  e-mail to info@smashingcakedesigns.com and request to be added to our workshop distribution list to be sure you stay up to date and don't miss out :)  

One more week until Father's Day

Father's Day is fast approaching.   Be sure to order your chocolate gift sets for Dad by Monday.   Chocolate gift sets are only $12 each and you can choose from the following themes:
Motorcycles
Vehicles
Hockey
Golf
Police
Fire Fighter
Teacher (also makes a great Teacher gift for the end of school)

Tools
DAD - Solid chocolate letters

You can e-mail your orders to info@smashingcakedesigns.com

Book Workshop

A book cake is the perfect cake for the end of the school year. Come out and learn how to make a small stack of books out of cake. Each participant will be able to create their own feel for the books, so we could have some books for the younger kids up to designs best suited for adults.

This is also planned for the last Sunday in June for those of you wanting to send the cakes to school for the end of the year party.

2 workshop options are available, so please let me know which option you would like when signing up.

Option 1: Do it yourself
Cost $50 per person which included the workshop time and instruction. Use of some specialized tools. You bake your own cake and bring your own fondant, icing, tools etc. A list will be provided approximately a week prior to the workshop.

Option 2: Full Workshop
Cost $90 per person which includes the workshop time, instruction, baked cakes, icing, fondant and cake boards. Use of some specialized tools. You will be required to bring a few tools such a rolling pin, knives, etc. A list will be provided approximately a week prior to the workshop.

Space is limited so sign up early to reserve your spot. Your non-refundable pre-payment must be submitted to hold your seat. I accept e-mail transfers to info@smashingcakedesigns.com or please send an e-mail to arrange other payment options.

Please fell free to pass this workshop onto anyone you know that may be interested in attending or hit the share button and post it to your facebook page. 

Date: Sunday June 26, 2011
Time: 11:00am - 4:00pm
Location: Jarrett Hall, Horseshoe Valley Road, Oro-Medonte

Another Great Workshop

We did a full day of workshops yesterday and what a day it was.   I must say I have some great ladies that come out to the workshops which makes the day full of laughs.   I don't know what I look forward to more, the cake making or the time to hang out with these great ladies. 

We made 2 cakes yesterday a purse and a golf bag.   I didn't do the golf bag cake as I gave my cakes to one of the ladies as she was short on baking time.   Their golf bags turned out great!   I missed getting a photo, but will try to snag one from one of them.

Here is my purse from the workshop.

Fire Helmet

This as a fun cake to make.  I have wanted to do one for sometime so it was great to finally have the opportunity.   This was for a local firefighter celebrating his 40th birthday.  

This cake is a true to size replica of the helmet.

Love of pink

This birthday girl was celebrating her 21st birthday in style.   She loves the colour pink so it was easy to bring in as much of her favorite colour as possible in this cake.

Spiderman

This weekend was my Nephews 2nd birthday.   It was just a small family gathering so I wanted to keep the cake simple but fun for him.   Like many little boys right now Spiderman is a top favorite for them so it was cute to see his face light up when the cake was presented to him.   

Treats for Dad

Before we know it Father's Day will be here.  What are you doing for Dad this year?   Here is a sweet deal that you and Dad will enjoy.   Pre-order your chocolate gift set this week only and receive a second set at half price - last day for the pre-order sale will be Friday May 20th.  Gift sets are $12 each and only $6 for your second set!

Here are a few examples of some great gift sets for Dad.   If there is something specific you are looking for send us a message as we may have it or be able to get it for you.    Each chocolate is packaged individually then placed in a gift box so it is ready to give to Dad. 

Click here to send us your order by e-mail. 

Welcome Payton

A personalized cookie platter is a great way to send that special message.   These cookies were for the arrival of little baby Payton.   This was a great treat for the new parents and guests coming to see baby Payton.

Congratulations to her family!

Happy Mother's Day

There are so many great Mother's out there so Happy Mother's Day to all of you!

This cake was delivered today to a local retirement home for their Mother's Day celebration.  It was an honor to make this cake for a group of amazing Mother's and Grandmother's.

Royal Wedding Cake

A local retirement home was having a special Royal Wedding Celebration.   We were asked to make a 2 tier wedding cake for the celebration that included the flowers from the four corners of the UK - English Rose, Welsh Daffodil, Irish Shamrock and a Scottish Thistle.  

The bottom tier of the cake is chocolate and the top tier is fruit cake.   

Golf Bag Workshop

Father's Day is coming up in June, so join us on Sunday May 29^th from 11am – 5pm at the Jarrett Hall on Horseshoe Valley Road to learn how to make a great cake for Dad.

During this workshop, you will create a 3D golf bag cake with some gumpaste golf clubs, balls and tees. I will show you step by step how to carve and create your golf bag.

2 workshop options are available, so please let me know which option you would like when signing up.

Option 1: Do it yourself
Cost $60 per person which included the workshop time and instruction. Use of some specialized tools. You bake your own cake and bring your own fondant, icing, tools etc. A list will be provided approximately a week prior to the workshop.

Option 2: Full Workshop
Cost $95 per person which includes the workshop time, instruction, a baked cake, icing, fondant and cake board. Use of some specialized tools. You will be required to bring a few tools such a rolling pin, knives, etc. A list will be provided approximately a week prior to the workshop.

Space is limited so sign up early to reserve your spot. Your non-refundable pre-payment must be submitted to hold your seat. I accept e-mail transfers to info@smashingcakedesigns.com or please send an e-mail to arrange other payment options.

Please fell free to pass this workshop onto anyone you know that may be interested in attending or hit the share button and post it to your facebook page.

Quack-Quack

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend.  We had a great dinner with family yesterday.   Of course a cake needed to accompany dinner so this is the cake I made for our dinner this year.

This is also a great example of how you can change a plan and still have it work out for you.   I had originally baked the cake to make a 3D egg, I was then going to decorate it so that the egg was cracking and you could see the little chick legs and a few feathers.  So on Saturday when I sat down to decorate the cake I honestly just didn't feel like making cake anymore.   I recalled seeing a cute chick cake on Cake Central last week so thought, why not.   So the top of egg cake was cut off, stood on it's side rather then laying down and a few hours later Quack-Quack was born.  

Now, I don't  normally name my cakes.   This was the result of my daughter who yelled Quack-Quack as soon as she seen the cake.  So everyone at dinner was calling the cake Quack-Quack yesterday.  Which admittedly made it a little harder to cut into in front of the kids.   Luckily they are all cake lovers and were pretty happy to be getting a piece of cake.

Last call for the purse workshop

There are still a few spots open for the purse workshop being held next weekend.   If your interested please sign up ASAP as the supply details will be sent out in a few days.

Please see the Original Post  for more details.

Broken Eggs

As a baker this is not what you want your egg carton to look when you open it.   Luckily these eggs were saved before hand and turned into this fun Easter time cake. 

Egg carton is real, the eggs are mini cupcakes with pudding yolks and chocolate egg shells.

Strawberry Shortcake

For all those parents with young girls, you know that Strawberry Shortcake is very popular again.   
I love the bright colours of this cake.   The strawberry is cake carved to resemble a strawberry then covered in fondant.   Cake flavours are strawberry and banana cream....yummy!

Chocolate, lots of chocolate

I admit it, I am a chocoholic! Smashing Cake Designs is happy to launch a new chocolate line. Gift sets always make great little gifts, so order your chocolate gift set today. Here are a FEW samples of what we have, please ask if there is something in particular you would like as we have many other molds.

Chocoholic Diet Pill.
1/2 pound of chocolate $5

Tractor Set.
Packaged individually in a gift box $12.

 Fire Fighter Set.
Packaged individually in a gift box $12.

 

Bingo Card $4

 

Cupcakes.
Packaged individually, set of 3 $10

 

Police Set.

Packaged individually in a gift box $12

School Set.
Packaged individually in a gift box $12.

 

Tool Set.
Packaged individually in a gift box $12.

Fondant Newbie

Interested in signing up for a fondant workshop, but don't have any previous skills using fondant or decorating a cake? Don't let that stop you! When you attend a Smashing Cake Designs workshop you will be shown step by step how to complete the project. You will also learn lots of tricks of the trade to help you make other cakes at home.

Meet Melissa. Melissa has attended a few cupcake workshops over the last year, but has never completed a full cake or worked with fondant. Melissa came out to the last fondant workshop to give it a try. She brought her rolling pin and a knife and all other supplies/products where provided to her signing up for the full workshop.

Great cake Melissa!

English Major

This cake was for a young lady heading to university this weekend to start her summer studies.

3D Purse Workshop

Our next fondant workshop will be held on Sunday May 1^st from 12pm-5pm at the Jarrett Hall in Oro-Medonte.  

During this workshop, you will create a 3D purse cake with some gumpaste make-up. I will show you step by step how to carve and create your purse.   The purse in the workshop will not be identical to the on below as I like to create new designs when possible ;)

2 workshop options are available, so please let me know which option you would like when signing up.

Option 1: Do it yourself
Cost $50 per person which included the workshop time and instruction. Use of some specialized tools. You bake your own cake and bring your own fondant, icing, tools etc. A list will be provided approximately a week prior to the workshop.

Option 2: Full Workshop
Cost $80 per person which includes the workshop time, instruction, a baked cake, icing, fondant and cake board. Use of some specialized tools. You will be required to bring a few tools such a rolling pin, knives, etc. A list will be provided approximately a week prior to the workshop.

Space is limited so sign up early to reserve your spot. Your non-refundable pre-payment must be submitted to hold your seat. I accept e-mail transfers to info@smashingcakedesigns.com or please send an e-mail to arrange other payment options.

Please fell free to pass this workshop onto anyone you know that may be interested in attending.

Last call for the spring workshop

The spring cake decorating workshop is only a week away.   There are a few spots open for anyone still wanting to join in.  

Here is the link for the original post http://smashingcakedesigns.blogspot.com/2011/03/spring-workshop.html    Sign up ASAP to have yours supply list sent to you.   

Don't be afraid to join us if you don't have previous cake decorating experience.  I will walk you though how to make this cake.   Ask about our prepared workshop kits as well for those of you without the correct cake pans to bake the cake or assess to all of the supplies. 

Jamaican Rum Shack

This was a last minute cake order that I received this week.   The customer went on a trip to Jamaica recently with some friends and is getting together with them for dinner tonight.   So to bring back the memories of Jamaica what is better then a Jamaican inspired cake for dessert......okay, while maybe some Jamaican Rum would have also been appreciated.    So I came up with making this Jamaican Rum Shack for them.  

Spring Workshop

Join us on Sunday March 20, 2011 and learn how to make this pond themed cake just in time for spring.   The workshop will start at 12:30pm at the Jarrett Hall on Horseshoe Valley Road.   We will add a few more gumpaste figures such as a snail, lady bugs and a tree.....so this is a great workshop if you want to learn more about modeling figures. 

Space is limited so sign up early to reserve your spot.  Pre-payment of $50 must be submitted to hold your seat.  I accept e-mail transfers to info@smashingcakedesigns.com or please send an e-mail to arrange other payment options.  

You will be e-mailed about a week prior to the workshop with a list of items required.   Such items will included, fondant, roller, fondant mat.   You can make a real cake or a dummy cake for the purpose of this workshop.

Catching up

Sorry I have been absent for awhile.   We were without internet for some time so I wasn't able to upload photos onto this site.
 
This one was for a 40th birthday party.  The whole cake is edible.

I will post a photo soon of another cake that was made in February.   I am going to offer a workshop on the cake, so will post a photo with the workshop info.....so stay tuned.

Goodies for school parties

The kitchen was full of chocolate today.   Lots of chocolate lollipops are ready to be handed out in school on Valentines Day. 

Looking for something different to send with your kids?   Punch a hole in your valentines card and put them through the ribbon on these lollipops for the kids to hand out this year.