Square Watermelons | Growing Square Watermelons | Urban Farmer

Try growing Square watermelons yourself!!!!!! it could be a whole lot of fun. Sugar baby is a great variety to make square watermelons.

Have as much fun as you can in your garden by growing square watermelons. 


Square Watermelons | Growing Square Watermelons | Urban Farmer

Graduation Cake Ideas

I did this graduation cake for a lawyer client of mine. Glad she so much love this chocolate cake with all the law inspired themes on it indicating her profession.

The Minnie Mouse Theme Cake

This is a Minnie mouse inspired theme cake. Perfect birthday cake for your sweet daughter. I just love the bow tie . So why don't you think of this inspired theme birthday cake from Minnie when next your little girl's birthday comes up.

Mr Mickey Mouse Cake

A two tier mickey mouse birthday cake. I did love to call this cake Mr Mickey Mouse. Suitable for your little boy's birthday party, will really make him so glad, wowww.... in fact you fill it up yourselves.

Make-up purse cake

Make-up purse birthday cake . A perfect gift for a ladies birthday. So guys get working and see that your lady deserve this perfect gift for her birthday, very sure she did be really glad .

Champagne Cake

 This is a champagne inspired birthday cake design made for a client of mine for a loved one. She so much love this cake and am glad I proposed this great idea for her.

Trends in cake designs

Wow I have been pretty busy .............time to do some work.

Cake trends come and go with the seasons, months and years just like clothing.  Sometimes these trends come back into fashion but often what is popular in the past simply stays there as techniques or available ingredients and tools get more advanced. As little as ten years ago pre-made fondant and gum paste was either completely unavailable, too expensive to consider or really bad quality. Now you can pretty much get anything you need at the local craft or kitchen store. Cake decorating styles have changed a great deal over the last 20 years and it is interesting to see the progression and growth in this industry.

Cake versus Decorations: Cakes used to be quite simple because the actual cake was the star of the show not the decorations on the outside. Taste was the key and it was usually clean easy to identify flavors such as chocolate, French vanilla or strawberry in a simple butter cream and cake. Not we have glazes, curds, cream, confits, washes as well as an assortment of icing types. We see mango, peppermint, pomegranate, carrot, pumpkin, lime, peanut butter, apple and caramel in the cakes found today. As well as a combination of several in one cake or more than one cake flavor in an assortment of cakes. Basically if you can dream it; the taste can be done.

Different Shapes: Back in the day there were round cakes and if you wanted to be really daring square cakes. Now cakes can be hexagons, hearts, rectangles, a mixture of shapes and even sculpted into realistic objects such as shoes, purses, cars and full scenes. Wedding themes make ocean cakes, snow covered hills, scattered fall leaves or even fishing brides and grooms popular. The days of cake tiers separated demurely by plastic fluted columns topped with sedate plastic figures are basically gone. Basically anything goes with today's cakes and variety is almost expected by the guests.

Centerpiece Cakes and Cupcakes: This is a trend that was not around 20 years ago and cake pops were definitely not on the radar. Cupcakes were not elegant enough for a serious occasion like a wedding and were more likely to be found at bake sales and children's birthday parties. Cupcakes have gained popularity because they can be anything required by a theme or event; elegant, whimsical and simply gorgeous. They make multiple flavors easy and can be topped by flowers, cut outs and pretty swirls of icing that reflect the color scheme of the event. Centerpiece cakes are equally pretty and can be cut to serve individually as the dessert at the table it graces. Towering cupcake stands and pedestals designed for centerpiece creations make serving and presenting these delectable cake creations effortless.

Color, Color, Color: People have always used bold vibrant colors in their cake design but the products used to create these shades has definitely changed over the years. Getting true red in icing used to mean a finished product that had a nasty chemical taste which tended to take away from the enjoyment of the cake. Older food coloring used to mean unhealthy ingredients and a disturbing link to hyperactivity which made many cake designers opt out of using them. The food colors used today can be made from organic natural dyes created from vegetables and fruits. This gives people the choice and creates cakes that reflect the trend towards "green". Synthetic dyes are still on the market but many harmful ingredients have been phased out over the years as well.

Trends in cake design have definitely evolved over the years but one trend that seems to be gaining popularity is a hearkening back to days in the past. Antique crystal cake pedestals, designs that reflect Grandma's lace veil and cakes featuring vintage jewelry replicated in sugar are popping up all over. This seems to show that many things are possible but embracing what was beautiful and historical is never out of fashion.

My Cake Pictures

Cake decorating tips

In learning all the tricks of cake decorating can take a really long time and most old time cake  designers confess that they are never done discovering wonderful techniques or tricks to create better designs. Here are a few important tricks to help you in your cake decorating adventures.

 Royal Icing& Butter-cream Tips

• Most of the decorations you usually pipe using butter-cream can also be piped using royal icing.
• Butter-cream covered cakes that have been refrigerated  for long will in some occasion sweat when removed from the fridge. Don't panic at this point, simply leave the cake sitting at room temperature until the moisture is reabsorbed.
•  It is important to not use any utensils or piping bags that have been used for butter-cream for royal icing because it will definitely break down when exposed to any type of fat or grease. So to be on the safe side make sure you use a different Plastic piping bags 
• Never pipe royal icing on a butter-cream iced cake, it will definitely ruin it.

Piping Tips

• Make sure your icing is stiff enough for piping otherwise your design will collapse. Try a practice of basket weave or rosette and watch if the detail disappears and becomes smooth.
• When piping ruffles as a border at the bottom of a cake you should ensure the heavy part of the design is against the cake to hide it. The "ruffle" will be on the outside.
• When piping swags on an iced cake always take the time to measure around the cake with a flexible tape measure and mark exactly where each swag should begin and end to ensure even spacing.

Fondant  Tips

• To remove air pockets from a fondant covered cake use a pin or toothpick to prick the pocket and then gently smooth the air out using a fondant smoother. This is similar to removing air bubbles from wallpaper
• Coloring white fondant to black using black paste is impossible because the fondant will end up gray. Try creating dark green first, then add brown color and finally the black in stages. This will create a true black.
• If the  fondant is a too soft try adding  tylose or gum tragacath (cmc) to the fondant to make it strong, more elastic and less likely to tear when rolling or shaping designs.
• Always Store your  fondant cut outs in a sealed container or wrapped in plastic until you need them or they might dry out .
•  Knead a little vegetable shortening into fondant before covering a cake with the fondant to make sure that cracking at the shoulder or seams will be at a minimum.

Gum Paste Tips

• If your gum paste is too dry knead a little white vegetable shortening into it before using to soften the gum paste and make it easier to use.
• Use luster dust to make the pollen on the flower centers of lilies. Load a paint brush heavily with yellow lustre dust and apply liberally to the flower.
• Always make extra wired petals or leaves when creating gum paste flowers in case of breakage or color mishaps.

General Tips

Always practice your design element before trying it on the cake to ensure the flow and texture of the icing is perfect. When a top tier is placed on the bottom tiers it is important to cut the dowels so the cake will sink slightly into the top. This will eliminate the need to pipe a wide border to hide the cake board and gap.when applying colours to your fondant , it is safer to add colours in smaller amounts until you get the consistency you need. same also apply when creating icing colors , always add the paste or gel color in small amounts using a clean tooth pick. Stir to incorporate the color completely and then continue adding color until the icing is exactly the right shade. It is much easier to add color than remove it.

Okay friends do have fun decorating. You can add your comments also ...............

Valentine day's cake

Pretty decorated cake creations are a wonderful choice for Valentine's Day because this holiday is all about sensual treats and passion. What is more passionate than a great cake created with love and attention? There are no rules to making a Valentine's Day cake but there are definitely long established colors, shapes and flavors associated with this day that can be called upon to make a cake that is perfect for the occasion.

• Preferred Color: You cannot get away from red on Valentine's Day or pink either. This is true for cake decorating as well for the holiday associated with lovers. Red is supposed to reflect passion and can be used judiciously or with a heavy hand on your cake. If you are covering the entire creation with red icing or butter-cream it might be a good idea to accent with pretty white or pale pink to offset the richness of the background. Also, the cake flavor encased completely in red should probably be something other than red velvet. You don't want to overwhelm your Valentine with too much of a good thing!
• Hearts: Valentine's Day is all about heart shapes in cards, candies, and of course cakes and cupcakes. Heart shaped cakes are easy to create with the many pans available in kitchen and craft stores. Wedding cakes are often formed into hearts to reflect romantic themes so the most romantic of holidays also utilizes this shape. Do not attempt to cover this shape with fondant if you are a beginner at cake decorating because it can be very tricky to get the angles and curves perfect. Any desired cake decorating element looks pretty with a heart shaped cake or cupcake but be careful not to obscure the shape when adding your decorations.
• Chocolate:Chocolates are a tradition which cannot be avoided on Valentine's Day. This delectable flavor can be a perfect choice for a cake or cupcake. Nothing is more decadent than moist dense dark chocolate cake with swirls of  Chocolate ganache or a mound of chocolate curls. Finish the top with pretty candy red hearts or a full blown red rose accent and your presentation is complete. You can even push a scrumptious truffle into the center of your chocolate cupcake before icing it for a lovely surprise. 
• Flowers: Flowers are an entire industry on Valentine's Day and can be wonderful on cakes and cupcakes especially roses in red, white and pink. Roses are undeniably romantic but if your sweetheart has a bloom that has more meaning then accent the preferred flowers with pretty rose buds.  Try piping flowers in royal icing or creations made from gum paste or fondant.

Basic Chocolate Cake

This cake is easy to bake, and everyone loves it. With a little frosting it can make for a very nice birthday cake especially if you top it with special cake toppers or edible image. Enjoy!

Ingredients

150g	dark chocolate coarsely chopped
150g	butter, cut to cubes
1 cup	white sugar
3	eggs
140g	self-raising flour, sifted
100g	chopped hazel nuts
160g	chocolate chips
24 cm round cake pan, oiled

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Melt the chocolate, butter and sugar in Bain-marie. Remove from heat. Add the eggs one by one, and beat well after each egg. 2. Add the nuts, chocolate chips and flour, and stir into a smooth mixture. 3. Pour the mixture into the pan and bake for about 40 minutes, until toothpick stuck in center of cake comes out with moist crumbs. Cool on a rack.