Spring Bows

Where do cake decorator's find inspiration?

Other than looking at beautiful cakes designed by others, we often look to the occasion's specifics such as the invitation, location and theme. For instance, my good friend's cousin designed these beautiful little embellished invitations for her surprise bridal shower and they were just too cute to ignore. I knew immediately that I wanted to make a special cake for the shower based on this design.

[Check out Jillian's custom designs at jillzawistowski.com]

I had planned a 2 tier round cake covered in ivory Satin Ice fondant:

Unfortunately the shower was postponed due to a crazy snow storm which made it unsafe for everyone to travel. I had already made the cake and decorations but didn't put it together yet... so I froze it. [FYI - Satin Ice fondant freezes well, I just wrapped it carefully with plastic wrap a million times and ended up using the top 6" tier for my tulip Easter cake after thawing it thoroughly.] The shower ended up no longer being a surprise and was held this past weekend at the bride's mother's house in New Jersey. Since I was traveling by train, I modified my original design to a more simple 8" round yellow butter cake covered in vanilla buttercream. I used the same ribbon accent from the invite and made my own flower and button decorations.

Sticking with the bow theme... this is the first fondant covered cake I made in cake decorating class. It's very simple but perfect to show off the fondant roses and bows we learned to make.

Here's another practice cake I made for decorating class. It was done in the fall but it's more appropriate to show as a springtime cake. I planned to make it for my dad because his favorite flowers are pansies but I couldn't transport it to him... so I ate it. Sorry dad.