Summer Time!

It's officially summer!  Woo hoo!  (No, seriously...look on your calendar.  It even says Summer Begins or something along those lines.  If it doesn't, then it should; maybe it's time to upgrade? Hmm?)

Anywho, regardless of your calendar superiority or lack there of, how about these pretty coral and daisy yellow damask sugar cookies to start us off?

My first time to ever stencil a design onto cookies using royal icing.  (Refer to middle cookie, front row.)  Turned out pretty well and, I must say, the application went much quicker than I anticipated it would.

Ooo...check out these daisy and number 1 topped cupcakes and smash cake.  Hot pink!  Lime Green!  Purple!  Fun summer colors if I do say so myself...

Of course, summer isn't really off to a good start until you see lots of sunshine.  (And heat, but we'll gladly stay away from that as long as possible.)  These cupcakes are portable, flower themed doses of sunshine yellow.  

Admit it, just the color brightened your day, didn't it?  See, it works!

Summer time is all about vacations!  And, what better place to visit than the ocean.  You might even encounter a few friendly sea dwelling animals.

Fish, sharks, turtles, crabs, and octupi...oh my!  And, can I just say I love the turtle's expression in the picture above.  (Made you look twice, huh?)

This cake is almost entirely buttercream; the only fondant to be found is in the inscription on the board the and "1" the octopus is holding.  Everything else is buttercream.  Yes, I said buttercream.  

I think I'm going to refer to my technique and attempt as "modified figure piping" because I know it is nowhere near, not within many, many miles, of what can be accomplished by someone who actually knows how to figure pipe.  (If you're curious, Google "Roland Winbeckler figure piping" or just "figure piping," you'll get a nice broad spectrum of images showcasing the good, the bad, and the ugly.)

This marks the end of the summer time theme.  The three cakes that follow are fabulous, but my weary mind didn't seem to be able to find suitable ways to tie them in with those above.  *sigh*

A farewell cake for our local Baptist Student Union leader.  The stained glass window was created using fondant and royal icing; the inscription was cut using the Silhouette and icing sheets.

Have you got the fever?  Bieber fever!  Buttercream cake with fondant details and accents.  The iPod screen is an edible image, the microphone topper was molded from rice krispy treats, then covered in fondant.

Basic German chocolate cake.  Why no decoration?  Because it wasn't for anything specific, I just couldn't bring myself to waste the homemade coconut pecan icing.  So I whipped up this little beauty and made sure it went to a good home!

Talk to you soon!