American Baker in Germany

 Recently, Queen Elizabeth II of England passed away. She served as Queen for more than 70 years. This is absolutely the end of an era. I knew I had to mark it with a cake. I started out by frosting a 6-inch cake dummy with vegan American buttercream. I colored some fondant burgundy red. And I covered the cake with it. I must admit that lots went wrong with this cake and it started with the folding and cracking of the fondant. It just wasn't very elastic. I also covered a 4-inch cake dummy with the same burgundy fondant with the same cracking and folding problems. Then I made some old gold fondant using yellow and brown food coloring. I added a border along the bottom of the cake. Then I made some strips. And wrapped them around the bottom and top of the top tier. I also added a ball of gold fondant on top. I added chunks of gold fondant spaced around the top tier. These are just supports. Then I rolled a thick stripe and textured it with a texture tool. Then I laid it over the chu...

 This cake was as a memorial for a viewer of mine who lost her son. Anyone who has ever lost a loved one knows how devastating it can be. It helps to talk about it and to do something for that person, even if they can't be there. This is my version. I frosted an 8-inch cake dummy with vegan American buttercream. I mixed up some sky blue fondant. And covered the cake with it. Then, with darker blue, I used a fondant press mold and pressed out the letters to make the phrase "too beautiful for earth". I used a feather mold to make a whole bunch of feathers and placed them on the cake to look like angel wings. Then I made some small white stars and dispersed them around the side of the cake. This cake is supposed to give a heavenly feeling. I hope I was able to achieve that. Because those we've lost are all too beautiful for earth and we who are left behind miss them. I hope someone finds comfort in my work as well. Watch us make this touching cake on our YouTube channel ...

It's been 20 years since September 11th, 2001. I can't believe it's been 20 years. I was in college when the twin towers were destroyed. I remember it so vividly. I will never forget. I knew that I had to make a memorial cake. I am definitely not trying to trivialize anything. This is just how I work through my own feelings about what I experienced that day and hope that is speaks to others as well. I made a batch of vegan American buttercream and colored it black, red, blue and two shades of green. I frosted a sheet cake dummy with white buttercream. I printed out a picture of the lower 48 United States. I traced around the cut out with a toothpick. And I traced the outline of the twin towers inside the US map. They look different because the twin towers actually didn't line up. They were more like catty corner from each other. They weren't in a line. So, no matter where you were standing when looking at them, the perspective would never be exact. Then I put the bu...