Joyce Gourmet

Given only a day to design & create this army retirement cake, I was working through the night after my girls went to bed.  The gel icing colors I had to use for decorating this cake were standard green, brown, black, & ivory.  It took me trial and error to blend the colors to create the "army" camouflage colors.  The camouflage was made with vanilla buttercream.  I was asked to write: "Happy Retirement" as well as, "Well Done, Good & Faithful Servant" so I needed to make sure the background would allow the words to be legible.  So I opted to keep the center an ivory color, and use forest green buttercream for the words. Waiting for the cake to cool, I created the dog tags, which were the only things requested.  I had extra time in the morning, so I created the grenades and the bullets.  I used cupcake gem balls for the dog tag chain, only had white pearl, so I painted them with edible silver dust.  I also painted the dog tags with edible

  My favorite type of cake is the Japanese spongecake.  Combine that with Hello Kitty for a Japanese themed birthday and Japanese Strawberry Shortcake (Japan's spongecake) topped with Hello Kitty, but this time wearing a Japanese summertime Kimono, or Yukata. Autumn, a budding artist, enjoys drawing Japanese anime characters.  She has even created her own manga comic book with its own storyline.  She has a passion for learning Japanese, singing & dancing to Japanese songs, drawing Japanese characters, and of course love for Hello Kitty. So when her mother asked me for some ideas for Autumn's birthday party, I mentioned, "What about Japanese themed party?"  I could teach the girls how to make rolled sushi.  When asked to make her birthday cake, I knew I had to incorporate Hello Kitty wearing a Japanese Yukata to Autumn's request for a lightly sweetened cake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. Each of the 8 & 10 inch tiers had triple layers of

Hello Kitty is still one of the most sought after characters especially by teen girls, but not to exclude anyone, especially myself.  I was excited to be asked to make a Hello Kitty & Luau themed birthday cake for a friend's daughter's birthday.  The requirements were: sweet yellow cake & super sweet frosting. Got it!  The many detailed fondant pieces took over a week to create, especially because my 3 year old daughter was excited to play with what she thought was "play dough" and I would help her blend colors to create her own masterpieces (not used for the Hello Kitty Luau cake).  Most of the pieces had to be made after my girls went down for the night.  As time allowed, I would add pieces to fill up the cake.  My favorite fondant decoration on the cake: Hello Kitty wearing a red bikini with a hibiscus flower on her head. Once the 6, 8, and 10 inch cake tiers were baked, cooled, filled, crumb coated, the top tier was covered in light blue rolled fond

Anpanman is one of Japan's favorite childhood characters.  I was honored to make an Anpanman cake for a friend's son's 2nd birthday.  The cake was a Japanese Strawberry Shortcake, Japan's spongecake, a light and moist cake, which is triple layered in each tier with fresh juicy strawberries and whipped cream for the filling.  The icing is, of course, lightly sweetened whipped cream. Sponge cakes use so many eggs, especially when each tier is 10 & 12 inches!   "I LOVE BAKING, especially CAKES!"   Claire says, "It's too loud for Fiona~" Almost ready... Manual stirring to settle the bubbles for the last couple of minutes :-) Looks about right :-) 12 inches of perfection! Now to bake another 12 inch layer and two 10 inch layers... Anpanman cake topper, made from fondant, placed on top of the 10 inch & 12 inch cake tiers   Masaki ate at least 2 servings himself~