Curious George Birthday Party

    Yummy buttercream birthday cake with strawberry buttercream filling complete with yellow hat Weecakies!  What a Happy George Birthday Party we had!

"Trying New Things" Day

Today I tried new things.
1. I tried a new recipe for Swiss Buttercream Icing.  SUCCESS!  I LOVE IT!  Great mouth-feel and balanced sweetness!
2. I thought the colors through and actually practiced some color theory principles that I learned over 40 years ago.  SUCCESS!
3. I finally, after much research, used the correct piping tip for making rosettes.  SUCCESS!  YAY!  I could go into great detail about how important it is to use the correct tip, but suffice it to say that everywhere that I have worked I have been told:  "Oh just use this one.....It will be okay.  No one can tell the difference."  Well, I can tell the difference.  This one is the right one (Wilton #1M), and I finally have it!  (I know some of you are saying: well duh, but sometimes I am a bit dense.)
     The color-theory part:  Well, the basic principle is that when you want your painting to have a cohesive color relationship, you have to mix a bit of the base color into all of the other colors.  I have always known that, but today I concentrated on that theory and really applied it.  This photograph has not been enhanced or filtered in any way, and, (imagine that) the colors do relate to each other. That is because I mixed a bit of the brown base into each color, even the green.   Oh, and green....NEVER EVER use green right out of the bottle or jar.  Have you ever wondered why your green leaves just don't look right-they are toooooo green?  So my tip of the day is:  Always mix a bit of brown or red into your green.  Just a touch, not too much and they won't be overpowering to the rest of your colors.
     So it was a good day...Three roaring successes. YAY! YAY! YAY!  Have a happy cake decorating day!

Love,
Weecakies

Snowballs in Spring

In the neighborhood that I grew up in there was a Snowball bush that bloomed every spring.  My friends and I loved to pick those snowballs throw them at each other, bury our faces in the blooms and shower everything with the tiny flowers.  Unfortunately, the blossoming bush didn't belong to any of our families, but Grace, to whom the flowers belonged, was very generous and  would tell us that we could pick as many as we wanted, just as long as we left enough for her to take to the cemetery on Memorial Day.  We loved those flowers, and they had that wonderful clean spring smell.  Years later, I saw a Snowball Hydrangea plant at my local garden center and remembered Grace's snowballs.  So I purchased it and planted it in my own yard.  It has been twenty-some-odd years since then and today it is magnificent.  My grandchildren love to have snowball fights, showering everyone and everything with the tiny white blooms, and I love giving the blossoms to my neighbors. This spring I am celebrating my snowball bush by making Weecakie Snowballs.  The tiny flowers are all white chocolate-based and the hydrangea leaves are green chocolate.  Each flower is hand-dusted with color and placed on the dipped cake truffle.  As a matter of fact, each Snowball Weecakie has over fifty tiny blossoms on it. They are a true labor of love.
Happy Snowball-Flower-Showers!

Love, 
Weecakies