Happy Graduation!!!

My niece has struggled at school for quite a few years. .  But she overcame her obstacles and graduated  from high school this year!!!!! YIPPPEEEE!!!

I'm so proud of her and I can honestly say that she is one of my heroes.

So what does an Auntie do.....

Happy Graduation Cake

Price $250

Books are vanilla butter cake with a strawberry buttercream.

Apples and Graduation Cap is made out of Rice Crispy Treats.

Pencils, diploma, bookmark, eraser are made out of fondant/gumpaste.

This cake had some challenges. I had to make this cake in less than 24 hours. I usually make a cake with this much detail in a minimum of 3 days.

So what does mean? I rushed to get the cake finished. I didn't take my time and added extra pressure on myself.  I find that when I give myself extra time my anxiety level is much lower which makes for a more perfect cake.  Even  though I was extremely happy to do it...I won't make that kind of commitment again.  FYI...it took a total of 12 hours from beginning to end to finish this cake.

Lessons Learn: Give yourself time and everything will turn out fine.

1. I've said it before.  You cannot make a fondant cake in a hot or humid room. I of course did exactly that.  I didn't learn my own lesson.  It's okay. I am one of those people that needs to make the same mistakes over and over to finally get it.  Also the cakes weren't firm enough.  They definitely drooped but hopefully I did a good job masking it by adding all the sugar accessories. This was due to the lack of support from the cake board. I promise never to have a droopy cake again. 

I will also remember to turn on the air conditioning.  I keep forgetting to do this. I also wouldn't bake the cake on the same day.  The oven  raises the temperature in the room and ruins the fondant.

2. My buttercream was also not firm enough and it made the fondant melt right into it.  Fondant is a sugar based product and if it has too much moisture, it will disintegrate.

I really need to remember to stop adding so much milk to the buttercream.  Buttercream needs to be thin so that it spreads easily onto the cake but I think I'm just making it way too thin.

Beginning stages of graduation cap.



Rice Crispy Treat Apple covered in fondant.


This cake was also my first time using Rice Crispy Treats (RKT) for sculpturing.  One word to describe my experience with RKT...FANTASTIC.

I have truly fallen in love with Rice Crispy Treats.  It looked perfect.  It was so easy to mold and work with.  These apples were hand molded and painted. FYI...Rice Crispy Treats have to be covered in buttercream or melted chocolate before adding fondant.  This will fill in the grooves and make the fondant look smooth.

The sugar pencils and eraser were so fun to make.  They really looked like real pencils.


 I'd love to hear what you think.  Thanks again for reading.