Bridal Shower Cupcakes

When my daughter was in high school, she had this little group of girls she would hang around with.  There were 2 of them that were especially close to her.  Now that they are in their mid 20's, they are still very close.  The third amigo is getting married at the end of summer, and the other two were throwing her a bridal shower.  The colors for the wedding are yellow and blue.  Her wedding dress is almost all lace, so I wanted to reflect that in the cupcake theme.

I made both chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, put pale yellow buttercream frosting on them all and then decorated them with a blue flower and some pearl dragees.  The girls had given me an idea for a bridal dress on the top of the cupcake tower, so I made a cake using a Pyrex bowl.  I then covered that with white fondant and pressed my lace mold over the bottom of the dress to mimic the lace in the actual gown.

I heard rave reviews from the bride-to-be, as well as the two girls throwing the party.  I don't think I have ever been more nervous or more proud of something I've created.

Here is the final product...

Ruffle cake

So...this is my first attempt at a ruffle cake.

I guess it could be worse.  It is, however, like a Monet painting.  From far away, really pretty.  When you get closer, you can see aallllllllll of the imperfections.  

I have been baking away this week.  My son's high school is hosting an indoor guard/percussion competition, and we are having a bake sale.  So on top of that, because I am a little crazy, dumb, overzealous, I decided I would make this cake for the judges room.  

It seems that karma/reality has a way of knocking you down a few pegs occasionally.  I was feeling so prepared for this cake to just zip together perfectly.  I was organized, I was prepared, I had allowed myself ample time and then BAM!  Karma, Murphy's Law, whatever you want to call it.  My chocolate cake is super moist and it did not like being stacked and crumb coated for some reason.  It kept trying to behave like an earthquake cake.

I went with my go-to chocolate and vanilla cake recipes.  I used a basic buttercream to crumb coat.  Earlier in the week, I made the marshmallow fondant and then the flowers.  Finally finished fighting with the cake at about 2:30 a.m. and here is the final product.