Taylor Swift Guitar Cake

Birthday's are special - which is why I work to make sure so many children have cakes for theirs.  So when my own children have their birthday it is a really big deal to me.  And when it is my youngest turning 18 - it's time to go all out!  She loves music and is planning to go into production.  She also loves country music so naturally one of her favorite artists is Taylor Swift.  Add the fact that she loves sparkles, rhinestones and all things that glitter - the combination just seemed too obvious to ignore.  Taylor Swift's silver rhinestoned guitar made into a cake!  I got my dad to make a stand to make sure that the cake would be in an upright position as if it were a real guitar.  Since I wanted to make sure it was fairly true to life, the size was a little more cake than we needed so I used the "rice krispy treat" trick to fill in part of it. 

I originally expected to make it sparkly by just using edible "disco" dust, but it was hinted to me that to be authentic there should be some kind of texture of rhinestones on it too.  So with that challenge in mind I embarked on my first attempted at Isomalt sugar and poured gemstones.  I am very glad that I ordered more than I thought I needed because I used it all!  I learned the value of staying away from tap water and using either bottled or distilled water.  Especially since I was making clear ones.

There were quite a few challenges with it, including the fact that it was so hot that day the fondant wanted to start slipping off and the handle had a phyics issue with staying in place - but I think it turned out pretty well!  It was sooo sparkly too with the holographic dust that I used but the lighting outside made it hard to capture in a picture.  It really did though!   

Barbies and ponies

What little girl doesn't like Barbies and ponies?  My husband and I thought our daughter was just like that when she was 5.  She had a Barbie cake for her birthday and begged for a pony.  By the time she was 9 we finally believed that she might really want to ride and caved in.  12 years later she is about to become a professional trainer and contiues to challenge herself to jump to higher and higher levels.  She is going to college about 3000 miles away from home and I was able to finally see her ride recently in a special clinic/competition called the Emerging Athletes Program.  Ok, yes, this is a blatently "proud momma" post so far, but let's face it - I am :)  It also took me far from my kitchen for a while! 

Now that I'm back and baking again I found myself doing a Barbie cake.  It was fun because it did remind me of that cake so long ago when the ponies were just a little girls fantasy.  This time it was for another special girl who doesn't have the opportunity to ride ponies too.  After coming home from my visit I was a little sad so it was nice to have the opportunity to reminise.  Then delivering the cake and watching the eyes light up of the birthday girl, gave me the boost of energy I needed to keep baking every week :)

Crazy busy and baking

I can't believe how busy life gets some times!  From the first of June I have had my daughters high school graduation, a week of taking care of her while she had a flare up of her autoimmune disease (the worst one in a long time!), dress rehersals for her dance recital, her 15th & final dance recital itself, a week of vacation - her senior trip & visiting my oldest daughter, the 4th of July holiday and finally the same daughter's 18th birthday!  Wow, now that I write all of that out, no wonder I'm tired and I've spent alot of time with Audrey! 

While all of this was going on I was still baking and taking care of the nonprofit that I run - www.freecakesforkidsspokane.com I still have some pictures to download and I'm almost, almost, caught up but here are some from all the activities I liste above. . .

yellow cake with strawberry filling & whipping cream frosting

part of the 4th celebrations