Cloud Nine Confections - Blog

Cloud Nine Confections

Margarita Cupcakes and Raspberry Mango Cake

8/15/2018

When I learned one of my favorite people was moving to a new job, I offered to make the cake for her farewell party and then started trying to narrow down the flavors. I couldn't decide between two recipes so decided to make them both!

These margarita cupcakes with tequila lime Italian meringue buttercream were SO good! The cake contains frozen margarita mix and it's so light and airy! I topped each cupcake with a lime slice and a cocktail umbrella.

The cake was raspberry cake layers with a mango Swiss meringue buttercream. Both the cake and the icing used freeze dried powder instead of fresh fruit and the flavor was really good! I topped the cake with freeze dried raspberries, mint leaves and fresh raspberries.

Baseball Cake

8/4/2018

There are two different flavors of cake layers in this cake. Vanilla confetti cake and strawberry confetti cake. The recipe actually calls for you to make homemade sprinkles, which I had never done before... and may never do again. This amount of green sprinkles took me about 45 minutes to make before I gave up and went to the store to buy sprinkles. I did use these homemade ones though and they do taste better than the ones you buy in the store, if you happen to have a free day to only pipe sprinkles!

There are also two kinds of filling in this cake - strawberry cream filling and confetti buttercream. The combination of all of these parts together is really delicious!

Even with sprinkles in the buttercream, I was able to ice it smooth before the fondant went on!

The logo is entirely made from fondant and I was happy with how well it turned out! The baseball hat is constructed from rice cereal treats covered in fondant.

The baseball and bat are also rice cereal treats covered in fondant. The lacing on the baseball was piped with piping gel. The cake is sitting on a real home base plate glued to a cake drum for stability.

The real test for this cake is going to be if it can survive a mid summers day drive to Seattle! Fingers crossed!!

Tree Bark Wedding Cake with Hummingbirds and Flowers

6/30/2018

The inside of this wedding cake was Riesling cake layers brushed with strawberry rhubarb compote, rhubarb buttercream and almond oat crumble. Even once baked, the cake tasted like white wine. I found the texture a bit dry and crumbly on its own but once paired with the buttercream, compote and crumble, it was delicious!

The cake has a number of gumpaste flowers on it. It had been years since I made a magnolia!

It has also been a number of years since I made a garden rose and I had only ever made one in my life prior to this cake! I especially love the string centers on gumpaste garden roses.

The gumpaste hummingbird feeding on the gumpaste lily was BY FAR the most complicated element on this cake! And I'm really happy with how it turned out!

The engraved initials on the front of the middle tier really personalize the cake!

And no wedding would be complete without bride and groom ducks! :) This particular wedding was in a backyard on a river so the ducks are quite fitting. I struggled with making these ducks but they turned out quite good in the end!

All in all, this is my FAVORITE cake I have ever made! It definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone and forced me to gain more skills too! Here's hoping that the wedding was beautiful and that the couple will have a lifetime of happiness ahead!

Desigual Cake

5/17/2018

When I was first asked to make a Desigual cake, I didn't even know what that was. It turns out it's a fashion designer, one I really really like - and the designs translate well into cake! I have been so so excited about this cake at every step through the design process until it was finished.

First, the flavor! I got to try another recipe from the Layered cookbook. This was an apple spice cake with apple cider caramel, pecan oat crumble and dulce de leche buttercream. As with every other recipe from the Layered book, this one was delicious! The apple cider caramel was especially interesting. It takes a long long time to reduce apple cider down to the consistency needed but the end result is yummy!

I found this Desigual handbag in a little store in Courtenay, BC and I thought these modern abstract flowers would make the perfect topper for the cake!

This tote bag was in the same store in Courtenay and I thought it would be a great base for the cake. I covered a cake drum in tan fondant, let it dry, covered that with a sheet of white fondant and cut the pattern out with an exacto knife. I brushed the entire surface with champagne petal dust and steamed it to try to make it look "leathery". I added a ribbon to the edge to mimic the strap from the tote.

I knew I wanted to cover the cake in black fondant almost immediately as many of Desigual's designs feature bright colors on a dark background and it has amazing impact. When I found this shirt, I thought the pattern would be good for the cake.

I added another fondant painted disc to the front of the cake but wanted to distinguish it from the pattern from the shirt. I did so by piping with many colors of royal icing in a pattern similar to many Desigual designs. And I love the contrast between the black fondant, the bright colors and the vibrant pink flower.

I love many parts of this cake but I think this flower is my very favorite of all!

The cake had designs on the back too which were also "freestyled" to try to look like some Desigual patterns. All in all, this is by far the cake I am proudest of so far! When I first envisioned the cake, I wasn't entirely sure I could pull it off and I'm so happy that it worked!

Hummingbird Cupcakes

4/25/2018

These were banana-pineapple spice cupcakes with the best cream cheese frosting I have ever had and maple candied pecans. I tried to make dried pineapple flowers to use as toppers but the pineapple would not dry out no matter how long I left it for. I'll try those again at some point but at least the cupcakes were good!

Hummingbirds Cake

4/13/2018

It's been over a year since my last fondant decorated cake! Seems hard to believe. I was glad to see that I hadn't forgotten how to do it though! :) Making the hummingbirds out of gumpaste was fairly challenging, especially the suspended one feeding from a flower!

The bottom tier was vanilla bean sour cream cake filled with raspberry cheesecake filling iced with white chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream and it was really good! The buttercream seemed smoother than normal somehow and the flavors all worked really well together.

The top tier was vanilla bean sour cream filled with cherry ganache and iced in white chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream. That was good too but not as good as the raspberry cheesecake filling in my opinion.

The outside of the cake is decorated with fondant branches, flowers, leaves and butterflies. I added a few painted details as well.

I was really happy with how this hummingbird turned out. Strangely enough, I have another cake in a few months that I need to make hummingbirds for so this was a practice run!

Pink Peppercorn Cake

3/6/2018

Anyone who knows me knows if I see a recipe that sounds a little unusual, you can count on me to try it! When I saw a cake with pink peppercorns in it in the Layered cookbook, I knew immediately I would try it!

This cake was almond butter cake layers filled with homemade cherry balsamic jam iced in pink peppercorn Swiss meringue buttercream topped with crispy meringue kisses. It was really fantastic. The almond and cherry flavors go really well together and the hints of balsamic and pink peppercorn leave a slighly more exotic twist on your palate but it's subtle enough that this cake was loved by everyone who tried it!

Raspberry Stout Cake

12/18/2017

This cake was made from chocolate stout cake layers filled with raspberry cheesecake filling topped with dark chocolate ganache and pieces of raspberry pretzel chocolate bark. I was almost a month late making this cake for a friend's birthday, and a milestone birthday at that, so I knew it had to be a good one!

The raspberry pretzel bark was both beautiful and delicious! I will say finding freeze dried berries in Canada is a bit of a hassle! I typically don't like anything with stout but this cake was absolutely amazing and I will definitely make it again!!

Coconut Mojito Cake

10/24/2017

This is the first cake from the Layered cookbook that I've made for a second time! Pretty much any time I have fresh mint in the house is a treat and even better when there is lime too!

The cake is made of lime cake layers soaked in a mint rum simple syrup with a lime cream cheese filling and coconut rum buttercream sprinkled with lime mint sugar

A slice of this cake adds a nice summer feeling to a crisp fall day!

London Fog Cake

10/10/2017

Seriously the Layered cookbook is one of my favorite ever! No recipe in that book disappoints! This London Fog cake was chocolate cake layers with salted caramel sauce and Earl Grey buttercream. I don't even like tea but this cake was GOOD! So good that I somehow didn't manage to get a photo of it sliced before it was gone! I guess I will just have to make it again to get that photo! :)