Pearl and Ribbon Flower Birthday Cake

There are a lot of cake people out there these days, but there are some that are stand out.  Sometimes it's for pure skill, like Mike McCarey from Mikes Amazing Cakes.  That man can make anything, and it's so clean!  Some artists stand out for their distinct style. Have you seen the Cotton and Crumbs cakes? They have a lot of pictures on flickr.com. All her cakes are very "romantic and soft" to me.  She does such a great job with her photography and backgrounds. 

We look at these people as pure inspiration to help us develop our own style, from cakes to print ads to photography.  It's a great undertaking and I don't think it can be done overnight.  Whatever you do, do you have a distinct style and feel to your work?  If it's important to you to project as certain style, then join me in this ongoing effort for 2012!

This little cake was a 6/9" for my friend Amanda who owns Divine Designs by Amanda.  She is an amazing floral designer as well as friend and mom to a super sweet girl.  She has a romantic but modern look/feel about her, that's my perception anyway so I wanted to make a cake that reflected that.   "Cotton and Crumbs" inspired the romantic part of this cake. 

The pearls were all made by using Fondarific that chills up well in the cooler so they keep their shape when you unmold them.  The flowers are super simple, just ruffle some gumpaste circles with a ball tool and dry in shallow drying cups.  There is a little half circle measure cup that comes with the new Purex laundry softener.  I used it to form a few "cups" in pieces of aluminum foil.  It's a good way to make as many drying cups as you need then throw them away when you are done.  I attached the circles together with a little tylose glue and poof you have a circle flower. 

Happy baking!