21
Nov
Author: Heather // Category:
3D Cakes,
Birthday Cakes,
Fondant
Well, this was my first ‘carved’ cake, though not my first in 3D. It came out beautifully, if a little bit creepy. This was created for a Scorpio who was celebrating a November birthday.
A 3D Scorpion Birthday Cake
Side View of Scorpion Cake
The cake in the “base” was vanilla, with a vanilla buttercream filling, and the scorpion himself was also vanilla cake covered with fondant. The tail is made of fondant blocks, and the sand is made from graham crumbs. In retrospect, I didn’t give him the proper number of legs (it’s 8 PLUS claws, not including!) but nobody but me noticed 
I love this little cake. In the pictures it’s hard to tell but this would only serve around 10 people. I was able to turn this guy around in one business day, so it was an all-around win for me!
16
Nov
Author: Heather // Category:
Housekeeping
Well as everyone can see it is well past November 1st and the new site is not up. Due to an increased demand for cakes in October (and November, and December…keep ‘em coming!) as well as having been on my honeymoon, I have not been able to get the site finished yet. It looks great, though, and I am now aiming for a release date of January 1st, 2010.
I will try to post all my recent cakes this week as time allows. There are some really great ones that I am dying to get up. Big things are brewing here at HeatherSwitall.com. Thanks for continuing to check the site for updates!
16
Nov
Author: Heather // Category:
3D Cakes,
Birthday Cakes,
Fondant,
Party Cakes
This is a volcano cake I made recently for a very cool mad scientist-themed birthday party.
Volcano Cake for a mad scientist themed birthday party!
The lucky birthday boy has maybe the coolest parents in the world; they put dry ice in the top of the cake to create a smoking effect.
The cake inside is vanilla bean, with layers of strawberry filling for good measure, and covered with fondant. I wish I had gotten pictures of the volcano before I covered it with lava; it was really quite awesome. The lava is mainly royal icing, and has some piping gel in it for shine. The book is also made from vanilla cake with strawberry filling, covered with fondant and although it’s hard to tell in this picture, it is titled “Weird Science.” The test tubes are shot glasses I found coincidentally, and the mysterious scientific stuff oozing all over the board is coloured piping gel.
The volcano cake with dry ice smoke
Although the lava is a little more day-glo than I had meant it to be, I think the whole thing is quite striking.
17
Oct
Author: Heather // Category:
Uncategorized
Hi everyone,
I just wanted to let you know that I am preparing to totally re-vamp HeatherSwitall.com over the next few weeks. My new site is currently in progress, and bustling right along. I am currently aiming for a release date of November 1st, and barring any technical issues I should be right on track.
New features, including a submittable form and proper gallery are in the works. This should help the site load faster, and should also be more convenient. I hope you will check out the new site and let me know what you think of the new and improved design when it is posted.
Cheers!
Heather
04
Oct
Author: Heather // Category:
Fondant,
Royal Icing,
Wedding
Casey & Heather's Wedding Cake
Well I did it - I made my own wedding cake and lived to tell the tale. This monster is a 3-tiered vanilla cake, but each tier was hiding a different buttercream filling. The bottom tier was filled with lemon, the middle tier with chocolate, and the top tier was filled with (my personal favourite) coconut. The tiers were all covered in ivory or brown fondant, and all the details piped in brown or ivory royal icing. The lilies were all made from gumpaste and although I painted them, I did not make them myself. There just wasn’t enough time.
Cake Being Cut
The marbling on the middle tier was not part of my original design; I was going to cover this tier in solid brown and pipe on ivory dots. When mixing the fondant, however, the effect was too cool to ignore. As usual, there were some issues with the consistency of my royal icing, but I was able to make it work. I only tried a bite of cake on the wedding day, but we took home the top tier and I may have snuck a piece tonight. Delicious, and surprisingly moist. I hope the others fared as well.
I will post some other angles of this cake as I get pictures back, but overall I am really happy with how it turned out, and can say that making your own wedding cake does not make you crazy!
Cake at Home
