Friday, June 18, 2010

Wedding cake costs

Every wedding expert will tell you that the wedding cake is very important in your reception in a way that it will become one of the focus of the reception. First of all, your guests will see the cake when they arrive the reception hall. Besides, it is very common for brides and grooms to take plenty of photos with the guests in front of the cake. As a result, it will be essential for you to make the cake special and unique.

However, the wedding cake can also be very expensive. It can be even more expensive if you are planning to order a designer cake. Of course there are also some ways for you to lower the prices and costs of it. This will be beneficial if you need to be planing a wedding on a tight budget. To this end, you may probably guess that you will need to forgo the quality in order to save money! However, this is not the truth here. You can in fact at the same time save money and get an elegant cake. You can do it if you can spend the time to search for your wedding cake.

#1 The first way of saving money on the wedding cake is to adapt the idea of baking the cake yourself. You may think this is a crazy idea! Yes, it is very true that you may not be a baker yourself. However, you can attend to some baking classes a few months before your big day. To this end, you can learn the way to bake and you can make the cake yourself. It will be an interesting idea since your guests will be amazed when they know that you can bake the cake yourself!

#2 Yet, some brides and grooms can be very busy during the day and they may not have the time to learn how to bake. To this end, they may not be able to bake the wedding cake themselves. Besides, you may also think that you will be busy a few days before your big day. As a result, you may not have the time to bake the cake even if you are a baker. If this is the case, you may not want to bake the cake yourself. Instead, you may need to outsource the work!

However, you may not really need to hire a baker to this end. You can actually discuss with some students in the baking classes. They may be interested in doing the job with a relatively lower fee. Yet, be sure to allow some time for the candidate to bake the cake since they are still students.

#3 Even if you want to hire a baker, you can still save money be decorating the cake yourself. This can be a good option. You can ask your friends to help to this end. You may consider use some fresh flower petals to decorate the wedding cake. And it will not be difficult for you to adapt the idea of DIY.

party favors

A lot of time and effort goes into planning a child’s birthday party. As a host, you take many issues in consideration when planning the big event. After all, you goal is to make this memorable occasion fun for your child and all your guests and if possible, try to enjoy it yourself.

After you have planned for the food, entertainment and the cake, it is now time to choose the most suitable kids’ party favor. When looking for parting gift ideas for kids, you should always consider the following:

• Theme of the birthday party
• Age of the children
• Interests of the birthday boy/girl
• functionality of the party favor
• Safety of the children
• gender appropriate party favor
• budget

Meeting all the above criteria in a party favor may at first seem difficult, but fortunately there are ways to successfully accomplish the task. Once you have decided on a for example Disney theme, narrow down your favorite Disney character (such as Mickey Mouse, Dora the Explorer,…) and search for that specific character on any search engine.
Once you have found a web site with your character’s offerings, determine if you prefer to have a party favor for either genders (such as a beach ball) or one for each. You have now half way through your task.

At this stage of planning you may consider a one piece goodie bag such as a Disney Princess paint your own portfolio, which is a complete party favor on its own. It is something new and exciting and kids will have a chance to do it on their own time, away from the T.V. set. They also have a chance to be creative and at the end feel accomplished when they use their creation. Another option for a parting birthday gift for kids is to pick a multi piece party favor. A great example is the Dora tin box that may be used as pencil box or keepsake box, and may be stuffed with pencils and stationary items or Dora bracelets and necklaces or other novelties. Since the children are likely to have had enough cake and sweets, some parents tend to stay away from treats and candies in their loot bags.

You now need to determine if all the guests of the same gender will receive one uniform party favor. Sometimes you have a variety of ages among your guests, in which time you need to consider a break down in ages of the guests and make a decision in their age groups. For instance, something suitable for your two and three year old nieces may not satisfy the taste of your daughter’s six year old classmates.

Parents’ of small children have high regards for safety issues and manufacturers have become more aware of their product parts. Therefore it should be easy to pick a product to meet all your safety requirements. Now it is time to consider the functionality of the party favor for kids and evaluate if kids will enjoy using this party favor or it will be deposited into the first trash can.

Kids cakes

Do you know what is so special for a child's birthday celebration? It is the birthday cake. They love the moment of cutting the birthday cake. There can be so many gifts for the child, but the center of attraction is the birthday cake. Therefore, it is worth putting a lot of time and money in planning the birthday cake.

More than the taste, we need to concentrate in shape, color, and size of the birthday cake. It is always better if we could design the birthday cake in cartoon characters that are familiar to the children. If the birthday cake is made in the birthday child's favorite color, they will obliviously love it.

The birthday cake idea

If the birthday cake has a theme or idea the attraction for it, is immense. Here are few suggestions. There are Pirates and Princesses, a classic birthday cake themes for boys and girls. They can be Cinderella Castle Cake, ice Cream Castle Cake, Pirate Cake, Pirate Ship Cake, Princess Cake, Splendid Castle Cake, and Treasure Chest Cake

Sports- this birthday cake idea is for kids who love sports. They are Bowling Ball Cake, Bowling Lane Cake, Football Cake, and Skateboard Cake. Wings and Wheels-this birthday cake idea will really move your child. They are Train Cake, Dump Truck Cake, Fire Engine Cake, Outback Jeep Cake, Racetrack Cake, School Bus Cake, and Space Cake

Birthday cake designs

The birthday cake design can be anything. If the birthday cake design is different, meaningful, the kids, children and adults will appreciate it. Listed below are a few design ideas for your next birthday cake.

They are Apron Cake, Artist's Palette Cake, Boom Box Cake, Checkers Cake, Chinese Checkers Cake, Groovy T-shirt Cake, Pizza Cake, Private Eye Cake, Remote Control Cake, Smiley Face Cake, and Teeny Tiny Cake Tub Cake Upside-Down Cake, Volcano Cake Birth day cake decorating ideas

Once the birthday cake is made or purchased, it should be decorated well. The decoration is generally done to the top and sides of the cake. It is always better to decorate the birthday cake using the favorite color of the birthday boy or girl. The table in which the birthday cake is placed also should be decorated suitably.

Birthday cake recipe

An excellent birthday cake recipe is a 4-layer chocolate cake with whipped cream filling between the layers. The ingredients are -1 package Devils Food cake mix, 4 small cans or cups, Ready-to-Serve Chocolate Pudding, 1 egg, ½ - 1 cup Chocolate Chips WHIPPED CREAM FILLING INGREDIENTS 2 cups, Whipping Cream, ¼ cup Powdered Confectioner's Sugar, 1 - 2 Teaspoons Vanilla

We can frost the entire cake with Chocolate Whipped Cream Frosting, and sprinkle the sides with chocolate sprinkles. The recipe Chocolate Whipped Cream consists of Frosting-1 ½ cups, Heavy Whipping Cream1 ¼ cups, Powdered Sugar- 1/3-cup, Baking Cocoa-1/2 teaspoon, and Vanilla.

Children's birthday cakes

Children's birthday cakes must have a good design, shape, and size. If the cake has any theme or idea, the children will love it. If the design resembles a familiar character to the children like noddy, it will be an added attraction. The suggested children birthday cake models are Pureed Strawberries and Fresh Cream, Vanilla Sponge in Nemo, Teddy Bear, Power Puff Girls, Tweety, Winnie the Pooh, Flower Basket, Bob the Builder, Simpson's, Thomas The Train, Barbie, Star cakes.

Party cakes

Halloween will be here soon; goblins, ghosts and ghoulish fun too. Halloween also brings with it the start of the Holiday Season, pumpkin patches, and that warm fuzzy feeling that winter is on the way. Many families celebrate with a huge bash for friends and family and even the neighborhood kids. Bobbing for apples, yummy goodies, and dressing up in costumes are just some of the fun to be had.

Here at Make A Diaper Cake we’d like to share a Halloween treat for all guaranteed to make any party a success. You can make your own Halloween Cake, not the sugary kind with those extra calories we don’t want, but one with all your kids’ favorite goodies (and yours too). You can make a cake for any age, putting their favorite surprises in it.

This unique design can be customized for any size party and with your imagination you can design it for any holiday event. In fact, why not bring a Halloween Cake to the office and spice up the day or surprise your favorite nieces and nephews. You’ll be their favorite aunt for sure after this.

Here are just some of the ideas for your cake:

1. Put your favorite games, stickers, Halloween-themed popcorn, and other party ideas for all to enjoy. Then they can take right from the cake and it makes a great centerpiece.

2. If you know of someone with a new baby or even a toddler, put a cute costume in your design and include a Halloween bib, and other special baby items.

3. For the office –Use the template available on our site and use shred for a good base. Then add in Halloween themed coffees, candy, notepads, pens, popcorn and more for your next party cake at the office.

4. Safety cake – All kids need to be extra special careful at Halloween. You can design a cake with Halloween safety items, such as flashlights, light sticks, Halloween Trick-Or-Treat bags, etc. Tuck in little gifts, games, candy or toys for the kids too. It’s Halloween; you want it to be loads of fun.

5. You can welcome a new puppy or kitten by using kitten or puppy Halloween outfits and then include a disposable camera to take pictures of them in their cute little outfits. Include Halloween themed chew toys and other items new pet owners will need for their kitten or puppy.

Whichever you choose, you’ll be delighted you made this cake and put a smile on faces, young and old.

For more information on making holiday cakes, diaper cakes, or any other specialty cake, stop by the website at http://www.makeadiapercake.biz. Not only do we have complete instructions for making cakes, but an e-book that walks you though each step. And if you’d prefer to have us make it for you, no problem. We specialize in making specialty cakes for all occasions. This year make it a Halloween to remember, and the start of a great Halloween Season. Also, don’t forget to stop back and see our other holiday creations.

Cake decorating supplies

I remember my first experience to really good handy cake decorating supplies was when I was a kid and at that time used to enjoy watching my grandmother baking and decorating. My grandmother would bake as well as cool a set of cakes, ice the layers and the cake in completion, subsequently – it was time for the greatest delight for me – when she would reach out to a special cabinet and take out cake decorating supplies in a package that looked like a gift box: the cake decorating supplies were kept stored in parts, each part fitting into its own cardboard cutout form. One by one Gram would slowly pull out the metal barrel, the plunger, the washer, and one or more of the tips…these tips were used to make leaves, or flowers, or perhaps to do tubing, to set stars.

Gram would put together the pieces and spoon one color frosting at a time into the cool metal tube, screw back on the plunger, and begin to work on decorating, which at times would take hours that were probably arduous, despite the fact that she never expressed a single complaint and neither did I move, fascinated as I was by the process, till she was done completely. Years later, when I had my own home, my grandmother had sent me a set of cake decorating supplies that were similar to her set. At times I practiced, and found these decorators to be incredible things of beauty - in form and functio and durability

Though at some point later, I lost or loaned and never got back my cake decorating supplies, and changed them with the ultra-professional frosting bags and decorating tips, which were just as lovely (though if you have hot hands, the canvas bags transfer the heat—faster than it would with the metal set--to the frosting and it will puddle, so hold the bag by the top where you have twisted or folded it).

Last Christmas, I wanted to give a friend who had just gotten into gourmet baking a set of those cake decorating supplies of yore. Since I didn’t find the time to go online, I found, rather stupidly, a discounted cake decorator at a local department store. Actually the thing doesn’t stay closed (at the plunger and cap), and it is plastic and stays greasy after washing. Ugh. Despite the fact twenty years ago I would have had an excuse, however today, I should know better…and use a site like eBay, where we not only find cake decorating supplies but those of the quality of the originals: A good tip is to either look for the brand name Wilton or use keywords like "vintage" or "original" or "aluminum"…for the kind of cake-decorating supplies Gram had.

Cupcake decorations

Everyone loves Christmas and you'll probably agree that decorations are a major part of the holiday. And what would Christmas be without all the baked goodies and sweet treats? As for me and my family, this involves cupcake decorations. The inclination to over-indulge in such sweets is more common around the holidays. So, I sincerely hope you’ll enjoy these artistic and quirky Christmas cupcake ideas - crafting as well as eating them.

• Begin with your favorite cupcake recipe by baking them or buying a ready-made one from your favorite bakeshop. Generously top them with white frosting, add some shredded coconut, dust it with a powdered or confectioner’s sugar and voila! a mini-winter-wonderland in a yummy cup.

• These are great for parties all year-round and particularly at Christmas time. The idea is to form a miniature Christmas present at the top each cupcake. Use an assortment of icing colors; red licorice works well for the ribbons and bows. Pitch in a small amount of sprinkles, if preferred.

• Santa's face never look so yummy! Top each of your favorite cupcakes with a red frosting on one side and white on the other. Put some mini marshmallows at the border separating the two colors, forming it as Santa's hat brim. Cautiously use brown chocolate or green frosting to form his face on the white side of the icing. You may use, round candies for Santa's eyes and nose. Thin out strips of various edible goodies such as fruit roll-up cutouts, and thin licorice whips, to use as Santa’s smiling lips.

• These snowman cupcakes are definitely going to be a hit. White icing should be placed to form the base making it look like a snow on the ground. Put a big marshmallow, and then add a little one above to shape the body of Frosty the Snowman. Insert a toothpick vertically through both marshmallows to hold Frosty together. Use small candies of your choice for her eyes, nose, held in place with a small bit of frosting. Try on a small piece of Tootsie Roll for his hat. Frosty won't likely melt but I’m sure she won't last long, either!

• For this next one, we will try to make a Christmas tree made of cupcakes. You'll need about one and half dozen cupcakes, and a rightfully big, festive platter to hold them all. Top all, except the last four, of your cupcakes with a green icing. The last four should be frosted in brown chocolate. Basically arrange the four brown-topped cakes at one end of the plate, shaping a tree trunk. Arrange your green cupcakes above the brown ones, in a shape of a triangle forming the shape of a tree. As for the decorations, use small chocolates candies of different shapes and colors. As usual, you can't go wrong using grated coconut as snow, and red licorice makes a great garland. Try on some tubes of gel icing, in an assortment of colors, which can be bought at any supermarkets, party supplies stores, and baking supplies stores.

Cake decorating ideas

Beautiful cakes are not just for big bucks on extra-special occasions. You can learn easy cake decorating ideas that you can do yourself to make even an ordinary boxed cake mix look extraordinary. With a few simple tools and techniques and the easy cake decorating ideas in this article, you'll be able to make a beautiful cake yourself at home.

Icing The Cake

Most of the time, you'll want to start with smooth icing all over the cake as the base for all of these easy cake decorating ideas. To get a smooth surface, make sure the cake is completely cooled and your frosting is not too thick. Thinner icing will spread more easily and end up with a smoother finish.

First, put a very thin layer of frosting all over the cake. This is called the crumb coat, and it will keep crumbs from getting mixed in with the frosting that you'll see on the finished cake. At this point, you can refrigerate the cake to set the crumb coat and make it easier to apply the top coat.

Next, use an icing spatula to put on the second coat of icing. Start with a large amount of icing in the middle of the top of the cake and spread it toward the edges. When the top of the cake is completely covered, cover the sides of the cake. To smooth the sides, hold the spatula straight up and down and hold the edge against the cake as you spin the plate.

For the best look, try to get the frosting as smooth as possible all over cake. For the top of the cake, hold the spatula perfectly horizontal. For the sides, hold it perfectly upright. Try dipping the spatula in hot water and drying it before gliding across the frosting for even smoother results.

Getting smooth, even icing on your cakes is probably the hardest part of cake decorating. Practice these techniques until you can get perfectly smooth frosting, and you might find that you don't even need any other cake decorating ideas for an elegant, beautiful cake.

Easy Cake Decorating Ideas & Tips

For a simply elegant cake with a really easy technique, dust your frosted cake with powdered sugar. Try using a stencil for a themed or geometric design on the top of the cake. Remember making paper snowflakes as a kid? Make one to fit the top of your cake and use it as a stencil for a one-of-a-kind powdered sugar design.

If you want a more detailed, three-dimensional design, you can buy ready-to-use decorations and cake toppers in just about any theme you can think of. Candy flowers and letters, sprinkles in special shapes, and even small toys can be used to top your cake.

For an especially tasty look, sprinkle the cake with candy, nuts, shredded coconut, or chocolate shavings. Or use fresh fruit, like a simple ring of strawberry slices or an elaborate pattern of a few kinds of fruits. For a different style, decorate only the sides of the cake and leave the top smooth, or surround a simply frosted cake with fresh fruit or flowers.

Another option is to use a decorating comb or decorating triangle to add texture to the frosting. A decorating comb is a simple piece of plastic or metal with a variety of shaped edges. You drag the comb along the frosting to leave a textured pattern in the frosting. This is a great option if you're having trouble getting your icing as smooth as you want it to be.