Death, taxes, and sheet cakes..

There are a few things in life that cannot be avoided. There are the obvious ones.. death, taxes, and sheet cakes. Yup... Sheet cakes! I'm going to preface this post by saying that I am a very stubborn person. I am set in my ways and if I decide earlier in life that I don't like something then chances are I still hate it today. Hot dogs, driving on a certain road, going to a particular restaurant, and sheet cakes. Are you catching the theme here? I do not know why or when it happened but I absolutely dread doing sheet cakes! I am well aware that as a baker and owner of a cake company that I will in fact have to do sheet cakes. Doesn't mean I'm going to like it! I think my biggest issue with them is that they have been  overdone and have become generic. When people hear "sheet cake" they automatically picture the slab of stale cake and overly sweet icing that you can get from Wal-mart, but I'm on a mission to change that. Instead of a lone "Happy Birthday" and piped buttercream border, I usually try to make sheet cakes more personal with customized decorations. 

The sheet I did last weekend was a breeze to design because the birthday girl's sister helped so much with the personalized decorations. "She's a very girly, girl and a teacher!" Done... and the ball was rolling! 

I decided to split the cake into two sections, the one geared towards her teaching background and the other towards her personal taste. 

The "girly" side of the cake had a zebra background, Tiffany's box with pearls, and a M.A.C. lipstick. The Tiffany's box was made with colored fondant, as was the lipstick. I used gumpaste for the pearls and strung them together with a needle and thread. 

The teaching side had a ruler as the boarder, a red apple, and a chalk board. All of those decorations were made with gumpaste and royal icing detail. 

The birthday girl was turning 23 so I hid a few 23's on the lipstick and chalkboard. Every little detail matters to me! 

So remember folks, when ordering a sheet cake don't assume that your decorations have to be boring and generic. Get creative! 

Thanks for reading and for all of the support! 

Always,

Sarah