Alleluia! Alleluia!

In the Name of Our Risen Lord, a Blessed and Joyful Easter to All!

Maria

A Sweet Respite from Winter

The calendar tells us that spring has arrived, but it sure is dragging itself across the threshold. I am weary of winter and long for color, yes, even the ubiquitous, gaudy forsythia. So I offer a small respite from dreariness in the form of a bouquet of sugar flowers featuring a Gerbera daisy, hosta leaves, a few rose buds and a sprig of variegated ivy. The petals on the Gerbera have been individually wired so as to allow movement of the petals as well as stability. In other words, there's less chance of breakage. The wire used, of course, was a # 32 or 33, white so as to be barely visible in the almost paper-thin petals. Hope my little offering cheers you up a bit and hopefully I'll have something major to post soon.

Maria

Happy 30th Birthday, Antonia!

In celebration of the Diva's milestone birthday, we look back to her Senior Recital on May 1st, 2005 at Monmouth University. And since no birthday is complete without cake, we give you her recital reception cake featuring a sugar piano, roses, orchids and jasmine.

Maria

A Look Back...to Easter

The "cake" pictured above is actually a display sugar piece only. I know that it seems out of sync with this time of year but it was one of only two projects on which I worked this past year and I was not able to post the pictures during the appropriate season. It was created for the 2008 Easter Vigil/RCIA at my church. Because I was working on this project while still undergoing medical procedures, I decided to skip the baking of cakes and concentrated my strength on the decorative aspects. I even borrowed the lamb from a previous cake. Most of my energy, such as it was, was channeled into the sugarpaste flowers which included narcissus, freesia, forsythia branches and variegated ivy. The "water" spilling from the overturned urn was created with piping gel and represents the Sacrament of Baptism. The Lamb represents the Sacrament of the Eucharist while the Dove represents the Sacrament of Confirmation. The Gothic style Cross and draped cloth represent the Resurrection. The cake dummies (styrofoam forms) and the foamcore base are covered in rolled fondant and edged in purple and yellow ribbon.

Maria

Sweet and Blessed Inspiration

I have reshot the sugar decorations from the RCIA cake for better viewing.

As I mentioned in the previous post, the cake, for which I created these sugar decorations, was made for the RCIA at the Easter Vigil in my church. RCIA stands for Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. It includes adult converts to the Catholic faith as well as those who have not completed the sacraments of Holy Communion and Confirmation. My niece, Antonia, was to receive her Confirmation as part of the Rite and I was her sponsor. Her chosen Confirmation name is Cecilia, the patron Saint of Music. We have spent a good part of the past year in Sunday morning classes and have participated in numerous special Masses and events. This has been a very important time for both Antonia and myself in our spiritual growth. And it has been my great honor to be able to contribute my talents to celebrate this momentous event. And we are both deeply grateful to those members of our parish who made it all possible, especially our pastor, Msgr. Walsh, our director, Sister Gloria, our wonderful hospitality team, especially Carol and Karin, and our prayer partners.

The culmination of the RCIA initiation was the absolutely gorgeous and moving Easter Vigil Mass. From the lighting of the bonfire, to the sea of lit candles in a chasm of darkness, to the extended readings from Genesis and Exodus, to the first ringing of bells since Ash Wednesday while the lights slowly began to illuminate the hall, to the baptism of our elect, the spiritual rituals of Our Church moved me deeply.

And I felt truly inspired and blessed in my sugar work. The Sacraments of Holy Communion, Confirmation and Baptism are represented, respectively, by a 24K gilded chalice complete with a representation of the Host with rays of light, Communion Wine, and a Cross, a dove representing the Holy Spirit with seven flames representing the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, and stylized flowing water with gilded fish. The gumpaste flowers are Madonna Lilies (Lilium candidum) and Lilies of the Valley (Convallaria majalis) with leaves, thirty of each. I chose these flowers because they represent Mary, the patroness of our parish church as well my own patron Saint. Although they look very much like Easter Lilies (Lilium longiflorum) they are not quite the same. For one, the trumpets are much shorter. At the back of the cake is a representation of our church and will be discussed in the next post. And I almost forgot the sheath of wheat next to the chalice.

As for the cakes, there were four different kinds: The largest of the cakes was a 16 in. Diva Cake (see the Sweet Harvest, Nov. 2006, post for a detailed description). A 12 in. Meyer Lemon Vodka Cake with Meyer Lemon filling and Meyer Lemon buttercream came next. The next tier was a 6 in., fondant covered styrofoam dummy used only to lend design integrity to the tiered cake. The top cake was the 8 in. Southern Delight cake consisting of a Hummingbird Cake with fresh bananas, fresh pineapple, pecans and a touch of cinnamon with a filling of rum soaked Bananas Foster and Praline and a brown sugar buttercream. There was also a 12 in. cake, not part of the the tiered cake, made of dense almond cake, filled with kumquat conserve, and layered with a yolk buttercream. All cakes were coved in a lemon flavored rolled fondant except the almond cake which was covered in marzipan.

Finally, I wish to dedicate my sugar work to my niece and Diva Delights partner, Antonia Maria Cecilia Rosenberger with all my love, best wishes and congratulations on her full entrance into Our Community of Faith. And I wish to thank our friends Terry and John for their constant moral and spiritual support.

Maria

HE IS RISEN! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

A Blessed and Happy Easter to all my friends and bloggers! I am posting a sampling of the pictures of the cake made in honor of the RCIA at my parish church of St. Mary and served at the post Easter Vigil buffet. Tomorrow there will be additional pictures with commentary.

Maria

For Theresa and John...

...Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Anniversary to my dearest friends! And Happy Valentine's Day to Lovers everywhere...

(A double-decker heart-shaped Brownie cake filled and coated with bittersweet chocolate ganache. The fondant covered, heart-shaped cake and foamcore board, were decorated with scallop crimping, sugar lace pieces, embossed sugar bows and sugar pearls. The Heart is adorned with gumpaste flowers: Roses, Cornflowers and Chinese Jasmine. The lace, bows and pearls were formed with molds and embossers coated with antique silk luster dust then, with the cakeboard and cake top, over-dusted with pearl dust. The heart-shaped cakeboard was trimmed in two ivory lace ribbons.)

Maria

Amaryllis by Morning...

This cake was made for the celebration of the birthdays of five Aquarian friends. Each friend had his/her name painted (in aqua and gold)on a sugar placque and attached to a side of the hexagonal, fondant covered cake with the Aquarian symbol finishing off the sixth side. A gold embossed sugarpaste border trimmed the cake. The cake was then mounted on a fondant covered foamcore hexagon which was then mounted on a silver foil covered cake round and finished with an aqua ribbon. Gold embossed sugarpaste diamonds were the decorative touches on the fondant hexagon corners.

The amaryllis plant which sat atop the cake was formed from sugar/gumpaste with the structural help of floral wires, floral tape, a wooden dowel and a styrofoam core for the bulb. The bulb, with inserted amryllis stem, was fastened to a hexagonal shaped piece of fondant covered cardboard. The board was then attached to the top of the cake with a piece of moistened fondant. There were three fully opened flowers and two buds on the sugar amaryllis. The model for the sugar version was the real-life "Scarlet Baby" miniature amaryllis. The "Spanish Moss" surrounding the bulb was made from tinted rice noodles. This very clever technique was borrowed from Maxine Boyinton whose cake using the rice noodles was featured in Kerry Vincent's very beautiful and extremely helpful book, "Romantic Wedding Cakes".

The three-tiered lemon cake was infused with a citron vodka sauce and the filling between the layers was a lemon curd. The recipe for the cake and sauce were also gleaned from Kerry's book. I loved the sauce but found the cake too dry. A good pound cake would have been preferable. The lemon curd was my own and was a tasty touch.

Maria

Happy Saint Nicholas Day!

A string of mini St. Nick sugar cookies...

...and a bouquet of Christmas Red, Flamenco Dancin' sugar poppies to my sister, Rita, on her Birthday!

Maria

More Pictures of My Entry in the Oklahoma Sugar Show