Tuesday, April 26, 2011

{Tutorial} Bumble Bee Cake Pops


One of my friends sent me a wonderful video tutorial by Mayen of Way Beyond Cakes to make adorable fondant bumble bees. This video inspired me to attempt something similar with cake pops. Cake pops weren't quite as easy to work with but in the end I was very happy with the final product.

#1) Gather all of your ingredients.
- 1 batch of basic cake balls in an oval shape
- 4" lollipop sticks
- Yellow candy melts
- 1 Styrofoam sheet


#2) Melt your candy. I fill my glass up with candy melts and microwave it at 50% power for about 1 minute and 30 seconds. I then stir the mixture thoroughly. If your candy doesn't fully melt after stirring it for about 30 seconds, return it to the microwave for another 30 seconds again at 50% power.

#3) Put a stick in it. Next I take one of the lollipop sticks and stick it into the bottom of one of the cake ovals. I then pull the stick out and dip it into the candy and reinsert it back into the hole I just made in the cake oval. I repeat this for all of the cake ovals and then put them back into the fridge.




#5) Cake pop. The next step I do in batches of about 10 cake pops, while I keep the rest in the fridge so they don't get too warm while I work. I dip each cake pop into the candy so that it is completely covered. I then gently tap the cake pop on the edge of the glass, slowly turning it, to remove any excess candy coating. Then stick your cake pop into some Styrofoam until it dries.

#6) Gather your decorating supplies.
- Black and white fondant
- Rolling pin
- Decorating brush and small dish with water
- Roller to make parallel lines or a long knife
- Icing tip 5


#7) Prep your bee parts. Roll out your black fondant to about 1/16"-1/8" thickness. Using the smaller hole of your icing tip, punch out two small circles for each cake pop you prepared. You may need to use a toothpick to pop the circles out from the icing tip if they get stuck. Next cut the remainder of the fondant into strips about 4" long (or whatever length will wrap around the cake pop that you created). Again you will need two strips for each cake pop. You might want to do this step in batches as well since your fondant will start to dry out and get brittle if it sits out for too long.


#8) Stripes and eyes. Next, dip your decorating brush in your water and brush one side of a stripe.


Then pick up the fondant strip and place it around the cake pop, removing any excess length. Repeat this step to adhere the small circles in the place of the eyes as well.


#9) Wings. Next roll out the white fondant to about 1/8" thickness. Using the larger opening of the icing tip, punch circles out of the white fondant (two per cake pop). You can then use a fondant shaper or your finger to make a small indent in the center of the circle. Squeeze each circle slightly on one end so that it has a slight point on one side. Brush the bottom side (side without the indent) of two of the white circles with water and place them side by side on top of the cake pop in the wing position. This completes your bee pop!

Finally here is the original video tutorial by Mayen. She does an amazing job showing you how to execute all the steps.


I actually used some fondant bees on wires (created by Fenella Higgins) to decorate my topiaries!


As an alternative to fondant, you could also pipe on the stripes,eyes and even a cute little smiley face using royal icing.

Tip Junkie handmade projects

Monday, April 25, 2011

{Event Recap} Samarra's Bumble Bee Birthday

I'm in love with the photos Mia J Photography took of the bumble bee party I styled for little Samarra's 2nd birthday and I'm very excited to share them all with you. I really enjoyed working on this event. The soft colors were really pretty and I thoroughly enjoyed covering everything in cute little bumble bees.

The Dessert Table






Cake


Personalized Candy Bars




Cookie Pops


Bumble Bee Antennae and Invitation




Centerpiece, Personalized Water Bottles and Favors


Table Settings and Birthday Banners

The event was held at Amy's Indoor Playground in South Pasadena. I'd never worked with this location previously, but I will strongly recommend doing so in the future. The staff was fantastic! They answered any questions I had quickly and thoroughly. The biggest downside is the set up time allotted for each event. Most time slots only get a ten minute set up time, however, the very first party slot of the day (the one we had) gets a whopping fifteen minutes! To compensate for this short set up we were able to drop off items for the staff to set up ahead of time and they were very enthusiastic helpers!
Face painting provided by Amy's Playground and the birthday girl!

Vendors
Party Styling: Enchanted Events & Design
Photography: Mia J Photography
Printables: Enchanted Events & Design
Cake: Cake Sensations
Cookie Pops: Fenella Higgins
Bumble Bee Cake Pops: Enchanted Events & Design (I'll be posting a tutorial soon!)
Topiaries: Enchanted Events & Design
Favors: Target and Party City
Location: Amy's Indoor Playground

Link to the Inspiration Board for this event.

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Easter 2011 Compilation

Happy Easter! I hope everyone is enjoying time with friends and family. Here's another amazing and creative holiday compilation for all of you. There was some beautiful Easter spreads circling the web. Be sure to click on the links to view more pictures of each design.

Aly & Ash


Anders Ruff via Hostess with the Mostess


Anna and Blue Paperie


Bird's Party


Buckets of Grace


Celebrating Moments


Celebrating Moments


Celebrations at Home


Celebrations at Home


Centsational Girl


CHS Creative Productions via Paper & Pigtails


Country Living


Cut and Paste, Basta un poco di zucchera and Valdirose via The Sweetest Occasion


Dreamers Joy Events & Design via Pizzazzerie


Enchanted Events & Design


Enchanted Events & Design


Events by Sarah Elizabeth


Eye Candy Event Details via Hostess with the Mostess


Family Circle


Fanciful Events


Fresh Chick Design Studio


Gwynn Wasson Designs


Heather Equitz Designs


HGTV


Icing Designs


In Good Company via Hostess with the Mostess


Jenny Cookies


Joy de Vivre and Nico Designs via Ruffled


Just Call Me Martha


Kate Landers Events


Lily Chic Events via Amy Atlas


Maddycakes Muse


Martha Stewart


Martha Stewart


Miss Mustard Seed via HGTV


Mon Tresor and My Little Jedi via Amy Atlas


My Insanity


My Sugar Scape


Party Starters


Piggy Bank Parties


Pirates & Princesses


Pizzazzerie


Pizzazzerie


Pizzazzerie


Pottery Barn


Pure Joy Events


The Saavy Moms Guide


Shindig Parties


Simply Creative Insanity


Southern Living


Styled via Sheek Shindigs


The TomKat Studio


Wants and Wishes via Blowout Party Blog


Whimsical Mod Parties
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...