Welcome Home Kenzi

As many of you know I love baking. I find the exact measurements and the anticipation of that yummy treat coming out of the oven comforting. I also love baking for other people. For me this is the best way to show someone you love them. You carefully prepare a delicious desert with all the lover, tenderness, and time you have and when you give your gift to that special someone watching their face light up and their mouths water is priceless.

My sister came home from a 1 year stint in Mexico the beginning of July and what better way to welcome her home then to make a very special cake just for her. I had a hard time deciding what kind of cake to make and eventually decided on a bumble bee cake to signify the new life, changes, and decisions she will be flying into over the next couple of months.

I began this cake by using a lady bug cake pan. I then piped the eyes and mouth with black and white frosting. I also cut off the little lady bug feet so it would look more like a bumble bee. Plus it gave me a chance to sample to cake. :)



After I piped the eyes and mouth I began working on the face and black stripes. I decided this time to use store bought icing instead of homemade because of convenience, but the icing began melting in the piping bag due to the heat of my hands. I had never thought about the heat of my hands melting the icing, but just FYI it does. This made it challenging to pipe the cake, because my little rosettes looked more like mini chocolate chips than rosettes. Oh well I guess you live and learn. The piping took me a while because I was desperately trying to save my rosettes until I finally decided mini chocolates chips didn't look too bad and there was no going back at this point. Does anyone have suggestions on a good frosting recipe or how to make canned frosting thicker so it would work for decorating a cake? I would greatly appreciate any tips you may have.

After I finished the face and the black stripes I filled in the empty space with yellow stripes. Again I had issues with the icing melting, but it was worse this time. You can see my mini kisses better in the yellow icing so they were not as easy to hid. I guess practice makes perfect! And I have a long ways to go before I reach that. Overall I think the bumble bee turned out pretty well. Oh but we are missing some key parts of a bumble bee....the wings and stinger!

To make the wings and stinger I whipped up a batch of my favorite sugar cookies (I will happily share the recipe if anyone wants it, they are delicious). I then cut out heart shapes for the wings and a cone shaped cookie for the tail. I made a few extra just in case something happened to a few of them like they break, or happen to get eaten...:) I usually bake my cookies until they are soft and just slightly brown around the edges because I loved soft cookies and the way they just melt in your mouth. However, since I was going to use these cookies for the wings and stinger of my bumble bee I baked them a little longer just to make sure they were strong enough to stand up.

After baking I let them cool about 20 minutes or until they are completely cooled and then iced them front and back with white icing and the stinger with black icing. Then you simple push the cookies into the cake until they feel steady enough to stand. Don't forget the stinger! I ended up going around the edges of the cookies with the appropriate color to cover any white icing that smudge onto the yellow and black stripes. Then just for a finishing touch I piped "Welcome Home Kenzi" on the serving platter. Overall I am very happy with the way this cake turned out. I still have a lot to learn about cake decorating, but I am excited for new opportunities to show the people around me how much I love them through my baking.