Sshhh, listen…. I think I hear summer calling us!  Enticing us with warm, sunny days and long, lazy nights.  And nothing refreshes on a hot day like ice cold lemonade.  Which is exactly what we’re serving up with today’s feature.  A dessert table that is sure to bring back fond childhood memories of summer lemonade stands.  Created by Dina Hafez-Suggs of  Deliciously Darling for a feature in Festivties Magazine, this table rocks a stellar vendor list including some of our very favs.  The lemonade might be 5 cents but this table is priceless!

Pink, yellow and polka dots come together in a sunny color combo that is fresh and perfect for the season.  Add in a splash of lemon and we’re in summer love.  Lemon cupcakes, lemon macarons and adorable lemon shaped cookies!  Not to mention the lemon topped ruffle cake!  With lemonade filled mason jars, adorable ’5 cent’ cupcake toppers and a to-die-for lemonade sign… this dessert table is sure to make you smile!

Dina of  Deliciously Darling tells us more about this dessert table:

“I just love lemonade. When summer rolls around, it’s all I’m drinking. I wanted to put together a bright & summery Lemonade stand to inspire the little kid in all of us.

Shades of pink and yellow match the Frog Prince Paperie “Pink Lemonade” printable collection perfectly. Ombre paper rosettes, paper flowers and lemonade printables accent the canvas table-skirt so beautifully.

Traditional lemonade looks so adorable served in adorable pink and yellow polka-dot-cups and paper straws. Pink Lemonade is a must and looks so refreshing in mason jars with daisy lids.

Delicious goodies go hand-in-hand with the perfect glass of lemonade! From the amazing yellow ruffled cake to the little french macarons, each and every thing on this dessert table reminds me of a summer day. Other sweets included: Lemon shaped cookies, mini powdered donuts and lemon cupcakes.

I’m addicted to all things candy and wanted to include some gumballs. Packaged in little plastic milk bottles, they just look adorable.

Finally, the Pink balloon & ombre tassels just brings everything together so nicely. I just love large balloons.”

TIP from Dina:  Want to make your own lemonade stand?  I wanted this lemonade stand to be easy to make. So instead of running out and purchasing lots of lumbar and putting one together, I made a quick and easy lemonade stand with 1 sofa table, two pieces of wood and 4 zip-ties. I finished off the lemonade stand with a darling “Lemonade” banner.

VENDORS & CREDITS:
Event Design, Style, Paper decor, Hobnail vases:  Deliciously Darling
Photography:  Lauren Nicole Studios
Printables:  Frog Prince Paperie
Cupcake Toppers & Fondant Lemons:  Edible Details
Ruffle Cake:  My Sweet Things
Cookies:  Yummy Delicious Cookies by Whimsical Originals
French Macarons:  Alon’s Bakery
Balloon & Tassel:  The Flair Exchange
Yellow & Pink Cake Stands, Pink & Yellow straws, Daisy mason jar lids:  Waiting on Martha
Cupcake wrappers, pink & yellow cups, yellow napkins, gumball bottles:  Petite Party Studio
Yellow Ceramic Berry Baskets: Anthropology

Hello heavenly honeycomb!  The latest trend for 2013 is all about this graphic hexagonal pattern.  Honeycomb prints are popping up in everything from fashion to interior design this spring.  We’ve been loving on honeycomb ever since the Spring of 2012, when we featured this honeycomb cake.  And now we’re smitten with another new spin on honeycomb.  Today’s featured cake is a more of a subtle nod to this growing trend, celebrating the honeycomb structure of a dahlia flower with blooms that take gorgeous to the next level.  I’m talking amazing sugar flowers that will make your heart flutter.  And let’s not forget the incredible white ruffles, gracefully dancing from top to bottom.  It’s certainly not hard to see why we’re just plain smitten with this cake.  Let’s take a look at this oh-so-beautiful Ruffles & Dahlias Cake, created by Charlotte of  Sugar Ruffles.

Charlotte of Sugar Ruffles shares her inspiration for this design:

“The design of this cake was inspired by a beautiful picture of a dahlia flower that I came across.  I loved the interesting honeycomb texture of the flower and wanted to create a wedding cake with dahlia flowers as the main focus. I added further texture to the design by using ruffles on each of the tiers, keeping each of the tiers white to allow the dahlia flowers to remain the main focus.”

Charlotte of  Sugar Ruffles gives us the scoop on the photo shoot:

“The cake is featured as a step by step project in the Cake Craft Guide Magazine.  The styling for the photo shoot was also inspired by the dahlia flower.  The pink tissue honeycomb decorations were chosen to mirror the honeycomb texture of the dahlia flowers on the cake.”

There’s only one word for these dahlias…. amazing!  They are incredibly gorgeous as are the layers upon layers of delicate ruffles.  The entire scene is screaming to be the inspiration for your next special event!

A big thank you to Charlotte of  Sugar Ruffles for sharing her gorgeous Ruffles & Dahlias Cake with us today!  To learn more about Charlotte’s techniques, be sure to check out her step-by-step tutorial in Cake Craft Guide Magazine.

VENDORS & CREDITS
Cake :  Sugar Ruffles
Photography :  Sarah Kay Photography

Our contributor, Miso of Miso Bakes, is here with a new tutorial perfect for Spring and Mother’s Day.

This past December, I traveled to Europe again but this time with my mom accompanying me. Together we visited many museums and looked at hundreds, if not thousands, of paintings. Though I have been to and have seen some of the museums and paintings a few times before, my fingers still tingled in excitement and my heart still smiled at the sight of works by Leonardo da Vinci, Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Georges Seurat, etc. The use of colors and textures, brushstrokes and lighting in some of the paintings left me so in awe that I talked about them for days. Months later, I still sit here and daydream about them.

I returned wanting to create a cake inspired by all the art I saw. I wanted to add texture and depth using various buttercream colors, but at the same time, I wanted it to be season appropriate. This is what I created…

Today we’re going to talk about how to “paint” your cake using shades of buttecream and a palette knife.  Let’s get started with this Watercolor Painted Cake Tutorial…

WATERCOLOR PAINTED CAKE
a DIY by Miso Bakes

STEP 1:   Tint small amounts of buttercream to your liking. If you have time to spare, do this the night before so the colors can fully develop and you can adjust the colors if needed.

STEP 2:  Have your cake iced in buttercream and ready to go. Make sure the cake is well chilled.

STEP 3:  Using the tip of your palette knife, dab a little buttercream to the chilled cake.

STEP 4:  Using the side of your palette knife, smooth it out.

STEP 5:  Continue doing this throughout the whole tier. If the white buttercream starts clinging to your palette knife or dragging along with the green buttercream, chill your cake and try it again.

STEP 6:  Once you have your first layer of green on, you may chill your cake and apply a second coat of green buttercream in a different color. By applying your green in separate coats, you can control the overall look and effect of your cake.

STEP 7:  However, if you wish to be a bit more daring or artsy, you can mix your colors and then dab it onto the cake like this.

STEP 8:  Similar effect, but different technique. You may choose either technique. It’s ultimately what you feel most comfortable with.

STEP 9:  Chill your cake and design the cake to your heart’s desire. I piped buttercream roses, grass and leaves since it’s Spring.

TIP: If you would like to add ‘brushstrokes’ you can brush over some areas with a clean paintbrush.

While the concept of watercolor painted cakes is not new, I hope you enjoy my approach to this technique!   Happy Caking!

	Miso Bakes Miso is a monthly contributor for The Cake Blog. She is a talented pastry chef with a big passion for cakes. Read more about Miso on her bio page.