The start of something good...hopefully!

At the urging of my friend, I have decided to start a cake blog.  This is my first ever attempt at blogging, so it might take me a while to get things figured out (bear with me).  Why a cake blog?  Well, baking has been an interest of mine since childhood, but I recently discovered my love for cake decorating after taking a class on the subject last October.  I initially looked at this class as a means to get some time to myself away from my children, and while it did grant me one evening a week of free time for four weeks (mothers can appreciate how valuable that time is), in the end I found something that I really enjoy and can see myself doing for a long time.  So for the past four months I have been cake baking and decorating up a storm!  Now that my computer library is full of cake pictures and I've bombarded my facebook friends with regular additions to my cake album (I feel like I'm soliciting for comments every time I post something, which is not my intention at all...I'm only interested in giving my creations some exposure), I am following my friend's advice and making this cake blog happen!

I have decided to call my blog Conscientious Confections, because if I ever were to go into the cake-baking/decorating business, this is what I would call myself.  Why?  Well, I like the idea of an alliterative name and prefer "confections" to "cakes", since I may want to one day venture out beyond just cakes.  The conscientious part is a little harder to explain.  When it comes to food, I am incredibly selective (some people might say I'm a little obsessive) about the ingredients I choose.  My cakes, or confections rather, are no exception.  The beginnings of this obsession can be traced back to the spring of 2001 when I had my first experience with organics.  I bought a carton of Horizon organic milk purely because the label appealed to me (I have since decided that although Horizon has a very appealing label, their product is not nearly as good as some of the others out there, for a number of reasons...but that's a whole other story).  When I got home, I was amazed by how much better this milk tasted than the conventional milk I had been drinking for years.  This experience inspired me to find out more about organic farming practices and products which led to an interest in (or obsession with) natural living.  I discovered very early on that not only do natural/organic products generally taste better, they make me feel better too (and although conventional farming proponents will argue that there is no real difference between conventional and organic products, there is no denying that organic farming practices are better for farmers, livestock, and the environment).  10 years later, I am still incredibly passionate about the organic food movement, particularly the local organic movement.  As a result, it is my conscientious decision to make my cakes and frostings from scratch using the best quality ingredients (no box mixes or canned frostings here).  I try to use local/organic ingredients whenever possible, but I always use unbleached/unbromated flour, pure cane sugar, local cage free eggs, and hormone/anitibiotic free dairy.  I think you'll agree that my confections are not only conscientious, but tasty too.  Now for some pictures of some of my conscientious confections from the past few months:

October 2010:

Autumn Leaves - This was my final cake for my cake class.  Chocolate cake with chocolate ganache filling and peanut butter buttercream frosting.

November 2010:

Hello Kitty - Vanilla butter cake with raspberry filling and vanilla buttercream frosting.

Iron Man - Yellow cake with chocolate cream cheese filling and vanilla buttercream frosting.

December 2010:

iphone app cupcakes - Pumpkin cupcakes with maple cream cheese frosting.

January 2011:

Sonic the Hedgehog - Vanilla butter cake with vanilla cream cheese filling and frosting.

February 2011:

Happy Valentine's Day! - Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting and heart sugar cookie topper.  Chocolate cupcakes with raspberry buttercream and organic raspberry topper.  Heart sugar cookies with royal icing.