I find myself savoring every moment of this pregnancy because the journey to get here was super emotional. It took a lot of prayer and there was heartbreak along the way, but God is so good and these little kicks I’m feeling these days + my growing bump are a constant reminder that this baby is a gift from Him. I could not be more thankful and honored to get to do this!

Being pregnant during this coronavirus pandemic has been pretty wild. I’m definitely missing being surrounded by all my people during such a special time, but thanks to all the Zoom and FaceTime chats I’m having I still feel very connected. I’ve also gotten to spend a ton of quality time with my husband before we become a family of three and it’s nice to have extra time at home for all this nesting I’m about to do. Still, it would be nice to get away for a babymoon before this kid gets here. If not I guess we’ll have to make it a newborn-moon! It doesn’t sound nearly as restful, but worth it to bask in the sun and stick my toes in the sand somewhere tropical. 

I’m 21 weeks now and thankfully, this pregnancy has been pretty easy so far. In the beginning I mainly felt like a bottomless pit of hunger and only got nauseous when I didn’t eat every hour and a half. The only things I could not stand were the sight/taste/thought of sour cream and the smell of taco seasoning. Other than being too tired to move by 8pm and having to pee 24/7 I felt pretty good (which was also terrifying, cause those early symptoms felt like such reassurance). Now that I’m a little over halfway there, I still wake up a ton at night but I’m experiencing some more of the fun stuff: good hair, a reasonably sized bump, a little more energy, vivid dreams every night, and baby kicks that keep getting stronger and stronger.  

Biggest cravings so far: peanut butter toast every single day, Special K cereal (has to be the one with strawberries), spicy Indian food, cheeseburgers, any kind of Italian food, and Reser’s bean and cheese burritos (which is weird because I hadn’t even thought about those things in like fifteen years). Oddly enough, I am preferring salty/spicy/savory things over sweets these days.

We found out the gender last week and wanted to come up with a fun way to tell all of you. So naturally, I made myself a gender reveal cake!

Without further ado, it’s a…

BOY! 

And the crazy thing is, I had this super strong feeling that we were having a son weeks before we found out. I did have a few vivid dreams that I was having a girl in the beginning, and an overwhelming majority of our friends guessed it would be a girl, but after I hit the second trimester I was just convinced it was a boy. I couldn’t shake the feeling. So when the ultrasound tech said he was a boy I was mind blown that the feeling was true! We are so elated to be having a son! And just look at his cute little profile:

I’m already so obsessed with this boy and can’t wait to be his mama! Already dreaming of his birthday cakes but trying not to think too far ahead because I hear time goes fast. In the meantime, I’m savoring every moment of this pregnancy and grateful to be healthy during this crazy time in the world. Hope you’re all safe and healthy out there and thank you for celebrating sweet boy with us! 

And one last thing: If you’re wondering about the details of how I created my gender reveal cake, here’s the tutorial for the buttercream piping technique I used. The color palette for the frosting is Americolor Electric Blue and Fuschia, mixed in a few different shades and combined for the purple color. I tinted the cake batter with Americolor Electric Blue to get that pretty shade for the cake inside.

If you’re expecting and want to make your own gender reveal cake, feel free to steal this idea or check out the tutorial for these sprinkle filled gender reveal cupcakes. Be sure to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram if you do – I’d love to celebrate with you!

The post Baby on the Way + Gender Reveal Cake appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.

This cake is Candy Corn colored inside and out, and JOANN had everything I needed to make it pop. The outside of the cake is rolled in white, yellow, and orange Wilton Sugar Sprinkles and I’m in love with how the texture turned out! The finish is meant to be a little imperfect (just like real Candy Corn), and I’m convinced that the rolling-in-sugar technique is fail proof for this particular design. 

Coloring the inside of the cake is completely optional, but it’s such a fun surprise to cut into the cake layers and see the colors inside. To get the look, I colored some Vanilla Cake batter with the yellow and orange gels from the Wilton Color Right Food Coloring System before baking the layers. It’s an extra little step, but worth it if you want those Candy Corn colors throughout.

I whipped up a quick video of the process for baking and decorating this Candy Corn cake. Be sure to give it a watch before following the written steps below for a truly eye-catching and non-scary Halloween cake:

You Will Need

• Three 6-inch cake pans
• 6 Cups (one batch) vanilla cake batter
• Orange and Yellow color gels
• Wilton Cake Leveler
• Two 6-inch cake cardboards
• Two batches of vanilla buttercream
• 4 piping bags
• Icing smoother
• Angled spatula
• 1 bottle White Sugar Sprinkles
• 1 bottle Yellow Sugar Sprinkles
• 1 Bottle Orange Sugar Sprinkles
• Sheet pan
• Wilton Tip 4B
• Candy Corn

Step 1: Create the Colored Cake Layers (optional)

Prepare three 6-inch cake pans by spraying the sides with cooking spray and placing a parchment paper circle into the bottom of each one. Pour plain vanilla buttercream into one of the pans to fill it ⅔ full. Then, divide the remaining batter evenly amongst two separate bowls. In one bowl, add a few drops of yellow food color gel and in the second bowl, add a few drops of orange food color gel. Gently stir to combine and be careful not to overmix the batter. 

Pour the yellow cake batter into one pan and the orange cake batter into the other pan. Bake all three layers according to the recipe instructions and let them cool completely.

When they’re cooled, use the Wilton Cake Leveler to level off the tops.

Step 3: Fill and Crumb Coat the Cake

Set a 6-inch cardboard cake circle onto your cake turntable and place a dab of buttercream on top before placing your yellow cake layer on. Fill with a thin layer of vanilla buttercream and place the orange cake layer on top. Frost another thin layer of filling on top of your orange layer before placing your white layer on top, bottom side up.

Frost a very thin layer, or crumb coat, of vanilla buttercream on top of the cake and smooth it with your icing scraper and angled spatula.

Place the cake into the refrigerator to firm up while you move on to Step 4. 

Step 4: Color the Buttercream

Divide the remaining vanilla buttercream into three separate bowls. Leave one bowl white, then add a few drops of yellow food color gel to the second bowl and a few drops of orange food color gel to the third. Mix until you’ve got the perfect candy corn color palette.

Add each buttercream color to a separate piping bag with about ½ inch opening snipped off the end. 

Step 5: Frost the Cake 

Starting at the bottom of the cake, pipe the yellow buttercream horizontally until you reach the top of the yellow cake layer. Next, pipe the orange buttercream until you reach the top of the orange cake layer. Finally, pipe the white buttercream onto the top third of the cake, including the very top.

Smooth the sides of your cake with an icing scraper until they’re perfectly level, then use your angled spatula to swipe the top edges inward to create sharp edges. Getting the cake nice and level is key, as this will be the final shape of your cake once it’s rolled in sprinkles.

When you’re happy with your smoothness, pop the cake in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, or until the buttercream is firm to the touch. 

Step 6: Roll in Sugar Sprinkles

Measure out and record how tall each colored section is on your cake. Then, spread out the sugar sprinkles to match your measurements for rolling the cake. For example, my yellow buttercream was about 2 inches in height, so I spread out the yellow sugar sprinkles to create a 2 inch tall section and so on.

Place a cardboard cake circle on top of the chilled cake and carefully roll it in the sugar sprinkles until the sides are covered in a candy corn ombrè. 

Step 7: Decorate the Top

Place the sugared cake back on the turntable and remove the top cake cardboard. Add some white sugar sprinkles to the top of the cake and smooth them out with your angled spatula until the entire top is covered.

From here, I piped some white buttercream swirls to border the top with Wilton Tip 4B, sprinkled some more sugar sprinkles on top of the piping, and added a candy corn piece to each swirl.

Now you’ve got the perfect Halloween party cake that everyone can appreciate! I’m a little obsessed with how cute it is:

Be sure to visit your local JOANN store for all of the supplies you need, including a bag of Candy Corn! And if the closest JOANN is a bit of a drive, you can find all of these supplies (and more!) on their website. Their selection of cake decorating supplies and tools is so good, they’re sure to become your go-to.

Disclaimer: I was compensated by JOANN for my work of creating this project, styling, filming, photographing, and writing about their products. As always, all opinions are honest and my own. Thank you for supporting brands that support Sugar & Sparrow.

The post Halloween Candy Corn Cake Tutorial appeared first on Sugar & Sparrow.