Sunday Sweets Celebrates Gray Skies

It's no secret I love color, and generally speaking, the brighter and bolder, the better.

But today I'm featuring Sweets with as little color as possible, and in fact in my least favorite color for cakes: gray. Gray has always felt like an absence of color to me, like a desaturated photo. I love to wear it, but I've always been skeptical about gray cake. So today I decided to challenge myself and expand my color horizons by finding cakes I truly love almost entirely in shades of gray.

Like this!

(Little Vintage Baking Company, Bakery closed)

SWOON. Petal soft and so delicate.

(Cupcakes and Counting, Ireland)

This texture is incredible, and I can already see how taking MOST of the color out makes you appreciate the subtle shades that are still there. 

Here's a crisp clean design:

(Pastry chef at Gaylord Opryland, Tennessee)

I never would have chosen these colors together - EVER - but wow is it gorgeous. 

This one looks like molded plaster:

(Chef Ece Akyildiz, Turkey)

I've seen this flower technique before, where the baker uses a palette knife to place and shape each petal like thick paint. It's incredible to watch.

Or how about a little shine?

(Lori's Custom Cakes, California)

The soft pastel flowers really make this sing. Lavender and gun-metal gray are heavenly together.

Would you ever guess that gray butterflies could look this dreamy?

(Elena Gnut, Russia)

They remind me of smoke drifting upward. Surreal and beautiful.

Here come another stoney design, although this one looks less like a wall plaque and more like the wall of some ancient forest temple:

(Cake It, Russia)

Right down to the clinging vine! I love the tiny touches of bright green "moss" in the nooks and crannies.

This one is more black and white than gray, but it's so pretty I had to include it:

(Ivy and Stone Cake Design, Australia)

Those black and silver bars and the clear plexiglass divider - and the lights! - make it look more like digital art than cake. Jaw officially dropped.

I'm ready to believe this is actual fabric and the cake just has a fan blowing on it:

(Jasmine Rae Cakes, California)

Right? RIGHT?

From weightless and airy to these chunky building blocks:

(Lima Cakes, Canada)

This finish reminds me of Venetian Plaster, a wall treatment John and I used to apply with metal blades back when we were professional faux-finishers. Since then most bakers have started using those same blades for icing cakes, so I bet the technique is about the same!

And finally, one last gray beauty:

(Winifred Kriste Cake, online classes)

The gold trim and wine-red flowers give this a beautiful antique flair, wow.

I think I'm warming up to gray cakes now, gang, how about you?

I hope these made you smile! May your Sunday be restful, delightful, and as always, extra Sweet.

***** 

More gray goodies! 

These lounge pants apparently run super long, but all the reviews say they're also super-duper comfy:

Women's Stretch Lounge Pants

I love the yellow rose print! There are over 35 different patterns to choose from, too.

Don't Toy With Me, Man

It probably started innocently enough.

"Hey, let's add a little stuffed rattle to this design, as a free bonus!"

"We all know how much babies like cake!"

Now, despite the fact that this design requires no decorating skills whatsoever, it does have the fatal flaw of being a cupcake cake. [hawww ptooiee!] Which means, more often than not, you're going to get something like this instead:

"What the heck is it?"

"Who cares? Look, a free baby rattle!"

So, they nixed the CCCs and started putting the little stuffed toys on mini-cakes:

The vicious Venus Monkey Trapcake snares another victim.

Then they really started to mess with us.

1) Just how big is this cake?

2) Conversely, how tiny is that stuffed lamb?

3) Whichever it is, did the Wreckerator really think that lamb effectively "filled the space?"

4) Why put a baby's stuffed animal on an engagement cake, anyway? It has nothing do to with the design! It's like the cake was being wheeled past and the little guy just hopped on Bruce Willis style, riding it out to freedom while the building exploded around him.

(Ok, that last bit could be wishful thinking on my part.)

Of course, just when you think a little stuffed lamb might be appropriate, like on a baby shower cake, they go and do this:

That is solid icing, y'all. "Suprise!" indeed.

(Yes, I know "suprise" is spelled wrong.)

But getting back to the stuffed animals: like goldfish, these things are growing to fill their containers:

Sensible? Sanitary? Sane?

Good questions, all.

But perhaps the most important question of all is: When future generations look back on the day the "fake fur fiber fad" began, will this be one of Wikipedia's illustrations?

"With its high levels of sugar, fat, and 'colon-cleansing synthetic fiber', the Plush & Flush Diet soon became an overnight sensation in the U.S."

Bill B., Caryn C., Becky, Lisa Z., Kristen F., Allie C., & Emily B., more on point (ballerina pun ftw!), when do they start plopping Xboxes on these things, with little icing borders? "That'll be $467.39, please. Oh, and if you want games, then you have to buy the cupcakes separate."

*****

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