"Christmas Cupcakes"

In order to have time for all my Christmas shopping, wrapping gifts, spending time with my family and baking other Christmas goodies, I opted for a small scale alternative to doing a special holiday cake--Christmas cupcakes!  I was able to make the royal icing poinsettias ahead of time so these were a breeze.  They are dark chocolate cupcakes with peppermint buttercream icing, sprinkled with white "cake sparkles", and topped off with the festive poinsettia flower. Thank you to all who visit my blog, Merry Christmas!



"Hot Pink/Zebra Print Cake"

This hot pink, zebra print cake was for a 12 year-old fellow Cake Boss fan who wanted a fabulous birthday cake!  The inspiration was taken from her party invitations and she was very specific that she wanted square cakes with fondant and a tiara on top.  I was not too sure of myself at the thought of yielding a crown out of icing, but I am willing to try just about anything.  So with only one failed attempt and some minor mishaps along the way, here sat an entirely edible crown fit for a princess--or at least "cake diva"! ;)

  The cake flavors are German chocolate with chocolate buttercream filling and the other is white cake with vanilla buttercream. All decorations are fondant except, of course, the tiara.

 



"Kristin Turns 21!"

This is a 21st Birthday cake for my friend Kristin. I think it really went well with her personality...fun, colorful and a little crazy;)  It was a white chocolate cake with raspberry buttercream filling, covered in fondant with fondant and buttercream decorations.



25th Anniversary Cake

I was given total freedom to chose the design and colors of this cake and to mine and their surprise, it was the same color theme of their wedding 25 years ago--what a blessing!!  It's a two-tier cake (white on top, chocolate on bottom) covered in burgundy fondant with white fondant flowers cascading from the top.  The silver "25" and the ribbon trim are not edible.





50th Birthday Cake

This is a 50th birthday cake that I was asked to do as a joke with an "AARP" theme.  It is a half sheet cake covered in buttercream with fondant and buttercream decorations.



"Smiley Face Cake"

Here is a birthday cake for an 11-year-old girl who wanted a cake with colorful smiley faces all over it so this is what I came up with:)  It is an 8" round cake cut in a "topsy turvy" manner.  The cake was yellow with chocolate buttercream icing covered in fondant. Decorations are fondant (except for the wire swirls).



"40th Birthday Cake"

Here is a 40th birthday cake I did for my former boss's husband.  She definitely wanted something with a black "turning 40" theme so after doing some research I came up with the black and gray stripe design with a burial plat signifying the "death of his youth".  He loved it!   

The cake itself is a yellow cake with vanilla buttercream (colored black), covered in gray fondant with black fondant stripes. The stones, "40", rose and tombstone are fondant, the dirt is crushed chocolate cookie crumbs and the grass and bottom border are buttercream.



"Maeve's 2nd Birthday Cake" - 11/10

For my daughter's 1st birthday, she received a toy from her Grandma and Grandpa by Leap Frog called "My Pal Violet", which is this little stuffed puppy that plays music, knows her name and plays games.  Ever since then, she has absolutely adored her puppy Violet.  So this year, I made her a cake to look like Violet.  Although I didn't get it exact, it looked like a close relative;) LOL  I had a hard time getting the right proportions and exact same colors of her puppy and also getting the arms to stay on.  The arms and legs were rice crispy treats and the arms ended up being to heavy to stay on the side of the cake so I had to prop them up with dowels.  I figured it was better than having no arms at all! 

The (strawberry) cake is made from a 6" ball cake for the head and a half ball and 6" round, double layer cake for the body.  It is covered in buttercream using the brush embroidery technique and the features are fondant.  The birthday hat is paper with a buttercream border which I think really finished it off and says "Birthday cake!"  Overall, I was pleased with how it turned out knowing that it made my baby girl happy:)



"Pizza Cake" - 11/10

For my husband's 36th birthday, since he absolutely loves pizza (and I think he would eat it 7 days a week if he could;)), I wanted to make him a pizza cake.  I also had to make a cake for my daughter, whose b-day is two days before his, so I just made a small cake instead of the 12" size I would have liked to make.  So it is a 9" chocolate cake with the edges rounded, covered in buttercream with both the "crust" and the "sauce" being buttercream.  The pepperoni is fondant with a layer of piping gel to make them look greasy and the cheese is melted and grated white chocolate.  To finish it off, I used a creme brulee torch to brown the chocolate a bit and I think it even deepened the color of the sauce to look like real marinara!  And, of course, presented it to him in a pizza box--he loved it!



"Nurse Cake" - 10/10

I was asked to do a cake for a retired nurse for her birthday and found several great design ideas on Cake Central.  This design was by far my favorite!  I love all the little elements and had a lot of fun making them.  The cake is classic french vanilla with vanilla buttercream filling (with added raspberry preserves in the top tier).  Both tiers are covered in mmf with all fondant decorations except for the "heart beat" around the bottom tier which is buttercream.  Also, the syringe needle is a small piece of floral wire.  The only thing I would have done differently is made the bottom tier bigger so I could have fit the stethoscope on it better. 



Bible & Starbucks Coffee Cake - 10/10

This is a cake I made for my Pastor's 52nd birthday.  He is a faithful man of God who loves the Lord (and Starbucks coffee) so I really wanted to make him a cake that would portray this.  I envisioned his time of studying the Word with his Bible in front of him and his coffee nearby, ready to receive whatever the Lord gives him.  Now I just had to build it out of cake... 

 I made a dark chocolate mocha flavor cake with a vanilla toffee crunch filling--a coffee lover's dream-- and covered it in fondant.  The pages are edible images of actual Bible pages made to include one of Pastor's favorite verses, 2 Timothy 2:21 "If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work."  The coffee mug is constructed of rice crispy treats covered in fondant with an edible Starbucks logo as well and brown piping gel to look like coffee.  The pen and napkin are also fondant. 

I had thought about putting fondant on the cake board itself, but to me, it seems like such a waste:/  Therefore, I wrapped the board in wax paper, thinned out some brown food coloring with lemon extract and painted the wax paper with long brush strokes to make it look like wood.  It turned out great and had the effect of an aged wooden desk!  The only problem I had was that the "paint" remained quite tacky so I dusted it with cornstarch and that took care of it. 

Anyhow, I think my Pastor really enjoyed it!  I took it to church on Wednesday night and it was gone within 10 minutes--Praise the Lord everyone loved it!



"Bushel of Apples" - 9/10

After some inspiration from one of my "cake friends" and a class at Sweet Wise on flavor profiling I wanted to try to do a caramel apple-type theme for a cake.  I found a great recipe for an apple cake and a yummy caramel icing recipe for the filling...now I just had to figure out how to decorate it.  So going along with the fall/apple theme, I decided on doing a bushel of apples.

The cake is an 8" round, four layer apple cake with caramel icing and crushed up Snickers candy bars for the filling.  It is covered with vanilla buttercream with all fondant decorations.  The apples are rice crispy treats covered in fondant.

Welcome fall!  



HHC Company Cake - 9/10

I was asked to do this cake for the Home Health Care company that a friend of mine works for.  I was actually pretty nervous as it was my first "outside" cake order and it was going to be a HUGE cake--at least the biggest that I have ever done!  It was a double-layer, full sheet cake measuring 24" x 36".  Half of the cake was french vanilla w/ vanilla buttercream and the other half was devil's food w/ raspberry truffle filling, all covered in buttercream. 

There were only a few minor glitches in the planning stages but otherwise it went pretty smoothly.  Speaking of "smoothly"...I am still working on spreading my buttercream without leaving "spread lines"--I think I need to get one of those large pallet knives:/  Anyhow, the fondant logo turned out great--easier than I had anticipated.  Hope everyone liked it!



Cowboys Jersey Cake - 9/10

This is a Dallas Cowboys (Tony Romo #9) jersey cake for a young man's 21st birthday. It is a chocolate fudge cake covered in fondant with fondant and royal icing decorations.  The grass is buttercream and the football is made of crispy treats.

Buttercream Bouquet - 8/10

I bought a new icing tip at Hobby Lobby the other day so I thought I would give it a try!  I also wanted to work on my buttercream skills (especially covering a cake).  So I made this cake--it is a 9" white cake with lemon buttercream and homemade strawberry jam filling, also covered in lemon buttercream.  The flowers, although the tip is for making mums, turned out looking more like Zinnias;)  Still pretty, just had more pointed petals than rounded like mums.  Anyway, this is my buttercream bouquet cake!

"Buttons and Bows" - 8/10

"Buttons and Bows and Twinkle Toes" was a cute little saying that I thought would go perfectly with the theme of this baby shower cake.  I really love how the colors for this one turned out.  It's just neat to see it all come together just from a vision in your head and a rough sketch on paper;)  The bottom tier was french vanilla with raspberry truffle filling and the top tier was strawberry cake with vanilla buttercream filling.  The cake is covered in marshmallow fondant with pink sugar pearl accents and fondant/gumpaste decorations.  The biggest compliment was when the dad saw the cake and said it looked like one from Cake Boss!!  Thank you and congratulations to Ron and Olivia--Welcome baby Bella! 

Definitely one of my favorites! 

Handmade Gumpaste Baby Rattle

Buttons and quilting detail

Gumpaste plaque with a saying to go with the theme

Circle Cake - 8/10

Here is a random cake I made with some leftover fondant and chocolate truffle filling.  It is a retro circle design, but my 4-year-old called it the bubble cake;)  This could be done in any choice of colors and would look even better as a tiered cake.

Precious Moments - 7/10

This was a birthday cake that I made with only 24 hours notice, but still I was glad to be able to make it for them (and strengthen my skills under pressure;)).  Their daughter is a good friend of my daughter and her mom requested a Precious Moments cake.  It is a chocolate 1/2 sheet cake covered in buttercream.  The image was also made using buttercream, flowers are royal icing. 

Lots of Dots! - 5/10

Since I had some leftover fondant from the vintage purse cake (and a box of cake mix in the cupboard), I thought it would be fun to let my oldest daughter decorate a cake with me.  So we covered the cake with white fondant and colored the rest of the fondant to make lots of different colored polka dots!  I think her favorite part was coloring the fondant;)  The top of the cake is made up of seven royal icing swirls . 

Vintage Handbag - 5/10

My Pastor's wife is really into vintage/antique things and so for her birthday, I made her a vintage purse cake with a coral flower accent and fondant pearl bracelet.  The cake was white chocolate with raspberry and vanilla buttercream filling between the layers.  The base of the cake was also covered with coral fondant.  She really loved it!

Gumpaste Flower

Pearl Bracelet

Michelle Bommarito - 4/10

The second Saturday in April, I had the privilege of meeting Michelle Bommarito, a master wedding cake artist who has appeared several times on Food Network's Challenge.  She did a free demonstration at Sweet Wise in Nashville and showcased her amazing talent.  And yes, she is really that energetic and fast-paced in person;)  Thanks for all the great tips Michelle!!

"HE IS RISEN!" - 4/10

This is personally one of my favorite cakes, most of all because of the message it brings--"He is risen!", Christ arose from the grave!  I wanted to do something other than bunnies and baskets for Easter and I had played with the idea of this cake but was not really sure if I could pull it off.  After I finally decided to go for it, I did a sketch and made the crosses ahead of time.  Then the Saturday before, a friend of mine came over and helped me and gave valuable insight as it all came together--Thanks Kristin! :) 

I was so thrilled to see the finished product (especially after the some-what confusing carving process), and how realistic the crosses and rocks looked--all it needed was a light inside the tomb!  I truly hope the Lord was pleased. 

Fondant Crosses

Empty Tomb, Stone

Valentine's Day - 2/10

What says Valentine's Day more than chocolate and roses?  CAKE with chocolate and roses!!  This was another opportunity for me to try new things--chocolate fondant and fondant roses.  The chocolate fondant recipe I used didn't work as well as regular marshmallow fondant (the basic white fondant that I use) as far as elastictisity, but still tasted good;)  I will have to find another recipe. The roses however, turned out really well, I was quite impressed as they were not very difficult to do.  The hearts were fondant and the piping was freehanded w/ buttercream.  This was also a chocolate cake filled with chocolate buttercream--YUM!!  

Fondant hearts and hot pink roses

Piping work and fondant hearts.