Mod Flowers on a Cake

This cake was really cute when it was done.  I love these mod flowers.  They're so adorable!  This was for a little girl who was turning two.  Since it was a fall birthday, they wanted more orange flowers on it than pink, but the colors on the cake really pop against the white fondant background.  The little white dots add a little something special to it as well.

Two Vegan Cakes in a Row

I was asked by two different people to make vegan cakes for their children's birthday parties.  Vegan cakes are more challenging to make because they fall apart so much more easily than cakes with eggs in them.  The Curious George Cake also had to be gluten-free--which also makes it more likely to crumble.  Anyway, they both turned out fine, depite my stressing that they would fall to bits!  The Curious George Cake was a 9x13 and the Carnival Cake was a half sheet.

Short Notice Wedding Cake

One of my friend's mother got engaged and decided to get married quickly.  She had to plan her whole wedding in a month and didn't contact me until two weeks before the wedding!  Now, I normally wouldn't take a wedding cake order with that little notice, but since it was a friend I decided to do it for her.  It was a challenge getting all the details taken care of in a week, since I needed a week to work on the cake and its details.  She wanted the really delicate gum paste roses that I make.  Each of those roses takes 12-15 minutes to make start to finish, so I spent days working on them.  Thankfully my friend, Brenda was an absolute lifesaver and spent 3 half days helping me make roses and decorate the cakes.  I couldn't have done it without her!  She wanted my Luscious Lemon Cake.  Her fiance wanted to be able to take the top tier home for their first anniversary.  So, we decided to do 6, 10 and 14 inch tiers to achieve the look she wanted.  I did the bottom and top tiers with my Lemon Creme Filling and the middle tier with Raspberry Filling.  She also wanted a Groom's Cake.  So, I did a Classic Yellow Cake with a Dark Chocolate Ganache Filling and a Dark Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.  I decorated both the cakes with a similar pattern in the buttercream to help tie them together.  The wedding cake had a beautiful spray of white roses down it.  My friend's mom is so sweet.  She called and left a message for me after the reception gushing about how much she loved the cake, how much her husband loved his cake, and how they surpassed her expectations!

Fabulous New Flavors!

I've been in the mood for creating new and exciting flavors of cupcakes!  I get tired of the same old flavors over and over again.  I've been trying to get people to give me ideas of new ideas to try, so if there's something you would like me to try, let me know!  I'll see if I can make it.  :-)  Here's some of the flavors I've tried so far.

 Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes with Fresh Strawberry Glaze

 S'more Cupcakes with Marshmallow Creme and Graham Crackers

 Orange Cream Pop Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

 Apple Pie Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

 Apple Pie Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream

Mango Coconut Cupcakes with Mango Lime Frosting

Its A Jungle Out There!

Like I said in my previous post, it seems that everyone I know is having babies!  A friend of mine found this absolutely adorable jungle theme for baby showers and we fell in love with it!  It can be used for a baby boy or a baby girl.  We actually used it for two different showers, but I made two very different cakes for them.  We also used different color schemes, so the look of the showers was quite different.  Anyway, we loved both the cakes, so here they are!

Baby Shower Cupcakes

Lately it seems like everyone I know is having babies!  There must be something in the water.  That's why I buy bottled water!  LOL!  Anyway, it seems that I throw one party after another (or I'm asked to make the cakes for them!)  I really like making cupcakes--even more than I like making cakes, so I've taken the opportunity to make cupcakes for some of these showers.  Just thought I'd show you a sampling of the cupcakes I've made!  Sometimes its fun to have several different flavors of cupcakes instead of them all being the same.  :)

Polka Dot Palooza

So, this cake has a bit of a story behind it!  I usually request a minimum of a 1-2 week notice.  This client called me late Friday night and wanted to pick it up Sunday morning.  I don't work on Saturdays, so I was really time crunched!  I started about 8:30 Saturday night and worked until 2:00 in the morning.  I also had problems with one of my batters, so I had to re-bake some of the layers.  Needless to say, it was a stressful night!  They also wanted it to be covered in fondant, which takes more time than buttercream frosting.  Thankfully, the cake turned out in the end, and looked really fun!

On the Road Again...

This was made for a guy's birthday who loves motorcycles.  He rides them and works on them.  They wanted the bike on the cake to resemble his own Suzuki motorcycle.  I did have some issues with the creation of this bike because I used two very different kinds of fondant in it, but in the end, it worked out!  The cake I covered in green fondant and made a winding fondant road on it.  I also created a rider with a helmet on, of course--Safety first!  :)  I built up a little hill on the top of the cake so when I draped the fondant over, it created an interesting little hill for the road to curve around.  I also added grass and flowers just to make it a little more interesting to the eye!  This cake was definitely a challenge for me, but it could be used in so many ways.  You could go so may directions with this--cars, bicycles, hikers, etc.  My dad rides a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, so I was thinking what a great cake it would make for him, too! 

A Rumbly in My Tumbly

It may come as a surprise, but I had the MOST fun making this cake!  It was so fun doing something that had such a retro feel to it.  Plus--who doesn't love Pooh?!  I have to admit that I'm a big fan of Winnie the Pooh and am excited to see the new Pooh movie that's out.  The colors in this cake are so vibrant and the theme is so much fun!  I made this cake very textural.  There's the grass that looks like real grass and then the flowers growing up through the grass.  I made Winnie the Pooh look fuzzy and cuddly--although you probably would rather eat him than cuddle with him!  Its the perfect treat if you have a rumbly in your tumbly!

Flowers for Mother

This cake was made for a birthday for a mother.  They wanted something simple, but beautiful.  These orange/red flowers were actually a little brighter than it shows up here.  Once again they were very happy with the finished product!  It was fun because I enjoy making gum paste flowers.  They are so delicate and beautiful.

Baby Carriage Cake

This cake was created for a baby shower.  It was originally going to be for about 40 people, so I planned on doing a 12 inch in diameter cake for the carriage and two 6 inch mini cakes for the wheels.  At the last minute, I was notified that there would only be about 10 people attending the shower.  I decided to do an 8 inch in diameter cake with 4 inch mini cakes.  It came out looking exactly how the customer wanted it to.  :)  It was a chocolate cake with Vanilla Buttercream and Chocolate Frosting for the dark accents.  It turned out really cute!  It was fun because it was kind of a retro design, and I don't get to do all that many retro type cakes.  Bring them on! 

Another Graduation Cake

This cake was made for a friend of mine who was graduating with his MBA from Wake Forrest.  He wanted the cake made with his school logo on it.  It took me a bit to figure out how to make the logo because its a little involved!  I ended up using black fondant for the black and white fondant with luster dust on it for the gold color.  I also made a graduation cap out of the black fondant and a diploma out of white gum paste.  I really liked how the colors on the cake really popped!  Everyone loved the look and the flavor.  I made a Classic Carrot Cake with a Cream Cheese Filling.  You can't beat the classics!

Making Music Cake

This cake was lots of fun to make!  This was made for a musician who was very emphatic that the violin MUST have 4 strings!  :)  I covered it in fondant and made the ribbon and musical notes out of black, buttercream-flavored fondant.  The violin is made of chocolate-flavored fondant.  Everything is edible except for the violin stings--they are wire.  When I was a kid, I took music lessons for about 4 years.  Every time I had to get my music teacher a gift it was something with a keyboard or musical notes on it.  I am sure he had oodles of muscial themed gifts sitting around--think about how happy he would have been to have a yummy cake to eat instead of another keyboard tie!  So for this music lover in your life--this cake can be made with any instrument on top!

Chic Purse Birthday Cake

This cake began with a disaster!  I made the cake, put the fillings in, stacked it and carved it.  I then put it in the refrigerator to chill.  When I opened the refrigerator a while later the whole cake had fallen apart into many peices!  I had to start all over again!  I tweaked the recipe to make it more stable and it turned out really cute!  It was our Strawberry Cake with Blackberry Filling and Cream Cheese Frosting Filling.  It got rave reviews!  It is covered in fondant and all the decorations are edible fondant.

Spring Brunch & Tea Party

I created this cake for a friend's birthday party.  I had been wanting to make this Spring Flower Bouquet Cake for months, so I was very excited to be able to create it!  I also wanted to make these Butterfly Cupcakes, which went perfectly with my theme.  The cake and cupcakes were both our Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake with our Chocolate Peppermint Ganache filling.  The cake and cupcakes are iced in our Classic Buttercream Frosting.  The daisies and leaves are edible gum paste/fondant.  The daffodils are Royal Icing.  The butterflies are made of candy melts and Chocolate frosting.  Anyway, I loved how it all came together!

Dinosaur in the Grass Cake

This cake was made for a little boy's birthday party.  I was very excited when they chose this design because I loved it and had been wanting to make it.  It has a simplicity that makes it very cute!  It is covered in white fondant with fondant/gum paste accents.  It was a 12 inch, four layer cake.  It was our Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake with a Raspberry Filling.  I put green Luster Dust on the dinosaur to give him a little sheen and give him a little something extra.

Baby Shower Gift Cake

This is yet another cake that looks like a gift.  :)  They seem to be very popular.  They have a simple elegance that people find attractive.  This one was made to match the colors of the baby shower--lavendar with light pink and green polka dots.  It was four layer Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake with our Chocolate Ganache filling.  It is iced in our Classic Buttercream Frosting with fondant/gum paste accents.  The gift tag is also edible fondant and says, "Welcome Baby Girl!"

Pink Zebra Stripes Birthday Cake

This cake was made for a 5 year old girl's birthday party.  She loves zebra stripes and was determined to have them on her birthday cake!  She also wanted something "fluffy" on it, so I gave it a fluffy-looking border around the bottom.  Her mom wanted a Classic White Cake, so I decided to put a little food coloring in some of the layers, so they alternated white and pink--like the outside of the cake!  She wanted a Chocolate Creme Filling.  The little girl was very excited when she saw her cake and her father told me that the cake was a huge hit.  They took it to her school to celebrate her birthday.  He said there wasn't any left! 

You're A Star Going Away Cake

This cake was made for a friend who was joining the Peace Corps and being sent to Ukraine.  She had a secret love of watching Hannah Montana, so her going away party was Hannah Montana themed.  This cake was made to match the colors and theme.  The silver stars and polka dots are made using edible lustre dust.  This was a 4 layer Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake with Chocolate Peppermint Ganache filling.  It is iced in Peppermint Buttercream Frosting.  This was a 9 inch cake.

Giraffe Birthday Cake

This cake was for a baby girl's first birthday.  Her brother was having the jungle theme birthday cake, so they wanted a cake in a similar theme.  They requested a giraffe sitting up on its haunches.  This cake was challenging.  For a cake that has to be carved and stacked so high, I used a Lemon Pound Cake with a Raspberry Filling.  I covered the giraffe in fondant and the details were also fondant.  I made the head and feet out of Rice Krispy Treats.  This cake was also a huge hit at the party. 

Jungle Birthday Cake

This cake was created for a 4-year-old boy's birthday party.  The party was a jungle theme party, so they wanted a cake to match.  The bottom tier was our Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake with our Chocolate Ganache Filling.  The top tier was our Butter Pecan Cake with a Cream Cheese Frosting Filling.  The cakes were covered in fondant with fondant details.  The little animals were lots of fun to make.  I made a monkey for the top because the birthday boy is a big fan of Curious George.  They also requested snakes for the cake.  I also made an alligator and a lion.  They turned out really cute.  There were made out of all edible fondant/gum paste.  The grass is buttercream frosting.  The cakes were a big hit.  People were surprised that the cakes not only looked great, but tasted great, too!

Mini Cooper Cake

This cake was made for a Mini Cooper owner.  Her husband requested that the cake be a Mini Cooper and that flowers should be included.  I decided to go with fondant to give the car a really smooth look.  I also decided to go with a bright orange car and bright pink flowers to give a fun, almost 70s look.  The cake was a Strawberry Cake with Lemon Curd Creme Filling.  It was fun making all the little details for the cake.  I used lustre dust to create the chrome accents on the car.

Chocolate Lava Cakes

I decided to make Chocolate Lava Cakes for Valentine's Day.  I recently aquired some ramekins and I wanted to use them!  They turned out to be fabulous!  We ate them warm--just out of the oven.  Lots of gooey chocolate richness oozed out when we cut into them.

Scuba Diving Birthday Cake

I made this cake for my husband's birthday.  His favorite hobby is scuba diving, so that's what I went with.  He requesting a Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake with Chocolate Peppermint Ganache.  It was a 3 layer 10 inch cake.  I iced it in Classic Buttercream Frosting.  I dyed piping gel blue and put it on top to create the water-like look.  All decorations are made of gum paste/fondant.  I used the air brush food coloring to color the diver and the shark.  The sand is crushed graham crackers.

Airplane Birthday Cake

This cake was made for a two-year-olds birthday party.  His daddy is a pilot, so the cake was decorated with airplanes.  It was also his daddy's and grandma's birthdays, so I put banners behind two of the airplanes with their names on it.  You can't see it in this picture, but the little boy's name is on the opposite side of the top tier.  I used skittles around the bottoms of the tiers.  The cupcake on the top was the birthday boys portion.  All decorations are edible.  The cake was our Classic Yellow Cake with Lemon Filling and Classic Buttercream Frosting.