Little Man Birthday Cakes

Sock Monkey Cake

Lego Cake

Its a Jungle Out There! #2

Jungle Theme is great for baby showers welcoming a baby boy (or two)!

 

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! 

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.

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.

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.

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.

To Make a Wedding Cake

Our friend wanted a chocolate wedding cake.  We went with four layer cakes--Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake.  The fillings we used were White Chocolate Creme, Chocolate Ganache, and Fresh Raspberry Filling.  Lori made the four layers of cake for the bottom tier--square 16 x 16.  She also made the Fresh Raspberry Filling.  I made the four layers for the 12 x 12 and 8 x 8 tiers of the cake.  I also made the White Chocolate Creme filling, the Chocolate Ganache filling and the Chocolate Buttercream for the crumb coat.

I had frozen my layers so they would be easier to work with and less crumby.  Here they are still wrapped in plastic wrap.

Leveling the largest of the cakes, the 16 x 16.  The parchment paper is a huge help in moving these large layers of cake, not to mention how much easier it makes getting the cakes out of the pans.  I had to get an extra large cake leveler for this job!

I made seven batches of Chocolate Buttercream Frosting to crumb coat this cake.

The first layer of filling was the Chocolate Ganache.  This is the second layer of filling--our White Chocolate Creme.

The top layer of filling--our Fresh Raspberry Filling.  Delicious!

The three layers all crumb coated in Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.

Top tier covered in Chocolate Fondant.

I put these signs in all my car windows.  People were nice enough to give me a good berth, even though I was driving slow!

Putting the dowels in for tiering.

Putting the big dowel down the middle to keep the cake stable.

Tada!  The finished product!  The fresh berries really gave the chocolate a punch!  I looked gorgeous and tasted delicious!  We got LOTS of compliments on how tasty our cake was.  Most wedding cakes don't taste very good, but we endeavor to make ours delectable!

Up To My Elbows in Marshmallows!

Anyone who uses fondant knows that its not cheap!  I had heard some people saying that you can make your own fondant out of marshmallows.  So, I bought big bags of marshmallows and confectioners' sugar and commenced attempting to make fondant.  You have to melt the marshmallows until they turn into a very sticky fluff.  Then you have to grease down your counter very well, put a huge pile of confectioners' sugar on the counter and make a well in it.  Then you pour the melted marshmallow into the well.  I colored the melted marshmallows first because I figured that would be easier than trying to add color after it was made.  I greased up my hands, too.  The marshmallow was so sticky it was really hard to knead.  I had to knead it for probably about half an hour to get all the confectioners' sugar worked into it and get it to the right consistency.  It was a lot of work and once the mixture got stiffer it took a lot of elbow grease to keep kneading it.  I ended up using it on a birthday cake for my mother-in-law.  I worked OK, but it didn't have as smooth a look as store bought fondant.  It does have a better taste than most store bought fondants.  I decorated the cake with white fondant polka dots and a white fondant/gum paste bow.