Saturday, June 13, 2009
Pretty Princess first Birthday Cake
Here's a pretty pretty princess's first birthday cake. The shaped crown cake is a Wilton pan (I think), and the smash cake is a number one. Off to deliver it now!
Monday, June 1, 2009
A flowery birthday cake
This cake was created for a surprise birthday party for the mom of the girl with the Autumn reception cake. All the flowers on the top were created using gum paste by hand. They all had individual stems and were colored with non-toxic chalks to give them depth. The rest of the cake has simple frosting drop flowers and vines to give the whole thing a flowery feel.
The gum paste flowers are roses and lilies. I also made a few leaves to stick in here and there. I think I did a half ball cake on the top that was frosted to stick the flowers into. But I can't really remember. I think this cake was done in 2005.
The gum paste flowers are roses and lilies. I also made a few leaves to stick in here and there. I think I did a half ball cake on the top that was frosted to stick the flowers into. But I can't really remember. I think this cake was done in 2005.
Star Wars - Death Star cake
This little boy had the Treasure Chest cake for his 5th birthday. He requested a Star Wars Lego cake for his 6th Birthday. I did some fast research, then asked my good buddy Matt to look at this cake link, and tell me what that weird gray thing was at the bottom, and if it was significant to the cake design. He stared at me like I had grown a second head, and he said "Tess, that's the *death star*." At my blank look, he quickly searched and pulled up Wikipedia's description of the Death Star. Uh. OK. Yeah, it's important. At that point I shamefully admitted I have seen exactly ZERO of the Star Wars movies. Yes, I am a geek that has NOT seen Star Wars. However, I can make a Star Wars cake, so THERE!
I cheated and bought lego figurines for the cake. I DO have a life outside of crafting, yanno. So, Lego Store got my business. I found these cute mini figures, that were actually made to be magnets, but take them off their base and they were perfect for this cake.
The Death Star was made with the ball pan from Wilton (gee, I am a walking talking Wilton advertisement). I sprinkled it with black edible glitter flake stuff, and tried to recreate the surface, not very successfully, I thought.
But, I do like the laser beam touch, which was made out of a battery operated fiber optic light thingy that is supposed to be used in floral arrangements. A green Sharpie turned the fiber optic strands the right color. It was hard to see in the picture, but the laser beam was actually green and lit up. Ooooh. Aaaaaah. :)
The letters are cut out of fondant with cookie cutters. And the logo was printed, cut and pieced together to try to be super accurate.
It wasn't my idea to have Obi Wan and Darth on top, but that was my son's suggestion, so I did it. I also got pictures of my son attempting to eat the entire Death Star later. He made it about 3/4 of the way through, then looked a little sick. Hey, he tried, though.
I cheated and bought lego figurines for the cake. I DO have a life outside of crafting, yanno. So, Lego Store got my business. I found these cute mini figures, that were actually made to be magnets, but take them off their base and they were perfect for this cake.
The Death Star was made with the ball pan from Wilton (gee, I am a walking talking Wilton advertisement). I sprinkled it with black edible glitter flake stuff, and tried to recreate the surface, not very successfully, I thought.
But, I do like the laser beam touch, which was made out of a battery operated fiber optic light thingy that is supposed to be used in floral arrangements. A green Sharpie turned the fiber optic strands the right color. It was hard to see in the picture, but the laser beam was actually green and lit up. Ooooh. Aaaaaah. :)
The letters are cut out of fondant with cookie cutters. And the logo was printed, cut and pieced together to try to be super accurate.
It wasn't my idea to have Obi Wan and Darth on top, but that was my son's suggestion, so I did it. I also got pictures of my son attempting to eat the entire Death Star later. He made it about 3/4 of the way through, then looked a little sick. Hey, he tried, though.
An Autumn reception - my first 'wedding' cake
This was my first really large tiered cake. I made not only the cake itself, but the flowers and cake topper, too. I was 7 months pregnant with my daughter at the time, and I really felt it by the time I finished. This was a LOT of work, but my friend and her husband seemed to love it, so it was definitely worth it. I told myself at the end that I would not do another wedding cake until my OTHER friend got married, and I stuck to that (Beachy wedding cake coming up in the next post.)
I really liked to tone on tone icing. It was very subtle with the scroll design, but I think it turned out nice. I did cheat and use the Wilton Scroll press set to save myself some time.
And a closeup of the topper... there are 2 cutesy little Autumn Scarecrows in the lighted gazebo. Yeah, cutesy isn't for everyone, but she seemed to like it. All the other flowers were just silk flowers that were arranged on the separator plates as well as on and around the topper gazebo.
I really liked to tone on tone icing. It was very subtle with the scroll design, but I think it turned out nice. I did cheat and use the Wilton Scroll press set to save myself some time.
And a closeup of the topper... there are 2 cutesy little Autumn Scarecrows in the lighted gazebo. Yeah, cutesy isn't for everyone, but she seemed to like it. All the other flowers were just silk flowers that were arranged on the separator plates as well as on and around the topper gazebo.
Beachy wedding cake
This is the cake that brought me out of wedding cake retirement after creating the Autumn Wedding cake for another friend. Once again, I made not only the cake, but the cake topper and florals between the tiers, too.
I am probably most proud of the score that got me the sand castle topper. I was really struggling with what to have on top. The bride left it entirely up to me, which usually, I really like. I don't want to promise something to someone and then not be able to deliver. Since I am not a professional at this (and in fact, don't make any money at all on my cakes), I have been really firm that I can't really promise specifics beyond flavor and color.
This sand castle is a candle holder that I found at Kohl's on a clearance table. It was perfect, and I was able to incorporate it into the topper pretty easily. This cake was TALL! I was worried about the balance of everything as I assembled. Luckily, I usually make too much cake, so losing the top layer would have been embarrassing, but everyone would still have gotten to eat cake!
The whole cake:
And the bottom layer close up:
The top layer closeup:
I am probably most proud of the score that got me the sand castle topper. I was really struggling with what to have on top. The bride left it entirely up to me, which usually, I really like. I don't want to promise something to someone and then not be able to deliver. Since I am not a professional at this (and in fact, don't make any money at all on my cakes), I have been really firm that I can't really promise specifics beyond flavor and color.
This sand castle is a candle holder that I found at Kohl's on a clearance table. It was perfect, and I was able to incorporate it into the topper pretty easily. This cake was TALL! I was worried about the balance of everything as I assembled. Luckily, I usually make too much cake, so losing the top layer would have been embarrassing, but everyone would still have gotten to eat cake!
The whole cake:
And the bottom layer close up:
The top layer closeup:
Safari cake
This was made for my daughter's fourth birthday party. She wanted safari animals, and specifically, an alligator, a hippo and a monkey. So, of course the Princess gets what she requests...
All animals are made out of fondant. This was my first attempt at creating figures. I did get some inspiration from online searches, but the water from Jello idea is one that has been in my mind for some time.
I made blue jello and let it set in a 16" round cake pan. Then, i assembled the tiered cake, with fondant cut out leaves and animals, on top of the jello jungle watering hole. The best part was that the hippo and alligator sort of started to melt into the jello, creating some bubbles around where they were sitting on the water. It made it sort of like the water was moving around their bodies. Kind of unexpected, but cool!
WARNING! The animals sitting on the jello will absorb moisture from the jello and be very sticky when you take them off!
Here is the princess with her cake. You can see that I have a problem making small cakes... they just get bigger and bigger!
And here is a close up of the King of the Jungle:
All animals are made out of fondant. This was my first attempt at creating figures. I did get some inspiration from online searches, but the water from Jello idea is one that has been in my mind for some time.
I made blue jello and let it set in a 16" round cake pan. Then, i assembled the tiered cake, with fondant cut out leaves and animals, on top of the jello jungle watering hole. The best part was that the hippo and alligator sort of started to melt into the jello, creating some bubbles around where they were sitting on the water. It made it sort of like the water was moving around their bodies. Kind of unexpected, but cool!
WARNING! The animals sitting on the jello will absorb moisture from the jello and be very sticky when you take them off!
Here is the princess with her cake. You can see that I have a problem making small cakes... they just get bigger and bigger!
And here is a close up of the King of the Jungle:
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