August & September’s Cakes

Busy as usual with my lovely cakes…

I had yet another Angry Birds cake.  This time, it was a request for the classic game.

 

I really love creating this guys by hand out of fondant.

Angry but loveable.  Can you blame them?  They’re only protecting their eggs….

I then had the cutest baptismal cake to fashion.  The request was for the baby bum cake.

 

The lovely Godmother who requested the cake, also suggested the cutest saying….

 

 

How can you not melt?

Then there was my son’s 3rd birthday cake.  He’s a big Big BIG fan of Disney Cars.  Last year I made him a Mater – the tow truck cake. This year he asked for Lightening McQueen.  I won’t be surprised if he asks for another character out of the movie next year for his birthday.  Did I mention he’s a big fan?

 

 

I wanted to take a picture of him with his cake.  He stood next to it enough times to seem like it was a possibility, but he’s like his mom – we run from the camera all the time.  Hahahaha

Last but not least was an adorable Dora ballerina cake for my best friend’s daughter.

 

It was fun molding Dora the Explorer in ballet mode out of gum paste.

 

Breaking my usual tradition of covering my cakes in fondant, I covered this lovely confetti cake in a tasty vanilla buttercream.  Yummy and good for you too.

And the orders are slowly rolling in for October as I type this newest blog entry.

 

First Birthdays

Celebrating a 1st anything is very special.

Especially for parents of a baby who encounters many many first time moments….first step, first words, first tooth and of course…first birthday!

Ah, first birthday, what a special time … naturally I don’t remember mine.  I don’t even know if I have any pictures of that day (must ask my parents).  I’m assuming there was singing and a cake involved somewhere amidst that day.  For my daughter, I baked up cupcakes and slathered a thick serving of icing over it to make a cupcake-cake (this was pre-elaborate cake days).  I am also about ease – if I don’t need to do simple math to figure out how many pieces to cut the cake, all the better!

For my son’s first birthday, his was the beginning of the elaborate cake era.  I baked up 3 different flavoured cakes (chocolate, vanilla and confetti) and created 3 large “square” wooden blocks  (ok, they looked far from square blocks, but rather squished up blocks), each block spelling out my son’s name.  (For his cake, yes I had to use simple math.)

My babies are no longer babies (sniff – wipe away single rolling tear).  My daughter is now 5 and my son is 3 … time flies, doesn’t it?  And now I have friends and family who are celebrating their little ones first years, and I get to be part of such a great day all over again.

My neighbour asked me to create a cake for her son’s 1st birthday.  His love for Mickey Mouse being the focus of the cake.

Without having to make the famous mouse himself (afraid I wouldn’t get his face done properly), I focused on his iconic ears in the form of the famous Mickey Mouse hat and the red shorts and white buttons on his pants.

As a special treat, I wanted to create a “smash” cake … a smaller cake in a soft icing that the birthday boy or girl gets to literally “dive into” to everyone’s delight.  Really, when else in your life can you get away with such behavior?!  LoL

In September, my husband’s cousin’s son’s first birthday (are you still following me?) requested a baseball themed cake.  Specifically one  featuring the Toronto Blue Jays – her husbands beloved team.

 

As an additional surprise, I whipped up a smash cake in the shape of half of a baseball.

 

Happy 1st birthdays baby S and baby A.  No longer babies now!

July’s cakes

Oh my goodness – July has been busy… my little kitchen oven has been working as hard as the sun this summer month….

My neighbor called me on behalf of her friend for a birthday cake.  A birthday cake shaped like an owl for her 3-year-old daughter’s birthday (seriously, I love kids today!  My cake was still a slab or a round…ohhhhh).

Then I had a New York city cake.  This was set on a girl leaving for New York University in the fall.  I wanted this to be girlie and fun.  Think “Sex & the City” – in cake form.

So what’s NYC without buildings?

Or Broadway??  I took pieces of fondant and drew on iconic broadway posters – my favourite (to draw and watching the actual performance) was “Wicked”.

I even created fondant pieces of shopping bags and of course the Tiffany jewelry box.  What is NYC with some hardcore shopping?!

Put it all together and you’ve got my interpretation of a girlie view of NYC!

My next cake I did was an ANGRY BIRDS SPACE!  I have been looking forward to doing this cake since it was first requested!  Why, you ask?  Because I’m a geek and a fan of the entire angry birds series of games …  don’t believe me?  Look at my iPhone (then shake your head).  Hehehe.

Creating all the Angry Bird characters makes me happy.  Can’t you tell?

Then I created the moon.  I’m so proud of how it looked.

Throw on a bunch of angry birds and one scared green pig…and voila!

The last cake I created for July was a cake for my husband.  He celebrated his 35th birthday.  Coming up with an idea for his cake took a lot longer than my 5-year-old coming to a decision on her cake.  After much back and forth….originally he wanted a Guiness can cake, then a hamburger (he had that one last year), he finally decided on a BBQ cake.

This included 2 “skewers” of fondant meat and green peppers and button mushrooms.  And yes I made sure to marble the meat – BBQ grill masters be proud!

So that’s a summary of my sweet July.

Bring on August…. more cakes to come

Sesame Street Cake

Sunny Day
Sweepin’ the clouds away
On my way to where the air is sweet

Can you tell me how to get,
How to get to Sesame Street ….

Hahaha…that song’s in your head now, isn’t it?  

It was in my head when a new client emailed me for a cake for his son’s 2nd birthday party.  He emailed me a couple ideas for a cake: bold colours, alphabets and numbers scattered around, and a few sesame street characters to finish off the piece.

That was the fun part.

I started off with my favorite character: Cookie Monster.

I started off with a rice krispie body and head.

Then covered him in blue fondant, which i scored to get his messy furry look.

And what is Cookie Monster without his own accessories?  COOKIES!!!

I then started on Big Bird.  Of course I wasn’t going to put a 7′ tall bird on this cake, but he turned out to be just as cute.

I layered on fondant feathers for a ruffled feathery look.

Elmo was done the same way as Cookie Monster – except in red fondant, of course.

And “Tah-dah”…. Sesame street couldn’t get any sweeter….

 

 

Cowgirl Birthday Party

Ah Summer time – school’s out, the days get longer and both my kids get a year older.  Yep, both of them are summer time babies.

This year, my daughter is turning 5 (it’s an important milestone in kindergarten terms).  She’s a great kid with a mind of her own, and so we asked her what kind of birthday theme did she want.  After much, much, MUCH thought on what to have, she finally settled on: Cowgirl.

We live in the suburbs – she has never ridden a pony, nor seen a rodeo, but she wanted to be a cowgirl.  How I love my daughter!

So right away, I got to work on her cake.  But first my daughter pulled me aside and instead of chocolate or vanilla, she asked for a rainbow.

Sigh…

So I baked up 6 layers of white cake, each coloured in different segments of the rainbow: purple, blue, green, yellow, orange, red.

Stacked each in that order and decorated the cake in a simple cowgirl theme.

I particularly loved the handkerchief detail.

When it was time to cut the cake, I honestly held my breath as I cut out a slice and slide it onto the plate.  Every little girl screamed with delight (I’m really not exaggerating – a small group of 4 and 5 years olds screamed) when then saw the “rainbow” inside.

All in all, it was a great birthday party for my little girl.  She had a blast…. now onto my son’s 3rd birthday party next month.  Stay tuned.

Have your cake…..

So yes, I’ll be the first to admit that I have badly neglected my little blog.  Sigh…So much for new years resolutions….

But like always I’ve been busy…baking and designing cakes, of course.

What have I actually created, you ask?

In December I was playing with cakes … these little bars are my “just a taste” cakes – when you don’t want a whole cake…but still want the decadence of sweetness.  Hehehe.

I like these cakes the best for their simplicity.  Because I was only trying it out for the first time, all three bars were vanilla and buttercream frosting, but I’m willing to make varieties.

In February there was the Barbie silhouette cake….

And what is Barbie without her accessories?

The Lego cake.

I wanted this unique cake to look like the classic Lego figures had come to life and had decided to cover up a large Lego block in fondant.

Viola!  Lego Cake!

And then I designed the Phineas and Ferb cake for a friend of mine from work for her son.

I had taken the time to paint out the cartoon characters on gum paste.

And I wanted to do the very first episode with the roller coaster….

And of course Phineas and Ferb!

In the lovely month of March, I did a bridal shower cake for a lovely bride-to-be (whom I was honored and privileged to do her wedding cake and cupcakes this past May.)

Which was followed by a Dinosaur birthday cake for another friend of mine, for her little boy….

Yes, Dinosaurs celebrate birthday’s with 3 year old little boys – haven’t you heard?!

Last but not least was a Hiking Boot cake, requested by a gentleman who read my blog (yeah!!!) and simply requested this unique shaped cake for his sister’s birthday.

So there you have the last six months done in up in sweet cakes.

Hoping to bring you more soon.

L

Cakes for April and May

What I enjoy most about my job (besides creating unique cakes and bring smiles to people’s faces), is getting actually the initial request for a cake.  The specific idea that someone wants brought to life in cake-form.  What I also find interesting is how sophisticated birthday cakes are getting (not like the rectangular slab cakes I grew up with) and what kids are now requesting….not just vanilla birthday cake (although this is still classic!)

Late last April into earlier this May I had a few birthday cakes and a first communion cake to work on.

My friend asked me to do a puppy themed cake for her son’s birthday.  The birthday party had cookie shaped like dog biscuits, and party plates were replaced with (new) doggy bowls.

Instead of doing a large 3D form, I opted for a 2D relief of a puppy.  All formed with yummy rice krispies.

I then simply painted on the spots and doggy paw prints.

She had also requested another birthday cake in May for her daughter’s 9th birthday.  A “Twilight” themed cake.  Twilight – as in the vampire books/ movies that are the craze among preteen girls.  Okay I’ll admit that I’ve watched the movie and have read all the books and I’m all for Team Edward…hmm I spoke too much…. anyways, moving on……

The birthday girl was all for Team Jacob (hence the little fondant wolf howling at the top the cake).

For the first communion cake, I was asked to create something with pink and purple flowers and white fondant covering the base.  I tried using my flower embossing templates to give dimension to the plain white background (in pictures it looks horrible because my camera is really really old!)

 

Fashionista Cake

One of the more ambitious cakes I’ve ever taken on was this weekend’s “Fashionista Cake”.

It’s for my husband’s cousin’s milestone birthday.  Can’t you tell she likes purses and shoes?

I wanted everything to be close to actual size.  So lots of cakes, lots of icing, lots of fondant.

The shoe, I found, was the most challenging aspect of the cake.

I wanted it to look like a dainty high heel.  I used a non-edible support for the sole of the shoe and the heel and covered these in fondant.  Allowing it dry over night.

For the strap and the “material” around the toe, I decide NOT to use a non-edible support and at this very moment I’m crossing my fingers (and my toes) that it makes it to it’s destination in one piece.

The shoe box was easier, and I loved making the “tissue paper” accent spilling out of the box.

The zebra printed purse was just as easy.  Covering the entire carved down cake in fondant, I painted on the black stripes.  I then added black fondant strips as accents and additional pieces of fondant as the purses hardware.

Hubby just left for the party (I’m watching the kiddies and getting some well desereved rest).  Hoping it got there safe and sound and everyone likes it.

Mini Birthday Cakes

I have 2 friends who share the same birthday today.  I won’t say how old they are, because I’m sure one of them will cry and the other will smack me if I dare post it.  Hehehehe.

And for birthdays, I’m a firm believer that cake must be served.  I also believe ice cream should be served too, but one thing at a time….

So a not so late night up and 2 chocolate mini cakes later, I came up with these cute tasty treats.

Happy Birthday N!

And Happy Birthday J!

So many cakes…

I know it’s been ages since I’ve last written…. but I really have kept myself busy.  Honest!! Cakes and cupcakes a plenty!  And somewhere along the way I found out that I have gallstones, and so I’m taking some much-needed rest (although lingering near the oven).

So what have I been working on?

Well I have been creating several custom cakes.  The requests are coming in more frequently and much more challenging.  And I love it!

There was the Super Mario Cake….

This was also the first time that I got to whip out my airbrush machine and spray on the bright blue background against the buttercream fondant.  Everything was edible and handmade from the man-eating plants in the pipes to Mario himself.  (From what I heard, the little boy I made the cake for insisted that no one eat Mario for a good week or so.)

There was the Harry Potter Cake….

(sorry not my best photo since I used my iPhone for this shot).  Originally I had wanted to tackle making Lego figures of the Harry Potter game, but they kept falling and losing their shape, and so I decided on taking a few of the iconic images of the popular movie instead… The Gryffindor red and yellow scarf, Harry’s wand, Hedwig Harry’s faithful owl, the Sorting hat, Harry’s round glasses, the Golden Snitch and Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry as the main backdrop.

In May, one of my good friend’s turned 30th and for her birthday party I created one of my first pillow cakes.  Inspired specifically from her love for the princess Cinderella, this has got to be one of my favourite cakes!

The shoe is complete handmade and edible.

June is graduation month and my best friend’s little sister graduated from University.  To celebrate, I designed a graduation cake, complete with graduation cap, diploma, hard cover book and a stack of “essays” which made the base of the cake.

July proved to be a busy month also.  I have my darling little daughter’s 4th birthday where she insisted on a Rapunzel tower cake.  Seriously.  She looked at me and said she wanted a Rapunzel tower cake.  Sigh.  Diva at 4.  So I made it for her – what can I say about challenges … I don’t exactly run from them….

Crazy to think that a year ago is when I started this entire cake adventure with a castle cake and ice cream cone towers, to a single Rapunzel Tower cake that looks like this ….

The cake was the ground and the top of the tower.  The middle part I simply used PVC piping from Home Depot and covered it with fondant.  Viola!  She loved it.  I loved it too …

The following day, I had a baby shower for my husband’s cousin.  Their first child – so of course the gender of the baby is the great surprise that only having a baby can grant.

Everyone loved the little feet.

Of course I didn’t want to leave out the soon to be dad (just in case the cake was finished during the shower) so I baked up two standard cupcakes.  And I covered these in fondant faces.  Very fitting for a dad to be.

Then last week, in the midst of trying to rest with the pain of gallstones attacks (really not the best feeling in the world!) I had a simple request for 4 dozen cupcakes: chocolate, vanilla, red velvet and marble with banana cream.

I also had another request, from my sister this time, for a dozen red velvet cupcakes and an Erotic cake for her good friend’s bachelorette party.  Ahem…. yep, if your mind went into the gutter, you’re in the right spot.

Actually this was a fairly simple cake to make.  The details were simple – I stamped the lipstick stain using a stamp I bought at Michael’s with red gel food colour and used my edible gourmet pen to write on the “phone number” (it’s actually the date of the bachelorette party.  On the other side of the cake were a set of fuzzy handcuffs that I just piped on the detail.  Yah, it’s still hard not to blush looking at this cake….

Somewhere along the way I came upon a contest in Threadcakes.  It’s a fantastic contest that has cakes designed in 2D or 3D on designs based on T-shirts from Threadless.  And the entire process from start to finish (ie. eating it!) is captured in pictures.  It took me a while to decide on something – the list of designs is huge!!  But I eventually chose the design “Work of the Genius”

Which is a deconstructed bo-bomb character from Super Mario Bros.

The entire process plus pictures can be found through the link here.  I’m very proud of it, especially after viewing all the incredible quality of work that I’m competing against.  Check out the gallery.  Lots of talented people out there working with cake.

And last but not least I made a simple Hamburger cake for my husband for his 34th birthday.  We had a fast food pot luck ( a variety of his favorite fast food sampling in one sitting … because of my recent condition I had the leaner option of shrimp and rice).

I love the fact that there was no carving for this cake.  Just 4 round cakes all layered on top of each other.  Easy peasy….

The next couple months has a few more orders coming my way…. There’s a Lilo & Stitch cake, Mater cake (for my son’s 2nd birthday), Lightening McQueen and a Darth Vader helmet.

Sigh.  I still can’t believe that after one year I’m actually taking orders for custom cakes and that this little talent I’ve stumbled upon is growing in more ways than I could have imagined. …

Bring it on…. 😉