Pokemon Cake

Some friends of mine through work who I have done several cakes for  in the past decided to have a joint birthday party for their two boys this year and asked me to do the cake. Both the boys are very into Pokemon so that was the decided theme. I baked up a 12x18 sheet cake (it was to be a large party) and hand-piped Pikachu on it shouting out a birthday message to both boys. It was a very clean, simple cake. I think that it looked very modern and sleek. And of course the boys loved it because it featured Pokemon. Happy birthday Logan and Conner!

The Grill Cake

My husband's youngest brother is turning the big 1-8 this month! His Mom decided to throw him a big cookout birthday with all his friends and family. What cookout birthday is complete without a grill cake complete with edible sugar-versioned treats cooking on top? And of course I had to include a miny cake for Mike (step-father-in-law) who's birthday just happens to be the same day. This was a fun but challenging cake. I did the design myself - something I am trying to do more of to challenge myself - and I had to do some major brainstorming for the toppings. It all workd out though and the cake was a smoking success. Welcome to adulthood Matt!

Yellow cake with chocolate buttercream frosting. Burgers are cocoa fudge with fondant cheese and red piping gel "ketchup". Hot dogs are fondant. Kebabs are fruit slices on skewer sticks.

Hello Kitty Cake

So I got a call from a girl that is the sister of a dear high school friend of mine who's daughter was turning five. She requested a Hello Kitty cake that would match the Hello Kitty decorations that she bought for her party. This cake was pretty simple to make - standard double layer 8" round with buttercream frosting and hand-piped design. I thought that it turned out really cute and matched the thank you cards perfectly. I hope that you had a great 5th birthday with all your new school friends Aryn!

Japanese "Sushi" Cake

My sister's birthday is actually on May 1st but it was postponed due to my present for her this year. I took her to Hershey Park which doesn't officially open until after her birthday so we decided to do her entire celebration this weekend - the trip, the dinner, the cake! My sister loves everything Japanese - except for sushi. She is an absolute candy fanatic so I put the two together and created for her a Candy Sushi Cake! It turned out really well and she seemed to really like it! There were a lot of elements to this cake and I knew I couldn't just place it on a plain cake board so my husband and I brainstormed and came up with the idea to cover the base in Chinese take-out menus. It was the perfect finish for my masterpiece!

Triple chocolate cake covered with chocolate MMF. Dishes made from candy clay. Sushi made from rice krispie treats, gummi worms and fruit roll-ups. Soy sauce is piping gel mixed with cocoa powder. Pork lo mein noodles are buttercream frosting topped with tootsie roll broccoli dipped in sprinkles, green celery Twizzlers and tootsie roll pork strips. Fortune cookies made from softened caramels.

Easter Basket Cake

My sister-in-law's birthday fell on Easter this year and her mom asked me to do an Easter-themed cake for her birthday. I decided to try making a classic Easter basket/ egg hunt cake. I made the cake portion look like an actual basket with Easter eggs spelling out a special birthday message. Then I fashioned a basket handle from candy clay and covered the base with grass. I topped it off with a Palmer's hollow chocolate duck, a couple chocolate bunnies and some Wilton sugar daisies. Although I struggled a lot with the basket handle and getting the letters into the molded chocolate eggs it came out beautiful in the end and my sister-in-law loved it!

Chocolate and strawberry checkerboard cake covered with buttercream frosting. Candy clay basket handle. Molded chocolate eggs and bunnies. Purchased Palmer's chocolate duck and Wilton sugar flowers (Michaels).

Surprise Baby Shower

A very sweet girl at my work is having her first baby in a couple of weeks and some of the girls got together and decided to do a potluck surprise baby shower for her. I volunteered of course to make the cake for her (it's what I know how to do!). The only thing we really knew about her theme was that she and her husband had painted the nursery a shade of aqua and that they were expecting a boy. I looked through some old Wilton cake magazines and the girls and I decided upon a baby carriage designed cake. It turned out beautiful! The expecting mother was very surprised and the shower went great. Lots of people were surprised that the cake was made by me. I guess my passion of baking hasn't reached all the departments at work yet!

Yellow cake with buttercream frosting. Covered and embellished with MMF. Baby carriage is made from chocolate MMF.

Cheesecake!

So as you can probably tell from this blog I love to bake. Although I absolutely love to try new things I have always been terrified of making cheesecakes. They always seem to be complicated - don't over mix, don't over bake, cool in a draft-free location. Very intimidating. My husband bought me my first springform pan last Christmas. It was time to bite the bullet and make a cheesecake. Turns out they really aren't that hard. And they are totally worth the end effort - delicious! This is a Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake. I got the recipe from a Taste of Home Cheesecake edition magazine. It was made for my daughter, Lana, who's favorite thing in the world right now is blueberries! Now that it isn't so scary to make them, I will definitely be trying out some new cheesecake recipes in the future!