Go Diego Cake

My niece's third birthday party was this weekend! Where has the time gone? My sister-in-law decided to throw a jungle-themed Diego party this year and gave me a picture of a cake that she had found online that she liked. The cake that she liked featured Diego and Dora but she had decided to not include Dora since Elise isn't really a big fan of her. I altered the design a little bit to accomodate not having Dora included and this is how it turned out! The flowers of course I pictured earlier this week in all their shimmering glory. The road was made from chocolate-covered sunflower seeds and the rocks in the waterfall are actually edible chocolate candy rocks that I searched the entire area for! The kids at the party loved the cake. Happy 3rd Birthday Elise - we love you very much!

Gumpaste Flowers

It's a new year for cake decorating! My wonderful family got me all kinds of neat baking equipment to try out this year for Christmas! One of the things I couldn't wait to try out was the gumpaste flower making set that my husband got me. And since my niece's birthday cake needs to be made (and just happens to require some flowers) I jumped at the chance. These are my first gumpaste flowers. Blossoms made with an ejector set, sprinkles used for stamens and finished with a dusting of yellow pearl dust. Truly makes me want to do a faerie cake covered in "faerie dust" at some point. I think I'm going to be making a lot of gunpaste flower creations this year!

Slacking...

So I keep promising myself that I am going to take a break from cake decorating. I promised myself in October and I made a Bugs Bunny cake for my awesome cousin Kaitlyn. And a Toy Story cake for my parent's neighbor's granddaughter. And then I promised myself in November and I made Chip Lover's Cupcakes for my Dad who's birthday always falls on the week of Thanksgiving. Of course I failed to get pictures of these creations with anything but my camera phone...

So now it is December and this month I will be taking a break from cake-making. January marks my niece's 3rd birthday and my sister-in-law has a supreme party in the planning that I will be making a fantabulous cake creation for. Have a great holiday everyone and happy baking!

Lana's 2nd Birthday

My daughter Lana is two years old this month! My husband and I decided to do a colorful balloon theme for her party this year. I decided to design and create Lana's birthday cake on my own this year - balloons are an easy medium to begin with self-design. So I drew up some designs while on vacation last month and had my husband pick the one he liked the best. Here it is! I wanted it to be very colorful so I picked a different shade of color for each balloon and then I used the leftover colors to make a color-changing rainbow border. So much fun! Lana's party was a lot of fun and of course the cake was a perfect ending. I love you Lana!

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!