Wedding Cake

This cake was so much fun! First of all, when the bride booked me to make her wedding cake, she did so knowing that I would be 2 weeks away from my due date with baby #2. She took a major gamble and luckily it paid off! My first child was a week late so I thought I would probably be ok. Um, no. But it could have been worse! A few weeks before their wedding, I went into preterm labor and was put on temporary bed rest until I hit the 37 week mark. I notified the bride (who, by the way, might be the most laid back, incredible person ever) who basically said whatever happens happens and it will make for a great story at the end of the day. We came up with a back up plan to have the cakes baked and ready to go, and if necessary, her sister could pick them up, ice, and stack them. Countdown to the wedding day began. Four days before the big event I was back in the hospital sure I was in labor. Things calmed down after five hours and I was sent home to rest. By the time the big day arrived, I was rested, full of energy, and able to finish the cake and deliver it.

 I had so much fun with this project because it was different from a traditional wedding cake. I loved figuring out how to decorate it to get the desired look. The bride chose a White Almond Sour Cream cake with traditional Buttercream icing.

WWE and Guitar Cake

I recently had the opportunity to make two cakes for two siblings who happen to share a birthday...only a few years a part. The guitar cake initially was supposed to be a mini version to represent the real deal, but I couldn't resist doing it a little more to scale. The WWE cake was totally different from other cakes that I have done in that I knew nothing about the WWE. I do now! It was fun getting these cakes together and having two projects going at the same time.

National Lampoon's Vacation Cake

I made this for my college roommate's 30th Birthday. National Lampoon's Vacation is one of my all time favorite movies, so needless to say, I enjoyed every minute of working on this cake! Here are some pictures complete with Aunt Edna on top of the family Truckster, purse in hand.

First Birthday

I made this for a little girls first birthday. Simple buttercream.

Big Bird Cupcakes

These little gems were a lot of work. They are cupcakes frosted with buttercream icing and topped with fondant feathers, eyes, and beak. I was very concerned that I would fall short as far as them looking like big bird. I was pleased to see all of the pieces fall into place! 

Mermaid Cake

This past week I have been busy with cakes! It's been wonderful. Here is a mermaid cake based loosely on The Little Mermaid. I enjoyed all of the little details that went into this piece. 

The Making of a Guitar Cake

Hi everyone! Okay, so this is my most challenging cake to date. I've always wanted to make one of these guitars but I thought it might be a little too mathematical for my taste. I had to make sure I was super accurate in my measurements...especially with the neck of the guitar. I found precision was key. I also had to pace myself.

First, I started with a super detailed sketch of everything that the guitar entailed. (I used a real guitar for this.) Then I drew out the guitar to size and made sure it was as perfect as possible. From there, stencils were made. I used balsa wood to construct the neck and head and was sure to make the angle and connection between the two pieces as strong as possible....bits of dowel were used where the two pieces met.

 The next day I made all of the attachements out of gum paste. I mistakingly tried to cut each fret line out of the gum paste but found out later that royal icing looked much better. I don't even want to start with the trouble I had making the gum paste look metal. To shorten the story: I found some edible silver spray. The nosel didn't work...so I went back and tried to buy another. Of course they were sold out. I finally rigged a way to use the spray but eventually wound up painting it by hand and then using luster dust in silver to make it really shine.

Then there was the baking. This was a chocolate cake with peanut butter icing. I made the cake a few days in advance and then froze it, that way when it was time to carve it wouldn't crumb easily. For some reason steps such as making sure that I'm using the stencil correctly is hard for me! I had to be certain that after the cake was cut, the right side was up. Does that make sense? It all turned out well. Then there was the whole contemplation of how much of the neck support would need to go through the cake. If the neck is too heavy, it would collapse. So I had to account for that and make sure there was enough support running through the cake. I cut out the bit where the neck attached then re-iced, attached the neck and then put on the fondant. I've also included below what I did to the back of the neck. I figure no one would see it, but I didn't want any structure exposed. 

And finally....paint. I'm not a fan of airbrushing unless absolutely necessary. I'm a painter at heart and am just unable to use one of those sprayers when actual brush strokes could be used to convey the same thing. It's more of a personal thing for me than anything else. After I painted the guitar, I attached all of the pieces. By the way, the tuners turn, as well as the knobs :)

Baby Shower Flower Cake

Radio Flyer Wagon

A friend of mine asked me to make a simple Radio Flyer wagon for her son's first birthday. I learned quickly that making a perfectly rectangular cake was harder than I though. The logo is hand piped (and took me a few tries!). 

Crown Royal Cake

I made this cake for a birthday party. The birthday boy enjoys drinking out of a Georgia tumbler, thus the G cup. This took me roughly 14 hours total. Phew!