Bella's Birthdays

Since I am so bad at updating this blog, several years actually elapsed between posts, so this post covers two birthdays of the same girl, two years apart.  The Little Mermaid cake was her 4th birthday, and the Pokemon was her 6th.

She is growing up so fast!

I love when I get to try a new technique, and I had been wanting to try these "scales."  They were every bit as easy as they look!  I would love to try the same technique in different designs.  

The cake as it looked when they picked it up.

The mother had a figurine for on top of the cake, so I left that empty.  I also tried the shells of the "bra" both directions, and this way they actually fit on the cake better.

Which is the cake, and which is the birthday girl? Lol

By her 6th birthday, she had moved on to Pokemon.  The party was so cute, all of the grown ups in her family had "Pokemon Trainer" t-shirts, and, of course, there was a bounce house!

This one was fairly simple, but making Pikachu's face look right proved to be a little difficult.  I played with it on the mat, and made changes before I put it on the cake, and I still think it turned out slightly out of proportion.  Oh well, the birthday girl was thrilled, and that's all that matters. (I also thought the bottom tier "Pokeball" looked a little like Santa Claus, but once I put the top on, it tied the tiers together!)

"Artistic view"  Lol!  I tilted my phone, so that I could get closer, and still get the whole cake in the picture.

The whole spread.  As you can see behind the table, Bella is well loved!

Lindsay Loo!

I have made cakes for everyone in the Albrechtsen family, some I've even made two for, except Lindsay!  Well, I had to rectify the situation in a big way, so I made something FABULOUS!

The feathers were from Marissa's 18th birthday cake. (Her older sister)

I had been wanting to try this ruffle/tutu technique, and Lindsay is a dancer, so who better?

The ruffles are made with TONS of circles, ruffled around the edges, and folded in to a "clump" kind of like a carnation.  Then, they are stuck to the side of the cake with gum glue, and crammed in to make the ruffles look full, and keep them from drooping.  It is a tedious task, but very simple.

The top tier is a damask done with the Marvelous Molds silicone mats.

I think the result was worth it, and I think Lindsay did, too!

Chloe's 1!

Again, nothing is too good for my adopted grandbabies!  For Chloe's first birthday, her mom was doing a Minnie Mouse theme, and I had already done a smaller Minnie Mouse cake for a shower before, so I just made it bigger and better! (one tier would never do!) And Chloe needed her own smash cake.

Mickey and Minnie Mouse are always easy, because it is just three circles, but Minnie needs little 'mini' bows.  Also, the top needed two giant ears, and a giant bow.  I made all of this ahead of time.  The buttons were made with a Wilton silicone mold.

Chloe loved her birthday, even though she was a little confused about what was going on.  Best of all, everyone loved the cake!

So dainty!  She barely touched it.

"Grandpa" Scott

Thomas the Train

Nothing is too good for my adopted grandkids!  Jackson is three, and really in to trains, especially Thomas, so of course we HAD to make him a Thomas cake for his third birthday!

I made it using the old Wilton 3D train pan.  I found a tutorial for Thomas' face online.  I wasn't thrilled with my first attempt, but I decided to go ahead and use it on a separate smash cake just for Jackson.

Two faced!  I made the smash cake face first, and I'm glad, because I didn't like it as well.

The cake, straight out of the oven!

Mariana

I have known this girl since she was about four.  This cake was for her 14th birthday.  Some other mutual friends had us all over on the night of her birthday, and we wanted to make sure she had a fun birthday cake.

This was my first attempt at the rosette cake.  The rosettes themselves are pretty easy, but filling in the gaps proved to be a little more tricky.  

I also love this ombre effect.  Just make a batch of the frosting, color only half of it to the darkest color, and then use graduating amounts of the white to make each part one step lighter.

I love the look of a simple cake on a cake pedestal.  So classy!

Frozen

Something I have learned the hard way, is that offering a custom cake for auction is NOT a good idea, even if it is for a good cause.  From now on, I would offer an already made cake, if I offer anything.  Every year, I thought I had set clear guidelines for what I was offering, and every time, the winner of the auction wanted something different.  Because the auction was for an 8" round, and this family wanted a two tier, they did pay the difference in price, which was better, I guess.  

Maybe one day, my business will grow big enough that I can absorb this type of thing, but not for now.

Well, that's a fairly negative way to start a post of a fun cake.  This actually turned out to be a lot of fun!

Frozen was HUGELY popular at the time (Based on this past Halloween, I think it still is!), and this design was relatively easy.  Again, the mother had a figurine to add after pickup.  

Somehow, I did not have a number five cutter (I don't know how that happened), so I used a number two, and flipped it upside down.  You can kind of tell, but I don't know that anyone else noticed. This picture makes it look like the snowflakes are different colors, but they were all white, and some had glitter on them.

Before pickup.  

Choo Choo Train

My neighbor ordered this one.  She just asked for a train theme for he grandson's birthday.  She needed more servings than the Wilton train pan would serve, and didn't want to pay as much as the train would cost.  

This design turned out to be pretty easy; just squares and circles, but with the color scheme, I think it turned out cute!

Rock 'n' Roll

My baby boy was turning 18, and he loves for his cakes to be a clue as to what he is getting for his birthday.  Well, we got him a new electric guitar!  Since he already had a "cheaper" guitar, and a drum set, he had to decide which one it was.

He also does not like to have birthday parties, so his girlfriend and I conspired to get a few friends together for cake and ice cream.  They were mostly all musicians as well, and loved the cake!

I love the technique of cutting the fondant, and making it look like an object is "bursting" out of the cake.  The guitar was gum paste.  I bought a large guitar shaped cookie cutter, and then added the accents.

Bad lighting, but this is a close up of the guitar

I had done a tiny 4" drum cake for his drum teacher as a gift one time, so this was not my first drum cake.

Three Sisters

This was a simple, last minute cake for 3 sisters who all have Sept. birthdays. They always celebrate with extended family on Labor Day. Two of the sisters are twins who are in marching band with my son, Trevor.  One of the girls is on drumline with him, and the other is the drum major for the whole band.  

I had auctioned off a cake at the summer fund raiser, and their mom, who organized the event, got one of my cards, and called me on Wednesday, for a cake on Sunday.  Normally, I do not take last minute requests like that, but my whole family was out of town, and I had the opportunity to do a cake uninterrupted!

She said only that she wanted something like I had auctioned off, and that the girls' rooms were pinks, purples and lime green; a perfect color combination!

Here is the final result.

Mom and the younger daughter came to pick up the cake.  They were ga ga!  They just couldn't say enough good about it!

Later that night, I got a text from the mom.  She said that the entire family had loved it, and that when Natalie, the drum major, saw the cake, she exclaimed, "I always wanted a cake like this, and never thought I would get one!"

Those are the best texts to get!

Chipotle burrito, step by step

So, I thought it might be fun to show a little of the cake process with this cake.  Courtney and I were playing with my phone camera while decorating.  

At the top, you can see that I put a thick crumb coat on the cake, and then covered just the exposed end with white fondant, which I had Courtney knead some of the cake crumbs into to give it more of that tortilla look.  We laid the fondant over one end, and folded it under the cake to look like a wrapped burrito.

In the bottom picture, you can see that we wrapped the other end in foil the same way, overlapping the fondant in the middle.  Fold back the edge of the foil, and you have a burrito!

A plain, uneaten burrito would look pretty boring, so we used a round cookie cutter to take a "bite" out of the corner. (I promise, Courtney did not actually make that bite herself!)

We then iced over the "bite" mark and filled the hole with rice, beans and tomatoes made from fondant. The meat was chunks of the cake.  The sour cream was marshmallow fluff, and the cheese was grated white chocolate.

The woman who ordered this cake was surprising her son with it, and they were having his birthday dinner at Chipotle.  She loved it!  Haven't heard, yet, what the birthday boy thought, but I hope he had a happy birthday!

Pirate Cake

I had a little bit of playing room on this cake to add my own touches. It was fun to play around with modeling the fondant, and I really liked the way it turned out (especially the octopus.) Decorations are all done with fondant and food markers. 

Devon's Birthday Cake

My best friend asked me to do this cake for her son-in-law's birthday. She just told me anything Star Wars would work, and I just went to town. The "Death Star" is fondant covered styrofoam. Star Wars was cut out on the Cricut. Devon couldn't have been more surprised!

Marissa's 18th birthday

This cake was done for a girl whose personality matches the cake! I love decorating the cake board to match the cake; I think it completes the whole look.

My daughter and some friends were surprising Marissa for her 18th birthday with a party at a warehouse.  They had video games projected on the wall, music, indoor "tennis," and more.  Needless to say, everyone had a blast!

I found out afterward, that they had decided that the birthday girl needed to blow out candles, so they put one on the cake.  It was too close to the "M" on top, and burned it.  Nothing like the smell of burnt sugar to make the party...

Surprise Paris Cake

Cake for my daughter's 18 birthday surprise party. Man, was it hard to hide!  I had never done the fondant drapes before, but like the way they turned out. The Eiffel Tower is done in royal icing, and the accents are done in fondant in molds. 

Chipotle Burrito

My husband is a HUGE Chipotle fan!  I had seen several burrito cakes, but never an actual Chipotle cake, so I had to be the first to do one.  All of the filling is hand made, except for the "sour cream," which was marshmallow fluff.  Because he is such a regular customer at Chipotle, I was able to go in and get the paper to cover the board.

Nile's Birthday

Fun cake for a boy's 11th birthday. I wanted it to be masculine, but fun. The "N" was cut out on the Cricut, and the dots on the side are done with Fondant.

Tiny Piano Cake

Small (4") cake for my daughter's 17th birthday.  I took elements I had seen on other cakes and combined them in a miniature cake.  The fondant was made from chocolate marshmallows and tasted like Tootsie Rolls!

John Deere

Birthday cake for a friend who works for John Deere. Stripes and bow done with fondant and gumpaste, letters cut out on the Cricut.

Tennis Cake

Made for my son's birthday. It is his racket. Tennis lessons lasted about as long as the cake. ;) The towel and ball are done with fondant, and the wiring and writing was hand piped. 

Topsy Turvy

Wow, this cake was a challenge! It was my first attempt at topsy turvy, and I thought everything was going well until I put on the large cupcake and realized I had forgotten the dowels! The bottom tier sustained damage, and ended up cracking even after I fixed it. This photo is after I had doweled and fixed everything, but by then, my once-smooth icing was wrinkled, and it doesn't look as good as it originally did. After finally tying a bow around the cake, we called it good, but I sure learned my lesson!