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!

Alex and Cole

This couple decided to get married in January, in sub-zero temperatures, but it was a beautiful day nonetheless.  

The cake itself was a simple white cake, with white frosting, and the bride supplied the ribbon for the border, and the cake pedestal.  The flowers on top were silk, and were arranged by the bride's aunt and me.  

I promise that the cake was not leaning!  It is the angle of the picture, or something.

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!

Grandparent's Cake

This order was from one friend, for another set of friends.  They were becoming grandparents for the first time, and she wanted to honor them at a church meeting.

The cake is a 6' round.  They knew the baby was going to be a boy, so I wanted something that looked baby boy-ish, but would be appropriate for the grandparents.  

If memory serves, they later told me that these were the nursery colors, but I may be remembering something else.  Wow, I need to do better at keeping this blog up to date...

Boy, did I miss my Cricut when I made this one!!  I had to do my own piping, and I still struggle with that skill.  I didn't really have room for "Grandma and Grandpa," since the cake was 6", and I thought "Gramma & Grampa" sounded cute, but my family all laughed at that one.

Tiara

Just before I got the order for this cake, I was sent a pin by a friend who often sends me cool cake pictures as inspiration. The picture was of a princess tiara cake, so I adapted it for this cake.

I got a call from someone who's best friend was going through a tough time, and they were throwing her a "pick me up" party on the day her ex-husband remarried.  They spent all day shopping, going to the spa, and eating out, and as the day progressed, different friends surprised her by joining them.  Once the day was over, and all the friends were there, they took her back to the house, and had a party.  

I was given free reign on this cake, and my first thought was that it had to be fabulous!  What's more fabulous than a tiara??!  And a tiara with hot pink and black? Even better!  My only afterthought was that a boa would have made an even more fabulous bottom border.  

The tiara is gum paste, formed by drawing the design, and wrapping it around a #10 can.  After it dried, I sprayed it with pearlescent luster dust.  The jewels are Isomalt.  It was my first time using Isomalt, but it was SO easy!  I had tons of extra jewels, and they last forever.

Marissa and Joe

Another Albrechtsen wedding, so, of course, I HAD to go over the top!  And a groom's cake to boot!

Marissa is the daughter who is the same age as Courtney, and they are best friends.  Courtney was one of the bridesmaids.

Marissa's theme was peacock.  What gorgeous, rich colors, purple and teal!  I wanted to learn peonies, so I used a Craftsy course to learn how to make them, and then used them on the cake, along with feathers.  

Here is the inspiration picture that Marissa selected (along with Courtney).  But four tiers is never enough for one of "my" girls!

http://weheartit.com/entry/99587799

I still would like to improve my piping skills, but practice makes perfect!

I found the perfect "F" for Fryer, for the topper in a clearance bin at the cake decorating store.  Serendipity!

The groom is in nursing school, so I had the funnest groom's cake in mind.  The groom's parents are both nurses as well, and his mom wanted to know if I could ship one of these to Washington State.  Lol

I have no idea how many "pills" I cut out, but it was a ton.

It took several "bottles" to get one that didn't collapse.

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.