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

Ian and Katie

My baby brother got married!!!

I made this cake cross-country, and it was a labor of love, but the result was well worth it!

Because of the timeline, I started making petals for the gum paste sunflowers in March.  It took a TON of petals for all of the flowers I made.  Here's the timeline:

March-Started petals and make a few sample flowers, until I got what I wanted

May-Ordered supplies online, and had them shipped to my brother's house.  Mom broke her leg, and had surgery, so I took what I had and worked on more in Maryland, leaving all the flowers there until the wedding.

June-Flew to Maryland two weeks early, to start baking the cake.  Baked and assembled everything at my parents' house, stacking the cake in two parts; top two tiers, and bottom two tiers. Drove to Southern Maryland, and left the cake in an air conditioned boat house at the wedding site. Assembled and drove the cake up the hill just before the ceremony.  Left it in the building next to the reception site during the ceremony, then my husband and cousin lifted the whole thing and carried it right outside, just before the reception.

BEAUTIFUL venue overlooking the St. Mary's River in MD

I ended up making two trips to Maryland (unplanned), so I was able to take some of the flowers with me a month or so ahead of time, and I also took my supplies, to make more and leave them there until the time of the wedding.

All three of us kids had the same flavor wedding cake: white chocolate and milk chocolate pound cake with white chocolate buttercream frosting.  Because this was an outdoor wedding, however, I covered the cake with fondant, to make it more stable.  It ended up being a fortuitous choice, as the top two tiers tipped over in the car during transport, and all that happened was a dent, that I was able to push back in to place.  A couple of the flowers broke as well, but I had replacements.  

Some of the hundreds of petals, a finished flower, and the finished cake

During the reception, one of the flowers kept drooping, so the caterer helped me get some toothpicks, and prop it back up.

The cake display.  The hall in the background is an auditorium on the campus.  That's where the cake sat during the ceremony.  I didn't get a picture of the boat house.

I love it when the photographer makes my cakes look even better.  This photographer was Corrine Kensington.  She is based in Maryland, so for all of you MD friends, keep her in mind!




You can see a couple of broken petals in this one, from the mishap during delivery; but I think it looks just fine.  Imperfections are a part of nature, too.

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!