Leopard and Hot Pink Birthday Cake w/ Guitar

A better title might be "Take a Rock on the Wild Side." No? Too corny? Whatever. 

I tried something new with this cake and will have to wait until they cut into it before I know if it worked. Supposedly, you can put leopard spots INSIDE a cake! I've done zebra stripes before, but this was the first time for leopard print. I followed the instructions and recipe found here: http://www.sweetdreamscakeapp.com/2013/09/26/animal-print-inside-the-cake/

Hopefully it doesn't look like you-know-what inside. ;-) (Update below-it worked!)

I used yellow cake, and only food coloring for the spots (inside and out) because the birthday girl does not like chocolate. (I know, right?!!) Buttercream frosting and marshmallow fondant accents. The guitar is rice krispy treat covered with buttercream and mmf. Loved how this one turned out! I don't think the photos do it justice, is really a cute cake!

The birthday girls mom was kind enough to send this photo after they cut the cake. Not too bad for my 1st try with the leopard spots technique!

Yellow and Gray Bird Nest Baby Shower Cake with Frills

A somewhat non-traditional baby shower cake, but yellow and gray was the request. The gray darkened quite a bit after mixing, unfortunately. I think a couple shades lighter would have been better. I was still pretty happy with it, however. Bottom tier is banana cake, middle is chocolate/vanilla marbled and top is red velvet. Frosting is buttercream with marshmallow fondant accents, hand formed. I did like the birds and nest. And the ruffles, aren't those cute? 

Beer Mugs 'Cheers!' 21st Birthday Cake

I made this cake to celebrate my 21 year olds birthday, as well as my dad's "over" 21 birthday! Had a lot of fun with it. Made the mugs by baking cake in mason jars, and then covered them in buttercream and marshmallow fondant. Then I used marshmallow fondant to create a "wooden" tabletop to set them on and voila! Yellow cake with chocolate frosting and a little buttercream to accent. 

Ya, I think they enjoyed them!  ;-)

Sniper's Little League Baseball Birthday Cake

Meanest baseball cake I've ever made,ha ha. Modeled this from a little leagues logo. 'Sniper' is kind of a grusome team name, dontcha think? But also kind of a cool logo. I'm torn, ha ha.Chocolate cake and buttercream frosting with marshmallow fondant accents.

Here's the actual logo:

And a couple more of my copycat cake. ;)

Frozen Birthday Cake with Olaf, Elsa and Anna

Oh yes, I knew it would happen: Another frozen cake. LOL. This one is for friend of mine, and I knew it would be a challenge. Let me just say that faces may not be my area of strength! In fact, I redid the eyes on the lovely ladies on this cake not once, not twice, but three times! And still they don't make me happy!!! Grrr! Overall, I do think it turned out pretty well. I tried to make royal icing snowflakes, however, I need to find a better way to remove them from the wax paper. So many of them broke, I ended up with only six I could use :-(. So I ended up making more snowflakes out of fondant. I used quite a bit of sanding sugar to add some sparkle to the snowflakes and all over the cake. I do love how Olaf turned out, I think he's pretty cute! And while the theme song 'Let it Go' (UGH!) may be ringing in my head for a while and driving me crazy, I am pretty happy with this frozen cake. Which is probably a good thing, as I'm sure it won't be the last when I get a request for!

The cake is vanilla with buttercream frosting. All of the figures are marshmallow fondant, hand shaped.

Ok, I know, not as pretty as the 'real' Anna-but she's fictional so I know she'll never see this and think "OMG! It looks nothing like me!" LOL. 

How 'bout this Olaf though?! Even looks like he's dancing. ;-)

XBox 360 Birthday Cake

I have got the sweetest nieces and nephews, let me tell you. I love being able to share my cake talents with them and for them. I love to see their smiles! So, while video games are not MY thing, my niece loves them and requested this XBox cake. Now, I know it's not perfectly to scale, and it's not a perfect representation either, BUT Aubrey loved it and that's really all that matters. 

The cake is vanilla with buttercream frosting. Most of the details are done with marshmallow fondant. The 'controllers' are rice krispy treat covered with buttercream and mmf-mmmmm!

Colorful Wedding Cake with Clothespin Doll Cake Topper

Those who know me well, know I really DON'T like to commit to wedding cakes. Why? Have you ever looked at the badly done wedding cakes on Cake Wrecks? I have this fear that my cake would look like one of 'those'. Or have you seen the Sunday Sweets section, also from Cake Wrecks? I look at those and wonder how I could EVER measure up. And do you know how much time it takes to do this? We're not talking a leisurely afternoon of batter and frosting. It takes DAYS to plan and complete a wedding cake. However, on rare occasions, I have said yes to a wedding cake. Always under some amount of peer pressure, and never without a worry that I might be the undoing of some brides childhood dreams of the perfect wedding.

I received this text today, regarding yesterday's cake:

"Cathy!  The cake looked amazing and all the clothespin people too! People were raving about how wonderful the cake tasted! I can't thank you enough! "

Can you hear my loud, resounding "PHEW!" ???

I now feel empowered to be able to post the photos here. It was a simple cake, really. It's not "Sunday Sweet" worthy, but it made the bride happy and that really was the only goal. It's really just the size that I hate to do, as delivery is not as easy as those of you who have never done it might think . . . But I digress. 

Here's the cake:

Yes, those really were the wedding colors, all of them. :-) And as an overall theme, they worked! The reception was decorated tastefully, bright and fun, perfect to party the night away and celebrate.

The top and bottom tier are red velvet, the middle is butter pecan. All boast the amazing white chocolate cream cheese filling that I recently discovered a recipe for. The frosting is my own buttercream.

The design was simple, as the bride chose a scrolling I've done several times and that I'm quite comfortable with. I also made the cake topper, and thought it turned out really well. I made bridesmaids and groomsmen, but I hurried to finish them. With more time, I'd have loved to make them even better.

I also made 2 11X15 cakes to extend the number of servings. Nothing fancy, one is red velvet and the other butter pecan, both with the white chocolate cream cheese filing. Yum!

All in all, a happy ending. I'm happy the cake didn't topple over in my car, that the bride and groom had a great wedding, and that my cake was not a "cake wreck." This time. Lol!

'Frozen' Themed Birthday Cake

Frozen, Frozen, Frozen . . . the movie that every young girl is enamored with, as well as at least half the boys.

So here's my first attempt at a cake in honor of the animated fairy tale capturing the hearts of many, while it's theme song makes many of us cringe. Perhaps I should just "Let it Go." Original, I know. 😉

The cake is vanilla with French vanilla cremè filling and buttercream frosting. The snowflakes are cut from marshmallow fondant, and dusted with sanding sugar. Princess Elsa was hand formed, also from mmf. 

I made this cake at the request of an aunt  who loves her family more than anything on this world. Her niece's birthday just happened to fall on the same day as her son's graduation party. Not wanting her to feel like her day wasn't important, she requested a special cake for her. Success? I hope so.

Graduation Cake with Silhouettes and Stars

Another great kid graduates and the opportunity to create his cake us given to me. Lucky me, because for this cake I was given carte blanche in design, and that made me very happy. Because the school colors are red and black, silhouettes seemed a natural choice, and a great contrast.

Used the quote "Reach for the moon, even if you fail youll still be in the stars," and allowed red, black and white stars to complement the cake.

Graduate picked the flavors, vanilla with French vanilla cremè filling, buttercream frosting and marshmallow fondant accents. Simple in taste, simple in design, but I think it turned out just right.

Baseball and Football Jersey Graduation Cake

When first approached to make this cake, I was disappointed because I had to say no, I already had 2 cakes scheduled. But then, I remembered this little boy that I had watched grow up, that  my husband had coached in little league, and I knew that I had to make his cake. And so, I changed my mind, as is my perogative, as a woman, and more importantly as a cake decorator. 😉

Baseball on one side . . . 

Football on the other . . . 

and a meaningful quote on the back. 

Cake is vanilla, with buttercream frosting and hand-shaped marshmallow fondant accents.

It was my honor to make this cake, actually. Andy is a great kid, and I couldn't be more happy to watch his future unfold.