Candyland Topsy Turvy Cake

This was so much fun to make... it is3 tiers, each tier having 3 layers.  The bottom tier is a 12"chocolate round, the middle tier is an 8" vanilla butter round and the top is a 6" strawberry round.  It is covered in marshmallow fondant, the borders around the  bottom of each tier are made of Skittles.  The Candyland path and flowers are mmf.  The suckers and swirly pops are hand made from mmf, as well.  I really hope the birthday girl loves it!

Superhero Cake

My boys haven't see this one, yet, but I am sure they will have a fit over it!  It is for a little boy's 2nd birthday party.  It was so fun to make!  Tried a couple of new things this time; 1- by using foam board as a base... I like it so far... much easier to cut to size than cardboard, and seems to hold it's shape well (not bend like cake boards), and 2-covered the cake board in a plastic tablecloth... simply b/c the base needed to be red and there were no other viable options locally.... this turned out to work perfectly, in my opinion.  The bottom tier is a 10-inch round in chocolate, the top tier is cut from a 9x13" sheet cake (cut in half, stacked then carved into the Superman logo shape).  It is covered and decorated in marshmallow fondant.  The spiderweb on the base is black buttercream icing.

3-d elephant

This turned out so cute, but it was a big challenge!  It is made using the 3-d Cuddly Bear pan by Wilton.. cutting off the bear ears and added cardboard elephant ears and an icing trunk.  It is not an easy pan to bake or decorate, but the results are so cute!

NOTE:  if you use the 3-d bear pan, the directions call for 6 cups of batter in the bear and 2/3 cups batter in the heating core.... it actually took about 8 cups of batter in the bear, 2/3 in the core, otherwise it would not have filled up while baking ( I imagine this will vary depending on your recipe)...it should bake over and leak out a little during baking to ensure that it fills out completely.  Also... all you should have to do to ensure a firm cake for this pan is reduce the amount of oil you use by 1/2... this worked great for me, and I didn't have to use a different recipe at all.  Follow all the included directions for assembling the pan and cooling the cake, though... otherwise the cake will fall apart.

New Moon Cake

I really enjoyed making this one!!  I am another Twilight fan, afterall!  This is an 8-inch round in vanilla butter, frosted in buttercream then covered in black fondant.  I added a red fondant ribbon around the bottom (there is a red bow at the back... not pictured... to hide the seam where the ribbon meets).  The orchid on top is made to look like the one on  the New Moon book cover.  I made it by first shaping a little white fondant to add dimension to the petals (like a rough flower-shaped blob, lol)... I then rolled and cut out the petals individually and gave shape to the edges using a spherical measuring spoon (pressing down along the edges to thin and shape the petal).  I added veins using a veining tool and painted the red on using a mixture of about 1/4 teaspoon vodka and 1/4 teaspoon red-red icing color (the vodka thins it just enough for painting with brush).  "And so the lion fell in love with the lamb..." is on top, "new moon" is on the front of the cake.  I hope the girls love it!

Big Ladybug Cake

I love all the girlie colors and the lime green paired with the pink on this cake!  This is a 14-inch round topped with a 10-inch round and a ladybug carved from 2 6-inch rounds.  They are frosted in buttercream with fondant dots and accents.

I get so many emails about this cake, that I have added a couple more photos of the ladybug portion that were taken from different angles. 

Halloween-Birthday Cake!

This was so fun to make.  I love the ghost on top!  It is an 8-inch round and a 6-inch round, both carved down slightly on the sides and tilted on top into a topsy turvy style cake.  It is covered in MMF.  The ghost on top is cake covered in white chocolate (to prevent it from collapsing under the weight of the fondant) then draped in 2 layers of MMF--the eyes and mouth are fondant.  The little ghosts visible on the right side of the picture are simply large marshmallows with a drop of white chocolate on top, then draped in MMF.  I used a food marker to draw on their eyes and mouths. 

Oriental Temple with Panda

This cake was a fun challenge. It is a 10-inch round frosted with buttercream with a fondant ribbon and Korean characters on the bottom. The temple is carved from an 11x15 inch sheet cake, which I cut into squares and stacked. There are 3 layers in the temple itself, and the roof is 2 layers. The gold accents on the roof, the door and #1 and the panda are all fondant. It was for a boy's first birthday... I hope he had a wonderful day!

Stan & Wendy's Wedding Cake

This cake was designed by the bride and groom. The monkey's and bananas are hand-sculpted from marshmallow fondant. The cakes are torted to be 4 layers each and the flavor is white with raspberry filling. The tiers are covered in a basket-weave design done with tip #47 and the sizes are as follows: 11" sea-foam green square, 8" yellow round, 6" pink round. Congratulations Stan and Wendy!

Horses!

I just love this cake! It is a 6-inch on an 8-inch, both tiers are 3 layers tall. It is covered in marshmallow fondant, with hand-sculpted horse's peeking over the fence, out of the barn and laying on top. The corn or hay stalks are mmf that has been pressed through a garlic press... a very easy way to achieve several strands at once, rather than hand rolling them individually. I hope the birthday girl likes her cake!

Spongebob

This cake was so fun... I love all the bright colors! It is a 10-inch round with a an almost 5 inch pineapple. The leaves on the pineapple (and the stovepipe) are made of candy. Spongebob and Patrick are part of a cake kit I purchased at Ingles.

Pig and Cow Print cake

This is so cute... cow print and a pink pig! I love the effect of the bandana covered board! I stapled the bandana to the board as neatly as possible, then covered it with clear cellophane (available at the Dollar Tree). I used cellophane to keep the bandana from staining or smearing with the icing. I was afraid the cellophane would not be food-safe, so I cut a circle of wax paper the same size as the cake and taped it down on top of the cellophane. It is frosted in butter cream with fondant ears and cow print.

Barnyard Cake

This cake was so much fun to make! All the animals are hand-sculpted from marshmallow fondant. The sheet cake is an 11x15 inch chocolate cake. The barn, silo and haystack are carved from an 11x15 inch vanilla-butter cake. It is frosted entirely in butter cream. The cow and the chicken on the barn roof are my favorite parts! Hope the birthday girl likes it!

Ladybug

This was so much fun to make! It was done as a first birthday smash cake. It is a 6-inch round, with a 3-inch ball-shaped head. It is frosted in buttercream, but all the black elements (dots, eyes, antennae, etc...) are fondant.

Note: the photograph was taken by the birthday girl's mom, Amy. Check her out at www.murphys-memories.com

Alligator

This is becoming a popular cake! I used tip 21 pull-out stars on this one, and really like the effect better than tip 18. I used tip 12 to make the teeth and claws. I heated, stirred and poured the icing on to the cupcake-eyes to make them super smooth. the cake board was thinly "iced" with corn syrup (for sticking power!) and covered in graham cracker crumbs to look like sand. Note to self: writing in icing on "sand" is almost impossible! Everytime I picked up the icing tip at the end of a letter... the sand would lift off, bringing the letter with it... stick to writing on the cake or cake board! This cake is cut from 2 1/4-sheet cakes... it serves at least 30.... I need to work on scaling it down to one sheet cake to serve 10-15, I'm just not sure how.

Motorcycle

This groom's cake was a challenge, to say the least! It is cut from an 11x15" sheet cake and is made to look like the groom's own motorcycle. I hope they enjoy it!

Waterslide

This was a fun cake, and I love the summery colors. This is an 8-inch round on a 12-inch round, decorated entirely in marshmallow fondant, with buttercream "water" at the bottom of the slide. This cake was inspired by a picture found on cakecentral.com

Pirate Ship

This was SO much fun to make! My boys watched me go through every step and loved every minute of it (they are huge pirate fans!). My oldest son helped me tea-stain the paper to make the sails. This cake started as an 11x15 inch sheet cake. I cut it into 3 equal sections... roughly 11" x 5" each. I frosted the tops and stacked them together. I then carved it into the shape of a ship, using the section I cut out of the middle to raise up the back portion (behind the captain). I piped on chocolate frosting using 3 different size basket-weave tips, to add dimension. I used a stop-start-stop motion to try to acheive the look of wooden planks. I also tried to stack them like bricks to make it more apparent that they were wooden planks. The actual plank on the ship is made from chocolate. The masts are 1/4 " dowels. The sails, as mentioned, are made from tea-stained paper to make them look old. I also burned the edges lightly to add to that effect. The pirates are hand-sculpted from marshmallow fondant. I used images from Wilton.com and Cake Central.com as inspiration for the ship and the pirates.

Over the Hill Tombstone Cake

I hope the birthday girl doesn't mind too much!!
This is carved from a 1/4 sheet cake. The packages and "50" are cookies iced with cookie frosting (1 cup powdered sugar, 2 Tbsp corn syrup, 2 Tbsp milk, icing color).

Zebra Print with Pink Flowers

This was a fun cake to make! Zebra print, pink flowers and pink pearls! This cake is covered in fondant with fondant pearls and silk gladiolas.

Alligator Cake

This cake is cut from 2 quarter-sheet cakes. It is surrounded by graham cracker crumbs to look like sand. I piped tip 18 pull-out stars all over it. The eyes are from cupcakes that I carved to make rounder.

Tinkerbell Tiered Cake

This is one of my new personal favorites! This is an 11x15 inch sheet cake, with an 8-inch (one layer) and a 6-inch (one layer) stacked on top of it. It is purple butter cream with a purple rosette bottom border with dot accents. The top border is of bright green leaves and light and dark pink drop flowers. I placed a Tinkerbell candle on top (currently available at Wal-Mart). I hope the birthday girl enjoys it!!

2-tier fondant covered cake and smash cakes

These are cakes I made for a little boy's first birthday. The 2-tier is covered in my mm fondant, with butter cream borders. The other cakes are frosted in butter cream.

Well, here is the finished product based on my idea posted below... a hot pink and lime green birthday cake, complete with monogram (first letter of her first name). The monogram is made from baked salt dough, painted with lime green acrylic paint with pink glitter accents. I attempted to make the monogram out of fondant, so it would be edible, but unfortunately it broke. I need to get brave and attempt using gum paste sometime... I am told it holds up better than fondant when it is used for this type of application. I am happy with how it turned out, though... I hope the birthday girl likes it too!

Baby Shower Sheet Cake

This is an 11x15 inch sheet cake I made for a baby shower for my BIL and his girlfriend. They are having a boy! I pre-cut the slices using fishing line after frosting the top of the cake. I then used a large cake-icer tip to frost the sides of the cake and hide/seal the cuts in the cake. The cuts in the icing on top are hidden under the grid made with a basket-weave tip. I made a shell border on the top and bottom using tip #32, and also made a ruffle border on top using tip #104. The items on each square are made from candy.

Idea for cake this weekend

I have been given the task to create a lime green and hot pink cake for a woman's birthday. Here is my idea so far. I have never made a monogram to stand on a cake, but have found some great ideas online and hope to get started on it soon... in case it doesn't work for me, then I will still have time to do something different on top. I love these colors together! I am, right now, planning on a 10-inch and 6-inch... both in hot pink, with lime green decorations. The decorations on the top tier don't show up well in this picture for some reason, but it is a curvy "S" pattern.

Topsy Turvy Cake

This is my first ever topsy turvy cake. I followed the instructions in the youtube video posted on my site. The bright colors were so fun to work with! I have been very busy lately... and have neglected to take pictures of several of my cakes : ( so they won't be posted on my site. My most favorite not-pictured cake was a hot pink and zebra stripe cake I made for my son's teacher. I have a few coming up soon, and hope to remember to photograph them all and post them here! Above is an idea for a cake this weekend. I am still trying to nail down all the details... but this is my idea so far.

Boot's Face Cake (from Dora the Explorer)

This is Boots from Dora the Explorer. I cut out the face and "hair" separately from an 11x15 inch sheet pan and assembled them on a cake board cut to match the cake-shape. The sides are iced smooth, the top is done in #16 star tip.

This is a Wii cake I made for someone's husband... he loves video games apparently! It was difficult to get the sides of the cake perfectly smooth.... I think the fondant stretched thin as I applied it... it was a tall cake.... the white wii portion was 5 layers high. It was based on a cake Martha Stewart made for Wired magazine... no one can compete with Martha!

This cake was for a little girl's first birthday. It is buttercream with fondant accents. The stars, dots, stripes, bow and border are all fondant. In the future, I will only use fondant accents on a fondant covered cake. I found it difficult for the decorations to stay in place on the buttercream. I loved making the stars on wires and the bow, though. I think they turned out well!

Zebra Print and Lime with Monkeys

This is a 6-inch on a 10-inch tiered cake. The bottom tier is orange flavored, the top is chocolate. It is covered in marshmallow fondant, with mm fondant monkeys and bananas. I hope the birthday girl loves it! (shhh... it's a surprise for her!).

These were made for a little boy's 1st birthday. A large "Jack" and a small "Mel the dog" from Jack's Big Music Show (on Noggin).

Woody, Toy Story Cake

This is a 1/4 sheet cake decorated with Woody from Toy Story. I made the Woody image (as well as the entire white background on the top of the cake) as a frozen buttercream transfer. It was tedious due to all the fine details, but I love how he turned out.

Pretty in Pink 3-tier cake

This is a 12, 8 and 6-inch tiered cake. Each tier is 3 layers. It is decorated in marshmallow fondant.

Hannah Montana Guitar Cake

I made this cake for a little girl's 4th birthday party. It is based on a Hannah Montana guitar that she dearly loves.

Purse Cake

My first purse cake! I made this cake by baking a 9x13 inch sheet cake and cutting it crosswise into 4 sections roughly 4", 3.5", 3" and 2.5". I stacked the sections largest to smallest, crumb-coated it and froze it for 1 hour to firm it up for carving. After an hour in the freezer, the cake was firm enough to be carved into a more purse-like shape. I added a layer of buttercream frosting and covered in pale green fondant. I then added bright pink fondant flowers and a silver handle. The handle was made by threading fondant beads onto 20 gauge wire and inserting the ends of the wire deep into the cake for support.

Pink Pirate Cake

I made this shocking pink and black pirate cake for a little girl's 5th birthday party. The top of the cake is a frozen butter cream transfer. I made it by printing the picture of the pirate as a mirror image and taping it to the back of a smooth glass cutting board. I then taped a piece of wax paper on the other side of the cutting board, so the image could be seen through the glass and the wax paper. I traced the details, beginning in the middle of the image with black icing, then filled in the other colors, starting with the smallest details first. I smoothed the icing as I went, then filled in the background color around the skull in a square exactly the same size as the top of the cake. I placed it in the freezer for over an hour to allow time for it to harden. I then carefully removed the wax paper from the cutting board and flipped the image over onto the cake, peeling off the wax paper afterwards. I had to trim some excess icing from the edges, and fill in the sides of the cake with icing... and voila... a smooth "copy" of the image on top of the cake. The little cross bones are made from marshmallow fondant.

Trivial Pursuit Game Piece Cake

This is an 8-inch 2-layer round cake decorated to look like a filled Trivial Pursuit game piece. I was asked to make this cake for a Trivial Pursuit game lover... she always uses the green game piece and wins fairly often. I made the game pieces as frozen butter cream transfers so they would be as smooth as possible on top.

FL Gator Cake

I made this one for a little boys birthday. Tebow is his favorite college football player. I used a #21 star tip for the green and pulled the stars out a little as I piped the icing to make them appear more like scales.

Safari Cake

This is a cake I made for a baby shower. It's a 10-inch tier on top of a 12-inch tier (both are single layer 2-inch deep cakes). The animals are hand molded from marshmallow fondant, and were made over a week in advance to allow time to dry. The tiers are frosted with butter cream and covered with mm fondant. The pink border is butter cream.

Treasure Chest Cake

I made this Treasure Chest for my son's 6th birthday. He wanted a pirate themed party, and this was the cake he chose. I made this cake by baking two 1/4 sheet cakes (one chocolate, one butter cake). I cut the sheet cakes in half down the middle, making each piece approximately 8x6. I stacked the chocolate cakes, frosted with chocolate icing, and covered in chocolate marshmallow fondant--- they make up the chest (bottom). I stacked the butter cakes on a board cut just large enough for the cake and carved the top into an arch for the lid. I then frosted it with chocolate icing, and covered in chocolate marshmallow fondant. I covered a wedge of cardboard with wax paper and placed it between the chest and the lid to prop the lid open. I used a chopstick to "carve" the wood-grain into the chocolate fondant. I trimmed the chest with "gold" MM fondant. I used plastic pirate coins, and to prevent them from actually touching the cake (for fear of lead... you just never know these days!), I cut a "U" shape piece of cardboard to fit around the wedge between the chest and lid, covered it with wax paper and hot-glued the coins to that. It slides in and out easily, making taking the cake apart for cutting/serving simple! I added some coins and brown sugar "sand" to the cake board for extra decoration.