Buzz Lightyear

I forgot to post this one last weekend.  This is an 8-inch cake, covered and decorated in mmf with a handmade fondant Buzz Lightyear on top.  I cut and shaped the #3 from modeling chocolate and dusted it with Wilton silver pearl dust.  I also made 24 cupcakes with candy Little Green Men (LGM) faces on top to go with the cake.  I used modeling chocolate for the LGM ears and antenna, and fondant for their eyes and mouths.

Wizard of Oz

 This is a 3 tier... 4" house on 6 inch round on 10 inch round, decorated entirely in fondant (except the roof on the house is modeling chocolate b/c it is stiff and holds it shape better).  The characters are all hand made from fondant. This is my new favorite cake, of all the ones I have made.  This probably took the longest, too, but I am very happy with the way it turned out :)

Batman

This is my youngest son's 5th birthday cake.  He is crazy about Batman and this will be his 2nd Batman party in a row.  This is a 10 inch round, one layer vanilla butter, one layer chocolate, with air-dried fondant sky scrapers, and a modeling chocolate/fondant bat signal in the "sky".  The blue buttercream was made with my usual recipe (1 cup butter, 1 cup shortening, 2 tsp. vanilla, 1/4 cup milk, 2 lbs. powdered sugar), and it took 1/2 ounce of Wilton royal blue icing color to achieve that shade of blue.  Batman is a happy meal toy.  The idea for this cake came from cakecentral.com.

Perry the Platypus Cake

Here's Perry in his platypus state, on all fours with his eyes turned out.  He's made from a 9x13 inch sheet cake that was cut in half and stacked, making him about 9 inches x 6.5 inches and 3 inches tall.  His bill and feet and tail are made from modeling chocolate.  His eyes are fondant balls that are stuck on the ends of dowel rods to support their weight.  His legs are just lots of icing piped on.  I wish I had rounded the edges a bit more, but overall I am happy with how he turned out.

Number 11 Cake

This is for an 11 year old's birthday.  This cake was cut from a 9"x13" chocolate sheet cake.  Each number 1 is in 3 parts, the top, middle and bottom.  It was tricky to decorate the inside edges of the numbers, b/c they were too close together to reach in with a decorating bag without damaging or marring the icing.  It is decorated in green (the birthday boy's current favorite color) and trimmed with every other color I could think of... it looks like a party on a cake!  I hope the birthday kiddo likes it :o).

Pink, Purple and Zebra print Topsy Turvy

This is for a little girl's birthday.  It is done in bright bright colors and decorated entirely in mmf.  This is an 8 inch, 6 inch and 4 inch topsy turvy.  Each tier has 3 layers of cake.  Happy Birthday Aubrie!

Man's 50th birthday cake

A teeny bit naughty--- this cake features a busty fondant woman jumping out into a pile of fondant tires.  This is an 8 inch round decorated entirely in mmf.  Hope the birthday boy likes it!

Zebra Gift Cake with Hot Pink Bow

This is an 8" 2-layer square cake decorated in buttercream icing with black fondant zebra stripes and a hot pink fondant bow.  The bow was made several days in advance to allow time to dry.    I added the curling ribbon to the bow to help hide the candy that tends to squeeze out when the loops are put together.  It also adds a touch of fun and realism to the cake. Directions for making a similar bow can be found at http://cakeboss.com/FondantBowTutorial.aspx.

Pansies on a sheet cake

This is an 85th Birthday cake... an 11"x15" sheet cake decorated in buttercream icing with a double border, cornelli piping and fondant pansies.

Minnie Mouse!

This is a tiered cake made with a vanilla butter 10-inch, strawberry 8-inch and chocolate half-sports ball pan.  It is frosted in buttercream icing and covered in mmf.  The bows and mouse ears were made from mmf a couple of days in advance to allow them time to dry.  The ears have a wire frame that rests just inside the outer edge of the circles and has a stem at the bottom that fits into the cake to hold it in place (the wires are stuck into straws to keep them from being directly in the cake).  The bow on top is stuck on with 2 toothpicks and some candy glue (melted marshmallow fondant and water).  The mouse heads on the bottom tier were cut using a 1 1/2 inch circle for the head and 1/2 inch circle for the ears.  The bows were applied with candy glue and hide the seams where the ears meet the head.  Happy Birthday Autumn!

Slumber Party Personalized Mini-cakes

These were cut from an 8-inch square cake.  Each one measures approximately 3"x4" (in cake, plus icing/fondant).  They are frosted in buttercream, with a buttercream built-up "body" beneath the fondant blanket.  The blankets were cut to size with rounded corners and "stitching" added with a tracing wheel.  Each girl's head is sculpted from mmf with hair color and style to match the real-life girl.  The heads are resting on fondant pillows.   The headboards are sugar cookies stuck to the back of the cake with buttercream icing.

Sports 1st Birthday Cake

These were for my nephew's first birthday in August, 2010.  The large cake is an 11x15 sheet cake, the smash cake is half of a sports ball pan.

Fall Wedding Cake

This is a 3-tier, 10", 8" and 6" wedding cake.  It is covered in cream colored mmf and decorated in same-colored mmf ribbon at the bottom and mmf pearls around the tiers.  The leaves are shown in an earlier post as well, and are made from modeling chocolate, as are the acorns and pumpkin.  The cake stand was made by the brides brother, and really is the perfect touch!!

More Modeling Chocolate!

These fall leaves are made from several shades of modeling chocolate.  I made a batch of milk chocolate modeling chocolate and white chocolate modeling chocolate.  I blended them in different ratios to achieve different shades.  I used fall leave cutters I purchased at hobby lobby and added the veining by hand using a toothpick (tedious, but effective!).  I curled the edges and bent the leaves in different shapes to make them more realistic then set them aside to firm up.  After an hour or so, they retain their shape, as long as they are handled gently.  They are to decorate the top and around the bottom of a wedding cake for this weekend.  I will post pictures tomorrow when the cake is decorated.

Pink bows and dots Baby Shower Cake

This was for my wonderful sister in law, who is due in November to have the first granddaughter on my husband's side of the family (after 4 grandsons, we are all happy to buy pink baby clothes!).  This is a 10", 8" and 6" tiered cake.  The top is light pink buttercream with medium pink fondant dots and dark pink ribbon and bow at the bottom.  The middle tier is medium pink buttercream with dark pink dots and light pink ribbon and bow.  The bottom tier is dark pink buttercream with light pink dots and medium pink ribbon and bow.  The baby booties on top are made from mmf.  I followed instructions I found online and they were fairly simple to make, but added so much to the cake.  The bows and booties were made several days in advance to allow time for them to dry.

Modeling Chocolate

Playing around with a new medium for making flowers and figures...modeling chocolate!  It was super easy to make and fun to use... here is my very first modeling chocolate rose, made with white chocolate :) I think I have too many petals on it, but I am happy with my first try.  Recipes have been added to the recipe section at the bottom of the first blog page.

Lavender and Pink Castle Cake

This is a 12-inch round, strawberry flavored cake.  It is frosted in buttercream icing (refrigerated until set then pressed with a brick impression mat all the way around) with a fondant door and blocks around the top edge.  The towers are made from light weight plastic tubing about 2 inches wide, covered in mmf adhered onto the plastic with candy-glue made from mmf and water heated to melting in the microwave.  I rolled the mmf covered tubes on my brick impression mat (LOVE that thing!!) to make it look like brick.  The spires are made of sugar cones and were adhered to the towers with melted candy (candy-melts or almond bark work great).  They were covered in overlapping mmf dots glued on with the candy-glue after attaching them to the tower.  Fondant windows, leaves and flowers were added to each tower.  The towers on top of the cake each have 4 dowels directly under the cylinder to support it's weight, and one tall dowel in the center to keep it steady.  The towers on the sides of the cake were tricker b/c I ran out of room on the cake board (it is a 16 inch cake board... the largest I could find at AC Moore, and just barely big enough for this cake).  There are 4 dowels set into the cake board just along the inside edges of the towers to hold them steady and 1 tall dowel in the center to keep it straight.  Cakeboss.com (not the tv show) has a wonderful tutorial on how to make a castle cake similar to this one.

Princess cake and cupcakes

This is a 6" round with 3 towers and a hand-sculpted mmf princess on top.  The towers are made from plastic tubes wrapped in mmf and pressed with a brick impression mat.  The pointed tops of the towers are made from card-stock paper cut, rolled and stapled into that shape, then covered with mmf.  The cupcakes are frosted in swirled butter cream icing and decorated with handmade mmf crowns, flowers, stars and butterflies. 

Brobee (Yo Gabba Gabba) Cake

This is so bright and fun!  This cake is a 6" tier on an 8" tier.  It is frosted in buttercream, covered in lime green mmf and decorated with lime green, dark green and bright red fondant dots.  I have never used dots that were the same color as the fondant on the cake before... but the effect is pretty cool... barely there.  The border is red buttercream dots made with Wilton tip #12, and a few black fondant balls for contrast along the bottom.  Brobee is hand-sculpted from mmf with a few wires holding the arms in place.

Candyland Cupcakes

These were so colorful and fun to make!  Bright pink, blue and yellow swirled icing with Skittles, M&Ms, gum drops and sprinkles.  Others had buttercream grass piped on top.  The birthday girls' (twins) mom made the sprinkle covered lollipops by dipping Dum-Dum suckers into water and rolling them in tiny sprinkles. 

Mystery Machine

This is a 3-d Mystery Machine I made for my neighbor's daughter.  It is decorated in butter cream with wheels made from fondant covered cookies (Oreo size).  This was fun to make!  Scooby is cardboard, cut off of a Gogurt box.  I made this a few months ago... and I *think* it was made by baking 2 11x15 inch sheet cakes, cutting them both in half to 7.5x11 inch size, stacking all 4 cakes, carving and decorating them.  It is on a raised platform that is covered in black to make it less noticeable.

Yellow Brick Road Cake

This is an 11x15 inch sheet cake with blue sides, green grass and red poppies on top.  The yellow brick road is buttercream that I iced smooth, refrigerated till set, then pressed with a brick impression mat.  This is the first time I have used it and I love the results!  The striped stockings and ruby red slippers are sculpted from mmf.  The birthday boy's mom will add Dorothy, Toto and the Wicked Witch of the West cake toppers at the party.

Hot Pink and Zebra Stripes

This was a sweet 16 cake, covered in mmf with faux daisies and a black plume in the center.  It is a 12" tier with a 6" tier on top.

How to Train Your Dragon

This is an 8" chocolate cake on a 10" vanilla butter cake, frosted in butter cream, with additional pieces of cake around the sides to make it look more like a rough and rocky mountain.  It is covered and decorated in mmf.  Toothless is sculpted from true black mmf and is the first sculpture I have ever made that has an internal "skeleton" of wire and foil- which was necessary to hold the weight of the head and allow Toothless to stand on his legs.  This cake was inspired by another cake found online.  The fish basket is my favorite part.  It is sculpted from mmf and covered in hand-piped royal icing basket weave with mmf accents.

School Buses

These were made for a retirement party for two school bus drivers.  They were a lot of fun to make!  They are approximately 8" long by 4" wide, 2 layers of cake in the tallest place.  The hood of the bus is slightly carved, as are the wheel wells- to allow room for the tires under the bus.  The bus is sitting on it's own base, which is hot glued to a smaller stack of cake-boards covered in black- this black base is hot glued to the main cake board to make certain the bus won't slide off the board..  This gives the impression that the bus is sitting on it's tires.    The tires are cookies (Oreo style) that have been covered in black fondant.  The buses were frosted with buttercream, then covered in mmf.  All details are mmf.  The writing on the cake was done with a food marker and the white lines on the windows was added by dry brushing with a tiny bit of Wilton white-white.  The mirrors are made like stars on wires... by using water to glue two pieces of fondant on either side of a piece of wire.  The "road" is black mmf and the grass is buttercream.

Lime and Hot Pink Zebra Print Sheet Cake

This cake is for a surprise high school graduation party.  It is an 11x15 inch strawberry sheet cake decorated in lime green buttercream icing with hot pink buttercream trim.  The dots and zebra stripes are hot pink mmf.

Zebra Print with Purple Gerber Daisies

This one was a special request for an 18th birthday party.  Zebra print with bright purple flowers.  I love how it turned out.  It is based on a cake I made last year-- zebra print with pink flowers.  It is a 6-inch chocolate square on an 8-inch vanilla butter square.  The pearls are mmf that was rolled into balls then coated with Wilton's white shimmer glitter/dust to give them a pearly appearance.  The daisies are artificial and were purchased at Hobby Lobby.

Camping Cake

This is an original design that I created to enter in my first theme cake contest for the Cake Walk to benefit Adult Life Programs in Hickory, NC.  It was a 6-inch chocolate round on top of a 10-inch vanilla butter round.  It was frosted in butter cream icing and covered in mmf.  All of the decorations are hand-sculpted from mmf.  The fisherman's pole was the end of a plastic paintbrush, with clear thread as the fishing line.  The tree trunks were dowel's covered in chocolate.  It was a lot of fun to make this cake... my husband and boys all had a hand in designing it. 

Dirt Bike Cake

This cake was carved from an 11x15 inch sheet cake.  It is frosted in buttercream and the bike and rider were hand sculpted from marshmallow fondant.  It was a lot of fun to do this... the fondant pieces fit together like a puzzle, and I am so happy with how it turned out!  Hope the birthday boy likes it!

Topsy Turvy with Roller Skates

This was for a 10 year old's birthday party at a skating rink.  She chose lime green, orange and black for the cake colors, with a pair of roller skates on top.  The cake is a 6" on an 8".  Each tier is 3 layers of cake carved into a topsy turvy style.  It is frosted in buttercream and covered in marshmallow fondant.  The skates were hand sculpted from mmf as well. 

Thomas the Tank Engine

I am so happy with how this one turned out!  The trains were a lot of fun to make.  They are hand-sculpted from marshmallow fondant.  The cake is a 6-inch on top of a 10-inch, both strawberry flavored, frosted in buttercream icing and covered in mmf.  The trains on the cake are Thomas, Percy and Charlie.

 

Snoopy and Woodstock

I made this for a baby shower.  This is the first time I sculpted an actual cartoon character from mmf.  I hope they love it.  It seems so sweet!  It is an 8-inch round vanilla butter cake with blue buttercream covered in white mmf.  I sponged baby/sky blue on the fondant to give it a "sky" appearance.  The clouds around the base are mmf, as are the stars, Snoopy and Woodstock.

Hot Wheels Sheet Cake

This cake was for a 4 year old's birthday (bet you couldn't tell!).  It is an 11x15" sheet cake.  I made the two-tone sides using a cake icer tip and large decorating bag, in which I had 2 disposable decorating bags, one with yellow icing, one with orange icing.  The sides had to be smoothed with a spatula b/c the colors separated as they came out of the bag, but it still worked pretty well.  The #4 and flame are mmf.  The birthday boy has Hot Wheels cars of his own to place on the "road".

Jungle Animals

This is for a little boy's first birthday party.  The bottom tier is 11 inches square, the top tier is 6 inches square.  It is frosted in buttercream with fondant dots and hand sculpted fondant animals, including a lion, monkey, hippo, snake, zebra, tiger and giraffe.  The lion face cake is the birthday boy's smash cake.  It is carved from a 6-inch cake.  The mane and nose are fondant, the remainder is buttercream. 

Barbie

I made this for a good friend's little girl's 6th birthday.  She requested bright pink, and I added the purple base for contrast.  Hope she loves it!!  The base is a single layer 12" round and the doll's dress is a wonder mold cake on top of an 8" round (to add enough height for Barbie's legs).  I wrapped barbie from the waist-down in foil, then inserted her directly into the wondermold and 8" round stacked cakes.  The top of her dress and the little flowers are made from fondant... the rest is all buttercream.