June 25, 2011

Little Colored Bricks


Well, these are actually not that little and they are cake!


This cake was for a little boy who loves his Legos and for this birthday his mom wanted him to be able to eat them too! Yes, this entire Lego formation is cake and yes, it was hand carved in separate pieces to look like individual Legos. Each brick was measured so that it was proportional to the original (much tinier) Legos. A little OCD, but I wanted it to look right!


This cake was the ever so classic white cake with vanilla buttercream icing and filling combination. After icing, each Lego was covered in panels of fondant in primary colors to reflect the hard plastic shell of actual Legos.


I then assembled each individual cake in it's proper place on the board just like actual legos would look like if they were in this formation.


Even the board was covered in fondant to make it look like the actual Lego boards that start so many creative and fun sculptures for kids. Don't worry it was first covered in food safe foil so as not to get any wood in any of the cake. I have recently just started to make all of my cake boards from wood... much sturdier, but I digress.


So you are probably asking yourself, "What are those knobs made of and why hasn't she explained that yet?!?!" Here it goes... they are made from modeling chocolate. Yep 100% pure chocolate, well except for the fact that they were covered in color coordinating fondant. I attached each one in it's proper place (where it would be if these were real Legos) with a dab of buttercream. It was hard keeping those little nobs away from my husband's mouth. They were so cute even he wanted to eat them right up!


These famous words were created from fondant. I found and used the actual Lego font and cut out each individual letter and layered it with black and yellow to get the Lego logo look! The words were originally supposed to go on the green Lego board but they covered up a lot of the knobs and I wanted those to be seen. So I slapped it to the side of the cake and called it a day!


Karsten's Dad was the one who picked up his cake and from his expression I knew that whole party was going to love this cake. It was exactly what they asked for and how can you not love a cake made to look like something that brings everyone back to that time in their lives when they were care-free kids?!?! Happy birthday Karsten! I hope you absolutely loved your birthday cake!

"I just wanted to tell you how much we enjoyed the cake! I love how it turned out and the lego font for his name was fantastic - thank you for the extra detail! :) Plus, the cake tasted fantastic and we loved the little lego knobs!" -Lisa H.

June 23, 2011

Dreams Come True in Blue Hawaii


This cake was for a little girls birthday. It was for her family party... stay tuned for her pawsitively awesome birthday cake for her party with her friends!


If you couldn't tell there was a definitely beachy-Hawaiian theme going on with this cake including tiki masks, palm trees, exotic flowers, flip flops, and sand! It was a 6 inch square cake just enough for the whole family to dig in to! It was a chocolate cake with rich vanilla buttercream and decorated with fondant accents. Oh and did I mention EVERYTHING on this cake is edible (except for the stamens on the flowers)?!?!?! Yeah who would have thought trees, tiki masks, and flip flops would be tasty!

There were tiki masks on all four sides of the cake and the colors were switched around for each mask so each one was an individual. They were made from thick brown fondant scored to look like wood. I rolled, cut, and adhered (with water) colored fondant to give these masks detail.


Look at those little beady eyes! Although they are not smiling I think these masks are still upbeat and not scary at all. Er.. maybe a little but the bright colors help! :)


The palm trees were also on each side or should I say corner of the cake and made 100% from fondant. The trunk was hand rolled and then scored to look like the bark of the tree, the leaves were hand cut and placed accordingly, and the coconuts... those lovely coconouts! They were also fondant and attached with a little piece of raw spaghetti stuck into the cake.

Each palm tree was different in the placing of the leaves or the scoring but each kept a semi-uniform look. This corner was also adorned with a pair of size 13 male flip flops in brown and green. Well, I guess they could be a different size or even be women's who knows, but they are still cute!

Now to the flowers. These by far took me the longest to make and I think they turned out beautiful. They really make me feel like I'm at a Luau on one of the islands of Hawaii! They were painstaking formed by yours truly. Okay, okay it wasn't that difficult but it did take awhile. I was able to catch up on some tv while making these though so that's a plus.

There were different colors used so no two flowers were the same. I used pink, orange, yellow, and blue. I know it nature these types of flowers probably do not come in blue but they fit the theme of the cake very well.

Onto the flip flops... or flippies as I call them. I love flip flops and these little cuties are no exception. They all were hand made from fondant and placed strategically all around the cake. There were some on the sides of the cake and even a couple buried in the "sand" on top.




The sand on the top of the cake was actually brown sugar. It was between that and crushed graham crackers but brown sugar definitely gives that little bit of sparkle you get with real sand. I placed a couple of pairs of flips flops as well as some leaves in the sand. It was also adorned with a flower. Such a beachy scene makes me completely ready for summer and warm weather!


I really enjoyed making this cake as well as the way it turned out! When it was sitting in my kitchen staring at me, it really made me want to book a vacation right then and there to some beachy locale with warm weather and cold drinks! The family loved the cake and next week I will be making another cake for them so hopefully that one will turn out just as good!

"Everyone LOVED the cake and was uber impressed with your talents!" - Kelly T.

June 18, 2011

Is it a Boy or a Girl?

We shall soon find out!


These cupcakes were for some friends who were having a gender reveal party for their little bun in the oven. Jeff and Patricia got all of their closest friends and family together and needed some delicious desserts for their party.


They had the doctor write down the sex of the baby and put it in an envelope. They took the envelope to a party supply store with a huge box that was wrapped in blue and pink. They told the employees to fill the box with appropriately colored helium filled balloons so that when they opened the box up at the party it would spew out either pink or blue balloons letting everyone know if the new baby was going to be a boy or a girl! Such a cute idea and it was so fun to watch and be a part of!


These cupcakes were a delicious vanilla almond cake topped with vanilla buttercream. They were then covered in fondant decorated in blues and pinks with flowers, zig zags, and swirls. They turned out super cute and everyone loved the design as well as the taste!


I even made coordinating cupcake liners dressed with blue and pink bows. These cupcakes screamed "Boy! No, girl! Definitely girl! Well, maybe it's a boy! Or maybe a girl! Yep, girl! No boy! Definitely boy!" Did I confuse you? Ok, Ok, enough waiting! Now for the results...

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IT'S A GIRL!!!!!


Congratulations Jeff and Patricia! They are soon-to-be parents of another baby girl! That makes 4 girls in the family and although it seems like an overwhelmingly amount of estrogen in the house, I think Jeff loves it! I'm so happy for you guys and can't wait to meet the little lady!

"They were delicious & BEAUTIFUL!" - Patricia L.

June 11, 2011

80 is the New 40!

Or at least for my grandma it is! This cake was for my grandma's 80th birthday and if the things on the cake tell you anything about her you will notice that she is a pretty active lady!


This cake was a 10" square cake. It was a delicious vanilla almond with a chocolate amaretto ganache filling, iced in vanilla buttercream, and decorated with fondant accents. It was heaven... in cake form! I brought it to a big family party for my grandma and everyone loved it! There was only 1 or 2 two pieces left over and members of my family who aren't really "cake people" went back for seconds! That's the best compliment I could have received!


My grandma loves loves loves going to sales. No I'm not talking about sales in department stores or novelty shops. She loves garage sales, yard sales, estate sales, etc. In fact the morning of her party she was out at a garage sale! Always looking for great bargains that one!


It's hard to see the wood grain on this yard sale sign, but it's there! The grass was hand piped vanilla buttercream. You can't have a yard sale without a yard!


Look at all those signs calling her name! Begging her to come spend money! I hand painted the writing on each of the signs as well as those boxes. Here's a close up...


These boxes were 3D and I loved their cute little curled flaps! The box on the left contained toys for $.50 and the box on the right contained books for $1.00. Now that's a deal!


My grandma lives in Minnesota where every year they hold a Winter Carnival... and it's a BIG deal! As I'm sure you can imagine in a state where winter is always what's talked about. I guess there is royalty in my blood because she was named Lady in Waiting in 2007. This is also where she met her boyfriend, Bill. He was the King of the Winter Carnival. I wish I would have remembered that and put maybe a little red heart on this side of the cake to incorporate that.


The letters were hand painted on the fondant sash. "Lady in Waiting St. Paul Winter Carnival '07" I do believe she actually received a crown instead of a sash but I thought this would work better with the cake.


The snowflakes and dots were cut from fondant. I also brushed a little shimmer dust on them so they would sparkle just like real snowflakes. Unfortunately that doesn't really transfer in pictures!


My grandma loves her cards as well! Especially cribbage and even the occasional trip to the casino! The traditional cribbage board as well as the cards were made from fondant.


The numbers on cards were actually hand painted with food coloring but the spades, diamonds, hearts, and clubs were cut out of fondant.


I'm really proud of the cribbage board... it's not easy getting a lot of little holes to look right on a fondant cribbage board!


If it's a weekend chances are my grandma is either out dancing or singing karaoke. My family is very musically inclined, some more than others, but it all stems from my grandma. She loves anything that has to do with music, dancing, and singing.


The microphone was made from fondant. The top part was dusted with shimmer dust to look more metallic. This one is cordless because of course my grandma is a mover and a shaker!


This silohette of Bev and Bill, ok it's not really my grandma and her boyfriend... but it might as well be, was hand cut from fondant. They are always out of the town cutting a rug! In addition to this the little music notes that are sprinkled throughout this side of the cake were made from fondant.


Now on to the last portion of the cake was the top. My grandma loves musicals and movies. This was my personal interpretation of a Broadway sign! The sign as well as the stars were made from fondant. Some of the stars don the numbers 80 hand painted. I had to have her age somewhere on the cake!


My grandma is so many things to so many people so instead of writing "Happy birthday Mom, Grandma, Great-Grandma, Sister, Aunt, etc..." I went with her first name. All of the letters were hand piped vanilla buttercream. I wanted to make sure they were all different fonts just like the signs you would see on Broadway. I especially wanted to make her name stand out by being big, curly, and pretty!


So as you can tell my grandma is the epitome of the phrase, "80 is the new 40"! She is young at heart and still does all the things she loves to do. She is an amazing lady to so many people and I was super happy about the fact that I got to make her birthday cake!

Happy 80th birthday grandma! I love you!



June 5, 2011

I Need a Doctor... or Maybe a Nurse

This cake was for a young man named Kody who was graduating from nursing school. Unfortunately there was some miscommunication and Kody's mom ordered another cake and cupcakes from somewhere else. Luckily, this cake did not go to waste. One of my husband's co-workers has some neighbors that are doctors. They have a big extended family so this was perfect for them! I was unhappy about the mishap but was glad that it ended up in someones belly rather than in the trash can! Anyways, on to the details!


This cake started out as a 1/4 sheet cake (9" x 13") and was hand carved into the shape of a scrub shirt. The cake itself was red velvet and had vanilla buttercream filling and icing... tinted blue obviously! The entire cake was outlined in black food coloring to give it a little more definition.


The letters were cut from fondant and defined with that same black food coloring. Upon delivery of this cake to the family that actually received it, I'm told the first thing they said was, "Who's Kody?" LOL :)


The top of the cake was decorated with a stethoscope, name tag, the collar of the shirt, and even a cute little clothing tag showing off the year of Kody's graduation!


The ear piece for the stethoscope made completely from fondant.


The chest piece for the stethoscope. Again... completely edible and made from fondant. You can even see a close up of Kody's name tag as well.


Here's the collar to the shirt. It's hard to see but I even put stitching on the collar. It's all about the little details with me!


Look at those pockets holding all of those goodies that are necessary for a nurse on a daily basis! I did just say I was all about the details, didn't I? The pockets were a lighter colored fondant so that they would stand out a bit.


After placing this latex glove inside the pocket I realized that A.) this nurse has HUGE hands in proportion to his scrub shirt... and B.) I probably should have positioned the fingers a little differently! ;)

In this pocket was a pen... necessary to sign all those patient charts. A syringe... necessary to draw blood or give much needed medicine. And either scissors or clamps (you take your pick)... necessary to cut bandages. Oh and did you notice those little stitches again. So cute!


Even though the intended recipient never received this cake I was really proud of it. I loved the way it turned out and am confident that I could do it again if there were more doctors or nurses out there graduating from medical school. *Hint *Hint Tell your medical friends! :)