U.S. CUSTOMS and BORDER PROTECTION

This cake was made for US Customs.  It was a 12" stacked round red velvet cake, frosted with cream cheese icing.  The top was made as an exact replica of the customs patch below.

I MADE WHAT??

Today I made a cake for a birthday in the theme Tampa Bay Buccaneers....As much as it pained me to make a Buccaneer cake, it still smelled like money.  I should've piped a small fleur-de-lis in the very corner of the scrolls.  Who-Dat!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

I baked this cake to celebrate my birthday which is tomorrow.  I used my 2 favorite flavors, since well you know it IS MINE!!!  The bottom 9" is red velvet with cream cheese frosting, and the 6" is Chai Tea Spice with cream cheese.  Everything on the cake is piped buttercream, with the exception of the Delaware hen atop the cake which is fondant.  This was a really fun cake to make, since chickens and cake are equally my most favorite hobbies!

One BIG cake!

This cake was made today using two half-sheet cakes, joined together creating one BIG cake!  The final measurements were 20" x 26", weighing in at about 35 pounds!

One cake was carrot cake filled with cream cheese frosting, while the other cake was a chocolate mayo cake filled with caramel cream.  The entire cake was frosted with cream cheese frosting.

The sunset was done by airbrush, while the sun, egret and marsh grass were done in fondant.

PRETTY LITTLE GIRL

This cake was the second one I made this morning.  This was obviously for a baby shower, for a lady who is expecting a little girl.  The cakes were a 10" round and a 6" round vanilla cake filled with buttercream icing.  I had the same problems as the purple two-tiered cake.  The airbrush crapped out and the fondant was so soft, but I did what I could with what I had to work with.  She didn't come out so bad!

OH THE HUMIDITY!!!

Happy Birthday Ami!

Today was a popular day for cakes.  I had two cakes to make for 12:00.  This one being for a 14 year old girl.  The cake was vanilla with the bottom tier filled with banana, and the top blueberry.  Just about everything that could go wrong with this cake went wrong.  My airbrush went on the fritz today.  The humidity was so high that my fondant was extremely difficult to work with.  It was always sticky and soft.  Just like pralines wont set right when its wet outside, the same thing happened with the fondant.  This I'd have to say definitly isn't the prettiest cake I've ever made.  I seriously considered not posting this one at all.  Matter of factly, I had the customers money on the table ready to refund it to her because I was convinced she wasn't gonna like it!

IT'S A DIRTBIKE

I made this cake Friday for a 7 year old little boy who wanted a dirtbike cake.  The cake was chocolate on chocolate, with the bike being a buttercream transfer.  The transfer was probably the most detailed I've ever done, taking nearly 2 hours to pipe.  The number 7 was piped on the bike to correspond with his age, and his initials were also used.

WAY GIRLISH to WAY BOYISH!

Today I made two cakes  for both a Mother and Son who were have birthdays a day apart.

This one is a 6" Chocolate Round, filled with chocolate, iced with buttercream frosting.  The flowers and leaves are made from fondant, which I then pearlized, and studded with pearl dragees.

Iron Man - This cake was made for a 4 year old's birthday.  It is a vanilla sponge quarter-sheet, filled and iced with buttercream.  The iron man was a frozen buttercream transfer I did.  Prior to today, I didn't even have a clue what Iron Man even looked like!

This cake ended up as a bonus cake... I made the Spiderman plaque with the intention of joining him with Ironman, but unfortunately they did not both fit, so I decided to place Spidey on a small 6" square chocolate cake as a leftover.  The customer saw it, and took him home as well. 

GIDDY UP COWGIRL!

At the beginning of the month, I made this cake for Kolbie, which was a chocolate 1/2 sheet, filled chocolate.  The horse and girl was done as a frozen buttercream transfer.  Rope border and paisley print added to match the party supplies.

DUCKS and ALLIGATORS

Happy Birthday Mason & Dominick!

This cake was made for a couple of little boys who were turning 4 years old.  They are twins who both wanted something different!  One wanted ducks and the other wanted alligators.  So, I took those two ideas and made this one cake.  It was a vanilla cake, filled 1/2 Bavarian creme, and 1/2 banana filling.  It was frosted with Buttercream icing which was then airbrushed on the sides and top.  The lake, and grasses on the side are buttercream, while the ducks, alligators, lilypads, flowers, and cattails are all made of fondant.  The cake is completely edible with the exception of the toothpicks as the cattail stalks.  The Ducks and alligator were sculpted out of fondant, then hand painted with food grade coloring.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRANDEN & ROSS!!

HAPPY 34th BIRTHDAY BUDDAH

I thought to myself, "What would Branden REALLY like for a birthday cake?" The answer came pretty fast.  A B-I-G Hamburger cake!  So that was exactly what he got.  The cake was made in 3 vanilla layers, which were all filled.  The buns were filled with Bavarian creme, frosted with buttercream icing then airbrushed brown, while the burger patty was filled with Strawberry filling, frosted with buttercream then pressed with oreo cookie crumbs.  I made the lettuce, tomatoes, cheese & sesame seeds from fondant.  This was one of the best tasting cakes!  He loved it.

HAPPY 33rd BIRTHDAY NONK ROSS

One of our friends Ross, is also born on July 1st as Branden, so being an absolute fan of the bayou-only staple, the FISH & CHEESE, and while sticking with the food theme, I had no doubts that this was the cake I was going to make for him.  The large rectangle "fish patty" on the bottom was made with Red Velvet cake, iced with white chocolate-cream cheese frosting.  The top "cheese" rectangle was vanilla cake.  The whole cake was iced with the white chocolate-cream cheese frosting and then crumb coated with crushed up vanilla cookies.  He was stunned by it.  He said that was the best cake he's ever had.

SPIDEY

I made this cake for a 4 year old little boy's birthday.  The cake was vanilla filled with 1/2 Bavarian Creme and 1/2 icing.  It was iced with buttercream.  The buildings were airbrushed, and spiderman was a frozen buttercream transfer that I piped black webs on after it was flipped.

WHAT?!? YOU WANT ME TO MAKE YOU A HORSE HEAD?

This was a last minute cake I was asked to make yesterday.  I was asked to make a cake with a horse's head on it.  So after thinking hard about how I would make a horse head appear, I came up with making this head from a frozen buttercream transfer.  Problem was, I didn't have a print-out of a horse large enough for a 11x15 cake.  So, I took a poster board and I drew this horse out first before piping it for the cake.  Originally I was going to cut the cake in the shape of the actual head, but I figured that since it was going to be served at a bar, I should probably leave it whole for more pieces!

"GIRLY" BIRTHDAY CAKE

Today I made this cake for a little girl's 9th birthday.  Her mother asked that I make something "girly" and left the design up to my discretion, so this is what I came up with. Black, White and Turquoise Zebra Stripes.

Both layers were vanilla cake, iced with buttercream and homemade fondant.  The bottom layer was filled with Bavarian creme, while the top layer was Banana creme.  This was the first time I've used fondant curls to decorate with, and I think they turned out nice!

LIGHTENING MCQUEEN

Today I made this half-sheet buttercream "Cars" cake for a couple of 3 & 5 year old brothers.  I made Lightening McQueen using a new technique I had never tried before.  I made the car itself using a technique called frozen buttercream transfer.  It is essentially piping whichever design you choose, over a saran wrapped piece of plexiglass, setting it in the freezer and placing it on the cake then peeling off the plastic wrap.  I was satisfied with the results.  More importantly, the boys and their family were.

The cake was vanilla, filled and Iced with 3/4 buttercream.

CONGRATULATIONS GRAND ISLE HEADSTART CLASS OF 2010

Today was Allison's Head Start Graduation.  This is the cake I made for them.  It was a vanilla cake, half filled with Bavarian Cream, and the other half was pineapple.  It was iced with 3/4 vanilla/almond buttercream.  It was delicious if I do say so myself!  (Getting a little better icing the cakes too)

ALL CAKED OUT

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PETER & PAIGE

DAX'S FIRST BIRTHDAY MICKEY GUITAR AND SNARE DRUM

Last night was the mother of all marathon cake baking nights.  These 3 cakes were ordered for birthday parties for the same day, same time.  Let's just say that I didn't get to go to bed.  The final touches were put on the last cake one hour before the birthday party. 

The Hawaiian cake was for the birthday party of Allison's classmate/s Peter and Paige for their 5th and 6th birthdays.  The cake was vanilla filled strawberry and lemon with vanilla/almond buttercream.  The only inedible parts were the tiki hut, trees and umbrella.  The seashells were made from fondant using a chocolate moulde.  Flowers were fondant, Peter and Paige and large flowers were modeled from gumpaste.  The "sand" for the island were crushed graham crackers.  This cake was fun to make, and relativly quick to put together.  They both loved it.

The guitar and snare drum was for a little boy named Dax's first birthday.  The guitar was a vanilla cake, filled strawberry and lemon, while the drum was chocolate cake, filled with chocolate, iced with tinted buttercream.  A total of 10 1/2 hours were spent on these 2 cakes from very start to finish.  In the end, I was pleased with the way they came out.  Although I think that the cakes were much more pretty in person than in these pictures. 

The drum/smash-up cake was one of the first total iced buttercream cakes I've made, as you can see I'm not up to the supergenius level when working with buttercream YET :)

I tried to give the guitar realistic touches, such as piping the strings the same way as a real guitar is strung with larger strings at the top, going smaller towards the little e., and making the fret board with the star fret finders, tuning keys and "ivory" bridge.

MISSION: BIRTHDAY CAKE IMPOSSIBLE

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLISON!!!

Today was my little girl's 5th year birthday party.  She wanted a little mermaid / under the sea themed party, so I made this little beauty.  When I say that just about EVERYTHING went wrong while making this cake, I mean it.  For starters, It was raining outside, (winds were blowing a hurricane, about 50 miles per hour) and the humidity was through the roof which messed with the fondant, making it sticky.  All the layers were baked, filled and ready to decorate when the electricity went out.  I was in the middle of airbrushing the blue on the cake when it went out, so I moved on to making all the fish and critters while Allison held a flashlight for me.  With food cooking on the stove and the electricity out, it started to get HOT inside!!  So hot it started to MELT all the pieces I had made, and the buttercream.  I finally got the airbrushing finished by using an extension cord from my husband's truck with a power inverter and the cake was saved!!!
I was never happier to be finished with a cake than today!

The 10" bottom was a vanilla cake, filled with fresh Louisiana strawberries with light almond-flavored buttercream.  The 8" middle was Chocolate fudge cake with Chocolate buttercream.  The "Rock" was Vanilla, with Chocolate.  Despite everything working against me, it was a DELICIOUS cake!!! (And Allison loved it too!) 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OZ

HAPPY 78th BIRTHDAY OZ

Today I made this cake for Branden's Grandpa's 78th Birthday.  This was a replica of his trawl boat, the King Lafitte.  It was a rather large cake, since he had a huge birthday party.  This was also the first cake I've made not using fondant as a cake covering.  The boat itself was modeled out of rice krispie treats covered with fondant.  The rigging and flagpole were the only non-edible pieces, being made from skewers covered in gumpaste.  Gumpaste was used to make the flag, rake, radar, dipnet, winch, cleats, trawl boards, box, picking table, v-test, anchor, seagulls and porpoise.  I piped the nets out of royal icing.

The cake was vanilla with half strawberry and half pineapple fillings.

This is the result of 3 days worth of modeling the accessories and 5 hours building the actual boat.

IT'S OFFICIAL, I SOLD A CAKE

This was a fun cake to make.  This was also the first cake I sold!  I made this cake for a baby shower (little boy) for a lady over at the Coast Guard base.  It was made with 2- 9" Rounds and 2- 12" Rounds with a little baby blanket draped on the side.  The pattern on the baby blanket was made using the animals from the Fisher Price Rainforest collection, which was kind-of the theme the lady had bought for her baby. The smaller rounds were filled with strawberry and the larger rounds were filled with pineapple.  Let's just hope this actually looks like the baby when he's born!  (We judged the hair and eyes based on his older sister)

Laissez Les Bon Anniversaires Rouler! (Let the Happy Birthdays Roll)

Today was my Mother In Law Linda's birthday observance party. (number undisclosed) Since her birthday falls close to Mardi gras this year she wanted to have a Mardi gras themed cake. This was one of my favorite cakes that I've made. Everything but the feather was edible. The mask, I made out of modeling chocolate and handpainted it with luster dust. The doubloons were embossed with a real doubloon and airbushed gold. The fleur-de-lis were cast in a mold.  Few minor meltdowns were had, though supergenius factor was running high.


The fillings were mango and pineapple.