Cupcake Garden

I was asked to make cupcakes for the La Puente staff appreciation dinner.  As it is summer I chose to do flowers and make a garden. It's always fun to get creative.  I like how the roses and the hydrangeas turned out best.  The daisy's are okay but I will do something different next time.

I wish I had a proper picture that displayed these.  They were set up on terra cotta pots with ribbons and bows tied on each pot.  It was pretty cute.

Daisies - Lemon with lemon curd filling.

Roses - Chocolate with Truffle filling.

Hydrangeas  - Vanilla with chocolate ganache filling.

A Unicorn for Audrina

My little friend, Audrina, got a surprise when I came out with this beauty.  This unicorn cake was fun to make and not hard at all.

I watched several You Tube videos on decorating with multiple colors in a pastry bag to get the affect on unicorn mane. The cake is a chocolate cake with chocolate ganache filling and covered with white fondant.  The ears and horn are made out of gum paste and the center of the ears are painted with gold luster dust and gold sprinkles. I hand painted on the eyes.

Lizzy's Puppy Cake

My 3 year old granddaughter turned three this past week.  She loves animals so I made her a puppy cake.

I did a variation of the puppy tutorial I found on You Tube.  It wasn't hard and she loved it.  The cake is a Duncan Hines Strawberry cake and I used strawberry jam in the middle. It was pretty tasty and there was none left when the party was over which is the way I like it!

I covered the cake with a butter cream crumb coat and white fondant.  I spray painted the pink around the bottom of the cake and on the number  3. When we served the cake I put strawberries around the base to coincide with the flavor.

I also made some cupcakes using silicone flower pot baking cups.  I made them to match the cake.

 

When we started to sing Happy Birthday I guess it was too loud for Lizzy.  She did enjoy the cake.

An Animal Cake for Abby

 Abby loves animals and wants to grow up to be a biologist.  Of course her cake had to be animals.

I made the tree from fondant and gum paste and painted it with luster dust and vodka.  The vodka helps the paint set. 

The rocks and fondant covering are made from several  colors of black, gray, and tan.  The inside is filled with candy.

The animals are plastic because my grand kids like getting toys from the cake.  We did a party for Abby with her sister and cousin who have their birthdays in the first week of March. 

This cake turned out way better than I thought it would.  Abby loved it.  I filled it with little animals and candy to fall out when the cake was cut.

A Bug Cake for Davy

Three of my grandchildren have their birthdays in the first week of march.  This year instead of making one cake for all of them I made three different cakes.  Davy asked for a bug cake.  This is a surprise cake with candy and toy bugs inside that fall out when you cut the cake open.

I used Crispx cereal and crunched it up. I used this to make the "dirt" for the ant hill. 

Because this is a surprise cake I cut a hole in the center of each layer and set aside the circles.  I used a large biscuit cutter. I placed butter cream between each layer but I didn't coat the inside   

of the circle because the candy will stick to the walls and not fall out nicely when the cake is sliced. 

When I filled the center I used about one of the cutouts to plug the hole and then crumb coated the whole cake and chilled it for 30 minutes before covering with fondant and decorating.

I made the fat ants and the log from fondant.  With the remainder of the cake holes I formed a "hill" on top and covered it with butter cream and sprinkled with the "dirt".

 The grand kids love the "toys" on the cake and it was pretty easy to find plastic bugs at Wal Mart.

He loved his cake.  It turned out pretty cool!

Ballerina Cake for Cate

Cate didn't wait for me to ask her what she wanted for her birthday cake.  It had to be a ballerina cake.  She is in ballet and loves it.  

I made the ballet shoes and put wires in them so they stick into the cake.  Click on the link for a tutorial on making shoes. I added my own embellishments like flowers and pearls.

I used tulle for decorating the edge of the cake board and placed my cake on another board and glued it on top with butter cream frosting so it wouldn't slip.

for behind the shoes I put some fondant roses and butter cream leaves.  This helped hide the souls of the shoes. I also placed a little ballerina on top of the roses for her toy gift.

This is a surprise cake.  I cut a hole in the center and poured candy inside.  I used pink and pastel M&Ms.  When you cut the cake open the candy pours out.  This kids loved it.

Bible Baptismal Cake

Two of my grandchildren were baptized this past December 2016.  They were baptized with their friend Seth.  It was a beautiful service and such an enjoyable Sabbath. 

For this cake I made chocolate cake.  I used a box mix because I didn't have time to mess with a cake from scratch.  I made four rectangle cakes and froze them.  While I had time I went to You Tube and watched how others put a book together.  I wanted this to be open. I used a chocolate ganache filling.

I put the two layers together and then carved the book shape and covered each side with fondant.  The lace book mark ribbon is edible lace on top of a black strip of fondant.  I used the Russian Icing Tips for the flowers.  It's the first time using them.  I do like them but I think I need more practice.

The "pages" are painted with luster dust mixed with vodka.  The vodka evaporates and sets the color on the fondant. I had wrote the words but next time I think I will use a smaller round tip.  All in all it turned out pretty good. 

Bronco Football Cake for Josh

My son Josh always complains that I never made him a fancy birthday cake.  The grand kids get them all.  So this year I made him a Bronco football cake. I hand painted the bronco logo.  It is a chocolate cake with chocolate filling.  I carved the cake when the layers were frozen.  Made is so much easier.  Now he is happy.....well at least for another year.

Lego Airport Cake

Sebby wanted a Lego cake so I made a landing strip with "Lego" boards and red candies for runway lights.  I bought the executive Lego airplane set as his gift.  While I made the cake he put together the set and placed them on the cake. We had lots of fun with this one.

The cake is mint chocolate with chocolate ganache frosting.