Barrel full of Flowers

This was a birthday cake order for another friend of mine who loves chocolate.  Her husband surprised her with this cake. 

The cake is chocolate decedent cake, which means lots of yummy chocolate.  The filling was chocolate ganache and the top was chocolate ganache with chocolate wafers crumbled up to represent soil. 

The barrel is made out of Kit-Kat bars.  The frosting is butter cream and the roses are marshmallow fondant.

Sports Cake





I got an order for this sport cake from a friend of mine.  It was a white cake with butter cream filling.  I used my standard marshmallow fondant and butter cream icing. 

 I knew this cake would be a challenge because of the unique ball shapes and getting it all put together. The hardest part was the baseball because of the shape of the laces and actual stitching. I used royal icing to make the laces. 

Structure was an issue as the basket ball was difficult to add on the cake.  I ran sticks into the cake to help hold it on but what helped most was lots of icing as glue.

The Football came out way better than I imagined.  I was able to get the laces right and even put stitching on.  Also, I used a texture mat for the Basketball.  You know the skid proof drawer liners you can buy in a roll at Wal-Mart? Yeah, that stuff is great!  I also use sheets of it under the cake in the car for transport so the cakes won't slide.

Pumpkins and Mice



 My Grandson's school asked for donations to a fundraiser they were having at their Fall Festival.  I looked on the internet and saw this cute cake and decided it was appropriate for the occasion. 

 

The cake is a spice cake with buttercream frosting.  I used my homemade marshmallow fondant and Wilton's Gum Paste to make the mice.

Old Man Cake

My friend Dianna asked me to make a cake for her husbands birthday.  She wanted an old man sitting in his chair.  I know Mike is a good golfer (scratch!), hunter, and enjoys a beer now and then.  So I came up with this cake.  The top layer is chocolate with raspberry filling and the bottom is French Butter cream with Lemon Filling.  They smelled so good while baking!

I made the "old man" sitting in a leather chair with a wooden table next to him.  I couldn't figure out how to do the beer bottle and I know he enjoys his morning coffee so I made a coffee cup. I will try to do the beer bottle next year.

Because Mike is a hunter I knew he had bagged a polar bear that he has mounted in his house.  I decided to do a bear rug.  It came out pretty cool. 

I put a putter and ball on the "green" where I placed the chair and table.  There is a small sand trap on the side and I put his age on the flag stick. 


I used the Marshmallow Fondant that I have used in all my other recipes along with the same Butter cream frosting.  It was humid and I had to freeze the cakes.  So I learned that when you are working on a frozen cake as it thaws it becomes very moist.  It was easy to stick the stripes on but I didn't want to touch it much as it left marks.

I didn't know how I was going to mold the old man so I looked on line for some ideas and printed them off.  More to get perspective than anything else.  I started with the jeans and worked my way up.  I did the head last.  I used half gum paste and half fondant mixed together.  The hands were hard and the face was tough.  It took me several times to get it right. 

I printed off a copy of Golf World magazine and superimposed Mikes face onto the front cover. On the back I also put old folks ads like Geritol, Viagra, and Centrum Silver.

I know that Dianne loved the cake and I hope that Mike did too.

Happy Birthday Mike....keep living life to the fullest!

Happy Birthday Mike.  Live life to the fullest!

Sebby's Sunshine Graduation Cake

My grandson, Sebby, graduated from Kindergarten last Tuesday evening.  I can't believe he is that old already.  Smart kid too!  I made the cake for the reception after the school program.  The name of their school is Sunshine Christian School so, of course, I had to make a sun!  This was a fun chance to do something different.  I used my smallest Pyrex mixing bowl to make to two half sphere cakes.  I use butter cream icing to glue the two halves together.  Then I covered with yellow fondant.

The sun glasses and graduation cap are made out of equal parts of gum paste and fondant. There are six stars representing each graduate.  I used the butter cream for the clouds and the rest of the cake. This was a full sheet cake with triple chocolate cake on the bottom layer, then butter cream frosting, and finally a yellow cake on top.

I use boxed cake mixes for most of my cakes.  I dress them up sometimes but they are fast and easy to adjust to altitude.  I do have some homemade recipes that I have shared in previous blogs.

He's such a cutie in that cap and gown!
 

Baby's First Cake

My Pastors wife asked me to make a cake for a single mother whose baby is turning 1.  I had left over ingredients from the Kindergarten graduation cake so I said sure, why not! This is a two layer confetti flavor cake because Davy told me that was the best!  I made the Marshmallow Fondant and Butter cream icing and stacked the cakes.  It is a very small cake and for a little girl.

 

This is the first cake that I attempted to do quilting on.  It isn't perfect but it turned out pretty good. I just did the bottom layer.

 

I also wanted to bake a teddy bear which I haven't done yet either.  She turned out cute. 

 

Hope the baby likes it!

 

Skittles Cake

A friend of mine ordered this cake for her daughter's graduation from college.  It is a fun cake.  She found this one on line from another cake blogger whose cake making is growing into a business. 

This is the lemon pudding cake with raspberry filling.  If you want the recipe just leave a comment and I will post it or email it to you.