Toy Story Buzz's Spaceship Cake

I thought that by making this cake with all my son's favorite Toy Story characters would make his birthday extra special.  However, during the creation of the cake, all I heard is complaints that Buzz wasn't right next to Woody!  There's no reasoning with a 3 year old.  But he ended up liking it when all was said and done.  Much like my daughter's birthday cake, I started with a hexagon cake (vanilla "funfetti" with BLUE frosting - Jack's request) and topped it with a smaller chocolate cake which I sculpted into the shape of Buzz's rocket.  I covered the spaceship with white fondant and created wings and the cockpit window (and BUZZ) with additional fondant and edible markers.  I added the hand-painted character panels around the bottom (Woody, Jessie, Rex, Alien, Ham, Mr. Potato Head)

 It was fun to do Buzz's space ship this time, and the kids all seemed to like it too.  I'm just glad that the birthday party was a big success.  Until next year...

Disney Princess Castle Cake

So one of the biggest challenges about having two young kids and creating cakes every week is that said kids decide that they want EVERY character I've ever made on their own birthday cake.  My compromise with my daughter Hannah was that she could pick her 6 favorite princesses and I would hand draw each one to put on her birthday cake.  I figured by using the hexagon shaped baking pans, it would give me the perfect surface for adding one princess per side panel.  Similarly, I made the mini pink castle on top by adding pink fondant panels that I imprinted with my brick texture mat.   Then I added windows, shutters, edging, and a the "5" crest.  For the top of the cake, I stacked cupcakes and topped them with 3 glittered ice cream cones to create spires.  For each princess on the bottom cake, we made a corresponding decoration for the side of the castle: Rapunzel & paintbrush, Aurora & castle, Ariel & shell, Snow White & gemstone, Cinderella & glass slipper, Belle & rose.  The cake was strawberry of course (it's PINK!) and Hannah enjoyed sharing it with her friends.  I can't believe my sweet girl is already FIVE!  Yikes.  

Fire Truck Groom's Cake

This little cake was my first official "grooms' cake"!  The groom, who was a doctor...(just kidding!) a fireman, got his own mini truck cake, complete with a ladder, lights and vanity plates.  I carved the cake shape and covered it with buttercream and red fondant.  I added all the details with black, white, and gray fondant, plus a little silver highlighter powder where needed.  It was only about 8 inches long, but the perfect accessory to the cupcakes and mini cake (see Wedding Cupcakes - Lauren & Colin).  I really liked the idea of a personal size grooms cake.  Maybe this will catch on!  Hope you liked it, Colin!  And I hope the wedding was everything you wanted and more.  Congratulations! 

Wedding Cupcakes - Lauren & Colin

 So the bummer about getting wedding cupcakes picked up (instead of delivering) is that I don't get to see the finished product all put together.  For this wedding, I made a variety of regular size and mini cupcakes with simple sprinkles and tiny decorations reflecting the wedding colors of white, pale yellow, dark "Tiffany" blue, and shades of brown.  The cupcake flavors were chocolate chocolate chip, vanilla, red velvet, carrot, and snickerdoodle.  Their mini wedding cake (for cutting) was a chocolate chocolate chip cake with vanilla buttercream, covered in white fondant.  I hand painted the scroll design on the side of the cake for a simple, elegant statement.  At the wedding, this cake got a topper of fresh flowers in whites and pale yellow.  The cake would have topped the 100+ cupcakes on my tiered cupcake tower.   I hope it turned out as pretty in person than it did in my mind.

Mickey and Minnie Birthday Cookies

These cookies were for a little girl turning two; she gave these out to her preschool class for a birthday treat.  I did these cookies a little differently and piped on black glaze on plain sugar cookies.  I used a little white glaze for the eyes, a little red frosting for the mouths, and made fondant bows for Minnie.  I even gave one Minnie a white fondant crown for the birthday girl's cookie.  Lots of hand piping, but man did they turn out darling.  Anything for my favorite mouse.  

Ni Hao Kai Lan Birthday Cake #3 (Allanah)

When I first started designing cakes, and someone asked me for a "Ni Hao Kai Lan" cake, I would start by going to Google images and plugging in "Ni  Hao Kai Lan cake".  Now, I look at just the characters and come up with my own design.  But apparently, I'm not alone.  For fun, I plugged in "NHKL cake" recently, and can you believe that people have copied MY cake design now?!  I guess I've come full circle.  It's the sincerest form of flattery, right?  

When this client asked for the SAME cake as the one on my blog site, I copied myself!  But I have a hard time doing the EXACT cake twice.  So to break it up, I made "Mr. Sun" as a topper to the cake, and I added the pagoda on the back.  Makes me feel creative.  It turned out really cute AGAIN.  Such fun characters and colors.  And the matching cupcakes were a nice addition.  

Hello Kitty Cake and Cookies

It's so funny to me that all the cartoons and characters that I grew up with are all back (Smurfs, Strawberry Shortcake, Transformers, etc.)  Some of them never left, as in the case of Hello Kitty!  She's  been very popular 'round this house too, so much so that I got to try out a new toy and make my own HK cookie cutter!  (This has made my fondant work go much quicker.)  For this order, I created a 9" round vanilla cake and covered it in pink fondant.  I added the Kitty, clouds, stars and the balloons all out of fondant.  Then I finished off the bottom of the cake with a big pink bow.   Then, I made sugar cookies with matching Kitty faces and pink bows.  I just don't get tired of that cute little face (and I'm a dog person...go figure!)