Lights... Camera... Party Favors! - July 2015

I made these sandwich cookie movie reels and chocolate star pops to put in the goodie bags at my daughter Cara's Hollywood Movies 16th Birthday Party.  (Click here to see the cake.)

More pictures and details to come... 😊

(I created my animated name at this site.)

Let's Go to the Movies... - July 2015

I made this movie themed cake for my daughter Cara's 16th birthday.

More pictures and details to come... 😊

(I created my animated name at this site.)

Young Justice Themed Cake - July 2014

I made this Young Justice themed cake for my daughter Cara for her 15th birthday.  Young Justice is an animated television show that mainly focuses on the younger generation of superheroes.  The character on the right side of the cake (on the blue strip of fondant) is not from the show; it is a character that Cara made up based on herself named Bluefire.

More details and pictures to come... :)

(I created my animated name at this site.)

The Black Pearl Pirate Ship Cake - July 2013

I made this pirate ship cake of The Black Pearl from Pirates of the Caribbean for my daughter Cara for her 14th birthday.

For this cake I used two 9" x 13" cakes.  I stacked one on the other and carved the basic body of the ship.  I used pieces that I cut off to build up other parts of the ship.  I crumb coated the body of the ship and then iced it with chocolate icing.

I put all the railings, stairs, cannon doors, and the figurehead, which were all made from white fondant, on the cake next.  I used a paring knife to make the lines in the icing to look like the wooden planks of the ship.  The vertical masts are wooden dowels cut to size, and for the diagonal mast above the figure head I used a long white lollipop stick.

I airbrushed the cake and everything on it at this point with black food coloring.  Then I placed the cannons, cannon balls, and steering wheel on the cake.  These were made from black fondant.

I used some thin wire and fondant to attach some white lollipop sticks to the wooden masts.  I made the sails from black fondant that I rolled very thin.  I tore and stretched the fondant sails to make them look ragged and old.  I draped the fondant sails on the masts and pulled some pieces off them to put some finishing ragged touches on them.  I airbrushed (or painted, I can't remember) the exposed parts of the lollipop sticks that the sails were draped on.

The pirate flag was made from black fondant.  I painted the skull and swords on it with white food coloring; then I attached it to the mast.

Although I didn't get everything on the cake that I would've liked (ropes, windows, lamps, etc.) I was really happy with the way the cake turned out.  Cara loved it, yay!  :)

(I created my animated name at this site.)

Petal Cake with Blue Swirl Roses

We had a special Rite of Passage type of ceremony for my daughter, Cara, after she turned 13, and this is the cake that I made for her.

I made the roses out of royal icing ahead of time (this was the first time I had used royal icing). I followed the tutorial [pictures and even a video :)] on The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle for piping the royal icing roses. Her roses look SO good and beautiful, while mine, well, they need some work. :) I don't think I mixed the royal icing enough at first and it was not wanting to hold the shape and definition of the roses. Then I think I mixed the royal icing too much and so the roses ended up with tiny holes in them and wanted to crumble easily. But they worked for the cake and (if you didn't get too close) they looked good. :)

 

I baked four 8 inch chocolate cakes.  I let them cool completely, then leveled, stacked, and crumb coated them.

 

When the crumb coat was set I iced the top of the cake with buttercream icing.  Then I placed the roses on top of the cake.  

I used the petal technique on the sides of the cake.  I saw this technique on Bird on a Cake (and there is a quick step by step tutorial of how to do it).  :)  I thought it was really pretty and that it would look nice for this cake.  You may not think it from the finished product, but it's a pretty simple technique.

 

I liked how the cake turned out, and Cara liked it too, which was the important part.  :)

(I created my animated name at this site.)

 

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Themed Cake - Duel on Teth - July 2012

I made this Star Wars: The Clone Wars themed cake for my daughter, Cara, for her 13th birthday!  She came up with the basic idea for this cake and had a lot of input into the design.  :)

More pictures and details to come... :)

[Right now I'm just trying to get everything on the blog, then I'll go back and fill in details; you can read a little longer explanation here if you want. BUT if you have any questions in the meantime, in general or about this cake, please feel free to email me by clicking on the 'Contact Me' tab at the top of the page and using the email address found there, and I will try to get back with you as soon as possible. Or you can always ask questions or leave a comment about this cake by clicking the comments link at the end of this post. :)]

(I created my animated name at this site.)

Chocolate and Vanilla Swirl Cupcakes - July 2012

I made these cupcakes for my daughter, Cara, to share with her friends at her Bible study on her birthday.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For these cupcakes I used the rest of the cupcake liners that I had leftover from making my sister, Valerie's, shoe cupcakes (see this post).  I think these red and white polka dot liners are so cute.  I baked the round cupcakes in regular muffin tins.  For the square cupcakes I filled a 10x10 square pan with 25 of the cupcake liners.  I filled the liners with the batter, and as they baked they expanded against each other and ended up square [some turned out better squares than others :) ].  After they were done baking I let the cupcakes cool completely.

 

I filled a piping bag with chocolate buttercream icing and used a large star tip to pipe swirls of icing on (almost all of ) the round cupcakes.  When I started running low on the chocolate buttercream I filled the piping bag with vanilla buttercream without cleaning the chocolate out.  So, that resulted in the striping of the chocolate and vanilla swirls on most of the square cupcakes.  The last of the square cupcakes ended up with just vanilla icing swirls as the chocolate was used up by that point.

 

After I piped the icing swirls on all the cupcakes I topped them with some red sugar sprinkles to bring in some of the color and style from the liners.

 

Cara had a happy birthday and everyone enjoyed the cupcakes!  :)

(I created my animated name at this site.)