Monthly Archives: June 2011

Nifty Fifty Birthday Cake

Posted in Birthday Cakes by

I love getting to make birthday cakes, especially when it’s for one of my friends, and extra especially when the birthday party is a surprise but the birthday girl informs me herself that she wants a cake from me! Lol!

My sweet friend Kim is amazing.  She is the wonderful, supportive wife of the senior pastor of our church home in Niceville, FL.  She’s an incredibly talented musician and self proclaimed doo-wop girl 🙂  So I was thrilled to get to the opportunity to not only make her cake but also to design it.  The only instructions she gave me were to make it chocolate and have something musical on it.

I love getting to design a cake for someone, because it’s an opportunity for me to create a one-of-a-kind cake just for them.  But when I’m given complete artistic liberty, I get a little anxious.  I mean what if I pick a beautiful color palette and then find out that the person hates that color!  I like to have some kind of guidelines or inspiration to use as a springboard!  Thank goodness for Kim’s daughter Kristen for picking out a fun and funky invitation that was the perfect guide for my cake!  The invite had these great neon colored kaleidoscope-like star bursts on a black background that I just had to incorporate into my design.  So after a few tweaks here and there I came up with a sketch that I thought was perfect.

Neon 50th birthday cake

Sketch of the 50th birthday cake.

So now that I had a plan, I made a delicious triple chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream frosting and marshmallow fondant.  On the day of the party, the birthday girl said that it was the perfect cake and she said that it just screamed “Kim”! And that was the best compliment she could have given me 🙂

Neon 50th birthday cake

Kim's 50th birthday cake in black and neon! Feeds 50-60. MSRP $180.

Kaleidiscope 50th birthday cake

Close up of Kaleidoscope pattern 🙂

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A Cake with Monster Energy!

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This week’s cakes were kind of crazy but a little fun!  I got to help celebrate two momentous birthdays.  The first was for a 16 year old guy named Grant, who like most boys his age, loves a good energy drink! 🙂

I never actually met Grant, but his mom was very excited to get him a cake shaped like a giant Monster energy drink for his birthday party at Lake Jackson in Florala, AL.  So I set off to make a giant cake that looked like Grant’s favorite drink laying on it’s side.  The cake actually ended up being 4 times the size of the real drink.  My very spatially-aware husband had to bust out a tape measure and calculator to make sure that the proportions were spot on.  He doesn’t seem to think that my “that-looks-good-to-me” strategy is good enough! 😉  I’m glad I have him around for those things.  The cake turned out amazingly well.  In fact when we showed pictures to a friend while at a party at Helen Back pizza on Okaloosa Island, she wanted to know why we were showing her a picture of an energy drink 🙂

Of course the birthday cake tasted just as good as it looked!  It was a delicious golden butter cake with vanilla buttercream frosting and my world-famous (well it’s famous in my head!) marshmallow fondant.  The Monster M and logo were cut out of fondant 🙂

monster energy drink cake

Grant's 16th birthday Monster Energy Drink birthday cake. Feeds 50-60. MSRP $200

Black and blue monster drink cake

Top view of the Monster Energy birthday cake 🙂

*Side Note*  While searching Google images for other Monster Energy drink cakes, so I could see how others had constructed and designed their cakes, I found a cool Monster drink cupcake from a bakery in Michigan.  It’s actually flavored with Monster!  So what do you think, should I make an energy drink flavored cupcake?  If so, what flavor would you like to see?  I think Sobe Energize would be yummy!

A Birthday on the Wild Side! (Animal Print Birthday Cakes)

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Like anything else, there are different trends that come and go in the world of cake.  Right now the hot trend for girls is zebra print.  Specifically zebra print paired with hot pink.  And I have to say I love it!

Here was the first  zebra/hot pink birthday cake request I received from a long time friend for her daughter’s 12th birthday.  I love the clean, simplicity of this cake.  This features the hot pink and zebra trend in it’s purest form.

pink border and bow zebra print birthday cake

Birthday cake with zebra stripes with hot pink bow and accents. Feeds 30-35. MSRP $115

The next two cakes were for sisters celebrating their 16th and 13th birthdays just a week apart.  I love the variations on the theme; the neon green touches in the 13th birthday cake really pop.  Always doing something a little different keeps me from getting bored and makes a one-of-a-kind cake for my clients. 🙂

pink and zebra striped bow sweet 16 birthday cake

Sweet 16 cake in hot pink and zebra stripes. Feeds 60-65. MSRP $210

Pink skirt zebra print monogrammed 13th birthday cake

13th birthday cake in hot pink and zebra stripes with neon green accents. Feeds 60-65. MSRP $200

But some of my clients let me take zebra stripes to a whole new level, giving me free reign to do whatever I want.  That’s when the really exciting things happen 😀

Pink ruffle skirt 80s birthday cake

80's theme birthday cake with purple zebra stripes. Feeds 60-65. MSRP $185

red and zebra print birthday cake

Red and zebra print birthday cake with jewels. Feeds 30-35. MSRP $110

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then there are those “special” clients that scare me a little with all the different elements they want on the cake.  I want to make my client happy but I still want to make a beautiful cake, not like a jungle exploded on it!  So these next couple of cakes stressed me out a little, and made me wonder whether my clients were schizophrenic! 😉  But in the end there wasn’t anything to worry about.

Wild Animal zebra giraffe and leopard print birthday cake

Zebra, giraffe and leopard print birthday cake. Feeds 30-35. MSRP $150

The wildest and craziest of all was requested by a client that wanted to start a new trend.  Her daughter’s 12th birthday had featured the hot pink and zebra theme and the following year they saw at least 3 other cakes with the same theme.  So for her 13th birthday, they wanted something hot and new.  Sticking with the animal print we went from zebras to leopards, and instead of hot pink we got electric blue.  Well, you can see for yourself the amazingness that ensued!

Topsy Turvy birthday cake brown and teal

Brown leopard print and blue topsy-turvy birthday cake. Feeds 60-65. MSRP $250

Spiderman Weds Simply Sweet Bride (Buttercup and Sage Wedding Cake and Spiderman Grooms Cake)

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Kyle and Ciara are one of those adorable couples that you just can’t help but like the minute you meet them.  Ciara was sick the first time we met, and even though we kept our meeting brief because of this, she was still so cute and sweet and the fact that Kyle loved and took care of her was very apparent.  I couldn’t wait to get to make a beautiful wedding and grooms cake for this sweet couple.

Their wedding ceremony was going to take place at the beautiful Eden Gardens in Destin, FL with a reception following at a beautiful hotel ballroom.  The wedding was very simple and gorgeous; complimenting the enchanting environment with bridesmaid dressed in buttercup yellow with sage green accents.  We incorporated this clean lines and beautiful flowers into the cake itself.

We created a four-tier, round wedding cake in buttercup yellow with a simple sage green, fondant ribbon accent.  We added beautiful flowers provided by Uniquely Created Interior and Floral Designs that made the cake absolutely stunning.  A simply beautiful masterpiece indeed.  A delicious masterpiece too–triple chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream and marshmallow fondant!  So yummy!

If you were paying attention at the beginning you noticed that I mentioned that I was making a groom’s cake for the lovely couple.  What a fun groom’s cake it was, too!  The only guidance that they gave was that they wanted it to be a Spiderman themed cake.  So since it was a formal affair, I decided to make a heart-shaped cake that looked like a tuxedo, but instead of the usual button-up shirt, there was Spiderman’s costume.  It sat on a spiderweb cake.  It turned out so cute, and was a delicious golden butter cake with vanilla buttercream and marshmallow fondant.

Photography by Lens Flare Photograpy

Decor by Uniquely Created Interior and Floral Designs

Wedding cake feeds 175-185;  MSRP $790

Grooms cake feeds 90-100;    MSRP $300

Buttercup yellow and sage green wedding cake

"Ciara" Buttercup yellow and sage green wedding cake

Spiderman Grooms cake

Spiderman tuxedo grooms cake

Happy Father’s Day! (Harley-Davidson Flame Cake)

Posted in Special Ocassion Cakes by

Life around here is never dull 🙂 Especially not on special occasions like today…. Father’s Day!  So let me tell you how my day went…

First I have to tell you a little about my husband, David.  He’s a wonderful husband and father, but when it comes to giving him a gift for any occasion, he is a big pain in the neck!  So this year, I skipped the stores, both in person and online, and instead I gave him some more unconventional gifts.  The first, I cleaned out our closet 🙂  Hey, he loved it!  The second gift was a gift of sacrifice.  I joined him at his cult….Crossfit.  (It’s not really a cult 🙂  Now you have to understand, I don’t workout.  I mean, I kind of look like I do, but I don’t.  I just watch what I eat and run around like a crazy person making cakes and chasing kids!

So to say that I enjoyed getting up at 5:30 this morning to run, do burpies, step ups and a multitude of other torturous activities would be a complete and utter lie.  I hated it!  (Even more so now that every muscle in my body feels like its made of stone!)  But I did it, at least what I could do of it!  But of  course I needed to get back home, because…… I had a special occasion cake to finish before church at 11:00!  I thought I would have plenty of time to finish after our workout, but no it was an extra hard one, so instead of being gone a little over an hour, we were gone almost two!

Ironically, the cake I had to finish was a Harley-Davidson themed Father’s day cake that my son’s teacher requested.  Because I had a lot to do, I enlisted the help of my husband (since it was his fault I was running late 😉 to cut out fondant letters.  So I spent the last hour and a half before I had to leave cutting out fondant flames, attaching them to the cake and painting them; creating a fondant Harley-Davidson logo, and prepping my husband’s fathers’ day meal in the crock pot; while getting ready for church.  Miraculously, we were only 12 minutes late 😀  And she loved the cake.  Sorry about the lousy pics.  We didn’t have time to take any, so my husband shot these with his iPhone!  Lol.

So Happy Father’s day to all you dads out there!  Or as they say on Cake Wrecks “Happy Falker Satherhood!”

Harley Davidson fathers day cake

Flaming Harley-Davidson Father's Day cake

Harley Davidson Father's Day cake top view

Harley-Davidson themed Father's Day cake

Happy customer eating Harley Fathers Day cake

Customer's father enjoying his custom Harley-Davidson cake!

 

A Little Wedding Whimsy….(Topsy Turvy Wedding Cake)

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I love a bride who knows what she wants!  Mrs. Amber knew she wanted, something a little wonky, a little zany, and definitely unique.

When we first spoke, Amber had several pictures of different whimsical wedding cakes.  One was an inverted cake with the largest tier on the top and the smallest on the bottom; another had square tiers, and the final cake was a topsy turvy.  She preferred the square cake but her fiance preferred the topsy turvy.  So I suggested she start her marriage on the right foot with a compromise.  We decided to do the topsy turvy cake but with square tiers instead of round.

Now, this cake was challenging on several levels.  First, it was HUGE!  It fed well over 175 people.  Second, I’d only done one other topsy turvy cake, and it was about 1/8 the size of this one and round.  Finally, I had another wedding cake order that same weekend (I’d never done 2 weddings in one week!), but you never know what you can do until you try!  Right?!  Oh and I also made the crazy topper!  Whew….

The four tier cake included a marble tier, a red velvet tier with cream cheese filling, and 2 strawberry shortcake tiers (white almond cake with strawberry glaze filling) all with vanilla buttercream and marshmallow fondant!  So yummy 🙂

Feeds 175-180                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  MSRP $1000

The Amber Blue black and white topsy turvy wedding cake

"Amber" Blue, black and white topsy-turvy wedding cake

The Amber topsy turvy wedding cake

Close up of topsy turvy wedding cake. Can you see the love in the cake?

Muddy Pooh! (Winnie the Pooh and Piglet Baby Shower Cake :)

Posted in Baby Shower Cakes by

So I get some pretty interesting requests for cakes from Mini Coopers, to pirates, to pink-polka-dotted guitars.  And I have to admit I do appreciate a customer who knows what they want!  But when I got a request for a baby shower cake featuring Winnie the Pooh pulling Piglet in a wagon decked out with mud tires going through I mud puddle, I was a little skeptical!

First of all, sculpting iconic characters like Winnie the Pooh always stresses me out.  Because everyone knows what Pooh looks like, so anything missing the mark ends up looking like a distant relative of Pooh.  Like his 3rd cousin, once removed, Whiney the Poot!  It’s just really hard to get it just right.

Well Jesus must have been with me that day 😉 because my figures were spot-on!  In fact, one friend commented that at first glance she thought they were made of plastic!  After the time that guy ate a piece of my cake off the ground, this was the best compliment anyone had ever given me!  I modeled the cake after a fishing themed cake that I made several months ago.  But instead of the scene looking like a swampy pond, I made it look more like a forest meadow.  Special props go out to my dear sister Crystal who assisted me with the cake, since it was my first cake since my surgery a month ago.  She put up with me bossing her around like a champ!

The cake itself was a buttermilk vanilla cake with vanilla and chocolate buttercream frosting.  All the characters and embellishments were made from gumpaste.  For more baby shower cakes click here.

Feeds 35-40                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     MSRP $165

Mudding Winnie the Pooh Baby Shower cake

Winnie the Pooh baby shower featuring a Piglet in a "Mudding Wagon"

Gumpaste Winnie the Pooh baby shower cake

Close up of Winnie the Pooh pulling the "Muddin' Wagon"!

Piglet and Pooh Baby shower cake

Close up of gumpaste Piglet in the wagon.