The Fire Helmet

I have to say that this is my favorite cake that I've made to date. This was actually just a practice for a future cake that I'll be making for a friends wedding. In fact, its a replica of her fiances fire helmet. I can't take all the credit for the design or figuring out how to make it/put it together. I got a lot of instruction from another blog...DD Pies Slice...She had made a replica of her husbands fire helmet and listed explicit directions on how she made it and put it together. It took me over 6 weeks to get all the pieces and cake out together, but I was very excited with the finished product. My friend who ordered the cake was truly excited about it as well and that was all that mattered to me. Now I have a little over 6 weeks to get started on making the real cake for the wedding and hopefully everything will go as smoothly the next time around too.

Happy Fourth!

I had some free time around Independence Day and I wanted to make a fun cake for a party that my husband, Andy, and I were going to. I browsed the internet for ideas and eventually decided to make an Uncle Sam hat cake. To start out I made my stars out of gum paste and let them dry a week ahead of time. Then the day before, I baked three eight inch round cakes. I cut one it half and used it as the base or brim of the hat. Then I piled the rest on top of one another with chocolate ganache filling inbetween. Once the cake was filled and stacked, I let it sit in the fridge and set. After a few hours in the fridge, I shaped the hat part. It was something I did freehand so it wasn't perfect but I thought it turned out pretty well. The rest of decorating was easy, I just iced it, covered with fondant and decorated as you can see. I got the wire pieces that I put the stars on from Michaels. They're in the new "Ace of Cakes" section of the baking items. In the end the cake turned out well and everyone liked it.

Gravestone Cake

This was a cake a did for another birthday. It was a pretty simple cake that I made using a half sheet cake pan. Once the cake was baked, I made a stencil of the gravestone outline and cut the cake. Then I frosted it and covered it with the fondant. I didn't do much decorating as I thought it would look better with minimal design. Overall I thought it turned out well and the friend I made it for loved it.

Starry Night

Ahhh...after a long awaited and MUCH needed break from the baking/decorating world, I finally made another cake! Honestly, I was getting pretty bored on my days off and one can only spend so much time at the gym and clean the house so many times before there's nothing left to do. So, here's my attempt at painting Van Gogh's "Starry Night" on a cake. I think next time I'd rather make the design out of icing rather than paint it on with food coloring, but its not too bad for my first try, right???

Getting older....

So one of my coworkers wanted a "funny" cake to give her husband for his 40th birthday and I thought, why not a coffin cake? And here it is.... I think it was the easiest cake I've ever made and I was very happy with the results. Hopefully, I'll get to make another one of these soon! PS--the little card on top says, "We mourn the passing of your youth!"

Andy's Birthday

My husband and are I HUGE Dave Matthews Band fans. In fact, we danced to one of their songs at our wedding. So when it came time to make my husband's birthday cake the theme was easy to choose. I made the firedancer out of yellow tinted gum paste and let it dry over a couple of days, then I painted it and the blue background with food coloring. I tried using petal dust at first, but I couldn't get the colors to mix and be as vibrant as I wanted. All in all, I was quite pleased with the final outcome and so was my hubby. Happy B-Day Andy!!!!

Healthy Hearts Reunion

So I was asked to make some cakes for my hospitals Healthy Hearts Reunion. At first I was really excited about the idea, but once I got into the baking and creating...I was not excited. It was more of a tired and frustrated attitude. Anyway, twelve hours and lots of butter, flour, eggs, and powedered sugar later, I had four 12x18 cakes done. I assembled and decorated on site, which didn't take long, but after this weekend I am definitely taking a break from baking for awhile. And...personally I think I really need to work on my icing skills. Michael's cake decorating class....here I come!