Black Friday Birthday Cake

I have a tradition that is twelve years strong:  Black Friday Shopping with my friends Kari, Jill & Marla.  Marla has a end of November birthday, so every year we are either shopping on her birthday or really close to it.  This year I decided to make a small 6" cake for us to enjoy during our Black Friday Lunch.

I made little fondant shopping bags from some of our favorite stores, and of course, the essential steaming Starbucks cup!  I also got a chance to practice some drop strings from the top border (such a pretty look that takes practice).  

Just a simple and yummy little cake for us girls to enjoy together~

Girly Birthday Cake

My friend and regular customer Natalie ordered a cake for her birthday!  Natalie is mom to three little boys and needed a big dose of girly-ness for herself!

I made this cake, iced in two shades of pink, with edible glitter and a huge bow on top.  Natalie loved it, it was exactly what she wanted.

Thanksgiving-Themed Birthday Cake

I'd like to take credit for the MAJOR creative points earned in coming up with a way to combine a Birthday (for college-aged triplets, to be specific)  and Thanksgiving into one cake.  But I can't, because my creative and hilarious Mother-In-Law Marilyn completely thought up this cake idea for me:

I made three 6" layers of cake with a fourth top layer that is a smaller dome shape.  This gave the turkey a round body.  I made a fondant head, with fondant eyes, beak and flappy-turkey-thingy (Please feel free to comment if you know the correct term for this turkey part!)  All the feathers and wings are piped on using my own petal-technique (see this post for details).

To make the cake extra special and personalized, I made one large tail feather for each college they attend.  The logos and feathers are made completely out of tinted gumpaste, with a little edible food marker used for the Bulldog and Tree.

They loved the cake, and I was really happy to help them celebrate with family while they were home for Thanksgiving break.

Carrot Cake

I made my first carrot cake to bring to Thanksgiving dinner.  It was the recipe from my favorite Cookbook, America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book.  It was frosted with cream cheese icing.  It tasted really yummy, I will definitly keep this recipe as my favorite!

Carrot Cake

  

Minecraft Creeper Cake

Here's a cake for a Minecraft Fan: 

My friend Shannon shared some ideas she had for a Minecraft cake, and we decided to do this Creeper cake.  I found a pattern to print here and used it for the design.  I mixed 4 different shades of green fondant and cut little squares out of each color, and used black for the face.  This is a 9x13 layer cake.

2-tier Ocean Cake with 3D Mermaid Topper

I was asked to make another cake for my friend Natalie, who was celebrating her son Austin's 3rd Birthday. Austin is such a blast, a really great little guy.  He wanted to have an Ocean Birthday, and really wanted a mermaid on his cake.  We decided to go big for Austin and give him a cake with lots of ocean creatures!

The base tier is 10", the top tier is 8"

Everything was done in buttercream with the only exception being the mermaid on top, which was mostly fondant, gumpaste, and the flesh-colored parts being Wilton's modeling compound.  I liked using it, I thought it was pretty easy to work with and also pretty forgiving.  It did seem a bit rubbery and didn't want to stay in the exact position I wanted it to, but overall very useful.

My favorite are the big buttercream octopus, the yellow and blue flounder, and little red lobsters.  All were maid with piped buttercream using various tips.

When modeling the mermaid, I used a dowel rod through her torso as the main support.  The dowel rod was inserted into the top of the cake, and I created a little rockpile using chocolate rocks and buttercream piped into waves.  It held the heavy topper in place well.

Rustic Baby Shower Cake

I was asked by my friend Jen (who is also my photographer) to make a cake for a baby shower she was throwing.  Her request was to keep the cake very simple and not too baby-ish...

I had been admiring the rustic style of cake icing for awhile and was looking forward to a chance to try it myself.  I found this pretty version here which worked just perfect with the decor Jen had already selected.  And a major bonus about making cake for Jen are the great pictures she takes of my cakes!

Here's a photo I took showing the texture on top, too!

Owl Cake

I made this adorable owl cake for my friend Mindy, who's little Natalie turned two.  She loves owls and we came up with this simple design carved from a 9x13 sized cake.

We chose the colors to match some really cute little owl favor bags.  The feather look was created using the petal technique with various round tips.

Mindy and her family loved this cake!  It was such a cute and bright cake, perfect for her spunky little two-year old.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cake

I did this Monster High Cake for Jessie earlier this fall, and next I got to make another cake for her daughter Madyson.  Madyson was turning five and wanted a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Birthday Cake!

I forgot to snap a picture at home, so I  was grateful for this picture from Jessie!

Her favorite turtle is the red one, Raphael.  I was trying to decide how I could make a TMNT cake a little bit girlie, and decided on using a night time setting so I could have a mostly purple evening sky.  I used black fondant to make a city skyline that wrapped around the entire cake.

On the top, I made a gray sewer cover with Raphael's eyes and eye mask peeking out of a manhole.

Teapot Cake

Amanda, a friend from MOPS asked me to make a teapot shaped birthday cake for her daughter.

The teapot is 6" rounds stacked and carved to have the rounded top.  The spout, handle, dots and lid are gumpaste tinted lavender.

Soccer Ball Cookies

This is a tray of cookies iced to look like little soccer balls.  They were made for a team snack for the end of season. Each cookie is individually wrapped.