Shark!!!

I was recently asked to make a shark cake.
One with legs sticking out of it.
One with lots of "blood."
This cake was for a young boy and with boys the grosser the better.
I didn't go overboard on the gross factor, but it was still loved.

 The shark was carved out of cake.  Although, I did make his snout out of rice krispie treats.   Then I covered him in fondant.   I did the white first and the layered the grey on it.   To make him appear wet, I painted him with some piping gel.   His fins I made ahead of time out of fondant, as I did with the teeth.   (Tip - make a lot of teeth and don't forget they have two rows).   The blood was red piping gel.

 

 Both cakes are covered in buttercream with the waves being layers of fondant.   To make them look more like waves, I added royal icing to the tips of them.   I then used a brush to paint down the royal icing and give it more of a wave look.

 The ocean themed coral was just fondant that I formed in a Wilton Mold.

Everyone love it!

What do you think?

Life is short.

Eat Dessert First!

The Titanic Sunk again!

My other son's birthday is the same day as the Titanic struck the iceberg.

This being the 100th anniversary and all, he wanted a Titanic cake.

Here is the birth of a ship

My original concept was to place the cake board with cake on a carved cake dummy.

Once I carved a placed the cake on top of it, I thought it was too tall for what I was going for.

I hardly breathed when removing the cake from the cake dummy.

I was sure I would split it in half and end up changing the design to a sinking ship.

I held my breath, said a prayer, and all was well.

Not to shabby,

If I do say so myself.

My son was beyond excited with his cake 

and

we managed to sink it anyway.

Life is short.

Eat dessert first!

Dog Cake

I have seen many dog cakes and always wanted to make one.   I finally had a chance.   After much searching and thought, I realized that I would have to go with the laying down dog design.   I really didn't need as much cake as would be needed for a sitting dog.    Plus, this dog was designed after our old labrador who lays down almost all the time:)

I started out by baking two 9x13 chocolate cakes that I would use for the body.   I then baked an almond cake for the head and legs.    For this I used the Wilton ball pan and the Wonder Mold pan.   I cut the ball pan in half and used this for the back legs and the second ball pan I used for front legs.   The Wonder Mold I cut to make to fit the shape of the head and nose.   The ears are just cake scrapes that I used to help visualize.   The actual ears were made from fondant.

 Then I put everything together with buttercream and iced the cake.

After that I rolled out fondant and covered the entire cake with it.   I think the next dog cake though.   I will just cover the body and legs first and use a separate piece to cover the head.

Once covered in fondant,  I put scratches on the fondant to give it the look of fur.  I then added fondant eyes, and a modeling chocolate nose, a fondant collar.   To give the face more dimension I put more fondant on pieces at a time to give it more of a realistic look.   Finally, since I do not have an airbrush system, I used different shades of luster dust to shades of color.   Last but not least I put green buttercream around it to look like he was laying in the grass and mad a chocolate fondant bone.

 Isn't he cute?

 I do think my pooch needs to go on a diet.   I think next time I would trim it more (depending upon how many servings I need) so that he isn't so fat.

 Life is short

Eat dessert first!

Life is a Box of Chocolates

 Life is a Box of Chocolates.

or

In this case a Red Velvet Cake.

.

 I carved the cake into a heart shaped.

Then iced it with Cream Cheese Frosting.

I covered the top of the cake with black fondant.

Then I rolled red fondant for the sides making sure to go up a half an inch over the cake. 

I used an impression mat to give it texture

For the lid,

since we didn't need that much cake;

I just used a cut cake board.

If you need more cake, simply put one layer of cake on your board.

Then I decorated the lid again using an impression mat.

I doweled the cake letting the dowels stick out from the cake to create the open box.

I then dowels the covered cake board to the cake using the rose to cover the dowel.

What did you make for Valentine's Day?

Life is short

Eat Dessert First!

Let's Go Giants!!

My Father-in-Law is a BIG Giants fan.   When they won the playoff game and knew they were going to the Super Bowl, my husband asked me to make his father a cake.   Sure!

I will tell you what I did and what I would do differently.   

I made the face mask in advance.   I luckily made a spare as my first one did break.   I rolled fondant and created the curved face mask by having them dry on wax paper on a round jar.    I think next time though that I would wrap the fondant around wire or a straw to give them more durability.

First I started off with two two-layer chocolate cakes.    I filled them with buttercream.   I then stacked the cakes.    One thing that I did though was to put the top two layer cake on a much smaller cake circle.   Then I carved and carved and then carved some more.   The trick here is to take your time, because once you cut the cake off, you can't put it easily back.  I did not carve out the front of the helmet at this time.

Then I dirty iced it.   Looked at the shape and touched up with any spots that I felt needed more carving.  Then place your  face mask in the front on your cake and trace out how big you face opening should be.   Carve a small indentation for the front of your cake.   It helps if you have a visual of what your are working towards at this point.

Then the front opening with black fondant to create the illusion of an empty helmet.   Then roll out your fondant, cover your cake and add helmet details.

Don't forget the back of your helmet either.

 You also need to roll out fondant for the padding around the face mask.  Finally attach your face mask by  putting it in front of your helmet.   Your face mask does not actually touch your cake, but you add extra fondant to make it appear that it is attached.  

One thing that I would do differently is attach the strap to the cake BEFORE  you do the face mask.

Just remember to have fun and it's only cake!!

Life is short!

Eat Dessert first!!

Chicago Blackhawks Cake

My husband is a Chicago Blackhawks fan.

He put in a request for a Jersey for his birthday cake.

I've always wanted to make one, so this was my chance.

My dilemma was how to make the Indian Head.

What I came up with....

Color Flow Icing!

Perfect!

Easy!

I made the icing in the colors that I would need.

The trick is to make sure that the piped border icing is thicker than the filled colors.

Also, make sure to allow time to dry the piece.

So make it in advance.

Make a spare too!!

The right is a copy of the image. 

The left is my color flow image.

To make the Color Flow piece.

First, find and print the piece you want to copy.

Tape it to a sturdy piece of cardboard.

Cover with saran wrap.

Place a piece of Wax Paper over it.

Trace and color!

Easy Peasy.

The final result.

  Picture of my cake with an actual jersey.

I think it's pretty good.

What do you think?

The cake itself is just a sheet cake.

I trimmed an area out for the color and rounded the shoulders.

The letters are cut from a cricut cake machine.

On a side note,

I think next time I will try to make the sleeves look a little puffier and less flat.

Other than that, I am very happy with the way it came out.

Life is short,

Eat dessert first!

Color Flow Cake Topper

I was asked to make a cake., I know.
The upcoming cake will be a Chicago Blackhawks Jersey.
Be on the look out for it in the next few weeks.
Anyway, I wasn't sure how I was going to make the logo for the jersey.
At first I was thinking maybe, a buttercream transfer.
Then I thought about it and realized that I was going to be covering the cake in fondant, so that was not an option. 
I then settled on a Color Flow topper.
I've never made one before, so here I went.
I've learned a few things along the way too.

1. Make sure your image is the right size to copy.   It is easier to work with if it's a bigger image.
2. Make sure that your icing is the right consistency.   Use a thicker icing for the outline and border, but then make sure to thin it to fill in the center.
3. Allow to dry in between colors.   (I did this - definitely need to allow for time to make and harden)
4.  Use the right tip for the job - tip one for the finer details, tip 3 for border and to fill in colors

Here are the visuals.

Enjoy!

Life is short,

Eat dessert first!

Santa's Winter Wonderland Cake

This was a cake that I made for Christmas Eve.

It is a Decadent Chocolate Cake with a peaunut butter filling.

Iced in buttercream and then covered in fondant.

The characters are made from fondant.

Santa's sleigh is made out of modeling chocolate.

Trees are ice cream cones cut to size and then iced with royal icing.

Snowflakes are rolled fondant cut with PME snowflake cutter.

Life is short!

Eat Dessert first!!

Baby Bootie!

I've seen baby bootie's on cakes before and always thought that they were so adorable.   I've never had a reason to make one before.   So, I was very excited when the opportunity to make one came up.   It is surprisingly easy to make one.     All you really need is some gumpaste (or in my case Satin Ice mixed with Tylose powder) and a pattern.   

This is not the finished product as I plan to add a flower design on the front, but I just wanted to share.

Look for the finished cake with more instructions next week.

Life is short.

Eat dessert first!

Turkey Dinner Cake

This cake has become a tradition in my family now.   It is so fun to make and I get even more joy out of the kids faces when we cut into it!

Everything is edible!

First I started with a 9x13 chocolate cake and a football shaped cake.

Then carve the chocolate cake to match the football shape.

Use the cut pieces for you stuffing.

"stuffing" is a mixture of spice and chocolate cake cut into cubes.

carrots, peas, and cranberries are just shaped fondant.

wings and drumsticks are rice krispie treats shaped and covered in fondant.

I use a white fondant that I spray with bronze lustre spray.   I then paint it with a mixture of luster dust and clear vanilla.

How would you like this on your table?

Life is short.

Eat dessert first!

Fall Leaves and Apples

The bushel basket is made from three layers of a four inch vanilla cake.   I carved the cake slightly to shape more like a basket.   Then covered it in white fondant which I then "painted" with a mixture of food gel coloring and alcohol.    Then I wrapped brown fondant around the sides for the bushel basket effect.

 The apples (I know they look don't look red in the picture, but they were red in real life) were shaped RKT covered in red fondant.   Then I shaped some more.   For the stem, I made a whole in the top with my paintbrush and cut a piece of a tootsie roll to create it.    To make them look a little more realistic, I brushed on some Luster Dust.

If you want people to be able to actually eat the apples, you need to make them the day of the event.   These apples did not make it through the party and everyone was amazed that they could eat them.

The bushel basket was placed on a 12 inch cake filled with chocolate chip buttercream filling.   I used the grass tip for the grass effect around the basket.   The leaves are rolled fondant, cut with small leaf cookie cutters.   Then I added some dimension with my veining tool and then dusted them with several colors of luster dust.   It took me some time to decide on what to do on the sides of the cake,   I went with the brown basket weave buttrcream technique and like the way it came out.   If there is one thing about basket weave, it is true that the more you do it the easier it gets!

Thanks for stopping by!

Life is short, Eat Dessert First!!

Who doesn't love the Wii??

What gamer would not love a Wii birthday cake?

None that I know!

The only question I was asked when this cake was finished....

Where is the TV to play it on?

Come on!!

This was another fun cake to make, 

although it did require some engineering to get it done.

First, I had to calculate how tall and wide the console needed to be.

The finished product

3 inches wide

9 inches long

8 inches tall sloping to 7 1/2 inches

To get the required height, I cut and stacked 2 two layer cakes plated and cut to size.

These cakes were covered in vanilla fondant.

I do think that next time, I may cover them in white modeling chocolate for extra strength.

Over all, I am very pleased with this cake.

Life is short

Eat dessert first!!