Saints Cake

 I made this Saints Cake for my boss Melissa's 30th birthday.!!!! Yay.! She loves everything New Orleans and especially the Saints. Finished cake :)

 Then progression of fleur-de-lis cake design. I free handed the design with a toothpick and then piped over it with black icing.

Hooray.!

Flower Pot Cupcakes

 I wanted to create something special and different to commemorate my stepmom's birthday this year- she just celebrated sixty wonderful years if you can believe it.! She's an avid gardener, and so I decided to challenge myself by making realistic varied miniature flower pot cupcakes rather than one huge cake.

 I started off by baking chocolate raspberry cupcakes. I ground up some oreos to simulate dirt in my food processor. While the cupcakes cooled, I got to work on my gumpaste flowers.

 I used several different shades of food gel to achieve a variety of colors, and brushed nearly everything with shades of shimmer dust for an added sheen. I used different flower cutters and tools to knead, roll out, and mold gumpaste into a variety of flowers and leaves to fill the miniature "clay" pots with. While the gumpaste dried, I first iced the bottom of the cupcakes. After using small amounts of brown, orange, and red food gel to achieve a clay earthenware look, I rolled the gumpaste out thinly and evenly to carefully smooth over the bottom of each cupcake. I attached an extra strip of gumpaste around the edge to create the flower pot rim. Next, each cupcake's top was iced, covered with a generous amount of oreo dirt, and then "planted" with flowers.!

Hobbit Hole Cake

 I made this hobbit hole hovel cake for my friend Hannah's birthday.! :) First I made a 9x13 chocolate cake (lined the pan with oreos though for an extra delicious surprise!), then I baked another chocolate cake in a clear pyrex bowl. While the cakes were cooling, I rolled out and colored gumpaste to create the hobbit door and windows. I brushed a little bit of cocoa powder on the door for a rustic lived in hobbit feel. I also used a flower cutter to cut out the gumpaste flowers in two shades of pink. I used a grass tip to pipe green icing all over the entire cake, and then added all the decorations. Lego Bilbo with ring in hand completed the cake quite nicely.!

Pirate Treasure Cake

 This pirate treasure chest cake was for my nephew Trey's second birthday. !! The theme of the party was one of his favorite tv shows- jake and the neverland pirates. I brainstormed and decided to figure out how to create a beach scene with a treasure chest overflowing with pirate treasure.

 First I baked two banana cakes- one 9x13 and two 8 in squares.  The smaller square cakes became the treasure chest. I cut a corner off of the larger cake and dug out a section for the ocean, then added those extra bits of cake back around the edges. I used some gold tinted gumpaste to create the three personalized gold coins which I then brushed with gold shimmer dust. I made blue jello for the ocean-  let it set, put a thin layer of icing over the cake and then spooned the "water" in. To prop the treasure chest open, I put an empty paper towel roll in between the layers,  which I hid with fake gold coins. I made chocolate icing to frost the treasure chest with, and vanilla icing tinted with light brown food gel for the rest of the cake. Lastly, I dusted everything with a "sand" mixture of graham cracker crumbs and brown sugar .!

 Blowing out the candle.!

 Yum.!!!

Ahoy matey.!!! He loved his cake :)