Easy Bowling Cake

I had to make a cool bowling cake for a friend super fast- here it is.! First, I baked a 9x13 cake. I also poured some cake batter into a glass pyrex bowl, and baked that to form the 3D curve of the bowling ball. Once everything cooled, I spread green icing on the surface of the cake. I attached the bowling ball, and covered it with marbled various shades of orange. To finish it off, I piped bowling pins flying away from the speeding ball and a triple X Strike!

Minion Cake with Cupcake

 I've always wanted to make this cake, and I knew that it would be perfect for my best friend Smink's birthday.! Even better- it's a pumpkin cake.! :D First, I mixed up the batter and baked one cupcake. Then, I baked three small 6 in round cakes with the leftover batter to form the minion body. After everything had cooled, I stacked the three small cakes on top of each other with a thin layer of icing between each layer. I chose the cake with the most pronounced dome for the top of his head, and slightly flattened out the two bottom layer cakes.

I iced the cupcake first, topping it with colorful candy coated pieces. Then, I iced the top 2/3 of the cake with yellow frosting, and the bottom 1/3 with blue for the minion's overalls. I rolled out a small amount of fondant flat and cut it out to make the eyeball. I used a small amount of dark brown fondant to form a pupil, to wrap around his head, to form overall buttons, and to cover toothpicks with to make hair. I piped out overall straps, and then formed arms and gloves using fondant. Turned out adorable.! :)

Easy Football Cake

 I made this simple football team themed cake for twins that were having a birthday- one loves the Steelers, and one is into the Panthers.

I iced the entire cake with black tinted frosting, and then used Panthers blue for Jaison's half, and Steelers yellow for Josh's half. I finished everything off by adding on football themed sugar decorations around the sides of the cake.

Juggalo Cake

 I made my friend Keli a Juggalo themed cake for her birthday- something to brighten the long work day.! As you can tell from the photo below, she was happy about it.! For those of you who don't know what a Juggalo is, Urban Dictionary describes a Juggalo as such:

"For the most part, an uneducated, pathetic excuse for a human being who listens to the group ICP who are bold enough to actually consider themselves musicians. People you see wearing "hatchet-man" accesories. They should not be allowed to reproduce, because that is too cruel to future generations. ICP isn't rap, it isn't metal, it isn't rap/metal, and it isn't horrorpop. There is only one way to properly categorize ICP; unnecessarily and unartfully offensive and obnoxious noise.

             used in a sentence: 

That juggalo is stupid enough to think that ICP is music."

Pancake Cake

Pancake Cake...!!!! Yay.!! :D I wanted to make another food themed cake for my good friends' collective birthdays- last year I made them a sweet cheeseburger cake. So I thought, who doesn't love pancakes.?! To make this stack of pancakes, first I baked two 9 in rounds of cake and let them cool. I stacked them on top of each other and covered them with a thin layer of icing. I used a rolling pin to flatten a large circle of cinnamon roll flavored fondant (I don't care for the taste of fondant, and prefer not to use it generally speaking, but this stuff was GOOD), and draped it on the top of the cake. Then, I cut long thin strips of fondant to circle around the cake to create a layered pancake effect. I watered down a small amount of brown food gel with in a cup, and used a paint brush to paint the surface of the pancakes. I also rubbed a paper towel over the surface to create a realistic look. I slightly flattened out three yellow starburst candies to use as pats of butter. I finished the cake up with a squirt of whipped cream, a cinnamon dusting, and a healthy dosing of butterscotch syrup.! Yum.!

Spacey Cake

 I made a space themed M shaped caked for my friend Mikal's birthday.! First I baked a 9 x 13 cake, and then cut the cake into strips to form the M shape. Next, I iced everything with dark blue tinted frosting that I covered with blue sparkles and dotted with silver stars.

To make the planets, I simply used a variety of colors to tint the icing and free handed everything. I used cocoa powder to make Mars appear dusty, and accented the flying saucer and the alien with black food gel. Voila.!

Old Gregg Cake

 I made an Old Gregg cake for my friend's birthday.!

And to top it off...Bailey's in a shoe.!!! :) 


For those of you who have no clue what this is...check this video out: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxaP19pY1FI).! To make the cake itself, I baked one 9 in round, and put the rest of the batter in a clear ovenproof bowl to create a swampy hilly effect. I iced the cake using mossy green icing that I didn't quite mix all together so there was a wide range of swampy green shades covering the cake. I hand piped a loopy dark green border around the base of the cake to match Old Gregg's curly locks. I hand piped Old Gregg's face on the side of the cake, adding black accents to give his hair some variety and definition. The pink border is a conceptual tutu; I sprinkled the pink border and the surface of the cake with edible pink shimmer dust. I finished up the cake with "Do ya love meh?"

Minion Cake

I loved making this cake.!!!!! Cutest thing ever- who doesn't love minions.?! This cake was the request of my friend's younger sister. She wanted pink on her cake, but not a pink cake because boys would be at the party...and boys don't like pink cake. :) Too cute.!

 I modeled my little minions out of gumpaste (an edible clay) colored with food gel. The most helpful guide I found to making the minions was this website which I slightly referenced: http://www.instructables.com/id/Despicable-Me-Fondant-Minions

I brushed pink shimmer dust on the 12 (also formed out of gumpaste), sprinkled blue sprinkles all over the top of the cake, and piped different borders around each tier. Love it.! One minion has gotten into the icing, one is ready to party with his birthday hat on, and one is licking his little minion lips and patting his tummy- they're all about to dive into the icing and tear the cake apart.!

Pink Roses & Pearls Cake

 My Grandma just celebrated her 90th Birthday.! She is most definitely a pink girl- quite the opposite of me; everything pink and flowery is Nina to me. First I made the flowers out of gumpaste, which is an edible clay like material. I used a small blossom cutter for the accent flowers, and hand formed the roses. I brushed pink shimmer dust on the inside of each flower to create a variance of pink flowers, and placed a pearl stamen in each blossom.

 I hand piped the dots around the cake to emulate pearls,  and added a few edible sugar pearls on top as accents.

 This is my Grandma Nina & me :) What a wonderful lady! It was such a blessing to be able to get together and celebrate 90 years of her life.!

Tractor Cake

 This cake was made for my Grandpa's 85th birthday! I baked a chocolate oreo cake first. Then, iced the cake with a thin layer of green icing. I covered most of the cake with dark chocolate pudding, and dusted the surface with cocoa powder. I used crushed up oreos to form the "dirt" 85 in the middle of the cake. I piped additional green icing around the edges of the cake using a grass tip. I fashioned the tractor out of rice krispy treats that I then covered in gumpaste.

Kingdom Hearts Cake

I made this Kingdom Hearts themed cake for my friend Kiari.! I knew that I wanted to stick with a dark blue and gold color scheme, so to start off with, I iced the cake with icing tinted with dark blue food gel. Then, I formed the iconic Kingdom Hearts heart with a crown by rolling and shaping gumpaste; an edible clay-like substance. I brushed the heart with edible silver shimmer dust using a small paintbrush. Then, I brushed the crown with edible gold shimmer dust. After placing the heart on the top of the cake, I piped out Kiari's name and then threw some gold shimmer dust over that. The effect was a splattered graffiti look which gave me an artsy vision for the rest of the cake. I hand piped a Cornelli lace pattern, a continuous random free form curve of lines, over three quarters of the cake. I finished off the cake with a scattering of edible sugar pearls.

Cat Cake

My friend Hanna is...very enthusiastic about her love of cats. :) For her birthday, I decided to surprise her with a cat shaped cake decorated with several...you've guessed it- cats.! cats cats and more cats.!!!

Here are the first few cats I molded using colored gumpaste. That's my real kitty in the background- he kept trying to eat his friends. ^^

I used different colors of gumpaste to make a variety of cats in different positions.

I let the gumpaste cats dry and harden overnight. Gumpaste is an edible clay-like substance that allows you to easily attach other gumpaste components by using a tiny bit of water as a glue.



I cut off a bit of the top of the cake and used the trimmings to fashion a set of cat ears. I iced everything with frosting tinted with yellow food gel. I piped "Hanna" with purple icing ending with a purple ball of string, as if the name was simply a strand of yarn.Then, I placed the cats on and around the cake.

I added several pink pawprints to complete the cake.! Perfect for any and all of the crazy cat ladies in your life.! :)

Tree Graduation Cake with Mushrooms and Beard

 What's better than a custom graduation cake shaped like a bearded tree wearing a cap with oyster mushrooms..!?!? Answer- nothing.! Hah. Perfect Biology Major cake. This was a fun, creative cake to make! First, I baked a 9x13 red velvet cake, and then an 8 in square cake. To achieve the tree shape, I placed the cakes together and trimmed off edges from the larger cake, adding back the cake scraps to make up most of the leaf covered areas.

I frosted the tree trunk with chocolate icing tinted a variety of brown shades. Then, I used a leaf tip to pipe green leaves onto the top of the tree. I iced the hat in black, and used a yellow twizzler for the tassle. The beard I used a darker chocolate icing for, and free handed using a hair tip. The oyster mushrooms I fashioned ahead of time out of gumpaste tinted light brown with food gel. I rolled the gumpaste out flat, and then cut out circles using a container lid. I cut those circles in half, and shaped natural curves around the edges of the mushrooms, even scratching gills into the undersides of the mushrooms. I let the gumpaste mushrooms dry on a curved plastic piece. Once they were dry, I dusted the gills with cocoa powder and placed them onto the tree cake.

Pizza Cake

My friend Roland asked for a cake that was not a cake for his birthday- so I made a pizza cake.! A piece o' a pizza cake.! :)

First, I baked a vanilla cake in a large round cake pan. Then, I iced the top of the cake with vanilla icing that I tinted with red food gel. Then, I grated a bar of white chocolate on top to resemble cheese. I melted some more white chocolate and dripped it around the top of the "pizza" cake. I used a lighter to slightly toast the top of the "cheese". I finished the cake up with more grated "cheese," and delivered it in a pizza box of course.!

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 :)