Cheeseburger Cake

 Cheeseburger Cake and French Fries....!!!! EEEeeeee.! :D My boyfriend actually had the idea to recreate a realistic cheeseburger and side of fries out of cake for our close friends- they're dating and have birthdays two days apart..so obviously what they needed in their lives was a collaboratively conjoined large cheeseburger birthday cake.! Yes. My boyfriend was in charge of the fries- which he made out of a cut up round of yellow cake. (There was also a side of strawberry jam/blueberry puree ketchup)

 To create a realistic cheeseburgery effect, I first baked a large round brownie, and molded around the edges once it had cooled to give a textured meaty like look. Then I baked the buns, using less than half of the batter in a 9 in round, and the rest in a clear oven safe bowl (for the top of the bun). Remove from the oven when the cake is done and has reached a level of golden brown bun-like perfection. I colored and molded gumpaste (edible clay basically) to resemble lettuce, and my boyfriend added some white chocolate chips for gristle.

 I then molded "cheese" and "tomatoes" and "onion slices" out of gumpaste, draping everything around the edges of the "burger."

 

Then we added red and yellow food gel to white icing to simulate ketchup and mustard. Go crazy. 

Finished Burger Cake..!!! :D Give credit where credit is due, so the sesame seeds piped on top were all my boyfriend. He did that all on his own. Good job us. YeahhhHhh. Happy Birthday Couple cutting their cheeseburger cake. Hooray.!

JMU Cake

 Happy Birthday yesterday Katherine.!!!!! :D One of my close friends from JMU had a birthday yesterday..her name is Katherine. Now that we're on the same page... :) I asked her if she had any ideas for a type of cake that she'd like..and JMU was thrown out there..and never having made a JMU-esque cake...I thought that that would be appropriate and good. yesh.

I based the pattern on the top of the cake on a JMU quilt that I have- I thought it'd give the cake a visually different, interesting look.! First I iced the entire cake with buttercream mixed with a bit of yellow food gel. Shout out to my boyfriend for helping me hand whisk the icing- his big muscles came in handy because I was without a mixer. Also thank you to his friends for letting me take over their kitchen the other night. Yepp. Anyways. Then I used a toothpick to draw the straight lines for the checkerboard pattern. I filled a piping bag with some icing dyed purple, and piped in the purple diamonds, using a small flat spatula to smooth the icing. I put a sugar pearl at the corner of each diamond. Then I piped the dotted white diamonds on top of everything, and piped extra decorations around the sides of the cake.! Hoorah.

Simple Icing Rose Cake

 For my Grandma's 89th birthday, I wanted to create a nice cake but didn't have a lot of extra time and didn't have access to all of my cake decorating supplies and decorations. I decided to challenge myself and think of a simple design. First I baked a homemade lemon cake, filled with fresh homemade lemon curd, and whipped up some lemon cream cheese icing. I did happen to have a large star tip, so I covered the top of the cake with piped roses by making a tight clockwise circle for the center of the rose, and then looping around once or twice more. For added fanciness, I used a small straight edged spatula to drag up the sides of the cake, and sprinkled the roses on top with fresh grated lemon rind to tie everything together and add more color.

Here's my Grandma Nina. Happy 89th birthday.!!

Garden Cake

 I wanted to make a special cake to celebrate my Grandpa's 84th birthday, and so I decided to pick a subject close to his heart and make an edible vegetable garden. I've been so blessed and lucky to have such a wonderful Grandpa for so long. Amongst other things, he's a good ol' country boy at heart and an avid farmer. I've been lucky enough to directly learn and see the value in such hard work and care, and to reap the benefits of delicious produce.! I started off by baking a large chocolate cake (in a 12x12 in pan). I marked the rectangular garden portion of the cake, iced it with homemade vanilla buttercream, and then covered it with oreo crumbs and cocoa powder to create a realistic "dirt" base. Then I used a large three point star tip to cover the rest of the cake with green tinted icing.

  

I made the sunflowers ahead of time out of a variety of yellow and orange shades of gumpaste. I cut them out using two different daisy cutters, and poked a piece of green wire into each flower before it dried to serve as the stem. The black texturized gumpaste centers were attached using a bit of water, and I used curved drying racks so each flower turned out more cupped and realistic. I brushed on some edible yellow shimmer dust to the flowers when they were completely dry. The flower heads proved to be to heavy to be supported by only their wire stems, so I ended up attaching a toothpick to each, which I wrapped with green florist tape. voila.!

The cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, and crookneck squash I made ahead of time too out of colored gumpaste. I colored toasted coconut with yellow food gel to make the straw chicken nests. The eggs are gumpaste covered in cocoa powder. The hen is gumpaste as well. I piped '84' in the corner to finish the cake off.

 

We had a nice outdoor crab bash in my Grandpa's barn to celebrate his birthday with friends and family. Here I am holding my baby nephew with my Grandpa and his cake. He liked it a lot- he's containing all his excitement in the picture. :p

Engleright Wedding Cake

 July 6, 2013 was a very special exciting day- my cousin Stephanie got married.! She asked me years and years ago when I first started decorating cakes if I would make her wedding cake. It's hard to believe that that actually happened. The wedding was gorgeous and full of fun and love, and I wish Stephanie and her husband (.!!) Chris all of the happiness in the world. :)

 To be honest, I could have planned more ahead of time with this cake. I cut all of the finishing touches incredibly close, and was stressing out about everything for a hot minute, but it all ended up coming together wonderfully. Everyone loved the cake, so that was gratifying.

 I used gumpaste dyed light blue with food gel to fashion hybrid magnolia-like roses a week or so ago. I brushed edible blue glitter on the flowers for an extra shimmery pop. I covered each tier (8 in, 10 in, and 12 in) carefully with thinly rolled out fondant (O_o)...At the venue, I stacked the cake using a bit of extra icing as a glue. I arranged the flowers cascading down the left side of the cake, and then used some extra icing to "glue" blue ribbon around the bottom of each layer. Fresh baby's breath really completed the look.

 I'm so glad and honored that Stephanie and Chris wanted me to make their wedding cake, and that I could contribute and participate in their wedding in that special way. Chocolate cake with almond buttercream icing...Ooooo yeahHhhh.!

Paisley Cake

I took a free cake icing class a while back and ended up with a "professionally iced" cake...boring, all white, and full of creative possibilities. So just for fun, I piped random black designs all over the cake, drawing whatever I felt in a Paisley-esque style. I then accented the cake some aqua and bright purple fuschia icing, and then added some edible sugar pearls as well.! I liked it...and that's all I was going for. :)

Betty Boop Cake

My Mom loves Betty Boop...and carrot cake...so this is what I created to surprise her for her birthday.! First I found the image that I wanted to recreate using colorflow icing, and then decorated the rest with a little creativity, making use of the random decorating materials that I happened to have. In keeping with the Betty Boop heart theme, I baked the carrot cake in a heart shaped pan. I iced the cake with fresh cream cheese icing, covered the sides with walnuts, and then piped a light teal border around the cake to contrast all of the red, white, and black. After carefully placing the fragile Betty Boop colorflow decoration in the center, I didn't have a set plan of action. I felt like it'd be a good idea to make a giant black swoosh using gel down the entire left side of the cake...so I went with it.! I made random designs with the black gel and teal icing, and used sugar pearls and red heart shaped sprinkles as accents.

Peanuts Star Wars Cake

 I knew that I wanted to make a special, different type of cake for my cousins Mason & Shawn. I started brainstorming, and thought that it would be fun to use Earl Grey as a unique flavor, particularly since Mason & Shawn are both avid tea lovers. My friend Becca shared an awesome blog with me, and I actually found the recipe that I ended up using on it (http://www.dessertsforbreakfast.com/2012/05/announcing-sated-magazine-and-earl-grey.html). It's actually a chocolate cake with chocolate Earl Grey ganache.! Yum. :) I doubled the cake recipe to make a 9 x 13 cake and 3 cupcakes (which make up the cup of tea). I also doubled the ganache recipe, but used 9 teabags rather than 12, and ended up with a lot left over...which wasn't a problem...because it's delicious.!

 Mason & Shawn both enjoy reading, so that's when I thought to combine the concept of a book cake with a cup of tea- naturally Earl Grey tea. Mason is super into anything and everything Star Wars & Peanuts...hence the combination. I actually found a similar fan art picture of Charlie Brown and Sally through Google (http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110311232523/scratchpad/images/1/1b/Peanuts_meets_Star_Wars.jpg) which I slightly modified and then recreated out of color flow icing, along with a Han Solo Woodstock, a Snoopy Chewbacca, and a Storm Trooper Woodstock.! :D

 Decorations made out of color flow icing are incredibly fragile however, and although I had never before had a problem working with them, tragedy struck this time- probably since I had a large audience watching me assemble the cake. Charlie Brown Skywalker's body crashed to the floor O_o so I ended up re-piping his body with white icing and black gel, and I think it ended up looking fine. To create the cup of tea, I stacked the three cupcakes on top of each other (with ganache in between the layers and small wooden dowels in the middle to hold them together), and covered the cup of cupcakes with thinly rolled out white gumpaste. I then attached the gumpaste handle with toothpicks. I added a thin layer of white icing on top, and then drizzled on caramel sauce to give a milky tea appearance. I artfully, purposefully chose to drip the "tea" everywhere- it seemed more visually interesting to do so. The "tea bag" is also made out of gumpaste, as are the "pages" on the sides of the book. I popped everything else on, piped everything, and added silver star sprinkles.! It was a hit.! :D

Cockatiel Cakepops

 For my friend Olivia's birthday, I decided to make something different...and came up with cockatiel cakepops.! My reasoning being that her beloved pet cockatiel (Elvis), would serve as my creative, randomized inspiration.

 These cakepops didn't photograph too well- I swear they were cuter in person.! I shaped the cakepop into a cockatiel-like shape, attached the stick, dipped in melted white chocolate candy melts, and then just the head in melted yellow candy melts. I used pumpkin sprinkles for feet, two round sprinkles for eyes, added extra melted white chocolate using a toothpick to draw wings, and used an edible marker to draw red cheeks.

Olivia loved her cockatiel cakepops.! I tried to get a pic of Elvis with a cakepop, but the best part of it all was that Elvis was terrified of his cakepop brethren.! He kept flying away :/

Jasmine Disney Cupcakes

These cupcakes I made for work- the assignment being to pick a Disney princess and embody them in a very simple manner. I picked Jasmine, and so decided to use rich, vibrant, contrasting colors and lots of shimmer dust rather than more complex elements. I used a half moon shaped cutter on rolled out gold fondant to make the basic lamp shape, and then stretched, molded, and exacto-ed them more..exactly. :) I also used a small star cutter and then pinched the edges to form the magenta and blue stars. I cut out orange circles of fondant and then "glued" on black (tiger) stripes of fondant using a bit of water. I also heard an interpretation viewing them more conceptually as an orange, arabic sky. Good stuff either way. Let all those fondant pieces harden. I dusted the lamps and stars with their respective shades of shimmer dust, and set them atop cupcakes frosted with dark purple icing piped using a star tip and covered in purple glitter. Then I made a light shade of "Jasmine" turquoise that I piped using a round tip. Jasmine Cupcakes. Easy.

Baby Chick Cakepops

In keeping with stereotypically springtime animal Cakepops...and the fact that I still had some funfetti Cakepops left to decorate...and it was almost Easter...I made some Baby Chick Cakepops.! These were super simple to make, and I didn't create the idea at all, but they turned out cute. To make these Cakepops, I dipped each Cakepop in melted yellow vanilla candy coating, added two yellow rainbow chip sprinkles as wings, an orange one for the beak, and two

Lamb Cakepops

 It was recently my friend's birthday, and she has an affinity for lambs and lamb..paraphernalia.?..Well..lamb-themed things anyways, so I surprised her with some FUNFETTI lamb cakepops.! :D And also it's almost Easter, so sure, that too. The look sorta lamby...for cakepops anyways. I didn't really like any of the lamb ideas I found online, so...I did this instead.! First, make your FUNFETTI cake....(then let cool, crumble up and mix with 3/4 a container of icing, and shape into balls. Keep in the freezer whilst decorating. I only take out 2 or 3 at a time lest they thaw too much. Easier to work with.) and all of that.

 I dipped the end of the sticks in melted white chocolate candy melts, attached a soon-to-be lamb, and then covered lamb with said melted white chocolate candy melts. I quickly (quickly quickly) sprinkled sugar pearls (crunchy pearls of sugar..that look like pearls) around each lamb before the candy melts set, leaving his face sugar pearl free. I then attached black sprinkle eyes, and a pink sprinkle (or heart, depending on the breed of sheep) nose, and chocolate jimmies for the little legs. For the ears, I cut miniature marshmallows in half and shaped each a bit to resemble a tear drop..and a lamb ear. :)

 My little cousins wanted custom bunny cakepops instead..I thought that my sheep looked a bit bunny-like anyways...stereotypically spring time animal androgynous if you will...! So with a few minor adjustments, I also created a couple of lamb-like looking bunnies. I simply added chocolate jimmies for whiskers, and flipped the ears so they were standing up and voila.!

 They were excited, I swear.

Packaged happy lamb cakepops.! Yay.!

Big Bang Theory Cupcakes

 Big Bang Theory Cupcakes.!!! Hooray.! :D made for one of my fellow fun crazayy BFFs Hannah.! hence the one non big bang theory themed cupcake. :) Besides lookin pretty nerdtastic...they are...wait for it...mint chocolate chocolate chip oreo cupcakes with Bailey's icing. YES. pretty perfectly delicious in every way. Just tasting the icing made me feel like impending cavities were settling into my teeth...but SO WORTH IT. So I'll share my recipe as well as decorating tips for these.! Whee.!

 The white circle on the BAZINGA! cupcake is gumpaste cut out ahead of time, as well as the blue circles on the Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock cupcake. I used black food gel and a toothpick to carefully freehand each different hand symbol onto the circles.

 Soft Kitty was made ahead of time as well, out of grey gumpaste. After the initial shape dried a bit, I added the pink and darker grey gumpaste details with a bit of water to make them stick. The eyes, mouth, and outline I drew on using a toothpick dipped in black food gel.

 Hannah's special hannaH birthday cupcake is yellow and purple because we met at JMU, and features her signature self portrait. hannaH herself holding a trumpet. because she plays trumpet. This is exactly what Hannah looks like, so fellows..eat your heart out.!

 I got the idea to replicate the main characters from the Big Bang theory (Raj, Leonard, Sheldon & Howard) in a Beatles-esque fashion when I found this picture online: (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMcasKo3XUQwDLnfNg5OlTOxbis9-voHSewzCv_cAxpNhIBdgK0nvNqa1UEyekpyk6vT4xKsslvG6GjhaRhwHA4-ILc2wKc-1u9qYQtX0hyelsH7k6HvvdcOvJdiHqL0liv4qEmHpw0B8/s1600/2012-12-26+16.53.46.jpg ) Ahead of time, I rolled out black gumpaste pretty thin, and then used tools to cut out each silhouette. I let them fully dry on wax paper.

 Cupcakes.! YAY.! OKAY. recipe.!

Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip Oreo Cupcakes

 Yield: about 15 cupcakes...that's what I got at least.

• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp.
• 1 C sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp peppermint extract
• 3/4 C all-purpose flour
• 3/4 C unsweetened special dark cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 C milk
• 1/2 C mini chocolate chips
• MINT OREOS

Cream the butter and sugar together until it’s light and fluffy. 

Add the eggs in one at a time while continuing to mix. 

Add the vanilla extract & peppermint extract.

In a separate medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda.

Add the flour mixture to the liquid mixture a little at a time, alternating with the milk. 

Stir in the chocolate chips. 

Ready to get CAHHHRAyyyyyyz..?!?!!??!

Line your cupcake pan with liners..and then...ADD A MINT OREO TO EACH.

YESSSS. that's right.

THENNNnnnn..

Pour in the batter over your lined and oreo-ed tins.

Fill them a little more than 3/4 of the way. 

Bake cupcakes at 350 degrees for about 18-20 minutes. 

 YUM. :)

ICING.!!!!

I used about 6 TBSP of Bailey's, 1 1/2 sticks of butter, and around 5 cups of powdered sugar. Combine and adjust to reach desired consistency and taste.! I won't judge you if you drink some Bailey's whilst all this crazy deliciousness is going on :)

Cars Cake

 This Cars Cake was for a very special birthday.! My little nephew Trey is one of my favorite people ever and just so adorable and sweet...and he's already a year old.! The theme of the party was obviously everything Cars. The cake itself was a marbled red velvet and yellow cake that I cut and shaped to emulate desert dunes. I iced the cake with a sandy desert color dyed frosting, and then sprinkled a mixture of graham cracker crumbs and brown sugar all over the cake. For the road, I processed some oreos, and laid them down in a curvy manner. Everything else I made ahead of time. The road sign I cut out of thinly rolled gumpaste, and then used a toothpick dipped in black food gel to freehand the birthday message. The traffic cones I made by cutting small orange circles of gumpaste, slightly stretching them out to form the base of each, and then topping with more orange gumpaste shaped to form a cone, and a thin stripe of white gumpaste. Lightning & Mater took forever to make. I formed the basic car shape out of gumpaste using sculpting tools, and then basically added a lot of extras. Lightning has a lightning bolt on his front, flames on both sides, and a '1' on his back. I also used a toothpick dipped in orange food gel to trace detail into those features, and used black to outline his eyelids.To attach gumpaste to gumpaste, use a brush dipped in water, and voila.! To give Mater another layer of dirt & rust, I rubbed some cocoa powder on him. As you can see, I also made a smaller cake just for Trey to play with. I recreated the 'Cars' logo with his name instead out of white chocolate and red candy melts. Unfortunately, Trey was really tired and overwhelmed by all the people at his big birthday party so he didn't really go crazy with the cake when we wanted him to.

 He did like it though.!

 And he's just so stinkin' cute.! :)

 There's a little blue icing on his face...

Me & Baby :) Baby nephew Trey..I'll just be obnoxiously cliche and say it but I can't believe he's already 1..!