Tool Cake

I made this cake for one of my Mom's best friends, and one of our oldest,closest family friends. He teaches high school shop class- and somehow, today is his 50th (!!!) Birthday.!

First, I baked three cakes in 9 in rounds and let them cool. Then, I iced the entire cake with vanilla buttercream tinted with a small amount of brown food gel. Next, I kneaded some brown food gel into gumpaste (an edible clay-like dough). I did not mix the gumpaste completely because I wanted to achieve a subtle swirled "wood-like" appearance with varying shades of brown and tan. Then, I used a roller to roll the gumpaste out flat and fairly thin, and used my rolling pastry cutter to form enough "strips of wood" to cover the top of the cake. I used more brown food gel and sculpting tools to form the hammer handle. I then sculpted the hammer head and several nails with gumpaste that I spray painted with silver color mist. I stuck a real circular saw blade inside the cake, and crumbled up a graham cracker over to create "sawdust." I finished the cake off by wrapping a few layers of wide bright blue ribbon around the base.

Lovebug Cookies

 These may not be cakes, but they turned out too cute to not share.! I love doing crafty projects with my nephew, and thought it'd be fun to make some valentine "lovebugs"! They were super simple to make, and turned out adorable :)

 First, we melted some red chocolate melts in a bowl. Stir at 30 second intervals until they are melted sufficiently. Then, we dipped double stuf oreos (because let's be real- it's not worth it unless its double stuf ;) ) about 3/4 of a way in the red chocolate. I used a spoon to distribute the chocolate more smoothly. As the red chocolate dried, I melted some black chocolate melts in a bowl. Then, we dipped the remaining exposed oreo cookies in the melted black chocolate. We slightly flattened miniature marshmallows (eyes) and attached two on each ladybug "lovebug". I used a toothpick to carefully dip into the black chocolate melts and paint a line down the middle of the ladybug "wings," then 6 spots for each lovebug. Lastly, we firmly pressed chocolate chips (pointy side down) into each marshmallow to create a googly eyed effect! <3

Melted Snowman Cake

Here's my ode to global warming in cake form.! I thought that it'd be fun to make a melted snowman cake, so here it is.! First, I bordered the cake with mini marshmallows attached with a small dollop of icing. I made buttercream icing and piped a snowman puddle on the top of the cake, with a buildup of icing for the head. I used mini chocolate chips for the eyes and snowman smile. I used a bit of orange food gel on the end of a toothpick to draw a carrot nose. I used an oreo as the snowman's top hat, piped red icing around the 'band of the hat', and accented it with snowflake sprinkles. I drew snowmen arms with a toothpick dipped in brown food gel, and added blue flower sprinkle buttons. I doused the snowman with some clear sugar, and accented around the snowman with some blue sugar. Then, I piped different snowflake shapes in aqua and dark blue all around the cake. Lastly, I added edible sugar pearls and more snowflake sprinkles to complete the cake.!