Barbie Dress Cake

My friend asked if I would make a cake for her daughter's birthday. I thought it would be fun to try an old school Barbie dress cake, and this is what I came up with.!

First I baked one cake in a 9 in round pan and one in the bottom of a glass oven proof pyrex bowl. After everything cooled, I iced the bottom cake and most of the skirt (the domed cake upside down that was baked in the bowl) with pink icing. Then I stuck the Barbie in the middle of the cake. I piped a bodice with hot pink icing and added extra details like pink sanding sugar and edible pearls all over the dress. To make the white ruffles in the center of the dress, I piped a simple shell design that I then covered by overlaying it with the draping ruffled design.

Pusheen Birthday Cake

Somehow don't know who Pusheen the cat is.?! Check it out:

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/sites/pusheen

There are adorable different versions of Pusheen for just about every occasion.! I knew that my friend Todd would greatly appreciate a birthday Pusheen wearing a shirt of a birthday Pusheen wearing a shirt with his name on it all portrayed in cake form...but really...who wouldn't.?! :)

To make this cute rotund feline fellow, I baked one 9 in cake round and one smaller 5 or 6 in cake round. Once everything sufficiently cooled, I cut the top of the larger cake round to form the pointy ears and a space for the birthday hat to fit into perfectly. I cut the smaller cake round into a triangle birthday hat to set right on big Pusheen's cute little partying cake cat head. I iced a stripe of a white shirt, and iced the rest with lightly gray tinted icing to form the cat. I used a darker gray icing to pipe on details such as eyes, stripes, whiskers, tails, etc. I accented the green party hats with colored chocolate covered candy decorating bits. Because Cats.

 :)

Basketball Jersey Cake

I surprised my friend Brie with this cake for her birthday- she absolutely loved it.! She's a basketball star and told me that her favorite colors are yellow and red. Her jersey number is 24 and she's also turning 24 so that worked out perfectly.! All I had to add was her nickname to the back of the cake and it was finished. To make the cake, first I baked a cake in a 9x13 pan (for the jersey) and also in a glass oven proof Pyrex bowl (for the basketball). You will probably have to drop the temperature of the oven for the basketball portion since it is a much thicker cake, it will take longer to bake but you don't want it to get too brown. I literally just took a knife to cut out the jersey shape in the larger cake and an arc for the basketball to fit in. Then I simply iced everything and piped on extra details.!

Beachy Sea Creature Cake

 I made this cake for my friend Olivia- do you see it.?! (The Octopus is the O, a seaweed L, seaweed I's dotted with starfish, two crabs fighting to form the V, and a pink fish A.!) First, I iced the cake with lightly tinted blue icing. I just barely mixed a small amount of light blue food gel into white icing to create various shades of blue and white waves. Next, I covered a third of the cake with a sand mixture I made by mixing graham crackers and a little bit of brown sugar in a food processor.

Then, I crafted each sea creature out of gumpaste- an edible clay that I like to use. It's very pliable and easy to work with but I would suggest only using a small amount at a time, and always remember to keep the rest of your gumpaste tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and stowed in a sealed plastic ziploc; exposure to air will harden the gumpaste very quickly and make it impossible to work with. I also like to use food gel to tint icings and decorations, because you can use a very small amount and achieve a more intense, exact color than with food coloring without compromising the composition of the material. I added yellow sprinkles on the star fish by rubbing a small amount of water onto the gumpaste stars before sprinkling them on. Lastly, I accented the cake with edible pearls for an extra pop!

Taco Cakepops

I surprised my friend with taco cakepops for his birthday given his great love for taco bell.! I thought that mini tacos would be a fun new food like challenge to add to my cake making repertoire.

 Here's the finished, packaged product all ready to enjoy.!

 First,  like with any cakepops, you bake a cake. After letting the cake cool completely,  crumble it up in a large bowl. Add 3/4 of a container of icing and then its the fun part- time to get messy.! Knead the cake and icing mixture by hand. Form into individual cakepop sized balls. I like to put the balls in a pan to briefly stick in the freezer to firm up.

Take out one individual ball from the freezer at a time so that the other ones stay intact. I formed the ball into a taco shell shape, dipped the tip of a cakepop stick into melted yellow candy melts, and stuck the stick into the "taco shell". You may need to quickly stick this back into the freezer to solidify. Then, cover the outside of the shell with the yellow candy melts. Quickly spoon a thin layer of melted brown candy melts to serve as the "meat" inside the taco shell. Then, sprinkle green tinted coconut "lettuce", shredded orange candy melt "cheese", red candy coated chocolate sprinkles for tomatoes, and top with a healthy dollop of icing for sour cream. Enjoy.!

Camera Cake

Here's my simple version of a camera cake.! First I baked a 9x13 in cake and a 9 in round to form the base. When everything cooled, I cut out two rectangles for the camera body, and used a large circle cutter for the two circles to form the lenses. I crumb coated the camera with icing and used a knife to shape the camera and round the edges. Next, I rolled out black fondant thin and carefully smoothed it over the cake. I iced the base cake "saints" gold and piped a black bead border around the edge of the cake. I also piped several fleurdelis and accented the cake with edible sugar pearls.

Here's Melissa riding a kangaroo- someone is taking that wonderful picture .! With a Heath ledger-esque likeness, she safaris through the Australian outback atop a noble pouncing steed.!

Monster Book of Monsters Cake

I wanted to make a "different" type of Harry Potter cake to surprise my friend with for her Birthday his year. I decided to create a Monster Book of Monsters.! :)

My cat Oswald/Lil Z was a big help in the decorating process as you can clearly see.!

 First, I baked a 9x13 cake (chocolate with oreos lining the bottom if you must know.!). After it had sufficiently cooled, I cut the cake in half and stacked the pieces, gluing them together with a bit of icing in the middle. Next, I iced the three "pages" sides of the book. I rolled out three long thin strips of gumpaste (an edible clay-like substance) to serve as the pages. I cut lines for individual pages using a rolling cutter, and then brushed some cocoa powder over the surface of the gumpaste to create a weathered look. After attaching the page edges of the cake, I molded the fangs with additional gumpaste. I piped all over the remaining surface of the cake with icing tinted with brown food gel using a #233 icing tip-one that is used to create a grassy, or in this case, furry effect.

 I also used gumpaste to form the eyeballs (with a toothpick dipped in black food gel to make the pupils), and to make the "bookmark" tongue. I dribbled some red food coloring around the teeth to emulate blood. Those ferocious fangs just seemed like there would be blood dripping from them.!

Lastly, I piped "Hannah's Monster Book of Monsters" on the cover of the "book," and 25 on the spine. I also used brown tinted gumpaste to form a wand (emblazoned with Hannah's initials, HP, along with a lightning bolt) and threw in a cheap pair of Harry Potter-esque circular glasses.! Super cool.! Always.! :)