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.! :)

Spongebob Cupcakes

I didn't have much time to go all out, but wanted to make something special for my nephew's 3rd Birthday, so I decided on Spongebob cupcakes.! They were super simple to make and turned out super cute. They would have been quick to decorate, but he decided he wanted to help me with each step of the way- so decorating the cupcakes was 27 million times more fun and a special activity to share with my little helper.! First I iced the Spongebob cupcakes with yellow icing. I used a larger round icing tip for the white of his eyes, and then added a dot of blue icing in the middle. Then I piped on black eyelashes, the outline of his nose, and his smile. I added his teeth then, and three small orange freckles above his cheeks. The Patrick cupcakes I iced pink, then added his eyes then eyebrows, pupils and smile, and finished him off with light purple dots. I also made a few cupcakes with a blue "ocean" swirl pattern that I piped starfish onto and covered with blue sprinkles.

Here monkey is diligently decorating his cupcakes. Or, "painting his bohna na muffins" as he put it.

 

There's the monkey posing with his cupcakes he decorated, and to the right is both of us.!

 He enjoyed every part of decorating and eating his special Birthday cupcakes.! He didn't even want to share them. :)

Walking Dead Cake

EEeeeeeee..!!!!! Walking Dead Cake.!!!! My boyfriend absolutely loves Walking Dead, so here's his surprise Birthday cake.!!! Shout out to my roommate's boyfriend for helping me by making the wooden plank and the four fingered zombie hand- my boyfriend recently almost cut his finger off. First, I made gumpaste zombie hands in various shades of gray that I let slightly dry. I iced the cake gray with a stripe of black in the middle to divide the doors. I fashioned the lock and the door handles using gumpaste with cocoa powder and black and red food gel as "dusty" "bloody" accents. I piped out the DONT OPEN DEAD INSIDE with black icing and used drippy premade black gel on the edges of some of the letters and on the bloody 27 in the corner. Happy 27th Birthday Zack..!!!! <3

 :):):)

Chinese Noodle Bowl Cake

 One of my dearest, best, most fun and wonderful friends absolutely loves Chinese food- as well as anything to do with Asian culture-, so of course I had to make her a Chinese takeout cake.!!!! It turned out soooo awesome.! I was super happy with the results & everyone loved it!

A few days ahead of time, I molded the mushrooms, broccoli & carrots out of gumpaste (an edible clay-like material similar to fondant). I rubbed some cocoa powder on the caps of the mushrooms to make them look more realistic, and added some green sprinkles to the tops of the broccoli to make them pop. To make the chopsticks "float" whilst holding up a healthy portion of noodles, I fashioned a log shape of gumpaste and stuck the chopsticks through the top of the material. I used shaping tools to draw lines for individual noodles. Then I let it dry completely on a flat surface to hold its shape and be strong enough to stand up in the cake. 

 I baked the (pineapple flavored) cake in a greased glass ovenproof pyrex bowl. I iced the cake with a thin layer of vanilla frosting. Then, I colored some cinnamon flavored fondant using no-taste red food gel. I rolled the fondant out evenly to be big enough to cover the bottom and sides of the "bowl." I cut out about 2 inches of the top cake, leaving a rim to enhance the bowl shape and leave more room for the noodles and vegetables. Then, I used golden colored fondant to cover the top of the cake. The rest of fondant I squeezed through a small handheld fondant press (similar to a garlic press) with a circular attachment at the end to create the noodles. I stuck the previously made noodle cluster up into the middle of the cake, and then draped individual noodles on top and all over the top of the cake. I poured Butterscotch sauce over all the food to create a "soy-sauce" glaze, and then added the vegetables on top with real pineapple chunks and a fortune cookie to finish it up.!

 Different angles.! OOoooooooo.!!!!

 Ahhhhhhhhhhh....!!!!

Awwwww..!!! Me and Tanesha :) :) :) Happy Birthday.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had a blast partying with everyone yay fun.!!!! and CONGRATULATIONS..!!!! <3