Princess Cake

The day after she turned 4, my daughter asked me to make her a blue princess cake for her 5th birthday. I knew then that I wanted to do a doll cake. I found a lot of tutorials on youtube, but I found this one extremely helpful : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1IIHSerB64&list=PL5F7E3F8E378D1516&src_vid=r3TSutweRe4&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_642574. For the base/dress, I use 8 and 7 inch round pans and 6 inch ball pan to get the domed shape. For the bodice of the dress, I had to get creative. I don’t own any impression mats, so I used a lace doily to imprint the design and give it some depth. I also made some mini cupcakes topped with fondant tiaras. As party favors, I decided to make crown-shaped sugar cookies.

Over the rainbow cake

2-tier chocolate cake with malted chocolate and roasted marshmallow filling

For my daughter’s 4th birthday party, we went with a rainbow theme. Since she absolutely loves the color blue, I had to make that as the base color of her cake. I have seen so many cakes with fondant ruffles (tutorial can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPN7tXkmAk0) adorning the side, so I decided to incorporate it on the bottom tier in the colors of the rainbow. My absolute favorite part of this cake, though, is the rainbow topper made of fondant/gumpaste mixture.

It’s been a while…

…But I’ve decided to give blogging another chance. I haven’t had a single entry since September 2013…it makes me feel sad 😦 My excuse is that back then, I was pregnant and didn’t have much energy left to keep this blog alive. During my hiatus, I was still doing cakes but only sparingly. Now that my baby is a year old and things have slowed down a bit, I’m ready to go back to my other passion…expressing my creativity through my cakes. I’ll try my best to bring new material to this blog. And share my creations with everyone.

Not Your Ordinary Birthday Cake

I am truly honored to have made this little girl’s first birthday cake. Even before my good friend, Jess, asked, I had already said yes. So what makes this cake and this one year old special, you ask? A few weeks after she was born, this little girl was diagnosed with Congenital Heart Defect. At barely 4 months old, she underwent open heart surgery. At 1 year old, A has come a long way and has conquered a huge hurdle in her life. She is truly a warrior and the bravest little girl I know! Her first birthday party was a true celebration of life and love.

To celebrate this milestone, my friend wanted to do a hearts-themed party, incorporating elements of vintage and the colors coral/teal/gray/pink. After several hours spent at the drawing board, Jess and I came up with a 3-tier cake decorated in chevron, hearts and paisley patterns. Bottom tier is a 10-inch square dummy, middle tier is 8-inch round and top tier is 6-inch round. Cake is lemon cake with raspberry filling covered with marshmallow fondant.

 

 

Cake In A Box

When I was asked by a good friend to make a christening cake and that I get to pick the design, a gift box/present cake instantly came to mind. It has been long on my wish list of cakes to do and it is quite fitting for the occasion since the parents definitely consider their little boy the most precious gift they’ve ever received.

So I made a 2-tier square cake using 8-inch and 10-inch pans. Both tiers are chocolate with mocha filling, with a layer of buttercream icing underneath the fondant. The lid/top is made from foam core board covered with fondant, and the bow is made of 50/50 fondant/gumpaste mix. I also made baby booties and a bear to accessorize the cake.

Pokemon Cake

When my bestfriend was planning her son’s 7th birthday, she showed me a cake that her son picked out. It was a dauntingly airbrushed cake! I’ve never been within 10 feet of an airbrush machine before. I told my friend right off the bat that I couldn’t do it; that her son just have to pick another (hopefully simpler) design. I thought my excuse of “I don’t own an airbrush machine” would work.

Fast forward to my birthday month…I opened a present from my friend and voila!

My own airbrush machine!

I guess my friend had more confidence in me than I did in myself. I decided to tackle Mt. Everest (that’s what the cake seemed like to me). Surprisingly, the machine was very easy and straightforward to use. After a couple of strokes and squirts, I got the hang of it. The cake is a 2-tier chocolate cake with creme brulee buttercream filling.

I airbrushed the flames and leaves, as well as the buttercream to make it look like waves.

Tickle Me Tink!

 

I apologize for laying it low for the last couple of months, but now I am trying my best to keep this blog more active and updated. I took a break from cake-ing due to extreme fatigue (boo 1st trimester!). Now that I’m feeling somewhat normal again, I plan to get back into the swing of things. A month ago, one of my good friends asked me to make a Tinkerbell cake for her sweet little daughter, who turned one. She’s a big fan of my chocolate cake, so I made a 2-tier chocolate cake with chocolate filling and covered in fondant. All decorations were made out of gumpaste, except for Tinkerbell.

It feels great to be back,and doing what I love to do best!

Watch out for my next blog entry, which will feature my first airbrushed cake.

 

The Circus is in town!

As I was looking for ideas and inspiration for my younger daughter’s 2nd birthday party, I came across a picture of a carnival/circus-themed cake. I knew at that instant that I have to make a similar cake…and that was the perfect theme for her party! After looking at more cake designs, I finally came up with my own. I wanted it to be 3 tiers, I wanted a circus tent at the top. I also wanted the poles with the pennant banner strung in between them. And, of course, a popcorn box.

The bottom tier is a dummy(styrofoam) covered in fondant. I used red and white stripes to make it look like a popcorn bag/box. I used the wax paper method (seen here http://jessicakesblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/maddies-fashion-birthday-cake.html) to apply the vertical strips. I used real popcorn to decorate the top of the box.

The middle tier is WASC(white almond sour cream) cake with raspberry filling. It’s an 8-inch round cake, covered in fondant, decorated with diamond cutouts with a star in the middle.

Top tier is a 6-inch round chocolate cake with chocolate filling and a layer of peanut butter buttercream under the fondant strips. The roof of the tent was made out of rice krispie treats covered in fondant. And a circus is not complete without animals. I made an elephant and seal figurines out of gumpaste to decorate the board.

Sweet Safari Cake

When a client asked me to do a Sweet Safari themed cake for her daughter’s first birthday, I couldn’t wait to blog about it. This cake is just adorable! I must say, a lot of work went into the whole project (took me 2 hours to make each animal topper!), but I had a lot of fun doing it.

The cake is 2 tiers; top tier is a 6-inch round white cake with strawberry filling and bottom tier is a 9-inch square chocolate cake with peanut butter filling. The whole cake is frosted in American buttercream. Accents are made of fondant and gumpaste.

gumpaste elephant

gumpaste giraffe

gumpaste zebra

gumpaste tiger

gumpaste hippo

smash cake

Fan or flower cake?

It could be both.

My friend, Anna, asked me to make a rehearsal dinner cake for a co-worker who was getting married. She wanted the cake to look bridal. This cake is the closest that I’ve gotten to a real wedding cake, so I was feeling up to the challenge!  I went scouring the internet for a simple yet elegant cake and came across this design. I pulled the wedding colors and used pink and mint green for the fan detail.

For this cake, I used a 6/8 inch round pans. Anna is a big fan of my chocolate cake, so she chose the cake to be in chocolate with chocolate buttercream filling.

For a tutorial on how to make this pattern, refer to this link: http://www.bakedecoratecelebrate.com/projects/weddingfanfaire.cfm