Christmas cake

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! May we all know the incredible Love of Jesus in this new year.

This cake was done for the client of a good friend. The bottom tier is White Almond Sour Cream cake with vanilla buttercream and fresh strawberries. Middle tier is straight chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream. Top tier is chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream laced with Reese's peanut butter cups. All are covered with marshmallow fondant hand-painted with gold and silver pearl dust. "Snail trail" and red dots are painted royal icing. The sign is fondant with the company's logo on an edible image. All Christmas baubles are non-edible.

Will and Kristen marry!

This was one of the most challenging and fun cakes I've done in a while! The technique is called "frill" work. The technique and design are both credited to an amazing cake designer, Maggie Austin (www.maggieaustincake.com). The bottom tier is actually two 10 1/2" x 4" cakes stacked on top of one another. These are White Lemon Sour Cream cakes with alternating lemon buttercream and lemon curd. Then the cakes were covered with lemon-laced white chocolate ganache and then finally covered in white marshmallow fondant. For the final layer, very thin strips of fondant are applied in asymmetrical fashion to achieve the delicate "tissue paper" look. The top tier is the same as above, but a 9" x 4".

The groom's cake was chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream covered with dark chocolate ganache and finally covered with marshmallow fondant. The decorations are all fondant as well. I don't have a good pic of it yet, but I'll post as soon as I do.

Congratulations Kristen and Will!

Baseball Cake

White Almond Sour Cream cake, vanilla buttercream icing, tinted buttercream for grass, fondant bat, and fondant-covered ball.

Homewood Graduation 2011

This was the graduation cake was for our local Homeschool group. White Almond Sour Cream cake, vanilla buttercream icing. Books covered in tinted fondant and mortar board covered in modeling chocolate. Writing on Bible is an edible image.

Ballet Cake

Cake for a friend who's daughter dances with a Christian ballet company in our area. They took the gospel in ballet form to Bulgaria this year. Bottom tier: White Almond Sour Cream cake and small roses piped in vanilla buttercream; "Ballet Excelsior" logo is an edible image on pink fondant. Top tier: Feathery Fudge chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream covered in pink marshmallow fondant and dancer hand-painted on fondant. Ballet toe shoes are fondant dusted w/ white pearl dust. Shoe ties are real satin ribbons. Thanks, Judy, for the wonderful picture!

Peacock Feather Cake

So proud of this artwork by Cameron. She is working at a dressage barn this summer and got to surprise sweet barn friend Nancy for her birthday. Cake: White Almond Sour Cream, Icing: Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Covered in fondant and hand-painted using food color gels.

Curious George Shower Cake

This was for a baby shower. Cake: Carrot, Filling: cream cheese, Icing: vanilla buttercream.

Paris Cake

Found this great toile for Hannah's birthday cake. Her room is newly decorated in all things French, so we thought a bistro scene and famous sites in Paris on the toile were just right. Thanks to Cameron for doing the table and chairs. Cake: strawberry, Filling: strawberry buttercream, Icing: vanilla buttercream, Toile pattern: edible image, black decor.: modeling chocolate, top background: marshmallow fondant.

Leah's Cake

Thanks to Cameron (gumpaste ballerina) and mom Christi for helping on this cake - it was definitely a team effort! Cake: chocolate, Icing: chocolate, Drapes and other decor: fondant/modeling chocolate.

Southern Cake

This was a new experience: a gumpaste magnolia! The petals are done individually and then put together on a wire with the stamen at the end. I covered the stamen with varying colors of brown royal icing and the top petal centers are dusted with yellow pearl dust. The leaves are real from my front yard :) The cake was for a southern-themed 50th birthday and they asked for yellow, red and scrollwork. Both cake tiers were White Almond Sour Cream Cake and Praline Buttercream. The bottom tier is covered in tinted marshmallow fondant and scrollwork is royal icing. The top tier is covered in Duff's fondant (first time to use it) and real ribbon was used to finish it off. Go to http://www.blu-bambu.com/2011/06/26/june-25-176/ to see a great photo of the party table taken by our fabulous photog, Shannon Mucha.

Pirates of the Caribbean

Sorry for the bad pic. Thanks to Cameron for the artwork on the treasure map. Cake: chocolate, Icing: chocolate buttercream, Treasure map and tentacles(?): fondant painted w/ color gel, Treasure chest: modeling chocolate filled w/ gold dragees, Water: tinted buttercream.

Minnie Mouse Cake

This was a really fun cake and I loved getting the pic back from the mom. Isn't this a great table! You might not be able to see it, but even the cake stand was made of pink glass! Bottom tier: vanilla, top tier: chocolate, Icing: buttercream, both tier covered in marshmallow fondant, black decor: black modeling chocolate, real ribbon at bottom of tiers.

Hibiscus Cake

This was very fun! My inspiration for this cake came from a party invitation I found on the web and Leah's mom sent me this great pic of the way she displayed the cake. Cake: vanilla, Icing: buttercream, decorations: fondant.

Jango Fett Cake

Cake: chocolate, Icing: chocolate, Jenga Fett lego: painted fondant.

Natalie's Communion Cake

This was inspired by the invitation. Cake: vanilla, Icing: buttercream, Cross: fondant, banner: gumpaste.

Cameron's Dress Form Cake

This is a cake for which I am VERY proud!! It was done by Cameron (and only Cameron! :) for our local county fair. I thought ya'll might want to see the process pics for this one, too. She worked very hard - from sketches to support structure to baking and fondant/gumpaste making to expert carving and so on. I have never done anything like this and I know I wouldn't have been able to do it as well as she did it. She did make the "Top 10", but unfortunately no further because her support structure did not fit their rules. She is ready to try again next year!

The "floor" is a chocolate cake covered with marbled fondant "tiles" and buttercream for the "grout". The dress is Madeira Sponge Cake with alternating layers of buttercream and chocolate ganache. Then the entire dress form was covered with chocolate ganache. The "neck" of the dress form is krispy rice treats, but shoulders on down is all cake. The pipe between the bottom board and dress is covered in fondant and painted with color gel. The neck and shoulders are covered with tinted homemade marshmallow fondant as is the "ruching" on the dress. Brooch and belt are gumpaste painted with bronze pearl dust.

The bottom support board is 3/4" thick plywood. There is a support board (foamboard) for every four layers of cake and a small plywood board at the very bottom of the dress. A galvanized pipe (covered with plastic wrap) runs through the center of the entire cake.

Natalie's Birthday Cake

This cake was to resemble the party invite. It was a lot of fun to do and i love the colors! Bottom and top tiers - vanilla cake; middle tier - chocolate. All iced in tinted vanilla buttercream. All decorations are fondant except "Natalie" which is gumpaste. What really put this one over the top was that I happened to have the cakestand it is on which were the identical colors used on the cake from the invitation.

Teapot and Teacups Cake

I love to enjoy a cup of hot tea and was finally given the opportunity to do it with cake - literally! Cake is chocolate with tinted vanilla buttercream and piped roses. Teapot is krispy rice treats covered in stamped fondant and painted with color gel. Teacups are gumpaste, also painted in color gel (filled with brown sugar for the "tea" effect). Napkin is fondant. A sweet cake for a sweet family!

Princess Castle Cake

Bottom tier-vanilla; top tier - chocolate; both iced in tinted vanilla buttercream. Tops of the turrets are ice cream cones iced with buttercream; bases of the turrets are fondant-covered cardboard tubes. Doors and flags are gumpaste and vines are buttercream. Princesses are plastic game pieces (I hope to get better images of this one soon.)

Canon 50D Cake

Another fun cake for our artist/photographer friend Shannon. Cameron and I worked as a team on this one: she did the lens and I did the camera. Cake is strawberry iced with vanilla buttercream and covered with tinted chocolate "clay". Cameron painted the decorations with silver pearl dust.