Fuchsia & Black Wedding Cake

Kirsten & Jason were such a fun couple! When they told me they want a black and fuchsia wedding cake, I thought "Yeah, I'm in!" Then, they came to a tasting that was really just a great time (it was like I was hanging out with friends while getting a sugar high). We ended on this design which I loved and then they said they wanted to add a special detail at the top. They wanted me to cut a hole in the top in order to put a small flashlight so that they could shine a light through a crystal topper. It was a first for me but I loved the end product.

The whole cake is covered in homemade marshmallow fondant. The top tier was sprayed with edible pearl shimmer after I imprinted the diamond pattern. The black dots are actually edible dragees (basically like tiny little jawbreakers). The middle tier was a custom made ribbon with a jeweled broach and a special monogram that they brought to me. I thought it gave the cake a really elegant look. Lastly, the bottom pattern was stenciled on with a designer stencil and fuchsia buttercream.

The cakes they ordered were Brownie Lovers (chocolate cake layered with actual brownies and chocolate ganache), Spices & Cake (spice cake layered with cheesecake cream filling and buttercream), and Banana Cream Pie Cake (banana flavored cake layered with banana cream filling and fresh bananas).

They came back later to get the flashlight and said that the cake was a huge hit. I was so glad to hear that because we really worked hard to get the perfect cake for this beautiful couple. Thank you, Kirsten & Jason, for being awesome clients to work with on this awesome wedding cake!

Last Minute Steeler's Wedding Cake

Courtney wanted to order a last minute wedding cake for a couple going through a rough time. She had seen a few wedding cakes on my website that she loved and wanted to throw the cake a "Steeler's" feel to it since the couple love the Steeler's. We decided to do a square wedding cake with gold and black stripes to keep it simple but modern.

The top and bottom cakes were 24-Carrot Cake (traditional carrot cake layered with creamy cream cheese frosting) and the middle tier was Deutschland Chocolate cake (chocolate cake layered with coconut, pecans, and chocolate buttercream). Because it was so last minute, she wanted to keep it very simple without anything other than a nice nod to the Steeler's. I hope they loved it! :)

Air Jordan Shoe & Basketball Cake

Jenae wanted a really unique for her girlfriend's birthday. When we first talked and she said that she wanted Kristina's favorite shoe in cake form, I remember thinking "wow, how am I going to do this!" There is a specific pair of Jordans that Kristina really loves and so we decided to make that cake along with a Chicago-Bulls-esque jersey and a half basketball. The shoe was a strawberry cake layered with buttercream and the basketball was hand-shaped from vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream.

The shoe and basketball were covered in homemade marshmallow fondant while the jersey itself was marshmallow fondant. In order to make this cake look perfect, I printed out a ton of versions of the shoe from all different angles (I raided my brother's closet to see if he had these but he had several other Jordans.... not this one!). The real shoe has a lot of stitching, grooves, and tiny details and I wanted to make sure that I got all of those elements onto this cake. I spent a few hours shaping, cutting, and sculpting the cake until it fit the right shape (I have to thank Paul for this because he's also a huge Jordan fan and made sure that the shoe looked perfect). Then, I covered it in a nice layer of buttercream. Once the buttercream set up in the fridge, I covered it in homemade marshmallow fondant (it's quite a challenge to cover this shape in one piece of fondant and takes a lot of patience).

Now that it was covered, I had to work fast to get the right grooves and stitches into the cake. I used a pattern tracing wheel found in the fabric department of any store to make the "stitched" look. I had to trace the pattern while the fondant was still soft so that it left an indent into the side of the cake (because that's how the shoe looks). I set a large groove down the shoe to make the lip and then used more marshmallow fondant to mimic shoe laces. After I was happy with the grooves, I painted the red and black coloring on with food coloring. Although you can't see all of the details here, I was so proud with the finished product of the shoe. It really looked identical to the real shoe :)

The basketball was much easier to execute but not as easy as it looks! In order to make it look real, I imprinted a texture into the fondant so that it looked and felt like a real basketball. The biggest challenge with the ball was to get it to look perfectly round. There are pans that make balls easily but I wanted this cake to be larger than those pans so hand sculpting was the only way to go.

Lastly, the jersey was made of marshmallow fondant. I rolled it out, cut it into the right shape, added the name, number, and borders around the side. SO much fun! I have to say that I wish I kept this cake for myself because in the end, it was such a labor of love! Happy Birthday, Kristina!

Janna was having a black and pink themed wedding here in Salt Lake but was planning it from Germany. She had seen several cakes with a dragon and castle and loved the idea for her wedding cake. We really wanted it to be a statement wedding cake so the bottom cake was a heart shaped cake nearly 15 inches wide with an 8-inch middle tier and a 6-inch top tier. The dragon and castle were both made out of rice krispies covered in marshmallow fondant. To give the cake a little more of a delicate touch, we added a small pink border around each tier with a tiny pink bow to match.

Because the bride was in Germany, she sent two "representatives" in her place for a cake tasting. Julie, the bridesmaid and her husband, had such a tough job of eating cake and deciding cake flavors :) haha. It was so much fun to hear them talk about the cake and what THEY wanted on it, even though it wasn't their wedding cake. Julie's husband wanted me to add a small Denver Bronco's logo on the cake and tried really hard to convince me of doing that but alas, I refrained from putting his suggestion onto the cake.

In any case, the flavors were Strawberry Cheesecake cake (strawberry cake layered with cheesecake cream filling and buttercream), and Rainbow Bright Cake (vanilla cake dyed to match the colors of the wedding layered with buttercream and rainbow sprinkles).

The castle had tiny little details that I loved including the little swags and windows. You can't see it much here but even the castle door had detail work and a tiny little door handle.
The dragon, also made of rice krispies and marshmallow fondant, was very tricky to make. Because his neck was so long, I had to shape him and then place him around a fake cake to allow him to firm up. Then, his "wings" had to be dried and hardened at an angle so that they could be placed into the dragon so that they looked realistic... or as realistic as a dragon can look. :)

On the day of the wedding, I finally had an opportunity to meet Janna for the first time. She loved the cake and it matched the decor of the wedding site really nicely with bright pink and dark black balloons. It was quite the challenge to make but in the end, very unique cake.

Two-Sided Grim Reaper Birthday

Shona threw Sue an awesome surprise birthday party and had such great ideas about the birthday cake. Shona wanted a half-paradise, and half-grave birthday cake with the grim reaper on top. She even wanted the grim reaper to have Bermuda shorts on under his robe. I thought the whole idea was hilarious and so I was in from the start!

After a lovely cake tasting with Shona, her son and daughter, they decided on Emerald City Cake (light pistachio flavored cake layered with pistachio cream filling, chopped pistachio nuts, and buttercream), Coconut Cream Pie Cake (coconut cake layered with coconut cream filling, coconut flakes, and buttercream), and White Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cake (strawberry cake layered with white chocolate ganache). They were so much fun to plan with surprise birthday cake with and loved each new addition to the main cake idea. They were really shooting for a completely unique and fun cake and I think we achieved that together.

This first picture shows the cake with the stark contrasts between the two sides.

This second picture is the graveside shot. First, the marshmallow fondant was marbleized to give it an eerie feel to it. Then, I painted creepy trees and bats onto the cake. I added 3-D gravestones, each with a different names or phrase and some broken fencing.

This side is the tropical ocean side complete with a half-rainbow, birds & clouds, palm trees and flowers, and finally fish and coral at the bottom. This colorful side was so much fun because it really allowed me to keep adding and adding details until my little heart was content. Ah, it finally was :)

Lastly, I wanted to show you an up close shot of the grim reaper, made of fondant. He has little flip flops, flowers on his shorts, and a sickle to boot. This guy was tricky because I had to get his robe to look like it was flowing while still being made of fondant. His sickle also had to stand straight but stay in his hands. It took some messing around but I finally got him to come together.

The night of the delivery, it was pouring down rain. I was so nervous about getting this sucker into the restaurant because it was so heavy and detailed. Luckily, we got it into the room and into place before the birthday girl arrived. I later heard that she absolutely loved the cake and I know Shona did as well. Thank you so much for trusting me with this crazy vision!! :)

Mod Cake & Cupcakes

Sarah was having a sex-reveal party for her future baby and wanted a modern cake and cupcakes to match. We decided early on that Sarah isn't much of a "pink ducks" and "baby blue rattle" type of mother and since it was her shower, we wanted the theme to match her personality. In our discussions of the party, she mentioned that this baby was her "VERY.LAST.ONE" which I thought was hilarious. I suggested that we integrate those words into the cake because it was too funny to let slide. You can hardly see it in this picture but the cake topper (made of marshmallow fondant) says "VERY LAST ONE" on it.

The cake was covered in marshmallow fondant and the cupcake toppers were also MMF. We went with yellow, orange, brown, red, and white as the color scheme because this was during the fall. The cupcakes are Chocolate Dipped Cherry Pie Cake (chocolate cake with baked cherries) topped with cream cheese frosting while the main cake was White Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cake (strawberry cake layered with white chocolate ganache).

Because this was a sex reveal party, Sarah had her doctor call me immediately after her ultrasound and told me the sex of their future baby. It was pretty crazy that I was the second person to know :) Anyway, I dyed the cream cheese frosting and the white chocolate ganache blue so that when they cut into the main cake and when the guests bit into their cupcakes, they saw bright blue all at the same time finding out that they were having another boy. Sarah later wrote and told me that the sex reveal was a huge hit and they are thrilled to have another boy. Congratulations, Nathan and Sarah! Very. Last. One, right? If not, I'll be here for another sex-reveal cake. haha

Polka Dots & Mouse Ears

Jill wanted a fun and bright cake for Oakley's second birthday. She had seen a cake I made a while back with a similar pink, black, and white color scheme with polka dots and wanted something like that. This cake was so much fun because I love the colors and the design. The little bows and ears just make it so cute for a birthday party. The bottom tier was Brownie Lovers (chocolate cake layered with brownies and chocolate ganache) while the top tier cakes were Rainbow Bright (sweet vanilla cake dyed to match the theme of the birthday layered with buttercream and sprinkles). The whole cake was covered in homemade marshmallow fondant and accented with MMF decorations including the bow and ears.

I have to say that it was pretty tedious to place each of those dots one by one on the borders and to make sure that they are spaced equally. Yes, I'm the type of person that needs there to be equal spacing between the dots :) In the end, this was a fun and bubbly cake for Oakley's 2nd birthday. Yay!