Let's Talk Groom's Cakes!

 I love when brides surprise their new hubbies with groom's cakes totally tailored to their likings. It's SO much fun to match a very elegant wedding cake with a much less elegant, and oftentimes explanation-less cake that even I don't understand! haha... don't worry, we'll get there. 

First up is this golf groom's cake. There was a very long discussion at the cake tasting on making a unique groom's cake rather than the same-ol-golfer on top of an argyle cake. I LOVED making this cake because it really was just one giant brainstorming session on making this cake totally different. Maren & her lovely mother, Betsy, helped come up great ideas, sketch ideas, colors, design, etc. for this lil' guy (actually, it was a huge cake :) The cake had red rocks on the backside along with a sand trap (made of brown sugar and graham crackers) and a water hazard. Oh, so much fun!

Next up we have a Minnesota Vikings Football groom's cake. ShiAnne wanted another unique groom's cake idea, not just the normal football shaped cake. We went with a topsy turvy design covered in marshmallow fondant with edible sugar balls coming out of the cake. Again...So... Much... Fun!

 Now we have a cake that needs some explanation. Do I know what this is? Not really... haha. If you're a Star Wars mega-fan you might recognize this as a Slave One. Yup, otherwise to the rest of you, google Slave One and you'll see what I was going for :) This really was quite a challenge because the whole thing was edible so I had to structure it correctly to have the top part hanging out of the top but not sag or fall over. I hand painted the colors on here to get them as close as possible to the Slave One I was going after. Ah... this was a challenge indeed but I do appreciate the challenge... thank you, KiElys!

Next up is a snowmobile. Katie wanted to display her hubby's favorite snowmobile all out of cake. This cake was covered in marshmallow fondant and again, hand-painted to get the right colors for the exact snowmobile I was going for. The windshield was exceptionally difficult to get to stand up correctly but worked out in the end :)

Lastly, we have an Adidas shoe groom's cake. The bride wanted to surprise the groom (and we went to great lengths to hide this puppy until after the wedding) with this all cake shoe covered in marshmallow fondant. Yup, I hand painted the stripes and logo on here after putting the right grooves in the front of the shoe and after adding the laces. It's funny to recreate something real because I want it to be as exact as possible while still looking edible. Loved making this shoe! Thank you, Danielle, for allowing me to make such a fun groom's cake for your hubby!

A Distinguished Gentleman's Birthday Cake

Joshlin was throwing a mustache themed distinguished gentleman's surprise birthday party for her hubby and wanted a very unique cake for the shindig. Everything in this picture is made of cake or sugar. We did a bottle of Brandy, a bowler hat, a folded shirt with his favorite "relax" logo and cuff links, a replica of his favorite watch, a bow tie and a gentleman's loafer shoe. Oh, and there's a mustache in front of the shirt box that you can barely see.

The cakes were Lemon Supreme Cake, Banana Cream Pie Cake, and Caramel Macchiato Cake (check out all of my flavors at www.SaltCakeCity.com). Everything was covered in homemade marshmallow fondant and the box, Brandy, and shoe were all hand-painted. This cake was so cool to make because each piece was very different. Joshlin has since moved out of Utah and I was so sad to see her go! She came up with such fun cake ideas and challenges! More cakes for Joshlin to come on the blog :)

Police Car Groom's Cake

This groom's cake went with the yellow square wedding cake below. The groom is a police officer so they wanted a cool groom's cake to reflect that. It's all cake and then covered in marshmallow fondant. I actually cut out wheel holes in the side of the cake and then make full sized (to scale) tires to fit in the holes. That way, it looks like a real wheel on a car. So here's the process: Bake the cakes, let them cool. Stack and torte the cake by adding frostings and fillings (Yes, I do this to all my cakes so that my shaped cakes taste just as good as my tiered cakes). Chill in the fridge. Carve the cake. Frost the cake again. Chill in the fridge. Carve the cake again. Frost it yet again. Chill in the fridge. Cover in marshmallow fondant. Chill in the fridge. Add grooves in the cake, paint the front and back of the car.... chill in the fridge. Make the tires, mirrors, front and back lights, and lights on the top. Add those details. Take a step back and fix anything that's missing or wrong on the cake. Adhere it to a base of some sort. Now back into the fridge. It's amazing just how long cars take to make out of cake! :)

Doctor Who Tardis Groom's Cake

I can't tell you how many people see this cake in my portfolio and say "Oh my gosh! Doctor Who!" Yes, this is a Dr. Who Tardis which is his time machine. I had seen a few pictures of Tardis cakes before but I wanted to be as exact as possible. I researched this thing for weeks before the wedding because the one thing the groom asked for at the cake tasting was that the groom's cake be awesome. He was quite serious about it too! Haha. It was half Emerald City Cake and half Brownie Lovers cake covered in marshmallow fondant. I painted the wording on the top with edible food coloring and the sign on the front was written with edible food coloring markers. You can check out the real Tardis to see what it says because I wrote it word for word.

When I delivered the cake, I set this puppy down and started taking pictures of the wedding cake. Then I heard the groomsmen come in and start ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the cake. The groom walked in very slowly and walked around the table before saying. "It's perfect." Haha. That's all I wanted!

Spiderman Groom's Cake

This Groom's cake went with the topsy turvy wedding cake below (Yes, this couple is awesome!). I didn't want the cake to look childish so I went with something that was more obviously Spiderman but not too cartoony. Yeah, I hope that made sense :) The spider on top was all fondant as well. The cake was Cookies & Cake flavor.

PS3 Controller

Elizabeth wanted a special special to give to her children on the day of their wedding as a symbol of their joining families. The boys love to play their PS3 so she thought a controller would be awesome. The whole cake is Ruby Red Velvet cake with cream cheese frosting covered in marshmallow fondant. In order to make this controller look the best, I shaped the cake into controller first. This usually takes several hours to get right and yes, yes it did :) After shaping it, I covered it in a few layers of buttercream to make sure the indents and grooves were prominent. I covered the whole cake in black marshmallow fondant. I added the the buttons and knobs and there you have it. It really does sound more simple than it was... haha....

New York Rangers Hat Cake

Hillary wanted to surprise Jarom, her new hubby, with a groom's cake at the wedding. Suzanne, the bride's mom, knew it should be hockey related and even Rangers related but at first, we weren't sure what to do. We toiled around with a few ideas, like doing a rink or a jersey but then it hit them both. He loves his New York Rangers hat and wears it everyday. They knew it would be the perfect groom's cake. The cake was Emerald City flavored (pistachio flavored cake with pistachio cream filling and buttercream) and covered in homemade marshmallow fondant. I hand-painted all of the patches that were on the hat (the NHL logo, and the two Rangers logos). I shaped the bill of the hat with a real hat bill and then added the grooves to make it look more realistic.

 When I delivered the cake, both Hillary and Suzanne LOVED it! They couldn't get over how realistic it was and therefore, I was very happy. I didn't get to see Jarom's reaction but Suzanne said that he didn't even want to cut into it. The happy couple took it home, stuck it in the fridge, went on a honeymoon, came back, and ate it then! She said it was still so moist and delicious! It's the magic of fondant :) Congrats to both of you! (Wedding cake picture to come next)

Poker Groom's Cake

Regan wanted to surprise her future husband with a poker themed groom's cake. I made a similar cake for the TV spot I did on KUTV and so we recreated it with a better hand :) The cake was Mocha Java flavored (Chocolate cake layered with coffee buttercream... yum!) and covered in homemade marshmallow fondant.

I love the simplicity of this cake. The cards are really just rectangles, the chips are just circles, and the side pieces are fondant discs with spades, clubs, hearts, and diamonds cut with aspic cutters. To make the chips, I cut out circles, then used a circle cutter even small to indent a circle inside of the chip. I cut out tiny white squares and placed them around the edges to make it look more realistic.

Thank you to my brothers for all of their help and "research" in getting the cards and chips as accurate as possible :)

Golfing Groom's Cake

Brittany wanted to get Spencer a fun groom's cake for their wedding and wanted to incorporate his love of golf. She had seen a cake online that had a golfer with a golf cart and thought that would be fun. The cake was Brownie Lovers which is chocolate cake layered with a rich chocolate ganache and a layer of chewy brownies. It was covered in homemade marshmallow fondant and all of the cake was edible, including the golfer, the cart, and the bag.

In order to make the golf cart, I had to make the wheels, seating area, and roof in separate pieces. I let them dry and harden and then assembled them a few days before the wedding (this way, if it fell apart, I still had a few days to make another). Luckily, it went together beautifully and even made the delivery drive. I tried to keep the side pattern elegant and simple considering how much detail there was on top. Plus, the main wedding cake is coming in my next blog and you will see that the main cake was quite a cake and so I didn't want to take away from that one too much.

So when we got there, my best friend, Rosie (who I call my "cake muscle") brought in the cake. We set everything up and as we about to leave she said ,"Where's the golf ball?" I looked at the groom's cake and there was no golf ball! Fondant Spencer was holding a club and looking down at the grass but there was no ball! I freaked out for a second (especially since I literally saw the bride walk passed me in her beautiful gown as she entered the main ceremony next door). Then I remember that I put three extra golf balls in the fondant golf bag behind Spencer. I have to thank my dad for that. Every time we go golfing, he always stresses to bring many extra golf balls... thank you for the tip, Dad! It saved me here! :) I pulled one off of the golf bag, set it in front of the club and called it a day.

I have a take a second and talk about Brittany & Spencer's venue, The Gathering Place at Gardner Village in West Jordan. I have visited the location several times in the past but never at night when it was set up for a wedding. Oh my gosh. I walked in with the wedding cake and it was absolutely magical! As you walk in the giant doors, you see a breathtaking fire place that sets up the feel of rustic and warm venue. The ceremony was held right next door to the reception site which was so convenient for the wedding guests. I walked into the main reception area that was decorated with the bride and groom's wedding colors and I was totally wowed. I've delivered quite a few wedding cakes in my time and this venue was one that I left saying, "wow, I would totally get married there!" The room was large but not overly large so that guests would feel lost. It had a cozy and warm feel, especially with the white, black, and deep red color scheme. I wanted to stick around after delivering the cake because it was so inviting! I just have to say, well done, Charlotte & Shauna! The Gathering Place is truly amazing!

To visit their website, check out www.gardnervillage.com.

More to come on Brittany and Spencer's wedding! :)

2006 Mustang Shelby GT 500 (that's a mouthful!)

Jodie threw a surprise birthday party for her husband and wanted the cake to look like his baby.... his car :) At first I was a little scared because the cake needed to look exact. Ralph loves his 2006 Mustang Shelby GT 500 and if it wasn't exact, he would notice. Here's what I did...

The cake was Brownie Lovers (chocolate cake layered with actual brownies and chocolate ganache) and it was covered in homemade marshmallow fondant. First, I went to the store and bought a small toy replica of the exact car. I had plenty of pictures that Jodie secretly took of the car but I thought a more 3-D replica would help. I started by layering the cake and brownies into a rectangle. I covered it in ganache and then let the ganache harden up a bit before starting the carving process. I carved, stepped back, carved some more, stepped back some more, and carved again. To get the dimensions just right, it took several hours of carving, frosting, and carving to get it right. Once I had that down, I added dimension on the cake like the spoiler and bumpers by rolling MMF and "gluing" them onto the cake with a little ganache. The idea here was to place fondant over these grooves so that they stuck out even further than the cake itself but could stand on their own. Then, I covered the cake in four separate pieces of marshmallow fondant (the front, the back, and the sides). Because this cake was so huge, I thought it best to cover it in pieces so that I could pay more attention to the grooves of each side rather than rushing through covering it quickly. I wanted the cake to shine like a real car so I painted the whole cake with edible red food coloring a few times until it shined. Ah, that was so much fun.

I cut out the windows and inserted black pieces of fondant to mimic tinted (yes, REALLY tinted) windows. I ran white stripes down the center of the cake (which was trickier than it looks because I wanted them to look just right). The wheels were made of rice crispies covered in MMF. I painted the rims with edible silver and waited until they dried before placing them on the cake. I added the rear view mirrors, and tiny details like the headlights, back lights, logos, and license plate. Wow, when I write it out like that, it sounds so easy! :)

When the cake was complete, it was so huge that I couldn't fit it into either of my fridges! To give you an idea, one of the guests of the party insisted on taking a picture of me with my cake (I rarely ever do this but here it is... me and Ralph's cake!).

Since it was a surprise party, I didn't get a chance to meet Jodie or Ralph but Jodie later wrote me this email:

Well, all I can think of to say is WOW. That cake was SOOO incredible! It got photographed more than Ralph did! You are truly amazing.....what was even more amazing was that it was unbelievably delicious! I actually think it was the best cake I ever had! Ralph had a seriously hard time making that first cut into it---in fact he tried his key fob first! I just can't thank you enough--you didn't have any cards left there by the end of the party! I was telling everyone how wonderful you were to work with--I soo appreciated your willingess to dive into the challenge, and it was just as amazing as I knew it would be. It was the hit of the party--there were lots of car guys there that were completely enamored!

Thank you, thank you, thank you again--the care and detail that you put into that work of art was so appreciated. I can't wait to take one of your classes!

Thank you so much, Jodie! I was so thrilled to have such a challenge and it was awesome working with you as well!

Gaming System Cake... Nerd Alert :)

Corrinne needed a cake for the new Gaming department at the University of Utah and originally wanted it to be small. As we worked on the design, the cake got bigger and bigger going from just an Xbox to 6 different gaming systems. I wanted to go old school with a Nintendo and Super Nintendo and Corrinne wanted to represent the new generation of gaming like the Wii and DS. The "compromise" if we want to call it that, was that we do all 6 systems with four different flavors. (I must admit that I encouraged the growth of the design even more than she did :) I was so happy that she loved it in the end!)

Each of the cakes were covered in homemade marshmallow fondant with MMF accents. Because of the weight of the cake, I had to assemble it onsite so we wheeled in each tier and I stacked one on top of the other while a group of graduate gaming students watched. I don't even know where to begin so let's take it one step at a time.

The cakes were Banana Cream Pie Cake (banana flavored cake layered with banana cream filling and fresh banana slices), Mom's Apple Pie Cake (spice cake with baked apples layered with cheesecake cream filling and buttercream), Rainbow Bright Cake (vanilla cake dyed different colors to match the design of the cake layered with sprinkles and buttercream), and Mocha Java Cake (chocolate cake layered with caramel cream filling and coffee buttercream).

The bottom tier was an NES with the labels from the new Department of Film & Media Arts and Master Games Studio. The next "tier" up was an XBox and I have to admit that late into the night I realized that I had made the XBox upside down and couldn't do anything about it. I was nearly panicked because this was a cake for gamers. My man-friend and even Corrinne herself said "I'm sure no one will even notice!" Ugh, I still had lots of dissonance about it. So sad for me! Next up was a PS2 followed by a Wii. Next up was a Super Nintendo complete with the grooves and plug-ins and finally a DS on top. I made two DS's, one in Ute red and one that was blue. For those of you who don't know, BYU's colors are blue and the University of Utah's colors are red so there's a big rivalry. Unfortunately, the blue one was better looking (according to me) so I had to top the cake with the blue one. What can I say? For me, cake trumps colors.

Oh, this cake was SO much fun! I LOVED making each cake as perfect as I could (with the exception of that tiny little upside down cake... ugh!) and it really took me back to being a kid with all the gaming systems. All of us nerds out there can probably appreciate the combination of old school and new school gaming systems. Thank you, Corrinne, for being so open to having what was going to be a small cake turn out to be a show stopper. Good luck with your new position and know that we miss you already!

1957 Chevy Cake

Mona wanted to get a very special birthday cake for Ken this year. I'll be honest, when she first emailed I was quite a bit scared... she wanted me to make a 1957 Chevy for the cake because it's Ken's dream car. Now, I have to apologize to Ken because he got a cake, and not a car for his birthday (sorry man!) BUT it gave me the opportunity to take on a huge challenge. Although I was hesitant, Mona was so awesome to put her trust in me and encouraged me the whole way through (this sounds so dramatic, I realize that). It took many, MANY hours to complete this cake from the multiple sketches to measuring the specs to the sculpting and "fondanting," which I know isn't a word. In the end, Mona and Ken loved the cake so that's all that matters.

The cake was a deep purple-ish/blue-ish color with silver and white trim but the pictures came out a little darker/bluer (is bluer a word?) than the cake really was. It was a Chocolate Dipped Cherry Cake (chocolate with cherries baked into the cake layered with chocolate buttercream) and covered in all homemade marshmallow fondant. For those of you just looking for the pictures (like my dad), stop reading now but if you're interested in making a similar creation, here are my reflections on the process...
First, I have to say that I sketched this cake out several times. It's very different to have pictures of a cake rather than detailed sketches with measurements and dimensions. Generally, it's very tricky to take a 2-D picture and turn it into a 3-D thing so doing it in cake was definitely going to take a lot of planning. I baked rectangle shaped cakes first and let them cool. I stacked and layered them with frosting just as I would any other cake, making sure to put a little extra in the middle for the roof. I covered it all in chocolate buttercream and let it sit in the fridge for a while. This allows the cake to firm up a bit which makes it easier to carve. The whole process really took a lot of patience because it took several pairings of carving the cake and then icing the cake just to get it to look even remotely close to a car. (Don't worry, I bounce my ideas about 3-D cakes off of my man-friend, Paul, since he's WAY more of an artist than I) After we were both satisfied with the general shape of the cake, I covered it in one last coat of buttercream and then covered it in fondant.

Now, I wanted the car to shine like a paint job so I painted over the purple fondant with a deeper purple and then made the bumpers, windshields, headlights, roof, and wheels out of fondant. It's hard to see in these pictures but I cut the windows just slightly into the cake so that they had some depth. Also, the car was actually propped up so that Mona and Ken could see underneath the car and so the car looked like it was being held up by the wheels. The last thing I did was paint on edible shimmer and silver to the trim. Phew! It was such a great challenge and I was just so happy to hear how much Ken loved it :)

Connect2Utah on 2News This Morning

On August 3rd, I was invited to be a part of Connect2Utah on KUTV's 2News This Morning in Utah. First, you need the back story. I received an email from Tom, KUTV's photojournalist pictured above in the blue shirt, a while back asking if Salt Cake City would be interested in being on the news. Then, I noticed that Tom's name sounded familiar... turns out, I was his public speaking instructor three years ago. It was quite a coincidence since he didn't realize it was me either. After putting this off for quite a bit, Tom and I finally found a date that worked. I made a few fake cakes for the occasion and since our topic was Groom's cakes, I made a poker themed cake and a Dallas Cowboy's cake. The poker cake was a nod to my brother who loves poker and the Cowboy's cake was a nod to my dad. Since I technically have never made them a cake, this was a way for me to kill two birds with one stone :) haha. I hope they realized that... probably not, huh.

Anyway, on the day of the live shoot, I met with Casey (the host holding the cake in the picture above) and Tom at 5:15am to start the set up. I came prepared with several fake cakes including a Twilight themed cake and a few wedding cakes to set a little background while Casey and I went to work on discussing fondant and making a cake. I made a tuxedo themed cake (since I had just had someone order this as a groom's cake) and the flavor was Tuxedo Cake (layered chocolate and vanilla cake with buttercream and chocolate ganache. Then, I threw in some dark and white chocolate chips into the mix for funsies). You can see the finished product here after Casey cut into it and ate a slice. This cake was covered in homemade marshmallow fondant and decorated with fondant accents (that Casey put on while we were on air).
Here are the two shots of the groom's cakes I made. Again, the cakes are covered in fondant and even the football was made out of fondant. You can't see it well here but the silver parts of this cake were sprayed with edible silver shimmer.
This was the poker cake and everything on here is edible from the chips to the cards to the playing table. I loved making this cake because it was so colorful and vibrant.
Now to the video footage. We shot four segments between 6:15 and 7:45am but it's okay, it ended in eating CAKE! :) hehe. I was definitely nervous before the shoot but I was really relaxed while shooting, which is ironic since my former public speaking student was watching me basically do a live impromptu speech. Tom was really awesome though to help me feel comfortable with bright lights, mics, and all the energy that Casey had to offer at 6 in the morning. :) Thank you so much to Tom and Casey and Skippy (the intern who had to eat gross tasting fondant on air) for allowing Salt Cake City to be showcased.

Here are the links to three of the four segments for those of you who either live outside of Utah or who aren't usually awake at 6am. Enjoy!

The first segment is the opening introduction from Casey:

http://connect2utah.com/2news-this-morning-story/?nxd_id=102145

This next segment is about fondant and the different types of fondant:

http://connect2utah.com/libraries/nxd/media/?data=media_player&v=161905

The last segment is Casey making a fondant bow, or at least a semi-descent fondant bow :)

http://connect2utah.com/libraries/nxd/media/?data=media_player&v=161915

Purple Stripes and a Tuxedo

Sarah contacted me a while back about her upcoming wedding. She wanted an elegant but simple wedding cake that matched her purple and white themed wedding. Sarah saw a beautiful cake done by Cakegirls (one of my favorites) and fell in love with its design so we modeled this one after their deisng. We decided to have the cakes each be 6 inches tall to give it more character and had the stripes in varying shades of purple painted with luster dust. The cake was covered in homemade marshmallow fondant and there were two tiers of White Almond Cake (almond flavored cake layered with cream cheese frosting and chopped almonds) along with one layer of Emerald City Cake (light-pistachio flavored cake tinted green and layered with buttercream and pistachio cream filling). Once assembled, Sarah provided the beautiful birds on the top of the cake that kissed (so cute!) and I added a few peonies.

Sarah also wanted a Groom's cake for her now-husband that was based on an inside joke they share. This was meant to look as much like a tuxedo as possible. The collar stood up and the bow-tie was also 3-D. The flower matched the peonies on the main wedding cake. This was an 8-inch square Mocha Java Cake (chocolate cake layered with coffee buttercream) covered in homemade marshmallow fondant. The collar and bow-tie were also made out of marshmallow fondant. Here's another shot of the cake for you.

Who doesn't need a Giant Edible Penguin!?

Hope wanted to surprise her husband-to-be with a personalized groom's cake. Apparently, it was a penguin that started their relationship (metaphorically, of course) and so she thought that giving him a penguin would be a great touch on their wedding day. Because Jonathan does a radio show, she asked to add headphones and a microphone. It's hard to tell from this picture but the penguin was HUGE. It was nearly two feet tall and the whole thing was edible. It had to weigh nearly 20-25 pounds... but what would I know? I'm a small-fry who makes someone else carry the heavy stuff. Anyway, it was made out of rice krispies and buttercream and then covered in marshmallow fondant. The eyes, beak, headphones, and microphone were made separately and then attached using skewers and buttercream to make sure it would all stay on for the hour drive north to the reception site. Wow, what a scary drive! Not for me, I sat in the back cuddled up next to my new penguin friend while my man-friend tried to ease the car over every bump and turn in the road (no, i didn't actually cuddle the penguin and yes, we made it just fine).

I wish I could give some advice or tutorial on how to make said penguin but my only advice would be .... buy LOTS of extra rice cereal and marshmallows because you will keep running out of those ingredients even though you think you have plenty. I made about 7 large batches or so.... and still needed more. I made the rice krispies and formed them into flat rectangles so that they could cool and harden. Then, I kept layering the "sheets" on top of each other with buttercream being sure to insert cardboard supports in two areas within the penguin (about 1/3 of the way up and again at 2/3 of the way up). Once it was the right height, I shaved it down to the right shape using a large serrated knife. I then covered the whole thing in buttercream and chilled it in the fridge. I shaved it down once again because when making a 3-D cake, it has to be pretty perfectly shaved, otherwise the bumps and nicks will show through in the fondant. Then I covered the whole penguin in marshmallow fondant. I added the white belly, headphones, eyes, and arms. Phew! It was so much fun and in the end, it was a pretty amazing feat! Perhaps more people will want giant edible penguins in the future... I know I do!

Blue Dragon Cake and Cake Truffles

Katie and Jered got married today and Katie wanted to surprise her new husband with a dragon cake as the Groom's cake. I showed up, blue dragon cake and all, and Katie's family was very sweet about the cake. The new couple was out taking their wedding photos when the groom walked in to grab some water. All of Katie's guests quickly stood in front of the cake to hide it from him and shoved him back out of the door! I didn't get to see the new couple's reaction to their cake but I hope they loved it.

The body of the cake was a chocolate cake with a cool blue mint buttercream to match the decor. The head was made out of fondant while the neck, tail, and feet were rice crispies covered in buttercream and fondant. Then, I placed each scale on the dragon individually by hand with smaller scales on the end and larger scales in the middle body area. It was very time consuming but I wanted to get the right effect for the dragon. I wanted it to look scale-y (if that's a word). The "dorsal fin" looking scales that are standing up are also made out of homemade marshmallow fondant. The dragon wings were also edible and made out of fondant. I was very happy that everything on this cake was completely edible except the thin wire that attached the wings to the body. I wanted to attach a second photo to show the size of this cake. It twas large :)

After carving the body of the cake, I had lots of cake leftover but wanted to make sure that Katie and Jered had enough servings for their wedding guests. I used the leftover cake and buttercream to make cake truffles, also known as cake balls. They are rich and moist balls of cake mixed with the mint buttercream. I hope they ate all of those too!

Rubik's Cube and 2 Mini Cakes

This weekend was a big weekend for me. I had 6 cakes to complete and three of them were quite difficult. The first three cakes were for Emily's wedding. Emily saw a Rubik's cube online and wanted to replicate it for her groom's cake. Each tier was 9 inches by 9 inches by 3 inches. Stacked on top of each other, this cake was 9 by 9 by 9. Phew! The squares were actually more intricate to make than anticipated. Everyone knows what a Rubik's cube is and so it had to be perfect. If those squares were even slightly off, the whole look of the cake would be off. In any case, I tried to be as precise as possible and it was SO much fun to make. The cake is buttery yellow cake layered with chocolate ganache. The whole cake is covered in marshmallow fondant. In order to get the edges as crisp as possible, I cut out the sides and top a few days in advance. I measured them out so that they would fit together and cover the cake perfectly. Then, after they dried and hardened, I simply aligned the edges and (sugar) glued them together. I hope Peter was shocked and that he loved it :)

Emily was one of the most thoughtful brides I've ever seen. On her wedding day, she wanted to give her father and bridesmaid their own cakes in honor of their birthdays. So along with the Rubik's cube cake, I made two mini cakes. The first was a purple flower cake for her bridesmaid. The second cake was a camping themed birthday cake for her father. All of the decorations were made out of marshmallow fondant. Both of the mini-cakes were Peanut Butter No-Cup Cakes (chocolate cake layered with peanut butter cream filling).

Airplanes and Circles

Now you might be thinking, "well now, what is that?" Let me explain. So Emily was getting married and wanted a unique Groom's cake. She and "Sharky" had a specific memory they were trying to recreate with this cake. This is an airplane strip in the middle of the desert with cracked mud all around. I cut out individual pieces of "cracked mud" (fondant) and pieced them together in order to create the textured look. I sculpted the plane out of styrofoam and then covered it in fondant a number of times in order to get it to look exactly like the Cessna they were looking for. There were two very hard parts of this cake. 1) The cake was over 2 feet wide and over 1 1/2 ft long. It was giganto. Without the cake base, it covered the entire top shelf of my fridge with very little room to close. 2) That plane did not want to stand up. You can imagine trying to hold up the weight of a plane on 3 little legs (planes are weird that way). In the end, it all worked out beautifully.






After making that huge cake, I decided to slow it down and make a simplistic design for my future-mother-in-law's birthday cake. Simple. Ah, you gotta love simple.