Piece of Cake!

Contrary to what this blog might suggest, I don't always make a cake for my classes. I did happen to make this cake for my students at Neumont University last quarter. I wanted it to be fun and festive and I've always wanted to do a slice of cake-cake. This was my opportunity!

To achieve look, I baked a full size cake. Then, before I frosted and filled the cake, I cut out the slice that I wanted to use as the top. I torted and frosted each of these two pieces separately. I did a flavor experiment with my students (free cake should always be an experiment :) It was a Peach Cobbler Cake, peach flavored spice cake layered with peach filling and granola. Wasn't my favorite experiment but from it, I revamped my peach flavor and now have the Just Peachy Cake (cinnamon vanilla cake layered with peach filing, peach slices and cinnamon buttercream). Anyway, back to this cake!

I covered the whole cake in white marshmallow fondant, then, I used a yellow fondant and made the sides of the cake lined with purple filling (I'm not quite sure what purple filling would be but I loved the color combination). I added stripes to the outside of the cake, then covered the top of the cake with teal "frosting." In order to the get that ruffle look, I simple didn't push the sides of the fondant onto the cake itself, I lifted the sides of the fondant to give it some volume. Lastly, I added marshmallow fondant "sprinkles." Yum!

Thank you, ladies & gents for a great class! It's always a fun time at Neumont :)

Valentine Cupcakes

My bonus daughter was having a Valentine's party in class (Yes, I am THAT far behind in posting pictures... I'm Sorry!). The rules on snacks in classrooms have become way more strict than when I was in school so now they can only bring in store-bought snacks. Luckily, I own a bakery so I can make special little treats like this. Yay! These were mini chocolate cupcakes topped with red dyed buttercream and really big candy conversation hearts. They were so adorable and she loved them. Happy late Valentine's Day (yes, I know, that was A LONG time ago :)

Missionary Badge Cake

Easter's brother was coming home from his LDS mission and she wanted to do a unique cake for the party. She thought a cool idea would be to make his missionary badge in cake form. It was also going to be fun because the badge was in Samoan. It was a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream and it was covered in marshmallow fondant. For the lettering, I had to use a few different techniques and cutters because LDS missionary badges are pretty distinctive and I wanted to get it right (I did a lot of google searches to get the size and fonts as close as I could to the real thing). In the end, it was a simple cake by design but took a lot of work to get it right. :)

Mini Grasshopper Cakes

Kari needed two cakes for her friends' birthdays. One of her inside jokes is little grasshoppers so we went with this idea and made mini-cakes for them. This first one is a female grasshopper (can't you tell? She has pouty pink lips and eye shadow) made out of fondant on top of Vanilla Latte Cake (vanilla cake layered with coffee flavored buttercream). The blades of grass and bow are also marshmallow fondant and then I placed silver dragees on the cake for a little extra touch.

As you can see, these are pretty small cakes. They were around 4 inches in diameter, which is pretty small to work with when covering a cake in buttercream and fondant. This cake has a little boy grasshopper (why I had to make a girl and a boy grasshopper is beyond me. She said grasshoppers, I assigned them a sex). In any case, this one has a hershey kiss made out of fondant along with a puddle of chocolate underneath the grasshopper. Again, the mini-cake is covered in home made marshmallow fondant. This cake was a chocolate cake layered with chocolate chips and chocolate buttercream. YUM!

I later heard that the second cake never made it to Kari's friend because when she unveiled the first cake to her friend, they ended up eating both cakes together :) haha. Happy to do it!

Happy Bunny Send Off

Karen wanted to give Martin a proper send off since he was leaving his position at the University of Utah and wanted to play off of his happy bunniness (not a word, I know). We went back and forth on designs and it proved challenging to incorporate bunnies into a cake for someone who's not turning 6 years old. In an effort to keep it more mature, I went with the school colors and a rather simple design so that you can focus on the happy little bunnies.

The bunnies were hand cut from circles and stripes and were surprising more easy to make than I anticipated. Circle for the head, circle for the body, strips for the hands, feet and ears. Okay, it's not THAT easy but you get the idea.

Because Martin likes things that are simple, Karen decided on Yellow cake with chocolate buttercream for the top tier, After Dinner Mint cake for the middle tier (chocolate cake layered with mint chocolate ganache), and 24-Carrot Cake for the bottom tier (carrot cake layered with cream cheese frosting).

Salt Cake City Logo Cake

I made this cake as a display for an upcoming convention to match my logo. The whole cake is covered in homemade marshmallow fondant. There's not much else to say about the cake. Oh, I know, I can explain how to make fondant candles. Roll out fondant so that it tapers near the bottom. Stick a piece of spaghetti noodle through it so that it peaks out of the top just a bit and sticks out the bottom about two inches. Then, with a piece of yellow fondant, shape a ball and then pinch a tip from the ball so that it resembles a flame. Place that onto the tip of the spaghetti noodle (I like to put a dab of water where the fondant touches fondant, this will help it glue faster). Now, if you lay it down flat to dry, there will be a flat surface on your candle. Instead stick the remaining exposed spaghetti into a piece of styrofoam so it stands tall. Now, get caking!

Religion in Cake Form

First an explanation. Sarah was taking a Religion and Conflict class and for her final project, she wanted something unique. What's more unique that religion in cake form? :) I was so happy to see her idea. She sketched out the idea she had in mind and explained it above. This was my interpretation of her interpretation of religion.
The book was made out of rice krispies covered in marshmallow fondant. The column was mostly styrofoam but I added the lined detail by layering marshmallow fondant "tubes" onto the styrofoam before covering the whole thing in more marshmallow fondant. Lastly, I made the Southern Butter Pecan Cake (butter pecan cake layered with caramel, chopped pecans, and cream cheese frosting) for the base and covered it in MMF. I painted on edible shimmery silver & gold to make it look like a galaxy and accented it with tiny dragees (fancy mini-jawbreaker type things).
It was a little tricky to assemble because I delivered to school so she could take it to her class. The book was a little heavier than the expected so the whole drive, I was afraid it would tip over. Don't worry, I drove a dowel straight through the whole cake to make sure it wouldn't. I still get nervous though :)

So I got it to my office where Sarah was coming to meet me. I had just got out of teaching and I had my students in my office asking for help with their homework when she came to get the cake. It was a strange moment with my students seeing the cake and thinking, "Wait, I thought she was a teacher." haha.

In the end, Sarah loved it AND I have to mention that she earned an A in the class. I like to think it was because of the cake but it's probably because she's a brilliant student. :)

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!

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

First Gingerbread Ever!

South Jordan holds an annual Gingerbread contest mostly for kids and just for fun. This year, I thought I would enter because I've never made a gingerbread house from scratch before. It was even more fun than I thought it would be plus I loved the smell of the house after cooking gingerbread... yum! I decided to make a gingerbread bakery instead of a house considering what I do. I cut windows into the walls of the bakery and assembled the "house" with a mixture of buttercream and royal icing. I covered each wall with marshmallow fondant with a brick texture and added a shingled-type roof made of colorful MMF ovals. I used the same colors from the "shingles" as accents on the door, Christmas lights around the house and on the trees. Pretty much everything on this gingerbread bakery is MMF with the exception of the icing and the walls.

The trees are solid pieces of fondant shaped into a cone. Then, I used cuticle scissors to cut the sides of the tree making it look more like a Christmas tree. I added the Christmas lights and a solid fondant star on top. I accented the gingerbread bakery with my Salt Cake City logo on the window and a cake, cake slice, and cupcakes on a small table outside of the bakery (made from MMF). Lastly, I drizzled thick royal icing on the bushes (made from MMF as well), trees, and the roof. To add even more texture, I blended coconut flakes with granulated sugar and sprinkled that on the wet royal icing creating a thick snow fall.

This piece was so much fun to make because for me, the more color there was, the better it was. I wanted it to be really vibrant and festive :) I hope you like it and I also hope you have a lovely holiday season!

Holiday Present Cake

The Department of Communication was having its annual Holiday Luncheon and so to celebrate, I wanted to do a fun and festive cake. This cake ended up being much bigger than I anticipated but I had fun making it so that's all that matters. Rosie helped dye all of the fondant since I only had one day to put this all together. Consequently, her hands are still dyed red and green while mine are nice and pretty. (Now THAT'S a good friend!) Hmm, I'm not sure what else to discuss about the cake but if you have questions on how I did anything, just let me know. If you search for the other cakes with the "bow" tag in my cake blog, I have explained how to make these bow that I've done here.

The top cake was Peanut Butter No Cup Cake (chocolate cake layered with sweet peanut butter buttercream), the middle was Thankful for Pumpkin Pie Cake (pumpkin cake layered with pumpkin cream filling and buttercream) and the bottom was Rosie's favorite, Banana Cream Pie (banana cake layered with banana cream filling, banana slices, and buttercream).

The whole cake is covered in homemade marshmallow fondant including the top present bow and the bottom red bow. Each of these was made to look like a different type of present with different holiday aspects. I especially loved the blue box on top with the snowflakes. I had such a great time making this cake with Rosie and my department was so gracious with their compliments at the luncheon. A special thank you to Dr. Darling. You are always so supportive and I don't tell you just how much I appreciate your thoughtfulness.

Autumn Leaves

I made this cake during a cake class I taught while the other students were making their creations. This was a vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream (pretty simple stuff here) covered in homemade marshmallow fondant and MMF accents. The beads around the cake and the leaves are all edible. I made the leaves by cutting out the shapes and letting them dry over crinkled plastic wrap. After a day or two, they were hardened and ready to be painted. I painted them with a mixture of yellow, orange, and brown colors to give it more depth and to show the veins in the leaves. I thought this cake was fun for the autumn season when I originally made the cake (yes, I'm THAT far behind in my cake blogging).

Ode to my Public Speaking Students

This semester, I was blessed with a great group of students for my Wednesday night public speaking course. On the first day, many students said that they hated public speaking and so I thought I had a hard road ahead of me. Turns out, the students were amazing. They came to class ready to discuss, learn, and have fun. I realize this sounds very strange considering how many people hate public speaking, let alone 3 hour night classes but we really did have fun. We had so many inside jokes and so I had to turn some of those into a cake for this great class of mine.

This was a pretty big cake but appears much smaller in this picture. It was pretty much the size of the real podium we had in class. There were two tiers of cake within this podium. One was Mom's Apple Pie (spice cake with baked apples layered with cheesecake cream filling and buttercream) and one was a Turtle Power Cake (chocolate cake layered with caramel cream filling, pecans, and chocolate ganache). The whole cake was covered in marshmallow fondant that was marbleized to look like wood grain.

The "paper" (made of marshmallow fondant) reads:

Comm 1020: Public Speaking

1. Take a deep breath

2. Connect with the audience

3. Use cue cards

4. Don't stare at Jennifer

I made a podium because I told the students near the beginning of the semester that I suggest not using a podium. Students tend to hold on for dear life when using a podium therefore limiting their movement and natural nonverbal behavior. During our second round of speeches, two of the students decided to use the podium. After they were done, one of the audience members said, "Why are you letting them use the podium? I thought you said that wasn't allowed." I thought it was hilarious that my suggestion turned into a rule. In any case, I made the podium to make my point stronger. As far as the paper goes, I always discuss the importance of taking a deep breath before giving speeches and also making a connection with the audience through topic selection and eye contact so I had to add those to the list.

As for #3 on the paper, one of the students asked who was going to hold his cue cards while giving his speech. I asked, "What cue cards?" He tried to convince me that I told the class that someone would hold cue cards in the audience while they speak. I swore up and down that he had made it up and the other students in class backed me up. Regardless, it was the first time a student has asked to have cue cards and so it soon became a reoccurring joke for the class.

Lastly, I oftentimes get students who speak to me (since I'm assigning grades and all), rather than to the audience as a whole which results in them staring at me for the length of their speech. When this happens, I write "Don't stare at me" on their evaluations. These students will almost always ask me after class, "What do you mean? I wasn't staring at you!" I tell them to watch their video so they can see how awkward I feel when they make a bee-line for my eye contact and practically stare at me the whole time they speak. It's fun to be a teacher :)

Anywho, I truly enjoyed this semester with my students and wanted to reward them for their hard work and for putting up with me for 3 hours every week. Thank you, Kyle, Rich, Jesse, Brooke, Kevin, Annette, Jared, Wade, Travis, Will, Shay, Jessica, Trevor, Casey, Brittany, Virginia, Stephanie, Duc, and Daniel. You were awesome!

Tasting Trio Part 2

Hillary & Scott needed a cake tasting to narrow down the flavors for their wedding cake. In the past, I would made cakes for the tasting and not really decorate them but I thought it would be fun to make a trio of cakes again. I really didn't have an idea of what I wanted them to look like and instead just started decorating. As I tell my students in cake classes, that is generally not a good idea :) While these three cakes have some similar elements, they don't go together as well I wish they would have. Let that be a lesson to me! Sketch first, then make.

One of the cakes was Ruby Red Velvet cake (red velvet cake layered with cream cheese frosting), one was Chocolate Hazelnut (chocolate cake with a light hazelnut flavor layered with hazelnut cream and buttercream), and the last one was Spices & Cake (spice cake layered with cheesecake cream filling). I covered this first one in marshmallow fondant and then added MMF accents and also piped on some green detail.
These other two cakes were covered in buttercream and then accented with MMF with some tiny piped green dots. These cakes ended up mixing piping with fondant with molds so it was good for me to combine different techniques into one cake order.
The couple loved all three flavors. They wanted to cut into the Red Velvet and then had the middle tier as Chocolate Hazelnut and Spices & Cake for the most servings and bottom cake. You will see their wedding cake on the cake blog soon! :)

Skulls & Graduation Hand-in-hand!

Bill wanted a personalized graduation cake for Kalee. When he contacted me to tell me that, I said, "Buuuut, you do realize it's September, right?" He admitted he was a bit behind on the celebration but it's always nice to apologize for lateness with cake :) His daughter loves skulls and the color orange so he sent me a print that she loves that alternates hearts and stars. I incorporated that into the sides of the cake (pictured below) and the lady skull on top with a graduation cap. The cake is covered in homemade marshmallow fondant and all of the decorations are fondant as well.

Bill has ordered several cakes from me in the past and I just recently learned from one of his daughters that HIS favorite flavor is Brownie Lovers (layers of chocolate cake and brownies covered in chocolate ganache). I was pretty impressed that he ordered his favorite because I can tell he's a very thoughtful guy for those around him and I'm just happy that he get something he loves as well. It's always a pleasure to create something for Bill and his family and I look forward to many more completely unique designs from their creativity! Congrats, Kalee!

Stack of Books for us Nerds

Corrinne was the one we grad students went to for... well, pretty much everything. If I didn't know what to register for, I asked her. If I didn't know my copy code, I asked her. If I needed something changed for class, I asked her. I don't know if everyone relied as much on Corrinne as I did but I was definitely sad to hear that she was leaving. Corrinne really just moved to a different office on campus because she's TEACHING now! (woo-hoo! Now she can get the joys that we get!) Even though we were all very happy for her, it was still a very bitter sweet goodbye. In her honor, I decided to make her a set of books since she loves to read and let's face us, all grad students are nerds, right? :) One "book" was Mocha Java Cake (chocolate cake layered with coffee buttercream), one "book" was Coconut Cream Pie Cake (coconut flavored cake layered with coconut cream filling, coconut flakes, and buttercream), and one "book" was Banana Cream Pie Cake (lightly flavored banana cake layered with banana cream filling, banana slices, and buttercream).

In order to make these books, I had to pre-cut the covers of each book so that when the fondant hung over the sides, they wouldn't sag. I dried them slightly over a fake styrofoam box and then that way, I could just lift it off and place it on the cake. The book's cover design was made by using a stencil and gold colored buttercream. I accented it further with molded cut outs. It's hard to see here, but I scored the marshmallow fondant along the book sides in order appear as though they are pages.

I remember being a few minutes late to the surprise get-together for Corrinne and so the new graduate advisor, Hilary, was waiting for me outside. I quickly carried the books toward her and she asked where the cake was... then she stopped and said, "Wait, this is a cake?!" When we finally got in and set the cake up, Corrinne came in to the surprise party, which at this point wasn't such a surprise because us Comm students/faculty and really talk :) She started to cry and then we cried and then we ate cake. I couldn't have asked for a better reaction. Corrinne, you really have done so much for us (me especially) and you are greatly missed! Come visit us soon!

A Cake Tasting with Three Cakes

I did a cake tasting for a wonderful couple and decided to actually decorate the cakes for the tasting. This first cake was a Banana Cream Pie cake, which is banana cake layered with banana cream filling and banana slices. Originally, the couple wanted all buttercream and no fondant so I left this cake bare, with no fondant. It's covered in buttercream and the yellow dots are marshmallow fondant. This was their favorite cake, despite the fact that the groom never eats cake. Yes! I sold another one! :)

This second cake was Ruby Red Velvet cake and I covered this one in homemade marshmallow fondant so that they could see and taste the difference. Then, they both agreed that they wanted marshmallow fondant for their cakes. Double score!
This last cake was a Caramel Macchiato Cake, which is coffee flavored cake layered with caramel cream filling, caramel, and buttercream. This cake was also just covered in buttercream with marshmallow fondant accents. In the end, I had fun decorating with buttercream, I sold the groom on cake, AND I sold the bride on using marshmallow fondant! Woo-hoo! It was a great day! :) Thank you, Caisxa, Capryl & Rob! I had a fun time tasting some cake and talking about barbwire and shotgun shells (don't worry, this will all make sense in a few weeks when I post the Barbwire wedding cake... oh, it's awesome... you just wait!)

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

MIni-Blue Flower Cupcakes

I made a batch of cupcakes to take around to local vendors here in Utah and decided on using mini-blue flowers with tiny green and white accent flowers. The flowers were made out of marshmallow fondant and there are blue and pearl dragees (basically, mini-jawbreaker type of candies, except they're not as tasty but my goodness, they're cute!). Half of the cupcakes were Spices & Cake with buttercream while the other half were Chocolately Chocolate cupcakes. Yummy! My house smelled so delicious after baking these babies! I hope you can enjoy them vicariously :)

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all you dads, step-dads, and future dads out there! For the occasion, I made this father's day cake for a dad and a step-dad to celebrate together with their kids. The cake was a German Chocolate Cake (chocolate cake layered with chopped pecans, coconut, and chocolate buttercream) and I added layers of caramel as well. The cake was covered in homemade marshmallow fondant and the tie, collar, and pocket were also made out of fondant. In order to make the collar stand up on the cake, I cut out the collar shape in advance and let it dry against a small, round fake cake.

A friend of mine joked that because both of these dads are LDS return missionaries that I should've added a name tag that says "Elder Dad" :) This would make a pretty cool missionary cake (if you don't know what that is, you might not be living in Utah... hehe.