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!

Hawaiian Beach Cake

Skylar turned one yesterday with a Hawaiian themed party. Marie, her mother, was really excited about throwing her a 1st birthday and had decked out the backyard to match the theme with Hawaiian decorations. We were joking that although Skylar won't remember the party, Marie will have the pictures to prove it!

The top tier was a cookies'n'cream cake (sweet white cake layered with chocolate buttercream and crushed oreos) and the bottom tier was coconutty cake (just what it sounds like... coconut cake layered with coconut buttercream and coconut flakes). All of the decorations are handmade with marshmallow fondant. There are crabs, fish, octopi (I like to think that's plural for octopus), starfish, flowers, seahorse, seashells, and palm trees around the cake. Then, I sprinkled brown sugar along to edges to look like sand on the beach and on the ocean floor.

Along with the main cake, Marie wanted a smash cake all for Skylar that matched the Hawaiian beach theme. I wanted to keep the decorations simple when compared to the larger cake. It's also a cookies'n'cream cake covered in marshmallow fondant. I hope she just ripped it apart!

Hannah Montana Explosion

This weekend Allie was turning 5 and she wanted a Hannah Montana themed cake for her party. This cake was really fun to make because the colors were just so bright and lively. All of the decorations are handmade with marshmallow fondant, including the guitar and the Happy Birthday sign in "Hannah Montana" fashion :) Allie herself is a huge University of Utah fan and so her mother, Jeri, wanted a figurine of Allie to be on the cake singing into a microphone with a Utah jersey on.

The bottom cake was cheesecake lovers (cheesecake flavored cake layered with cheesecake filling and buttercream) and the top cake was rainbow bright (with three layers of cake, one dyed purple, one dyed yellow and one dyed pink layered with buttercream and sprinkles).

Because of the decorations on the front, I wanted to post a smaller picture of the side of the cake. The top tier was purple with zebra print and the bottom was pink with yellow dots and musical notes along the sides. So much fun to make!!










Jeri just emailed me this inside shot of the rainbow bright cake. She said that Allie loved the cake and even attached an adorable picture of Allie with the cake... she looked pretty happy to me :) Yay!

Dots and Stripes

I wanted to make a more simple cake than my usual themed cakes and so here is a pink and brown cake inspired by other cakes that I've seen made. The cake is covered in fondant and the pink and brown decorations are all fondant as well, including the bow.

Cherry Blossoms on a Cake

I've always wanted to do a Mulan inspired cake... not with samurai swords and dragons but more so with delicate cherry blossoms. As I've mentioned before, I've been known to go overboard with decorations on cakes so I tried pretty hard to censor myself. Feel free to pick off some of those flowers in your mind if you need to :) hehe. Otherwise, I hope you likey!

Mickey Mouse & Safari Animals

Marianne wanted a centerpiece for her daughter's 3rd birthday. She had already made the desserts for the party but wanted a little something else to boot. She wanted the traditional Mickey colors of red, yellow, black and white along with the Mickey symbol and his hand. I sculpted the hand out of rice crispies covered in buttercream and then fondant. I made the hand much larger than planned and then realized that there was no way the hand would fit on the cake itself. Luckily, Marianne was awesome in allowing creativity :) The top tier was also made out of rice crispies and the bottom tier was a Rainbow Bright cake (white cake dyed different colors to match the theme with sprinkles baked in and layered with sweet buttercream and more sprinkles). You can never have enough sprinkles in my opinion.


Jayden turned.... 6! Yes, good job! You got it! Michele, Jayden's mom, wanted a similar cake to the safari/jungle cake that I made a while back. I tried to take that cake idea and add more details to make this cake more special for Jayden and Michele. The top tier was a strawberry lemonade cake (lemon and strawberry cake layered with lemon buttercream) and the bottom tier was a chocolate and white cake layered with sweet buttercream.

The cakes were covered in marshmallow fondant and handmade marshmallow fondant decorations. All of the animals were made from fondant as well. This cake was so much fun to make because it was all about creativity. I wanted to make the animals look friendly and cutesy... (is that even a word?). I hope this cake was an improvement from the previous jungle cake. :)

A Very Very Pink Cake :)

Betsy was so amazing to work with in making her wedding cake. We designed it together through many different sketches and ideas. I was so thankful that she was the complete opposite of a bridezilla :) The bottom four tiers are fake cakes and the top tier was the cake used for the ceremonious cutting of the new couple. The cake was a coconut almond cake (a light coconut cake layered with coconut buttercream, coconut flakes, and sliced almonds). I originally made the bottom four tiers a week in advance (since they were not going to be eaten) but I wasn't satisfied with the color. So I redid the whole cake the night before the wedding to make sure that the colors were spot on and that they all matched in one solid color because I didn't want some tiers being slightly lighter or darker. The second run through took 12-13 hours straight to complete (it was the first time I've seen the sunrise in Utah! haha). It was worth it though because I wanted it to be PERFECT for Betsy.

This is a 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14 inch cake. The top tier has a hand cut design out of marshmallow fondant in the theme of Betsy's wedding. The second tier has the monogram for the couple's last name and is studded with swarovski crystals in a swiss dot pattern. The third tier is a new technique that I was trying and it is buttercream stenciled onto the cake. If you've ever tried stenciling, you might know that it's not as easy as it looks. If you've ever tried stenciling onto a round surface, you might know that it's even more challenging. And lastly, if you've ever tried stenciling buttercream onto a round, and sticky fondant surface, you might know the wonderful joys I experienced at around 2am :) The fourth tier has ivory, fondant swags with fondant dots. Finally, the bottom tier is a diamond pattern, indented by hand, with swarovski crystals to accent where the lines meet.

I can't say enough how great it was to work with someone who was so excited and willing to take a chance on a very pink cake... and also to take a chance on me :) This cake was 20 inches tall without the base and had to be transported in two separate pieces in order to make it. The cake had to last through an 80 minute drive to get to the wedding and luckily it all went well. Thank you so much, Betsy, for being amazing through this process! It really was fun, challenging, and totally worth it in the end!

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).

Awkward Turtle

Guy wanted to surprise his girlfriend with a cake for her birthday. They are both "awkward turtles" and so he wanted to have a turtle to represent their shared joke. Adorable! This was a brownie lovers cake (chocolate cake with a layer of brownies in between). I wasn't sure what an "awkward" turtle really looks like so I tried my best. His legs and head are made out of rice crispies and then covered in buttercream and fondant. I hope he ate those too!

Graduation & Mustangs

Jenilynne just graduated from high school and so we had to celebrate, cake style. Her school colors were black, white, and red (or at least I hope they were). I tried a new technique on the sides of the cake and was pretty happy with the turn out. The cap and tassel were made out of fondant. The cake was an apple pie cake with cheesecake filling and then layered with buttercream. Here's a shot of the inside of the cake. Yay! On the same day, Liz wanted to celebrate Father's Day early and so I made a 1967 Mustang themed cake for her father. The mustangs were handmade out of fondant, as was the mustang on the top of the cake. Although I was afraid that it looked like a taxi cake, Liz's husband said it was totally recognizable as a mustang cake. Phew! The cake was a chocolate dipped cherry cake layered with chocolate buttercream and cherry filling. I hope they liked it :)

Pirates and Princesses

What 5-year-old doesn't want to be a pirate, right? Well, Grant wanted a pirate cake for his birthday. This cake was a buttery yellow cake layered with chocolate buttercream. Grant's mom wanted some cupcakes to go along with the cake so we came up with some designs that matched the cake theme.

The cupcakes are also buttery yellow cake covered in buttercream and dipped in crystallized sugar. The decorations on the cake and cupcakes are handmade out of marshmallow fondant.

Abbi, on the other hand, wanted to be a princess for her birthday. The top tier is made out of rice crispies and then covered and decorated with marshmallow fondant. The towers are also made of rice crispies and the tower tops are ice cream cones covered in fondant. The bottom tier is strawberry cheesecake cake. I wanted to keep this cake very simple rather than going overboard with colors and decorations. I hope I accomplished that here :)

Sketches

I've had many people ask me how I design these cakes so I thought I'd share a few of the sketches I've made. I sketch each cake out so that the person ordering the cake knows exactly what they're getting.



This is the spring garden cake. As you can see, I try to stick with the sketch as much as possible but there are definitely tweaks here and there.






This was the martini/purse cake. The martinis are very subtle on the bottom tier. Other than the strap that ended up being completely behind the purse, I was pretty happy with the final product.






This one is the Sesame Street cake. Please don't judge my inability to color within the lines. :)


Here is Luke's block cake sketch and final product. This cake was such a challenge. It was one of those situations where I wasn't sure if I was proud of my work until the whole cake was finally put together. Then I loved it! Funsies!

Taking it back to Sonic the Hedgehog

Hellen needed a cake for her two sons who were turning 3 and 6. They both wanted a Sonic the Hedgehog theme and that got me so excited. SONIC! You remember Sonic! Sega's game with the blue supposed hedgehog who runs really fast and gets rings? Ah, yes, those were the days. In any case, this was the finished product. I was a little anxious to get Hellen's reaction because I was afraid I went overboard here (and you're just seeing the front!). I needed Rosie (my official director of limiting the excess) to tell where to stop. Hellen was awesome though. She was so excited as if it were her birthday too! :) It's so much fun to make a cake when the client is as excited as I am! The top is a white cake layered with vanilla cream and buttercream. The bottom is a chocolate cake layered with chocolate cream and rich chocolate buttercream. All of the decorations are handmade with marshmallow fondant.





There were a set of cupcakes to accompany the cake. These were so much fun to make and ended up being larger than expected (which is never a bad thing). The cupcakes are strawberry covered in buttercream and topped with fondant toppers. It's hard to see here but the edges are rolled in crystallized sugar because you never can have enough sugar!

Lastly, I just wanted to add one picture of the detail for this cake. This lil sonic guy and the ring around him were quite the task. Who doesn't love a little challenge in their life though, right? :)

The Utah Jazz in the Springtime

This week, I had two fun cakes to make. The first was a Utah Jazz inspired cake (my man-friend was so excited). Oddly enough, this cake gave me more grief than most of my other cakes because it just wouldn't cooperate. I'm a bit of a perfectionist (just a little bit though ;) and so at 2am last night I just didn't like the way it looked so I ripped off all of the fondant and started over. I wanted it to be awesome for Liz and her mom. It's a red velvet cake with vanilla filling and cream cheese frosting. Kendra's favorite player is Collins in case you were wondering.


The second cake I made was a spring-themed cake for Lizzy's mom (two mom's birthdays on the same day with two different daughters, Liz and Lizzy... interesting........). This cake has ladybugs, bumblebees, butterflies and different types of flowers on it. I hope Lizzy's mom loved it. It was an Emerald City Cake (green tinted white cake with a light pistachio flavored filled with pistachio filling and buttercream). It was so much fun to make a really vibrant and fun-colored cake. Ah, who doesn't love a good bit of caking?

Spring Flowers and Bees

Quinn is turning one so Breck is throwing a party with a bright flower theme modeled after Martha Stewart's pom-pom flowers. I was trying to get these flowers as bright as possible so hopefully you're blinded by the brightness :) It's a chocolate cake will chocolate cream filling and chocolate buttercream. Here's an up-close picture of one of the flowers.

Quinn had her own cake with a Baby Einstein theme. These two cakes were so much fun to make because of all of the colors and flowers. You have to love when people say, "Do whatever you think is best for the cake!" I always have to restrain myself because I've been told I can go a little too far and put a little too much detail on my cakes... yeah.... it's true. In any case, I'm hoping this isn't too much but is just right. We'll see what Breck and Quinn think tomorrow!

Martinis and Purses

Andrea wanted a graduation cake but I had to jump on her love of purses and martinis! She wanted a teal and chocolate brown color scheme with circles. The martini glasses are very subtle around the sides of the cake. I tried a purse cake once before and wanted to try a different style. The bottom cake is a strawberry lemonade cake with lemon buttercream. The top cake is red velvet layered with cream cheese frosting. This picture isn't the best in terms of color so I'm including another picture so you can see the light brown color. (Sorry that it's a bit blurry)

I also wanted to show the back of the cake. Same design elements and I tried to restrain myself from putting too many details on the cake (I've been told I can go overboard with my designs... crazy, I know! :)

Lastly, after carving the red velvet purse, I realized that Andrea probably needed more cake to feed her guests. I made a small side cake to go with this cake to feed a few more people. I used the same design scheme to match the cake.

Unicorns and Spiderman

Cameron turned three and his parents couldn't decide what theme to center his cake around so we compromised. This side is based off of the Last Unicorn movie. Everything is made with marshmallow fondant. The unicorn was quite a challenge because I wanted to get it as exact as possible to match the movie. Luckily, when Cameron saw the unicorn, he recognized it immediately. Yay! The top cake is orange creamsicle with orange buttercream and the bottom cake is red velvet cake with buttercream.

On the other side of the cake, we have spiderman. I'm not sure how Cameron felt about Spiderman, himself, but he did point out the spiders :) I hope he loved it!

Lastly, I wanted to give you a view of the side of the cake. The idea was to have two completely separate cakes put together and hopefully I accomplished my goal.

A cake for a Communication Scholar

This is the largest cake I've made to date. Phew! It's finals week and also the last week that one of my favorite professors will be teaching. She's an AMAZING communication scholar and wonderful teacher so I wanted to make this cake in honor of her life. We had a surprise party for her and she was just shocked. It was pretty awesome! The top tier is chocolate cake with coffee buttercream filling (because of her love of chocolate and coffee). The second tier is apple pie cake with cheesecake cream filling, and the third tier is orange creamsicle cake with orange buttercream. The bottom tier was a fake cake and we had just enough cake to feed her students in the class and the extra older students who came to surprise her.

Here are some closer photos of the images I created for the cake. Everything is handmade with homemade marshmallow fondant. It was so much fun to "research" her life and to see some memories recreated in cake. (Yes, those are a pair of panties falling out of a purse. :) haha. I love this woman!)

Dirt Bikes and Butterflies

It's been a while since I've been able to make a cake. School is consuming my life! Ahh! Almost done with the semester so I can focus on sweeter things in life. Anyway, this weekend, I was able to make two cakes. The first was quite a challenge to make. Sarah wanted to surprise her husband with a dirt bike cake since that's one of his hobbies. She supplied the mini-bike replica and I wanted to make her family in fondant form. Here is the finished product. Twas quite the challenge to get the track to read "30" and to have Sarah's husband standing up with the bike. It is a Turtle cake (chocolate cake with caramel and chopped pecans) covered in marshmallow fondant. Everything on the cake is edible and handmade, with the exception of the bike and the toothpicks holding up the signs. I hope you likey!














Here's a top view for you as well.












The second cake I made was for Sydney who is turning 11. Angela, her mom, wanted this cake to be "girlie" so I wanted to make an ode to the "Cakegirls." I was inspired by their design which was on a huge cake and just made it smaller for Sydney. The bottom is a rich chocolate cake with homemade chocolate buttercream and the top is a white chocolate chip cake with homemade buttercream. The butterflies were handmade and I actually piped the design on them, which was a first time for me (how I got this far without piping is still a mystery).