"Love you" Cake

My kids often see me making cakes for other people, and so I thought for Valentines Day I would make them a special cake for them.  

I wanted bright colors and a candle, since that is a kids favorite part of a cake.  

"Heart" you

I used this opportunity to try new recipes. 

I made each layer using a different chocolate recipe and will let my kids be the judges.   

 

Pizza Cake!

Pizza Anyone?  

I have been wanting to make a faux pizza cake for about a year. 

 I finally made one at night just for a a fun surprise for my kids.  

I wanted to also try a "defying gravity" twist on it, by having a slice extended in mid-air.   

I used copper tubing,  to hold my pizza slice in the air, and covered it up with white chocolate to make it look like a nice stretch of cheese.  The tubing held up the slice very secure, but was a little too thick for my taste. Next time I would use two thinner pieces of tube.  

The pepperoni, green bell pepper and olives were hand made with fondant and the cheese was made from grating white modeling chocolate.  

The crust was airbrushed to give a baked look, and then some powdered sugar was rubbed on it, for a "flour" effect.  I made my pizza a little messy on the edges on purpose, to make is look realistic.  

My kids were excited to wake up and see this in our kitchen, and I was happy with what I learned in the process.  

Too busy making cookies

December was such a busy month!

I haven't had time to bake many cakes, though my mind has been dreaming of more things to make.  

 I did get just a few pictures of some of the many cookies made this season. 

On to the next Adventure

This week I was able to make a cake for a couple who retired from their mechanic shop.  They aren't taking any time to rest, but are on their way to Little Rock Arkansas to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  They are giving up two years of time with their family for the people of Little Rock.  This cake commemorates their retirement, as well as their new Adventure to be missionaries.  

The couple is standing on a suitcase tagged with Arkansas flag, and a little I <heart> Little Rock sticker.  The wife is holding her scriptures and both are wearing little name tags, something very famous with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint missionaries.

The suitcase is sitting on top of the shop.  The cake was made to look just like Max's repair shop, including the garage doors, the wrap around bricks, down to the three little flower pots. 

Max likes cars, and it was requested that a Model T, a Lincoln Navigator (parked on the side), and a light blue truck (based on their logo) be made.  All are out of gumpaste and edible (besides the cardboard support on the bottom).  

Max wore one hat every day, and so I made a replica of that hat.  I wanted it to look just like Max's and not just a company hat, so I added his specific grease stains to it.  The logo was hand painted with food coloring and a steady hand.   It too is completely edible, made out of gumpaste.

Mountain Cake

My husband recently hiked Huyana Pitosi, which is a 20,000+ mountain in Bolivia.  He went with two other hikers and after they all returned we had a party for them.  I made this cake for the three of them.  I ventured on a topsy cake again, this time making all the layers lean the same way, giving it a defining gravity feel.   

 Along the cake I made trail posts with name of the mountain peaks they hiked during their training for Huyana Pitosi.  On the side of the base I made a suitcase, with a passport book, money, and an airplane ticket.  

The bottom of the cake resembled the local peaks they trained on, very woodsy feeling.  It gravitated to the rocky yet snow covered peak they ended up on.  I make the three figures of the hikers out of gumpast.  

This is the set up with all the hiking gear around it.  

The three crazy men that hiked this incredibly tall mountain!

 

Lake Powell Cake

My husband wanted a Lake Powell cake.  

I dare you to google "Lake Powell Cake"- nothing comes up but a few random people eating cake at lake powell.  I like google when I have a cake, it gets my mind going with ideas, things I like or don't like, pictures of the subject.  This cake was kind of difficult for me to imagine the layout, because Lake Powell has so much to capture.  

 I created slick rock formations for the background, with windows and arches, 

with the familiar sandstone layers.  These were made from fondant and painted with food colors, and dusted with petal dust.  I painted the top of the cake with food coloring, to mimic the lake and a the reflection of the slick rock mountains.  

My husband's favorite water sport is the slalom, so I created a mini Chris on the waves of a boat.  I put edible glue on him to make him look like he is dripping wet.  I am driving the boat of course.  

Piping gel was added to the lake to give a wave texture.  

I made a marbled fondant for the sides of the cake, and added it to the cake that was previously sculpted so that it wasn't perfectly rectangle.  

Happy Birthday Sweetie!  

DIY'er cake

My little sister was having a birthday this week and I wanted to make her a fun cake.  She is very talented, and I wanted to make a cake the shows that side of her.  I make a tote bag filled with tools that a DIY'er (Do It Yourself'er) would have.  She has refinished dressers, sewn costumes, made many calendars, and organizational items for her home, and countless crafts and she is also a really gifted writer. 

So here is her cake...

It is filled with fondant tools, everything is edible!

The top of the bag has some "fabric" poking out.  The back of the tote has blue and purple paint bottles, a yellow handled screwdriver, markers, ruler, and foam brushes for painting.  

The front of the bag had a spool of blue ribbon, glue- almost all projects include some adhesive-, scissors, pencils (for our writer), a rotary cutter, a level, and a jar of pink glitter.  

 Every cake needs the person's name on it, so I put Emma's name on the front "pocket" of the tote.  

Happy Birthday to my little sister Emma!