Candy Christmas Tree Cake

I made this cake for my choir's Christmas party at church. It is a devil's food cake (yes, I get the irony) with white icing (tinted, of course) and chocolate candies. The trunk of the tree is covered in chocolate icing and Hershey bars. The star is supported by 4 Reece's cups, and the decorations are M&M's and fondant rope. The presents under the tree are thinly iced brownies.

The Barbie Cake

This was my first attempt at making a stand-up doll cake. I had no plan when I started - I just sort of winged it. ;0) The base is a 12" 2-layer round, and the dress was baked in an 8-cup glass measuring bowl.

The Guitar Cake

This is a cake I did for a friend's son. He loves music, especially when one of the guys at their church plays his guitar & sings. So for his birthday, his mom had this man come to "perform" at the party, and wanted a cake to look like his guitar.

The Toy Story Cake

These are cakes I made for a little boy's 1st birthday. The small cake was just for him, and the larger one was for everyone else. Mom knew what she wanted for the top & bottom tiers, but wasn't sure about the middle. So I got the idea to make it about lots of different types of toys. I started with blocks, which I used to spell out his name, then added balls, toy soldiers, a robot, a radio, and an etch-a-sketch (which I forgot to take a picture of!). We added the toy figures at the very end. I really liked how colorful it all turned out.

The Bama Baby Rattle Cake

This is a cake I made for a baby shower. I am assuming that the mom-to-be is a major Alabama fan. ;0) This was my first attempt at houndstooth - which is VERY difficult to recreate in icing! It would be easier in fondant, but I am not a huge fan of fondant taste, so I try to do as much as I can with icing. They got the point, anyway, and I even got another order for a houndstooth cake from this shower!

The Harry Potter Cake

This is a cake I made for a friend's daughter's birthday. Since I know absolutely nothing about HP, I searched the internet for ideas that were not too theme-specific. I found a cake similar to this one, and decided to try it out. I was pretty pleased with the results. It is an 11x15 cake cut in half & stacked, the iced in white. The "pages" are piped on, but the cover is made from fondant.

Olivia's Auburn Cake

My daughter, Olivia, is a huge Auburn fan (mostly due to me, of course). So she requested an Auburn-themed birthday party. At first I was going to do one large megaphone out of cake, but decided it probably wouldn't have been enough cake. I also thought it would be better not to have the entire cake covered in orange & blue icing - more likely to stain the teeth. ;0) I made the megaphone out of an ice cream sugar cone covered in fondant, and the pom-pons are just a small ball of fondant covered in blue & orange fondant strips. I cut the AU out of fondant as well, layered them, and placed them on the cake. Finally, I piped the edges with blue & orange icing. She loved it!

Elmo Cake

This is a cake I made for a friend's son. I found the inspiration for it on a cake decorating website.

Puppy cake

I did this cake for a little girl from church who was having a dog-themed birthday party. I found a picture online that I liked & tried to copy it as best I could. I think it turned out really cute, and it was a lot of fun to make.

Phillip's 50th cake

This is a cake I did for a teacher at school celebrating his 50th birthday. The math department surprised him with this cake, and another that looked like a cow patty. (Its probably obvious from this one that he's a math teacher - but he's also a farmer).

Hartselle High football cake

I made this cake kind of as an afterthought. I had some leftover cake from the helmet, and I was afraid that cake wouldn't be enough to feed everyone. So I carved a simple football & embellished a little. I thought it turned out pretty good, for an afterthought. ;0)

Hartselle High helmet cake

I made this cake for a tailgating party for Hartselle's first game. It had to feed 50-60 people, so it had to be BIG! Do you know how hard it is to color frosting crimson?! Its almost as bad as navy blue! Anyway, I did enjoy the challenge, and I hope they enjoy the cake.

The Pickle Cake

This is a cake I did for a friend. She wanted it for her best friend's birthday. The concept was an inside joke between the two of them. I didn't really understand it, but I had fun making the cake anyway! ;0)

Perry the Platypus

This cake was done for a baby shower (yes - a baby shower). My cousin allowed her daughter to pick the cake - and this is what she chose. For those of you who don't watch cartoons - this is a character from "Phineas and Ferb". He's their pet platypus who leads a double life as a secret agent. Anyway, it was a lot of fun to do.

Little League Cake

I made this cake (or cakes, really) for a friend's son's little league team party. They liked the Braves cake I had done, so I started with that. I made the field & the hat just as I had done before, but this time I knew it needed more. So I made the bat out of cake, and the sign on the bottom out of the cake I had trimmed from the field. The field & bat are piped with regular icing, the hat & sign are covered with fondant. I used a red icing marker for the outline of the team logo, then filled in with black icing.

Barbie princess cake

The inspiration for this cake came from the invitation - the dress, actually. I made a 2-layer 12 inch round in light pink. Then I added the flowers (made several days ahead), whose colors came from the dress. I had originally planned to put a 6 on top- like I did with Olivia's cake - but then decided to use the image from the invitation. So I just glued her to the 6 I had already made - and it fit perfectly! The final touch was the piping on top, inspired by the jewels on her dress. I made the "jewels" out of fondant, then piped the embellishment with "gold" icing. Its a very girly cake. ;0)

The Transformers Cake

For this cake, I made an 11x15 sheet cake for the base, then made a 9 inch square for the symbol. I printed out an image of the autobot symbol & used it as a template for cutting the shape. After the icing on the base had set up, I placed the symbol in the center & got to piping. Don't ask me what the corners are - I don't know. I just thought it needed something. ;0)

Buzz Lightyear Cake # 2 (3D)

This cake was a small second cake for a birthday party - it was just for the birthday boy. I used a football cake pan & a brownie pan, then cut, sculpted, and stacked to make the shape. I used a picture of a toy ship on the internet to kind of guide me in the decorating. The rocket boosters (thrusters, whatever) were made from ice cream cones I cut down & stuck in the back. I found a Buzz backpack clip at the party store, which was a perfect fit for the cake.

The Church Cake

This was my first attempt at a 3D building. It was definitely not my finest moment, but I learned a lot from it. I got excited about making all the little details - the windows, doors, cross, steps, bushes, & sign. But the hardest part was the roof. I kind of left it until last, trying to figure out the easiest & best way to create it. I went with cereal treats, but I probably wouldn't do that again - it was a nightmare! I also had a little trouble with the banner - it kept ripping & falling down! But I did love getting to use fondant on the whole cake - and using my new image press to get the wood look.

Braves Baseball Cake

This was my first baseball cake. The boy I made it for is a big Atlanta Braves fan, and wanted Turner Field. His mom reminded him that I'm not "Cake Boss", but that I could do something. So I did a basic baseball field (made from a 12"round & 9" square). I was afraid it would not be enough cake, and I had left over batter, so I made the hat in a pyrex bowl. I iced the field in brown, then piped over it with the green. The hat I iced & then covered with fondant. The baseball bat & ball were kind of an afterthought, but I needed something to make the board symmetrical - so I made them out of fondant. Finally, I made the sign out of gumpaste mixed with fondant. After I rolled it out & cut it, I piped the message in white icing, then used red sugar sprinkles to make it look a little like neon. He loved it!

Tea Party cake

This cake was for my friend's daughter, for her 1st birthday. She had found plates with this theme, and asked me to do a 3D teapot & a teacup for her own personal cake to demolish. I couldn't do just one cup, though. It messed up the symmetry. The cake was baked in 2 halves, in a pyrex bowl. Once they were cooked, cooled, and chilled, I leveled the 2 halves & stacked them with frosting in between. I had to add 1/2 a cupcake to the top, to make it less round, then filled in the space with icing. The cups were made out of stacking the bottom-halves of 2 cupcakes. The handles, saucers, & spout were all molded out of gum paste & sprayed pink.

The Bunny Cake

One year for Easter, my mom asked me to make a cake. I remembered this design from her old cake book, so I gave it a shot. I made the bunny face chocolate, and the bowtie vanilla. I was a pretty easy design, and the kids loved it.

Sparky Cake

I was asked to make a cake for the kindergarten Sparks class at church. I had a lot of fun with this one, especially since he was a pretty simple shape! I almost panicked when I got him on the board, because there was barely any room left for his legs. That's why it looks as if he's sitting down - it was the only place I had for adding legs! As on the Spongebob cake, I used the Piroutte (spelling?) wafers for his arms & legs.

The Monkey Cake

I made this cake for a friend's baby shower - per her request (her hubby likes monkeys). She wanted an all chocolate cake, so that's what she got - Devil's food cake with chocolate icing. I used the Wilton character pan, then added the bowtie - because I couldn't stand for him to be totally naked! ;0)

Spongebob Squarepants Cake

This Spongebob cake was for a friend's son. She surprised him with it for his birthday - and he loved it! This one challenged me, because it was a very recognizable character, and I wanted to make sure I got it right. The arms & legs are made from Piroutte wafers (round cream-filled wafers) that I piped icing onto. The hands & feet were made from Little Debbie cakes that I molded to the right shape & piped. I was very happy with how it came out.

Flower cake

I made this flower cake for a friend's daughter. She was having a Tinkerbell - themed party, and already had small figurines of all the fairies. I made the flower cake, and she put the figures on each of the petals, with Tinkerbell in the center. I didn't use a pattern for this one - just carved it freehand.

Hello Kitty Cake #2

For her 8th birthday, Madeline wanted another Hello Kitty cake. This time I was more confident, so I carved the face freehand from a 13x9 sheet cake. I used her purse as my guide this time, and I think it turned out very well. The girls loved it!

Lightning McQueen Cake

When I was asked to do a Lightning McQueen cake, I wasn't sure I could do a 3D version of him justice, so I bought the Wilton character cake pan. Knowing it would never be big enough, I came up with the idea to put him "in the winner's circle". So I made a 2-layer 14" round, which I iced & sprayed blue. Then I put the car - which I had made with very little batter so he wouldn't be too tall - on top & piped on his details. For the road (track) along the sides I used fondant I had colored black (which is no easy task). I piped lane lines in white, then used the left over colors from the car to pipe the edges & confetti on top.

Little Einsteins Rocket Cake

This is a cake I did for a friend's son. It was inspired by Little Einsteins. When she asked me to do a Rocket cake, I had no idea it was actually a character from the cartoon. After lots of research, this is what I came up with. If I had given myself more time, I would've made the rocket boosters out of cereal treats - to make them more like the character. But, Branson knew who it was, and that's what was important.

Baby Cradle Cakes

Being in the "young married" class at church, there are A LOT of baby showers! I'm always looking for new & different cakes to make. These are my first 2 attempts at cradle cakes. The bottom picture was actually my first cradle cake - we didn't know the gender, so I went with white. The purple was inspired by the nursery colors. The cake in the top photo was for a baby girl - colors also inspired by the nursery.

Baby Rattle Cakes

These are cakes I made for 2 baby showers - obviously for boys. I loved this idea when I came across it on the web - something other than the carriage I had done so much! Now I'm just waiting on a girl to do one for! ;0)

Finally got to do a pink one! YEA!!!!

Tinkerbell Cake #2

I made this cake for Olivia's 6th birthday (obviously!). ;0) She wanted Tinkerbell, again. Since I had just learned to make drop flowers (from the wedding cake), I wanted to use them again. So I came up with this design. The bottom layer is a 12" round, ant the top a 6" round I offset to make room for Tinkerbell. After icing both layers, I sprayed them lightly with green spray color, then piped the edges in purple & added the flowers (which I had made about a week in advance). The big 6 was kind of an afterthought. I made it out of gumpaste, then sprayed it purple & attached it to the cake with toothpicks at the last minute.

First Wedding Cake

This was my first (and only, so far) wedding cake. I designed & created it for my best friend from childhood. I learned a lot from this cake - like not to put fondant in the fridge; & how to make drop flowers. The bows were a little worse for wear by the time I got to the church (traveling to Claysville in August - not the best conditions for cake), but it turned out ok.

Pop's "book" Cake

I made this cake for my dad's surprise 60th birthday party. Mom & I came up with the idea of a book that listed all the things Dad had been to people over the years. It was somewhat of a daunting task (second time ever to try using fondant), but Dad liked it, so it was worth it.