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.

The Baby Carriage Cake

These are 2 of the many baby-carriage cakes I have made over the years. The first one is from my sister-in-law's baby shower. The other is from a 3-person joint baby shower we had at school - a mixture of boys & girls. I've done it with bows, flowers, polka dots, etc - whatever mood I was in at the time.

The Daisy Cake

This cake design came from my mom's old cake book. I made this one for a dessert auction at church, and obviously forgot to take a picture before I got it in the box. I was proud of the money it raised!

The Football Cake

This was for Parker's 8th birthday. It was a pretty simple cake to make, using the Wilton football cake pan. I used chocolate frosting - a nice change from Madeline's Hello Kitty cake. (Yes, I generally have to make 2 cakes for the same party every year. That's what happens when you don't really plan your pregnancies, and they don't wait until their due dates! ;0))

Hello Kitty Cake #1

This cake was for Madeline's 6th birthday. I scanned one of the party plates & printed out a larger picture of the Kitty's head. After I iced the cake, I laid the cut-out on top & used pink spray color to cover the whole cake. When I lifted up the picture, I had a perfect outline of Hello Kitty's face to work with. I piped the face in the center, using the plate as a guide. I finished it off with purple edging, and it was a hit!

The first Tinkerbell cake

This was Olivia's first Tinkerbell cake - for her 3rd birthday. It was my first attempt at using fondant - and I didn't try using it again for a looooong time! I iced the cake with regular frosting, then added fondant flower cut-outs. It was ok, I guess, for my first time. Thankfully I have gotten better. ;0)

The Castle cake

This was Madeline's 3rd birthday cake. I again used the Wilton cake pan for this one. I didn't realize until after I had started piping that there was background meant to be white surrounding the main image! I had to do some creative carving & piping to make it work - but it turned out alright. I have made this one several times over the years, with minor changes on each one.

The Batman cake

This cake was for Parker's 5th birthday - a sleepover. I had just discovered spray-color, and I wanted to try it out. So I iced the cake with white frosting, then sprayed the whole thing blue. I then used a toothpick to draw the image in the icing & piped the bat symbol with colored frosting. I used the rest of the black icing for the border (can you tell I almost ran out?!). The Batman candle just topped it off perfectly.

The Care Bear cake

This was for Olivia's 2nd birthday. I used the Wilton cake pan for this one, but I was afraid it wouldn't be enough cake for everyone, so I made cupcakes to go along with it. I was lucky to have been able to find the little sugar bears to go on them.

The Buzz Lightyear Cake

This was for Parker's 4th birthday. It was my attempt at Buzz Lightyear's spaceship. Back then, I didn't even know you could make 3D cakes - because if I did this one again, it would definitely have more dimension to it! Anyway, it was more of a representation than anything else. He sure loved it - and that's all that matters. I was just happy I was able to find the figures to put on top!

The Dora Cake

This Dora the Explorer cake was kind of a cop-out for me. It was for Madeline's 2nd birthday. I figured since Parker's 2nd birthday was a little haphazard (we spent it in the hospital having his little sister), I would try to even things out by not going all-out on her 2nd, either. I bought the edible image, then iced the cake and piped the edges - a pretty plain cake for me. But she was 2 - she didn't care! ;0)

The Butterfly cake

This was Olivia's first birthday cake. I don't know why, but I was determined for her to have a butterfly cake. At the time, however, I couldn't find a butterfly cake pan anywhere! So I had to design one myself. It took a whole lotta cake, but it was worth it! I have since done a second butterfly cake for a friend- but with more pastel colors. It turned out great - I just forgot to take a picture of it!

Larry & Bob

These were Parker's cakes for his 3rd birthday - which just happened to be the same time as Madeline's first birthday. Needless to say, we had A LOT of cake for a small, family party! He loved Veggie Tales, so I thought Larry & Bob would be appropriate (as well as fairly easy - compared to the angel cake).

The Angel Cake

This was Madeline's first birthday cake - before I realized icing was greasy. ;0) Now, of course, I use grease-resistant boards or paper. I also got this design idea from Mom's book. Looking back on it now, I probably should have made her hair brown - but, oh well...

The Bear Cake

This was my very first cake (not including the one I did in my high school home-ec class). It was for Parker's first birthday. The design idea came from a book my mom had used to make all of our cakes when we were kids. I also made a smaller version of it for Parker to have - though he had no desire to get anywhere near it! (He's always been my cautious child.)