Hello Kitty Cake

This is one of my favorite cakes. It was Hello Kitty (or, in our house at that point, known as "Hi Kitty Kitty"), made to match the party paper ware. I love the simplicity of it, and it was an easy cake to do. It was all fondant, with the base layer striped in hand cut strips of fondant, to match the plate design. I also made matching fondant centers for the PB&K flower sandwiches. At that point, my husband told me to step AWAY from the fondant before things got out of hand. :)

Graduation Cap & Tassel Cake

This was a cake for a high school graduation. They wanted the school colors (red, white & blue) and hearts. The cake in a 14" round covered in fondant with inlaid hearts. The cap is a small bowl cake. The board in a thin layer is plastic covered in fondant. The tassel is her real tassel.

Barbie Cake with Flower Cupcakes

This was a Barbie cake for a Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses party. (Yeah, I could have done all 12 dancing princesses, but then I'd have had to jump off a bridge, and my family would have missed me.)

I learned a lot on this one...such as, they make little Barbie "torso"s that you can stick on the cake instead of using the whole Barbie...but that they look NOTHING like real Barbie.

They make a cake pan (or bowl, as the case may be) JUST FOR baking a cake the shape of Barbie's skirt. PERFECT! Except, the skirt is made for Midget Barbie (probably why some genius thought up the separate torso thing). So, it is necessary to use additional cake at the bottom of Barbie's skirt so that she will actually stand in it.

And most importantly, after days (literally) of baking and decorating, your 5 year old thinks nothing of saying, "Hmmm...it's OK. It doesn't really look much like her though."

Relay for Life 2005 (Butterflies & Hawaiian flowers)

This was for the 2005 Relay for Life Survivor Luncheon. It was a Hawaiian theme. They originally asked for it to say "Congratulations" - but that seemed somehow morbid to me. So, I found a Hawaiian phrase meaning "to good health" and used that instead.

The Hawaiian flowers are all made of fondant. The butterflies are made from painted rice paper, piping gel, and royal icing. It's hard to see, but in the final cake, there was also a butterfly that hung suspended over the cake on floral wire and fluttered a bit. One of my favorite cake toppers...

Relay for Life 2006 (Hawaiian flowers)

This was a cake for the survivor luncheon at our local Relay for Life event. They had a Hawaiian theme, and just wanted a topper for a Costco cake. The flowers were all made from fondant. The base is rolled fondant with royal icing piping for the writing. "Olakino Maik'i" means "to good health" in Hawaiian.

The Castle Cake

My single biggest failure so far...although the birthday girl was THRILLED with it - so I guess that counts for something. :)

My downfall here was a lack of planning. Generally, if I am making a cake this big, with this many structural elements in it, I make a test cake first, so be sure that it will work. But, time management got the best of me, and I did not practice - so I found out too late that my turret columns were not structurally sound. They slumped more and more as the day progressed.

But, the foundation of the cake was solid, and the white chocolate hearts & turret points all turned out well. And the 'bricks' of the walls looked good too.

Spring Flowers & Picket Fences

This was a cake for the local mothers' club new member tea. It was my first foray into fondant flowers. The flowers, cake covering, picket fence and sign are all fondant, over a 14" round.