40th Birthday Cake: BodyStep Cake

Once again, my two careers (Personal Trainer & Cake Designer) collide.   I surprised my client and friend with this 40 and Fabulous cake.

Not only does she work a demanding full-time job, a mom to 2 girls, weight trains with me... she is an amazing BodyStep instructor at the gym.  People come from all over Toronto to attend her class. 

Crocodile Cake

You don't want to meet up with one of these... unless of course it is cake!  I created this fun crocodile cake for a little boys birthday party which was being held at at reptile zoo near Toronto, Reptilia.  How great is that?

I was asked to make a crocodile with the colors from the party graphics and make it more realistic, than cartoony.  I selected the wonderful blue with some green accents and tried to match it with the gecko in the design.

I was so happy with how it turned out.  When I finished the cake, I emailed some photos over to my little nephew since I was telling him about it the day before.  This is what he said.  :-)

"WOW -- I'm a little scared of it- but not too much.  I wish I could eat that when it has a candle on it."   Maseo, Age 4

Panda Cake

I just love pandas - this cute cake was for a girl who was celebrating her 22nd birthday!

This cake was layers of chocolate sour cream cake with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream covered in fondant.  The champagne bottle was made out of sugarpaste.

Louis Vuitton Purse Cake

I never tire of creating Louis Vuitton purse cakes, although I must admit, I always hope the logo gets easier to handpaint... but it doesn't.  It still takes longer than I plan but the result is so rewarding.

My client asked for a classic style LV purse similar to a cake design that I made up a couple years ago.  So, I chose the Louis Vuitton Beverly GM.

This cake was alternating layers of chocolate sour cream and vanilla butter cake filled with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream and covered with chocolate fondant.

 

Here is a view of the side and back of the purse cake - handpainted logos everywhere.  If you are interested in attempting a purse cake, you can refer to my purse cake tutorial.

Angry Birds Cake

Raise your iPhone or mobile device if you are addicted to this Angry Birds game?  Actually, I spend countless hours playing Scrabble on my iPhone, so for this cake - I had to do lots of research on this game.  I soon realized that it was all in the details and I had so much fun with it!

This was the first time I actually made a backdrop to a cake.  It started out as two cakes and then I ended up making the 3 birds and the TNT mini-cakes.   The 6 cakes were alternating layers of chocolate sour cream and strawberry vanilla cake.

Everything else is handmade out of fondant and the stacking bricks were Rice Krispie squares covered in fondant.

And yes, there is that golden egg hidden back there.

3rd Birthday: Crane Cake

When my nephew, Maseo, was born 3 years ago, I told my sister that he would always have the best birthday cakes.  On his 1st birthday: it was a Heffalump cake and on his 2nd birthday: it was a Tractor cake.

This year, I thought that I might make him a Thomas the Train cake.  But when I asked what his favorite toy was, he said it was a Crane.  He already knows how to challenge me.  I wonder what next year will bring :-)

The cake was Orange Dream cake with Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream.  And thank you to my husband who built the wooden structure for this cake.  My nephew now plays with the wood stand and has hooked up strings to it like a real crane.

7th Birthday Cake: Puppy Cake

Last year, I made a 6th birthday cake for a girl who loves dogs.  For her 7th birthday, it was the same theme and I could do any design I wanted to.

I have to admit, I do have this thing where I refuse/avoid making carved cakes that look like realistic animals, babies and also baby bumps - I know its just cake, but I still can't stand the thought of a knife cutting into it.  However, for animal cakes, as long as I can make them stuffed animal looking and cartoony, then its okay by me.  Here's some other views of the puppy cake.

 

Any other cakers feel the same or is it just me?

50th Birthday Party: 1979 Corvette Cake

A perfect surprise 50th birthday cake:  a black 1979 Corvette L82 chocolate cake.   The birthday boy's spouse had been planning this surprise for over 6 months.  I guess it would be more of a surprise if it was the real thing!

And here are some photos on how it all began.... Somehow, I had to turn these chocolate cake layers into a sleek corvette.

 

2nd Birthday: Yellow Tractor Cake

This past weekend was my nephew Maseo's 2nd birthday.  Last year I made him a fun Heffalump Cake and this year it was a tractor cake.  He actually calls dump trucks, excavator and any yellow truck a tractor.

Everything is completely edible on the cake.  It was lemon butter cake with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream.

He loved the cake and really wanted to play with the tractor.  I think it was confusing for him whether it was a toy or a cake.  We let him remove the sugarpaste wheels before we cut it up...  he then pointed at it and said "Broken".

1950's Cakes: The King is Back... in Cake!

A couple months back, a client ordered a 1950's-themed cakes for her grandmother's 70th birthday party: A bust of Elvis and something poodle-themed.  I have never made a "head" before and pondered for many weeks how I would actually do this.  I wanted it to be realistic, sturdy and not use too many inedible supports.  And I did NOT want the head laying flat.

The party was a few weeks back, I'm happy to say that he was sturdy and I only used three dowels to separate the 2 cake tiers.  He may not look exactly like Elvis, but I was pretty happy with my first "head" - although, I don't like the thought of anyone cutting into it....

My client said the cakes were a hit!  Her grandmother didn't have the heart to cut into it and the poodle cake fed everyone.  As of last week, it is still sitting in her basement cold storage.... which I wouldn't want to bump into late at night because I'm sure it would scare me every time :-)

Elvis "In Progress" -  I started with 5 layers of vanilla cake iced with Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

Then, I started to carve the cake... yes, he now looks like Chewbacca...

He's starting to come to life with a bit more carving and some more buttercream.

And now sporting a new look - kinda Zorro-ish.... Such a fun cake!

1st Birthday Cake: Sweet Monkey Cake

Today's blog post has a monkey theme to it. Firstly, a monkey birthday cake for a little girl who turned 1. I also added a cute little red bow just in front of the ear after I took this picture.

This cake was many layers of zesty lemon cake with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream covered in chocolate fondant (the stuff that tastes like tootsie roll)

And what is yummier than Banana Sour Cream cupcakes with chocolate buttercream? Actually maybe cream cheese icing on it....

These monkey cupcakes were chocolate sour cream cupcakes with vanilla buttercream with a design that I picked up from the Frosted Caken Cookie

I also made these with a more 2D-ish monkey face too. These were banana cupcakes with cream cheese icing.