Couch Potato Cake

This is not my first couch cake, but it was my first "couch potato" cake.  The birthday boy was turning 50 and happily on the couch with his iPad, Maple Leafs Jersey and Diet Coke.

50th Birthday Airplane Cake

I was lucky enough to be asked to make another airplane cake.  This time, the model was a Piper Lance and it was for a 50th birthday celebration.

Here's the top view of the cake.  Isn't that a cute quote to add to the cake!

Roger Vivier Purse & Shoe Cake

I had a lot of fun selecting the design for this surprise 50th birthday cake.  I was told that the birthday girl loved the designer Roger Vivier and to use some spring colors.

There was so many wonderful designs to choose from.  I ended up selecting the New Bauletto Metro purse for the wonderful color and also a good cake shape.

I also chose the Pink Cut-out Flat Ballet Shoes because I had never made flat shoes before, only high heels.  As it turns out, the birthday girl has 5 pairs of his flats!  :-)

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.

 

50th Birthday Party: Saxophone Cake

What a super fun, but very hard cake I made this past weekend.  It was for a surprise 50th birthday party for a Saxophone player.  His wife contacted me over 7 months ago to book this cake.  We secretly traded emails over her son's email account to make sure her husband wouldn't find out.  She also developed photos and mailed them to me - I love mail!

The cake was to feed 60 people, but I think it fed way more than that.  It was heavy!  Strawberry vanilla cake with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream and handmade sugarpaste decorations.

Here are some pictures on how the cake came together.  First was the template - it was 80% of the real dimensions of the real saxophone.

Then the first layer of strawberry vanilla cake and spreading on the vanilla swiss meringue buttercream.

The final layer of cake after I carved the saxophone.

50th Birthday Party: 1959 Porsche Cake

What a fun and fabulous surprise for a 50th birthday party... a fiery red 1959 Porsche... Cake!

This birthday boy loves nice cars and keeps his very clean, so I added him in sugarpaste shining up the car.

I loved making the detail on the front porsche logo - I'm thankful for very fine paintbrushes.

Party Cake for Gail Vaz-Oxlade and TV Show: Til Debt Do Us Part

A couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to be asked to design a cake for the TV show Til Debt Do Us Part. They were celebrating their 100th episode and it was also the host, Gail Vaz-Oxlade's, 50th birthday. The party was held on the the rooftop terrace of The Fifth Grill and Terrace in downtown Toronto. For this cake, I tried to really incorporate the elements of the show (the money jars, credit cards) and of course Gail, her big black bag and her TV crew. Her TV crew is so important to her and she truly appreciates them.

The cake was 3-tiers: Chocolate Sour Cream Cake, Lemon Cake and Banana Cake. I was also able to incorporate the glass money jars in the cake and even made sugarpaste coins and bills inside. Aside from the sugar people, the calculator was one of my favorites to make.

I was also lucky enough to attend the event in Toronto and meet Gail and her daughter Alex. They were the most friendly, down-to-earth and wonderful people. They loved the cake, appreciated the small details and even saved some of the sugarpaste items.

Lots of pictures today - most of them (I'm sure you can tell which ones) were photographed by Tanja at Double Crossed Photography.



These next 3 photos are sound guy and the 2 cameramen looking at themselves made out of sugar. I love the picture below as the sound guy, John, is laughing that I included his rolled up sleeves in his sugar character.


Behind the Scenes: Some of my regular readers have asked that I post some of my "in progress" pictures. You can see how I made the sugarpaste money and divided them up into their proper amounts. I know, I know - that is a bit excessive... :-)



Cake Decorator's Tip: The event was held on a hot evening on the rooftop terrace in downtown Toronto. Can you imagine how worried I was about that? I was trying to negotiate an inside spot to display the cake - but there was a nice breeze, so I set up on the terrace. However, throughout the evening I kept my eye on the cake and was ready to repair at a seconds notice in case any of the sugar characters started to tilt over. So my tip really is to get yourself invited to the event! :-)