Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow......

A winter bridal shower is the perfect place for a cake covered in snowflakes--and that's just what the hostess ordered.

The cakes are chocolate with raspberry mousse and white with strawberry mousse. Vanilla buttercream icing is covered with gum paste snowflakes in violet, pealized white, and pale blue. The bows are made from modeling chocolate.

The 6" and 8" round cakes will serve 32.

Cake Cruise 2009--Fun on the Mexican Riviera

George & I went on the Holland America Oosterdam to the Mexican Riviera--Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, & Cabo San Lucas--for the 2009 Cake Cruise. 138 other cake fanatics and significant others joined us for a spectacular time.

It's hard to imagine anything more relaxing than 3 days at sea filled with cake decorating demos and hands on classes, paired with 3 days in 3 gorgeous ports snorkeling and bird watching.

The cake celebrities on the cruise were Susan Carberry, Colette Peters, Norm Davis, & Zane Beg. It was great to see them all again, having so much fun.

I took a modeling class from Susan Carberry. The dalmation eyeing the oversized bone was my creation. Colette Peters taught a class on royal icing portraits and I enjoyed learning the technique. Sadly, it just didn't photograph well for me. Demos included making fantasy flowers directly on a cake (Colette), creating a detailed Mexican-themed margarita and pinata cake (Susan), and creating an easy handbag cake (Norm & Zane).

On the final day of the cruise, 30 attendees, who had been chosen by lottery, participated in a series of 2 decorating heats that ended in a 3-person Mystery Challenge.

In the first heat of 30, I was chosen as one of 9 winners for my "floral motif" design done with only a rose nail, a rose tip on a bag of pink icing, and a parchment bag of green buttercream. I chose to do a modified version of brush embroidery, using my finger and the sharp end of the rose nail.

In the second heat of 9, I had to create a sea creature using red, yellow, green, black, and white fondant. The only tools I had to use were my hands and a toothpick. 3 of us went on to the finals where we were challenged to decorate an 8-inch round cake in a Mexican Riviera theme in 90 minutes.

My assistant (Patsi Shandera) and I completed the cake on time, and although we didn't win (the hot lights and swaying ship wreaked havoc with my "water" on the top of the cake, making it drip in the last 2 minutes of the challenge..........), we had a great time working together. George was my greatest cheerleader and photographer. I never would have suspected that I could cover a cake, make waves, model an island, a person, a tropical hut, a palm tree, and El Arco in just 90 minutes. How the major cake competitors work under such pressure for 7 hours, I'll NEVER know!

I learned some new tricks and had some spectacular fun! Can't wait to go again in 2011 !

My buddy the Car!

This cake was done for a budding mechanic who will turn 2 in a few days. I've never seen a little guy so excited by tools and wheels and CARS. He seemed surprised that he would be eating this particular car, so I hope he really enjoys it.

The car is marble sour cream pound cake iced with white chocolate ganache and covered in red fondant. It would serve 10-12. The base cake will serve 30+ and is yellow cake with cookies and cream mousse. The "grass" is homemade vanilla buttercream.

All of the decorations are edible fondant/gum paste and were hand cut and hand modeled.

Fabulous Fall Leaves--Alyson's 40th Birthday

For Alyson's 40th birthday, she told her husband Dave that she wanted my white cake with buttercream icing. Dave asked me to include some colorful fall leaves as decoration.

The cake is 8" round, 5 inches high, with buttercream basketweave icing airbrushed a rich gold. It will serve 20 comfortably. The leaves are cut from fondant and are completely edible.

Dave and the kids were delighted when we delivered the cake. I hope Alyson enjoys it, too, and has a fabulous fortieth!

3 Days of Play--Making Figures w/ Lorraine McKay

Sugarartist, Lorraine McKay, of Edinburgh, Scotland crossed the pond to teach classes near New York city.

What fun we had over 3 days--first a bride and groom, then a toddler in a tub, and finally, a lady with puppy and pillows.

Every class helps me to develop techniques that suit my personal style. In these classes, I think I've found ways to refine facial features and hairstyles.

Angie & Cameron's Wavy Wedding Cake

Angie and Cameron attended the Shields' 40th anniversary party last year and decided then and there that they wanted me to do their wedding cake. They'd liked so many aspects of the Shields' cake --the style, the flavors, the sugar lilies, the pay-it-forward donation.

We did all of the planning by e-mail--sadly, we've never met.

Angie sent me a picture of a cake with undulating satin ribbons across each tier. She wanted the lines done in a deep navy blue, with a few pink-peach-coral sugar stargazer lilies on the cake. She supplied the bride & groom topper.

The main cake served 110. The top and bottom tiers were white sour cream with raspberry preserves. The middle tier was chocolate with mocha mousse. Two kitchen cakes added another 110 servings, 55 of white sour cream with mango mousse and 55 of chocolate with mocha mousse.

The gum paste lilies were hand made and custom colored.

Everything on the cake was edible, except for the wires and stamens in the flowers.

More class projects!

I attended the Mid-Michigan SugarArt Workshops this past weekend in Okemos, MI. I had the best time--like a kid in a candy store!

I took a 4 hr. class with Nick Lodge on stringwork and several other 2hr. workshops with a variety of instructors that included gelatin flowers & butterflies, a stone birdhouse, a crewel embroidery icing plaque, a sculpted Christmas purse cake, baby booties and saddle shoes, and layered painting on a cake.

All of these techniques lead to interesting options for edible art and cake decorating.

The workshop instructors were wonderful and we had a lot of fun. I hope to be able to attend the workshops again next year.

The Euclid Beach Rocket Car----in Cake!

For Jack's 6th birthday, the Euclid Beach Rocket car was going to chauffer the kids around, so what better than to also have a rocket car cake!

The rocket cake and surrounding planets are french vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream filling and icing. They are also covered in vanilla fondant. The 3 cakes together would comfortably serve 30-35.

The rocket was carved into the shape and gum paste accents were added to form the seats, windshield, tail fins, and rocket boosters.

Jack & the martian sitting on the red planet were hand modeled from gum paste, too.

Edible silver luster dust was painted on the rocket to give it a special shine.

Does anybody really know what time it is?

A invitation for an "Around the Clock" bridal shower inspired this cupcake cake. The hostess was expecting about 20 guests and the circle is comprised of 24 cupcakes.

The cupcakes were red velvet with cheesecake mousse filling frosted with cheesecake accented buttercream.

The clock face was made by handpainting the number and hand markers to mimic those on the invite. The surround, alarm bells, and clock feet were piped buttercream.

Nervy books!

Congrats, Dustin, on making tenure at Case! Way to go!

To celebrate, his cake consisted of the "bible" in the speciality of neural sciences, Principles of Neural Science, and a brand new publication, Neuralmodulation, in which he has a published a chapter.

Each book serves approximately 20 people. The blue book is lemon chiffon with cheesecake mousse filling. The black book is a swiss chocolate cake covered in chocolate fondant with chocolate raspberry ganache filling.

All of the specialty related objects are hand modeled fondant. The congratulations memo is gum paste with a hand printed Case logo letterhead.

.....and wearing nothin' but a toolbelt.....

This cake was for Pete the Handyman's 50th birthday party. He loves the beach, burgers, Bud, and a sign by his pool that says, "Bathing suits optional".

The 11x15 yellow cake was filled with raspberry mousse and iced with vanilla buttercream. Sand was created with crushed vanilla wafers and cinnamon graham crackers. Pete, his toolbelt, tools, and all of the other decorations are hand modeled sugarpaste.

Chef Gio & the Giant Pizza

Last year Gio was interested in the beach and Guitar Hero. Since then, he's found a new love---cooking! His party was a full blown pizza fest with a local pizza chef coming to teach the kids how to throw authentic Italian pizza.

For the birthday cake, I made a personalized pizza box (yellow cake with cheesecake mousse filling) and a stacked pizza (milk chocolate cake with malted chocolate ganache filling). The cake boards were made to look like an Italian eatery tablecloth and a wooden pizza peel. In addition to the cakes, I added a chef's hat made from Rice Krispie Treats and hand modeled Chef Gio holding a mini pizza. Each cake flavor served 20 comfortably.

All of the pizza decorations--tomatoes, pepperoni, olives, green peppers--are hand modeled fondant. The "cheese" was shaved white chocolate. The "tomato sauce" is red buttercream.

The birthday boy loved the cake and save mini Chef Gio to watch over him in the family kitchen.

Wildcats & Buckeyes!

A young lady, who I first met when she was 18 months old, was graduating from Mayfield High School, home of the Wildcats. She'll be attending The Ohio State University in the Fall, where Buckeyes rule.

She requested a cake for her family graduation party that would represent both schools.

The 11x15, 30 serving, cake was marbled white and green (high school colors) with chocolate raspberry truffle filling. All decorations are handmade fondant. The diploma is fully edible and made using pretzel rods and white chocolate candy clay.

The Art of the Cake Competition Cleveland 2009

The 2nd annual Art of the Cake Competition was held here in Cleveland, OH at the Polaris Career Center the weekend of January 24-25, 2009. I entered the wedding cake competition where cakes were required to include black & white in the color scheme and had to be at least 3 tiers tall.

I took my inspiration from a Christian Dior Haute Couture gown from his 2007 Spring Collection. I titled it, "A-Dior-Able".

The 4 tier cake was covered in turquoise and white fondant with handpainted inset round panels and piped black stitching embellishments. The floral topper is handmade gum paste. The obi separator was fondant covered styrofoam with applied black fondant cording for the bow. The decorative board is covered in fondant with hand painting and coordinating multi-ribbon trim.

In the 23 cake contest, I won "Most Artistic", as judged by 2 Master's of Fine Arts.

You can see all of the cakes in the contest at http://neohiodecorators.tripod.com/id16.html

In addition to the competition, which was open to the public on Saturday for a small admission fee, there were also mini classes in the sugar arts.

It was a wonderful experience and I can't wait until 2010!

On A Snowy Night In Cleveland---A Giant Snowflake!

This giant snowflake cupcake cake and figure skate cookies were made for a birthday party at an ice skating rink. As I was carefully prying individual snowflakes out of their cutters, a beautiful but heavy snow began to fall outside. Thankfully, we were on time for the delivery!

The giant snowflake is made up of 25 individual vanilla buttermilk cupcakes iced with vanilla buttercream. The cupcakes are lightly adhered to the decorative board so that removal is easy. The snowflakes are edible gum paste and the entire cake is pearlized and sprinkled with iridescent cake sparkles.

The figure skate cookies are vanilla butter cookies covered with vanilla fondant, piped royal icing blue laces, and hand painted silver blades. Each cookie bag was decorated with a silver snowflake sticker.

It was a pleasure to make these for 10 year old Jessa--even if the real snowflakes did make delivery "interesting".......