Fantastic Art of the Cake Show 2012

This was my entry in the Art of the Cake show here in Cleveland this past weekend. He took 2nd place in the Master's Division Sculpted Fantasy/Mythological Cakes.

The lamp and genie body are cake covered in modeling chocolate. His head and arms are sculpted cereal treats covered in modeling chocolate. Lots of hours in this guy, learning as I went along. I couldn't have done it without George's help drilling the hole in the wooden base, sawing off the center threaded rod, running out to get the right size washers, carrying it carefully, etc.

I also took 1st Place in the Fig & Nut Cake Tasting category--toasted almond cake with mascarpone fig filling & silky chocolate w/mascarpone buttercream icing, confirming my committment to not only having a cake that looks great but also tastes great.

You Have the Right.........To A Happy Birthday!

Well, Devan has graduated from being a fan ofWinnie the Pooh to being a fan of the boys in blue, but he still LOVES chocolate cake!

The cake is swirled dark & milk chocolate with chocolate mousse filling.  It serves 24.  Covered in vanilla buttercream with hand cut fondant police car and fondant message.

Saying Mazel Tov with Cupcakes!

Dave wanted cupcakes for Jack's bar mitzvah................I suggested a cupcake cake in the shape of a torah............and this is the result.

This 110 cupcake cake is half chocolate, half vanilla with vanilla icing.  The star points, lettering, and small stars are done with vanilla sugar cookies iced in vanilla fondant.  The scrolls are poster tubes covered in white paper and clear Contact paper, but the 4 handles are EDIBLE--sugar candy sticks covered in fondant and inserted into rice cereal disks coated in dark chocolate & fondant.

The torah was 28x28 and the entire display was 40x40 !!!

I guess it was a hit because Dave's already given me the heads up for the next 2 big events--Abe's bar mitzvah in 2015 and Liv's bat mitzvah in 2017!

Now This Is A REAL Football Cake!

Hugo got the call to go to NFL training camp and I got the call to make the cake to serve 20 for the celebration/send-off party.

The cake--turf & football-- was white cake with fluffy vanilla buttercream icing & filling.  The football was covered in vanilla fondant with fondant lacing.  The mouth guard and toss coin were hand modeled/molded from fondant. 

I hope to be able to make a draft cake for him in the jersey colors of an NFL team!

More Like A Basketball Score, Really.............

Well, it never fails that family gets the quicker, simpler cakes.  This one was flown to Texas over Thanksgiving for my son and husband's joint birthday.  I used orange and brown--the colors of the Cleveland Browns--and the general shape & design of a football.
The cake (serves 20) was chocolate with vanilla buttercream covered in fondant.  Both men enjoyed it, but I think they'd have rather had a winning season for the Browns...............me, too.

Everything's Just Ducky!

Based on the shower invitations, this cake to serve 40 was 6" tall and made of dark chocolate fudge cake with seedless raspberry preserves and vanilla buttercream, covered in vanilla fondant.
The duck and faucet are hand modeled rice cereal treats covered in fondant.
This cake was frozen for 10 days after delivery and before serving because I was out of town for that time period.  The hostess followed my detailed instructions on how to defrost it properly and it looked & tasted as good as the day it was made.

Kailey is a Rock Star!

I was asked by Icing Smiles (icingsmiles.org)--a non-profit group that organizes special cakes for chronically ill children and their families--to make a cake for Kailey's 9th birthday.  She recently completed her chemo and was having a dance party for her big day.  She's a Justin Bieber fan, too.

I used several techniques to create the handpainted, EDIBLE, "photo" of Kailey and her music idol.  Her mom planned to keep it for her after the party.

For her cake, I used an image from the party invitations to create a custom flying Z guitar cake (strawberry cake with vanilla buttercream) to serve 20.  The neck of the guitar is fondant covered foamcore with individually extruded strings.

I used her favorite colors of green and hot pink and added a bright green boa as a fun accent trim.  When I delivered the cake, her mom showed me the feather boas that Kailey had chosen for her guest to use while dancing.  I couldn't believe it--we must have been on the same wavelength!

Kailey and her family were delighted by the cake and I loved the experience.  I look forward to working with Icing Smiles whenever possible. 

Cleveland Barons Fan Turns 60 !

Mary commissioned this Cleveland Barons hockey jersey cake for her brother Paul.  Although this popular team no longer plays in Cleveland, he still considers himself a devoted fan.  He was really tickled by the cake.

This white cake with seedless strawberry preserve filling serves 40. Under the vanilla fondant is vanilla buttercream.  The hockey pucks are rice cereal treats coated in white chocolate & black fondant with edible logos.