Star Wars Inspired OSSAS Cake 2007

In September of 2007, I entered my first Oklahoma State Sugar Arts Show. The theme for the show was motion pictures, so I chose Padme from Star Wars in her picnic gown. For the competition, the table must be dressed to reflect the theme and inspiration items must be presented.

The cake is covered in embossed fondant and painted gold. Green ribbons and individual miniature roses decorate the cake to mimic the pattern on the bodice of Padme's gown. The topper is a floral ball of dozens of miniature roses. The cake board is covered in embossed fondant made to look like a wicker picnic basket pattern.

The was my first "big" competition and I have a long way to go, but my score was in the upper 3rd, so I was extremely happy with the results.

3-D Morton Inhaler & Stacked Books Cakes

My husband is a member of the Anesthesia History Association and for their Spring meeting in Pittsburgh this year, he asked that I perform some "cake magic" for the member's dinner. The logo of the association is a Morton Inhaler, a large glass sphere with a port for inserting anesthetic agents and a mouthpiece for the patient to inhale those agents. The association has also published, and been affliated with, several prestigious books.

Everything on this cake is edible. The sphere is dark chocolate cake with rolled buttercream icing. The mouthpiece and port are hand modeled gum paste painted with luster dust. The books are caramel cake marbeled with dark chocolate and dark chocolate marbled with caramel. They're filled with chocolate mousse. They're iced first in vanilla buttercream and then covered with fondant. The titles are hand piped to mimic the actual books.

The AHA membership was delighted with the cake and published a photo of it on their website. The picture of the cake is also going to be published in the American Society of Anesthesiologists' newsletter.

Happy Mother's Day & Happy Birthday!

Mother's Day and her birthday were on the same day, so her daughter requested her Mom's favorite: Classic petit fours for the family celebration. A small cake for a get-together with friends the next day was also in order.

The classic white cake petit fours are a little over an inch and a half across and about an inch and a half high. They have a bit of vanilla in the center and on top and are iced in poured fondant. The pink and yellow rosebuds and half roses are hand piped in royal icing.

The cake is also white cake with vanilla buttercream with a piped fantasy dahlia on top.

Memorial Day Stars

This cake was made to accompany 90 star shaped sugar cookies covered in the same color fondant stars. The cake fed 30 and was french vanilla soaked with amoretto simple syrup.

Butterfly Birthday Cake

This 2 tier french vanilla cake with chocolate buttercream icing was fora birthday girl who loves butterflies. She chose this cake from several others and was very specific about the colors to be used. She has wonderful taste because the delicate pastels were beautiful against the warm shade of the chocolate buttercream. The butterflies are hand piped chocolate with licorice antennae and the dots and banner are fondant.

From the mother of the birthday girl:

"The cake was a "BIG" hit at the party. Everyone loved it and couldn't get over how magnificent it was...
Now for the taste ~
We have never had a better tasting cake and frosting in our entire lives. Even the fondant, which I am not usally fond of, tasted great.
The chocolate butterflies were awesome, as well"

Couture Bridal Shower Mannequin Cake

Done for a small bridal shower, the mannequin is fully edible fondant over ice cream cones. It's hand painted with edible silver decorating dust and embellished with sparkling sugar crystals. The cake serves 20.

My Mid-Atlantic Cake Show Competition Wedding Cake

I try to enter cake competitions all over the country. This one was held in MD and over 80 cakes were entered. This bas relief/applique technique was done with various gum paste flower cutters in order to mimic a fabric pattern. It was immensely time consuming, but I adore the result. The judges wanted to see color, although I preferred to leave it "en blanc". Other than the color issue, they seemed to have liked the cake. I didn't make the top 8, nor do I have access to all of the rankings, but based on judge's comments, I'm pretty sure that it was in the top 30. I'll do better next time!

Aaarrrr--Ahoy, Matey! A Treasue Map!

A treasure map to go with 2 dozen mini treasure chests. The distressed map is hand painted fondant. Candy jewels decorate the base of the cake. This cake fed 20.

Such a Ducky Cake!

This cake was inspired by a little boy's favorite toy duck. The small ducks are hand modeled fondant, as is the fellow navigating the pond sitting on a lily pad. It served 35 comfortably.

Fondant decorated cookies for communion

Large, 6 inch, cross sugar cookies covered with embossed white fondant and decorated with fondant flowers and leaves. The fondant helps keep the cookie softer and adds just enough sweetness to the package. Each cookie was later bagged and tied with a ribbon.

This exotic fantasy flower includes a blown sugar center, pulled petals, bubble sugar accents, pulled striped ribbons, a cast base, and a clear sugar backdrop made from a custom made silicone mold.

I also enjoy doing pulled & blown sugar work. I made this geisha in a weeklong class with Ewald Notter. She stands about 10 inches tall. Her face is hand painted.

The birthday girl wanted lots of read, a rocket, and a figure of herself on this cake. The red planet is covered in rolled buttercream icing. The rocket, the astronaut, and her "alien" friend" are hand modeled fondant/gum paste figures.

This cake was inspired by an invitation to a benefit for a nature center. "Once In A Blue Moon" is characterized by the silhouette of a (hand made) heron in front of a silvery royal icing moon. It's covered in fondant, airbrushed a deep blue, and finished with piped lake reeds and water lilies. It fed 60+.

This was my son's wedding cake. What an adventure! The cake layers were taken as carry-on luggage from Cleveland to Las Vegas and fully decorated in a condo on the Strip. The fondant covered tiers are separated by custom cake boards embellished with hand made purple rosebuds and hand rolled spheres. The banquet staff at the Venetian was amazed.

I really love designing and engineering cakes. I hope you enjoy looking at some of my creations.

This communion cake would serve 60. It's 11x15x5. The base icing is buttercream with fondant top pages and hand modeled fondant accents. Everything is edible including the rosary.