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.

I'm A Published Author!!!

I took my Lambeth cake to the 2011 ICES Convention in Charlotte, NC for exhibit in the Cake Room.  Exhibitors were encouraged to showcase old school, piped technique cakes, so what better than the cake I'd done for the Great American Cake Show in May?  The exhibits aren't judged, but are there to provide inspiration and entertainment for the several thousand attendees at the convention.

When the cake was retrieved from the Cake Room, there was a card from American Cake Decorating magazine asking me to contact them, as they wanted to feature it in an upcoming issue.  I honestly thought it was a mistake--there were so many gorgeous cakes--but when I got home, I e-mailed them and answered their questionnaire.

Today, I got the surprise of my life when I opened an envelope containing the magazine and found my cake on the cover--THE COVER!!!!

The cake isn't perfect or "purist" in the technique, but it sure looks pretty on that glossy paper!

To Gnome Me, Is to Love Me!

This was another, "Where's the cake???" 

 Well, it's not just the cupcakes............It's the basket, too.  

The gnome is a rice krispie treat sculpture covered in modeling chocolate--fully edible execpt for the dowel rod supports.

The basket cake (serves 8) and the cupcakes are yellow cake with strawberry mousse filling, iced with vanilla buttercream and accented with modeling chocolate daisies.

I don't know the back story on why a gnome for Susie's 50th, but I hope she loved him.

Safari Cake for Jayce

This is a special cake for Hugo and Alyse's new son, Jayce.  It's white cake with fluffy vanilla buttercream filling and vanilla buttercream icing.  It serves 30.
All of the animals and leaves are hand cut from fondant and highlighted with edible markers.
The scene was adapted from a nursery quilt that I found on the internet.  I think the animals all  look very happy to meet the new baby--just too adorable.

But Where's the Cake??? In the POT???

When I moved to Ohio 19 years ago, one of the first social events I went to was a clambake.  I can't tell you how funny I thought it was that clambakes were regular fall events in OHIO!!   There are no lobsters or clams in in Lake Erie............., or are there??

With the popularity of 3-D cakes, when I was asked to do a cake as a dessert for a clambake birthday/pre-surgery party, I was so excited to make this design!

The "pot" is 2 stacked tiers of yellow cake with strawberry mousse filling (serves 40), wrapped in fondant that has been sprayed with edible metallic silver.  The corn on the cob and the lobster are hand modeled rice krispie treats covered in modeling chocolate.  I made my own molds for the clam shells and freehand modeled the clam bodies.  The cracker & pick are also hand modeled. They're all made from modeling chocolate and completely edible. 

I was really happy with the cake--and so was the hostess and her family-- but I was even happier when the hostess told me that one of the guests, upon inspecting the scene asked, "But where IS the cake? In the pot?" 

Yes!!! Success!!!!

Lovely Lace

The bride will be wearing a lace gown, so I got to have fun combining lace molds to create a one-of-a-kind wedding dress for the top of this cake.  Maybe I've found another calling??  LOL!

The cake was white cake with strawberry mousse filling to serve 40, delivered to the Gamekeeper's Tavern in Chagrin Falls, OH.

A Gem of a Day!

I was asked to combine an 60th wedding anniversary and a 80th birthday for this cake. 

Taking the lead from the black and white damask cake I made last summer in my class with Stephen Benison, I recreated the damask design in ruby red and added red roses with silver foliage.

The 2 side cakes were lemon with lemon mousse filling and lemon buttercream.  The stacked cake was french vanilla and chocolate fudge marble with chocolate raspberry filling.  All are covered in vanilla flavored fondant.  Together, they would serve 80 comfortably.

I was going to be away for almost 2 weeks before this cake was needed, not returning until the day after the party. Not wanting to disappoint the client, I assured her that I could package the cakes for freezing and defrosting so that they would look and taste as though they'd been made the day of the event.  All of these cakes, when wrapped and boxed,  fit into home refrigerators and freezers.  After setting them up at the venue, the client placed the flowers into prepared areas of the cakes and added the silver butterflies.  She was thrilled with the results (and so was I), e-mailing me after the party to tell me that everything went smoothly and that the cakes looked and tasted wonderful.