Holly Golightly Cupcakes

All four styles of cupcakes: gift box, bow, flower, & shopping bag

 These Tiffany-inspired cupcakes were made for a bridal shower held at a classic Italian eatery in the Little Italy neighborhood of Cleveland. 

The hostess of the shower asked me to replicate a series of 4 cupcakes she'd found on the internet made by Lorinda Seto from cakesbylorinda.com.au., an award winning Australian decorator who specializes in ornately decorated cupcakes. 

Close-up of the delicate flower toppers

Each tiny cake was white chocolate velvet filled with raspberry mousse, iced in vanilla buttercream, covered with tiffany blue white chocolate fondant,  and dusted with edible pearl luster dust. 

Close-up of the miniature shopping bags

All of the decorations were hand made using gum paste or fondant and were completely edible.  The  shopping bags held a caramel in the center.

Close-up of the one inch gift boxes with bows

The hostess was delighted with the 3 dozen cupcakes, stating that they were just what she was looking for in both style and flavor.

A Cousins' Communion Cake

This large open bible cake was done for a First Holy Communion party.  It would serve 50 comfortably.

The left side of the book is vanilla bean cake with chocolate mousse filling.  The right side is milk chocolate cake with chocolate raspberry filling.



 
The entire cake is iced in fluffy vanilla buttercream. 
The top pages, host, and bookmark are vanilla fondant. 
The grapes, leaves, and wheat are hand modeled
fondant. 
The chalice and rosary are fondant that
has been painted with edible luster.

Everything is completely edible.

Feedback on the cake was that it was beautiful and even impressed several teenage boys in attendance--no easy feat! 
Because I strive to have the cake taste good, too, I was also happy to see this comment, " To make it even better-the cake tasted delicious! It was moist and cut well-not messy."

For A Special Little Girl............Squirrel...

They'd given it over to God.  If it wasn't meant to be, then so be it.  Life went on, and then..........A BABY ON THE WAY!!!  Early on,  they called the baby "Squirrel".  When they found out it would be a girl, they changed it to "Girl Squirrel".

How exciting to be part of this wonderful event!

We couldn't attend the party, but I sent a cake to go with the Noah's Ark theme.

This 12x12x3 lemon cake is filled with strawberry cream mousse, iced in vanilla buttercream, and decorated with hand cut fondant decorations.  It will serve at least 40.

Of course, Girl Squirrel has a pink bow and a special place in the Ark!

2..........Already??????????

It was time to fly again with a very special cake.

This time the cake was a belated birthday celebration for my grandson, who loves all things "Cars" AND cake.

As usual, the TSA agents joked about needing to do an "E.A.T" scan on it and I think they'd have been very happy had I left it behind.

Connor was delighted and his smile was nearly as large as McQueen's!

60 and Stll Running!

This was a small 60th birthday cake to serve 15, dark chocolate cake with mocha mousse covered in chocolate fondant.

The recipient is a lawyer, an avid runner, a landlord, a tennis player, and is affiliated with a popular commemorative jewelry company.
I was asked to include all of these things on this 7x11 inch surface!

The tennis ball and running shoe are hand sculpted rice krispie treats covered in fondant.  The rental contract is edible sugar paper, hand printed.  The silver "60" charm is hand cut fondant painted with edible silver color.

Sometime, it's difficult to include so many icons
on one cake, especially a very small cake, but in
this instance, it all seemed to work together very well.

The client and her husband were very happy with the results.

Make My Day!

This cake was done for Erika, a new graduate of an area cosmetology program.  The program refers to its graduates as "Day Makers" because they'll really "make your day". 

The cake, which will serve at least 22,  is a golden white cake using real vanilla and whole eggs with fluffy vanilla buttercream icing and filling.  All of the fondant decorations are handmade & edible, even the scissors.



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.