Minion Lucas turns 1!

First birthday cakes are the best! It's usually about the parents choices, but the babies are so lit up when they have their first party! 

This is my second minion cake. I have made a made a full size minion only cake a couple of years ago so I was pretty confidant to make a smaller version. The Minion on top is 3 layers of 4"chocolate cake with a 1/2 dome cake for the top.  He is covered in fondant and all the decorations are edible the hair, number 1 and even the goggle. 

Gramma Janine made the Minion mini cakes it is such a cute display. The base cake is a 9" cake with buttercream frosting the polka dots & letters are simply fondant shapes I cut out. 

Emma's Lil Pet's go to Hawaii

This cake was chosen by Emma, the birthday girl herself and she was rather specific about how she wanted her cake designed.  The Littlest Pet Shop (LPS) animals are real toys, but the rest of the decorations were made from fondant. It was a simple Vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream. I  love to make these cakes and maybe even attempt sculpting the figurines. Beach cakes are so much fun!

Details: There are three single layers of cake. 9", 6" and a 4" under the tiki hut.  After I stacked all three frosted tiers, I then hand-carved the waterfall from the cakes.  I smeared chocolate ganache to the outside of the middle tier as a glue for the (Pirouette wafers) pier posts to adhere to.  The sand was then added which was made of a mixture of marble cake crumbs pulsed in a food processor and brown sugar to give it sheen.  (You cannot use straight brown sugar on buttercream it will melt. I usually prefer turbinado or raw sugar instead of plain brown sugar it is more realistic.) 

 The water was piped with a large rosette tip with buttercream swirls in multicolors-teal, sky blue and white- to mimic the ocean waves. I sprinkled a few sugar glitter flakes over the water to make it look wet and shiny. 

The tiki hut was sculpted from rice krispie treats and covered in my version of bamboo.  I made a small cut out for the LPS mouse to poke out her head. The palm trees were made from lily leaves and wired together to form a canopy.  I glued a couple of coconuts on top and carefully poked them into the round wafer trunks. The lil pup in front is surfing off the front of the waterfall right over her floating fondant birthday letters. There is a surfboard made from gumpaste with her birthday number on it and the lil kitty sits on a handmade beach towel under the homemade umbrella. Several tropical flowers were sprinkled all over the cake to add some more Hawaiian flair and color. Fun, fun, fun! I want to do it again! 

Goodbye Tension; Hello Pension!

I love beach cakes.  This was ordered by my frequent flyer Sheryl for her boss' retirement.  She came up with the design and clever sign too.

It's all pretty self explanatory, all the decorations are edible. I made the buttercream frosting to look like waves and the sand is made from a mixture of turbinado sugar (for sheen), vanilla cake crumbs and a few chocolate cake crumbs.

Barb loves to read, sipping on her iced tea, sitting by the ocean; I think I managed to capture all of that.

R&N~Vintage Brush Embroidery Wedding Cake

*Brushed Embroidery and Ivory Sugar Peonies & Roses*

This wedding cake was promised to a special friend of mine.  My BFF's son and daughter-in-law were engaged over a year ago and I said I would like to make their wedding cake. 

  

The whole cake was covered in vanilla buttercream frosting made with real butter and heavy cream. The bottom layer was White Velvet (vanilla) with vanilla cheesecake and triple berry filling. The third tier was a lemon with lemon curd and the top 2 tiers were chocolaty. 

I made all the sugar paste flowers by hand and it took approximately 14 hours. The technique of brushed embroidery is simply a royal icing piped onto the cake and brushed with a paint brush to mimic the look of lacy applique.   The cakes were quite a baker's chore, with all four cakes having different fillings and different flavors.  A Labor of LOVE!

The cake sits on a white shabby painted board covered in sheer lace to meld with the vintage look of the decor. 

Braggers notes: Skip this section if you don't want to read me brag.  

I sat at a different table toward the end of the evening and a couple that I do not know sat down next to my husband and I.  They each had a different piece of cake and before the man sat down he took a bite of the white velvet cake and she took a bite of her lemon cake and they both said at the same time, "You've got to try this cake!". Then they both turned to us and asked if we had tried it. I politely said yes. The woman then commented to her husband and replied, "This is probably the best cake I have ever tasted".  My husband couldn't stand it any more and he burst out and pointed at me and said, "She made it!!! 

*This photo does not show the detail of the embroidery on the side of the cake. (I will update as soon as the bride shares her wedding photos with me).  

Bobbin' on his new Bike at 65

This was created for my dear friend at work whose husband has been rather sick. But when he got home to recuperate he was able to celebrate his birthday with his family & this cake.  His wife said he just bought a new bike and would love for me to replicate it. She sent me pictures and I made a template.  Viola! 
I really don't remember the details about the cake. I know it was chocolatey. The bike is handmade from fondant and the frosting was edged with butteream frosting and I used a wave technique to make it look like a tire tread.

Elizabeth & Jason Take the Plunge

This wedding cake is a chocolate lover's dream. The top tier is peanut butter-fudge marble with peanut butter mousse filling. It's truly a crowd-pleaser.
The middle tier is fudge cake with chocolate mocha mousse. The bottom tier is a vanilla-fudge marble with homemade bittersweet chocolate mousse.  They are all slathered in real "butter"cream frosting and then blanketed in a supreme vanilla  fondant.

The orchids were made from gumpaste and hand dusted in pearl dust to create the unique colors of the wedding.  The labor for all the flowers took a total of 12 hours and three days to create with proper amount of drying and molding. That would be about an hour a flower. I made extra which was a good idea since I  managed to break 2 of them at the reception.

 I did cover the cake board with a fondant edge and rolled a design into it. I dusted it with pearl dust to give it a finished look. The ribbons and peacock feathers were real. I cannot claim the star of this cake because it goes to the topper, it was a hit!

Kate's Birthday Blossoms

This cake was commissioned by co-worker Susan for her daughter's birthday. She wanted a Springy cake and said she would like to replicate the blossom tree she looks at in her backyard. The pink flowers and leaves were handmade from gumpaste.  The branches were created with chocolate fondant.  They sit on aqua buttercream frosting.  The cakes are an 8" bottom tier and 6" top tier.

Rome's Baptized Dec. 28, 2014

My new grandson Rome Huxley Fimbres was baptized during the holiday break this year. The cake was a simple yellow cake with berry filling.  The frosting was vanilla buttercream. When I bake for a crowd I like to keep it simple.

Rome wore a white tuxedo with tails and was a perfect gentleman during the whole ceremony. I couldn't be more proud of our little Blessing.

Holley and Bodhi Sitting in a Tree

This is a woodland theme we created for a double baby shower at work we called it a Co-Ed Shower since our 2 ladies are having different genders. Our honored recipients Nicole & Katie are each having babies soon, Katie's lil girl is due in January and Nicole's lil boy is due in April.  About the cakes. The large cake is a flavor combination chosen by Katie. She wanted coconut cake with a lemon mousse filling. I finally achieved scratch baking victory with my yellow cake recipe, I simply added a lil coconut emulsion for flavor. I have been trying to make the perfect yellow cake from scratch for 2 years now and with my sister as my most faithful critic, I am so sorry she didn't get to have this one, because I know I would win her approval.  The Mousse was made from fresh lemon curd folded into freshly whipped heavy cream. The frosting was my basic vanilla butter cream frosting.


The cupcakes were made gluten-free as a request from Mommy number 2-Nicole. She wanted a Black Forest cake perfect choice for this theme.  I made chocolate cupcakes and filled them with homemade cherry pie filling and frosted them with a decadent butter cream cocoa frosting.   the decorations for the cupcakes were majority acorns made by hand molding caramels into a ball and attaching tootsie rolls also made by manipulating the candy into a topper piece.

All the decorations you see on the woodland cake were made by hand and the tree on the side was piped on with chocolate butter cream using the small shell tip.  Fun, fun, fun!