Bumpa's Choochoo

 I did this cake a few years ago for my dad's birthday. Like I've said before, for some reason, I always seem to have time to do a fun cake for his birthday.

My dad has a thing with trains. Growing up, we had a false wall in the basement that folded down into a model train scene.

  I have no idea how many trains there are, but I'm still not allowed to touch some of them. There are boxes and boxes of trains and train related things. In the basement of my parent's current house, there is a track that goes around the ceiling with trains that make noise and steam.

My kids picked the design for this cake. They call him Bumpa, so that's why it says "Bumpa's Express" on it! We made Bumpa out of fondant and had him sitting in his train. We made a little map of Montana for the cab, and a fire stove for the coal. The coal in the coal car is crushed Oreos.

 I built up the train so it would look like the wheels were holding it above the ground.

I know the colors are kind of childish for a grandpa, but how fun would it be with baby animals poking their heads out for a baby shower!?

Life Sized Roses

 This is the bride's cake that went with the Nintendo cake! This is the first time I made life sized gum paste roses. Up until this cake, I'd made a ton of little ones, but no big ones. I think they turned out pretty good! I airbrushed them to go with the real flowers for the wedding. Each tier was chocolate fudge cake with different flavored filling. There was strawberry, raspberry, chocolate ganache, and a chocolate/coffee ganache. I'm not real big on coffee, in fact, I hate the stuff. Occasionally, I can do one of those ice cream, chocolate, coffee smoothie things, but lets face it, there's hardly any coffee in those anyway. However, I've discovered a delicious way to marry coffee and cake in a way that I love! Chocolate fudge cake, Coffee flavored ganache, and buttercream... It tastes like a chocolate mocha, only better!

 I was excited to have an excuse to use my cake platform for this cake too! The reception was held in a ballroom downtown. It was a beautiful space! The lights glistened off of the little dragees pressed into the sides of the cake too!

I had so much fun designing the cakes for this wedding!

For The Gamers...

 I'm not sure how many gamers would ever consider reading a blog about cakes, but this ones for the gamers! This was a surprise grooms cake for a friend of ours. He's a big time game programmer. I've asked a thousand times, and been told exactly what he does, but I can never remember all of it. Something to do with flash something... It comes down to this... You know those Facebook games that eat up half of your day? He's partly responsible.

  Anyway, his bride and I got together and came up with a plan to surprise him with this Nintendo cake. I had to borrow one from another friend to make sure I got it just right! The console is exactly the same size as the real thing. I figured out a way to have the flap open, which made it look more real since cake shouldn't be able to do that! The controlers and the game were made out of gum paste, so they'll last forever as long as you don't drop them. The game is hand painted with the couples name and a picture of Mario pumped about finally winning the heart of Princess Peach.

My hubby and I brought the bride's cake and had it all set up, then went out and got this one. The groom wasn't paying attention, cuz, when do grooms pay attention to wedding stuff anyway. After awhile, he noticed that someone had brought a Nintendo and went to check it out. As soon as he figured out what it was, he wouldn't leave it's side! He brought every one of his friends over to see his cake!

This was one of my favorite cakes to make! I'd love to be able to make more gaming systems sometime!

A Beautifully Snowy May

 What do you do when you love winter and all of it's beauty, but have a May wedding planned? Have a winter themed May wedding of course! My sister loves winter... the snow, the ice, the hockey. She was in heaven when she met a Canadian, realizing that they have more of all of that than we do in MN. For their May wedding, my sister planned a big winter theme... there were pine trees everywhere, Christmas lights, and a snowflake cake! The cake was frosted with buttercream. The snowflakes were made with royal icing.

 The snowflakes were very fragile. I piped them onto parchment paper and let them dry for a few days. Once the cake was set up at the reception site, I pressed them into the side of the cake.

My sister got married two days before my son's first birthday. The top tier never got cut, and since they were moving to Canada shortly after the wedding, we ended up with the extra cake! Instead of making another cake for my son's birthday, I refrosted it orange and did a quick little basketball thing! Easiest birthday cake ever!

Cowboy Hat

 Every year growing up, our family would spend two or three weeks in Montana. Both of my parents grew up out there, and we'd go see our extended family and see what the boondocks were really like. My dad grew up in a tiny little town in the middle of ranch country. He worked on a very large cattle ranch riding horses for months at a time and countless other cowboy things. (see any old black and white cowboy movie for reference)

 Dad has been in civilization since leaving for college, but still finds excuses to wear leather cowboy hats and one of those long leather duster jackets. Don't get me wrong, I think it's pretty awesome that my dad grew up in the wild west. (He remembers a shootout on main street.)

 For some reason, I always seem to have time around my dad's birthday to make a fun cake. That doesn't happen for everyone in my family, but my dad always seems to luck out. One year, we made this little cowboy hat. It's sitting on a fondant hankie that says, "You can take the boy from Montana, but you can't take Montana from the boy!"

You know just how true that is when you see a pastor in rural MN wearing a nice cowboy hat and a trail duster in to church on Sunday morning... Still, I'm proud of him, and would proudly be seen with my pastor/cowboy dad any day!

Princess Party!

 I'd like to apologize in advance for the length of this post and all of the pictures! It was just too hard to narrow them down!

Last year, a lady from my bible study was organizing a blood drive at her home for her daughter's birthday. It sounded crazy until I read her story. Five years earlier, she had given birth to a beautiful baby girl. After the baby was born, the doctor tried to remove the afterbirth. The placenta remained attached to her uterus, and she began to bleed out. The doctor had no choice but to rush her in for an emergency hysterectemy.

 

During this whole time, she recieved 11 units of blood. The human body typically holds 10. The blood transfusions saved her life.

For her daughter's first birthday, they decided to have a red cross truck come by and take blood donations in honor of what happened during the birth, and to give back knowing they could save another life.

 

 The tradition stuck, and last year, they were up to three trucks and making appointments! I asked how I could help, and she mentioned that they had sheet cakes donated for everyone, but that her little girl didn't have an actual birthday cake. I had to do something to fix that!

 She told me that her daughter really liked princessy things, and pink! I had always wanted to do a pillow cake, and this was my chance! I carved the cakes into pillow shapes, and covered them in fondant. The bottom pillow was airbrushed purple and I put tiny little dragees in the fondant to make it sparkle. The second pillow was an orangy brown color with a gold rope around it. The top pillow was bright pink with silver dragees and tassles. The tassles were fun to figure out... I ended up "borrowing" my kids playdough toys to make them!

 I made all of the little trinkets out of gum paste. The tricky thing with gum paste, is that it has to dry for a couple of days without getting moved for it to be sturdy. The tiara dried around an empty 2 liter pop bottle. Once it was dry, I painted it silver and added little studs. The other pieces were propped up on various things to get them to hold their shape!

 The heart on the necklace is a melted jolly rancher that was put into a heart mold. The mirror has about four coats of edible silver paint on it to make it shiny! The purse is my favorite! It's also gum paste and was made in pieces and glued together with royal icing.

 I've been asked about this cake more than any other cake I've made. It was so much fun to make! I didn't charge anything for it because it was for a friend and a charity event. It would normally be around $300 just because of all the work involved!

When we went to deliver the cake, the little girl was so excited! She'd never had a birthday cake that big before! It was all worth it to see the look on her face!

 I still run into my friend every so often at bible study this year. Every time I see her, I am reminded of how short life is and how blessed we all are to still be here. God had a plan for her and saved her from certain death that day. So, when other people see an amazing cake, I see a miracle.

Jeremiah 29:11-14

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you.” declares the LORD

Chocolate Strawberries

 I know this isn't a cake, but I don't care! I don't know of very many people who don't like chocolate covered strawberries. The first time I made the tuxedo strawberries is a time I won't forget... I had a few friends over to make over 300 of them the night before I got married. That's right, no going out and partying... we stayed in and made a ton of strawberry tuxedos as favors for my wedding. It was all worth it though. I got a ton of compliments on them!

 When my sister graduated from high school, I came up with chocolate strawberries with mortar boards. I don't remember how many I made! They were super cute! I've done these for a bunch of people since. The tassels can be any color to match the school's colors.

Last summer, I was asked to do a graduation cake, and given total freedom on the design! I love when that happens! I went out to the strawberry patch in the back yard and got a leaf, and used it as a guide to make fondant leaves for the cake. I made the flower petals out of fondant too. Then I put a bunch of mortar board strawberries among the leaves and flowers, making a strawberry patch! It turned out really cute!

Big Rivalry

 Anyone who has lived in either Minnesota or Wisconsin... or every watched football, knows that there is a standing rivalry between our states. The game between the Vikings and the Packers causes friends to become enemies, family to be shunned, and otherwise placid people to erupt into heated debates. So, when our church group decided to get together for the game, I figured we'd need a distraction from the rivalry so no one would embarrass themselves and leave the church...

Nothing distracts a bunch of guys like a sexy cheerleader, and cake. And, since I am in no shape to squeeze myself into a cheerleading outfit, I opted for the cake. Our group is about half Vikings fans and half Packers fans, so there was no way I could get away with just a Vikings cake. So, in the spirit of friendship and togetherness, I made a cake for each side. Each helmet was made with stacks of 10" round cakes. The stacks were carved into helmet shapes, frosted and covered with fondant. I love the football in between the helmets. I was able to make it look just like a real pigskin by pressing toule onto the finished cake.

Gourmet Cupcake Cake

 A couple of years ago, a couple from my church asked me to to their small cake and cupcakes for every guest at their wedding. While we were figuring out the design for their cupcakes, I got over excited and promised to make chocolate, edible liners for the cupcakes... I have no idea why. How are you supposed to bake a cupcake in a melty chocolate liner? It took a good two weeks to figure out how to make them, no joke. I can't tell you how I did it, or I'd have to kill you... I'm planning to get rich off of them!

 My gourmet cupcakes have edible chocolate liners, cake, filling, more cake, and frosting. They're super rich, especially when you top them off with chocolate curls!

This cake has 30 of the gourmet cupcakes put together and frosted over top of them to make a surface that can be decorated. It was made for a family get together for my husband's family. He had an aunt and an uncle celebrating big birthdays.

 These particular cupcakes are a chocolate fudge cake, Nutella for filling, and Nutella again for the writing and scroll work. If you've never had Nutella before, you're life has a large void... It's the best stuff on earth! It's good on toast, as cake filling, and off the back of a spoon. You'll find it by the peanut butter in your grocery store, or in half gallons at Costco... we go to Costco!

Keller Williams Grand Opening

So I got a call from a lady who works at Keller Williams one day... (Keller Williams is the second largest residential real estate company in the country in case you weren't aware...) I'm thinking... hold on, I have a house, why is she calling me? Apparently, an old friend of mine, who had just moved his real estate group to their company, had overheard that the baker she'd hired for a big grand opening event had totally flaked out and canceled on them last minute. He gave her my number, and without having seen any of my work, she hired me on the spot!

 This cake is a replica of the building Keller Williams had just moved into. The cake was really big (1 foot x 2 feet, and 13-14 inches high!) and too heavy for me to lift! She was concerned about some of the cake being gluten free for the people of the office who were allergic, and wanted different flavors for everyone else. The building has three different flavors: chocolate, white, and red velvet. The trees are gluten free. I've got to say, I'm most proud of the trees! The trunks are long bolts that have been screwed into the cake board and covered in fondant. The tops are gluten free cake with frosting and fondant, balancing on top of the bolts. I also think that the little fire hydrant is super cute! I found the building's picture online, so I was able to get the exact dimensions and tree placement from the actual building. The parking lot was crushed oreos that I put on once we got the cake there so they wouldn't go all over the car! (the picture of the fire hydrant was taken before we left, thus, no oreos!) I got to use my airbrush for the building, always a plus!

I'm excited to use my new tree design on future cakes! I think they turned out awesome!

And, thank you Dave for setting this all up!

Curious George

 With this cake, I learned one very important lesson... don't ask a four year old what kind of cake she wants for her birthday! To her credit, my little princess thinks that I can make anything out of cake. She also thinks that daddy can fix absolutely anything. It's a great ego booster I must say! A few months before her birthday, we discovered the Curious George movie. It's super cute! We must have watched it every day. Anyway, one day, 2 or 3 weeks before her birthday, I asked the princess what kind of cake she wanted. Without hesitation, she said "Curious George". I thought, "How bad could that be? Paint a Curious George on a little cake and call it a day!" Not so much. She went on to describe a life-sized 3D cake that replicated exactly a certain scene in the movie. I know I could have talked her into something more simple, but I began to see it as a challenge! It took a long time to figure out how to make a cake into a monkey. I ended up getting most of my supplies at Menards. I'd never shopped there for cake stuff before!

 The skeletal system is a bunch of PVC piping and little boards. His arms and legs are made of rice cereal treats. The body and head are cake. The whole cake was covered with flesh colored fondant, then another layer of chocolate fondant. We got to get messy with painting the "walls" just like George did in the movie.

We had the family over for dinner and cake on my princess' birthday, and all of the kids loved the cake! The best part? My niece, who is just younger than my little girl, had a piece of cake in front of her and said, "Daddy! I'm eating monkey brains!"

So, from now on, I know better than to ask what kind of cake my kids want!

Black on White

 I loved this cake! I was cruising Craigslist for cake jobs, and came across a lady who had a wedding planning business out of her home. She was looking for a dummy cake for her display area and would give business to anyone who gave her a display cake. I was the only baker who volunteered. Over a couple of years time, I got 4 or 5 cakes out of it. One of the cakes she got me was for the niece of the owner of the Woullet bakeries. He owns 5 bakeries, all in very expensive parts of the twin cities. As it turns out, she had worked there in high school and college, and was tired of the way they tasted! So, my cake was served to the guy who made my wedding cake, and a large percentage of the wedding cakes made in the twin cities!




Anyway... back to this cake! It's actually styrofoam rounds covered in gum paste. The gum paste dries hard like porcelain, so it won't get gouges in it once it's dry. The pansies around the tiers are hand painted with royal icing.  The other tiers are more plain, with just the little dots along the bottom. The black ribbon around each tier adds sophistication, and the crystals coming out the top add a bunch more fun!

 I heard that the wedding planner ended up going out of business, so I called her to ask for the dummy cake back. I could rent it out for weddings, or display it in my own house for clients. She said that it had faded and they threw it away. I was a little up set! It was beautiful! Oh well, I can do it again if I want to!

And So It Begins...

We all have our hobbies... mine is cake decorating. I've been doing cakes for 5ish years now. It all began when my little girl was about to turn 1 and I didn't want to just throw together a box mix and slap on some canned frosting. I took a few classes at a craft store, and fell in love! The classes don't teach you everything, but Youtube has everything that the classes didn't. I've always been good with crafts, so the cake thing kinda came naturally. It started with family, then friends... I found myself saying "yes" to making cakes for birthdays, anniversaries, and weddings. Friends told friends, and pretty soon I was making cakes for people I didn't even know. Then came the business cards and the magnet you stick to the side of your car. All that lead me here... blogging about my cakes for the world to see!

Since I have a few years of cakes saved up already, I'll start with the cakes of ages past. As new cakes come up, I'll post with pictures. As I sat to think about how I wanted to do this blog, it occurred to me that it would be cool to have pictures of the process as well as the final cake. Being that I didn't think of it until now, that'll only happen for the cakes from here on out!

Thank you all for your support, and if you know of anyone needing a cake, send them here!