Forest themed Yule Log Cake

This is the 3rd Yule Log I've made for this awesome family and I LOVED the theme this year.  In the past I did a Celtic Yule Log and a Christmas Yule Log so it was really fun to do a new theme.  The colors were perfect and I LOVED the mushrooms!

 Little story about the mushrooms.  I was thinking I'd do brown ones to make them look very realistic, but then I found out my friend wanted the red and white ones.  So, I googled the REAL red and white mushrooms and tried to figure out how to make the brown ones I'd made into red ones.  I thought of making red fondant and covering the brown ones but I didn't have red gel coloring.  When I went to the craft store I was enlightened when I saw the Wilton red melting discs.  DUH!  How easy!  I melted it, I dipped them, they dried and TA-DA!  I had red mushrooms!  I was so happy it was that simple for me!  Then I just piped on the little dots.

 I really love doing the texture for wood cakes!  It's just chocolate frosting and I like to do some spots where white frosting shows through a little.  Makes it have a lot of texture.

 I loved the pine needles, but there were SOOOO much work!  I almost gave up on them, but I stuck to my picture in my mind.  I would have done more but they took so much time.

The best part about this cake?!  The TASTE!  Every year when I make this pumpkin roll I have to make one for my family because it's like torture smelling the cake cook and tasting the cream cheese frosting.  Oh, this is a delicious cake!  Merry Christmas, Cottam family!  And Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our friends and family!

Minecraft Sword Cake

Another cake that I had to research!  I've never in my life played Minecraft.  I've never even seen anyone else play the game!  So when I had a request for a Minecraft birthday cake I was totally lost with what to do!  When I looked online for ideas every single cake I saw was the green and brown square made with hundreds of tiny squares.  Well, I like to do something different when I can, so when I came upon this picture, which is done with CHALK, I knew I had found what I wanted to do!  I actually would like to do this cake again sometime and make it look even more like the picture and add all the stuff around that middle square.  Someday....

 I did all those little squares on one large, very thin piece of fondant, then stuck the whole piece on at once.  Kind of like back splash tiles.  MUCH easier than trying to put each individual square directly on the cake and hoping they'll turn out right!

 My son kept saying how cool the sword was and that the blue sword is the most powerful!  Little did I know!

It was fun doing a boy cake and even writing differently on the little tag.  Happy birthday Xander and Quentin.  Two very lucky boys!

Birdcage Birthday Cake

This cake was so fun to make.  I know.  I say that with most cakes, but this was really such a fun idea.  The roses were my favorite part!  This was the 3rd birthday cake I've made for this pretty young lady and this year we did it gluten free.  My kids all claim that they like the gluten free cake better than 'regular' cake, and so does this birthday girl.  It's so rewarding to be able to not only make something pretty, but to make something that people with special diet needs can eat!

 Don't you LOVE the scrolling on the cage?!  It took forever but I loved how it looked when it was done!

 Tiny white bird and rose.

 This gorgeous cake stand was made with a scrolled plate that my sweet friend gave to me and a candle stick glass that I found at a random craft store.

 Cute little flowers, and see....the stand even has a handle.  Totally unique!

 Sorry, but for some reason I just can't get over the flowers.  They were so much fun to make!

Happy Birthday Brynlee girl!  We sure love you tons!

Eagle Scout Cupcake Cake

These cupcakes were made for two very deserving young men who earned their Eagle Scout award.  One of the boys left for a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints just days after the Eagle Scout presentation.  What a wonderful example he has been to all the young boys in our neighborhood.  He will be missed while he is gone, but what a blessing he is to his family and what an exciting reunion they'll have when his two years is up!  Both young men are fantastic examples of what young men should be these days!