Dora the Explorer Birthday Cake

I LOVED all the bright colors on this cake!  Bright colors always make the best pictures!  Dora the Explorer was the request and I had to take a sophisticated turn for this cake.  The stripes were probably my favorite, or the flowers, or the balloons.....

 Gum paste little characters that took a super long time, but turned out so adorable.  (That MONKEY!!!  I had to repair him 4 times!!!  The gum paste was too thin.)

 Small styrofoam balls attached to wires covered in gum paste.  I really wanted them too look like there were floating away, but I couldn't figure out how to do it without the strings breaking.  Oh well, the bow ties them together instead!

 Modeling chocolate stripes placed on a slab of modeling chocolate before placing on the cake.  It also took a good amount of time but it was extremely worth it.

Happy birthday, Emma!!  I hope your day was full of adventures!

Simply Elegant Wedding Cake

Smooth frosting with a simple dot pattern and gum paste roses.  Dark Belgian chocolate cake under that bright white frosting!  I really loved the simplicity of this cake.  And yes, flowers are still my favorite thing ever to make!

Football/Baseball Birthday Cake

This cake ended up taking twists and turns throughout the whole process!  My mind is all over the place some times when I work on a cake, and this was one of those cases.  My original ideas was to have the football bursting out of the bottom tier and the baseball bursting out of the top tier.  With the letter 'P' on the top of the cake.  Well, as you can see things changed!

It all began when I made the football WAY too big for the cake base I had the cake on.  So, it ended up on the top.  But really, I like it where it ended up!  

 This baseball glove was a last second idea and I'm so glad I did it.  It's made of modeling chocolate.

 The 'P' from the letter-man jacket and the birthday boy's name 'stitched' across it.

 The baseball and football were rice krispie treats covered in modeling chocolate.  The whole cake is covered in modeling chocolate as well.  (I've decided I much prefer modeling chocolate to fondant!)

 Super fun texture for this football!

 The birthday boy's football jersey number and pattern of his jersey.

 Field goal post made of gum paste. 

I really loved making this cake and how clean and crisp it came out!  It's so fun to watch a cake evolve into something so bright and original.  Happy birthday, Jake!  Go Rams!

'Psych' TV Show Murder Mystery Birthday Cake

Last year I told my kids....."NO big fancy cakes!!"  This year, I said, "Let's do big elaborate cakes so I can stretch my creativity!"  Well, this is what evolved.  After YEARS of my girls trying to convince me that I would like the TV show 'Psych' I finally caved and gave it a try.  And well, I've laughed so hard every single episode!!!  Gus pretending he's Michael Jackson, oh my gosh!  I had tears in my eyes I was laughing so hard!  That show makes me feel young and I love it!

 But, on to the cake and what we were going for.  We had just watched a Yin and Yang episode and the creative juices were just flowing!  Cream pie, the number pi, pineapple, fedora hat, gun in the gears.....ya, we put it all in there.  Plus 6 hidden yin/yang symbols.

 2 of the hidden symbols are right here.  And yes, I LOVE making gears.  So sorry!  It's a weakness!

 Symbol in the cream pie.  It was a pain getting the gum paste to look like cream, but it finally came through.  With a touch of cocoa powder to make it look toasted!  HAHA, fooled the kids.  They all fought over who got the pie but it didn't taste nearly as good as it looked!  Gum paste is just too chewy.

 'P.S. oh and bring your physic along.'  My birthday girl wrote the letters on these squares. She did a terrific job! (Another symbol)

 You can't see it in this picture, but there was a hidden symbol on the side of the pineapple also.  And my 5 year old insisted that I make this look dirty with cocoa powder.  She's such a stickler for details!

 The last hidden symbol here on the hat.  

 The number pi wrapped around the cake, which was covered in black modeling chocolate.  No fondant for this child!

Now, if you think this cake was involved, that's NOTHING compared to the party!  Thanks to two VERY loved aunts, this party was a HUGE hit for a bunch of teenagers!  Happy birthday Ali girl!  We love you tons and tons!!

50th Birthday Outdoors Man Cake

I'm just going to begin this post by saying thank you so much to Brandi!!  She is always so great to take fabulous pictures of my cakes!  I'm so thankful for her friendship and kindness!  Please go see how amazing she is with family photos and newborns and, well everything!  Check out her site by clicking on her name, or check her out on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrandiTeuscherPhotography?fref=ts  

On to the cake.... the requirements were: Vintage Dude, red, black and brown, tractors, golf, boating, and horses.  This sweet lady wanted her fiance's 50th birthday cake to show that things get better with age.  His interests were all included in a subtle, vintage way.

 Vintage tractor made of fruity pebbles treat covered with modeling chocolate.

 See!  Look how great Brandi is!!  The crates are covered in a mixture of modeling chocolate and fondant.  Hand made texture and shading to make that wood look real.

Rope made of fondant, anchor made of gum paste

 Nails and texture

 Golf club and ball.  Both made out of gum paste

 Gum paste horseshoe. 

 Had to get that "Vintage Dude" in there!

 Life preserver made of gum paste.

This was such a fun cake to make with all the elements and variety!  I really love taking an idea and bringing it to life!  Happy birthday, Rick!

"Alice in Wonderland" Teacup Birthday Cake

There is something special and fun about PINK cakes!  And topsy turvy cakes are super fun!  The teacups were a little tricky, but much needed!

 The White Rabbit's clock.  "I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date!!"  Clock and #1 made of gum paste.

 I strayed a little from the original picture of this cake by making the blue pattern out of the playing card suit symbols!  Gotta get those little details in!

 I really love making gum paste flowers!  And those gold leaves are adorable!

 Do I need help with cakes?!  YES I DO!  I was so busy with cakes this week that my daughter was awesome and made that gold chain by herself!!  She painted it in gold for me too!  THANK YOU RACHEL!!!

 Here's the little smash cake to go with the big cake!  I really adore the rose swirls, and the teacup was painted by my daughter as well.

Okay, so sometimes something goes wrong with a cake.  Something went really wrong with this cake!  I delivered the cake, everything was all good, then I got a very sad message from the mom of the birthday girl.  The teacups had fallen off the cake and broken!  I felt awful cause I was out of town and wasn't able to fix it.  It was truly one of those heart dropping moments when I felt horrible! Live and learn with each cake!!  Please forgive me, Blaire!!!

Such a seriously cute cake and I enjoyed every second of making it!  Happy 1st birthday Morley!!! 

 I hope your party was super fun!!!

Hand Painted Elsa "Frozen" Birthday Cake

I know we've all heard of Disney's "Frozen" movie.  I know we've all seen the cute cakes with the adorable little handmade sugar Elsa and Anna and Olaf.  I really love those cakes, but I also really, really LOVE being as original as I can with my cakes!  I have nothing against the other cakes I've seen, I just knew I HAD to make this cake stand out.  One of my many fatal flaws!  I look at a cake challenge and say to myself, "Make it cooler!"  Sometimes I go a little further than other cakes.  Thus this cake.....

 I've been wanting to do a 'painted' cake for a while since seeing this post by one of my favorite cake decorators!  She's got incredible cake tutorials that have been so helpful in my cake decorating journey.  I love the idea of making cake a piece of artwork.  Art was originally my biggest passion in life.  And McGreevy Cakes is so inspirational in this department!  (Thank you!!)

 I made the top of Elsa flat then had the bottom tier curve around the cake.  I added drapes of fabric to help give texture and movement to the overall picture.

 Snowflakes and swirls create the now famous picture of Elsa and her ice powers!

 The colors were ever changing on this cake.  I didn't have 'teal' food coloring, so I painted regular light blue first, then went over it with blue and green luster dusts.  Add silver and edible glitter for the folds and it gave so much fun dimension.

 The snowflakes started out with some cutters my awesome sister bought for me but they needed to look more like the "Frozen" snowflakes.  An X-acto knife and several minutes later and I had the shapes I was looking for.

 The folds of the dress ended in a fade of colors.

 Those lovely eyelashes were done with edible markers and edible 'paint.'  Check out the site above for how to make the paint.

And a HUGE shout out thank you to Brandi for her photography skills to capture this beauty!  I just recently watched her in action with a big group family photo shoot and her skills are off the hook!  She's so skilled with a camera.  It's like her magic wand!! Please go check out her site here and if you need a photographer call her!!!

Happy birthday, Addison!!!!  Thank you for giving me a chance to recapture my love of ART!!!