Nascar Race Car Cake

I was pretty sick when I was told that I needed to make a cake with less than a days notice, for a surprise birthday party. I was ecstatic about the theme of the cake. I have been wanting to make a race car-type cake for quite some time, but never had a reason to; until now.

I set up the fondant and quickly sketched out what I wanted the cake to look like. I was too limited on time to create what I really wanted to, so I had to stick with a traditional-style cake. The flavor of the cake was carrot cake, with butter-cream frosting. I used fondant to make the car and the blacktop.

I made the little Nascar race car out of green fondant, and let it set for a bit before applying the details. I rolled out each 'decal' and cut them with a knife. I also cut out the number 18, with a knife and placed them all on the car. After they had time to set I used a little bit of food coloring to write on the decals and make them look more like adds. I employed my little sister to help me do the base layer of white frosting to the cake. I rolled out some black fondant and cut it to the approximate shape that I desired. After laying the blacktop down on the cake, I mixed the green into the butter-cream frosting and pipped the grass onto the cake. Shortly after that the cake was finished and heading off to surprise an 18 year old female-Nascar fanatic!

 



Photographs are © Copyright to me (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on blogs, websites, or in other media without advance written permission from me.

Passport Cake

I was asked to make this cake for a local school board member who had finally gotten her passport, after many months. She asked me to somehow depict all of the destinations that she'd like to visit, and feature her new passport. I decided to use a postcard and post-stamp theme. Each postcard was designed and painted by me (with food color), and each of its 6 stamps were as well.

In total it took me about 5.5 hours to complete this cake (plus delivery time).

Prep: First I bake two cakes in jelly roll pans. I then let them cool completely on the counter before leveling, and sharing the excess. I then chose what layer I want on the bottom and spoon on the yummy apricot filling. I use a cake spatula to smooth the filling and make sure it is level. After placing the other cake on top I check to make sure everything is level and then spread on the apricot glaze.
Fondant Fun: This is where the fun comes in. I rolled out some white fondant and then spread it evenly over the layered cakes. I then rolled out more fondant and cut the shapes that I would need for the decorations. I let the decorations harden for about 20 min. before painting them.
Paint: I spent the majority of my time painting the decorations, or postcards, for this cake. I painted eat postcard and their matching stamps. I had a list given to me by my client of exactly what they wanted, I tried to follow it as closely as possible. I then rolled out the black fondant and created the little passport. I painted the passport last with gold dust. I tried to give the passport a leather-y look by flexing the fondant after it had mostly dried (*it's most obvious in the last photo*).
Assembly: (This step happened to be the quickest, in terms of time taken). After the decorations were done I simply plastered on some frosting and laid them out on the cake exactly where I wanted them. I took several pictures, and then delivered the cake (everyone loved it).

(*In the above photo, notice that the paint is still not quite dry yet -- when it was completely dry it lost the shine, and the passports wrinkles closed more to look like leather*)


Photographs are © Copyright to me (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on blogs, websites, or in other media without advance written permission from me.

Carrot Cake

This cake was made for a carrot lover. The cake is carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. I let the frosting dry enough so that I could create some texture on the surface, by pressing a paper towel along the surface of the cake. I then made some royal icing and divided/colored it appropriately. I pipped out my carrots with the royal icing and let them harden over night. I used icing to decorate the cake with a couple of different borders.

Carrot Cake

2 cups sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups grated carrots
1 1/3 vegetable oil
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup drained crushed pineapple
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Preparation:

Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add carrots, oil, and eggs. Beat until well mixed. Stir in remaining ingredients. Put batter in two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans. Bake at 350° for 1 hour.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
Makes about 2 cups
8 oz. fat free cream cheese
8 tbsp or 1 stick butter, cut into pieces, at room temperature
1 c confectioners' sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions: Start with beating the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Then beat all of these ingredients together until well mixed and as fluffy as you can make it.


Photographs are © Copyright to me (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on blogs, websites, or in other media without advance written permission from me.

Baby Shower Cake

This is a cake that I made for a baby shower. The point of the cake was to guess what sex of baby the mother was having. She was having twin boys, so I made two identical cakes that were bright blue on the inside.
I just sued a basic white cake recipe and then layered and frosted them appropriately.

Fondant can be made at home quite easily Most recipes only use three ingredients; but it takes time to make it. If you do not have time, just go buy some from the store. Use a Fondant rolling pin to roll the fondant out smooth and thin, and cover and decorate the cake as desired.

Make sure you use a warm, sharp serrated knife to cut the fondant.



Photographs are © Copyright to me (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on blogs, websites, or in other media without advance written permission from me.

Mushroom Cake

So here is a mushroom cake that I made. It's not the greatest; I made it in a hurry. I just rolled out a blue layer of fondant and stuck orange rounds on top and rolled them together. The top cake is chocolate.
The two 'baby' mushrooms are made of fondant and cake as well. The tops are chocolate cake as well. The bottom layer is frosting with graham crackers, candied on top. (*the graham cracker candy is tasty, but very very sweet.*)


Photographs are © Copyright to me (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on blogs, websites, or in other media without advance written permission from me.

Disney Character Cakes

This is a traditional Disney Character cake. It is not hard to make because they sell pre-shaped pans at many different stores. I baked the cake and then started piping on the color. My little sister also helped me with the piping, since I twas taking forever!  he first cake is a Pooh Bear cake and the second is a Pluto cake.

This is a chocolate cake on the inside for a birthday. When you cut open the cake, you'll find that is is 2 layers, and has chocolate frosting between the layers.

 

Photographs are © Copyright to me (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on blogs, websites, or in other media without advance written permission from me.