1967 Dodge Coronet R/T - AKA MY FIRST CAR!

I've been wanting to make a car for a while now but I haven't had the occasion.  Luckily, I got this order and I was SO excited to start!
The cake is 2-10" yellow cake layers with vanilla buttercream frosting and filling.  The car is RKT covered and decorated with fondant.

I put the Rice Krispies in my little Magic Bullet and ground up about 2/3 of them before adding them to the melted marshmallows.  I did this so that the finished RKT would be a smoother surface for my fondant.  I printed off a good side view of the R/T, scaled it by hand, and cut out two, then laid them against the RKT and carved the side view shape, minus the tire wells at first.  Then I carved the tire wells, and put small ribbons of fondant where the shape of the body needed swells and dips.  The windows are chocolate fondant dyed black with powdered food coloring.  I love the black powdered food coloring.  It is more spendy but has no taste.  The black gel smells awful and tastes very bitter.  The same goes with the red.  Anyway, I rolled it thin and cut it to fit the top half of the car, then used my powder puff (a nylon stocking, never been worn of course, that I fill with powdered sugar and tie off so I can easily dust my fondant evenly) to dust it.  This made it so the gray fondant I laid on top wouldn't stick to it and I could carve out the windows easily.  I made the accent pieces out of fondant, except the license plate which is gumpaste.  There is a board under the middle of the car (fully wrapped in foil) that is holding it above the cake so the tires won't sink into the frosting.

I found myself so proud of my lettering on this one.  My son came in the kitchen while I was finishing it off and wanted to help me, so I had him read off the letters and make sure I spelled everything right by comparing it to the "Happy 60th Birthday" I had written on regular paper to make sure of the size of the message so it would be centered.  This was a really touching and special experience for my kiddo and I.  He got all the letters right, then told me that I did a good job writing my letters.  Awwww!
This cake was very fun to make and at times a little challenging.  I am so happy to have done my first car!

Storybook Cake

M-Pie turned 3 just recently and I made her this fairytale storybook cake.  The cake is my yellow recipe with buttercream frosting.  I was expecting a very small intimate family gathering, so imagine my surprise when we pull up to my Mother-In-Law's house and there are easily 8 cars parked outside her house!  At a mere 1-layer, 9x13 inches, the cake was too small for everyone to have some, but the kids all got a piece and some of the adults got one too.  It was a really fun event and everyone raved about my "skillz" and how good the cake was.  It made me feel so great!

As I mentioned, I baked the cake in a regular rectangular 9x13 pan, then trimmed the short sides so there was a gentle angle.  The scraps I mixed with frosting and shaped the humped areas where the "pages" would naturally fall bowed.  I then frosted the top of the cake with pink and the edges with purple and did the Viva paper towel trick.  The princess was made out of a small wonder mold cake.  The body of the princess is fondant molded onto a dowel, then shoved through the top of the little half-egg shaped cake, then dressed in a gown of red fondant.  I hand rolled the hair thin and attached with regular water.  The crown and mouse are made of fondant as well.  The little princess gems were bought at the dollar store (admitted sheepishly).  It was very fun to make, even though the first princess I made was too big for the cake and I had to do it over again!
Happy Birthday M-Pie!

A Halloween Anniversary!

This cake was pretty straight forward, and I very much enjoyed it.  I used the leftover navy blue BC from the last cake and made black by adding yellow, red, and brown coloring gels and more black powder.  The cake itself is two 10" decadent chocolate cake layers with vanilla BC filling and frosting.  See the baking powder can?  That's for size analysis (Thank you Christyl!  I keep forgetting!)  The numbers on top are gumpaste painted with gold edible shimmer dust.

This cake also had a specialty sturdy box.  I hate commercial cake boxes.  Something always goes wrong with them.  I'm so glad I've started making my own.

Catching up again...Chicago Bears Slouch Cap

I need to stay current on this blog!  Yesterday was Halloween and I sit here eating my child's enormous stash of candy, feeling guilty for not knowing what cake I put on this blog last or which one comes next...I actually had to check my own blog!

This cake was exactly the same size as an NFL cap.  It is yellow cake with vanilla BC frosting.  The frosting had to be a dark navy blue, and I was worried about the darkness, since you have to use a LOT of black coloring to get anywhere close to it and black food dye tastes like butt.  Thankfully, I had bought some Chefmaster black food dye powder from EBay and used that.  There was no strange taste at all, and it colored it very well.

The brim is made out of gumpaste that I tried to dye the same color as the BC, but failed.  So I just attached the brim and covered it in BC.
The cake was baked in an 8" round and a pyrex bowl, so waste of cake due to carving was kept to a minimum.  I used the Wilton baking core for the bowl to make sure it got baked perfectly.  I usually just use the flower nail #7.  Anyway.
After frosting and doing the Viva paper towel method, I let it get hard in the fridge, then brought it out to do the stitching with the Wilton quilting tool.

The NFL logo is hand painted gumpaste.  I think it came out awesome.  Interesting sidenote, the logo on the 2009 Bears slouch cap is a resurrected 1970's NFL logo.  I don't know why, I guess they just felt like bringing it back to the old school.  The Reebok and C logos are buttercream.
It was placed in a special-made, super sturdy cake box and my new card was attached to that.  Did I mention I got new cards?  They are too cute.  You can get free ones from Vistaprint, but I loved the design I got on mine.
This was a fun cake, and nothing went wrong in the making of it.  Such a wonderful blessing!
It's been a while since I posted my email, so here it is... alesharaelane@yahoo.com.
Have the best day ever!