Princess Birthday Cake

I didn't start out thinking I would LOVE this cake, and as things went together, I was suspect, but when everything was in place and I stepped back and checked it out, GOODNESS I really like this cake.  It's chocolate fudge cake with vanilla buttercream frosting and filling.  The crown and flowers are gumpaste and the draping is fondant.  I made the crown by rolling out the gumpaste and using a hand drawn template to cut out the shape, then rolling it around an empty and cleaned Crisco container to dry, then setting that in a bowl filled with flour (so that the points curved just the right amount of outward).  I learned to do this after much trial and error on the last crown I made.  I made the crown larger (last time I used an oatmeal container, which was smaller in girth).  The crown was pearlized using my airbrush machine.  I love that thing.

The flowers have inedible gem centers.  I just liked the look so much more than piped centers, it gave a certain pizzazz.

I think I like the back better than the front!

I have a lot of cake stuff coming up and I'm feeling the pressure!  Tomorrow is a Barney cake, then a Lightning McQueen cake for Dollbaby's birthday, and next weekend is busy busy busy too!  Everyone is having a birthday in February!

Ah yes.  I made this little smash cake for Stinkie's friend last weekend.  I also made another cake, but I lost my iPod so I didn't get a picture of it :(.  That's okay, everything was SO frustrating about those two cakes, so I'm not incredibly happy with how they came out.  It's okay.  Both cakes were loved by their owners, and this princess cake made up for it!

Elmo on Safari with a Monkey!

This cake was made for a birthday party for twins at Cartwheels and Coffee.  I was told to include a monkey and Elmo and the colors pink and orange, so I came up with the idea of Elmo on safari, looking for a monkey.  The flowers and the bow in the monkey's hair fulfilled the orange requirement, and the pink car took care of the pink.  The waterfall was so cute and fun to make.  The rocks are brown/orange fondant rippled with brown gel coloring.  The cake itself is vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream frosting and filling.  Everything else on the cake is fondant and entirely edible.

I made the monkey using a tutorial online and I was very happy with how it turned out.  I love the bananas.  And I'm getting better at Elmo, as I've made the little stinker about 45,000 times now.  He really is the epitome of happy and glee, isn't he?  I have a pair of binoculars tucked under Elmo's hand in this cake.

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!