Lego Cake

This one is a mixed bag.  I loved how the Lego man turned out but was disappointed with the Legos.
I have great ideas on how to do this better next time!

Spongebob

Not my favorite cartoon, but I think the cake turned out well.  This is mostly buttercream with a few fondant accents.

Vader Lightsaber Cake

This was so much fun--I've been dying to make a Star Wars cake (yes, I'm a nerd)! This is a 9x13 cake cut into thirds.

After getting a good look at all the terrible, terrible lightsaber cakes out there (with a few fantastic exceptions), I did some serious proportion studies on lightsaber pictures. (In case you care, the handle is approximately 1/4 of the entire length. Not half. And lightsabers aren't triangles, either).

I definitely did some close studies of Vader's lightsaber for this one. That's right, this kid wanted a Sith lightsaber cake. Awesome. So, given that I had to slightly condense the size (real lightsabers are longer than 36 inches), I present Vader's lightsaber in cake form:

(No, I didn't make the little guys. They're toys)

Sorry for all the pictures. It's really hard to get a good shot of a 40 inch cake...

Crayon Cake

This ended up being a bit of work, but I am super happy with how it turned out. One of my favorites. Personally, I think it's way cuter than anything else I saw out there. I'm especially glad the 'paper' turned out so cute--I had never seen anything like it, but I wanted to give it a try. Sometimes my experiments don't turn out so well... Oh, and that crayon in the middle of the top is actually purple. In case you're wondering why I made two blue crayons. Goofy lighting.


Here's how I put it together (in case I ever have to do this again):

• freeze a 9x13 cake until it's hard
• slap it on a piece of cardboard
• carve the shape (I cut off the top layer of crayons to make it easier to fondant the bottom layer. Next time I'll probably do all the crayons individually--it was actually easier that way).
• cut cardboard to match the shape of the cake

• Ice cake, cover the 'box' with fondant
  

• cover the crayons in fondant, stick them on the cake
• add decorations
• paint crayons and 'paper' with gel food coloring mixed with lemon extract.
  
• use buttercream to 'write' on the 'paper'.
• Ta-da!

Castle Cake 2

This was one of the hardest cakes I've ever done. Icing between those turrets? Not fun.


I'm pretty happy with everything except the door. I wish I would have taken a little more time to come up with a design (and to center it).

I also wish I had a better camera to take pictures of these cakes...

Freight Train Cake

This is one of the few cakes I've made that I am completely happy with the results. This was for my son's first birthday. I used the images from the book in the background (Freight Train) since it was one of his favorites.



The cake is pound cake, and I used whipped icing since he was so little. I figured we could hold off on the butter and shortening for another year.

Tinkerbell Cake

My first attempt at a buttercream transfer (failed miserably). So Tinkerbell was iced by hand, eyeballing the picture I found.




This isn't my favorite cake, but since it was basically a donation, I'm okay with it. Definitely should have made Tinkerbell bigger, which would also have helped with the creepy eye thing--it's really hard to draw skinny black lines with icing...

Jasmine Cake

For my little sister's 19th birthday. She loved Princess Jasmine as a kid, so I figured it was only appropriate that she get a Jasmine cake.


This was in my pre-fondant phase, so everything is buttercream. Considering I whipped this sucker out in 30 minutes, I'm fairly happy with it. Even if Jasmine's eyes are a little creepy...

Spa Cake

This one was interesting: most of the spa cakes out there look like decapitated heads. Seriously--Google it. Not my style. So I had to come up with my own design. Unfortunately I had to get a hand in there somewhere--the girls were doing facials and manicures, so she wanted some painted fingernails in there. I did my best, but the hand is not my favorite part.

If I were to do this cake again:

• Different color scheme (not my choice in this case).
• No hand, if I can help it.
• No decorations on the sides. That was over the top.
  

Mario Cake

Considering the last Mario incarnation I'm familiar with is the N64 version (Mario Kart!) I had to do some studying up on Wii Mario Galaxy before I made this cake. I still don't know too much, but I know what Lumas are and what colors the Mario logo uses.



I'm pretty dang proud of that Mario.

If I were to do this cake again, I would make Mario bigger. I was worried he wouldn't fit. Oh, and definitely don't use oil to keep the fondant from sticking. Cause it stuck anyway and I had to do some damage control. Powdered sugar from now on!

Castle Cake

My first cupcake cake. And it was a massive beast--almost 50 cupcakes in that thing. Not my favorite medium--there's a lot of icing with not very much cake. But I think it turned out nicely.

Tiara Cake

Not one of my favorites. Do you know how hard it is to cut out a tiara cake? Next time I would change the shape a bit--lower the the two side points. Actually, what I really wanted to do was make a fondant tiara and put it on the cake, but she specifically wanted a cut-out cake.

Batman Cake

This one was lots of fun. I gave Garret the choice of a black or silver cake. He chose black--looks better, but has a tendency to turn everyone's teeth black. Maybe that was his intention...

The only thing I would change is my spacing--center 'Bat-Day' on the cake. And warn the parents about the black icing...

Lightning McQueen Sheet Cake

This is probably one of my least favorite cakes I've ever made. I wanted to put a lot more effort into it, but for the offered price I wasn't willing to do much more. Basically, if I were to do this cake again, I would change the entire background.

Race Track Cake

I think this cake is a lot of fun. The top picture shows the cake with the cars (actual toys) I put on.

If I were to do this cake again:

• Don't mess up the checkered pattern on the sides. Sheesh.
• The trophy is just ugly.
• Figure out some way to make the writing stand out better.
• Bigger squares on the flag. Obviously I'm not a racing fan.
  

Fairy Cake

My first commissioned cake, for a friend's daughter. I'm actually really pleased with how it turned out. Probably the only change I would make would be a smaller border--it's a little distracting.

The First Attempt

This was my very first attempt to make a cake outside the bakery. Considering I had no supplies and no decent icing recipe, I thought this turned out fairly well.



If I were to do this cake again:

• Optimus Prime in fondant. How much more awesome would that be?
• That blue color is hideous and has to go.
  

Lightning McQueen Cake

I made this for my son's second birthday. Since it was just for us, I didn't want to use fondant (none of us like fondant. Except Seth. Actually, none of us really like cake except Seth).




If I were to do this again:

• I would probably use fondant
• I would shape the sides of the cake more
• I would put the whole thing on a little platform so I could actually fit the entire wheel on the cake.