Hogwarts Sorting Hat

I had such a blast making this cake!  The sorting hat was for my oldest's good friend, Rayce.  He was having a Harry Potter Birthday and I am so glad that his mom asked me to make this specific design.  His mom and I are pretty close and fortunately, she trusts me when it comes to cake.  At first, I wasn't so sure I deserved such trust since it looked more like a beehive than a hat when I first started carving.  Finally, it started to take shape. 

My main concern, with this cake, was stability.  I knew that I needed a good support system and a dense cake to hold the shape.  The sorting hat was, my new favorite, Butterscotch Spice with cream cheese filling.  I loved that this was all chocolate fondant.  With petal dust and cocoa, I was able to work on the shadows and weathering of the hat. 

As I worked on the details, I had a bit of a Harry Potter movie marathon.  I thought for sure that I would need to watch at least 5 of the movies, but had finished the cake before The Chamber of Secrets had finished!  Not only did I get to make my vision of a great "character" come to life, but I was able to have a movie night.

Happy 8th Birthday, Rayce...

wishing you a magical year!

If anyone is interested in a Harry Potter birthday party and need suggestions, let me know.  Rayce's mom threw an amazing party, complete with Hogwarts "letters" as invitations...from the Headmistress herself!  Thanks for a great party, Brooke!

Get Set...GO!

This cake was made for and inspired by one of the cutest sets of twins I know.  Little Jack and Andrew love cars...all cars!  I was thrilled when their mom, one of my dearest friends, asked me to make their birthday cake. Made of my Sour Cream White cake with fresh strawberry buttercream, I hoped this would be a hit with this toddler duo and their family.  Details are both chocolate and marshmallow fondant and buttercream.  

Happy 2nd Birthday 

sweet Jack & Andrew...

Temple of Doom

or, "Hold on Tight Lady"...per the birthday boy

As we approached our oldest's 8th birthday, we noticed that he had once again, become obsessed with Dr Jones.  This time around, he had decided that his favorite of the movies he had seen, was "for sure" Temple of Doom.  Since I am a huge fan of this movie, I chose my favorite scene.  As I thought and thought, doubted myself and even conferred with a friend across the country, i finally came up with my design.  

I know, using the Legos is so the EASY way out, but I want someone to name one kid who would be happy playing with the figures made out of modeling chocolate, fondant or gumpaste.  This Lego set was one of his only wishes for his birthday and truly made his day to see them on the cake!  

The top tiers of this cake was Not-so-Thin Mint Chocolate with White Chocolate buttercream and the bottom tiers were Butterscotch Spice with Cream Cheese filling.  The fondant was of the simple marshmallow variety, trees were made of gumpaste and the rope was just that--rope.

Without having seen his cake, the birthday boy LOVED helping make the rocks and boulders.  He had begged to help with something and I wasn't so sure what he could do until very last minute.  For an hour, or so, I felt like I was on cake challenge.  None of the planning had gone as it should and I was putting all the details on with an hour to spare before the party!  At one point, my husband who is, apparently, a bigger fan of cupcake wars than I thought, shouted out, "Competitors, there is 20 minutes remaining, don't let your bridge fall short."  As I look back, yes pretty funny, at the time I wanted to smack him!

The party was a blast, our last ever at an indoor bounce place and my baby is now 8!

Happy Birthday, doodlebug!   

Boots the Monkey

My 2-year old absolutely loves Dora the Explorer.  Boots is his favorite character and I couldn't wait to make this cake.  Boots was a Butterscotch Spice Cake with a cream cheese frosting for fill and marshmallow fondant.

Happy Birthday to my little Monkey!

(it was pretty hard to keep his hands off this one!)

 

 Ben 10's Omnitrix 

Lucky for us, that we have back to back birthdays with 2 of our boys in May.  Joel was so excited to have his party first, since the younger boy is too little to care.  He wanted a Ben 10 watch cake, just like I made for his friend Luke.  Joel was so thrilled with the finished cake, especially the little watch band stips around the bottom!  

Joel's cake was an  Amaretto Chocolate Cake with fresh Strawberry Buttercream and Chocolate fondant.  The kids loved it!

 

Happy 5th Birthday to my little Joelzy Bean!

I love you more than sugar...

 

Ben 10 vs. The Little Mermaid

 

 

These cakes were for two of the cutest kids in the world...next to my own, anyway!  Luke & Ellee were turning 4 and were so excited for me to make their birthday cakes.  Luke knew right away that he wanted a BEN 10 watch, but Ellee wasn't so sure of which princess.  Once she had decided on Ariel, she was so happy!  It was amusing to see the party setup, with half pink and princesses and the other,  green with Alien Force masks.  When it came time for kids, and the grownups too, regardless of gender, I could tell where frosting preferences existed.  It always makes me feel good about the flavor of my fondant when KIDS will actually EAT it!

Both the 1-tier Omnitrix and 2-tier Mermaid cake were Bailey's Chocolate with fresh strawberry buttercream.  The Omnitrix had marshmallow & milk chocolate fondant.  Ariel's garden was sculpted out of modeling chocolate and the ocean was sparkling buttercream.  (Ariel was a candle, that the birthday girl was SO thrilled to carry around with her for the rest of the party!)

Happy Birthday, Lukee & Ellee Bellee...thanks for all the HUGE hugs!

"OK, Dr. Jones"

For an Indiana Jones themed 6th birthday, I tried to come up with something that avoided store-bought cake toppers.  This crate was filled with white cake and fresh strawberry buttercream; although the Ark of the Covenant would have been treasured more for sure! The structure of Indy's hat and whip (on the left side of the crate), and the snake were made of rice krispy treats and covered with fondant.  The cake was covered with my personal favorite, chocolate fondant.  I hope the boy had an adventurous birthday at Thanksgiving Point's Dinosaur Museum!  Happy Birthday, Liam!

(This cake didn't photograph too well.  The fedora looks incredibly shiny and it is hard to see the detail of it.)