Piano, Books, and Christmas Ornament Cake!

Piano, Books, and Christmas Ornament Cake, originally uploaded by bakers-cakes.

When I got the order for this cake I was very excited, the concept was so original and personalized. Cakes that can only ever made for one person in the whole world are the ones that I enjoy making the most. For this cake, a husband ordered it for his wife who was graduating from grad school and had written her thesis on Flannery O'Connor. She is also and avid piano player and they were celebrating by throwing a holiday/graduation party, hence the fancy chrstmas ornaments.

This cake was Baker's Cakes Signature Chocolate with Double Chocolate Cream Cheese Butterecream Frosting and it was topped with Homemade Chocolate Marshmallow Rolled Fondant!

Disco Ball Cake!

Disco Ball Cake!, originally uploaded by bakers-cakes.

I loved this cake! However, this cake is a little engineering lesson to me all wrapped up in fondant! I baked a ball cake and covered it in hundreds of fondant squares that I individually painted. I made the disco ball stand out of crispy rice cereal treats and covered that in fondant. I baked the Saturday Night Fever-esque dance floor base and covered it in fondant squares.

And here is where things began to go dramatically wrong. I placed the disco ball on the rice cereal base assuming the squashed together crispy treats would be a nice strong base for the ball. The base was on cardboard and there were dowels in the dance floor, but not in the disco ball base. Off went my groovy disco ball cake. I later received a text that the disco ball base was smooshing! Boo. (The cake was salvaged at the party by popping it into the fridge and propping up the ball.) One cardboard under the ball and one dowel through the crispy treats could have prevented that! The lesson here is that crispy rice cereal is not as structurally sound as I thought! Lesson learned! Sometimes I just need to run my artistic vision by a structural engineer!

Flowers and Bugs Cake

Pink Flowers and Bugs Cake, originally uploaded by bakers-cakes.

This sweet cake was for an equally sweet four year old birthday girl. She dreamed of a pink cake with bees, ladybugs, and butterflies! I added a few flowers and leaves and voila, an adorable birthday cake!

'Tis the Season...

...for giving! And here are two cakes that Baker's Cakes recently donated to a couple of our favorite charities! A cake for an Orange County Rape Crisis Center fundraiser and cake auction:

And a cake for the Girls on the Run of the Triangle 10th Birthday Party:

Happy Holidays to all!!!

Harley Davidson Cake

Harley Davidson Cake, originally uploaded by bakers-cakes.

It's been a long time since I made a Motorcycle Cake. This cake was to celebrate a 50th birthday. The recipient really wanted this bike, but his wife threw him an awesome biker party and got him this cake instead!

The trickiest part about creating a cake for a large group of people to eat is that a motorcycle is basically about an economy of parts, two wheels, not four, no roof, etc. So how do you make a cake that has enough substance to meet serving requirement? I expanded the engine a bit and filled all the spaces between bike bits with cake. Here is an older Motorcycle Cake that I made a few years ago:

Poinsettia Cupcakes

Poinsettia Cupcakes, originally uploaded by bakers-cakes.

The Poinsettia Cupcake is the December installment of the PTA Appreciation Cupcake! There are many more cakes coming soon, check back Thursday!

Pearl Handbag Cake

Pearl Handbag Cake, originally uploaded by bakers-cakes.

Earlier this year I made this Louis Vuitton Handbag Cake. Shortly after, the recipient of that cake contacted me to make a Pearl Handbag Cake for her aunt's birthday. We searched the internet for pearl handbag's to use as inspiration and decided on this abstract swirl patterned clutch.

I really do enjoy making these handbag cakes! Although, at times, I felt like my fingers were just too big and clumsy as I individually placed each tiny bead! Frequently they would fly out from between my fingers, resulting in the floor looking like this:

Dora Fairy Princess Castle Cake!

Princess Castle Cake, originally uploaded by bakers-cakes.

As most of you know, my daughter Ava spends a lot of time with me in the kitchen while I work! This gives her a unique opportunity to take part in a small part of many many celebrations! It also gives her lots and lots of time to think about her own birthday cake! Almost immediately after last year's Hello Kitty Cake she decided she wanted a princess castle cake. We compromised with this two tiered pink cake.

At the 11th hour she decided it must have Dora on top of the cake, wearing a pink dress, and with a pink bow in her hair! Oh, and with fish in the water around the castle. Again, she is nothing if not specific and attentive to detail! Two fantastic qualities in a cake decorator, more difficult in a four year old personality! She was however, very pleased with her cake, until she was flipping through a Cinderella book and she saw the picture of Cinderella's party dress, before the step sisters tore it apart, and informed me that that was how Dora's dress was supposed to look! Maybe I'll get it right next year!

I also made iced sugar cookies to give as party favors:

Cookie Monster Cupcakes

Cookie Monster Cupcake Detail, originally uploaded by bakers-cakes.

I thought that the Elegant Baby Shower Cupcakes that I made recently, were among my most favorite cupcakes, but then I made these adorable Cookie Monster Cupcakes! Who can resist that fuzzy blue fur? Those slightly askew eyes? Apparently Cookie Monster is launching a campaign to host Saturday Night Live too!

With these chocolate chip cookie topped cupcakes with excessive amounts of blue buttercream and a potential gig on SNL, he's definitely got it going on!

Turtle Cake

Turtle Cake, originally uploaded by bakers-cakes.

This Turtle Cake was for a Preschool Class Birthday Party! I modeled the cake after the class icon. I especially like his little black shoes and facial expressions! His head and shoes are made of crispy rice cereal covered in fondant. I raised the turtle shell off the ground by making the legs out of cake columns and covering them in fondant.

Girl's Nightgown Birthday Cake

Nightgown Cake Detail, originally uploaded by bakers-cakes.

This cake was kind of an unusual request! The Birthday Girl was having a sleep-over birthday party and requested a girl's white nightgown with pink flowers on it for her cake! This was the perfect opportunity to test out a technique that seems to be getting very popular. Frosting is piped onto the fondant and brushed inward to create an embroidered look and texture. My client was thrilled with the result and was so pleased that the gown almost looked like a little girl was wearing it! Cake makes everyone happy and that's why I love it!!!

Bob the Builder Cupcakes

Bob the Builder Cupcakes II, originally uploaded by bakers-cakes.

Having had a three year old go through a very solid Bob The Builder phase these cupcakes were a fun walk down memory lane! I created the Birthday Boy's favorite characters out of fondant:

My favorites toppers were Bob, Wendy, Lofty (he has such a great expression), Dizzy, and Bird!

I also made iced sugar cookies to go with the cupcakes!

Elegant Baby Shower Cupcakes

Elegant Baby Shower Cupcakes, originally uploaded by bakers-cakes.

These may be my favorite cupcakes to date! From the blue with white polka dotted wrappers to the hand sculpted sugar paste pacifiers, bottles, and light chocolate fondant bows they are just adorable!

Lego Cupcakes II

Lego Cupcakes II, originally uploaded by bakers-cakes.

These are some recent Lego Cupcakes! Here are some that I made two years ago too!

Chameleon Cupcake Toppers!

Chameleon Cupcake Toppers!, originally uploaded by bakers-cakes.

These adorable little chameleons topped the cupcakes for the November PTA Birthday Cupcakes!!!

Walking into Spider Webs

Ghosts and Goblins!

Jack-o-lanterns!

Happy Halloween!

Belle Cake

Belle Cake, originally uploaded by bakers-cakes.

The re-release of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" inspired this little girl's Belle themed Princess Cake! The two tiers of Red Velvet Cake with White Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting are trimmed with fondant in the style of Belle's dress. And of course, Belle is surrounded by her friends Mrs. Potts and Chip, the clock, and candlestick!

To create Belle's friends I drew and hand colored fondant with edible marker.

Finally, the birthday girl is sculpted out of sugar paste.

Cupcake Topper!

Cupcake Topper!, originally uploaded by bakers-cakes.

I just love this little pink cupcake topper!

Cupcake on a Cupcake!

Cupcake on a Cupcake!, originally uploaded by bakers-cakes.

October's PTA teacher appreciation cupcake!

Chinese Fan Cake

Chinese Fan Cake, originally uploaded by bakers-cakes.

This was such a unique order! The request was for a Chinese Lady's Fan with cranes. I hand painted an abstract interpretation of a Chinese landscape with flying cranes. I believe that the character, again stylized, is for good luck!

Pink Ribbons Topsy Turvy Cake

Pink Ribbons Topsy Turvy Cake, originally uploaded by bakers-cakes.

Sometimes it can be quite a trick to make a cake that highlights one individual's diverse and sometimes completely opposite interests. This cake is a case in point! The recipient of this cake is as passionate about the Red Sox as she is about breast cancer awareness! The topsy turvy cake just lends itself to bringing all these interests together.

Piece of Cake Cupcakes!

Piece of Cake Cupcakes!, originally uploaded by bakers-cakes.

These adorable cupcakes are inspired by Sweet Things Toronto and are my latest creation for some lucky teachers! They are Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting. The tiny slices of cake are made out of fondant and the candles are one single sprinkle!

Ladybug Cake!

Ladybug Cake!, originally uploaded by bakers-cakes.

I'm just tickled pink by this adorable Ladybug Cake! With this awesome inspiration from Pink Cake Box, I was ready to make this sweet pink ladybug for an even sweeter little girl!