A work in progress

I have had so many friends ask me how I make my cakes, so here is a sneak peek at what I have been working on the last couple of days. This cake is for my eldest son's 11th birthday. I could not seem to come up with any ideas or designs for this cake, I think sometimes you can just over think these things. I wanted to try something I hadn't done before, and was tossing up between a double barrel and topsy turvy...obviously the double barrel won.
It is two 7 inch chocolate mud cakes filled with chocolate ganache before being covered in white fondant. I then used a ribbon cutter (bottom left) to cut red and blue fondant stripes. These are attached using a tiny bit of water to get them to stick.
I am still contemplating what decorations to add, but I think I will keep it fairly simple....stay tuned I will post a picture on Monday of the finished product.

Assorted Flower Cupcakes

This is a mixed dozen cupcakes, 6 caramel with lavender caramel buttercream decorated with purple and yellow blossoms and 6 vanilla with vanilla bean buttercream decorated with an assortment of various flowers, roses and daisies. The caramel cupcakes were a big hit with the boys, they were so yummy - and I'm not usually a big fan of caramel, but these were GOOD!

Pink Baby Shower

My very first baby shower cake was a bit of a rush job, but I am really happy with the fondant pram I made to top the vanilla butter cake. It was based on a similar design I saw somewhere on Flickr, which I can't seem to find to give credit - sorry.

Hot Pink Disco Cupcakes

These cupcakes were made for a beautiful little girl's 7th disco birthday party. They are vanilla cupcakes with vanilla bean buttercream icing and were a big hit at the party. The fondant stars and mirrored balls were modelled from grey fondant and covered in edible glitter.

18th Birthday Cupcakes

I made an assortment of cupcakes to celebrate an 18th birthday on Friday. I made a dozen chocolate with chocolate ganache decorated with butterflies, 6 caramel with caramel buttercream and 6 vanilla with vanilla bean buttercream both decorated with fondant blossoms and flowers.

1 dozen chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache

Cake Pop

I have been dying to make cake pops for months now, but just haven't had the time. This weekend I had some leftover mud cake and ganache from the car cake, so I crumbled the cake, added the melted ganache then rolled them into balls. After putting them in the freezer for a few minutes to set, I tried dipping them in some melted Wilton candy melts...unfortunately the melts weren't anywhere near runny enough to 'dip' so I ended up giving up trying to dip them completely, and just settled for doing the top half of each pop. They aren't anywhere near as perfect and round as the ones I have seen in Bakerella and many other blogs, but the are YUMMY!!!!!!
I must admit, I always thought they were a bit silly, and required way too much effort, but now... I am hooked, and will definitely be making them again.

Oooh, I forgot to mention that the photo was taken in my new photo light tent!!!! I can't wait to put a cake in there!

Ben 10 Cake

This cake was for Jaxon's 5th birthday who is the biggest Ben 10 fan. It is a vanilla butter cake with vanilla bean buttercream icing. I modelled the "Goop" figurine from fondant, along with the letters and the 100 green and black balls (I don't know if there was 100...but it seemed like a lot) I am really enjoying making figurines at the moment, they are a real challenge, for me anyway. I am currently working on a mermaid for my niece's cake and a little girl for a friend's baby who is turning 1 in a couple of weeks....pictures will be posted soon!

Car Cake

Believe it or not, I have never made a car cake before...you would think having 3 little boys I would have made one in the past 10 years, but it seems I have made everything else...truck...backhoe...plane...anyway to make it even more overwhelming, I was trying to model the cake on a real remote controlled car. In the end it wasn't as bad as I thought, and I was really happy with the results. The whole thing was carved from an 8" square chocolate mud cake, then iced in ganache before being covered in chocolate fondant. The decals was just a matter of adding a stripe here and there until it resembled the real thing.

Jukebox Cake

This cake was for a combined birthday party for a little boy and his grandad, the cake was a vanilla bean butter cake with vanilla bean buttercream, with fondant detailing. It was a fabulously fun cake to make, and very delicious (thankfully there were some off cuts). The fondant details were just some sausages around the edge, then black pieces for the base. The screen and speakers were cut using circle cutters, then black sausages placed around the edge to highlight. The finer details were just a matter of placing a bit here, and a bit there until it looked right.

21st Birthday Cupcakes

I have been playing around with various buttercream recipes, and yesterday I decided to do a bit of them all, and made up my own variation. Here it is pictured on chocolate cupcakes, it's a softer, smoother buttercream which is great for this style of swirl...and oh so yummy! Here is a picture of the cupcakes after they were topped with a fondant plaque.

Farm cupcakes

First day back to Kindy from the June/July school holidays, and as Jack's birthday was on the weekend, I have made these cupcakes for him to take and celebrate with his friends and teachers. This is the first time I have used this grass icing tip and it was so much fun! The fondant animals were leftover from my Rocky show entry, so it's nice to see them on a cake to be eaten! The flowers were also leftovers from my recent flower garden cake, although I did make some red lady bugs and flowers, and I think the hints of red really brighten the display.

Angry Birds Cake

My little boy turned 5 yesterday, and his "big" present was an ipod touch. Both of his brothers already have one, and his favourite game is Angry Birds. I have seen several angry bird cakes online, and was thrilled when he decided to have one for his birthday. He didn't actually have a party this year, so the cake was just for our family, grandparents and some cousins. I decided to go with a 7" round chocolate fudge mud cake, with chocolate ganache. I added green fondant just to the top of the cake then assembled the angry bird tower. I have been so busy lately, I needed something easy that could be made in advance. It worked perfectly as all of the figurines have been made in dribs and drabs over the past few weeks. so the actual decorating of the cake only took me ten minutes.

Flower garden cake

It was so much fun making all of the different flowers for this design. It was so pretty and feminine and just made me smile...a bit like sitting in a garden filled with flowers. The sides of the cake are piped with pin striping in royal icing, then each flower was delicately iced in place.
The pastel colour scheme allowed a lot more freedom for the assortment of coloured flowers, but it is always a bit of a worry having so many colours on the one cake. To help ensure they all compliment each other, I used the same colours in various flowers, like using the same yellow for the large gerbera in the centres of the white daisies. I think it all worked in the end.

Bow birthday cake

This lovely little 6" (16cm) birthday cake was a last minute request for a 40th birthday. It was a chocolate mud cake with dark chocolate ganache filling, covered in chocolate fondant and decorated with the birthday girls favourite colour fondant bow.

Gift box cake

Yesterday was my Dad's birthday, so I made him a cake (what a surprise!!!) - and what better opportunity to test out a new recipe, than when making a cake for family...so I tested out a chocolate fudge mudcake.
I also wanted to try making a giftbox, I have seen so many wonderful ones on various blogs... here is a fantastic one http://www.cakejournal.com/archives/gift-box-cake
Oh, and the verdict on the chocolate fudge mudcake????? YUMMMMY! I will definitely be making that one again - especially for a desert.

Hot Pink Cupcakes

This bloom assortment was my favourite!

These cupcakes were part of a 90th birthday celebration....I wish I had taken my camera, the table was set beautifully with various other treats and chocolates. It all looked lovely! There were 2 dozen vanilla cupcakes with vanilla bean buttercream. The decorations were a combination of daisies, blooms and assorted mini flowers.