First cakes of 2012

Happy new year!  Ok, I realize February is almost over, and I'm a little delayed in getting this up.  So far this year I've made 2 cakes, and have several orders coming in- Thanks everyone!  Alright down to business- up first is a birthday cake for a friend.  The main thing he requested was chocolate cake.  I was wracking my brain trying to figure out what design of cake to make.  He is a Jersey Shore fan, always fist-pumping when we are out, so I got the idea to make a fist pump cake!  

It didn't quite turn out how I hope, but was devoured quickly.  The cake is a from scratch chocolate cake with buttercream frosting.  The stripes are fondant.  The fist/ arm is made of cereal treats and covered with fondant.  

The second cake for the year is a first birthday cake for a friend from high school.  She had seen my album on Facebook, and liked a cake I did last year for Jack's first birthday (posted on that one here: http://britsallabouthecake.blogspot.com/2011_04_01_archive.html).  It is very similar to the one I made for Jack, but had a few different touches for little William!  

Chocolate pops!  These are made from an adorable mold by Wilton.  They have 3 flavors- peanut butter, milk chocolate, and white chocolate for the colors.  Great party favors!

The main event!  The monkey is chocolate cake with buttercream frosting, and fondant for the belly, feet and face.  The arm holding the banana and the banana are cereal treats.  The base is made of confetti cake with buttercream frosting, and a green fondant blanket. 

Mini Monkey Smash Cake is made with chocolate cake, buttercream frosting, and fondant belly and face.  

Here they all are together!

Stay tuned!  More to come in April :)

December cakes!

Wow!  December was a very busy month.  October and November, not so much, at least as far as cakes are concerned.  In December I made 4 cakes, 2 in one weekend!  The first cake of the month was a Caillou themed cake.  My boss's neighbor and a good friend of ours requested a Caillou cake for her son's 3rd birthday.  I'm not going to lie, I had to google it to find out what it was.  Since I don't have children yet, I'm a little out of the loop on some of the popular kid things.  Here's some pictures of the first cake!

The cake was marble with buttercream frosting and some fondant accents. 

Here's a close up of the figures.  They are made of modeling chocolate and fondant.  It was my first time using modeling chocolate, but it worked out well for these figures!

The following weekend, one of my sister's best friends, Megan, who happens to be a former co-worker of mine, was turning 30.  My sister, Megan's husband and a few of her friends were going to throw a surprise party for her.  Unfortunately, the party didn't work out as planned.  One friend got stuck in Chicago on her way home from Florida due to the weather.  Another friend had a family emergency.  I couldn't go because I had a wedding to go to (more on that in a minute).  Though the party was small, they had a good time, and Megan was very excited for her cake.  Because I had a wedding that weekend, and I was doing the groom's cake, we kept Megan's cake simple.  My original plan was to do a white cake with caramel swirl, but that didn't work out how I planned so we went with a confetti cake instead.  

The party was at Pizza King, so we went with w train theme.  The train is actually a really fun wooden toy I found.  I realize the toy may seem a bit juvenile for a 30 year old woman, but she had a baby boy in September, and I got the idea to use a toy of some sort on the cake that the baby could enjoy when he gets a little older.  It has removable wooden blocks that can be stacked on the "cars" in different ways.  The other decorations and piping are buttercream.  

The same weekend I made the train cake, I was doing a groom's cake for my friend Lindsay.  Lindsay and I have been friends since we were 11.  At her bridal shower, we got on the topic of cakes, and she asked me then if I could do a groom's cake for her wedding.  Her fiance (now husband) is from Michigan and is a Detroit Tigers fan, so that was the logical plan for his cake!  

Here's a close up of the cake.  It is a white cake, with both buttercream and fondant decorations. I used the small ball pan for the baseball, and the larger sports ball pan for the hat (just half).  

Here is the cake table setup.  I wish I could take credit for the wedding cake, but I can't!

The final cake of the month was also for my boss's neighbor and friend.  Her husband's 41st birthday was January 1, and she wanted a cake for him.  He enjoys golf.  I was trying to decide what to do, and found a few simple designs that looked great.  

The golf cake was marble with buttercream frosting.  I used the large ball pan for the golf ball, which was covered with fondant.  The original plan was to have the whole ball on top of the cake, but I had a few problems with stability.  I cut a space in the rounds, and placed the ball in partly.  

Top view of the cake!  

Whew!  That was a busy month!  Hope to have a few more of those in the future :)