September 24, 2011

War Machine

This is the last of the cakes for this weekend and yet to be picked up. Our biggest fan and dear friend Marisa is picking up this cake for her grandson's 4th birthday.  Up until she asked for this cake I had no idea what "War Machine" was.  Apparently it is a character from the "Iron Man" movies.  This was quite a challenge since I am no artist and Mel was in Niagara Falls in a ball tournament.  Marisa provided a mask of the "War Machine" so I would have something to go by.  Didn't turn out too bad, if I say so myself.  You be the judge;



The cake request was for chocolate with more chocolate for the filling. You've heard the saying "death by chocolate" well here you have it.  Chocolate fudge cake with choc chips and the filling, well you guessed it choc fudge mousse with more choc chips.  The mask was made partly by carving and partly by added fondant pieces underneath the fondant cover to give it depth and shape.  I started out with a 1/2 ball choc cake and once the carving and detail fondant work was done I covered it in grey fondant then painted the black and silver parts to bring it to life.  It's set on a double layer 9"x13" slab also covered in grey fondant.



Here's a picture of the mask beside the cake. Not a bad resemblance but much tastier.



Happy Birthday Nicholas!
Already 4, wow! Hope you have a wonderful birthday.

Slot Machine - 50th Birthday

This cake was ordered by a cousin of one of our previous clients who is a dear friend and neighbour of Mel's. Our client had tasted our cakes and seen our work through her cousin and asked us to make a special cake for her mother-in-laws 50th birthday.  I dropped off this cake today and my client Deanna was thrilled.  Her mother-in-law loves playing the slots at the casino and the whole theme of the party is casino night so Deanna thought it would be fun to have a slot machine cake to celebrate the occasion.  The cake is made from vanilla cake with vanilla mousse and fresh strawberries (seems to be quite a popular flavour).  This was quite a fun cake to make;


Everything on the cake is edible except for the pull down lever which is a styro foam ball covered in fondant and attached to a wooden dowel.  All details, even the money is made from fondant.








Happy Birthday Brenda!
Hope you have a winning party and hope you enjoy your cake.

A dozen roses 40th birthday

It's been a busy week for cakes.  A friend of Mel's ordered a cake for his wife's 40th birthday. He wanted a small cake for her to celebrate with a few of her friends.  The only thing he requested is that it have a few red roses on it.  Mel & I decided that a 40th birthday deserves at least a dozen red roses.  So we decided to make roses presented in a classic white box.  The cake is 8" square cake cut to an oblong shape to resemble a box. Alternate layers of vanilla and choc cake with french vanilla mousse and fresh strawberries for the filling. The box is lined with white fondant sheets to resemble tissue paper.  The roses are made from white gum paste and dusted with red velvet edible dust. The leaves and the small purple forget me knots are made from fondant where the tag is made from gum paste.






Happy Birthday Linda!
We hope you had a wonderful birthday and you enjoyed your cake.

September 18, 2011

Juliana's Christening!

Soon after delivering a cake earlier today, I rushed home to prepare for a wonderful celebration of our own. My beautiful granddaughter's christening.  Juliana Elisa is daughter to Mel my daughter and Phil my son-in-law and is little sister to my sweet little Jackson. With Mel's hands full with all the preparations I was mostly on my own on this cake for little Jules. With Mel's wonderful patience she did manage to steal some time and bring the flowers and leaves to life with edible dusts.  She highlighted them and once they were finished they took my breath away.  We had decided on the Anne Gedes theme for Juliana's christening cake and the colours we used are what make up Juliana's nursery.

A 10" & 6"  2 tiered cake is covered in a soft green fondant with choc fondant branches adorned by little pink blossoms and leaves.  This was our 1st attempt in making a checker board cake. This is achieved with chocolate & vanilla cakes cut and arranged that when the cake is cut you get a choc/vanilla checker board. If done right it is quite effective and very yummy.



Not bad for our 1st attempt.  Turned out pretty good and this is the second cake this week we actually made and get to eat.









Here are a few more pictures of the cake and not to forget our topper which we are very proud of.  Turned out quite cute and in the true Anne Geddes theme;

The baby is moulded out of gum paste. The flower and leaves are also made from gum paste and with Mel's eye for detail highlighted them beautifully with edible dusting powders and added a little edible glitter to finish it off.


The cross is also made from white gum paste and covered in edible glitter with a little white dove and a centre flower to finish the look.


But the best part of the day was our own little princess Juliana.  She was the perfect little baby as always looking so sweet in her beautiful christening gown.


and of course big brother Jackson is so proud of his little sister,



The day went well and we were even asked for business cards by the owner of the restaurant "Antica Osteria" in Brampton, which is the best Italian food ever!  We even got a cake order for the owner's wife's birthday coming up in October.  All in all a great day!

God Bless you Juliana!  We love you so very much!

Baby to be celebration

This week was a very busy week but a fun one.  This cake was ordered by Sue, the soon to be grandmother of a new little bundle of joy due to arrive.  Her daughter is expecting a little girl whom they have decided to name Charlotte.  Rather than give a traditional baby shower, her parents, Sue & Robert threw them a little celebration with friends and family.  Sue and Robert met with me and Mel last week to discuss the cake for the special occasion.  We were delighted to help with this wonderful celebration.  Together we decided to make a 2 tier cake in purple & pink with buttons & bows and little feet soon to be running around. 


The buttons & bows and the feet are made from fondant & highlighted with edible dusting powders while the banner is made from gum paste.  We achieved the cloudy look on the cake by covering the cake in white fondant and using the edible dusting powders with a soft brush.  A quilting pattern is used on the bottom tier to finish off the look.

When we told them we were also celebration a special event on Sept 18th, Juliana's christening and that we were going to make her cake with an Anne Geddes theme, they decided that they also would love to have the topper of their cake in the same theme as their daughter is a big Anne Geddes fan.





Here's a close up of the topper. The baby, flower & leaves are made from gum paste.  The babies diaper is made from fondant. A little edible glitter is added to make it all so sweet.





The bottom tier is a 12" vanilla cake with vanilla mousse & fresh strawberries for the filling, the top tier is an 8" chocolate zucchini cake with vanilla mousse filling.  Our chocolate zucchini cake is one of our favourite cakes which when people hear "zucchini" they tend to shy away from it but it's quite a decadent choc cake, (a healthier choc cake) and we want to thank Sue for taking the chance and giving it a try.  I'm sure it will be a big hit and can't wait to hear from her on the verdict of the "chocolate zucchini".   When I dropped off this cake today Sue was delighted and had only wonderful comments on it.

We wish the soon to be new parents and grandparents all the best and wonderful precious days ahead with the new bundle of joy!


1st year anniversary

It's already been a year, wow! since my daughter Amanda and son-in-law Jon said "I do". Mind you they have been together for 12 years prior, so it was just a reason to have a great party. This past week we were lucky enough to have them home from B.C., Smithers to be exact. They spent the 1st part of their 2 wk vacation with us and it happens that today was their 1st year anniversary, same day as my granddaughter's christening.  I think that's the real reason they came home for Juliana's christening.  Well on Thursday past, it was the only evening they had free, we had a little family celebration.  Had Jon's parents over for dinner to help celebrate the occasion.  And what's a special occasion with out a cake........so we baked a cake.  Jon's favourite which we made last year for the bottom tier of their wedding cake was what we decided to make.  Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for the filling. This was an 8" & 6" round covered in fondant. It's very rare we get to taste the cakes we make so this was a treat.  I have to say the carrot cake was delicious! 


I even kept a couple of the dahlias I had made for their wedding cake last year.  They are a little brittle but still held up.

Happy Anniversary Amanda & Jon
We love you!

We are going to miss you when you leave us again tomorrow!

September 10, 2011

Beach Birthday

This was the 2nd cake for pick up yesterday. This cake was ordered by a young fellow that works with my hubby.  He drew a picture for us and was specific on how he wanted the cake to look. Great idea by the way. The cake is for his girl friend's birthday and apparently she loves the beach. 


The cake is a double layer 10" sq vanilla cake with butter cream filling. The palm trees are created by wrapping  fondant/gum paste mix over dowels and the palm leaves are made from gum paste and shaded with various shades of edible dust.  All other details are made from gum paste.  Tony wanted the message to appear as if it were written in the sand and looking wet, which  I think we achieved but hard to see the wet look in the pictures.  The sand is golden brown sugar and the water is made from blue tinted piping gel.  All is edible except for the hammock and of course the dowels making up the palm trees.  Here's a top view of the cake;



Here's a close up of the hammock which is made from fabric,





Happy birthday Neuza! We hope you enjoyed your cake!

Thomas the Train

This is our 3rd installment of Thomas - he is quite the popular little train for the little ones. This cake was ordered by Cayden's mom courtesy of a posting by a good friend on the electronic bulletin board at work. The cake was picked up yesterday by Cayden's Mom & Dad for his birthday party today.  They were very excited about the cake when they saw it and said Cayden is going to love it.


The cake is chocolate and filled with cookies & cream, yum! All details on Thomas are made with fondant except for his face and the smoke which are made with gum paste.  Crushed cookie crumbs give the effect of dirt and the tracks are also made with gum paste.  Here's another angle of Thomas,



Hope your party is a great success and you enjoy your cake!