Drum Kit Cake # 2

This is my favourite chocolate cake recipe in a 30cm tin - so quite big. The drum kit is purely fondant. The sticks for the cymbals are little skewers painted with edible silver. The last time I made a drum kit cake was for Jordan. On that occasion I made little cakes for the drums and covered them in fondant, but they were a bit bigger - that cake is earlier on in my blog. Once again I found that working with fondant in the current temperatures is a bit risky. The air is quite damp here so the fondant tends to stay tacky even though they were made almost one week in advance. Overall look is OK.

Lightening McQueen for Thomas

This is only the second time I have used a moulded tin. I found that the cake did cook well enough but the details were not as deep as I would have liked, so it required a lot of referring to the pattern. The topping is made of a product I have not used before - Cremin. It is quite nice to use, takes on colour very well etc. Perfect for piping.

Ladies - please

This is the first time I have made fondant shoes. There are some fabulous tutorials on YouTube. There is plenty of room for improvement from my side though. I am just a bit reluctant to spend $85 to buy a special fondant shoe maker - might put in on my Xmas/Birthday wish list. Overall finish of the bag, make-up and shoes was okay. I definitely enjoy modelling fondant items - this make-up was easy and effective and fun to do. I followed the requested colour themes, Obviously the only limit is your imagination with these.

Monster High

Chocolate cake with tinted butter cream icing. This one is fairly straight forward. I am reasonably happy with the finished look.

Pukeko and Buzzy Bee - Kiwi icons

These two are Banana cake. The pukeko (a very common rural bird - unprotected native of NZ - the cake board is covered in paper with the actual bird on it) is made from a Wilton Wonder mould. I could hardly believe how much mixture it takes. Big cake. The Buzzy Bee a very popular child's  pull toy - is a small loaf cake sculpted into shape. This was made for Scott's Mum.
03/07 - Hello Christina, I was the 'birthday recipent' of the amazing Pukeko and Buzzy Bee cake you made recently. My son Scott ordered it and bought it round on Saturday. I was so surprised - it's gorgeous and Buzzy tasted declicious too! (I still have Pukeko can't bring myself to cut into him yet!!). Many thanks. Scott's Mum

What a Hoot

Here is an Owl for wee Camille - celebrating her 1st Birthday, my girlfriend Carolyn's granddaughter. Mum Wendy, chose the colour scheme. Lovely Chocolate cake.

Happy 70th Birthday Mum

My first attempt at Red Velvet Cake - The colour was not as red as it should have been. I know there is a knack, I am not sure what it is. If anyone can advise me - great. It has something to do with the mixing in of the vinegar and baking soda at the end of the process. Lots of really yummy white chocolate and cream cheese topping though then white chocolate on the top. Mum enjoyed it, that was the main thing. (That's my Dad in the background).

Topsy Turvy # 2

It is really encouraging when you have made one Topsy Turvy cake and get the opportunity to make another. I felt so much more confident with this one. This cake is Chocolate top and bottom and Banana in the centre. I love the colours. I used pearl dust on the middle row of ivory balls. I also used edible diamonds for on the middle chocolate layer. To finish it had a 'bling' 40 on the top. It looked really nice.

Spot the Dog

The thing I have learnt is that the cakes that require the least amount of work are the ones that are least forgiving - you just have to do the easy things right. Spot here is okay, but really he needed to have his black licorice outline a bit neater. His front paws look a bit out of kilter.

Motor trail bike

This cake is made from five chocolate cakes - two round ones for the wheels a round one for the body of the bike and two small loaf cakes for the handlebars and seat. I should have spent more time with the spokes, they look a bit messy.

Horse Head from Whoa to Go - look at all the pics

 One 30cm tin - Chocolate Cake - I have cut the outline of the head and carved the contours.

 I covered the head in brown tinted butter-cream as my crumb coating.

 I then put on my fondant and moulded an ear - (A little small) It is being held in place with the rolling pin and an almond nut in the cavity.

 I have added some nice white teeth and an eye - made with a malteser.

 I made the mane and stuck it down with water and a paintbrush and held it in place with toothpicks while it dried.

 I added the bridle and changed the eye to a slightly bigger one made with a rolled ball of fondant.

Finally I added the brass bridle ring and buckle for the top strap. I also glazed the eye with egg white. End result - a happy customer. Plus my partner thought I was 'quite clever'. Bless.

Engaging my friend

My friend Robyn - who is presently enjoying a six week holiday in Europe (currently in Paris) asked me to decorate her extremely tasty chocolate mud cake for her stepdaughter's engagement - the theme colours were grey and yellow. I was asked to ice with butter-cream icing - I tried to whiten it with Wiltons whitener - it did change briefly then faded back to a light cream colour. I am not sure if I used it correctly - I will try it again another time. This is the end result - with fondant ribbons and circles.

Happy Birthday Kerry and Cheryl

The last 'Boob' cake I did looked a bit unshapely - because I used mixing bowls that had a flat base - this time I have used a Wilton's Sports Ball tin and they are a great shape. Both cakes are chocolate - I have found a new recipe and it it really yummy - a bit more vanilla and lots more 70% cocoa. Plus the quantities are perfect - I love it. Once I saw the girls'party pics - I know they enjoyed their cakes.

Elmo

Elmo - my second Muppet. What would I do with out my favourite Wilton nozzle (233). It is so good for hair and grass.

Venetian Mask

Wendy's request - a venetian mask, with a black and gold theme. I was supposed to make a moulded mask, unfortunately the weather has been very humid and I was unable to get the fondant to dry out in the right shape. This mask is piped white royal icing hand painted in gold on florists plastic. The spray is little leaves with flowers and the flowers have small gold cachous in their centres. All of these leaves and flowers were hand painted in gold after I adhered them to the cake. Once again the fondant was very tacky and I felt this was the best way to get them done. The 'roses' are my very first attempt, artfully placed to hide the cracked icing. Far to fragile - yes, still so much to learn. Overall I am pleased with the final piece.

A little Sheepish!

This little ewe if for Jane's 21st. Underneath the fondant on the face between the eyes is a water balloon filled with raspberry topping. The theme of the birthday is super villains. When Jane cuts the cake with a generous stab, the balloon should burst and the cake will ooze raspberry. Certainly a wee lamb to slaughter - not my idea, but what they want, they get.

Jim Beam 21st

This cake is quite long - approx 18inches. It is banana filled with butter cream then butter cream crumb layer then brown and yellow food colouring rolled in fondant to give it a mottled look. I lay a bottle of bourbon down next to the cake before i iced it - and of course the bourbon looks like liquid gold, that's why it is the colour it is. I also dusted it with pearl luster, it looked glassy. This picture is a bit too bright to catch the depth of colour.

Its your Boobsday

I get pretty frustrated when it is warm and the butter cream stays so soft - this should be very smooth - like skin.  I should have used much thicker fondant. Every time i went to smooth the butter cream layer a little bit more - it would lift. The board was too big to put into the fridge. I still have so much more to learn. Oh well, i hope birthday boy 40 will enjoy it.

MGP Scooter for Callum

Callum got an MGP scooter for his birthday - so the idea was to try and make one that looked like it. So i decided a scooter/skate part would make a good base. I do not know how to make things out of fondant that stand up - especially something like this - if anyone has any ideas - they would be gratefully received.

Final result of previous post

Please read the previous post for cake details.

Topsy Turvy Terror turns to delight

Take a look at all of the pics for this cake - what a labour intensive cake this is. Not to mention the cost of all ingredients, the dowels, the boards etc.  The cakes are american Pound Cake - which i probably will not make again - they use a lot of ingredients and are a bit unreliable, in so much as they can fail if you do not do things just right. The other cakes are butter cake from the AWW Book. Each tier has two cakes cut in half then sandwiched with butter cream.  Then they are trimmed to the desired shape and covered in butter cream and put in the fridge. Then the central hole/platform for the next tier is shaped in on the first and second cake. Then the fondant goes on. That is five 750gm packets altogether, 3.5 packs tinted pink and the other 1.5 left white.- the first and second cakes have six dowels each put through them around the outer edge of the platform area. The the cake is constructed and a long anchoring dowel is put through the entire cake. Then i covered up as many of the imperfections as i could with icing dots and balls.
End result - not too shabby. But not after a lot of fluttering of the heart and a few more grey hairs have grown.

Butterfly for birthday belle # 2

Another butterfly cake for a dear little girl. This cake is more vibrant in colour than the previous one and the decorations are slightly different. I have to say i do not like using butter cream in the warmer weather - it stays a little too soft.

Animal Rules

I am happy with this cake - Nice and bright - for a seven year old boy.

Hen Party Favourite

'to have and to hold' - i was asked to do this by the sister of the bride, bit of a laugh.

XBOX for a 21st

The thing about doing a cake with such straight lines - is that they need to be straight. I rushed this cake towards the end so a less than perfect finish.Overall result not too bad - Along the top of this cake next to the xbox icon was Happy 21st Cory. in flouro green.