Choo Choo!
I was contacted to create a christening cake for a little boy… the brief was to use blue, white, keep it simple with a train on the top. So that’s what I did!
Tag Archives: fondant
Tia’s Babushka Dolls
I’ve always been fascinated by babushka dolls. My mother has one that we used to play with as children, which is pretty much still in tact except for the second smallest one which is missing her top half.
Needless to say, I’ve been enjoying the recent revival of the nesting doll, there are so many beautiful crafts featuring them of late. Following the birth of my second daughter I’ve taken the opportunity to indulge my babushka fetish and her christening was the perfect opportunity to cake-ify them! Read more
Eleni’s Hot Air Balloon
I was really looking forward to creating this cake for little Eleni’s first birthday. This is a replication of a fabulous children’s stationery design in cake. Sydney based company Paper Eskimo have a gorgeous range of stationery and partyware – this Hot Air Balloon is no exception.
Sophie la Girafe
Until I received the request to create this 1st birthday cake, I’d never heard of Sophie la Girafe. Yes, very uncultured of me. Apparently she is vintage…Sophie the Giraffe has been around for more than 49 years…
Since 1961, more than 30 million Sophies have been sold in the world. Geez! Have I been under a rock or something???
Sophie was sculpted, in one piece, from a 12″ square chocolate mud cake. Carved, ganached, covered in fondant with hand painted details. The birthday girl, upon seeing her, exclaimed “OOOHHHHH!” I think she liked it!
Cinderella
My daughter has been planning her birthday cake for quite some time now. Last year, 1 week before her third birthday, I broke my wrist and she got a Tinkerbell ice cream cake… it was fabulous, don’t get me wrong but I was more disappointed than her I think! After spending all year making cakes for others, I was most looking forward creating something for her!
This year, every week brought a different wish for a cake. We went from a Princess, to a Barbie Princess to a rainbow pony cake to even a witch cake! She finally settled on a design from Debbie Brown’s ‘Enchanted Cakes for Children’ – Cinderella. ‘No problem”, I said… errrhhhm, yes.
This cake was a lot more involved than first thought – mostly due to the stairs. Oh my, they were tricky! It is a beautiful design, very labor intensive – just making the pebbles and putting them on the roof of the tower took almost 2 hours!
Cinderella herself was a lot of fun to make… and, surprisingly, when the time came to cut the cake she came off in one piece! Cakes created for children always reap the greatest rewards for me, the reaction that they recieve is always one of amazement and such joy – nothing beats it.
At the end of the day Julia loved it and still talks about it! Mission accomplished!
1st Birthday Cakes
These cakes were created for twins celebrating their first birthday. These were designed around the invitations which featured these colour schemes.
The figurines came about as their mum liked the little china doll figurine I had done so I adapted the same look for a little pirate and another take on the China Girl Doll.
It wasn’t until I’d completed the pirate that I realised he doesn’t have any pants on!!!! Ha ha ha ha!
He’s obviously just hopped out of bed and thrown on a jacket over a long nightshirt, ready for battle!
Up, Up and Away!
Here is a cake created for an upcoming publication called “Spoonful”.
I was invited to contribute to this magazine, that is growing up to be a short and inspiring little publication which, in light of our insanely busy lives and increasing ‘oh no, I must find time to read x’ can be finished by the end of a bus ride. The point is that it’s quick to consume, makes you smile, and leaves you feeling generally uplifted for your day. Each issue, Spoonful nominates a random fabulous object that makes us smile. Then they have a page of images of that object attached to links of fabulous blogs/artists/designers/products. The launch issue featured, yep you guessed it – hot air balloons!
I thought I’d make the most of my newly acquired Extra Icing teddy figurine tutorial and pop those cute little teddies in a balloon…
The hot air balloon and the basket are both carved from chocolate fudge cake and decorated with fondant. My recently acquired clay gun has made life easier and now fine sugar ropes are a cinch!
Check it out!
This cake has also been featured on Craft Schmaft blog..
http://craftschmaft.com/2010/05/24/balloon-nursery-inspiration/
Steer Skull
My brother Aris has a passion for competitive skeet shooting, hunting, cooking, his family and appreciates the bizarre. So, what to make for his 40th birthday cake? Maybe a present with stars bursting out of the top with an abundance of happiness…um, nope. How about a big 4-0… errr, nope.
Dead animal? Perfect!
Draped in love..
It seems like ages since I’ve done a wedding cake, lately all my orders have been for children’s cakes – which I love doing – but I’ve missed the towering tiers of a wedding cake!
Blue Blossoms
This christening cake was designed with the soft hues of blue for a baby boy in mind, something simple and elegant but suitable for an infant at the same time.
The blossoms were hand made and individually painted / dusted with lustre dust to achieve the graduated colours on top.
The height of the tiers was kind of un-intentional (!!) I didn’t realise how ridiculously high they were until it came time to cover them with fondant. Luckily I was quick and it all went well (phew!). Kind of ironic as many times I wish I had those extra few ever elusive centimeters!!