Los Angeles Lakers Cake

Who loves the Lakers?  We do most definitely, especially with being so near to LA.  This was created for Blake who turned 10 and loved the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team.  It's an 8 inch round, Chocolate cake filled with Italian Meringue Buttercream (IMBC) - recipe linked HERE.  It's covered and decorated in Marshmallow Fondant (MMF).

The logo was made using the same technique on my Boston Red Sox Cake (click HERE to see it).

The only difference is the "Los Angeles" font and the dashes around the "Lakers" was pipped (these were just too tiny to cut out of fondant).  In order for the purple piping to match the other purple on the cake, I diluted the MMF with a tiny bit of hot water and mixed it up really well until it was evenly melted.  I then piped it using a #1 round piping tip and a toothpick to help move each stroke into it's proper place as I tried to copy the logo as exact as I could.

Those wonderful basketball bumps...to achieve the basketball texture I used a #5 round piping tip and punched them one by one around the entire cake.  It took an hour alone to get the texture done - doesn't it look neat!

For the black striping along the sides of the cake, I first impressed the pattern on the sides of the cake using one of those tear drop shaped flower shaping tools (don't know the name for it), used an clay extruder to extrude the black "rope", then smoothed them "into" the impression on the cake so that the stripes were more flushed to the surface rather than protruding way out.

This is the extruder I like using - it comes with a clear acrylic box that conveniently keeps everything together:Walnut Hollow Clay Extruder Set

As for the base board, I was trying to achieve the basketball court flooring.  I cut out the individual panels, scored them with the thin tool to get the wood grain, assembled them on the board, then brushed it over with clear piping gel that I diluted way down with vodka that was mixed with a teeny drop of brown gel color.  The piping gel dries glossy and helps the board resemble the shiny basketball floor quite well I think.

I hand cut the Laker's Jersey's (one purple home jersey and one yellow away jersey) and added the birthday boys age to them using the FMM Tappit Cutter Set.

Boston Red Sox Cake

A 6 inch Boston Red Sox Cake with a wood grain board (to resemble the wood of a baseball bat).  Although simple, hand cutting the logo and font were time consuming!

I used a transfer method to get the logo just right that I adapted from Jessica Harris on how she makes perfect stripes on the sides of her cakes.

I printed the logo backwards and taped up it inside a sheet protector.  I then lightly rubbed the surface of the sheet protector with shortening to help the fondant stick.  Using a clay extruder, I extruded the red band around the entire logo, the blue outline around the baseball and the red stitches.  Using a tiny bit of water, I attached all the stitches to one another so they wouldn't move out of place (they were very tiny and thin).

For the "Boston Red Sox" font, I printed out the letters on regular paper, cut them out and used them as templates to cut out the fondant with.  There were so many angles and curves in the font that it was easier to use various piping tips to cut some of the parts rather than trying to use an exacto knife.  Once the letters were all cut, I lay then in place over the sheet protector template.  I did this a few days ahead and just let it air dry.  

After the cake was covered in fondant, I put it in the fridge for a few hours, removed it, let the cake sit on the counter for a couple minutes to get a little bit of condensation on it then flipped the logo template over the cake and carefully pressed and peeled the sheet protector off.  The little bit of condensation on the cake helped stick everything in place perfectly - I didn't have to mess with brushing water to the fondant to get it to stick.

With the cake being simple, I wanted to do something creative with the board and thought of a baseball bat.  I made the wood grain board by marbling fondant together then scoring lines with a thin tool and poking some holes in it.  I then brushed it over with a tiny bit of white gel color that I diluted way down with vodka.  It help give the board a white washed look and made the wood grain pop.

The entire cake is decorated in Marshmallow Fondant (MMF).  I did add Tylose powder to the pieces that I used to make the logo with so that they would dry harder and not be too stretchy for when I was cutting them out.

Hope you like it!

Barbie Goes to Hollywood Cake

For a friend's daughter who turned 6.  The theme of the cake was, "I can be a Movie Star" and Riley's favorite colors were pink and purple. 

I made the purple, Hollywood mountains around the cake and added spots of sparkling glitter to look like the twinkling lights along the mountain side.

Everything was hand cut out of MMF (except for the alphabet cutters used on the, Happy Birthday).  For the lettering, I used black MMF and dusted it over with blue pearl dust and rainbow glitter.  I made her name, Riley, using a Barbie font which can be downloaded for free here.

I had such a hard time with the face and the nose...She went through 3 face transformations and quite a lot of sculpting before I settled with this one...must have spent close to 3 hours on her face alone.  The easiest part was the arm and hand.  For the arm, I used the tips on a video tutorial by Make Your Cakes - It shows you how to sculpt arms and legs easily.  She did have a bare arm until my 4 year old daughter said that Barbie needs a bracelet and ring.  These were added especially at her request =D

Cake:  9 inch White Vanilla Cake filled with Raspberry IMBC and decorated in MMF.

Mr. Fluffy's Bakery (Ni Hao Kai-Lan)

My niece turned 1 and after doing a couple Kai-Lan themed cakes and decorations, I wanted to create something unique and different but especially cute for her 1st birthday.  I love the show and one of my favorite characters is Mr. Fluffy and his adorably cute bakery so I designed her cake to look just like his bakery.  I think it turned out really cute!

I had scoured the Internet and watched online videos of the show trying to find a really good picture of his home to duplicate and failed.  There were a lot of photos of the toy but none of the home as seen on the show.  As I was telling my brother about it, my 4 year old jumps in and says she has a picture as she runs into her room and comes back out with a Kai-Lan book and there was Mr. Fluffy and his bakery right inside that book - it was perfect!  My little hero!

My two kids picked out which of Mr. Fluffy's cakes I got to replicate for the decorations along the side of the cake and since we were in the midst of a heat wave and with the party being outdoors at a park, I kept everything pretty flat and two-dimensional to be safe.

The house was built and carved out of 2, 6 inch rounds and an 8 inch round for the roof.  Everything is covered and decorated in MMF including the handmade, giant chocolate chips sitting on the roof.  I'm so sorry for not having pictures of the step by step process - it was such a busy and stressful week that the camera and I just did not find each other but hopefully all of these "after" photos will help paint the picture....a 360 view around the cake.

Included below are the table center pieces made by my cousin - The lollipop flowers are so adorable and too cute!

And my sister-in-law decorated this large box to hold the birthday envelopes.  The characters were hand cut out of construction paper and glued together!  So creative and perfect - they don't look like cutouts at all!

Emily had a beautiful birthday filled with tons of family and friends, lots of delicious food and beautiful decorations made by her artsy and crafty Aunties and Mommy =)  Happy 1st Birthday Emily!

Chicago Themed Northwestern Grad Cake

My cousin graduated Northwestern with a PhD and what better way to celebrate than with a cake with all things she loved about Chicago!  So many little details on the cake, a complete 360 where I wished I had one of those really cool rotating cake pedestals to display the cake on (another addition to my wish list).

A couple dozen cupcakes with more Chicago favorites:  The Chicago Flag, Deep Dish Pizza, Mustard Hot Dogs, Doctoral Graduate Cap, and the Chicago Cubs Logo

Some more cupcakes:  Chicago Flag and the Chicago Bulls Logo

Once again, I had my 2 cousins help out with making some of the decorations for the cake a few days prior - they're getting pretty good at this stuff...I see some future employees - hah hah!


The 6 inch Chocolate Cake is filled and covered in Italian Meringue Buttercream then with MMF.  All the decorations are made out of MMF.  The cupcakes were an assortment of vanilla and chocolate cupcakes baked by one of the cousins which I topped them off with yummy Italian Meringue Buttercream too - delish!

Here is a tour around the cake....

The "L" Train, Hancock Building, Marina Building (Corn Cob) and Cloud Gate (The Bean)

Hancock Building, Marina Building (Corn Cobs) and Cloud Gate (The Bean)

Navy Pier Ferris Wheel and Lake Michigan

Willis Tower (Sears Tower), the Cubs Wrigley Field and Lake Michigan

Top:  Doctorate Hat and Hood and The Chicago Theatre Sign 

 Congratulations Stephanie!  We are so proud of you =)

"Justice for Girls" Monkey Themed Cake

My little niece turned 8 and loves the monkey from the Justice for Girls clothing store and with a sleep over party, I wanted to create the perfect little cake incorporating the Monkey, the bright and funky store themed style and a bed. Her father said she was always laying on her bed listening to her iTouch so I just had to add that too =)

The cake is an 8 x 5 x 3 inch Dark Chocolate Cake covered in Chocolate IMBC - here's a picture of it in the middle of being crumb coated.

Once I covered the cake over with the IMBC, I let it sit in the fridge to firm up while I prepared the bed spread to lay over it.

I rolled the MMF out into a rectangle (11 x 11 inch - 5x8 inch top with 3 inches down 3 of the sides), I used a diamond impression mat to lightly mark the pattern over it.  With a sewing tracing wheel, I marked the lines then lightly pressed in the creases at each intersection with a gumpaste veining tool.

I then lay it over the cake and smoothed it into place.  The headboard was made 2 days prior to allow time to dry out of MMF mixed with Tylose and it sits flat up against the back of the cake.

I then added a small round "button" into each intersection and dusted the creases of the bed spread with pink petal dust.

The texture on the little rug was made by using the tip of the star piping tip then dusted over with lilac petal dust.  I topped them with a pair of slippers =) for the little monkey.

The monkey is made out of modeling chocolate (the head is a RKT covered in modeling chocolate).  I loved how she turned out - Laying on the bed, listening to her iTouch.

another view of the monkey....  I made the bow and the letters of her name out of MMF (mixed with Tylose) then dusted them with edible Glitter.

I just had to add the banana peel beside the bed =)

I also made a bunch of mini banana's to top the cupcakes with (1 to 1.5 inches).  Here they're being dusted in sunflower and dogwood brown petal dust.

The 4 steps to creating a gumpaste banana (left to right):

1) Model the banana out of yellow gumpaste (here I used MMF mixed with Tylose)

2) Dust them over with a yellow or sunflower petal dust

3) Lightly and randomly, dust them with brown or dogwood petal dust

4) Steam them lightly to set the color = perfect, little, ripe bananas.  It would have been nice to have added some banana extract to them but I didn't think about it until they were done.

Some of the cupcake toppers.  We had 4 dozen Red Velvet cupcakes to top with decorations so I did an assortment of hearts, stars, flower blossoms, peace signs, banana's, the Monkey and #8.

My sister-in-law baked her Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting and I topped then off with the decorations and finished off the dessert table with some Chocolate Peppermint Cake Balls.  It all came together perfectly and I love the theme and colors - so Kayla!