Cake #9-Brooke's Wedding Cake

Words can not express the love involved in making this cake, or the love between the two people I made it for.  Merely being a part of this celebration was an honor.

The cake:
Two 6" pans, marble with chocolate icing
Two 8" pans, velvet with cream cheese icing
Two 10" pans, marble with chocolate icing

After baking the 6 pans, I leveled them off and coated each with icing and covered them in white fondant.  I attached satin ribbon with a little dab of water around the bottom of each cake and secured with a few straight pins to keep them in place until they set.

I left each layer on its cake board to make it easier to serve and to keep the cake sturdy.  I sharpened a wooden dowel with a pencil sharpener and pushed the sharp point down through the center of the cake. Every time I reached one of the cake boards, I gently twisted the dowel to force it through the card board, stopping at the last board on the bottom.  Then I pulled the dowel back out and cut off the excess dowel so that when I replaced it, it would not show at the top of the cake.

"All you need is love.."

I dyed fondant to match the colors of the ribbons and hand cut each word.  Then I used a dab of water to place each word onto the bottom layer of the cake.

Cake Topper:

I used fresh flowers that the bride carried at the wedding to create the topper.  I dabbed a little bit of cream cheese frosting onto the top of the cake in the center to keep the flowers in place.

Cake #7-A Cake for Friends

This is just something I put together tonight.  I don't have much detail as it was a pretty simple and small cake.  But I do have photos!

Cake #6-Mr. Cooper's 90th Birthday

To say this guy is the sweetest man on Earth, would be an understatement. Seriously.  He is the grandfather of one of my best friends.   He is a fun loving gentleman who loves to play cards.  His daughter came to me with the idea to do a "King of Our Hearts" cake for his 90th birthday.  Of course, I said yes...

The Cake:

Triple chocolate

White butter cream icing  

Two 8" round pans

Two 10" round pans

The Details:

To create the deck of cards, I used a food dye marker to draw out a pattern on fondant molded into a rectangular shape.  I used some card decks for reference.  This is not the proper design from any deck of cards, but a collaboration of a few different styles.  

The King of Hearts:

This was a tough one.  I free-handed the King of Hearts onto some fondant, using food dye markers and a lot of patience.  I don't have the steadiest of hands, so this was tricky.  (Also, die hard card players will notice something is off about the card design.  Yes, I know his sword is missing.  This is the "Suicide King," but this is also a birthday cake.  So I took some artistic liberties with that one.  So there.)

The Hearts:

To make the hearts stand up on top of the cake, I took two hearts I cut out of red dyed fondant and placed two tooth picks on the inside of them and molded them together.  To get them to stick I just used a little bit of warm water as a "paste."

Borders:

For the King's crown border, I cut a strip of black dyed fondant measuring 24"x2", and then cut out the little triangle to form the crown shape.

For the suits border, I cut out hearts and diamonds from red dyed fondant, and spades and clubs from black dyed fondant. 

I attatched both borders using warm water to get them to stick.  

The Tiers:

To attatch the two tiers, I just placed a dollop of icing in the center of the lower tier and placed the top tier in the center.  The icing should hold it.  If you are travelling with your cake, I recommend using a few dowels to keep your tiers in place.

Cake #5-Bat Cake

My brother's best friend, Chuck, is a huge Batman fan, especially the 1960's TV series style Batman, and his wife, Louise, asked me to make him a cake in this theme.  I was really excited to do this one.  First, my brother and Chuck have been friends forever, so I sort of grew up around them.  I got lucky and scored a second big brother in him.  Second...Hello!  Batman!  Adam West!

The Cake:

Two 8" rounds of chocolate cake

The Characters:

I molded both Batman and Joker from fondant which I dyed to match the costumes from the TV series.  

Joker was a little more difficult(of course...), as I had to get the toy gun to stay in his hand. In order to do so, I rested his arm on top of a bowl in my kitchen so the weight of the gun wouldn't pull his arm off.  To create the "Bang" flag, I simply mold the pistol around a tooth pick and used a thinly rolled out piece of fondant to hang on it.  I used food coloring markers to draw the lettering on the flag and food dye to paint the yellow background.  (I don't have a yellow marker.  So I made due with what I had.)  I then took the flag and draped it over the tooth pick, leaving a small amount of fondant to fold over the back.  I then wet the the fondant a little bit on the flap and attatched it to the back of the flag.  This keeps it from falling off the tooth pick.

To tie Batman up, I rolled thin tan fondant and draped it around him.

To make the bomb, I rolled a black ball of fondant and placed a thin piece of white fondant on the top and shred the tip and painted it red, yellow, and black to create a fuse. 

Covering the Cake:

After coating the cake in a layer of buttercream frosting, I rolled out fondant which I dyed yellow and covered the cake with this. 

Using a paring knife, I cut slits into the cake to make what looked like an asterisk.  Then I carefully lifted each piece(which should look like little triangles when sliced) and curled them back.  To keep their curl, I rolled up small pieces of paper towel for them to rest on until they dried.  for the cityscape, I just cut out random building-like shapes with windows, allowing the yellow to show through to create lights on in each building.

Last, I used dowels to hold Joker up in the area I cut out for him, which looks like he is jumping up through the cake, and on Batman as well to keep him in place. 

Stay tuned for my next cake coming Saturday, August 13th.

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