Cake #12-Gambler's Cake

My best friend asked me to make a cake for her co-worker's birthday involving a gambling theme.

The Cake:

Two 6" rounds

Yellow cake, chocolate icing

All decorations are made of fondant.  I dyed each color to my liking by kneading and folding food coloring into fondant.  All fondant was adhered to the cake with a small dab of water to create a "paste."

The Vegas sign: I used food dye markers to write out the lettering from the original welcome sign.

Cake #11-Jenn's Yellow Submarine Belated Birthday Cake

So this cake has been through a lot...
A hurricane.
Flooding.
Loss of electricity...

Originally, this cake was set to be made for the end of August, but due to a wind storm issue, the party was cancelled along with the cake.  (Also, the bouncy castle was cancelled, which was MY biggest disappointment.) However, the birthday girl found out about the surprise cake, and still wanted it.  I was all too happy to do it for her.  I mean, come on.  She missed out on a bouncy castle.  The cake HAD to be made in light of such tragedy.
The theme? The Yellow Submarine, with special guest Snorkel Suzy.

The Cake:

Two 6" round pans.
Two 8" round pans.
Yellow cake with chocolate icing.

Each cake was covered with chocolate icing and then fondant dyed to a light blue.

The Characters:

"Old Fred"

He is made of fondant which I dyed to match the character's uniform and skin color.  I used a toothpick to hold his head onto his body because of the odd shaping.  

"Blue Meanie"

He is made of fondant dyed to match the character.  His "ears" are attached with toothpicks that I covered with black fondant, because the length of them was causing each one to slowly droop.  The toothpicks held them in place nicely.

"Yellow Submarine"

She is made of fondant dyed to match the sub from the movie.  Each periscope is held up by small toothpicks to keep them from drooping.

"Snorkel Suzy"

Though not a character in the movie, Suzy is Jenn's adorable, lovable dog.  From many suggestions via Jenn's family and our friends, Suzy was added.  But I felt she needed something extra:  a snorkel.  Obviously.

The Structure:

The cake is held together with a wooden dowel that I trimmed to the height of the cake. 

Here are some extra pictures I had of this cake.  Enjoy!  

Cake #10-Carly and Mike's 1st Anniversary

To replicate the cupcakes Carly and Mike had at their wedding, I made a pool themed cake.  Carly asked that I keep with the theme, since they had tried to keep one of the cupcakes from the wedding to eat on their first anniversary.  Sadly, the cupcake didn't make it.  From what I know, it had a tragic fall from the freezer.
I took some liberties with the numbers on the cake.

The Cake:

Two 6" round pans.
Chocolate cake with white icing.

I started by leveling off only the bottom layer of the cake.  To create the rounded top, I just used the naturally dome shape top of the cake and shaved around it with a knife to smooth it out.

I covered the cake in white fondant and added a strip of blue fondant to create the stripe for the ball.  The stripe was approximately 1 1/2" wide.  I then cut out a small round circle and a black one to place in the center of the "ball", to signify their first anniversary.

The Balls:

To create the balls, I used a measuring teaspoon to mold each one into a perfectly round shape, and then cute away the excess for smooth edges.  Lightly dust the teaspoon with confectionery sugar so each piece of fondant slides out easier.  I dyed each piece individually and used the excess to create the stripes for the non-solid balls.  After cutting out small circles of fondant, I used a food dye marker to write out "Happy Anniversary" on them, placing a different letter on each ball.

To get them to stick to the cake, I dabbed a little bit of water to the back of each half ball, and pressed it lightly against the side of the cake.