Tiered Cake
The Cake! — 30th Zebra Birthday Cake
The official cake photos! This was a 30th Birthday celebration cake — a white cake with fresh strawberry filling and vanilla buttercream, decorated with fondant and black ribbon (the ribbon being the only inedible part). The stars were made with a combination of fondant and gumpaste (to hold their shape) and then covered in disco dust for the sparkle. At the last minute we wanted to make the black sparkle, but I couldn’t get any black disco-dust in time — but I could find hot pink! Lucky.
The inspiration for the middle tier was a corset, using two different widths of black satin ribbon to “squeeze” together the pink ruffle layers. The zebra look was a favorite of the birthday girl’s, and so I made that the focus of the other two layers.
Each tier was secured with dowels, placed on a plastic plate cut just smaller than the layer, to keep the layers stable and secure. I used floral wire (22 gauge) for the stars. Each cake was covered in a crumb-coat of buttercream and chilled slightly before applying the fondant. The plaque was already created out of a mixture of gumpaste and fondant, and allowed to set 24 hrs to harden.
(2 8-inch round, 2 6-inch round, and 2 4-inch round tiers; serves 1″ portions for 42 people).
Baby Elephant Shower — The Cake!
Well, and the cookies too..
And the cupcakes — Red velvet, yum…
And just one more sweet detail shot. Aww.
Ok, maybe one more.
But now — the cake!
( .. and — the back of the cake, also cute) ..
With the flag banner I made the night before, announcing the new baby boy..
Finally — the sweet baby elephant baby-shower cake, in all its glory.
You’ve seen me hint about this cake, and maybe caught a couple of the earlier detail photos, but now here are the last quick details: it was 100% edible, carrot w/ cream cheese frosting + white cake with vanilla buttercream; fondant decorated with a 50-50 gumpaste/fondant ratio for the elephant and the standing leaves, both of which I made a few days in advance so that they’d be solid enough to stand on their own. This was my first cake using fondant decorations, and my 3rd cake using fondant in general.
Other than the elephant, those simple roses might have been my favorite touch to this cake — just cake it a bit of charm and sweetness! The cake plate was just purchased days earlier from Pier 1 — and let me tell you, I love this cake plate. It made the entire presentation look so much more professional, than using a disposable cardboard cake plate. Sometimes you have to use what you have, but for 14.95 I am definitely going to go buy more (they have a smaller size too — but my cakes were 8″ and 6″ and the size I bought was perfect).
Hope you like! I have events every weekend this month, including two bridal showers and three children’s parties — so wish me luck, and I’ll have more to post soon!
Hello Flower Cake — & 18th Birthday!
This cake was much bigger than it looks. I intended on making a smaller, cutesy cake for my cousin’s 18th birthday. She was just having a few friends over. They probably had leftovers. I definitely should have come by the next day.
The flowers were much more beautiful in person. I hand-colored the fondant, and hand-placed each sugar-sprinkle center into the center of each hand-cut flower. I brushed on the disco dust (to give them sparkle), and then let them dry for 48 hrs, covered on the kitchen counter. It was my first attempt making sugarpaste flowers. These were very simply done, intentionally — and I didn’t count how many I had, so I can’t impress you with that number. But it was probably hundreds. Or maybe like 60.
The best part of this cake – the inside! (it’s always my favorite part of the cake). I made a white lemon cake with vanilla buttercream (my favorite) — tinted pink, and a Meyer lemon curd filled center. And I wasn’t fooling around — I hand squeezed the lemons (I went through 12 lemons, zest and all). It was amazing.
I made shortbread cookies later in the week to eat with the leftover lemon curd.
Amazing.
I love lemons.
