19th birthday times two!

Instead of one tiered cake, this celebration warranted two separate cakes - one for a family gathering and one for the birthday girl to share with her friends. Both cakes feature the same colour combination...black, white, hot pink and electric green and similar design elements were incorporated into both cakes.

The family cake has a whimsical look with stripes, a 19th birthday plaque and a gumpaste flower with a disco-dusted black centre. Flavours are marble cake with raspberry buttercream filling and chocolate buttercream icing underneath the fondant.

The party version is brighter and bolder - black zebra stripes on hot pink fondant and black disco-dusted beads on wires create a fun topper. The margarita has a frothy cascade of sugar pearls spilling from the top on to the cake. This chocolate lover's cake combines layers of rich chocolate cake with milk chocolate buttercream filling and chocolate buttercream icing under the fondant.

This unique 30th anniversary corporate cake has an interesting feature - a female superhero exploding out of the top of the cake! Inside, carrot cake dotted with pecans, raisins and a touch of pineapple has a cream cheese filling and vanilla buttercream icing underneath a layer of silver fondant.

Spring (and Easter) are on their way!

After a gruelling winter, it's so nice to finally have the window open and hear the birds singing. It's only March so I'm sure that this taste of spring will be short-lived but it's just what we needed after months of cold and snow. Spring also means that Easter is just a few weeks away and it made me think of a cake that I made two years ago for a family function. Festive both inside and out, the neopolitan cake was iced and surrounded by rolled wafer cookies, topped with pastel-coloured M&M candies and tied with a coordinating ribbon. Pretty and delicious too!

Cookie...or cake...or both?!

The Cookie Monster cake! Alternating layers of chocolate and vanilla cake, all sitting on a bottom layer of chocolate chip cookie. For this "taste test" version, I filled and iced the cake with mocha buttercream and added a sprinkle of shaved chocolate on top. Milk chocolate buttercream filling would be delicious as well. Final verdict: Thumbs up!

I really enjoyed the challenge of making an edible version of this onboard computer for a workplace celebration. Inside is lemon cake with raspberry buttercream filling and a layer of white chocolate vanilla buttercream underneath buttercream fondant. Entirely edible aside from one toothpick supporting the toggle, this 14x10-inch carved cake was as close to the real thing as possible, right down to the onscreen icons.

Cake version:

 

Real computer:

Special delivery baby shower cake

There are so many great ideas for baby shower cakes but I especially like the stork-themed creations. They're playful and whimsical ~ perfect for a happy event like a baby shower. The sugarpaste topper on this two-tiered neopolitan cake features a stork taking a much-needed rest after landing with his "special delivery", wings wrapped protectively around the bundled baby. The border around each tier is made up of individually embossed baby blocks in pale yellow, soft fuschia and teal. An embossed cake board and light spray of pearl dust adds the final touch!

Have your cake and play it too!

My dad has quite a collection of string instruments so it made sense to create an edible version of one for his birthday. Other than the strings, this replica of a Kala ukelele was completely edible. Underneath the fondant is tangy lemon cake with raspberry buttercream filling.

Fun with flavours!

February was a month for dessert cakes and an opportunity to work with some fantastic flavour combinations!

The first was a German chocolate cake, which is a huge favourite at our house. Layers of rich chocolate cake and the signature sweet coconut and pecan filling, iced with a milk chocolate truffle buttercream. The chocolate plaque is completely edible!

Next was my version of a Butterered Almond cake ... layers of vanilla cake filled with an almond custard cream, iced in brown butter frosting and dressed up with toasted almond slices. A delicious flavour combination!

You can't go wrong with banana and caramel. This four-layer banana cake was filled and iced with a yummy salted caramel buttercream (you can see the flecks of homemade caramel in the frosting) and then topped with a sprinkle of crystallized caramel and fleur de sel. Sophisticated and delicious!

 

Faux wedding cakes

It's a fact that some couples simply don't want to serve wedding cake. They may opt for a buffet dessert table or choose to provide plated desserts that are part of the venue package. For those who still want to dress up their decor with a beautiful cake or pose for traditional cake slicing photos, a faux or artificial cake is a great option. These fondant-covered cakes have all of the attributes of a real wedding cake, from unique toppers to delicate sugar flowers, and can be custom designed to suit the wedding theme. In addition, they can either be returned or kept as a wedding keepsake.

The best part...the price can be substantially lower than a real cake but no one would know the difference - unless they try to take a bite!