Feeding an Army

This past weekend, I got the chance to challenge myself in a whole new way. I was tasked with sculpting a TANK CAKE to serve about 40 people.

(insert nervous laugh here)

Now most of you know I went to an aeronautical university. Now, I may know my way around a plane (or at least I USED to... not sure what all I actually remember from those engineering days gone by!) but a TANK? I was nervous I may have bitten off more than I could chew.

Luckily, after a little research, I found that the shape of a tank wasn't TOO extreme, and I psyched myself up into believing I could do it. Of course... knowing I had a star wars project to work on, which is TOTALLY in my comfort zone.. eased my worried mind.

The target client was a 5 year old boy, and the cake of choice was chocolate, with a cookies and cream filling.

The cake itself had a rectangular base of 11x15 inches. with two layers approximately 2 inches high each, the filling, and the rice crispy/fondant covered shaped turret on top.... well... you can imagine the tank was a beast.


By far, this cake was the largest I've made to date, as well as the heaviest. I used approximately 6 pounds of fondant, and probably pulled a muscle trying to color it. It was certainly a good workout!


This was also the first time I used color-mist, to give the camo-effect. I like the final effects, but will concede that it's not for every cake. also? next time I need to wear a mask or lay down a tarp... that green mist got EVERYWHERE.

All in all, I think the cake turned out great. I credit The Cake Store with being my inspiration... there were a lot of tanks out there, but I loved their design; especially how there was chocolate 'mud' under the cake. Happy 5th birthday, Marco!

A Sith Fifth

When a good friend and neighbor asks you to make a cake for their turning-five year old, it's just a no-brainer. when that 5 year old is one of your child's best friends, there is no doubt that the cake has to be GOOD.

However, when that very same cake happens to have a star wars theme, a topic that is literally eaten and breathed in your house... such that you are forced to act in character most days before your feet even hit the floor in the morning... well.. you'd best believe the cake better go big or go home. like to a different galaxy, if it doesn't measure up to the critical judgement of your own house of padawans.

I was ready, though. I had successfully created a Star Wars themed cake for another boy, and like I said.. every day in this house is like my very own Jedi-training camp. Of course, I did retain some hesitation, because I had also signed up to create a tank cake for the very same day... but I was up for the challenge.

My target client was a 5 year old boy, and he wanted something to focus on Darth Vader, and the 'Blue Storm Trooper.' No-- not the blue CLONE Trooper we all love and adore as Captain Rex... he wanted a blue STORM Trooper. (Totally different helmet, dude!) I was gonna work the Sith for this Fifth.

The mom gave me free reign to do what I do, but requested that there be 2 dozen cupcakes to serve to party-goers, as well as a small centerpiece cake for candle blowing etc. Vanilla cupcakes, vanilla buttercream, and the cake was to be chocolate with cookies and cream filling. Easy peasy.

After creating my own Darth Vader and Storm Trooper cookie cutters, it was simple to create my 2 dozen fondant cupcake toppers.

I created a larger, 2.5-D replica of Darth's helmet to use on top of the cake. (yes, I did write 2.5-D... it wasn't totally three dimensional, but it was more than the flat fondant toppers. you can thank me later for introducing you to 2.5-D) From that point, it all just kind of came together. (with a little use of the force, that is!)

The end result was a 3-tiered, 8-inch round cake, covered in black fondant. a little light-saber red fondant trim here and there, some painstakingly tedious hand-cut lettering and 5 more blue storm trooper guys (get it.. FIVE stormtroopers? cause he was turning FIVE?) oh, and a fondant cape and a light-stick for a light saber... and you get the following.

My live-in advisory board gave me high-fives and deemed the cake to be "AWESOME"... so with confidence I brought everything to the party for set up.

Once all the cupcakes were in place on their towers flanking the cake, I MIGHT have started humming the Imperial March... but I won't admit to anything else like breathing like Darth himself. Cause you know... THAT would be weird.

In the end, Jacob seemed to like the cake, and his crew of pals also got a kick taking a bite out of the Dark Side.

Happy birthday, Jacob!!! May the force be with you always!!

Dr. Seuss Week

In order to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday, my daughter's school hosted "Dr. Seuss Week", in which they had a chance to partake in something Seuss-related each day.

Wednesday seemed like a great day to bring in a Stepford-version tribute to the famous author, so after some arranging with her teacher, I created a platter of Green Eggs and Ham. The ham is, of course, not really ham. I molded some rice crispies treats and covered with a fantastic shade of green, then used my edible black marker to cartoonize it even more. Fondant must have been created with Seuss in mind.... looks like it came right out of the book.. including the fancy fork! The Ham was flanked by some basic butter cookies, including a handful of gluten free cookies for a child who had allergy concerns.




of course I couldn't stop there, and had to add another thing or two. Or, Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes, to be more precise. Behold some chocolate cupcakes, topped with a very blue buttercream, garnished with blue cotton candy "hair".



together they made for a fun presentation, and the kids (all kindergartners, by the way) truly enjoyed celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday with a little party.



Once at the school and all set up, I also added 2 more final gluten-free cookies to my cupcake towers. While I did not make gluten free cupcakes for Thing 1 and Thing 2, I did create two decorated cookies in their names.


So here's to Dr. Seuss, and all of the wonderful ways he's sparked our imaginations over the years! Happy birthday!

Building a Cake

As a kid, I grew up with Star Wars. I also grew up with Legos. The fact that kids today have Star Wars LEGOS is just awesome times two.

I was tasked to create a Star Wars Lego cake for a boy turning six. this boy is a HUGE Star Wars fan, and I'm not ashamed to say was instantly smitten with my daughter, who could retell every movie and Clone Wars episode as if she really lived through it all. I figured this would be a huge asset in about 20 years if she chooses to try to land herself a tech nerd as a boyfriend... but apparently knowing Star Wars also has power with the boys ages 5-7.

At any rate, this was an exciting theme for me to be assigned, and I went about drafting up plans for something fun for the birthday boy. First off was re-creating the Star Wars logo in fondant, as well as a layered 2-D Death Star.



Some cakes just tend to come together quicker than others, and this one was as smooth as it gets. With the primary colors as a palette, I was able to piece together a lego-like cake in no time. well... that's not totally true. cutting out all of those tiny dots to make the bricks look like real legos was pretty time consuming.


side view--- just a little light saber action on the right, and the Death Star on the left.


Couldn't forget the back of the cake--- another Star Wars logo.



Overall, Davis and his friends were pleased with the Lego-riffic cake. It was an 8-inch square 3-tiered vanilla cake with chocolate ganache buttercream filling. As this was my first Star Wars Cake... I was happy to use my forces for the good of the galaxy. (or something like that...)


Here's to Davis! Happy 6th Birthday!!!