Relief Society Birthday Cake 2013

The ladies at my church must have liked the birthday cakes I made last year, as I was asked to make the Relief Society birthday cake again this year. I chose a quilt theme because Relief Society was organized in 1842 when women made quilts for their homes. I love home made quilts and admire the talent and time it takes to make them. To me quilts represent hard work, patience, ingenuity,  resourcefulness comfort and love, which are some of the many attributes the Relief Society organization is known for.

I made a neapolitan cake with chocolate bottom layer, strawberry mousse and fresh strawberry's for the filling and a white cake top layer. The cake looked really cool when cut. I used buttercream and made the quilt and flowers out of marshmallow fondant . The emblem is a laminated computer printout (non edible). I originally envisioned the quilt looking rumpled on the cake but discovered as I laid it on the cake it was too heavy and needed to lay flat. I would have needed to create mounds on the cake ahead of time in order to have the rumpled look. I really like how the cake turned out with the corners falling off the cake. Cardboard was added under the quilt corners and tucked under the cake for support. I dashed the flower vines around the cake for a stitched look to tie into the quilt theme.

Relief Society Birthday Cake 2012

I made these three cakes for Relief Society's 170th birthday, the woman's organization of my church. Each cake is a different flavor, frosted with non dairy whipped topping and decorated with buttercream. I decorated the sides with the popular flat roses but left the top smooth to decorate and write on. The emblem is a laminated computer printout (non edible). I think they turned out nice.

100th Birthday Cake

These cakes were made for my Grandma's 100th birthday celebration. I simplified the decorations on the second cake to keep the theme but not be as time consuming. They are both frosted with non dairy whipped topping and decorated with buttercream roses. I sprinkled the roses with clear glitter flakes to make the roses glisten and look like dew drops.

Strawberry Topped Birthday Cake

This chocolate buttercream frosted cake topped with chocolate dipped strawberry turned out really nice. It is simple yet delicious looking and tasting. I added these cute pinwheels for a festive touch.

Birthday Cake

Using the inspiration of grocery store bakery cakes, I create this cake for my sons birthday by sprinkling the boarders with small candy's and draping squiggly lines around the sides. For the writing, I used Wilton tip #134 which has 5 very small holes along a straight line. I filled the piping bag with yellow & dark orange buttercream but ran out part way, so added the other color I had available, green. I think it created a cool 3D effect for the top of the cake. I usually do not make complicated cakes for family occasions since my time is taken up on other party preparations. This was a quick cake to put together but fancy enough for a birthday cake. I used buttercream for the frosting.

Simple Rose Birthday Cake

I made this simple birthday cake for my co-worker. I flavored the non dairy whipped topping (Pastry Pride) with cocoa powder to make a light chocolate flavored frosting. Just add cocoa powder (I guess at the amount) to the liquid before you start whipping and it will incorporate perfectly. I shaved a chocolate bar on the top of the cake for added decoration and flavor. The roses are buttercream.

Rose Birthday Cake

A traditional birthday cake design, frosted with non dairy whipped topping and decorated with buttercream frosting. As with this cake, I usually bake two cakes and stack them with filling in the middle.

Princess Birthday Cake

A Pretty Princess Birthday cake for two lovely princesses. Frosted with Non dairy whipped topping and decorated with buttercream.

Volcano Cake

This was a fun birthday cake to make for a young boy. The rocks are bridge mix and malted eggs, the volcano was made of cake and the dinosaurs and trees are plastic. I frosted it with buttercream frosting.

Pink Rose Wedding Cake

This is my Mom's wedding cake and the first cake I used tiers with. It was a good cake to practice using tiers with since the cakes were small and only two cakes tall. The flowers are small real roses which  I used petals from to decorate the sides. The frosting is Pastry Pride, a non dairy whipped topping which is a lighter less sweet frosting and gives a fresher taste to the cake.

Fall Wedding Cake

This is my daughters wedding cake. I didn't want to pay someone else to make her cake since we had a small budget and I could make the cakes, but didn't have the time to put into a detailed cake being the mother of the bride and all. We decided that using fresh flowers and ribbon to decorate the cake would satisfy my daughter, my time availability and our budget. When looking at the pictures of the cakes after the wedding we discovered the cakes looked like straw hats, which we thought was funny. This picture was taken before we turned on the little lights and tucked them under the brown fabric.

Black & White Wedding Cake

I finally learned how to make frosting roses and was able to use my new skill for the roses on this cake. I made the roses a few days in advance so the assembly of the cake would go as quickly as possible. The black on the top of the cake is edible glitter flakes.

Wedding Cake with Blue Flowers

I decorated this wedding cake with silk flower because I was not too knowledgeable with making edible flowers nor did I have much experience stacking cakes or using tiers. So the silk flowers made a pretty alternative and these individual cake stands solve my lack of experience of stacking cakes.

Baby Shower Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for two separate Baby Showers held on the same day. Fortunately the two showers shared the teal color. I filled the chocolate cupcakes with vanilla pudding & put chocolate pudding in the vanilla cupcakes. The decorations are made of fondant. I loved how the trains turned out.

Butterfly Cakes

I made these cakes for my Grandma Jeanette Sarno's memorial. She live a full active life until she was almost 103 years old. Grandma loved bright colors, flowers and nature so I used this as inspiration to create these cakes. I sprinkled the top of the cakes with clear edible glitter which added a nice shimmery touch. The butterfly's and flowers are non edible.

Monkey Jungle Cake

This is my first post on my first blog. I feel the time has come to organize my cake pictures in one place for people to enjoy. This is my latest creation. I made this cake for a Boy Scout camp fundraiser auction. The winning bid - $75. 

Making and decorating cakes has been a hobby of mine since I was a little girl. I believe my interest in creating fun cakes started with my mother. She made cut-out cakes for our birthdays which fascinated me. She would create a bunny or rocket ship from cutting a round or rectangle cake into shapes, rearranging the piecing creating the desired shape. The cakes would then be frosted and decorated. My dad joined in the fun for a father daughter cake decorating contest. We made a Snoopy cake together which was lots of fun. We were both very proud of our cake. I was sure the pink castle cake would win, but our Snoopy cake came in First place! Dad also made some creative cakes with my brothers for their father son cub scout cake decorating contests. 

I repeated this tradition with my own children's birthday cakes. I then branched out with other styles of cakes as I learned new techniques and skills. I am continuing to have fun learning new ways to decorate cakes.