Recent Cakes
Fishing Boat
When making a special cake for a birthday I am often asked to recreate the person’s vehicle, but this was the first time I’ve been asked to make the birthday person’s fishing boat! I was working from pictures of the boat – a C-Hawk 25 fishing boat. This was a half yellow/half chocolate cake – I decided to make the front half of the cake yellow, since my yellow cake holds shapes a little better, and the front half had the additional weight of the cabin. The canopy was a bit tricky – i used wire and cardboard to support it, though it was covered in fondant. The customer requested that I include the birthday...
Read MoreGrey Wolf
My first Wolf cake was a lot of fun to make, and brought its own set of challenges. Until I started to work on this cake, I didn’t realize how different the shape of a wolf is than a dog or other animal. The snout of the wolf is smaller and skinnier, and the fur of the wolf makes the head look a lot larger. I also had to work with a limited amount of cake, while still making the wolf look fierce. The customer requested a fearsome looking wolf. Originally I was thinking of having a wide open mouth with teeth ready to bite, but after some consideration, I thought that having the snarling look with teeth bared was much...
Read MoreUnicorn
Unicorns are wonderful creatures, and this was my first opportunity to create a Unicorn cake. Of course, the basic appearance of a unicorn is similar to that of a horse, so I started with the design of a horse’s head. The cake was a longer, skinnier head shape than most of the animals I have done in the past. Horses have always been something that I struggle with, so I approached this cake with a small amount of trepidation. Another challenge with this cake was the color – all white, and nearly all white, cakes leave less margin for error. I was pleased with how I was able to make the musculature of...
Read MoreMickey Mouse Clubhouse 2
First birthday cakes are always fun, and this cake was no exception. It gave me a chance to remake the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse design, and this time I took a slightly different approach. Instead of trying to simulate the grass with a sheet cake covered in green buttercream, I chose to cover the cake board in green foil. The advantages were a brighter green color (to contrast with the red and yellow colors in the cake) and it gave me more cake to use in the various structures. The ears of the cake and the bottom of the sphere were made of styrofoam, but everything else in the cake was edible. I used airbrush color for...
Read MoreDogfish Head Punkin Ale
This groom’s cake was possibly the most challenging alcohol themed cake I have ever made. First of all, it was a larger cake than previous cakes of a similar theme that I have done. Secondly, it combined three styles of alcohol cakes that I’ve done in the past: a multi-pack (two of them!), a free-standing bottle, and a stemmed glass full of liquid. Finally, the logo appeared on all four sides of the four-pack boxes, making for a lot of shark painting! The glass is shaped like a glass that the groom uses regularly. I used a platform to lift the cake portion on a “stem” and used four different layers of airbrush color to make the...
Read MoreSouthside Speedway Stock Car
The Southside Speedway has been a Richmond institution for over 50 years. The owners of the Speedway ordered this cake for their staff to thank them for their hard work this year. It was a small departure from my normal car cakes – normally I have the car sitting up on a platform so that it looks as though it is sitting on wheels. However, this time I based my design on the “Car of Tomorrow” stock car design, which has VERY low clearance. I think I prefer the look of my normal method, but I do think that the design works. I spent a lot of time working on the logo for the Speedway. The “Southside Speedway” text was...
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