Lucky Lady Bug Cake

Today is August 1st, 2013. It's been a while since I've blogged... [I've post dated this when the cake was actually made... which was... ummm... pretty much 2 years ago!]

I made this tiered lady bug cake for a good friend's niece's very 1st birthday. I also made a lady bug smash cake for the birthday girl. If memory serves me right, she was a little freaked out about the texture of the crusted buttercream but was able to dig in with a little encouragement!

I started with a client sketch based off a lot of similar cake themes.

 I then went on to make and shape the daisies.

 

The lady bugs were made from red fondant and black edible ink markers.

 

I put the two together and let them dry in a flower former.

 

 I didn't take pictures of the rest of the process but I made two round tiers and used a Wilton sport ball pan to make the lady bug cake topper and smash cake. I guess I didn't take very good end product photos either... I'll just share what I have and you'll get the idea. I made the lady bug antennae by putting black fondant balls on the end of Chef Duff wire I bought at Michael's.

The smash cake was one half of the Wilton sports ball pan. I tinted some buttercream red and piped stars over most of the body. The face and spots were layered on with black fondant.

I "glued" the daisies on with a little bit of water but they were a bit heavy and slid off the cake a few times. I'd recommend making a fondant glue by mixing a tiny bit of fondant with some water to get a better hold.

Here's the lucky lady at the party.

Crazy that little Sofia is going to be 3 soon and I'm just getting around to sharing this!

Incredible Edible Hulk

Although the Hulk is incredibly large, this cake is incredibly tiny... yet incredibly edible.

 

His body is only 6" round and his head is a mere 4" round cake bump. He is covered in a mean shade of green fondant though. 

 

 

To complete this hulk's intimidating look, I added some shaggy black hair and a torn up loin-cloth-belt-type thing which is supposed to represent his shorts. A simple mean expression was what he needed next.

 

 

Yes, he is pretty small but he is certainly mean and incredibly green.

Hello Kitty Cupcake Toppers

I hardly even remember making these Hello Kitty cupcake toppers but I took photos of them, so here they are.

They're similar to these kittehs I had made previously with the only difference being that I swept on some shimmery luster dust for this group.

I don't remember who I made these for... I vaguely remember someone really tall picking them up from me at my office... whoever they went to, I hope they were enjoyed!
 

Glazed Skull Spice Cakes

I had used this Wilton mini skull cakelet pan before here but I couldn't help using it again, they just bake up so nicely. This time I used a spice cake mix to create the skull cakes. The features show up really well when you coat the pan with a non-stick spray like Wilton's Bake Easy.

I didn't want to ice them in buttercream and then cover them in fondant or make a batch of dreaded ganache so I came upon the idea of making a simple sugar glaze. Boring, right? I decided to spice up "boring" by adding some Tyler's Sweet Revenge cinnamon pear butter I had bought at a pumpkin festival in Connecticut to the powdered sugar and water mixture. The texture was interesting. A little lumpy. I little bubbly. Just the right amount of creepy.

I poured on the sweet glaze concoction until the skull cakelets were as evenly coated as possible but thin enough for the face to show through.

These creepy quickie skulls ended up sweet, delicious and easy to share. [also just a tad bit sticky]

I even saved a few to add to brunch with my parents.