40th Birthday Cake

This is a 9" square cake with jam and butter cream. I was asked to use a lilac and white colour scheme and to add a lilac ribbon around the cake itself. I used a photograph that was emailed to me to help with modelling the lady's family sitting on the front edge of the cake. I wanted to include the number 40 somewhere so I made the numbers from Mexican Paste covered with disco white hologram and left them to harden. When I was putting the children onto the cake I placed the numbers on their laps to look as if they were holding them up. I piped a shell trail around the base of the cake and added flowers using shades of lilac to finish the design.

First Birthday cake

This is a number one cake for a girl's first birthday. I used a Wilton tin which has a nice shape and makes quite a large cake. This cake was chocolate with chocolate butter cream in the middle. I was asked to do a pink and white colour scheme and to include pink hearts and a pink rabbit. As you can see I crimped around the edge of the board and make an icing rope in pink to go between the cake and board. The idea for the rabbit came from a Maisie Parish book where it showed how to make brown rabbits to go on an Easter cake but I made mine in just pink and white and added a small pick containing hearts on wires dusted with Raspberry shimmer, disco white hologram and snowflake lustre, at the side of it to complement the hearts around the cake and board.

Cow Cake

It was nice to be asked to make this cake because it was good fun. I looked at some ideas on google images and we decided to go for this design. This is a 9" sponge with just butter cream because the birthday girl didn't like jam. I used a new nailbrush to create the texture on the green icing before adding a few icing blossom flowers. I modelled the cow's head from white and pink icing, using a ball tool to create the nostrils and to make indents for the eyes. I modelled the udders by hand from a ball of pink icing then rolled the edges thinner using a cel stick. Finally I used a circle cutter to complete the udders and stuck in onto the front edge of the cake using sugar glue. All the legs were quite simple to make, leaving the belly plain for the message. I needed short lengths of raw spaghetti to help attach the ears and supported them with sponge until they had hardened. All the black markings were just roughly shaped by hand then I chose a spotty back and white ribbon which was the finishing touch.

Pony Cake

I made this cake for my daughter as she was having a pony party with some of her school friends. The pony is made from sugar paste and based on an idea in a Maisie Parish book . This is like an earlier cake I had made for someone else which you can also see on this blog.

80th Birthday Cake

A friend asked me to make this cake for her parents, who share the same birthday. In their younger days Pat was a seamstress and Bob was a coalman, so I modeled a Singer sewing machine and a sack of coal as requested. The style of the cake is based on another 80th cake I had done for my own father with playing cards on it, like a present bursting open. As my friend asked, I tried to make it very visual with contrasting colours in cerise, black and silver. I hope the cake helps to make it a celebration to remember.

Diamond Wedding Cake

This is an 8" sponge cake I made for my sister-in-law, who wanted it as a surprise present for her parents, to help celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary. I bought the sparkly '60' on a wire and the 'diamond' effect trim to match it. She wanted to include two walking sticks on the cake so I tried to position them to look like a realistic pose, but also forming the shape of a heart between the couple. They are made in mexican paste so they harden. They may be a little large but I needed them to be tough enough not to break when I was attaching them to the figures.The letters are dusted in snowflake lustre powder ,as are the hearts on wires arranged around the number in the posy pick. The lady's glasses are made from a white paper coated wire. The diamond trim, which is stuck onto the ribbon with Royal Icing, is very sparkly, as you can see by the reflections it is creating around the cake board when we used a flash on the camera. I hope they enjoy their special day and that this cake brings a smile ,along with the many other surprises in store. It is quite something to reach such a milestone!

60th Birthday Cake

This is a cake that is a variation of another cake I had done. The lady wanted it for her husband but requested a Manchester United F.C. shirt instead of a Liverpool F.C.one and on a laptop instead of with a football. She also specified which drink cans to model. I made the laptop with flower paste mixed with modelling paste to give it more strength and dried it over a folded piece of card to get the right angle. It was fun making the cans and other objects around him. I hope I didn't make too many cans of drink as he may think it gives the wrong impression of him to his friends! The smaller stars around the sign are coated in disco white hologram powder which will give it some sparkle under lighting at the evening celebration. As the top is all on a cake card it can be removed and saved as a keepsake. The icing rope covers the edge between the top card and the cake itself. If you want to see the original cake design look up 21st cakes in the side bar.