VW Bus Cake

This cake will be hard for most people to appreciate, I think, but as long as the birthday boy likes it, that's all that matters to me. A friend asked me to make this cake for her brother-in-law who is a Volkswagen fanatic and enjoys restoring these classic VW Buses. This one is not the norm, but rather a rare, VW pick-up style bus with a big metal rack basket thing on top. I had a picture of his most favorite van that he just restored and was trying to copy that, but it's very difficult to translate certain things like that metal rack to cake form. I tried building it out of royal frosting at first, then painting it with edible silver leaf, only to have it break apart (it's very, very fragile stuff). Ultimately, I gave up and cut up a thin wire wastebasket to put back there. Afterwards, I realized it would have been much better if I'd formed the basket, then dipped it in white chocolate, then painted it in edible silver, but some things you just don't think of until it's too late.
Anyway, hopefully the birthday boy likes it. Happy 31st, Jon!

Lightning McQueen--Then & Now

Kapow, Kachow!! Today I made a little 3D Cars cake for my friend's son who is turning 2. Happy Birthday, Jordan! Hope you loved your cake...

Harley Davidson Cake

My husband's boss came to town from out of state today and it was his birthday. Apparently he is really into Harley Davidson, so his wife requested this theme for a small cake they could enjoy at their hotel (he brought the family here for Balloon Fiesta). I saw some really cool Harley cakes online and borrowed this idea for the fondant flames on the sides and the logo on top. The cake itself is butter recipe yellow with a vanilla pudding filling and homemade chocolate buttercream. He was super excited and surprised and even asked to have his picture taken with my husband and the cake. I liked how it came out, and my 8 year old liked it so much that he now wants to have this theme and the same exact cake for his next birthday party. This is the same child I've mentioned before who normally hates frosting. He's decided he loves chocolate buttercream with yellow cake and he's nuts for the filling in between layers. I think it reminds him of the creme fillings they put in donuts (he's my donut kid). Hopefully he'll change his mind before his birthday since I don't really like making the same exact cake more than once. Time will tell...

Firetruck Cake

This weekend I made a fire truck cake for a friend's little boy who was turning 5 and is just crazy about all things from the rescue theme. I love making cakes for kids who are this dedicated to the subject matter! I saw this little guy playing at the park last week and he was all decked out in his rubber boots, rescue vest, and plastic fire helmet insisting that the other kids at the park were in need of a rescue. My husband made 2 of the little dalmations for this cake out of fondant (thanks Travis!) and my friend Amy suggested making the border look like flames by using red and yellow buttercream piped on with the leaf tip. The bottom sheet cake is a butter recipe yellow cake made with my favorite recipe for homemade chocolate buttercream (added super black coloring to it), and the top truck is devil's food chocolate cake (cut up a 13 x 9) with vanilla buttercream. Most of the truck details we made out of fondant, and some of them we painted with edible silver dust (horn on top, side gauge paneles, side mirrors, etc.) I hope you loved your cake, Philip! Happy Birthday...

Sally

Last year, I was asked to make a feminine looking car cake (in the style of Cars the movie) for a little girl who was turning 5. I decided to do a car using the Wilton 3D cruiser pan and to copy some of the features/colors of the Sally character from Cars, but instead of blue, a more purplish blue since purple was her favorite color. I absolutely loved the way it came out! I have done car cakes before, but never one like this. I brushed edible silver leaf powder onto the fondant hubcaps and used fondant and food coloring markers to create the cartoon face. My favorite part of this cake, was a last minute detail...decided to do a license plate with her name and age on it.

Race Car Cake

I used the Wilton race car pan to make this simple cake for my friend's son who was super into cars. This was devil's food chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream.