Dodge Challenger SRT, The HEMI

Sculpted cakes are difficult to make, but this project was a lot of fun.  I enjoyed sculpting cakes.  It's always a challenge to sculpt a very moist and dense cake.  Each time my knife cuts through the cake, cake sticks to the knife....ugh... such a mess!  I had to rinse my knife to rid off the cake.  My cake knife (14" long) helped a lot with carving a stack of cakes as big as 16" x 24" and as high as 5" tall. 

This cake was made for Marc's birthday.  The Hemi driver, Angelina the Ballerina, is Marc's son's (Paul) favorite musical character.  Paul enjoyed the show.  I would love to see little Paul's reaction when he saw the cake.

The Dodge emblem and logo were hand carved on fondant.

This cake was a Devil's food cake with chocolate buttercream and adorned with vanilla fondant.  Angelina the ballerina and the wheels were made of rice crispie treats. 

Noah's Ark

Baby Parker turned one year old.  She is an adorable little girl.  Her birthday cake was inspired from the Noah's ark story. A rainbow represents "God's Promise".  The animals (giraffe, elephant, and monkey) that surrounds the cake was designed from Parker's bedroom. 

There were also a dozen of vanilla cupcake and a dozen of chocolate cupcakes with vanilla icing.  each cupcake was filled with chocolate buttercream.

 



The cake was  vanilla cake filled with chocolate buttercream and adorned with Satin Ice vanilla flavored fondant.



Yo Gabba Gabba for Benjie

My son celebrated his 1st Birthday.  He is fond of the Yo Gabba Gabba show.  To find time to create a masterpiece cake and cupcake creations for my little boy seem impossible.  I was renovating my family room, which requirea a significant amount of work.  It was my temporary DIY project.

I have had started a cake stand to build him a Mickey Mouse 3D cake, since he is also fond of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show, but could not find time to complete the artwork for him.  In less than 4 hours, I was able to bake a cake and cupcakes (25 pieces) and decorated them at the same time.  I was able to finish the cake as soon as the first guest arrived.

The cake and cupcakes were Oreo flavor filled with Oreo buttercream.  The cupcakes were adorned with Fondx vanilla flavored fondant.

A New Little Princess Baby Shower Cake

At work, words has spread that I make custom cakes.  A colleague at work requested me to make a baby shower cake for her.  The baby shower theme was "A New Little Princess."  I love the subtle colors.

Here's my work:

Cake and cupcakes were chocolate cakes, filled with rich chocolate Italian meringue buttercream.  The crowns toppers were edible and made with fondant-gum paste mixture.  The cupcakes (30 pieces) were swirled with vanilla buttercream and adorned with edible crowns and pink-shimmered pearl sprinkles.

Natalie's Baby Bath Tub

My aunt couldn't decide what cake design she wants for best friend's, Lynn, baby shower.  I surprised my aunt with this adorable bath tub cake for Lynn's surprise baby shower.

The cake was a moist chocolate cake with Dutch chocolate filling.  The cake was covered with Satin Ice vanilla fondant.  All decor, including the shower head, were edible.

Lightning McQueen Once Again....

This cake was inspired by the movie, Disney Pixar Cars 2.  Lightning McQueen was requested by our family friend to have me made for her grandson, Aidan, who turned 3 years old.

The cake was a vanilla cake with Dutch chocolate filling.  The cake was adorned with Fondx "red" vanilla flavored fondant.

What was cute about this cake was Aidan thought this cake was a toy from his grandma.  He attempted to grab the front of the cake and tried to push it like a toy car.

M&M Birthday Cake

These M&M Cakes are so gorgeous!  I like the thought that one is for Miranda and one for Mikaela.  Each twin got their own birthday cake.

One cake is chocolate cake with hazelnut buttercream and the other cake is chocolate cake with strawberry filling.  The hundred cupcakes (102 pieces total) were filled with chocolate-hazelnut fudge and strawberry-preserve buttercream.  After the cupcakes with filled, each cupcake is decorated with colored vanilla buttercream.

Sesame Street Wagon Cake

Ethan was not even born yet when I made his first cake.  It was the baby onesies shirt cake, then followed by a Christening dress cake when he was 6 months old.  Now, my little customer is 1 year old... this was his cake.

This was one tough cookie to build and decorate.  Overall, I love this design.  I build the wagon stand from scratch, cutting PVC pipes to pieces and assembled them together.  After assembled, I covered them with black modeling chocolate.  The wheels were made of rice krispie treats.

The cake was a vanilla sponge cake with mocha filling.  The cake was adorned with Satin Ice fondant tinted with AmeriColor Red-Red food coloring.  Elmo, Big Bird, and Cookie Monster were made of rice krispie treats and covered with modeling chocolate.

According to Tita Eden, the cake was a big hit!  The attraction of the party!  One happy customer, the third time was a charm!

Roger, Capt. Alex!

Captain Alex turned two years old this past weekend. He simply adores flying objects, planes, kites, birds, more.  So, the theme of his birthday party was "All Aboard, Captain!"  The tail of the plane has his age "2" and the other side of the tail has his initials "A"

I didn't had the chance to see his reaction as the cake and cupcakes were set-up.  The little captain was sleeping on the arms of his uncle.  On both wings, the red circle has his name, "Alex," inscribed.

The cake was a vanilla cake with chocolate fudge filling.  The cupcakes were a mix between vanilla and chocolate cupcakes with chocolate fudge filling.  The airplane cake topper was made of rice krispies treats covered with modeling chocolate and a layer of fondant.  The mini airplane cupcake topper was made of fondant. 

Feedback from my husband's cousin, Jennifer, who attended the children's party: The cake and cupcakes were a hit!!!

Octopus Cake

On May 5 - 6, 2012, the Institute of Culinary Education offered a Fun Shape Cake Class II.  My cousin (Anne from Syracuse) and I baked and decorated a cake design of our choice from the following selections: robot, castle, octopus, and train.  We had options to use one of the two recipes provided in our booklet.  My cake is buttermilk spice cake filled with Swiss meringue coffee-rum buttercream and iced with chocolate ganache.  My cousin chose the eggless / vegan banana cake with wiss meringue coffee-rum buttercream and iced with chocolate ganache.  The tentacles and Marlin (Nemo's dad) were made of rice cripie cereal that we also made in class. 

After the class, we brought home our finished product.  For my cake, I gave it to my family's friend who can share the cake to her church and to little children.  Well, since this is an atypical cake flavor that children are not accustomed to, I am sure they won't eat it simply because it is not a chocolate cake! 

Mickey Mouse Theme Cake and Cupcakes

Personally, I like this cake and cupcake design.  It's simple and fun!  The cake has Mickey's silhouette.  The cupcake has Mickey's ears.

Well, this cake was made for my co-worker's sister-in-law's son's first birthday.  She wanted a simple birthday cake for her son.  But, it didn't turned to be just a simple cake...it's just so adorable.

When I came to deliver this cake, I saw her creative and fun dessert table.  I love it!  There were so much sweets, candies, pretzels, kisses, and many more.  As soon as the cake and cupcakes were added into her dessert table, viola the table was full of delectable goodies that is hard for anyone to resist.

This cake was a vanilla cake with strawberry filling.  The cupcakes were chocolate cupcakes with chocolate fudge filling and topped with food-colored vanilla icing.

Princess Castle Cake

Last year, I made an Abby Cadabby cake for my co-worker and this time she came back an requested to have me decorate a cake for her daughter's first birthday.  The theme of her daughter's party was a princess theme.

The bottom tier was a vanilla sponge cake with strawberry filling while the top tier was a chocolate cake with chocolate filling.  The towers were made from fondant-gum paste mixture and airbrushed with pink food coloring.  The princess crown was also from fondant-gum paste mixture, with the exception of the gems.  The flag was also edible.

Dancers' Birthday Cake

Lucia and Giana, both lovely nieces of my colleague at work, Barbara, celebrated their birthdays with this surprise birthday cake.  Both girls love dance and jazz.  So, the theme of the cake was focused on the dance - black shoe.

The shoe was made with fondant and gum paste mixture.  Then, the shoes were airbrushed with black food coloring to give it a nice jet black color. The cake was a delicate and moist chocolate cake filled with super rich chocolate butter cream.  The cake was adorned with Satin Ice vanilla fondant.

Krista's Neighbor, Totoro

I was so delighted to be asked to make a birthday cake for a gorgeous young lady, Krista.  Her mom, Sara is our very good friend, asked me to bake a Totoro themed cake for her daughter.   As soon as I heard Totoro, oh boy, I was so excited.  It had been a couple of years since I saw the movie.  So, I pulled out my DVD and enjoyed watching the movie again, but this time with my baby boy, Benjamin.  I just adore Hayao Miyazaki's movies.

This is one challenging sculpted cake to make.  The cake was a vanilla sponge cake, which is not intended to be used for carving cake because of its delicate texture.  However, I managed to pull it through as shown in this picture. The filling was a delicate and rich chocolate Ghirardelli buttercream.

The cake was covered in fondant.  Piped grass was made of vanilla buttercream and adorned with cut out colored flowers.

Dog Cake 2

This is an incomplete picture of a Yorkie dog cake.  His name is Buster. I didn't had the opportunity to take pictures of the completed product.

He was one adorable piece of work. 

This cute dogie was made of vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream.  His back feet were made of rice crispie treats.  The two (2) front feet were wooden dowel supporting the cake and covered with modeling chocolate.

Ruffles Dress Cake

My inspiration for making this cake was my sister's, Sheena, dress.  She showed different pictures of her trying on red dresses that she planned to wear for the holiday.  One dress that I find her beautiful was a red ruffle dress.  I changed the color from red to a Lakers' trademark color - yellow and purple. 

This cake was placed 2nd Place in the Tiered Non-wedding category for the Advanced Division at the National Capitol Area Cake Show in Annandale, VA.

Masquerade Mask Wedding Cake

My inspiration for making this cake design was one of Martha Stewart's Wedding Cake.  I always wanted to make a masquerade them cake or Mardi Gras theme cake.  Rather, I stuck with my plan to make it all white cake with lace trim designs with four (4) half-face masquerade masks and a full mask.  The masquerade masks (full and half masks) were made of gumpaste.  The feathers are the only non-edible accent on the wedding cake.

Dog Cake

He's name is Kyle.  I was planning to make a Yorkie, but ran out of time.  I accidentally over did the airbrushing, which made the pup look way much darker.  The brown was supposed to be an accent, but inadvertently made it darker than I anticipated.

This dog cake took home 1st Place for the Sculpted Cake Category in the Advanced Division at the National Capitol Area Cake Show in Annandale, VA.

Papillon Dog Cake

His name is Goat.  This cake pup was supposed to be a "papillon", but ending up looking a mixed-bred Russell Terrier-Papillon dog.  I didn't quite get the sculpting of his head right.  The fur of a papillon dog is difficult to achieve.  Anyway, this was my first time to sculpt a dog cake.  This cake was a challenge.    

The color may seem be odd, but there were brown patches at back.  In this picture, he was waiting to be placed at the Atlantic Bakery Expo 2012.  Poor pup.... he didn't get any award this time.

This cake pup was a yellow cake covered with modeling chocolate.  He was airbrushed with brown food coloring, which I shouldn't have.  He was holding an engagement ring in a Tiffany Box..... "Marry me...", he said.

Ka-Chow!!! Lightning McQueen

This cake was inspired by the movie, Disney Pixar Cars 2.  This was my first sculpted cake, Lightning McQueen from Disney Movie Cars2!  This cake was for a friend of mine who's son was turning 4 years old and loves the movie, Disney "Cars."

I received a lot of questions, "how long did it took me to finish this cake?" My answer was "too long, but was worth it."  It took a little bit longer because of the type of cake I used, plus again my machine with edible ink was not printing at all.  I had to rush to one of my local super market's bakery to have the images printed on icing sheet.

This cake was a moist, dense chocolate cake with Swiss meringue Ghirardeli chocolate filling.  Then, I decided to iced the cake with chocolate ganache using dark Ghirardeli chocolate.  Finally covered with chocolate, dyed in red. The Earth emblem was edible made in gum paste.  The only inedible was the Earth frame holder.  The support that I made from gum paste snapped. I didn't had the time to recreate a new one.  So, my only alternative at that time was to use a frame holder.  The tires were edible, made out of rice crispie treats.

This is my son.  He's 5 months old in this picture with my loving husband at the background (chopped off).  He's my model. 

From my friend, Tony, this is his feedback.... His feed back in available in my Facebook page.

Anthony Polomene at Monday at 9:22am:  The expression on Anthony's face when he saw this cake was priceless. All day he kept asking me "Can I look at the cake again?" and he would stand there wide-eyed just staring at it. It was a big hit at the party and delicious to boot! Thanks Evelyn! Amazing work!

Basket Cake with Tiger Lilies

Wilton Method Classes are fun to take especially with great group of energetic people.  Sad that my Method class with group of great individuals has to end after four sessions.  At least, I had the chance to get to know funny people who have the same hobby and interest in cake decorating as me. 

Our instructor, Maresa, was a great instructor.  She goes by the book and at the same time provides great tips and suggestions how to make our flowers much easier.  She created an atmosphere where teacher and students learn from each other.

This is my cake for the Witon Methods Course 4 - Advanced Gum Paste Flowers.  This basket cake was covered with fondant, airbrushed with warm brown food coloring.  The basket handles and flip-top cover, as shown above, were made from gum paste.  Although the orange tiger lily was not part of the class, I made them myself ahead of time to add color to my basket.

"Honoring Our Heritage" History Book Cake

It was an honor to be asked to bake and design an open book cake as a center piece for my company's History Event called "Honoring Our Heritage."  The event was celebrated on Feb. 23, 2012.

This cake has it's own story and troubles.  It started when my machine with edible ink cartridges ran out of edible ink in the middle to printing the edible images.  "Boy, I panicked!!!" Then, the edible ink refills and replacement edible ink cartirdges were still on transit.  My other option was to inquire at the bakeries in the grocery stores (i.e., Stop and Shop. Shoprite, and Pathmark), the baker from Stop and Shop told me that Rockland Bakery (about 3 miles from the company I worked) sells custom edible images. How happy I was to hear that news.  He saved me from humiliation and disappointments especially this cake was presented to at least 300 employees.  I do believe in Murphy's Law.  During transit, the cake separated in the middle. With time alotted to me, I was able to remediate the damages, but there was nothing I can do with the cracked images.



Above was the image of one of the buildings being constructed many years ago. The image was printed on an icing sheet using mahine with edible ink.  Below is the image of a newspaper when Lederle, now Pfizer, released the new polio vaccine.

This cake was a vanilla cake with Swiss-meringue chocolate filling.  The cake was iced with chocolate ganache and covered in marshmallow-almond fondant.  The cake board was covered in fondant and airbrushed with edible warm brown food coloring to give it a wood-like texture that resembles a podium.

Feedback from Mr. T. Hart on 02/24/2012 7:06AM,

"Evelyn,

I was very impressed with your Site History cake.  Nice work!!!

Tom"

Aspiring Artist's Cake

A young talented and aspiring artist, Anaya, is celebrating her 9th birthday.  Her mom, Shruti, surprised her with this painting theme birthday cake.

This cake was a rich, moist chocolate cake filled with Ghirardelli dark and semi-sweet chocolate buttercream. The cake was iced and adorned with almond-buttercream fondant.  The painter's coloring board, paint tube, and paint brushes were made with gum paste and fondant mixture.  The paint (yellow, red, blue, and green) was royal icing.

The bonus item for this cake was a humming bird she painted that I made in edible icing sheet.  During pictorial of the cake, the edible painting slipped off and broke into pieces.  I was not able to recreate the edible image as my printer's nozzle clogged up.  

Happy Birthday, Anaya!!!!

Valentine's Rose Cake Pops

Valentine's day is approaching.  I created chocolate cake pops with raspberry filling for my creative collections.  In just an hour after posting these pictures in my Facebook profile, I received 6 orders already!!!  I am so excited to make more of these gorgeous cake pop roses for a special ocassion, such as the Valentine's day.

Love cake pop roses.

Made and adorned with love....