Thursday, February 24, 2011

More Cakes

Purple Polka Dot Cake


This was my second fondant cake. The whole thing was supposed to be purple but I didn't have enough purple fondant so it became two-toned. And that's all I have to say about that.



Red Black and White Cake

I pretty much love this cake. You know, cause it's my favorite color scheme and all. And it was my first 3-tiered cake. And first zebra stripes.



Rachael's Birthday Cake


My very last Wilton Class (Course 3, Fondant and Gum Paste) happened to fall on a certain neighbor/friend's birthday, so my final became her birthday cake. The orange was actually more of a red that somehow, between class and Rachael's house, turned orange. See the blurry little finger poking into the left side of the picture? That's Addy's (Rachael's toddler), and two seconds after this picture was shot she started squishing all the little border balls with that tiny little finger, one by one.



Snowboarder Cake


I can't look at this cake without laughing. For his birthday, Bill requested (demanded?) a very elaborate snowboarding cake. See, the thing with Bill is that he gets these very grand visions in his mind of what he wants something to turn into, without ever considering the fact that most of us don't have the skills to accomplish said masterpiece. Also, we'd been watching a ton of Cake Boss and Ace of Cakes at the time, and so I think he was thinking I could whip out these amazing cakes as fast and easy as they do on the shows. Um, yeah, no. So I had to gently explain to him that his snowboarder/mountain scene would, in fact, be sans ski lift. Sorry honey. Maybe next year. However, I don't have much room to talk, since the vision I had in my head was, well, let's just say a LOT better than the actual finished product. My mountain could have looked a lot more...mountainy, and although I was pretty thrilled with my little Bill snowboarder, someone pointed out that he looks an awful lot like Mr. Bill, of SNL. "Oh no! There's a cliff! Help! Nooooooooooo!" (Can you hear the high whiny voice?) Anyway, I still loved the cake, but it was a little more homemade looking than I would have liked.




Pumpkin Cake


This cake, however, I think is pretty rockin'. My family enlisted me to bring a cake to Thanksgiving dinner and after searching online, I found one like this that I thought I could replicate pretty closely, with some revisions to "make it my own." My biggest fear in all this cake decorating business has been that I am in absolutely NO sense of the word, an artist. I can't draw anything that's not stick figures, I can't sculpt or mold things to save my life. (See Shayla? One talent I do NOT have!) There is a lot of sculpting in 3-Dimensional fondant cakes and I avoid it at all costs. But I thought I could try a pumpkin. Just a ball with a few places carved out, right? Well, I carved with a little too much gusto in parts, but all in all I was very proud of my pumpkin. Then I surrounded it with fondant leaves, flowers, and acorns (which I also hand-molded, I must say--the acorns, not the flowers and leaves) and put them all in a "basket" which was just a buttercream basket weave cake. I absolutely loved the result! It was exactly what I had envisioned for a fall harvest cake.

Up next: The cakes off my other computer. Yes, there's more.

4 comments:

Marilyn said...

Alicia, that pumpkin cake is pretty awesome. I think it looks amazing. It's definitely my favorite.

Shayla said...

Seriously Amazing! All of them. I LOVE the Mr. Bill cake. :) Totally fits my imagination of Bill snowboarding towards a mountain. ;) LOVE the polka dot cakes. Did you make those bows out of fondant, too? The bows are my favorite. So elegant looking. The pumpkin cake is just pure awesomeness. I would have had a hard time cutting into that one, it's so pretty. So, do you fill the cakes with yummy fillings? I think every cake needs elaborate amounts of yummy fillings. You've got to send me all the great recipes of frosting and fillings you use, k? Can't wait to see the rest.

Rachael said...

I love them all. And I can vouch that they are good to eat too. Isn't cutting in to your masterpiece the hardest part? I always finish mine, minutes before it's time to take it all apart and eat it. Makes me sad every time. The pumpkin one was awesome, I had no idea you had ever carved a cake, you have been holding out on me! I love your black, white, and red one too, super cute. And I think your snowboarder looks like a mini wax figure of Bill, very life-like...seriously, you did really good..

Alicia Leppert said...

Shayla--funnily enough, Bill was supposed to be coming down off the mountain. I know it looks backwards, but that's how he rides: goofy foot. I had to make it accurate! And the bows are made of a fondant/gum paste mix. I was so happy when I finally mastered them, cause I butchered my first attempt!