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Spiderman Takes The Cake

THWACK! Spiderman spins a web in a (vain) attempt to save Manhattan from a cake knife!!

This Spiderman cake was made for an avid Spiderman fan named Rohwan, who was turning 4.   I had a blast making this cake.  The cake is vanilla with chocolate frosting, and the whole thing is covered with fondant (sugar dough) for that lovely smooth finish.  The cake is constructed with the top at an angle to create the impression that Spiderman is climbing or perhaps clinging to the side of a building.  Flat just didn't seem right for Spiderman.

I made Spidey himself from another type of sugar dough called gum paste - the advantage is that it gets much firmer than fondant as it dries.  The buildings are also made from gum paste.  And by the way, both Spidey and the buildings are 100% edible! 

I got to use my brand new airbrush machine on this cake (being the cake geek I've become, that was really exciting and fun for me!)  I hope you can see the hint of pink between and behind the buildings (the gaps between groups of buildings represent the avenues which run east to west in Manhattan).  

Rohwan's mother wrote me that the cake was a huge hit with not only Rohwan and his friends, but also with the parents who attended the party!  She wrote to me:  "Loved the spiderman cake! Lots of oohing and aaahing from kids and adults!"  

I hope it was a great birthday Rohwan!  

Cobra Cake - I Ate Snakes

Have I ever told you that I don't particularly love snakes?  They slither and have no limbs.  They don't greet you at the door when you come home, offering you a ball to throw for them to fetch, their bodies shaking with excitement.  No, snakes are cold, indifferent to hostile in temperament, and look like they should be slimy to the touch.  And some of them can kill you.

Last week, your Fearless Cake Artist (me) had an order for a snake  birthday cake for Wyatt, a six year old boy who thinks snakes are just the icing on the cake, I mean, the greatest thing ever.   And he's not just into any snake -- he particularly likes cobras, especially spitting cobras.   Yup, a snake that spits venom at its intended victim. A poison loogie.  Could it get any more disgusting?

Seriously.  Take a look at a real red spitting cobra at right.  He looks mean. Is that an open venomous spit-launching tube in his mouth?  I don't want to get within 100 yards of that guy to find out.  Do you?

The good news is that a cobra cake is an entirely different beast from a real cobra.  You can eat a cobra cake.  You can't eat a real cobra (unless you're Bear Grills, that guy from TV who gets dropped off in the back woods somewhere and has to make it out alive with no food or water or anything.  He eats all sorts of disgusting stuff.)

This cobra cake was made from chocolate cake and vanilla bean buttercream frosting, and covered with fondant textured to look like scales.  The sand he's sitting in?  Brown sugar.  His teeth are made from marshmallows so they don't hurt.  The rest of what you see is fondant, hand colored and sculpted to be as scary as possible, just so I could give a bunch of six year olds a thrill.

According to Wyatt's mom, the cake was a big hit with the Wyatt and his pals!  She wrote to me after the party:
"Thanks for the awesome cake! The kids loved it, although there was a major squabble over who got to eat the tongue. The birthday boy ultimately got to the tongue and teeth. The cobra's head now looks like a toothless old man ;-)".


You never know what will make a six year old happy.  I'm glad I was able to help Wyatt achieve total domination over the deadly red spitting cobra.  Happy Birthday, Wyatt, and many more to come! 

The Slumber Party, or Where's the Cake?

Remember when you were turning 10 years old (two digits!) and you were beyond excited to have your closest friends sleep over to celebrate your birthday??  How you didn't want to go sleep because you were having an amazing time with your best pals and tried to keep your eyes open until they were so heavy you needed to pry them open?  And how your pesky little siblings always tried to join in the fun, and your mom made you let them in, but you still kept them out of the way?  Well that's exactly what this cake is trying to capture, in order to help Skyler, a vibrant and gregarious girl, celebrate her 10th birthday!  What?  You can't see a cake here?  Well look harder!!

I had a blast making this cake.  The cake itself is a perfect-for-spring combination of lemon cake with raspberry buttercream filling, covered with creamy lemon swiss meringue buttercream.  This certainly isn't your typical birthday cake, however -- the cake layers are disguised as the mattress and thus hidden from direct view!  Instead, what you see are figurines of Skyler, the birthday girl, looking very content in the center of her bed, surrounded by two of her BFF's (that would be Best Friends Forever), one of whom has dozed off after reading the magazine which was casually tossed to the end of the bed.  Meanwhile, Skyler's littlest sister, who is two, is lying on a sleeping bag on the floor by the foot of the bed, and she's just discovered the box of popcorn that spilled all over the floor.   The middle sister, who's about 6, sneaked under the covers at the foot of the bed, and she's come out to see what little sis has done now.

Almost everything you see is edible.  The bed and its coverings, the girls, the lavender slippers by the bed, the yellow overnight bag stuffed with clothes, and the little one's pillow and the popcorn and box are all made of fondant.  The wooden floor is painted with food coloring so technically it is food safe too.  Only the little one's zebra sleeping bag, the bed's headboard and the flags above the bed can't be eaten!  That's it.

Skyler was thrilled when she saw the cake.  She quickly identified herself, her sisters and her best buddies, and said I captured their personalities in their figurines.  She couldn't believe it was a cake, and neither could her friends, who came rushing to see the cake as soon as they arrived.  Skyler told me it was like Cake Boss's cakes, but this one was just for her!  Happy 10th Birthday Skyler!  I'm glad I was able to help make it a special day for you!

Shyla's Little Pony

Shyla's 5th birthday was quickly approaching, and her mother wanted to surprise her lovely and sweet daughter for her birthday.   Luckily, Shyla's love of all things My Little Pony related proved to be an inspiration for her mom.  A My Little Pony cake was the answer:  she requested a yellow (vanilla) cake, filled with chocolate frosting and decorated with a My Little Pony theme, with lots of pink and green on the outside.  But most important of all, the topper on the cake was to be a custom-designed version of My Little Pony's Princess Celestia.  

I had heard of My Little Pony, but I really didn't know much about it.  A quick look online and I found lots of little ponies with somewhat short and stubby legs and big, brightly colored hair.  It made me think of the 1980's (not in a good way, if you know what I mean), but I digress.  But I learned there are lots of ponies with different personalities, and each one has a unique identifier or brand on its hind quarters.

Today, as is the case for many toys, there are cartoon and website tie-ins and new characters (My Little Pony has been around for many years, and they've modernized the image).  A fairly recent introduction is the character Princess Celestia, who is a grand pony with wings and a crown.  She's taller than the other ponies too, with much longer legs  -- though that brightly colored big hair is still there.

Shyla's mom came up with the idea for a special, custom version of Princess Celestia for Shyla's cake, based on things Shyla liked.  Specifically, she wanted a Princess pony in turquoise with pink and white hair, with a brand on its hind quarters that looked like cotton candy on a white paper cone.  

After baking and filling the cake, I covered it with bright green swiss meringue buttercream and made icing "grass".  I then decorated the cake with pink, purple and white flowers made of fondant.  The Princess pony figurine went on top.  The last thing Shyla's mom requested were fondant cut-outs of some of Shyla's favorite ponies around the side of the cake.  At right are two of the four cut-outs I put around the side of the cake.  Shyla recognized them all instantly!

The final touch on the cake was the bunting or flags hanging above the cake.  Without the words "Happy Birthday", a child's birthday cake is not complete.  Since My Little Pony includes a lot of rainbows and bright colors, a rainbow "Happy Birthday" bunting seemed to be a nice way to finish the presentation.  And I was even more impressed when Shyla took a look at it and read it perfectly!  What a smart girl (after all, she was only turning 5)!

I got a nice big hug from Shyla.  I hope it was a very Happy Birthday, Princess Shyla, and that you have many more to come.

Matisse

This cake was made for the Sweet Sixteen party for a lovely young woman named Matisse.  She was indeed named after the famous French artist, Henri Matisse; I am a fan of his work, and think her name very cool and creative.  So of course the question was how to combine the interests of a contemporary 16 year old with some inspiration from her namesake?  This cake was the result.

Matisse, like many girls of her age, loves fashion and shopping.  Her mother told me that Matisse was born in a hospital room with a view of Bloomingdales, sealing her fate.  Her mother and I decided to use this funny story as the theme for the cake.  Her mother also asked if I could incorporate the artist Matisse's iconic signature into the design.  The artist was also known for his cut-out designs (the work at right hangs in the Museum of Modern Art in NYC), some of which had a motif of what looks like a 4-sided flower.  Thus, I was inspired by flowers by Matisse the artist, but made my own version in colors loved by Matisse the 16 year old.  It is hard to see in the top photo, but the flowers go up the sides of the bag in addition to being scattered on the board holding the cake.

Finally, a certain 14 year old daughter of mine had the brilliant idea of adding some teen-appropriate details, including a lip gloss, eye shadow and necklace from fondant.   She even made the eye shadow and lip gloss herself, and I think she did an amazing job!

The cake itself was the shopping bag, and there were two flavors in two tiers.  The bottom tier was chocolate cake with oreo filling and chocolate buttercream on the outside, and the top tier was vanilla cake with raspberry buttercream and fresh raspberries, with chocolate buttercream outside as well.  Everything was covered by the green fondant "bag".

Here's to Matisse and I hope she had a fabulous party and birthday!

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games is the first book in a young adult trilogy by Suzanne Collins.  The books have been extremely popular among the middle and high school set, and so it is no surprise that the movie, which opened a week ago, has become the must see film of the spring.

I received an order from Michael's mom to make a birthday cake for his Hunger Games themed birthday party.  The kids were going to see the movie, then retreat back to Michael's house for pizza and a surprise birthday cake.  The plan was set - I was to make a cake with the logo (a "Mockingjay pin") on the cake.  The pin appears on the cover of the book, and plays an important role in the plot.   (My husband joked that a Hunger Games cake was an oxymoron.  I think he's got a point, don't you?)

The first step was to make the logo pin, as it needed to dry a bit in order to hold its shape.  Everything was sculpted by hand - every feather on the wings and tail, the body and head.  Then the whole thing got two coats of food-safe gold paint, which also needed time to dry.  (This may be a sculpture, but everything is 100% edible!)  Just before the cake was ready to be delivered, the Mockingjay pin logo finally was placed upon the actual cake.  

The cake was a delicious yellow (vanilla) butter cake made from scratch, filled with oreo frosting and chocolate buttercream.  The outside was covered with more chocolate buttercream, which has a delicious chocolate flavor and is ideal for those who really like chocolate but aren't card carrying chocholics like me.  The whole cake was then covered with black fondant (sugar dough) and a black ribbon was placed around the bottom edge of the cake.  I took this photo before I put the cake on the board I used to transport and serve it.  I'm sorry I don't have a copy of the whole thing on the cake board because it looked cute.  I put writing on the board in the same font that is on the book's cover saying "Happy 12th Birthday Michael! May the odds be ever in your favor".   (That's a quote from the book, and I thought it was appropriate for a birthday celebration).   

I hope Michael and his friends enjoyed the movie and the party and that Michael liked his cake.  I wish Michael the happiest of birthdays.  May all his wishes come true.