Titanic

It was 1997. I was in 6th grade.  I doodled "Allison DiCaprio" on my notebooks and spent my hard-earned babysitting income to see Titanic in the movie theaters NINE times.  Even if movies weren't as outrageously expensive back then, I still cannot believe I did that.  The scary thing is that I hadn't even seen it as many times as some of my friends.  It was like some sort of weird competition.  And this was a 3+ hour movie we are talking about.  Anyway, my 11-year-old self would have flipped at the thought of a cake like this...

There is a really neat story behind this.  Several years ago, there was a boy who requested a Titanic cake (See...I wasn't the only one obsessed) for his 8th birthday.  His mother, being the super mom she was, ordered one from a bakery.  On the day she picked it up however, both she and her son were sadly disappointed by a small round cake with a sinking v-shaped ship draw in icing on the top.  17 years later, this poor mom has still not heard the end of this cake!  She thought of the awesome idea of ordering this cake and getting it delivered to his work as a surprise on his birthday.  It was a success!  She definitely redeemed herself. :)

Vanilla cake iced in buttercream, covered in marshmallow fondant.  The iceberg is also cake.  The smokestacks are the bottoms of ice cream cones.

Oak Ridge High School Graduation

Here is my most recent...and favorite...graduation cap cake.  The high school colors were burgundy and gray.  She is heading to UT in the fall!

Strawberry cake with a vanilla cream and fresh strawberry filling iced in buttercream and covered in marshmallow fondant. All of the accents are fondant as well.

Minnie Mouse

What one year old doesn't love Minnie?  This sweet cake was for a first birthday.  The top tier of the cake is all for the birthday girl, while the bottom tier and matching cupcakes were for party guests.

White cake with pink (of course) buttercream.  The cakes are covered in marshmallow fondant.  The bows are all fondant as well.  The ears are chocolate.

Favorite Things Round 2

Some of you may remember this cake from last year.  It was a combination of everything the birthday girl loved.  I was asked to make another favorite things cake a couple of weeks ago for a very special birthday...40!  The favorite things for this cake included:

NYC

the beach

sunglasses

real estate

 Paris

her husband and her son

All wrapped up with a bow on top!  Both tiers were chocolate, iced in buttercream and covered in marshmallow fondant.  Most of the decorations are fondant as well.  The eiffel tower was piped.  The sand is a graham cracker/brown sugar mixture.

Lightning McQueen

I absolutely love making birthday cakes for kids.  They are always bright, colorful, and just plain fun.  This was for a Cars themed birthday party. I was really excited to use my new airbrushing system that my in-laws got me for Christmas (it's awesome!) to make the sky and the canyon.  I absolutely love how it looks.

Chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream and marshmallow fondant.  All the accents on the cake are made with either fondant or modeling chocolate.  The Lightning McQueen topper is Rice Krispie treat cut and covered with fondant.

UT Graduate

Celebrating graduating from the University of Tennessee is that much sweeter with a custom cake.

Chocolate cake filled and iced with buttercream and covered in marshmallow fondant.  The tassel and diploma are marshmallow fondant as well.

My First Wedding Cake

Something really exciting happened back in August...two of my friends asked me to make their wedding cake!  John and Christie had the awesome idea of doing a dessert table at their wedding.  A whole TABLE of goodness...cake, cookies, brownies, cheesecakes, etc.  Why is this idea not more popular?  Anyway, they wanted a small tiered cake to be the centerpiece for said table and to cut for pictures, and they asked me if I would make it.  I was so excited and so honored.  See more pictures at Dani Rose Photo.

The cake was strawberry with a vanilla buttercream filling covered in marshmallow fondant.  The bride made the fabric flowers herself.

A Few of Her Favorite Things

A teacher friend of mine wanted a big cake for her birthday.  She wasn't really sure on the exact look, but she wanted a cake that incorporated all of her favorite things.  They all came together to make this bright and colorful creation!

Her favorite things:

Flip Flops

Sock Monkey

Her orange Volkswagen bus (yes, she has one of these!)

Sugar skull

and all things tropical!

I'm really happy with how it turned out!

Both tiers of the cake were white cake with vanilla buttercream filling.  The "sand" on the top tier is a mixture of brown sugar and graham cracker crumbs.  The top tier is also surrounded by Pirouette cookies.  The palm trees, sock monkey, and flip flops are all modeling chocolate.  The flowers are royal icing.   The VW bus is cut from Rice Krispie treats and covered in fondant.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Knoxville's 3rd Annual Great Cake Bake was this weekend.  The cake bake is held to benefit Knox County Imagination Library. For those of you unfamiliar with the Imagination Library program, it was founded by Dolly Parton and allows for every child in the state of Tennessee to receive one age-appropriate book in the mail every month from birth until five.  It is a wonderful program!  Anyone can enter the cake bake.  The cakes are judged in different categories and are also available for sale.  Although it is not a requirement, I wanted to make a cake based on a children's book.  I chose one of my childhood favorites that was sure to be bright and colorful.  This is the result!

I did not win any categories, but my cake was already sold when I arrived!  I was so happy to support such a great cause.  Both tiers are chocolate cake covered in fondant.  The letters are also fondant, and the tree is modeling chocolate.

Jack is One!

This cake was for a little cutie's first birthday party.  The top tier was used as his smash cake.  The pictures below were taken by the lovely Dani Rose at Dani Rose Photography.

Chocolate cake filled and iced with vanilla buttercream.  The circle accents are fondant.

Bridal Shower

My brother-in-law and his fiance were in town from Texas just a few weekends ago.  This cake was for a surprise shower thrown in their honor.  The colors for the shower were black, white, and, teal.

The top tier was chocolate cake and the bottom was french vanilla.  Both were filled and iced with buttercream and covered in fondant.

Stars and Stripes and Fireworks

I had some family in from out of town over the Fourth of July...perfect excuse to bake a big cake!

Vanilla layers colored to be red, white, and blue, all filled and iced in buttercream and covered in fondant.  The accents on the cake are all fondant as well.

Phoenix Suns

My husband is a huge Phoenix Suns fan, so I knew his birthday cake needed to be something basketball.

Vanilla an strawberry marble cake with a vanilla cream and fresh-cut strawberry filling. Iced in buttercream and covered in fondant.

Graduation Cap

A woman requested this cake for her two grandchildren.  They attended different high schools, so instead of the usual school colors, the cake is a neutral black and white.

The bottom tier is vanilla cake and the top tier (the cap) is chocolate.  All filled and iced in buttercream and covered in fondant. The tassel and diploma are gum paste.