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.

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.

Beach Birthday

This cake was for a ten year old girl's birthday.  She wanted something beach-themed.

Vanilla cake filled and iced with buttercream.  The sand is a mixture of graham cracker crumbs and brown sugar.  The palm trees, towel, and surfboard are made of modeling chocolate.