*Cake Walk*

Honey Bee Cake: Hive-shaped yellow cake with lemon frosting, covered in yellow fondant with sugar daisies and fondant bees

Pirate Treasure Island Cake: Large chocolate loaf cake filled with candy jewels and wrapped chocolates, on top of a chocolate cake "island" covered in brown sugar surrounded by a blue and white frosting "ocean"-the pirate flag is fondant on top of broken chocolate sticks

Mad Tea Party Cake: Table- 1/4 sheet strawberry cake covered in pink fondant; Tea Cup- chocolate jumbo cupcake covered in fondant; Watch and- sugar cookies covered in fondant, written on with food coloring pens

Nothing screams school carnival like a Cake Walk! After a few sorrowful attempts at cakes in the past (the long forgotten Angels baseball hat and ladybug cake-two words: red frosting-and a sad little beach scene with paper cocktail umbrellas...) I finally got serious last year and was determined to ramp it up.  Oddly enough, my original plans ended up happening in reverse, with my "Mad Tea Party" cake being the one I threw together the night before the carnival opened-luckily it was early dismissal the next day and I could catch up on my ZZZZZs in the afternoon! The Bee Hive cake was so cute, I loved making the little bees (if you look closely, you'll see them smiling!) And with the advent of the final installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy and the height of piratefandom, I had to do a pirate themed cake. 

In case you were wondering if I'm nuts for not only attempting to reign in  the level of chaos in a classroom while a carnival is being constructed all around you, but to then make not 1, but 3 cakes, yes, you hit the nail on the head.  Sure I needed about 5 days of straight sleep afterwards, but you can never be bummed out when working with cake! 

I can't believe I've only been using it for a year, it's hard to think back to the time before sugar fondant entered my life. What a gift from the cake gods! It's like edible Play-dough.  Any time you get to play with your food promises to be a great day.  This was also my first time using "Luster Dust", an edible decorative super-fine glitter that's used dry to brush over fondant or when liquid is added, turns into a kind of metallic paint. If I had my way, every baked good would be glammed up with Luster Dust...

By the way, on the "Mad Tea Party" cake, the watch is actually a fondant covered cookie and the tea cup is concealing a chocolate cupcake! Cheerio!

*Mmmmm...Chocolate Easter Bunny*

Easter Bunny Cake with Mini Egg Cakes: Dark chocolate cake with raspberry jam filling, covered in chocolate ganache

It's Easter! How do I know? Chocolate bunnies! Yum! And you can't have Easter dinner without an enormous chocolate bunny cake. An unexpected touch came from my need to find a better way to drench this chocolate bunny cake (with raspberry jam filling) in rich chocolate ganache. No matter how hard I tried or how slow I poured, the ganache would not cooperate. So I brought out the BIG guns-a silicone pastry brush! Ah-ha! I conquered the covering dilemma and ended up with a cool almost life-like look. The cake pan also had 2 egg mini cakes to fill and decorate. Everything was peachy, until I tried using these "decorating pens" from a certain upscale cooking store (my 2nd home). I followed all the directions to a T, but they kept clogging up and re-solidifying. What a hassle! I'll stick to Royal Icing from now on, thanks. 

*Birthday Cake for the Birthday Girl*

Bow-Wow Birthday Cake: 

Bottom Layer~2-layer 1/4 sheet chocolate cake with chocolate frosting covered in lime green and turquoise fondant
Top Layer~chocolate jelly roll cake with chocolate ganache filling and coating, with chocolate chocolate chip cupcakes covered in white fondant 

Since today (technically tomorrow) is her birthday, what better motivation to post the picture of last year's cake before I make this year's cake for the birthday girl!  Last year, the school I taught at held their annual auction and after four years, I felt it was time to make a contribution to the cause. So I auctioned off a cake! 

Even though she had already completed 1st grade in my class and moved on to the classroom down the hall, she told her mom, under no uncertain terms, was she to come home from the auction without having won that cake.  That's a lot of pressure, that and the rather large amount of green her mom put down to bid on this cake. Heaven's be praised, by the end of the evening, the cake was hers and she could return home victorious! And then the real stress began! 

I had never baked for anyone but the members of my family, and even then it was just my annual Christmas cookies-I could not disappoint. I was elated to find that my first cake was going to be one with great character and awesome colors (turquoise and bright green) and that she was having a dog-themed party.  Being that this is a creative outlet for me, and not my actual full-time career, this was going to be a true test of my baking and artistic abilities! With inspiration from her own three dogs and her love of all things chocolate, this "Bow-Wow Birthday" cake was my first HUGE step into the world of custom cake decorating. 

This is the cake that started it all, and so today, a year later, it will proudly have center stage as the first (and thankfully not the last!) cake I made for what has become more than just a creative outlet. 

Happy Birthday K.B!