Shopkins Cheeky Chocolate Cake in Pink

Like most second graders, my youngest is obsessed with Shopkins. So when her birthday came around, she wanted a Shopkins cake. That's when I found the tutorial by The Icing Artist for Cheeky Chocolate, one of my daughter's favorites. Perfect! But of course, she wanted Cheeky Chocolate's wrapper to be pink. No problem.

Of course, the cake is chocolate. Everything else is buttercream.

(Seriously, go check out The Icing Artist! She is amazing! I'm gonna be her when I grow up.)

Slimed Ghostbusters

Got a request for a Ghostbusters cake for a little boy's birthday. I love Ghostbusters! The birthday boy's mom had a couple pictures of cakes she found online. So I combined a couple ideas and came up with this:

I made the topper using a print out of the logo that I cut into it's different layers: ghost, background, red sign. Then I traced them on to different colors marshmallow fondant (MMF) and cut them. This is the finished look before I added the black details:

The slime I made from green buttercream that I thinned with corn syrup. That was fun!

Naked Birthday

So I hesitate to say that this is called a bare naked cake because of the sort of searches that will lead people here...
Naked cakes are all the rage. Sometimes, there's frosting lightly smeared on the outside of the cake, scraped on, really. Cake is still visible underneath.  This particular style is called "bare naked" because there's no frosting outside; just between the layers.

Cake is cookies and cream. I'm not that happy with my old recipe so I've been trying new ones, tweaking others. This one was probably the best so far, just comes out a little darker than the previous options. Frosting is whipped chocolate buttercream, also a new feature. I am totally in love with this frosting!

Star Wars Tornado

The problem with getting cake orders through email is that sometimes the full desire doesn't quite come out in the writing. This was one of those. The mother said her son was obsessed with tornados and loved Star Wars. So I designed a Star Wars cake, using his favorite character (storm troopers). It took some back and forth with the mom before I realized he wanted a tornado cake that featured Star Wars. Oooookay. Back to the drawing board!

First attempt at airbrushing on buttercream! Figures are made using fondant or edible playdough, using sprinkles and even raw spaghetti for other details. My good buddy, Kathy, did C-3PO's arm, using yellow playdough and then painting it with gold luster dust. Everything is edible, but the light sabers were made on lollipop sticks.

Here's the cake before I added the props:

Rainbow Unicorn

Hooray! I got to make a UNICORN!

The Birthday Girl wanted a Rainbow Unicorn, so I did my best.
The horn is made from gum paste wrapped around a lollipop stick and brushed with metallic luster dust. All other decorations are buttercream.

And before you look too closely, the tail actually fell off about five minutes away from my house, so I had to reattach all that frosting before the Birthday Girl saw it! Just when I think I've got this cake thing figured out...

Blue and Purple Birthday

I surprised a teen with a birthday cake! Since I wanted it to be a secret until the big reveal, I couldn't get too many details on what she'd like, but I had her favorite colors and that she likes things sparkly. Recently, I watched a tutorial on how to coat a cake in sprinkles and thought that would be fun to try.

I made the rosettes on the bottom tier using buttercream. The rolled the smaller tier in sugar sprinkles (If I find the tutorial again, I'll link it here). Letters were made with candy melts, more sprinkles, and attached to lollipop sticks.

Ganache Piano

My son had an amazing teacher this previous school year. I got to be the room mother for his class. This year, the teacher celebrated a big birthday, so of course we had to have a party! She said she loves chocolate, playing the piano, reading Jane Austen, gardening, and being a teacher.

She said it was the best cake she'd ever had on her birthday!

I carved the cake to resemble a grand piano, getting the glossy coating with some yummy ganache. The props were made from edible playdough (tastes like Starburst candies). The green black is actually a book, but you can't tell from this angle, with the cover made from the edible playdough and sugar sheet pages. The sign and the piano keys were made using sugar sheets and trimmed to the right shapes. I used a food coloring marker to decorate the sign.

Inside, the cake is a butter vanilla.

Soccer and Stripes

I recently joined Icing Smiles. They are a fantastic organization and I love making birthdays extra special for these amazing kids. This was my first cake order for them.

The Birthday Boy loves soccer and the cake colors match his team colors. Soccer ball is covered marshmallow fondant (MMF). I watched multiple tutorials on how to make it look it. Stripes on the cake are also MMF. Grass is buttercream. I used the scraps from the stripes, rolled them together into a long snake and made the name at the bottom.

Inside, I used a new recipe for cookies and cream cake. Not perfect. Still trying to find a good recipe...

Mario Mushroom

This cake was so much fun to make! We are huge Mario Brother's fans around here. I wish I had more pictures of the details on the other sides. Had mystery boxes, beanstalks, and even a Chompy.

Cake is stacked six-inch rounds, covered in marshmallow fondant (MMF). The dome of the mushroom is actually styrofoam I covered with MMF. It's styrofoam because there were a dozen or so cake pops (not pictured, sorry) that were stuck in it.  The cake pops featured the Mario and Luigi symbols. Details on the cake were made using more MMF and a little buttercream.

Neverland Pirate Ship

This order was for a a Jake and the Neverlands Pirates cake. The client pretty much let me design the entire thing, as long as I was able to fit all the figurines and it would feed about 25 people.

The ship is cake, as is the main portion of the island. Both are covered in chocolate marshmallow fondant (MMF). The railing I made using toothpicks and Tootsie Rolls. The sail is paper that I drew lines on to look like the one from the tv show, then I hung it from a bamboo skewer mast. 

I do not know where the client got the figurines. Sorry!

Monster High Skull

This client just wanted a Monster High cake. She didn't much care about any other detail, except that it be on the small side. I made this one by carving an 8-inch round cake to the right shape, covered it in marshmallow fondant, and then attaching more MMF details.

The Birthday Girl totally "squee'd" when I delivered it. Pretty much made my day.

Pony Cake Redesign

What feels like 20 years ago, I made a pony using the 3D Rubber Ducky pan. It was fine and my then-preschooler loved it. But I always thought it looks a little...off. So when another one was ordered, I took the opportunity to make some changes.

To get better proportions, I looked up pictures of My Little Ponies with their leg tucked under them.

The cake was vanilla with milk chocolate frosting. Entirely edible.

Olaf and Sven

** I've removed the rest of the Frozen cakes because, frankly, I'm sick of my own designs (having made dozens) and would rather make something new. But this one stays. Because I love Sven.

The obligatory Frozen cake. This one was a cookies and cream cake with marshmallow fondant (MMF). This is also my first attempt at using gum paste. While the gum paste snowflakes turned out fantastically wonderful, Olaf was another story. Rolling a smooth ball with fondant? Not a problem. Rolling a smooth ball with gum paste? Not gonna happen. Lesson learned.

Sven is chocolate MMF and, excluding the antlers, entirely edible. Antlers were made using toothpicks as the base, then covered in fondant. I found an awesome tutorial on YouTube that made a reindeer out of polymer clay and adapted it. Olaf is gum paste with some MMF details. He is entirely edible, but biting into him might result in broken teeth. His arms and hair used uncooked spaghetti as the base, then covered in MMF. Snowflakes are gum paste with edible glitter and there are some buttercream accents on the case.

Owl on a Book

This cake was a compilation of the Birthday Girl's favorite things: Harry Potter (golden snitch on book), Percy Jackson (trident symbol on Camp Half Blood bookmark), owls, and reading. The book is opened to Chapter 12 for her 12th birthday.

The cake was butter almond, covered in marshmallow fondant (MMF). Entirely edible.

The owl was also cake, covered in fondant. I used a 4-inch round pan, sliced off a piece from one side so it wouldn't roll away, then covered it with MMF. I found a similar owl on Pinterest and made a few adjustments.

Barnyard with Horses

Currently, I live next door to horses and I completely understand how some girls get obsessed with these magnificent animals. They also make great neighbors, never playing their music too loud in the middle of the night.

The barn is made using Wilton's Stand-Up House pan on a regular 9x13 cake, vanilla bean flavor. Fence is pretzels held together with melted chocolate. Hay is toasted coconut. I only used my signature buttercream frosting for the whole thing. And the horse figurines were provided by the birthday girl and  are not edible. Of course.

Drizzled Bundt Cake

Had a BYU Cougars fan that needed a birthday cake.

Inside is a medley of chocolate, vanilla, and blue vanilla cake. Frosting is chocolate ganache, then I drizzled it with candy melts, adding edible silver balls for some sparkle. Super easy and so cute.

Kit Kat Cake

You've seen this cake before…all over Pinterest and Instagram. I've been looking for an opportunity to make one, so when a teenager said she didn't mind what cake she got as long as it was chocolate. Well, I needed more than that! Well, she said, her favorite candy bar was a Kit Kat. Bingo!

Inside is a dark chocolate cake with my signature chocolate buttercream. And just for good measure? The filling is chocolate buttercream and M&Ms.

One Big Birthday

I frequently donate my skills to be auctioned for fundraisers. I used to bring an actual cake but find it much more fun to come up with something specific just for them. This was one of those. Made for a first birthday party. Have I mentioned how much I love making cakes for first birthdays? Well, and baby showers. But I really love making smash cakes for the birthday kid.

The mom wanted a giant number one, with building blocks somewhere in the design. Then she brought me a sample of the party supplies. The idea just sort of grew from there.

The cake inside is marbled, one of my most requested. Signature buttercream accents with MMF covering (the red band is also MMF). Smash cake is more of the same and a building block as requested. Letters and  block accents are made from an awesome edible play dough.

Skylander Portal of Power

All my son can talk about lately is the new game, Skylander Giants. Loves it, adores it, obsesses over it. So when we started to plan his party, the cake idea seemed only natural: I would make him a Portal of Power. This is a big part of Skylanders. Players place a figure on the Portal and that becomes their character in the game. And it just looks cool.

I used 8-inch rounds of chocolate chocolate chip cake, frosted with dark chocolate buttercream. The top white portion is made from marshmallow fondant (although I really should have paid more attention to the game play because it's really only white when the game is off; otherwise, it constantly changes color).

The rock walls are chocolate clay. I was really happy with how easy it was to make the rocks from chocolate clay. I've only ever made roses with this stuff before, so I made sure to make the recipe a little stiffer so it wouldn't slump. It worked beautifully and tasted like fudge. Also, it was still easy to detail so it had the right textures and symbols.

Presents!

Had a little birthday girl that didn't much care what her party was like, as long as there were presents! Made designing the cake easy enough.

The white package and the tall yellow one are both buttercream with marshmallow fondant accents. The red gift is the only one that was entirely MMF. Kinda wish I'd wrapped all of them in the stuff. Inside is carrot cake.