This cake was based on safari cake I made 2 years ago!  I love coming up with new ways to create similar cakes, I hate making the same cake twice.  Since then, I got a new camera and I think my photos have gotten much better!  My cake skills have also gotten better, my fondant work looks so much more polished.  To give the cake more interest, I used silicone texture mats to give the bottom tier an alligator skin look.  The polka dots on the top tier got a classic leather look.  To keep the cake fun and childlike, I added some fondant stars and fondant ribbon curls all over the cake.  The colors are really non-traditional and I love that about this first birthday cake.

The cutest touch about this cake is the fondant swirled candle that tops off the birthday cake.  There is something so festive about it.  Happy first birthday William!

Themed cakes are probably my favorite to make.  I think I say that about every cake though, I really love designing cakes!  For this birthday cake I was given the birthday party invitation as inspiration.  It was shades of green and yellow with a cute monkey on it, so that’s exactly what I created.  Owen’s mom wanted a really cute monkey cake, but nothing with polka dots or anything too childish.  She loved the idea of palm trees and grass and I love how those features came out.  I gave the grass and tree trunks some texture with a special textured rolling pin that is meant to look like fabric.

Here is a closer look at the hand cut gum paste monkey topper.  I also hand cut the number one and the light green “Owen” sign.  I used white gel food coloring to paint a graphic stitch mark around the edges, but it’s a little hard to see it in the picture.  Happy first birthday Owen!

Here is a cute cake I made for a doctor’s birthday.  I like how realistic the cake looks even though it’s made from a rectangle shaped cake.  The buttons are made using a silicone mold.  The stethoscope was sculpted by hand.  The tie was easier to make than tying a real tie.  I used an old men’s dress shirt collar as a template and dried it around a small bucket so it would have that nice 3D standing collar effect.

I wrote a little prescription for Michael to have a happy birthday and stuffed it into the pocket.  Hope he enjoyed his birthday cake!
Check out version 2.0!