A while back my mother asked me to make a cake for one of her coworkers named Dalia.  It was her birthday and my mom thought she would love a custom cake as a gift.  My mom didn’t have any specific design in mind, she let me do my thing.  I had been dying to make a zebra print cake and this was my first chance!  This is what I came up with.

The inside was rich chocolate cake with sweet raspberry cream. YUM.  What do you think of the design?  The black and white zebra print contrast so well, but the pink accents really make this cake pop.  I airbrushed a little shimmer color to really make it special.  Dalia was thrilled with her gift!  She loved it and was nice enough to share it with her friends at work.  A few days ago my mother called me from work.  She told me her friend Stacy was inspired by my cake and used my design to create some goody bags for her granddaughters party.  They came out great!

She is so talented.  I can’t believe she had my cake design in her head all this time!  It feels great knowing I inspired someone’s creativity!  Where do you get your creative inspiration from?

When my cousin, Hailey, asked me to make her Bat Mitzvah cake, I was excited.  When I heard her party theme was Facebook, I was thrilled!! I love themes!!!  Her theme was actually “Kayebook” a take on her last name: Kaye.

This cake was so much fun to make.  For the bottom tier, I used four 6″ cakes instead of one large layer.  I like the look this gave the cake.  After covering each of the four 6″ cakes in fondant, I striped each cake in blue painters tape.  Then I painted clear gel paste onto the fondant.  Each cake was covered in crystal sugar but it only stuck to the gel.  When the painters tape was removed, it left this great white on white sparkly design.

Here is a closeup of the “Kayebook” tier.  I think I did a pretty good job matching the color scheme of Facebook.

This tier is a 10″ round cake and about 4″ tall.  After covering it in white fondant, I used my trusty airbrush to achieve the perfect Facebook blue.  I mixed blue with a touch of purple to get this rich blue tone.  The key to airbrushing fondant a dark color is to airbrush in coats.  Don’t keep airbrushing and airbrushing…trust me, I’ve done it.  The color is just too wet and starts to run off the fondant.  Just apply a thin coat and allow it to dry to the touch.  Then repeat until you have a nice even finish.

The lettering is cut out of gumpaste.  I printed the letters out on a regular ol’ laser printer and cut them out with some scissors.  I then rolled out some white gumpaste and stuck it to a cutting mat with shortening.  Then I traced the letters out with a sharp knife-xacto knife to be exact.  I used royal icing to “glue” them to the cake.  I feel like I am talking too much, want more pics?

Here is an edible picture of Hailey the Bat Mitzvah girl with her dad and little bro.  Looking good!  Notice the “like” button?  Super cute!

On this side of the “Kayebook” logo is a pic of Hailey and her mom.  The rest of the cake is filled with pics of the birthday girl and her friends.

Looking good ladies!

Cute!

Like!!  Okay, here’s how to make these edible images.  I printed the images onto sugar paper using a printer that prints food color.  Then I cut the pictures out with a scissor.  Next, I rolled out some gumpaste, moistened it with water and lightly pressed the sugar image onto the gumpaste.  Using a sharp knife, I cut each picture out and allowed them to dry overnight.  I used the same technique for the “like” buttons except that I attached those to wire.

Now onto the best part…the cake topper!

This is Hailey’s actual Bat Mitzvah party invitation that I attached to a “Macbook Laptop” I made out of styrofoam.  I used styrofoam so I could create an extreme element.  My husband was actually in charge of this part-he’s technical like that.  This feature took the cake over the top…

What’s that?  Can’t see it?  Oh, let me turn it on…

Cool, cool, cool.  It looks even better in the dark.

My husband installed a white LED inside the stoyrofoam before I covered it in fondant.  He even installed a tiny power switch on the side so it can be turned on and off.  Can you see it?  Now let’s see how it looks in pitch black.

It came out great!  It was a huge hit at the party.  Here’s Hailey with all her friends (and the cake)

Make a wish…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

When my sister-in-law got engaged, she asked me to make her wedding cake.  I asked her what she wanted it to look like and she didn’t care.  “Whatever you want to do, I trust you”, was her response.  At first I thought to myself-this is great, I can do whatever I want!  Then I realized that this is much harder than it seems.  I had no direction, no inspiration, no guidelines…the sky was the limit.  I had too many options and my mind went in million different directions.  Then I remembered seeing some cakes that were decorated using stencils and I decided that I had to try the technique.  I love the results!

Each tier is decorated differently but work beautifully together.  Here is a better look at the bottom tier.

I wanted the top tier to stand out a little more than the rest of the cake so I added some little white flowers.  Each flower was adorned with a pretty and edible sugar pearl.

Now for my favorite part, the cake cutting ceremony!  The bride and groom loved their cake.  They especially loved how delicious it tasted.

Congratulations to my sister-in-law, Shifra and new brother-in-law, Uri!  Welcome to the family!  Here I am with Charlie all dressed up for the wedding.

Look how cute he looked in his tiny tuxedo!  He had a great time.

Time for bed!