I am (baby) Groot!

One of the things I decided for 2016 was to try and do a cake a month, just because.  I wrote out a list of ideas and have been crossing them off.

This one is baby Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy .  "Who," you ask?

I like how he turned out.

Sorting Hat Cake

Just because I wanted to see if I could do it, I attempted a sorting hat cake.

I love how he turned out!

Frozen Figures

My niece was having a 4th Frozen birthday bash.  They live several hours away, and I wasn't in the mood to drive a cake that far, so I asked my sister to please buy a plain blue sheet cake, and I would take care of decorating it.

I started in late May, just to give myself some time, as the party was mid-July.

Anna and Olaf heads

Anna & Olaf completed in June.

Elsa's Body.

Olaf!  Her head!  Let It Go! Let It Go!

The Final gum paste figures.

At the fabulous Frozen Birthday Bash.

And You Wonder Why I Don't Make Wedding Cakes?

In March, my nephew married his long-time girlfriend Jessica.  They were not having a church wedding.  In fact, they invited anyone who wanted to come, down to the courthouse to watch.  It was a Tuesday (they wanted to be married on the date of their first date) so I had to miss the ceremony, but I was able to drive down after work (2.5 hours away) for the evening get-together at a restaurant, spend the night & drive back for work the next day. LONG DAY.

I offered to make them a small cake for the dinner party. I was making our daughter's "Attack on Titan Cake" at the same time as prepping for their cake, which had to be delivered 3 days after Isabel's skate party.  It was a busy week.

The figures were for the AoT cake, the flowers for the wedding cake.

I finish up MONDAY NIGHT and take this picture.

I am pretty proud of my work, considering it's the second wedding cake I've ever made.   As I go to move this very top-heavy cake plate for a better picture, it starts to topple to the right. I see is falling in slow motion.  I grab it with my hands before it hits the table.  And then I just start to panic.

It's 8 p.m. and I have to deliver this cake the next day!

This is what I had to fix.  I was in a panic, but worked through to 10:30 p.m. fixing what I could.

I drove it to S. Florida, met them at the restaurant where (TWO HOURS LATER -long story) we were seated and I set up the cake with their cake topper.

Attack on Titan Cake

Our daughter's been really interested in a Japanese Anime show called Attack on Titan.  It's kind of creepy, actually.  Huge monsters, Titans, attack the world and people live in walled-in cities, so the Titans don't get it.  It's creepy, but I've watched all of them with her too.

She wanted an Attack on Titan cake with the main 3 characters (she actually wanted 5, I talked her down to 3.)

These guys.

But in Chibi form.

1. Chibi (ちび or チビ ^?) is a Japanese slang word meaning "short person" or "small child". The word has gained currency among fans of manga and anime. Its meaning is of someone or some animal that is small.

The design she wanted was very simple, thank goodness, so I got to work making the characters.

Mikasa

The flowers are for *another* cake.

OH NO! The Titans got them!

Harry Potter Book Cake

I'd purchased a book cake pan off Ebay over a year ago. The idea was to make a Harry Potter book cake. I'd seen many ideas/pictures, and being a HP freak, I really wanted to try it.

Slightly too-soft MMF

I made he mistake of making the scarf the day before.  I hardened, which I wanted it to, but then I realized I could not then shape it to the book, so it cracked at the sections where the colors meet.  Oh well, lesson learned for future use.

Hulk Smash

This post should really be titled "Kaaren Smash."

I had one day to make a cake. Well. two days but I work one day, so like a day and a few hours of the next evening.  I was asked to make a Hulk cake for a 4 year old's party, in 2 days time. It seemed easy enough and I really liked the lady asking me for it for her grandson, so I decided to do it all in one shot. Mistake.

The cakes, which I thought were cool enough, were NOT, in fact, cool enough and melted the MMF I had made.  I was COMPLETELY upset and embarrassed.   I could not make more MMF or bake more cakes. I was out of time. I came *this* close to calling my friend and telling her she needed to go to a grocery store and get one.

I put the cake in the fridge to cool down and worked on it the next day, patching it (literally, patching it with extra pieces of leftover fondant) and trying to get it presentable.

I texted my friend and told her it was horrible.  She texted back that she loved it.  I sighed.  She can't see how bad it really is.

She came the next day and picked it up. She told me how great it was.

Then, nothing.  For two days, nothing.   I was in a panic. They hated it.  It tasted horrible.  They're too embarrassed to say anything.

Almost at the end of day two, she calls me for a couple of reasons; one being a church thing and the second being:

(paraphrased)

"Oh my gosh, Kaaren. They loved the cake.  Everyone loved the cake.  My mom said it was the best cake she's ever tasted.  It was such a hit!  All the boys loved it and the birthday boy could not stop staring."

I had patched up the cake in this picture below, but had not yet made the border around the top of the pants, nor had I made the number 4 or the mini-Lego Hulk out of fondant. I just forgot to take a final picture.

My friend is a photographer, so I am hoping she will send or post pictures of the cake at the party soon.

More PPG..

..because I purchased a cake pan on eBay and wanted to try it out.   Old-fashioned, 5-hour star-tip piping.

Dora & Diego

My sister-in-law contacted me last week.  "We're coming down Easter weekend. Can we get together for K's birthday?"  Of course!  "Where can I order a Dora cake?" she asks.

Uh.  Me.  Hello?  :)

"I'll do Dora and...the monkey. What's his name again?"  I ask.  "Boots."

Then I get another text: "She'd like to know if you can add Diego, too."  Of course I can.

I spent the next few nights not only prepping this cake, but getting the Good Friday cake ready.

Dora's cousin Diego and his Rescue Pack, which was attached to his back later.

Dora (feet not attached yet.)

Boots

My sister-in-law, her husband (my hubby's brother) and their two daughters were down Thursday & Friday at a hotel in Orlando and then drove up Saturday (K's actual birthday) to spend the night at our place and celebrate.  When they arrived, I was STILL putting the cake together.  I had their two young daughters help cut out and arrange the flowers on the cake for me.  They were shy at first, but then really opened up to me and loved helping out.

Happy 4th Birthday to our Adorable Niece K!!

Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice...

Our Gal's 10th Birthday Cake.  
Design by Debbie Brown.

Lego Super Heroes

My husband and kids are fans of the Lego Super Hero games on the PS3; both Marvel & DC.  I decided for my husband's Christmas Day birthday, I would make him a Lego cake.

We were going to be out of the state, at my in-laws for Christmas, so I made some Lego guys beforehand, and was going to  make the cake there.

The cake, on the other hand, was too moist, I forgot my cutters and had to do it free-hand.  It was a hot mess.

Of course, every loved it, but they had to; they're family.  

Happy Birthday to my Christmas-Baby Hubby

My Little Pony Friendship is Magic Cookies

Made for a little gal I've never met, but who needed an extra hug this Christmas.

These are the cutie marks of the main 6 characters in the show.  

Three of the "Mane" 6.

Minions Cupcakes

Made just because I wanted to try them. LOVE them.

All homemade MMF,  hand-colored. Very time-consuming, but much appreciated by my co-workers.    I took them to work on my 18th Work-Anniversary this week.

Home is Where the TARDIS (cake)

I attempted to make a TARDIS cake.  Go on, Google.  I'll wait.

We LOVE Dr. Who and I thought "I can make that!"  Sometimes, you just have to tell your brain to shut it.

This cake was more "Dr. WHAT?"  than Dr. Who.  :D

It's coming out of a time vortex, hence the wibbly wobbly.  THAT'S MY STORY AND I'M STICKING TO IT!

Oh, at first the "vortex" that the TARDIS is coming through was just yellow and red.  My son looked at it and said "What is that, a hot dog vortex?"  It indeed did look like ketchup & mustard, so I added more colors.

My Little Pony Friendship is Magic Cake

Happy 9th Birthday to my Angel-Muffinlumps.

Gumpaste Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie