On August 23rd, we celebrated the 55th birthday of visionary filmmaker Tim Burton with our Top Tim Burton-Inspired Cakes, and it seems we weren’t the only cakemakers paying homage to this creative mind!

Decorators from around the world collaborated on August 25th, 2013 to create one hundred cakes, each inspired by a character from one of his classic films. They call their project “Cakenweenie.”

Renowned cakemakers participated alongside hobby bakers, and once finished, their pieces were assembled into a collage of one of the most recognizable Burton characters, Jack Skellington of The Nightmare Before Christmas. The collage will be presented to Tim as a gift.

Luckily for us, they’ve shared their creations on an amazing website, Cakenweenie.com! Here are some highlights:

Karen Portaleo of Highland Bakery:

“From the very first time I was ever asked who I’d most like to make a cake for, my answer has always been Tim Burton. I relate completely with imagery that dips into the darker realms, but has a kindness at its core, and Tim Burton is the master of that. He’s like the leader of the tribe for those of us who thought maybe we were the only freaks who delighted in skulls and spiderwebs and scissors and knives and a sweet story beautifully told. I am thrilled to have been a part of this, and hope my gushy fangirl adoration comes through with the sincerity that went into my piece. Happy Birthday Tim, and thank you for happening! His head and hair are solid chocolate, and his clothing is fondant. He is airbrushed and hand painted (with love!).”

Sarah Myers of High Five Cakes:

“I am a huge fan of Beetlejuice and had a hard time choosing a single character. I chose Adam because I knew there were several versions of him throughout the movie. This gave me options. I love sculpting odd faces, and anything with blood, guts or, in this case, eyeballs. I think the eyeball-tipped fingers are what helped me in my final decision.

“Adam is sculpted from a combination of modeling chocolate, fondant and gumpaste. His internal structure is merely a dowel rod. That’s right, folks, he is like a giant scary vanilla tootsie roll. After sculpting with white, I airbrushed him for detail. I then added dark chocolate ‘brushed’ fondant hair. I hand painted the eyes, teeth and other details. There is a bit of royal icing around the eyeball fingertips for the veining effect. The eyes were glazed with red tinted piping gel for a nice glossy, bloody finish.

“The finished product stood about 12 inches tall. It was an honor to be chosen to take part in such an awesome tribute and to be surrounded by so many sugar artists who share a deep admiration for Tim Burton.”

Shawna McGreevy (smcakes) of McGreevy Cakes:

On how she created Julia Hoffman of Dark Shadows: “I cut Julia’s head, hair and torso from fondant and laid those pieces on top of an airbrushed background of fondant. I then used food gel pens, airbrush food coloring liquid, and petal dusts to ‘paint’ the fondant pieces and bring Julia to life. I’ve captured the process on video as a tutorial for how to create a fondant painting.”

Want to learn how to make your own fondant portrait? Check out Shawna’s step-by-step video tutorial here.

See all 100 cakes and learn about each of the “Burtonesque Bakers” at Cakenweenie.com.