ittybittybakery
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Disco Dance Party Cake
Many thought this was a sweet 16 cake, but it was just for a very lucky 5 year old who's mom was throwing her a major party here in NYC. Originally the middle layer was going to be more rainbow and 70s themed, but I didn't really like the colors, and wound up peeling it off and just using the left-overs from the bottom layer to make the very simple revised second layer. In the end, I'm much much happier that I used this more simple color scheme. And, as it turns out, the decor for the party itself was all pink, black and silver! Total coincidence as the client never told me that! The ball is not cake, since I knew I'd need to work with it for a long time to get all those little squares on there, so I made it out of Krispie Treats, which are more sturdy and don't sag or melt like cake. I covered about 1/2 the globe in those individual squares before suddenly realizing it's a lot easier to just wrap thin strips around the globe and then cut the vertical lines with a sharp knife to make the squares right on the ball itself. It was a major 'duh' moment and tremendous time saver I can't believe I didn't think of to begin with! After all the squares were done, I sprayed it with edible silver food coloring that came in an aerosol can. Then I tapped and blew disco dust off a brush onto the wet spray paint for a very glittery effect, which is, unfortunately, not visible in pictures.
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Teapot Cake
Inspired by designs seen here on cakecentral and other sites... the pot shape wasn't quite what I was intending but wanted to preserve as much cake as I could for the party. The tea cups were also not as I planned, and the 'tea' looks more like a cafe latte, but nonetheless the client was thrilled.
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Princess Doll Cake
I call this one the 'Bridesmaid' because it looks to me like one of those horrible pink taffeta bridesmaid dresses from the 1980s! But it was actually a small princess cake I threw together in 2 hours as a surprise for one of my son's friends who was turning 5 and having a few friends over for cake on a quiet afternoon. I pulled 2 six-inch rounds I had left over from Lightning McQueen cake (I made a ton of cake for that one because I wasn't sure if I'd do a big McQueen, or just a topper), and also some scraps of cakes I had left over from the first Yoda cake and pasted it all together and carved this dress out of it. I mostly only had red fondant and some off-white on hand, which I mixed together in various batches to make a few shades of this horrible pink. I really didn't have enough to do a thick enough layer to cover the whole thing, so it tore in a few places, and I had to do some creative patch work (hence the big bows and swags and general fluff). I have no idea how to do flowers so just kept winging it till I got a few that looked good enough (and big enough) to cover the tears and holes. The little girl was stunned and the mom was so in awe of this, and all I could do was laugh because to me it was so awful in a way, but very very girly and sweet in another.
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Yoda Cake
this was the first Yoda cake I made. I was too nervous to attempt a full 3D Yoda so did it as a topper, and while it came out OK, there were a lot of things that weren't quite right, like the eyes and the cheek bones. The customer and her son were blown away, but I knew I could do better. I was happy with this one, but the second (3D) Yoda I did came out much more accurate and better. I'm thankful to have done this one as a 'practice' of sorts for my son's big 3D version that I did weeks later.
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3D Yoda Cake
This was the second Yoda cake I made. After doing a small figure on a round cake the first time around I got the confidence to try to do it bigger. The face was the part I was most concerned about so I did it over a few days, started over one or two times before I got it the way I wanted, which I think is pretty near perfect. The head is Rice Krispies Treats covered in fondant, with big tubes and balls of fondant under the fondant cover to create the ridges and texture. Then I free handed the deep crevices with a fondant tool and worked on the big eyebrow ridge and the eyes. It took two nights I think to get it right. Then I wrapped it in saran and kept it cold until the cake/body was done. The cake was just stacked 8" rounds, carved to a mound, covered in brown fondant in the front, and wrapped around the back with off-white fondant. I just draped the 'robe' around and worked with however it fell. Added a hood to cover some tears, and the front edging was also an attempt at covering tears and holes. The front of the robe is not ideal-- so that'd be the one thing I'd do differently. Would work with smaller pieces vs. trying to wrap one big piece. Oh, and the light saber was too small, but the larger versions I had were too hard to attach and get at the right angle, so I just went with it. But in the end this was a MAJOR show stopper at my son's Star Wars party. He was sooooo thrilled, so I was over the moon!
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Michael Jackson Cake
One of my sons favorite 'coaches' from his camp was leaving because he got a great job offer, so my son asked me to make a cake for his last day as a surprise. The only thing anyone could tell me about this guy was that he was a CRAZY Michael Jackson fan. After scouring the internet for Michael Jackson cakes, I was coming up blank for ideas. there was no way I could recreate Michael Jacksons ever evolving face, and I feared an attempt at making the glove would look like Mickey Mouse's hand. After looking at some MJ t-shirts, one of which had a silhouette on it, I got the inspiration for this cake. The silhouettes were easy to free hand cut from black gumpaste and the overall cake was relatively simple (I had 2 other cakes to do at the same time so I was happy to keep this free one really easy). It was a huge hit and I was pretty happy with how it came out.
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Ariel Mermaid Cake
This one was one of the first cakes I can look back on and say I wouldn't change a thing. I did tons of shells and seaweed and other undersea details well in advance and did the assembly and decorating in stages, taking my time. I love how all the colors and details really work well together. This was also the first time I ever made fondant/gumpaste figures and I was happy with those as well. I got a lot of compliments on this one and was so proud of it
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Wonderpets Flyboat Cake
this one was relatively easy and straight forward to make. The mom had some Wonderpets figures she added to the boat at the party. This was before I was really experienced with fondant and buttercream, so I did the sail in foam paper after failing to do so with chocolate. of course, if I had to do it again, it'd be so easy to do with gumpaste.
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Subway Train Cake
This one was so much harder than it looks, or than it should be. I was so meticulous about making sure all the slabs of cake were the exact same, and the edges were perfect and the thin layers of cake and buttercream were firm, but for some reason I'm still not sure I understand, the ends drooped and made this so very hard to fix. The ends started to bulge and sink and so all the straight edges I needed for the details looked off. I added those big slabs of black to the ends to cover all the sunken edges and corners but overall this one was a nightmare. This was also the first time I used luster dust and didn't realize how unforgiving that stuff is-- it shows EVERY little flaw and brush stroke. I'll never use it on such a large area again (I'll use the edible spray paint type metalics for sure).
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Spiderman Cake
I did this one for my son's 3rd birthday. This is when I started really getting into making fondant cakes. it was a big party so this was quite big. This was my first lesson in how hard it is to make red fondant-- I had made a batch in advance and added so much food coloring when I went to use it, it was a soggy, oily, unusable mess. It was around 7pm by the time I realized this so I was panicked. I managed to make another really dry batch of fondant, which I mixed with some of the bad red fondant, and luckily it worked its way into something usable. Then came the nightmare of the webs, which luckily my very patient husband was willing to help me with. I piped chocolate darkened with black food coloring, from the center outward, and then did the horizontal droops to connect them. The eyes were fondant (they should have been gumpaste to make them harder and hold their shape) so once they were placed they were not movable without messing up all the webs. They are not in the perfect location but the overall effect is still good I think.
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Space Shuttle Cake
This one was hard for me. It was one of my earlier fondant cakes and I just couldn't figure out how to make the orange rocket boosters in the back. I had originally planned to make this one laying down, but thought it'd be so much cooler standing up, and then came up with the idea of putting it on the 'earth.' In the end I used foam for the boosters, but made the mistake of adding the details to them (and the white tanks) before attaching them to the shuttle, so they got all smudged and messed up. I also wish the base cake was smoother and I did a better job of covering the base board. This was before I did cake boards too, so that would have been a nice addition as well. I had to the 'fins' at the base out of foam paper, as well as some of the smaller details like the lettering and small American flag, but if I had to do it again today, I'd do it all with fondant and gumpaste (and Rice Krispies Treats for the rocket boosters).
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Iron Man Cake
I made this Iron Man cake for a twins birthday party, where the girl was getting the Batgirl cake. This one was hard... mostly because I had a bad initial plan for it. I don't know what I was thinking but I baked 2 cakes in bowls and put the bottoms together to make the 'mound' of the face. In retrospect I should have just stacked layers and carved but at the time I was doing this one, I hadn't done a lot of carved/3D cakes so I never thought of that. Another problem was that I was doing the Supergirl cake at the same time and had limited space in my tiny NYC kitchen so more than twice I accidentally 'stabbed' this cake or poked my finger into it in an effort to prevent it from falling off the counter or sliding into the sink. I was up late with this one so don't have fond memories of it.
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Hello Kitty
I think this was my second fondant cake ever. Came out pretty good I think, but the whiskers were a little problematic. I rolled black fondant round skewers and tried to angle them into the cake but don't think I got the angle right and they started to sink and droop, and then crack, which drove me nuts. Everyone thought it was perfect and I was losing my mind. After this one I got another request for a Hello Kitty cake for an October birthday party that was going to be Halloween themed. So I did the same basic cake but did the bow in orange. Both cakes were cut freehand, and did not use a molded pan.
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Dora Birthday Cake
Another one of my earlier cakes, which were all buttercream. I think this one is pretty good, but I think the angle of the eyes is a little off. If I ever have to do another Dora cake, I think I'll definitely do it in fondant, but this was a good first attempt. Again, this was before I started making cake boards, so the tray it's on is just something I had on hand and looking back now, I realize it wasn't a very good choice because the cake barely fit and is stuffed into that lip of the tray!
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Castle Cake
this is one of my earliest cakes, before I started using fondant. It involved a lot of candy and cookie elements and was a lot of work. This was also before I stared using cake boards and would put the cakes on whatever I could find around the apartment (like this kinda ugly plastic tray). The points are ice cream cones dipped in chocolate and rolled in pink sprinkles, the windows and doors are wafer cookies, the white stones at the tops are those weird chalky mints you sometimes see a diner cash registers. The flags I did with regular paper and put the F and the A for the 2 kids who were celebrating their birthdays together (Finny and Andersen). In the end, this cake turned out to be huge and was shared with the whole kindergarden school!
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Batgirl Superhero Princess Cake
Here's another princess cake done in the superhero theme. This was one of my earlier cakes and looking back there's a lot I would have changed-- like making that bat symbol about half the size, and also making the skirt more dimensional and flowing. I purposefully didn't add a cape to this one because my husband told me it'd be horribly inaccurate and not authentic to the real bat girl. LOL!
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Backhoe Digger Truck Cake
This one for a friend who bid on a cake from me at at auction for her school. Her husband bid pretty high to get the bids up, and in the end, ended up with it, so felt I needed to go the extra mile for this one. Looking back there's a lot I'd refine about it, but at the time I was very happy with it. I wish the windows were a little straighter and that I had carved the front more accurately, but it still looks great the way it was. I had the hardest time figuring out how to make the 'arms' of the hoe, but in end I wound up using candy/gum cigars that I found in the perfect yellow color. The backhoe actually didn't fit on the base cake (which I covered in crushed oreos to look like dirt), so I had to create a bit hole for the backhoe to sit in (and I filled the scooper with the oreo 'dirt'). It just made it... but the base cake probably needed to be 5 inches or so longer.
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Super Girl Superhero Doll Cake
A few of the girls in the neighborhood with October birthdays wanted princess cakes so I came up with this idea to do a traditional doll/princess cake in a costume. This one was Supergirl, obviously (I hope). Super easy to make as well. The cape is my favorite part. The "S" logo was the hardest/most tedious part, since I did it free hand.
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T-Rex Dinosaur Cake
I made this one for a friend's son, who is really into dinosaurs. Originally it was free standing but as it got warmer and warmer the front started to droop so I added the rocks to support the heavy head. The head and supporting rocks were made of Rice Krispies Treats, but the other rocks were cake and/or just fondant balls. This was a big hit but was quite stressful for me to make. The mom really wanted chocolate buttercream under the fondant so whenever I had a patch or bad fondant hole, the chocolate was seeping through the light green. So, to mask all the mistakes I started to make all the creases and seams and bad patches look like tough dinosaur skin, and then I 'painted' it with various colors of food coloring (brown, red, green, yellow). In the end, it looked nearly perfect and everyone was amazed. I was laughing because to me it was one big mistake and mess after the other with some clever fixes that luckily worked out to benefit the overall design. The toes/claws were also Rice Krispies cereal treats, but the nails themselves were gumpaste.