![Mom's 70Th Mom's 70Th](http://cdn001.cakecentral.com/gallery/2018/04/400x400_moms-70th-915650GvxTy.jpg)
Mom's 70Th
My mom’s birthday is on the 29th and every year I vow to not take on any other cakes near it so I can focus on her cake and every year I fail! Long story short I also failed this year because we ended up having her party a week early and a co-worker had requested a cake (months ago) for his wife for the Fri. In the end mom’s cake was plan “C” but I was so happy with how it turned out! The topper is card stock that my boyfriend cut out for me. The top two tiers are dummies and so I was able to prep them in advance. The top tier is done using the Karen Davies Sugar Flower Mold. It is so easy to use the details are amazing. It’s maybe not that obvious in the photo but the second tier is the crackled fondant effect which I have been wanting to try for some time now. My mom loves lavender so I wanted to include that as part of the flower arrangement. It and the little purple filler flowers are made from gumpaste and everything else is wafer paper. I treated myself to Stevie Auble’s book “Wafer Paper Cakes: Modern Cake Designs and Techniques for Wafer Paper Flowers and More” and that is where the patterns came from for the anemone, paper roses and rose leaves. My first time trying them all and while they were time consuming to cut out, they were quite easy to assemble. The bottom tier is the actual cake which was mocha chocolate cake with an Irish coffee cheesecake center, chocolate ganache in between the layers and then all iced with SMBC. The cake was a hit with everyone and the biggest complement was that at first mom didn’t even realize that I made the flowers, she thought I had bought them.
kstevens
![Teapot Cake Teapot Cake](http://cdn001.cakecentral.com/gallery/2018/04/400x400_teapot-cake-915650apzxL.jpg)
Teapot Cake
My co-worker requested a birthday cake for his wife saying his kids thought the cake should be tea themed since she really likes tea. He is Asian so I went with an Asian flare to the teapot with the red color and cherry blossom pattern on it. The bamboo handle is made from gumpaste and is wired inside to keep it’s shape. The spout is a modeling chocolate/fondant mixture. The cherry blossoms were done with luster dust and a stencil.
kstevens
![Iron (Fe) Man Cake Iron (Fe) Man Cake](http://cdn001.cakecentral.com/gallery/2018/04/400x400_iron-fe-man-cake-915650Jn0DB.jpg)
Iron (Fe) Man Cake
This cake wasn’t overly detailed but challenging to do. I think it’s my tallest standing 3D cake to date, standing at 18" with the cake itself being suspended 6" above the board. He was made to celebrate the last day of classes at the university. Because I work in the chemistry department I wanted it to be chemistry themed. I went with (a periodic table) Iron Man based on a t-shirt design I saw online. The structure I built was based on a Threadcakes entry by özge Bozkurt who made Freddie Mercury. He is vanilla bean cake with chocolate buttercream, mocha cake with coffee buttercream and banana cake with chocolate buttercream. The legs and arms are a modeling chocolate/fondant mixture. I used a little LED light behind a piece of wafer paper for his arc reactor. Acadia Chemistry in written in the Avengers font. One of my co-workers made liquid nitrogen ice cream to accompany him and the pouring of the liquid nitrogen is what caused the “fog” in the second image.
kstevens
!["cheeky" Easter/birthday Cake "cheeky" Easter/birthday Cake](http://cdn001.cakecentral.com/gallery/2018/03/400x400_cheeky-easterbirthday-cake-915650Qimsm.jpg)
"cheeky" Easter/birthday Cake
This was a last minute request from my friend Scott. He sent me a text on Monday saying he had a challenge for me if I was interested. He wanted a cake for a duel event celebration – Easter and Andrew’s birthday. In his words “Andrew is our outrageously flamboyant gay florist….”. I sent him a photo of the 3D Easter egg cake I made last weekend and he liked it. I covered the cake with chocolate ganache to make it to look like a giant chocolate egg. The cake inside is rainbow colored vanilla bean cake so a bit of a surprise for when he cut in to it. The rainbow of flowers are made from wafer paper and then I added a bit of gold leaf to make it a bit flashier. The grass is buttercream and the bunny is modeling chocolate. I would have liked for him to be white but on short notice I didn’t have any white modeling chocolate made up. From the front it looks like an innocent Easter bunny holding a large carrot standing next to the egg. Viewing the cake from behind reveals the “cheeky” detail. The idea for his leather pants came from footage I saw of a gay pride parade. One of the participants was wearing pants just like it. The cake was a big hit ☺. Hope you all like it too! Happy Easter!
kstevens
![Simple Easter Cake Simple Easter Cake](http://cdn001.cakecentral.com/gallery/2018/03/400x400_simple-easter-cake-9156503Yk6V.jpg)
Simple Easter Cake
This was dessert number two for my Easter dinner. This one was a carrot cake which is one of my dad’s favorites. He isn’t a fan of fondant so I kept the decorations simple on it with a gumpaste bunny, a few candy eggs and pecan pieces along the bottom edge. I also made a lemon meringue cheesecake that was delicious and a big hit with everyone but I forgot to take a picture of it.
kstevens
kstevens
kstevens
![70Th Birthday Cake 70Th Birthday Cake](http://cdn001.cakecentral.com/gallery/2018/03/400x400_70th-birthday-cake-915650yM10s.jpg)
70Th Birthday Cake
70th birthday cake for a coworker’s dad. She asked for something deer/outdoorsy themed. I searched online for inspiration and the main idea came from a cake I saw by Jarka Sipkova. I was really happy with the finished product and my coworker loved it! She said her dad really liked it too. I guess he carefully peeled off the image of the deer and is trying to figure out how to preserve it. lol
kstevens
![March Break Cakes March Break Cakes](http://cdn001.cakecentral.com/gallery/2018/03/400x400_march-break-cakes-915650hAapl.jpg)
March Break Cakes
I spent a cake decorating day with my niece and her friend (both 11) over March break. So much fun and they did awesome! They were very excited when I arrived and especially excited when they saw all the cake and how we were going to decorate them. I showed them how to level their cakes, stack and crumb coat them, color icing for an ombre effect, texture the buttercream and make wafer paper flowers. They both really enjoyed decorating their cakes and I got a big hug from both of them before I left ☺. They did everything on their own so what you see in the picture is all their own work. I was so focused on getting good pictures of their cakes and them with their cakes that I forgot to take some of just mine. Lol I also have the backside of my cake facing forward in the pictures I did take. Mine was boxed up and delivered to a friend so no chance for pics once I realized I didn’t have any good ones. My cake is the green one by the way.
kstevens
![St. Patrick's Day Cake St. Patrick's Day Cake](http://cdn001.cakecentral.com/gallery/2018/03/400x400_st-patricks-day-cake-9156500jpab.jpg)
St. Patrick's Day Cake
I used St. Patrick’s Day as an excuse to try out a new cake recipe which I took to work. It was Baileys and Guinness cake. By the recipe, there should have been extra buttercream to pipe swirls around the top of it to finish it off. I guess I used too much in between the cake layers though as I didn’t have enough left to do them so I made some simple decorations to top it instead.
kstevens
![Spring Cake Spring Cake](http://cdn001.cakecentral.com/gallery/2018/02/400x400_spring-cake-915650AIA1y.jpg)
Spring Cake
This cake was for a group of nurses getting together for a meeting. They wanted something simply decorated with the suggestion of maybe a spring theme. I went with wafer paper flowers and the butterflies are modeling chocolate. I was happy with how it turned out and they were thrilled with it! I even got a hug from one of them ☺
kstevens
![Simple Birthday Cake Simple Birthday Cake](http://cdn001.cakecentral.com/gallery/2018/02/400x400_simple-birthday-cake-915650G1G2l.jpg)
Simple Birthday Cake
This cake was to celebrate two birthdays in our department last week. As one of the birthday girls, our secretary requested gingerbread cake as it is her favorite that I make. Due to a lifestyle change she hasn’t eaten sweets since about this time last year and was saving her first “cheat” to be for her birthday. She’s been talking about it for months so I decided to keep it about the cake (flavor) and not crazy design-wise or to use fondant. To decorate it I decided to go with wafer paper flowers and a bit of silver leaf. The flowers were made following a tutorial by Jessica Harris.
kstevens
![Wicket Bobble Head Wicket Bobble Head](http://cdn001.cakecentral.com/gallery/2018/02/400x400_wicket-bobble-head-915650pRK2a.jpg)
Wicket Bobble Head
My niece turned 11 yesterday. She has become a big Star Wars fan and initially was struggling to choose between BB-8 or a porg cake but in the end requested an ewok cake. Rather than trying to do a life like version I decided to do a bobble head one as she loves bobble heads! I was so happy with how he turned out! I think he’s a new favorite and my niece and her friends loved him. Her reaction was worth all the time I put in to making him. His head is marble cake with chocolate butterceam and then a layer of chocolate ganache on the outside. The body is RKT and the arms are a modeling chocolate/fondant mixture which is also what he’s covered with. Hope you all like him too.
kstevens
![Valentine's Day Cake Valentine's Day Cake](http://cdn001.cakecentral.com/gallery/2018/02/400x400_valentines-day-cake-915650squVJ.jpg)
Valentine's Day Cake
My Valentine’s Day cake creation. These were chocolate cake with a Bailey’s cheesecake center and layers of ganache in between the layers as well as covering the cake. The lips were made with Wilton candy melts. I created my own sprinkle mix with an assortment that I had on hand.
kstevens
![Chemistry Themed Valentine's Day Cookies Chemistry Themed Valentine's Day Cookies](http://cdn001.cakecentral.com/gallery/2018/02/400x400_chemistry-themed-valentines-day-cookies-915650ep8Df.jpg)
Chemistry Themed Valentine's Day Cookies
These are the second style of sugar cookies that I made for Valentine’s day. They were my chemistry themed ones. I just Googled chemistry valentine’s for the ideas and turned them into cookies. The letters are made with fondant. They were a big hit with the students :-)
kstevens
![Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies](http://cdn001.cakecentral.com/gallery/2018/02/400x400_valentines-day-sugar-cookies-915650ntXOl.jpg)
Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies
These are the first style of sugar cookies I made this year for Valentine’s Day. These ones were an idea from Semi Sweet Designs. The “XO” is made from the Ho Ho Ho cookie cutter. They were more challenging than I had anticipated. It took me a couple attempts before I got the hang of outlining them to the point where I was happy with them but in the end I was pleased with them. I used a stencil to do the lips and little sugar hearts are added to the others.
kstevens
![Captain Rex Captain Rex](http://cdn001.cakecentral.com/gallery/2018/02/400x400_captain-rex-91565050R1R.jpg)
Captain Rex
This was my 4th year making Ewan's birthday cake. It's always fun to learn what the theme will be. This year the request was for Captain Rex from the Clone Wars. The suggestion was maybe his helmet along with his blaster. As luck would have it, my boyfriend's son has a toy Captain Rex helmet here at the house that I used as my model. The helmet is vanilla bean cake with vanilla buttercream. To help maintain the sharp edges, I covered it with chocolate ganache before covering it in fondant. The blaster is RKT covered in fondant and then brushed with some silver luster dust mixed with vodka to give it the worn appearance. I added the galactic republic logo for a little something extra since I wasn't covering the entire cake board.
kstevens
![Winter Cake Winter Cake](http://cdn001.cakecentral.com/gallery/2018/01/400x400_winter-cake-915650fPwm6.jpg)
Winter Cake
I made this cake a couple of weeks ago for the Chemistry Club’s “welcome to the start of winter term” potluck. Every year they have a Christmas potluck but this year for a couple of different reasons it had to be postponed until January. I went with a simple winter design and it ended up suiting the day perfectly as we got hit with a snowstorm the day before. The bottom tier was eggnog cake, the middle tier was gingerbread cake and the top tier was hot chocolate cake because it was made to look like a mug of hot chocolate. A lot of the students couldn’t decide which flavor they wanted so took a piece of each! Lol. As a side note, I’d like to thank Tanya Halas of Cake Heart Custom Cakes & Cupcakes for pointing me in the direction of Ellam Sugarcraft for the knit texture mold. This is my first time purchasing from them and the detail is crazy! You can even see the fiber details in it! They are also super great to do business with :-)
kstevens
![Mike's Birthday Cake Mike's Birthday Cake](http://cdn001.cakecentral.com/gallery/2017/12/400x400_mikes-birthday-cake-915650lZOL2.jpg)
Mike's Birthday Cake
This is my first cake of 2018. My friend Scott sent me a text on January 2nd saying he was already up for worst partner of the year as he had forgot Mike’s birthday was on Friday (5th). He wanted to know if I had any cakes in the freezer that I could decorate quick. I did not. I did a quick search online for something modern as that seemed to suit Mike and I found this design. It really caught my eye and I figured it would be easy’ish to do but look impressive. I’m not sure who the designer is as the photo did not have a watermark. I made it a bit more my own by texturing the middle tier with the lizard impression mat by Marvelous Molds, the original design was just plain black. I also changed up the number of gold hexagon accents and their placement and also added “Mike” on the bottom tier. They loved it :-)
kstevens
![Christmas Sweets Trays Christmas Sweets Trays](http://cdn001.cakecentral.com/gallery/2017/12/400x400_christmas-sweets-trays-915650VfcJ9.jpg)
Christmas Sweets Trays
These trays of sweets were by request from a local doctor and was my largest single order to date. It was a last minute order so I told her I wouldn’t be able to make anything overly fancy but that everything would taste good. In three nights I made three of the small size and seven of the large size for a total of 42.5 dozen sweets! The trays include gingerbread cookies, mocha trifle cookies, drop shortbread cookies, mini eggnog cupcakes and date squares, pumpkin cranberry bread or lemon cookie tarts.
kstevens
![Christmas Sweets Trays Christmas Sweets Trays](http://cdn001.cakecentral.com/gallery/2017/12/400x400_christmas-sweets-trays-915650cM0dE.jpg)
Christmas Sweets Trays
These trays of sweets were by request from a local doctor and was my largest single order to date. It was a last minute order so I told her I wouldn’t be able to make anything overly fancy but that everything would taste good. In three nights I made three of the small size and seven of the large size for a total of 42.5 dozen sweets! The trays include gingerbread cookies, mocha trifle cookies, drop shortbread cookies, mini eggnog cupcakes and date squares, pumpkin cranberry bread or lemon cookie tarts.
kstevens
kstevens
![Rudolph Cake Rudolph Cake](http://cdn001.cakecentral.com/gallery/2017/12/400x400_rudolph-cake-915650FD03c.jpg)
Rudolph Cake
By no means an original design, as these Rudolph cakes seem to be every bit as popular as the unicorn cakes they are modeled after, but nonetheless a fun one to make. This is the cake I made for the Retina Lab Christmas potluck this year. Gingerbread cake with modeling chocolate ears, card stock antlers and remaining details in both buttercream and fondant.
kstevens
![Nurse's Birthday Cake Nurse's Birthday Cake](http://cdn001.cakecentral.com/gallery/2017/12/400x400_nurses-birthday-cake-915650ngTGg.jpg)
Nurse's Birthday Cake
40th birthday cake for a lactation nurse. Her coworkers sent me an image of what they were looking for and I added a few different details to make it my own. The cake was affectionately named Nurse Boob by her coworkers who ordered it for her. Lol. The cake was accompanied by a dozen boob cupcakes that I decided not to include an image of.
kstevens
kstevens
![Celebration Cake Celebration Cake](http://cdn001.cakecentral.com/gallery/2017/12/400x400_celebration-cake-915650qNDZX.jpg)
Celebration Cake
This was a cake to celebrate the 100th year of our community center building. It started out as a general store in 1917 and in 1992 the (then vacant) building was donated to the community to become the community center. My initial idea was to make the cake look like a photo album with pictures of the building through the years but nobody came forward with photos to use to what you see is plan B.