Fish Pond

Since I haven't had any birthdays to bake for recently, here is one of my old cakes.

Ezekiel and the Valley of Dry Bones Cake

Ezekiel and the Valley of Dry Bones, (Check out the story in Ezekiel Chapter 37)
Or maybe I should call it the Mountain of Dry Bones...
Not my normal cake request, but it turned out pretty cute!

Appetizing, right?

Ezekiel, prophesying

More bones

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Cupcakes

My brother's birthday cupcakes

Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate filling, peanut butter frosting,
Reeses mini peanut butter cups, and a chocolate drizzle

Butterflies & Hearts

Soccer

Summer Garden

Tractors

Very Blue Cupcakes!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Fish!

For my fisherman brother

And, yes, I know, the scales are backwards...

Cute Dinosaurs

These were so much fun!

Home Sweet Home

This cake didn't turn out exactly right, but it was still cute. The main problem was I decided to use a pan lid for the frame of the roof. It looked perfect at first as I layered the tiles, but then I stuck it on the cake...the pan lid was a little too heavy and just a tiny bit too small.

Graduation Cupcakes

Here's an idea for the next graduation you have to make cupcakes for. These were for my brother's graduation. He actually was a student in an online school, thus the inspiration for the laptops. Just a hint for you if you want to try to make the laptops: I used a lego building block to imprint the buttons. Also, to save fondant, make cookie stars and letters instead.

Pigs in the Mud

This cake was lots of fun. I made it for my grandpa's birthday last week. My mom had found the idea on Pinterest and thought it was cute. When I couldn't decide what to make for Grandpa's birthday, she suggested this. I agreed, although I customized it a bit. The original cake idea, I believe, had five pigs. It didn't have the little blue bird, the sign, and the third pig reading. The original bow was a checkered pink. 

To make this cake, first bake two 8 in. round cakes. You'll have to cut the second cake down a bit so that the Kit-Kats will be taller than the cake. Either make your own or buy some chocolate frosting. (I just bought mine from the store. I think it tastes better than any chocolate frosting I could make.) Spread some of the frosting on top of the first cake, and then stack the second cake on top. Finish frosting the whole cake. Next stick the Kit-Kats around the entire edge of the cake. Make sure they are standing straight! I got a little off and had to trim the last Kit-Kat because I couldn't squeeze the bottom of it in. All total, I believe I used 39 Kit-Kats, so that would probably be about 10 packages depending on what size you get. If you buy the king size packages, you'll need 5. It's probably best to buy an extra package too, just in case you break some when you cut them a part. When you have all the Kit-Kats stuck on, tie a ribbon around the cake (I actually tied the bow separately and then taped it on to the ribbon).

Finally, stick the items of your choice on top the cake. I made pigs, but you could do all sorts of things. Change the frosting to a blue, and you would have a bucket of water. Add fish, ducks,  dolphins...whatever you want to it. You could also change it to a bucket of apples, candy, whatever! Just be creative!

Cupcake Wars!

I had a wonderful spring break at my grandparent's house last week. One of my cousins had the idea that we should do our own cupcake war together. After a little planning, the event took place, and everyone had a blast. All the cousins separated into 4 teams, 3 members on each. Grandma was the directer, Grandpa and my Dad the taste-testers, and all the aunts were the judges in the other areas: creativity, presentation, etc.

Ahead of time, Grandma and I baked a set of white cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes. We scoured the kitchen for any ingredient that might be good in a cupcake and spread them out on the counter. My big brother labeled all the ingredients for us. Next, four work stations were set up and necessary tools spread out on each table. Each team was given six cupcakes to decorate and fill: 3 white, 3 chocolate. Then we chose team names: Blue Ninjas, Black Knights, Pink Panthers, and Rainbow Stars.

Grandma started the war off by explaining the rules. Each team got a turn looking at the ingredients. Then a certain amount of time was given for a couple members on the teams to gather the ingredients they wanted to use. When all of the ingredients were gathered, the war began. Around 40 minutes were allotted for decorating.

Blue Ninjas at work

Rainbow Stars

The Black Knights

My not-so-pink Pink Panthers

When the decorating time was up, each team got a turn to present their cupcakes to the judges, explain their themes, and try to convince the judges whose cupcakes were best. Then the taste-testing began. Dad and Grandpa tore the cupcakes apart, analyzing flavor combinations and textures. Next the aunts got their turn at judging presentation, creativity, and use of theme. Before the final winners were announced, each team got one more chance to speak to the judges. *Drum roll, please* And the overall winners were...

The Blue Ninjas! Yum! Chocolate Delight and Banana Split! They also won in the taste category.

The winners for the creativity category were...

The Pink Panthers! The Cool Cats and Chocolate.

Next, the winners for presentation (which includes how the cupcakes were presented to the judges)...

The Black Knights! Theme: "Inspired by God's creation!" or as later dubbed, "The Surf and Turf."

And last but not least, for cooperation...

The Persuasive Rainbow Stars! The theme? Rainbow Stars, of course!

So tell me, which cupcakes would you like to try?

Redemption

This is cake is based off of a trading card game called Redemption. I wish I could tell you exactly how I made everything, but I didn't really follow any directions. I just formed or cut them out of fondant. The pale green half of the cake represents evil, and the dragon represents satan the deceiver. The chains represent how we become slaves to sin and our own sinful desires. Below the dragon's wing is the skull that represents death, the penalty of sin. On the blue side of the cake are the good things. The cross symbolizes Christ's sacrifice for us so that we can be forgiven of our sins. The Bible, the Word of God, reveals God's plan and desire for us, and finally the angel wings represent the eternal life we can have in heaven. The sword represents the sword of the spirit, discerning between good and evil.

Camping Cake

Sorry for not posting for so long. I haven't really done much cake stuff recently.

I really enjoy doing cakes like this one because of all the little details you can add to the cake. The trees are sugar cones that I covered using my star tip. The tent is graham cracker covered in chocolate fondant. The campfire and flowers are also fondant. To make sand, I crumbled up graham cracker (well, actually my brother offered to do that part for me). Finally, the water is piping gel dyed blue.