This is the first specialty cake I ever made. 

My sister wanted a can of chew for her husband's birthday and was sure I was the one for the job. Me, I wasn't to sure, but I had faith in her faith in me and gave it a try. 

Shown is a picture on the lid which is chocolate cake with caramel frosting. I thought is gave a nice, bronze color. 

Here is a shot of the whole cake.​

The can is a 3 layer, 12" chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. I drew up the label on my computer and had it printed on frosting sheets. The chew is shaved chocolate, and I used some dowels to hold up the lid.

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Here is a cake for an aunt's 50th birthday.​

The cake is chocolate. My cousin told me how my aunt used to make mocha frosting so I gave it a try for the cake's filling and crumb coat. I also made a latte frosting (no chocolate) for the sand and vanilla frosting for the water. This cake was not Nay friendly and I didn't get to try it, but it smelled amazing.​

This cake used a doll cake pan for her dress and a sacrificed, ​suffer girl Barbie for the top. It is set on of a 12" base.

I made some fondant flowers for around her waist and the bottom of her skirt and some chocolate shells for decorating around the table.

This cake for my aunt's 60th birthday was a fun challenge.

It had a small, 6" chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and covered in fondant for the crown. I had to narrow down the sides and carve out the notches on the front. 

If I were to do another one, I would use gum paste instead of fondant for the rim, as gum paste dries more quickly and sets harder. The fondant didn't fully dry, even having been made days before the party, and we had to prop the rim up.​ It still looked good, and a few people mistook it for a real hat.

This sand castle cake was made for a tropical themed party.

The honoree was not a fan of chocolate, which was a challenge for me. We decided on yellow cake with strawberry filling and lemon frosting. The sand is a 'Nilla​ Wafers crumb crust. It was delicious. 

​We finished the cake off with some chocolate shells that I made. The kids at the party helped decorate. The host also bought some good quality chocolate shells to compliment the cake.

I made this cake for my daughter's Star Wars fifth birthday party.​

There are 5 layers of 6" cakes for the body.​ Each layer was sliced lengthwise and filled with either strawberry or blueberry filling. I used half of a sport ball cake pan set for the dome. The icing is a lemon flavored shortening icing.

I used Rice crispy treats for the legs. It took me a few tries, but I finally got something that worked. They still did not turn out as stiff and I was hoping. If I were to do it again, I would use a double batch for each leg. ​ They are being held onto the cake with dowels stuck into the cake, pretty much resting on a cardboard cake circle.

What better to go with a pirate birthday party than a pirate ship cake?​

This one is all chocolate with candy and pretzel decorations, complete with Pirouette cannons, Hershey Treasure... well... treasures, Reese's pieces filled chests, peanut butter cup crow's nest, and Twizzle pull-apart trim. My cousin bought some pirate figurines to add some liveliness.

I baked two 9 x 13 cakes and cut one up to make up the shape. I would probably give this cake an extra layer on the bottom, next time.

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This one was my my nephew's Mine Craft party. It was very last minute, but thought it would be easy and fun, so I gave it a go. 

I used a 9x13 pan and cut out the cake from below his arms and used that cake to make his head. I think it worked pretty well. 

The cake was chocolate, and most of the frosting is vanilla. I made up some chocolate frosting for the dark brown and mixed a little of it with the vanilla for that light brown.  I bought a tube of black from the grocery store for the feet.

He said it was his favorite part of the party and thanked me a few times. Well worth it. 

I am so happy with how this cake for my cousin's baby shower turned out.

The teddy bear is a mini cake of it's own on a 12" base. I sliced the base and filled it with more chocolate frosting. For the pink on top, I piped a circle of pink icing around the cake, filled in the middle, and smoothed it out.

I decided to make some chocolate candy rocking horses, diaper pins, and baby booties for accents. I had no idea what a tedious task that would be, but it was well worth it.

​This was done for a friend as the couple's groom's bake.

It is red velvet cake (brides, remember to consider your dress when deciding on a cake that's dyed red)​, cream cheese frosting, and covered in fondant.

The design on the top is made of tiny gum paste flowers and leaves.​ The flowers and ribbon were dusted in luster dust to give them a silvery look.

I mixed the fondant color, myself, which I was surprisingly happy with. Satin Ice's web site has a great guide for mixing their fondant, and it gave me a great starting point.

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After the success of my daughter's first, standing R2-D2 cake, she requested another one. With a much smaller crowd, and not as much time, I opted for a "quick and easy" version.

I used a 10" pan for the base and half of a sports ball pan set for the dome, which is about 6". Cake and frosting are chocolate, and I  covered in fondant.

For this cake, I tried something new. I didn't want one big, solid dome of cake so I found a way to put a layer of frosting in the middle. 

I made two horizontal slices half way up the dome, about a 1/4 inch apart. Then, I removed the top and hollowed out the new middle layer of cake, leaving about a 1/4 inch  ring of cake around the outside. I filled the ring with frosting and put the top layer back on. It worked pretty well.

This one was for my littlest girl's 5th birthday. I was planning on doing a sculpted one, but ended up spending that time making a Asoka Tano costume, instead. That, and my non-dairy frosting was not cooperating with me.

This was a 6" cake for the head, topped with a dome from a Wilton sports ball cake. The base was an 8" round cake. All of it is was yellow cake with strawberry filling and valilla frosting.

I freehanded the details. I was lucky enough to have found a Captain Rex max to have for reference. 

This cake earned many stares at the skating rink. I'll take that as a compliment. 

This was a fun one. My niece let me know how she would like it designed, and I think it turned out just how she wanted.

The bottom layer is yellow cake with buttercream frosting. The top is chocolate with Nay-friendly chocolate frosting. The whole thing is covered in fondant.

I colored fondant for the dots and ribbon with gel food coloring. I set a little aside and added tragacanth gum to it to make it into a gum paste for the the 18.

I loved how this one turned out. 

This is a split, 6"  chocolate cake with Dream Whip and fresh strawberries. I used rice milk with the Dream Whip and added a little meringue  powder to help stabilize it. My little girl loved it.

A simple birthday cake with rosettes done for a friend

I found this cute idea online and had to give it a try. I wrangled my movie watching/baking pal to help me out. 

She designed the cupcake wrappers and we printed them and cut them out. I would use some store bought wrappers, next time, as these got grease stained.

The cupcakes are chocolate. We frosted them lightly with some yellow colored buttercream. Then we topped them with marshmallows tossed with the buttercream. Very cute, easy, and fun.

Oh, I think this one is my favorite! 

This is an 8" cake. I used the Hershey Perfectly Chocolate recipe for the cake, a simple ganache for the frosting, and a peanut butter frosting for the middle. I had quite a bit of filling left over so I put it on top. I am really happy with how it turned out.

A tribute to Michael Jackson for a birthday. The top is his legs in his classic "on toes" pose. Around the outside are silhouettes of Michael.

This cake was done for a wedding. The figures on top are from the game Halo. The balls around the top of the bottom layer are cake balls on sticks stuck in to the cake. They make for fun grab and eat treats for the kids.

Strawberry frosting with sprinkles applied by the four year old who requested the cake 

Black Forest Cherry Cake! Inspired to make this recipe by the movie "Young Frankenstein", this cake is amazing. This was a first take on it and the follow up looks even better!

The follow up to the original! The chocolate spread across the top has a better chopped look and less like it was ground and each cherry sits in its own rosette.

Wow, this one was a lot of work. 

It all started when my sister asked me to do her wedding cake. I reminder her that I was not a professional and that I had limits. She was willing to work with them in order to have her cake done by me. 

I was quite nervous so I took this one in baby steps. We started off with a taste test for the cake recipes. I found some great things at www.woodlandbakeryblog.com , and along with some of my own favorites, we gave it a try. For the 8", 10", 12" and 14" cakes, they decided on vanilla cake with blueberry filling, apple spice cake with apple pie filling, marble cake with chocolate mousse filling, and chocolate cake with chocolate mousse and strawberry filling, all topped with Woodland Bakery's wonderful Swiss meringue buttercream frosting.

We then did a trial run for the whole cake. I learned how much of each of my recipes I would need, to help make the real deal go more smoothly. We also learned some designed ideas just didn't work.  Thank goodness for the trial run.

Black fondant was used for the decorations. I  was very happy to find a fondant mold my sister liked to help me with the job. The buttercream held up so well, I was able to just place the pieces straight onto the freshly frosted cake. After being the the refrigerator, the frosting set up nicely, and the decorations didn't go anywhere. Next time, I would leave some more room toward the bottom of the layers for the border. 

I took the finished layers to the ceremony and assembled it there. If you ever do this. don't forget your turntable!

The flowers are fresh. I simply piped a thick border of frosting along the bottom and pressed the 3" stems into it. 

This cake was a lot of work, a lot on my mind for months, a lot of trial and error, and a huge personal accomplishment. My sister was happier with it than she was even with the trial run, and I couldn't have wished for it to turn out better, given my skill level.

Many, many thanks to Gretchen from Woodland Bakery for all of her wonderful recipes and videos. This cake would not have happened without you.