Spongebob and Friends at the Beach

I was given creative license to do a Spongebob and Friends cake - as long as there was a beach involved. :) Well, how could I pass that up?

The cakes were Devil's Food cake with a strawberry gourmet filling and whipped cream frosting - double layered 3/4 sheet and a 5" smash cake to match.

For the frosting, I ended up using Pastry Pride since I didn't know how long the cake would be unrefrigerated - it was really yummy! Go non-dairy product! The Pastry Pride colored beautifully with gel paste - I had planned to airbrush the scene, but since it's going to be my first time airbrushing, I thought it'd be best to wait on it and practice.

The sand is made from mixing raw sugar, light brown sugar and some gold sparkle dust - for depth and texture.

Smash Cake Front View

Smash Cake Side View

Sweet Trey always taking a photo with my latest creations!

View from the top

I made the characters out of fondant and gumpaste - I was to get into modelling chocolate, but for now, this is my go-to modelling medium. I used rice krispie treats for the wave for stability not only for the wave, but to help Spongebob and Gary surf upright! I also used very thin blocks of rice krispie treats to stabilize the characters - I'm not used to working with such light frosting - I was worried the figures would sink.

The initial plan was to have Mr. Krabs in the water floating with his head above water and one claw - calling to the Lifeguard Lobster Guy who's attention is otherwise occupied by a bikini-clad Sandy Cheeks Squirrel. I had also hoped to have Plankton building a sand castle on the side. In the end, I ran out of time but as I looked at the cake, I thought it would be way too busy had they been added. Speaking of Sandy, I had wanted to try blowing sugar for her breathing helmet - but in the images I used for reference, some of them she wasn't wearing it when she was in her bathing suit - so I left it off.

All in all, it was a super fun cake to make - and I enjoyed creating the characters and making them come to life.

Back Angle of Squidward burying Patrick in the sand

Front Angle of Squidward burying Patrick in the sand

Side Angle of Squidward burying Patrick in the sand

Sandy Cheeks and Lifeguard relaxing under the sun

Spongebob and Gary surfing

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Maya's Birthday

My friend and co-worker, Christine, was throwing a birthday party for her daughter Maya. It is an important ideal to their family to teach Maya about diversity, cultures and the world around us...what a neat idea for a theme! She asked to have a smash cake shaped like a globe with cupcakes topped with children from different countries.

I had a great time finding images on-line - I used some sketches from a stock photo site - and put a few changes to the details.

Grandma is still in the hospital - so again, I had a few challenges in terms of time management - as I was at the hospital a lot. But all in all, I was happy with the results. :)

Triple Birthday Celebration

If you've done the math right...you'll deduce that Trey had three birthday celebrations this year! Geez. The kid's gonna be sorely disappointed next year when he only has one! Hee hee!

Two friends from school (Grace and Anand) and Trey were all born within a few days of one another - so we decided to do a joint party since all the same kids were being invited anyhow. The party was at Aerial Gymnastics and the kids had a blast!

Since the guests of honor were both girl and boy, we decided on an ocean theme. Each birthday kiddo got a smash cake - my favorite was the shark. The cakes were covered with Satin Ice and the decorations were Satin Ice as well. The cuppies were of course coordinated with flair! There are close ups of the chocolate sea creatures for your viewing pleasure! :) My only regret is that the super-cute jellyfish and turtles blended into the frosting since the colors were too similar.

I also made chocolate sea creature lollipops for the goodie bags (using the Sealife Wilton candy mold)...but of course, taking the photos slipped my mind as we were in a rush to get out the door with three kids, presents, three dozen cuppies and three smash cakes! :(






Some cuppies for the parents...


The smash cakes...





A face like this makes it all worth it!

Superheroes!

Trey and Brody had a joint birthday party - I can't believe my Lovies are 2 and 4!
The party was at Oak Meadow Park in Los Gatos - family and close buddies came to help celebrate. Auntie Ann and Uncle Jiro were kind enough to supply the entertainment - The Amazing Michael! I think the entire park came to watch as he juggled his heart out!

The boys requested Spiderman and Batman cakes - so I coordinated the cuppies to have the logos - all in chocolate. YUM! Thanks to Uncle Ray for taking photos - I was so frazzled that day that I forgot to take any of the finished products!







The cakes were switched (my mistake) so Spiderman cake was supposed to be Brody's. Trey blew out the right candles, but to those who didn't know, it looked like he blew out Brody's! Brody was so confused...not understanding why Trey was insisting he blow out the cake in front of Trey! Brody really took the phrase "smash cake" to heart! Here's the cake about 5 seconds after blowing the candles out!