And the Answer is.....

On my last post I asked you to look at the picture and try to guess what I was making. Well, I'm sad to say that no one got it right... in fact no one even commented or dared to guess!!! I can't say that I blame you for not trying, they really were weird looking things! LOL

Ok, you've waited long enough. Here's the answer.... BUZZARDS!!!!!! :D

I had a total blast doing this cake! My client asked for an "Over the Hill" birthday cake, but gave me the freedom to decorate it anyway I wanted. Preferring to make something besides the usual "Grim Reaper/grave yard" or the "Road of Life" cake, I decided to go out on a limb. (Hahaha... get it? Buzzards.... tree... limb! Hahaha) So this is what I came up with:

As I put this cake together, I caught myself giggling out loud several times. When I saw the buzzard on top of the cake with his head hanging down right above the "You Old Buzzard" sign... it just make me chuckle! I laughed so much that my daughter thought I was loosing it! They loved the cake and I found that helping someone celebrate their 40th birthday was a real hoot!!!

Get it? Hoot... bird... buzzard? Ok... I'm done. ;)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Mr. Peacock!

Last Tuesday, my son came to me and asked if I'd make a birthday cake for his friend. He said she'd never had a homemade cake, only a cake bought from the store. I didn't have much going on that week and no cakes were on the schedule... so I said yes. Then he began telling me he needed it by Friday... and that she really likes peacocks. Oh yeah... and that he'd like it to be a checkerboard cake!

Ummmm... I began to sweat just a little. (Bless his heart, I'm sure he didn't realize how much work this cake was going to be.) I'd never made a peacock cake before, but I thought it would be a fun cake to decorate. Plus I could put on my blog. Ohhhhhhh, the things I'll do for my my son and my followers! ;)

If you've ever decorated a fancy cake, you know it can take quite a while to do. It's usually not a project you can finish in a day or two or even three. I began thinking about ALL those peacock feathers... the head & body of the bird... trying to make the fondant look like feathers... mixing those amazing peacock colors... then there's designing the rest of the cake! Well, I knew I was going to be very busy for the next few days!

My terrific son helped out by baking the cake for me. It was a strawberry and vanilla checkerboard cake. He did a great job and the cake turned out perfect.

In the end, I only had one really late night and finished Mr. Peacock in plenty of time. My son's friend loved the cake! Her family even invited all the neighbors over to take a look. She said the cake was too pretty, and that she didn't want to cut into it. They did finally eat it after a couple of days.

Later she gave me a cute hand written card. In the card she thanked me and said it was "honestly" the best birthday present she'd ever received!
(That warmed my heart.)

Bird Cage Cake

Sometimes people ask me where I get ideas for my cakes. My honest answer is... everywhere. I can get inspiration from fabric, paper, drawings, jewelry, pictures, clothing, colors, different techniques, home decorating, crafts, and even the hardware store! The possibilities are endless!!!

This bird cage cake has always been one of my favorites. It was soooo much fun to decorate! I made it for my daughter's 18th birthday. When I asked her what she wanted, she told me she wanted a cake with bird cages as the theme.

Hmmmmm, there are a lot of cakes with birds on them, but bird cages??? I wasn't quite sure what to do, so I went to Google... of course. I typed in "bird cage drawings" and clicked on Google images. Then I began searching. Wham! There it was... right away I found my inspiration! These drawings jumped out at me because #1. they're adorably cute and  #2. I knew she'd love the color combination. (Her bedroom has the same colors.) I usually have to change things quite a bit to meet my needs, but these colors were already perfect... I love it when things are simplified for me!

Here are the drawings I found on Google images.

I love the way this cake combined different techniques... quilling, applique, and harlequin decorating. It was the first time I'd attempted quilling. (The flat ribbons of fondant that are looped and curled.) My quilling was very simple, but there are some gorgeous cakes out there with very intricate quilling patterns. So maybe in the future I'll attempt a more difficult design.

Next time you're fresh out of ideas for cakes... "Google it". You might just like what you find!!!