RUSSELL GRADUATION CAKE

First Raven got married (in January... I did their cake!), and now she has graduated from college... right alongside her older brother Max!

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This cake was up to me -- I knew I did NOT want to do a traditional graduation cake. No mortar boards, no diplomas, no cheesy writing. I wanted elegance and something very Russell-like. I was first inspired by the rich colors of their home... browns, jewel tones, golds and caramels, and texture. I tried chocolate marshmallow fondant for this cake, and I really liked not only the taste (***YUM!!!***), but the cocoa powder gave an almost antique-looking finish to the chocolate fondant, which I loved and will use again!

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The braid and the sea star shapes are a nod to Seaside, Oregon, where the Russell family is from... a loose nautical theme for being so incredibly close to the ocean. The drapery (marshmallow fondant) was a nod to the graduation robes, and at the party I found out Raven's honors ropes she wore were red and green. *I rule!*

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I posted two photos with different lighting, because this cake was extremely hard to get good photos of! Enjoy.

HELLO KITTY BIRTHDAY GIRL!!

Here is the birthday girl with her Hello Kitty cake!! Happy 7th, Emily Rose!!!


And then here is the proof I have the coolest in-laws in the world....
MY BIRTHDAY/MOM'S DAY/JUST BECAUSE PRESENT:

***********AGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!***********

YESSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!! What an awesome present!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't wait to use it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My hands will never get blisters again from mixing icing!!!

He is beautiful.

I have named him Graham.

He is my mighty Grahaminator.

HELLO KITTY and CHOCOCAT!!

Emily Rose is turning 7 -- May 2 is the day (it's just after midnight as I type this, so it's her birthday officially!!).... she wanted "a rainbow cake with Hello Kitty and Chococat holding hands, and flowers."

And so here we go... the icing is ready:



I made pink magic wands out of fondant for the girls. We'll add ribbon to the sticks. Flowers and everything are made from fondant.

A army of flowers:

The cake before:

WOO!!! Sky and grass!!

Adding the rainbow:

Adding the best friends:

A close-up of the kitties:

A side view... really digging the colors here!!

*hello!*

I can't wait for her to see the cake in the morning!!!!

JACK IN THE GARDEN

I made this for a little girl named Beth who turned 2 today... Enjoy!
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Here is Jack, the tuxedo kitty Beth loves to chase though the house. He is made entirely of fondant, with a toothpick to help hold his head steady. LOL
His eyes are yellow fondant, but then I painted on his cat's eyes. *meow*


Roses for the garden -- the dark ones are actually a lavender color, but I am having issues with my camera and the color lavender right now.

Here is Beth...not quite done yet. Still needs a sleeve, arms, a head, feet...

Inside the cake...Hershey's chocolate cake with pink frosting.

Fondant frilly leaves waiting to go on the cake:

When my son saw these this morning he said, "Mom! Did you buy these?" Nope -- all made from fondant except their little antenna.

Getting ready to install the garden... call the landscaping crew!

I added some grass around the base of the fence:

A top view:

All done!!

More views:

Some things to do differently next time: the characters were SUPER HEAVY and so next time I would use fondant-covered cardboard to create a platform for them. I would also put the roses and leaves on at the same time. And for the next fun garden cake, I will make bees and stick them up on the end of skewers so they are flying through the air! buzzzzzzzzzz

This entire cake was made using marshmallow fondant... SO GOOD! I figured out the secret --add shortening and you retain that elasticity the Wilton fondant has, but at a fraction of the price. So: 16 oz. mini marshmallows, 2 pounds of powdered sugar, three tablespoons of water, 1 tablespoon of clear vanilla, and half a cup of Crisco -- melt everything (except the powdered sugar) in the microwave for about 2 minutes, then stir in the powdered sugar. I am doing it by hand and still getting it done. Oh, and coat everything in Crisco before you start -- the mixing bowl, the stirring spoon, the table... haha

So for 3 pounds of marshmallow fondant, you spend less than $4 and time vs. $20 for 5 pounds of Wilton fondant that half of the people surveyed don't like the taste of. Hmmm......

Another month and I'm ordering my Kitchen Aid mixer!! My hands are killing me!! haha

IT FINALLY HAPPENED

Reason #8,572 I need a Kitchen Aid mixer... tonight while making marshmallow fondant by hand with a wooden spoon, I got a blister. Seriously.

Onward and upward... LOL

This weekend -- Beth is turning 2 and no 2-year-old's party would be complete without a gorgeous Garden Cake. She loves our cat Jack, a black-and-white tuxedo guy, and he and Beth will be on the cake together. Jack is done, so I'm working on a Sugary-Sweet Beth!!

Bake on!!!
Cynthia

RIVER OF ROSES

Making the roses - tinted fondant mixed with Gum-Tex. This is my rose-making world: the pan full of rice covered in foil and plastic so I have somewhere to stick the works-in-progress, more cut and ready to transform into roses, and the all-important cookie cutter.



I love making these! Each one is so different!

This is the final cake I made for my Wilton class... the fondant is handmade marshmallow fondant and tastes great!! I love how this turned out, even though I had no plan and just sort of put it together in class. LOL

SPACE ALIEN CAKE!

My first black fondant cake...so exciting. :-)

Adding a moon....

I added an Earth and then a sort-of red Saturn-type planet.

Adding space doo-hickies (yes, that is the technical term).

The stars have been waiting for a few days now.

Here is Murphy the Martian! How cute is he? I added balls the same color for the bottom border. Alien eggs, maybe? *haha*

Murphy... so cute....

I love how 3-D this one turned out! *sweet*

This cake is for a little boy turning 4!!

All decorations are made from ready-made Wilton fondant.

LAVENDER PRESENT CAKE!

I did this pretty little cake for my second Wilton Cake Class -- Course 3. I love it!! All the decorations are made from fondant and the kids left it alone for a few hours before the ribbons started getting eaten... so, good job, guys! LOL

ORANGE DINOSAUR INVASION!!

My daughter Mary Pearl turned 5 on February 10th and wanted an orange dinosaur cake for her birthday.... *RAWR*
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Sugar cookies... orange color-flow icing with purple fun accents... these were totally fun to do and I will be practicing more with this!


Getting ready to make the cake!

Rocks and fern fronds made out of fondant!

Outlining the dinosaur. Next time I will use an icing one shade darker than the main color to outline. Live and learn. LOL

All done!!! I love this pan -- thank you, Heather, for cleaning house and passing it to us!