Bishop's Installation

I recently traveled to Springfield to deliver this cake for a Bishop's Installation. The cocktail reception for 200 was held at the Old State Capital Building. Because of the location of the party, it was requested that the design of the cake reflect Abraham Lincoln. The base tier of the cake is representative of Lincoln's log cabin. I actually used chocolate Pirouette cookies to create the log effect. The second tier has custom made fondant pennies, alternating Lincoln's profile and the Lincoln Memorial. The third tier is a traditional Presidential swag followed by Lincolns signature black top hat. I also chose to include a picture of the building itself. Aside from being honored to create a cake for this special event, I was equally moved by the majestic beauty of this building.

Pink and Zebra Print Wedding Cake

The design of this cake was a collaborative effort between both the bride and I. When a bride has an idea of what she wants for a cake, I will typically sketch 3 or 4 options for her to pick from. This time, the bride took elements from each of my designs and added her own twist to it, creating the cake pictured above. This cake was adorned with a multitude of Swarovski crystals on the top and base tiers. The light pink found in the second tier was used throughout her reception. The zebra print gave it a fun and playful feel. The pink crystal studded topper was created by Heaven on Earth.

Yellow and White Summer Flower Wedding

My Bride-to-Be for this particular cake loved the look of gum paste flowers. She wanted a wedding cake that showcased the flowers but was also soft and summery. The design I created had over 100 white sugar flowers on the second and top tier. A handmade, gum paste sugar flower bouquet topped the cake. Additionally, the bride surprised her groom with a tuxedo grooms cake. It was a chocolate cake filled with fresh strawberries and topped with tuxedo dipped strawberries.

Chocolate, Black and Ivory Cupcakes

For this wedding 200 cupcakes were made in alternating chocolate and ivory buttercream swirls. Additionally, a black monogram E, handmade from gum paste, topped each cupcake. The 8" buttercream cake was decorated with polka dots and swirls.

Black, White and Turquoise Wedding

The look for this cake/cupcake combination was inspired by my display cake from the Civic Center show in January. Rather than a damask pattern for the cake, I used the table linen as inspiration for the design. 50 cupcakes frosted in a basic turquoise buttercream swirl accompanied the two tiered cake.

Black, White and Green Damask Wedding

This cake might look familiar to some who have followed my blog. It is actually the display cake from the Civic Center's Wedding Showcase back in January with a slight face lift. Green accents were added to this cake. Throughout the tiered display were green Led lights. Additionally, over 180 cupcakes accompanied the cake, frosted in a low profile buttercream swirl. The flanking cupcake stands were designed to compliment the look of the reception tables where some had black and white damask runners or solid black linens accented with green sashes. Save the Date did a beautiful job creating this very swanky, upscale reception.

Super Mario Wedding Cake

This is my most non-traditional wedding cake for the year. The bride and groom are gamers and were in love with a particular cake design done by Christopher Garren. I modeled the basic cake structure from his cake but then designed each tier differently. The base tier is a combination of different game elements from the First World. Custom made fondant super coins, mushrooms, star coins and even a Yoshi were included. The winter scene represents the intro screen to the Third World which included Toad Houses, the Cannon and a Winter Turtle. Fondant Wii controls were added as accents to this tier. The sphere is representative of Super Mario Galaxy which leads to the Princess Peach's castle. Atop the castle was a cute Mario cake topper the groom bought and surprised the bride with.

Will you.....? Dress Cookies

How cute are these cookies?!? I cannot take credit for the design. My bride-to-be found these cookies on line and asked if I could make them. Each cookie is customized for the particular wedding party person. In total, we had cookies for the Maid of Honors, Bridesmaids, Flower Girls, Jr. Bridesmaid, Mother of the Bride and Mother of the Groom.

Brown and Pink Present

Fondant present designed with a brown and white polka dot lid and coordinating pink and brown striped wrapping paper.

Blue Hat Box

This vintage blue hat box was made to celebrate a wedding shower. My customer filled the box with the theme "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue".

First Communion Cookies

Cookies were decorated in a pale mint royal icing with each child's name who took their first communion.

Good Night Moon

The Good Night Moon cake was made for a baby shower. I was so excited to make this cake. My son loved this book when he was little. The entire cake was covered in fondant with fondant design pieces such as the red balloon, phone, bunny, bed, etc. For the purposes of the picture, I only placed a few wired stars in the cake. There were actually many more that the customer placed on the cake once it reached its destination.

Peacock Cake

This was such a fun cake to create. My bride for this cake was one of the most laid back, casual persons I have ever met. So much so that the direction I got for this cake was that she wanted a peacock theme as well as something fun and funky. That was it. She wanted the cake to be a surprise and trusted my design instincts. Yikes! Each tier stood approximately 8" high making the entire cake just shy of 3'.

Eat, Drink and be Married

My bride to be loved the expression "Eat, Drink and be Married" so we figured out a fun, whimsical way to incorporate that with her cake. Because she didnt need a lot of cake servings, the bottom two layers of the cake were created out of fabric and designed to coordinate with the top, edible layers.

Additionally, the father of the bride wanted to do something very special for his daughter and future son-in-law. He surprised the couple at the reception with the Donald Duck cake and Colts helmet, both having sentimental value. Donald was made from rice cereal treats and the Colts Helmet was butter pecan cake with a fudge filling and coffee buttercream. Yum!

Easter Basket

This cake was designed as a table centerpiece for Easter for one of my clients. The basket weave is done out of buttercream with a fondant handle. The easter eggs were made from fonant and hand painted. The basket was also adorned with jelly beans and real chocolate candy and green buttercream grass.

Bloomington Doubletree Wedding Show

In February the Doubletree hotel in Bloominton hosted a bridal show. Working with Sound and Light Creations and Heaven on Earth, this display cake was designed to coordinate with these fantastic vendors decor. Between the square base and three round tiers, this cake is spec'd to serve approximately 230 slices.

Morton Chamber

The cake and cupcakes for this event were designed around the theme for the Morton Chamber of Commerce. For this "Splash" event, a custom fondant water splash was created to mimic the table centerpieces. Cupcakes were frosted in coordinating blue and green swirls.

Eiffel Tower

Bonjour mes amis! Joyeux Anniversaire! By far, one of my most challenging birthday cakes and I absolutely LOVE the way this turned out! To be frank, when this order came in I was very intimidated by the potential complexity of the cake. It took about a week to create this cake, starting with a multitude of drawings and breaking down the various elements of the Tower. I then made templates and began cutting out my gumpaste structure. The bottom of the Tower is alternating layers of white and chocolate cake with fudge filling. The middle and top tiers are completely constructed from gum paste. The cake was then airbrushed in an edible silver paint.

Seashell Cupcake Wedding

Rather than a wedding cake, this bride and groom opted for cupcakes. Each coconut cupcake has a turquoise butter cream swirl and is either topped with a seashell, sand dollar, star fish or pearls that were hand sculpted from fondant and gum paste. The creation of these toppers took approximately 4 hours for 170 cupcakes.

John Deere Wedding Cake

A not so traditional cake, this John Deere tractor was modeled off of the couples actual tractor. Because the bride and groom were offering a dessert bar, they decided to have a smaller wedding cake created that completely represented them.

Wedding of a Lifetime 2010

This beautiful 5 tiered wedding cake was displayed at the Wedding of a Lifetime show at the Civic Center. Due to scheduling conflicts, I could not have an official booth this year. Thankfully, Sound and Light Creations, as well as Save the Date found space for me in their booth. This cake was designed specifically for the show. The cakes are covered in fondant and the black demask pattern is piped in royal icing. The cupcakes are frosted in a pink buttercream. This design can easily be scaled to accomodate any brides style, color and servings.

Square Red Rose Cake

A 3 tier, buttercream wedding cake with fresh red roses and silver accent ribbon. The bride surprised her groom with a MMA fight glove groom cake.