Backyardigans

 Here's my newest creation!

It's called a "Frozen Buttercream Transfer."
So far, it's the coolest thing I've done!

I started with a photo of the Backyardigans covered with wax paper and taped to a flat cutting board. I did black and white because I didn't want to waste colored ink, but I left the computer on with the image next to me so I could compare colors.

Starting with home-made buttercream frosting, I mixed all the colors of the characters and their clothes. Some colors were left to make at the end - such as dark blue, which I made using the leftover light blue. Starting with white and black, I used a #2 tip to make the eyes of each character. Next, with light blue, I used the same tip to fill in Austin's shirt. Once all areas with light blue were covered, I darkened it to color Pablo. 

From there I worked on each character progressing by which color was the lightest so I could use the leftover for another color - such as yellow turning into orange, etc. 

Here's the nearly finished product before filling in the background with white and wrote the birthday girl's name (backwards, unfortunately!). Once filled in with white, I used a baker's spatula to smear and press down the image so all air pockets would be filled. Last, I put the image in the freezer on the cutting board for a couple hours.

This is the final product before being pulled away from the wax paper. I'm totally impressed by how much the characters look real! This is such a great way to make a cake when character pans aren't available and you're not the best artist.

Here's the completed cake!

I added swirls on the top edges and a solid line along the bottom.

Here's the cupcakes to go with the cake. 

Made with help of J (The 4 year old I take care of!)

Credit goes to...
http://cakecentral.com/tutorial/how-to-create-a-frozen-buttercream-transfer

Lightening McQueen

I made this Lightening McQueen Cake for a third birthday. 

First, I baked a basic yellow cake with red and blue sprinkles. I mixed very little "Royal Blue" with my white icing. I covered the windows and lights with white and blue icing in their respective places.

Next, I mixed "Black" with chocolate frosting and outlined the details of Lightening McQueen.

I filled in the tires next because they required such small detailing. I also outlined the lightening bolt and started the eyes.

Using "No-Taste Red" with most of my white icing, I made the icing the most vibrant red possible. This required mixing and cooling in the fridge periodically. Not sure why cooling worked, but it made the color more vibrant each time. Once the icing was as red as I wanted, I covered the cake. Next, I mixed "Lemon Yellow" with some white icing and "Orange" with the rest, and finished the last pieces of Lightening McQueen.

 This is the 3-year old so excited about his cake!

Canadians Hockey

My daddy is 50!

And a big Canadians Hockey fan!

I did the whole uniform free hand!

He had never seen any of my cakes before,

besides by picture,

and he was totally surprised!

Pooh Bear Cake

I made this Pooh Bear Cake for C's first birthday.
(The little boy I take care of!) 

This was the first character cake I had ever made 
and I'm so happy with how it came out.


After baking a basic yellow cake in the Pooh Bear cake pan, I used chocolate frosting to outline the character and details.

Next, I added "Golden Yellow" icing color to half of my white icing and filled in Pooh.

 I split the rest of the white icing and added "No-Taste Red" to one half and "Royal Blue" to the other. I covered the shirt and #1 before deciding that the sides should be covered with the matching colors, instead of white as the directions had suggested.

This is the finished cake ready to have it's candle blown out!

Everyone at the party loved it!

Nurse Graduation

Here's the Nurse Graduation cake I made 

for my mom's friend's daughter!

I started with chocolate melt replicas of 

letters and different medical tools...

bandaids, thermometer,

pill bottle, etc.

 This was my second tiered cake. 

The family loved it and everyone said

it tasted great!

Animal

Our friend is a huge fan of Animal

from The Muppets!

I made these for him for his 30th birthday!

His mom made his cake!

Thanksgiving 2011

These are Gluten-Free cupcakes I made right before Thanksgiving.

 For Thanksgiving, I took on my FIRST tiered cake!

I used chocolate melts for the leaves.

 This is the cake I'm most proud of!