Fire Truck Cupcakes

Update! I'm thrilled that Cupcakes Take the Cake blogged about these cupcakes on March 27. Thanks!

I've always had a thing for firemen (they're the only guys who can really pull off a mustache), and now I have a thing for gumpaste fire trucks. My search for a MINI fire truck cookie cutter was fruitless, so I had to improvise and make my own.

Cupcakes are vanilla bean with vanilla buttercream, fire trucks are gumpaste. Couldn't decide if the ladders looked best up or down (Doug said up, I thought down) so I did some of both. Handpainted the number 4 with food coloring. If I make them again I'd probably use some silver dust to make the number pop a little more.

(btw - I love these cupcake boxes and holders. They make any cupcake look that much better)

Dylan's Jungle Cake

Making and decorating cakes always makes me happy, but today's cake makes me SUPER happy. I love when the finished cake turns out better than I imagined it would.

The cake is vanilla bean, with vanilla buttercream and strawberry jam filling. Decorations are made with gumpaste and royal icing. I got new cutters for this project from Amazon - the giraffes are my favorite. Although my brother thought the yellow creature on top was either a hippo or cow, it's a very short-necked giraffe. That and the monkey are also made from gumpaste.

Jaden's Basketball Cake

Vanilla bean cake with vanilla buttercream. Basketballs are made from gumpaste and royal icing. The basketball lollipops are my favorite. As usual, the photos are so great because Doug took them.

Sam's Penguin Cake

Sam's mom wanted a simple chocolate cake for a small family party she was having for his second birthday. Then she mentioned that he was really into penguins, so we decided on a chocolate cake, chocolate buttercream, with a couple of gumpaste penguins and snowballs as decorations.

I searched on flickr for ideas, but nothing jumped out at me, so I did a little experimenting.

(the poor guy on the right ended up getting the boot)

Sam has an older brother, so I decided to make a whole family of penguins. His mom tells me that three have survived - the older brother ate the biggest one, but soon realized that although gumpaste is edible, it really doesn't taste very good!

(yes, those white things are supposed to be snowballs, not eggs, like my husband and son thought)

The birthday penguin and his party crown