Max's iPad cake

My first born turned 8 on Wednesday and for the first time in four years, he didn't request a racetrack cake or some sort of New York Mets themed design. Nope, he's a big boy now and aimed much higher - my all-things-electronic-obsessed sweet boy requested an iPad cake, specifically an iPad2 cake, just like the one I have and rarely let him use.

As usual, photos taken by the world's best cake picture taker (and my husband) Doug Schneider.

Side by side with the real thing (realized after the fact that I should have changed my wall paper so it matched a little better, oh well!)

close up: the Facebook, foursquare, Photo and iPod buttons are my favorite

I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, even though the NY area was in the middle of a crazy heat wave and his party was at a local swimming pool (at least 95 degrees in the shade!)  We kept the cake in the refrigerator as long as possible, but even after 5 minutes it started to look a little shiny and melty. But it was a lot of fun to make and I'd love to make another one soon!  The cake was vanilla bean with a layer of melted chocolate and chocolate and vanilla swirl buttercream (another request from the birthday boy). Cake covered in fondant and all the app buttons were hand made from gumpaste.

Happy birthday, sweet boy! I can't wait to find out what you've got in mind for next year's cake!

Update on Monday, June 13, 2011 at 1:52PM by Sara

Thanks to Brand 66 for the mention!

Mets! Mets! Mets!

Let me start by saying I am NOT a sports fan - not even a little bit. I seem to have lost the gene that makes me care about grown men (and women) hitting/throwing/chasing some sort of ball around a field/rink/court.

That said, my 7 yr old is a big sports fan, thanks to his sports fan father (the 3 yr old isn't that interested yet, but I'm sure his time will come), and after three years of race track cakes, decided his 7th birthday should feature his favorite baseball team, The New York Mets, and their mascot, Mr. Met.

But this wasn't a completely original idea. I made this cake a couple weeks before - totally edible (if not completely palatable) Mr. Met out of gumpaste. Cake was vanilla bean with vanilla buttercream, fondant baseball diamond.

The weather was warm and poor Mr. Met was in danger of toppling over a couple of times, and was very happy that I provided him with an extra stack of bases to keep him upright.

Since the summer was getting hotter and Mr. Met doesn't seem to respond well to hot weather (unless I was going for a "Sloppy Drunk Mr. Met" look) I "encouraged" Max to choose another type of Mr. Met cake - one that wouldn't involve lots of toothpicks and bases made out of gumpaste as props. The result was a 12" vanilla bean/vanilla buttercream Mr. Met head and hat. Fondant stripes in Mets colors on the sides of the cake.

(The NY on the hat was my favorite part of the cake!)

I realized after the fact that a real baseball doesn't have red lines underneath the stitching, but since I'm sure Max is going to request this cake a couple of more years, I'll have a chance to redeem myself:)

Finally, a friend who attended Max's party decided he also wanted a Mets cake for his birthday, but with a twist. Milo might be a bigger Mets fan than Max and his baseball party included "Milo" t-shirts in a Mets-type font for all the kids. I used that lettering and added it to the familiar Mets skyline logo and LOVE the result. Everything was cut out by hand and edible (gumpaste and fondant). Cake was 12" chocolate with chocolate buttercream.

Happy Summer!

Baby shower cake

Two of my very good friends are pregnant and due within a couple of weeks of each other. I hosted a baby shower brunch for them today and you can't have brunch without cake, right?

I bought these daisy cutters a while ago and thought they were a pretty cool shape - I think they kind of look like fireworks. (Side note: does anyone know what the little plastic piece in this set is supposed to be for? I use it to poke out the petals, but I'm guessing it has a more specific purpose.) My plan was to cover the whole cake in baby blue fondant and then add the shapes, but decided late yesterday that life's too short to drive myself crazy and left it fondant free.

Really like the contrast of the chocolate buttercream with the gumpaste colors and am happy with the way it turned out. And as usual, Doug takes the most awesome photos. He could make a grocery store cake look like something Martha Stewart would envy!

Paul's Flying V guitar cake

I am a graduate of ICE: Institute of Culinary Education (Pastry '06) and I love connecting with fellow alumni and current students. Way back in October I was contacted by someone from the school who wanted a guitar cake for her boyfriend's 40th birthday.

But not just any guitar cake - his favorite guitar was a Gibson Flying V, specifically one one in the middle of this photo.

Cake was chocolate with chocolate buttercream, covered in fondant. The guitar itself was also made from fondant.

the whammy bar was a last minute addition, but I think it makes the cake

Soccer Girl's Favorite Things Cake

Do you know what a moving up celebration is? I didn't, but maybe that's because my kids are still too young to leave elementary school and "move up" to middle school, but now I know! "Soccer Girl" loves the color green, and also loves monkeys, music, camping and, you guessed it by her nickname, soccer. This cake fit the bill. The cake was vanilla bean with green vanilla buttercream frosting and all the decorations are made from gumpaste and royal icing.

Her mom (and my online marketing idol) Ellen, wrote about the cake today on her blog, Confessions of an IT Girl. It's a great read, even when she isn't praising my cakes!