"Daisies for M" and "Cheese and Mice" cakes (Aug.10 - 2011)

These 2 cakes were the last cakes I made this summer, on the weekend before going to Romania for a 3 weeks vacation in Oradea - my home town.
The chocolate cake covered with daisies was for my friend Mariana, for her surprise birthday party. The double daisies were made with chocolate paste. So were the mice for my manager's birthday cake (his name is Sanin). Both cakes were very chocolate-y, absolutely delicious!
I have seen  this "Cheese and Mice" cake on Lily's blog http://lilysblog-lily.blogspot.com/2011/05/tort-soricei-si-cascavalcheese-and-mice.html , and I liked it a lot, I think is a fun and a cute cake.

 The "slice of cheese" was covered in chocolate paste.

 The "big piece of cheese" was covered fully in fondant, then I put chocolate paste where the "slice of cheese" was cut from.

 I put some chocolate paste in a few of the holes in the cheese.

 To hide the broken tail of one of the mice, I put the injured mouse inside the cut, at the base, facing outward.

 The two cakes side by side, before delivering them.

 And a very, very, very tasty slice for you... Enjoy!

Batman theme cake for Serif (July 21 - 2011) - my fourth fondant cake

Serif is my colleague, my right hand at work, stands 6'5" tall and he is crazy about Batman, that's why the cake I made for his birthday had to be a Batman theme cake.
I did not model the Batman figurine because I remembered the hideous babies I made for Anita's baby shower cake (my first fondant cake), did not want to make a "disabled" Batman, so I decided to play it safe and I purchased the figurine and the batmobile (both are made of plastic) from a cake supply store.

I was very proud of the idea I had: to  make the lights on the  Gotham city's buildings spell out the message "HAPPY BIRTHDAY SERIF!!" This idea would have been executed much better though using small yellow and black squares of gum paste glued to the buildings, instead of only yellow cut-out letters that were fragmented, to better portray the lit windows. Oh well, maybe next time...

 Serif was very happy with his cake.

 I did not help him at all to cut the cake, I'm so mean... ha ha ha ha

 We all ate only the top tier of the cake.

 The bottom tier looked good by itself especially after the plastic figurines were put on top of it, so Serif had his cake and ate it too!! ha ha ha ha

"Hungry bees" - my third fondant cake (June 19 - 2011)

This cake was a lot of fun to make! I made it for my coworkers, for one of our small get-together parties.
The idea for this cake comes from a joke at work... One day, the boss, a nice man in his early 60s, announced that he's going to be a dad again (his wife is also in her early 60s)! Wait... WHAT??? With a serious face he continues the announcement: I'm going to be a new dad to approximately 10,000 babies, most of them will be girls... (Aha! That means he purchased a few more families of bees.) His wife continued his joke saying that they registered at Kroger (grocery store) for granulated sugar only... (so they can feed the "babies" until they'll find pollen in nature). The joke was so funny (you had to be there, I guess) that I used it as the theme for this cake.
First, I took some photos of a Kroger sugar bag and I cut out their logo from the bag.

 Then I made the bees with gum paste.

After I covered the cake with fondant I placed the bees on the "sugar bag" at random...

 All the labels were made with gum paste, the writing is royal icing.

 My boss was so delighted with the theme, he wanted a picture with the cake...

 The taste was awesome, vanilla and chocolate cake, vanilla and chocolate european style butter cream (using a boiled base for the cream), absolutely no shortening in the butter cream! - I hate that...

Chocolate bubble wrap cake (May 22 - 2011)

My parents moved to Tennessee a few years ago, they come to visit us (me and my two brothers) in Michigan a few times a year. I made a chocolate cake for one of these occasions. After the cake was covered with chocolate glaze, it was finished, but I wanted to try a new technique (new to me!) that I saw on youtube and later on Lissa's blog. It turned out beautiful and of course tasty!

 I used white chocolate first, after it set I put another layer of chocolate but this time it was dark.

 Surprisingly easy to cut the slices...

 The fresh-fruit cake was made by somebody else, not by me.

Sponge Bob Square Pants - my second fondant cake (May 14 - 2011)

This cake was made as a surprise for one of my friends when her son turned 5 years old. She wanted to order a Sponge Bob Square Pants cake because Sponge Bob is her son's favorite cartoon character, but she was disappointed that all she could find were cakes with an edible image of Sponge Bob, not shaped as Sponge Bob. My best friend had the idea of me trying to make one and if I succeed we'll surprise our mutual friend with the much wanted cake for her beloved son... I was very pleased with the way it turned out in the end, my friend was impressed and her son was very happy. It was tasty too, with mixed wild berries filling and dark chocolate ganache inside.

 When I thought the cake is finished, I realized I made Sponge Bob somewhat "suicidal" by placing his belt on the shirt's collar instead of his trousers, huge mistake!

 Did not have the heart to let Sponge Bob choke himself to death, so I took care of his depression...

 He is happy again...

 All the accessories (arms and sleeves, eyes, mouth, nose, belt, necktie, etc) were made with gum paste.

 I brushed the dimples in the "sponge" with green luster dust.