Toy Story

My little friend wanted a Toy Story cake.  I'm thinking to match all of the Toy Story toys he was getting for his birthday.

I had ordered the Characters to sit on the cake weeks prior, but just to drive me insane didn't arrive in time! So the morning the cake had to be delivered, I spent driving around from toy store to toy store trying to find all the characters I needed.  Devasted I couldn't find Jessie ='[

(And of course, the ones I ordered arrived the day after!!)

So with some fondant planks of wood, toy army men and a fondant red plait (Jessie's hair), the Toy Story cake was done!

Take me out to the Ballgame

My Son's Rookieball season has come to a close... so that means PARTY! And for me, that means CAKE!

Cupcakes were made for all of the Players and Coaches, with a personalised Baseball on each cupcake.  All of the kids (and at least one Coach) loved them!

Cake Details: Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream, tinted green and piped to look like grass.  Each has a personalised topper, made from Fondant and piped with the red stitching and each players name.

"Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!"

A friend messaged me asking if I could make a small cake for her 3 year old's party. The brief was pretty easy... "Anything Buzz Lightyear"

So using Google as my research buddy, we found a cake that suited perfectly, not too big and of course featured Buzz. And I set to work making Buzz's wings as decoration.

I baked a White Chocolate Mud cake and a Chocolate Mud cake.  Covered both separately, so when dishing them up you can take the cake apart.

The bottom cake was covered with a green detail which is the same as Buzz Lightyear's breast plate and the top cake was covered in stars.  Added to the top was a Buzz Lightyear toy, borrowed from the Birthday Boy and the wings were attached to the back.

A cute little cake, perfect for a small party.

Hi there! It's been a while...

So, it's been a while since blogged... so slack, I know.

I have a bit of catching up to do - 5 months worth in fact. So with the gentle prodding of my son, let's get blogging!

Welcome Home

I have had the same best friend since I was 9 years old.  We may now live across the country, but that hasn't changed anything.

So when she came home, she definately needed a "Welcome Home" cake.

I baked Chocolate Mud Cake and using a map of Australia cut an outline of the country and and covered with a tan buttercream to match the colour of our harsh land.  The Aeroplane had been made a couple of weeks earlier, so it could dry, as had the fluffy clouds.  I piped blue buttercream around the edge of the cake, so it looked like the sea.

Catching up, we actually didn't have time to eat the cake so I sent it back to her sister's house so they could enjoy it! (Reports were good!)

Rach x

Cake Details - Chocolate Mud Cake shaped into Australia, covered in Espresso Buttercream.  Fondant Aeroplane, Clouds, City Name Plates, Letters and Love Hearts.

Surfer Chick

Another friend asked for a cake for her daughter - "One with the Billabong Logo on it".

I couldn't just do the Billabong symbol.  Although the daughter would've loved it, it needed to have something else.  I was thinking a Surfie Chick...

Mum and Daughter loved it (and I was a bit proud of it too!)

Cake Details - Chocolate Mud Cake, covered in fondant with fondant Surfer girl, Surfboard, Flowers and Letters.  Brown Sugar Sand and a Fabric Ribbon.

Wilton's Course Final Cake

I have got to the end of the Wilton's Courses.  And to complete Course 4, we were each given a brief from an imaginary customer.  Our cakes are to have an aspect of everything the Customer asks for.

I'm thinking I drew the short straw, as this is my brief -

" It's my son's 21st birthday. He likes the colours blue and orange and plays footy on the weekends. During the week he studies chemical engineering at uni. I would like some stars on the cake (as he is the star of my eye)"

I think I covered all the requests!

Rach x

Cake Details - Chocolate Mud Cake, covered in with buttercream with a layer of fondant.  All decorations: Letters, Footballs, Stars and Chemical Elements are Fondant.  The Chemical elements have been piped with Royal Icing.

Flower Power

A friend asked me to make her Daughter's birthday cake.  She had seen the one that she wanted in the Wilton Course book... and having 3 boys I was only too happy to make something pretty and girly!

Rach x

Cake Details - Bottom Layer, Chocolate Mud Cake. Top Layer, White Chocolate Mud Cake.  All covered in Fondant and decorated with Fondant flowers, letter and bee.

Yoshi

My Son, Mr J asked for a Yoshi cake for his 10th birthday cake.  Just yoshi.  No other characters needed.  But I couldn't leave it at just Yoshi.  Mario has to be there, and so do those cool looking flower things (I now know they are called Piranah Flowers) and Goomba (even the boys didn't know what he was called!)

So after googling and printing so many pictures to work as a reference, I sat making characters until 1am one morning and 2am the next.  Bleary eyed the next day, I made baked a Chocolate Mud Cake with a Chocolate Fudge centre and covered it with tinted blue Betty Crocker icing (the only icing Mr J likes).

Mr J was so impressed with Yoshi, that he asked to keep it.  And even though he wanted only a Yoshi cake, his favourite little detail was Toad.  (It was mine too!)

Rach x

Welcome 2011!

We have a New Years BBQ at our house every year... just a casual pop around if you're doing nothing kind of thing.  Keeping in mind that any excuse is a good excuse for cake, I made a New Years Cake.

I was told that we weren't able to cut it until after Midnight as it was a 2011 cake and it was still 2010.  So after the clocks struck 12 and the neighbours provided an illegal firework display we went to cut up the cake..



And it was worth the wait!

Rach x

Cake Details - Devils Food Cake covered in fondant. Red Fondant stripes and the 2011 were also made out of fondant. Fabric Black and Silver Ribbons.

It's Christmas!!

Coming up to Christmas, my Mother in Law asked if I could decorate a cake for her,

As did my friends...



And then I decided that I couldn't miss out on having a cute decorated cake too!

(I was most proud of mine... his handpainted buckle, button holes in his buttons - all that playing with playdough actually came in handy!).  About now the confidence is starting to kick in.  These aren't too bad, maybe I could do this for a living!

Cake Details - All are store bought Lions Fruit Cakes (helping a good charity at the same time) covered in fondant and all details are made of fondant.

Floral Wedding Cake

With the aim of getting better at Cake Decorating, (for my own pleasure - I still hadn't decided if this was my new career yet!) I had been attending Cake Decorating Classes.

For our Final Course Cake, we needed to make a tiered wedding cake covered with flowers that we had mastered from Royal Icing and Fondant.  Wanting to be a little bit different, I strayed a bit from the usual pastel colours and went for a little bit brighter.  I love how these match with the pale yellow fondant icing!

I'm starting to feel like I may actually have a knack for this now...

Rach x

Cake Details - Carrot Cakes, covered with a layer of buttercream and topped with Fondant.  Fondant and Royal Icing Flowers and Leaves.

Cherry Blossom Cake

October 2010 - I must be feeling more confident, as I offered to make a cake for one of my favourite people.

I made a Banana Cake (this was before Queensland had major floods and wiped out the majority of Australia's Banana Plantations), and covered with pale blue tinted Buttercream.  I then piped Buttercream branches and Cherry Blossoms onto the cake and finished with a pearl Buttercream edge.

The Birthday Girl was very appreciative, and that's what I enjoy most about decorating cakes... the happiness I can bring into a person's life with a simple thing - cake!

Rach x

The Fire Truck

Friends asked me to make/decorate a cake for their Son's 1st birthday, choosing a cake out of a children's cake book...

I baked a Butter Cake and covered with red tinted Buttercream, using Smarties for lights, Oreos for wheels and tinted fondant for the other details.

The red dyed face of the Birthday Boy told me that he enjoyed his cake!

Rach x

The Halfpipe

My soon to be 13 year old (Mr M) lives his life at the Skate Park, either on his skateboard, scooter or BMX.  So it wasn't a hard decision to make him a Halfpipe for his birthday cake. 

Four days earlier, I started a Wilton Cake Decorating class and learnt how to make Buttercream Icing.  So for this cake, I covered layered store bought sponges with grey tinted Buttercream.  Once set enough, I sprayed it with food colouring spray and attempted graffiti with gel icing pens.

Mr M was fairly impressed... and all who have a 13 year old, would know that is not an easy feat!

The Dinosaur...

After the Spongebob cake was so well received, I tried my luck with a dinosaur for Mr C's 8th birthday.  He has been obsessed with dinosaurs since he was born, so it was guaranteed that he would like it. 

While it is still a store bought sponge covered in tinted Betty Crocker icing, I advanced myself a little bit more and carved it into the shape of a dinosaur.

Once again, not perfect but Mr C and his little friends liked it... and that's my target audience. So I'm happy! :)

Rach x

The Beginning... Spongebob Squarepants

This is the start of it all.  A sponge cake, decorated with tinted Betty Crocker icing

I still maintain that this isn't too bad for a first effort! And my son Mr J was more than impressed with it... and that really is all that mattered.

Once the Cake Decorating bug bites though, you keep looking for bigger and better.  Let's hope I get there!

Rach x

Welcome To Cake My Breath Away!

Welcome to my passion... decorating cakes.  I may not be the best at it, but all my cakes are made with love.

I started decorating just over a year ago, when my son asked me to decorate a Spongebob Squarepants cake.  Looking back at it now, I can see it's imperfections but my son was so proud of it (and me!) that it spurred me to continue.  Since then, I have completed the Wiltons Cake Decorating classes and made cakes for family and friends.

With the encouragement of my family and friends, I have now started my own at home Cake Decorating Business... "Cake My Breath Away". 

I hope you enjoy looking at my cakes, almost as much as I enjoy making them!!

You can also find me on Facebook...

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cake-My-Breath-Away/175625252473677