Female Birthday Cakes

Flowers, Birds and Butterflies

All women love flowers!  I have become a pro at making flowers out of gum paste and fondant!  The gum paste hardens into a ceramic like texture so they can last forever!  Its a great way to put someones wedding flowers on an anniversary cake or just celebrating Spring!

The flower and tree decorations on this cake were made in a mold.  Its a silicone mold made by Wilton.  You just press your fondant into it and pop it out!  The butterflies were made in a sugar sheet press.  I rolled out the gum past real thin then punched it through.  I then let the butterflies dry in a taco holder so they look like they are flying!

Gerber Daises were this girls favorite flower!  It was a spring birthday so we made them in pastel colors!

My moms favorite flower is a hydrangea so thats what she got for mothers day!

These flowers are carnations made with brighter colors to add some visual interest.  The dots took about 6 hours to do!  I started with one row with the saturated color and kept adding a little white to give the gradation effect!  Really amazing!

This cake was for my neighbors Ethel and Harry!  They celebrated their 42nd anniversary this year.  Daisies were there wedding flower.  Their wedding colors were pink, blue and yellow :)

It is a little hard to tell from the picture but the hummingbird is on a wire suspending above the cake.  This gave it the impression that it is hovering like hummingbirds do!  

This is a cake I made for my sisters 30th!  She loves Poppies - that was the theme for the party.  I hand painted all the poppies on the cake then added some handmade gum paste poppies to give it a 3-D embellishment!

 Here is a Red Velvet Cake with cream cheese frosting.  Courtney loves red so my imagination went from there!

A nice simple birthday cake with flowers and butterflies!

Holiday Cakes

Holiday Cakes

  Tired of bring chips and dip to all your holiday parties?  Bring cake!  Everyone loves cake!  Holiday themed cakes are sure to make a big impression on your family and friends.

Halloween cake - The haunted house is a cookie!

Easter bunny butt cake - carrot cake of course!

Easter - Another bunny cake - different view of the bunny :)

Cinco de Mayo cake - I had a lot of cakes that week so I made this out of all my extra cake!  The round head part is made with the doll dress mold!

4th of July cake - To make the stars I put a star cookie cutter on the cake then filled it in with some water on a paint brush.  When I put sprinkles on it they stuck to the water!

Christmas - I think this is my favorite cake of all times!  How cute is this for a child's Christmas party!

Holiday Cupcakes

Holiday Cupcakes

Sometimes you do not want to worry about plates, knives and forks! You just want your cake and eat it too!  Why not have a cupcake?  The holidays are filled with pot luck supers, school parties and family get together.  Here are some great holiday theme'd cupcakes that will make you the hit of the crowd!

These mini Christmas trees are adorable!  Icing is done in a twist to create the tree.  I piped white chocolate onto wax paper in a star pattern then peeled it off for the top of the tree.  You can then put any sprinkles you want to add some shimmer!  Merry Christmas!

These Thanksgiving cupcakes are the cutest thing ever!!  I made the turkeys out of Oreos, Whoppers and candy corn! YUM!  Word to the wise - I tried using icing to hold the candy corn into place...this DID NOT work!  Use melted chocolate instead!  The eyes and the gobble are just pipped icing! Happy Thanksgiving!

Doll Cake

Doll Cake

This cake is super fabulous!  Wilton has a pan specifically for the base of this dress.  

Bake according to directions then place doll on top.  Wilton sells doll tops as well.  I was making a Cinderella cake so I bought a knock off Cinderella barbie and took her legs off!  Then decorate however fits your doll!   You can make her a princess, bride, queen, the possibilities are endless :)

Sweet 16

Sweet 16 Cakes

It seems like huge sweet 16 parties are all the rage now!  I had mine in a basement in Jersey but that's besides the point!  

This cake is much larger in person then it looks in the picture.  The 16 is made out of the rice crispy treats, the same technique I used for the apple in the twilight cake!  Her theme was black and white damask with a hint of lilac!

This cake had a black and white theme with a hint of red.  The birthday girl loves butterflys in case you couldn't tell :)  This would also be super cute for a wedding cake...just change out the butterfly colors to match your color theme!

Beer Cakes

Beer Cakes

Having a birthday party for the beer lover in your life?  Why not theme the cake!  

For this cake I stacked multiple layers to get the height.  I then covered it in icing and piped on the foam.  I went and bought a huge straw which i covered in chocolate.  After that all you need is a can of his favorite beer and hot glue it to the straw!  Super fun and a huge hit!!

For this cake I made a normal 2 layer cake covered in fondant.  For the beer glass I actually baked it in a glass pint glass!  I had to put a few skewers threw it in order to make it sturdy.  At the craft store I found some metallic edible spray paint to give the letters and diamonds gold!

Specialty Cakes

Specialty cakes

Some cakes and cupcakes are so good they do not even need extra decorations!  Here is a yummy black forest cake!  Chocolate cakes, whipped cream icing and cherries!!

How about a fabulous German chocolate cake!

If you use a main ingredient on the top it lets people know whats in the cake or cupcake without having to ask!  How about a coconut cupcake with some toasted coconut on top!

Wilton Cake Classes

Wilton Cake Classes

Wilton offers 4 different cake classes!  I took my classes at A.C Moore but they also offer them at other local craft stores and fabric shops. Each class is 8 hours.  Mine was every thursday for a month, 2 hours each class.  Course #1 is decorating basics.  This teaches you have to make icing, how to make icing flowers, how to write and use different piping tops!  The last day of this class you make a final cake with the different techniques you learned in the course.

Course #2 is Flowers and Cake Design.  You learn how to make royal icing flowers and how to do the basket weave pattern on the sides of your cake!  The last day of this class you make a final cake with some of the flowers you made and the different techniques you learned in the course.

Course #3 is Gum paste and Fondant.  We learned how to make gum paste flowers as well as how to cover a cake and/or cake board in fondant! The last day of this class you make a final cake with some of the flowers you made and the different techniques you learned in the course.  This cake was covered and decorate in less then 2 hours so some finishing touches still needed to be added (ex-leaves for the roses).

Course #4 is Advanced Gum Paste Flowers.  We did all sorts of exotic and complicated flowers out of gum paste.  The possibilities are endless!!  Gum paste starts out soft like clay but once it is exposed to air it turns ceramic like.  You can use gum paste flowers on a cake or just make a beautiful center piece out of them!  These are the flowers we made in class.....

Twilight Movie Theme

Twilight Movie Theme

Every good movie deserves a cake in its honor!!!  Here are some twilight cakes and cupcakes I made!

The apple on top of the cake is made with rice crispy treats!  I make the treats according to the box, let them cool then mold it into the shape I want.  After that I paint on melted chocolate so all the holes are filled in.  After the chocolate is dry I then take a vegetable grater and go over the whole thing to smooth it all out.  Then the apples is covered in fondant!  I do not think they were talking about my apples when they said "An apple a day keeps the doctor away!"  but they sure are good!

All of the toppers are made of fondant.  Each style represents the covers of each of the books!

Photo Cakes

Sugar Sheets

Sugar sheets are an excellent way to transfer any picture onto your cake!  There are companies that you can send your picture to and they will print it on a sugar sheet for you.  I am lucky enough to have a friend who prints them for me!  You can purchase printers that are made just for edible art but they are rather pricey.  You can use any printer and buy edible ink for it to print them yourself!  The plain white sugar sheets that you can purchase at the local craft store work great!

The sugar sheets will come on a piece of wax like paper.  Before you want to put it on the cake just stick it in the freezer for a few minutes.  This will help to ensure your photo comes off the paper easily!  You just place the photo right on your cake and pipe and edging!  I try to do this as close to delivery time as possible because the photo will soak up some of the grease from the icing!

They also sell decorative sugar sheets that can be cut out and placed on your cake.  This one is a kit you can buy that comes with the side wraps and the top one.

Topsy Turvy Cake

Topsy Turvy Cakes

This was my first topsy turvy cake attempt.  

When adding your second layer you need to cut into the bottom layer and this is what stabalizes the cake as well as gives you the angled effect. If you cut the angle into your second layer and just place it on top this will happen.....

      

Welcome!

Hello everyone!
 My name is Megan Nowak and this is my first blog!  I am an interior designer by trade and I have picked up cake decorating as a hobby!  I started just about a year ago and I am really enjoying it.  I am creating this blog so you can see my work and I can give you some helpful hints, I have picked up along the way, to help you with your baking!  Good Luck and happy baking!
-Megs