The Popcorn Bucket Cake:  This Popcorn Bucket cake was made for a 10 year old girl’s movie themed party-too fun!  And not a week after I made this cake, a friend of mine sent me an article from a family magazine showing this style cake as the winner in their annual cake contest...I felt so cool. It is an absolute show stopper and when I delivered it, the birthday girl didn’t even know it was cake until I told her.  She loved it! So here goes…

1. Make 2 cake mixes according to recipe directions & fill your 9inch round pans.  Bake cakes according to directions.
2. Once baked & cooled, level your cakes, and fill & stack your layers.
3. Once stacked into a big column (I did not use supports and it worked just fine), I slightly tapered the column towards the bottom to give it more of a popcorn bucket look (just take a large serrated knife and gently carve the cake tapering towards the bottom). Crumb-coat your ‘bucket’ cake and refrigerate for 30 minutes or more if possible.
4. Once cool, I frosted the ‘bucket’ cake in white, piped on wide red stripes and the ‘Popcorn’ stamp in yellow & outlined in black.  Now refrigerate.
5. Now the really fun part begins!  I made a bag of microwave popcorn, and then mixed it with a mixture of melted marshmallow & butter (like making Rice Crispy Treats-I just eyeballed the amount of marshmallows and butter needed).  I added a few drops of yellow food coloring to the popcorn/marshmallow mixture to make it seem more buttery.  Finally, I simply clumped the popcorn mixture on top of the cake, and some around the bottom and there is the Popcorn Bucket cake!   I did add two ‘tickets’ which I just designed on PowerPoint using simple shapes in order to wish the girl a Happy 10th Birthday.

Again, this cake is too much fun. I will never forget the look of incredulousness on the birthday girls face when I told her it was actually cake.  She was thrilled (what ten year old girl doesn’t want the coolest cake for her party)!  A Popcorn Bucket cake is AWESOME and will amaze everyone (and will amaze you as it is so simple!). 

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The Purse Cake:  This Purse cake was the first 3-D cake I ever made for a friend! My super great friend knew I loved making cakes and found a picture & directions for the cake in Family Fun magazine. She ripped it out and asked me to do, and it single-handedly changed my view on cakes.  Cake could be super challenging, super fun and look as cool as they taste!  Now, there was good news & bad news about this purse cake. Once people saw this cake, I made about 4 more in the next few months, which was good, but as I think this is one of the hardest cakes to make on this site, it was a lot of work!  So, here goes...

• Make 1 cake mix according to recipe directions & fill two 8x8 pans.  Bake cakes according to directions.
• Once baked & cooled, level your cakes, fill & stack the layers, and refrigerate for 30 minutes or more if possible.
• Once cooled, cut the cake in half on the diagonal. The trick to cutting this diagonal is to use a large serrated bread knife that can fit all the way through the cake and to keep your knife as level as possible while cutting. Once cut, you will have two cakes that look like right triangles (see diagram below).

• Now stand both cakes up on their ends (not the point obviously) with the flat (uncut) sides facing each other . Stick the sides together by filling with frosting and crumb-coat the entire cake.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes or more if possible.  Once cool again, simply cut off the top 1/8th of the cake to give you a flat top (see diagram below).

• Now that you have a purse shaped cake, decorate as desired. You can be inspired by your own purse, or use the fun design I got from the magazine!  I do the following:
  • use vanilla buttercream, color it as desired and frost the whole cake.
  • pipe on the flap & side panels, and then the stitching (do not forget to detail the back of the cake as this is truly 3-D).  
  • add M&M’s or Dots (the Dots need to be cut in half) to make the dot pattern on the cake,
  • make the purse handle using a piece of Twizzler Peel n’Pull red licorice that is cut to size (~6 inches) and twisted, Insert a toothpick in each end and stick each end’s toothpick in the top of the cake for the handle.

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The Jack-o-Lantern Cake:  This Pumpkin Jack-o-Lantern cake was made for a little boy who wanted a jack-o-lantern cake...with a witch hat & glasses. Oh yes, of all the important details...it had to have a hat & glasses!  How cute!   This cake  was relatively simple to make once everything got baked, so here goes:

• Make 2 cake mixes according to recipe directions, fill your Bundt pan & bake according to directions.  If you do not have 2 Bundt pans, you will need to repeat this step to make a second Bundt cake.  Also, fill your glass bowl cake and bake along with the Bundt cakes.
• Once all cakes are baked & cooled, level your Bundt cakes, and place one cake upside down, frost and stack with the second cake right side up.  Crumb-coat the entire cake and refrigerate for 30 minutes or more if possible.  Also, crumb-coat the bowl cake and set-aside in ‘fridge until assembly of the hat.
• While crumb-coat is setting up, bake a large round cookie in a baking pan (I used a 9inch round pan) using your favorite cookie recipe (see Recipes) or store bought cookie dough.  Once the cookie is cool, place on cake board sized to fit (simply trace your cookie size on the board, cut the board to size and put the giant cookie on top).
• Now you can assemble the hat by simply placing the bowl cake in the center of your cookie, and the sugar cone (with point side up) in the center of the bowl cake.  Frost the entire ‘hat’ in chocolate frosting (I used chocolate instead of black frosting as that much black frosting would really have gotten on everyone’s teeth & mouths and made a mess!).  Add sprinkles or a design to your hat if desired (I think I even piped some spiders on the hat...too cute) and put your finished hat in the ‘fridge to set-up.
• Now you can decorate the pumpkin cake by frosting it orange and piping on your desired face.  I piped on the face (and glasses!) with black frosting and used some candy corn to make the eye-balls, mole & snaggle tooth.  I used a fun size candy bar for the nose.  Put your finished pumpkin cake in the ’fridge to set-up.

Once you get to your party, simply place the hat cookie cake on top of the pumpkin cake and viola, a Jack-o-Lantern cake with a witch hat & glasses!  And yes, it was all very steady, so have fun with it!

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The Mickey Mouse Present Cake:  This Mickey Mouse cake was made for one of my favorite three year olds & she could not believe that Mickey was popping out of her “present”!  She couldn't believe it was a cake and that Mickey came out of it for her...too cute.  This cake was super simple, with the cake being the easiest part, and all of the work really in the decorating & ‘mixed media’, so here are the details:

• Make 1 cake mix according to recipe directions & fill two 8x8 pans.  Bake cake according to directions.
• Once baked & cooled,  level your cakes, fill between layers, stack and crumb-coat entire cake. Set in refrigerator for 30 minutes or more if possible.
• When cool, frost cake in desired color and being to decorate:
  • Ribbon and bow curls: I simply rolled out yellow fondant (I used  ready-made Wilton fondant in Yellow from one of their multi-color accent kits) to ~1/8inch thick. Then I cut four 6inch strips (~1 & 1/2inch wide) and placed each strip in middle of each cake side and ran it up to the center for the ribbon.  Then I cut seven strips of the fondant (~3-4 inches long, 1 & 1/2 inches wide), curled slightly with my fingers and set on a  glass plate to dry (lay on their side, not flat).  These curls will need to be made the night before and be allowed to harden overnight.
  • Mickey Mouse face design: To make the Mickey Mouse ear print on the ‘paper’, I used black fondant rolled to 1/8 inch thick and cut larger circles for the face with the small circle fondant cutter (from Wilton) and small circles (for the ears) with my largest round frosting tip.  I simply placed the circles on the cake in a random pattern.  This design could also be done by piping frosting if you have no fondant.
  • Mickey Mouse Pop-out:  This pop-out is just a photo-paper cut-out placed into the cake. I simply googled ‘Mickey Mouse images’, found this great image, copied it into PowerPoint, enlarged it to size, printed and cut it out (I actually also made a reverse image and cut that out as well & then glued the two together to make a Mickey that was viewable from both sides...but I’m just Type A!). I inserted the Mickey Mouse cut-out into the center of the cake where your fondant ribbon intersects on the top.
• Now you can finally put the hardened bow curls around the Mickey pop-out, so that it looks like Mickey just broke through the ribbon.

Again, this cake really took no time at all and trust me, I will use this photo pop-out concept again.  Using the photo cut-out can work with lots of different characters, is great if you do not have the time to sculpt or pipe, can be mounted on a lollipop stick so the child can keep it as a prize, or can be customized to hold a sign with your occasion’s special greeting.  Too much fun!  And also remember, virtually any picture could do, so you could make one with you, or the special person popping out of the cake, the number of the occasions or all sorts of things!   Oooooo, now I’m on a roll and all you’ll start seeing from me are the Photo Popping Cakes!  Graduations, Anniversaries, even as a wedding cake topper….oh boy, here we go! :)

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The Golf Ball & Golf Club Cake:  This cake is a dream for the golf-lover and was made for a dear friend’s husband’s 40th birthday!  Not only was he surprised, but totally confused (is it cake, is it real, is it edible?). The cake itself is the golf ball and the golf green, while the golf club is made from fondant and a wooden dowel!  Too fun & not too hard!  So here goes…

• Make 2 cake mixes according to recipe directions & fill the one 9x13 pan and the ball mold pan.  Bake cakes according to directions.
• Once baked & cooled, level your cakes and begin as follows:
  • Putting green cake: Cut the 9x13 cake in a free-form organic shape to mimic a putting green, crumb-coat and refrigerate for 30 minutes or more if possible. Once cool, frost in green as smoothly as possible. Set side in ’fridge.
  • Golf Ball cake: Fill and stack your ball layers and crumb-coat and refrigerate for 30 minutes or more if possible.  Once cool, you can frost with buttercream to a smooth finish, or you can cover it in white fondant.  See the Ball Cakes Gallery for the buttercream pictures and here for the fondant pictures.  To use the fondant, I simply rolled out a large ball of fondant to 1/8 thick and draped over the ball.  Where the fondant folded towards the bottom of the ball (imagine wrapping a ball in paper), I simply cut the folds and pressed the edges of the fondant together.  I then smoothed the fondant all over the cake. To make the dimples in either the buttercream or fondant, gently press the tip of wooden spoon handle into the ball.  Now refrigerate your ball cake for 30 minutes or more.
• Once your cakes are all set-up, place the Golf Ball cake on the Putting Green cake off center and viola, there is your basic golfing cake.
• Now for the fondant golf club….it is easier than you think but will need one or two days for this to harden so plan to make it in advance. 
  • For the shaft, I bought a 1/8 inch wooden dowel and cut to about 2 feet (I eye-balled it against the cake, marked where I wanted to cut & cut it with a saw...just like a big girl!). I then made grey fondant (color your white fondant with a bit of Wilton’s black coloring) and rolled out to 1/8 inch thick.  I cut a thin strip and wrapped it around the dowel with one long seam running along one side.  I smoothed the seem with water to glue it together and set aside to dry.
  • Next, I made some black fondant for the Golf handle grip. I rolled the black fondant to 1/8 inch thick and cut a 1inch wide strip ~8-12 inches long. I took a fork and gently pressed the points into the fondant to make the air holes, like in a real golf grip (don’t poke all the way through-it just is an impression).  I then wrapped the black strip around the top of the golf shaft  and over the top. 
  • For the club head, I simply flattened out a baseball sized ball of grey fondant into a 1inch thick square, put a real golf club head on top of it and traced the shape. I used a knife the gently press in some lines (like the real golf club head) and set-out to dry.
• Once all fondant was hardened (and again, I would give yourselves at least 2-3 nights for these to dry-I left only 1 and it was a close call), you can assemble the cake.  I rested the golf club shaft on the golf ball and poked the end into the cake. Then I rested the golf club head in front of the shaft & used some of the green grass tipped piping to hide where the shaft poked into the cake (so even if you looked at the cake from behind it looked great). See pictures for how it is all set-up.
• Finally, I used my trusty PowerPoint to make a fun greeting card for the cake.  I Googled ‘golf score cards’ and found one in green colors.  I copied it into PowerPoint, enlarged to size desired, and then added a text box in front of it with the preferred greeting.  The birthday boy though it was so cool to have a real looking golf score card on his cake!

You can do this one and have fun doing it!   Never fear using ‘mixed media’ for your cakes, because although I always try to make everything edible, sometimes it really works and the recipient will love it even more (not to mention that your time & piping talents can be saved for next time!).

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The Artist’s Palette Cake:  This cake was made for a little girls birthday at a ceramic paint shop...such a cute party theme idea and a simple cake! 

• Make 2 cake mixes according to recipe directions (yellow or chocolate work best) & fill the two 9x13 pans.  Bake cakes according to directions.
• Once baked & cooled, level each cake, fill layers with frosting & stack, and then refrigerate for 30 minutes or more.
• When cool, cut the cake into the shape of an artists paint palette (I free formed, but you could draw your form onto a paper towel and use as a guide-see Carving FAQ’s). Then crumb-coat the entire cake and refrigerate again. Once crumb-coating is set-up, frost in vanilla buttercream as smooth and possible (see Decorating FAQ’s for tips to smooth frosting), and just dollop different colors to mimic the paint rounds.
• For the brush, I used the left-over palette cut-outs to make the brush shape and crumb-coated it and refrigerated.  Once cooled, I actually covered the different parts of the brush in melted chocolate! I used the Wilton candy melts in yellow for the brush and chocolate for the handle. I poured each color on the appropriate part and once the chocolate hardened, I used a toothpick to carve in brush details.  I even used the left-over melted candy to make little chocolate brushes for each child (simply piped a chocolate line and then an attached yellow brush shape)...the kids thought it was so cool!

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The Lego Cake:  The Lego cake was made for such a little cutie who loved building with Lego’s! When asked to make a Lego themed cake, I knew I didn’t want to just do one Lego black or a couple of stacked blocks, but a cake that looked like a pile of Lego blocks-...and  it came out so cool!

• Make 2 cake mixes according to recipe directions & fill the two 9x13 pans.  Bake cakes according to directions.
• Once baked & cooled, level your cakes and cut one of the 9x13 cakes in a 2/3 and 1/3 portion, and the other 9x13 cake into thirds. You will now have 1 cake that is ~9x8inches, and 4 cakes that are ~9x4 inches).
• Now you can practice stacking so you can see what you want.  I stacked one of the 1/3 portions on top of the 2/3 portion cake, lining up at one end (looked like the lego’s were linked).  Then I put another 1/3 portion on the cake board at an angle to the stacked cakes. Finally, I put another 1/3 portion on its own cut-to-fit cake board (simply put the cake on the board, trace it and then cut it out for a custom shaped board that will not be seen once frosted) and tilted it up on the angled cake and stacked cakes.  See diagram below for exact details (shown form top view-bird’s eye).

• Once you know how you want your ‘lego’s’ stacked, crumb-coat each cake separately & refrigerate for 30 minutes or more if possible.
• When cool, frost each cake separately in a different bright color and refrigerate.
• Now make the connector dots by using the marshmallows.  Cut each marshmallow in half (carefully with a serrated knife) and dip each in appropriately colored runny frosting (melt your frosting in the microwave to make it runny like a ranch dressing consistency-it only takes 10-30 seconds!) using a fork to dip (see Decorating FAQ’s for more details).  Place dots in the ’fridge until the frosting is hardened and then place on the cakes. 
• Once each cake block is completed, including the dots, place in your pre-planned positions on the board and refrigerate.  Everyone will be amazed to see your cakes tilting and broken into blocks. Your Lego cake will be unforgettable!

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The School Bus Cake:  This School Bus cake was made for a cake walk for my daughter’s school, and I am happy to announce that it was the first one picked (hee-hee, small ego boosters are always appreciated as a stay at home Mom right?).  This bus cake is great for back to schools, school functions and for kids who love buses!  I was tight on time as I made a few cakes for the function, so I kept this one very simple.  Here goes...

• Make 1 cake mix according to recipe directions & fill one 9x13 pan.  Bake cake according to directions.
• Once baked & cooled,  cut the cake in half lengthwise and fill & stack the layers & refrigerate for 30 minutes or more if possible.
• Once cool, cut ~1/4-1/3 of the top layer off in a slanted line for the front ‘window’ (see diagram). Now crumb-coat the entire cake and refrigerate for 30 minutes or more if possible.

• Once cool, frost in yellow, piped on the details in frosting (see Decorating FAQ’s), put the donuts on for the wheels and cut the jelly-beans in half for the front head-lights, brake lights and top caution lights.   I even piped “ND or Bust” on the back ’bumper’ for fun!

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The Dirt Hill Bug Cake:  This cake was made for a 3 year old boy’s bug themed party and well, reviews were mixed...they were convinced it was actually dirt!  Once we assured the little boys that it was NOT actually dirt, but cake crumbles, they finally ate it up!  This one might be best for older kids, or kids who do not worry about eating dirt! Here goes:

• Make 2 cake mixes according to recipe directions & fill one 9x13 pan and one 1/2-quart glass bowl.  Bake cakes according to directions.
• Once baked & cooled, frost the 9x13 with chocolate frosting (see Recipes), and stack the bowl cake upside down and off center, and then frosted the bowl cake to make a dirt hill.
• Sprinkle crumbs all over the cake for the dirt (use either crushed cookies pieces or left-over cake crumbs), and add gummy bugs & worms (I even added some plastic bugs that the kids could take home...you know how much they like taking things home from parties!).  It was super cute!

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The Slime Cake:  This Slime cake is one of my all-time favorite cakes...it was a yucky, total gross-out for the kids, and absolutely delicious too!  This genius cake idea was not mine, but from the Nick Jr. Kids Cookbook. I used this cake for a Spring Break Science party I had for my daughter’s Pre-K class and it was a blast!  We all had so much fun that I cannot wait until my son is in Pre-K and we’ll repeat the whole thing.  Then when the Baby grows up...and so on!  :)

• Make 1 cake mix according to recipe directions & fill the two 10inch round pans. Bake cakes according to directions.
• Once baked & cooled, fill and stack the layers and frost in vanilla buttercream colored green. Now you are done, and the rest of the fun is in the presentation!

To present the cake, bring the cake out to the kids, along with a big freezer bag filled with ’slime’ (the green vanilla pudding). Snip off a tip of the bag, and go child to child and let each one take a turn squirting some pudding on the cake (effectively SLIMING the cake!)!  For even more fun, don’t tell the kids it’s pudding...let them think it’s slime.   The ’Ewww’-es, “Gross’-es and giggles were worth all the yuck of cleaning up any messes!  This slime cake is probably my favorite on the site...and thanks to Nick Jr., as I would never have thought of this myself!   

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The Ghost Cake:  This Ghost cake was made for a kids Halloween party (obviously) and was so simple!  It was one of my first attempts at cake making, so although I had a grand vision in my head, it really came out more like a baby ghost!  It’s a good learning cake though and such a fun one to make with the kids! Here goes

• Make 2 cake mixes according to recipe directions & fill the two 8inch pans and the glass bowl pan.  Bake cakes according to directions.
• Once baked & cooled, fill and stack all layers (the rounds on the bottom and then the bowl cake on top) &  just frost it with vanilla buttercream ( I didn’t even crumb-coat this one!).  I piped on the face and arms in black and swirled some extra white frosting on top and on the plate.  Viola...a ghost!

Obviously this cake was one of those “I have 2 hours until the party and need something” cakes, but the kids thought it was so cute (“a little baby ghost”).  I’m thinking of making a fancier version for party coming up in a few days, where I color the cake red (cutting into it would be extra fun) and making it much higher (adding 2 more 8inch round layers) and maybe covering it with fondant (to give it more of a draped floaty look.)  I’ll let you know how it goes! :)

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The Train Cake:  This green train cake was made for such a nice little boy and was a big hit as he was such a train fan!  And the blue train cake was my first attempt for my own little boy when he was just one (can you see how far I’ve come in the decorating...you will too!).  These are super fun to make...

• Make 2 cake mixes according to recipe directions (yellow works best) & fill two loaf pans and one tin can (simply eat your canned veggies, wash out the can, grease it well, fill it 1/2 to 2/3 full with batter). Bake cakes according to directions.
  
• Once baked & cooled, cut one loaf cake in half so there are 2 pieces (both will be used) and started building your train as follows (see pictures below for an unfrosted view):
  • put the full loaf cake on the bottom as the base.
  • stack the 2 half loafs on top of each other (you may need to level one of the halves so that the other will sit evenly on top) and place them on the bottom full loaf cake (line it up along one end).
  • put the tin can cake on the full loaf cake as the engine.  If you want a cow-plow, just use slice a bit off the bottom of the tin can and use the extra pieces to make a triangle shape in front of the cake.

• Once you see how your cake will be put together (like a cake puzzle yes?), take the pieces apart and start frosting/crumb-coating & putting the pieces back together.  Crumb-coat the entire cake and refrigerate for 30 minutes or more if possible.
• Finally frost & decorate the train in your preferred color and add the Oreo cookies (either whole or just twist off one cookie side) for each wheel. Now you have a train!

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The Present Box Cake:  Present cakes are such fun as they look just like a present, but surprise, you can eat it!  They are good for any and all occasions and work for any age group.  You can embellish a present cake with fondant bows, fondant flowers, real flowers or more!  Here are two present cakes I made that showing different ways of making them!  They are super simple, so here goes… 

Basic Supplies:  1 cake mix, either two 8x8 pans or one 9x13 pan, 2-3 tubs frosting, icing coloring, Ziploc bags (& decorating tips if wanted), fondant or flowers.
 
Minimum Time:  2-3 hours (not including baking or cooling time).

• Make 1 cake mix according to recipe directions & fill the two 8x8 pans or the 9x13 pan depending on the shape present you’d like (the square cake used the square pans, while the tie box cake used the 9x13 pan).  Bake cakes according to directions.
• Once baked & cooled, level your cakes, and fill & stack the layers (if you’re using the 9x13 cake, simply cut it in half lengthwise and then fill & stack layers). Now crumb-coat the entire cake & refrigerate for 30 minutes or more if possible.
  
• Once cooled, frost the entire cake in preferred color and set in ‘fridge.  When ’your paper wrapping’ frosting is set-up, then you can decorate however you’d like! Some ideas I’ve used include:
  • Piping on buttercream for the ribbon, and fresh flowers to adorn top of cake.
  • Using fondant to make the ribbon and bows.  See Decorating FAQs for more details, but it is pretty easy. To make the ribbons, use ~5oz’s of Wilton’s ready-made fondant in your preferred color, roll-out to ~1/8 inch thick and cut ribbon strips to size desired (measure with a ruler-I usually cut to ~1 & 1/2inches wide & 6-8inches long). To make the bow (& yes, the Wilton fondant box has simple bow instructions, or see Decorating FAQ’s for more details), again take ~5oz of fondant, roll-out to ~1/8 inch thick and cut 4 or 5 strips ~4inch long and 1 & 1/2 inches wide.  Loop two of the strips into bow shapes and stuff with tissue & set out to dry (’glue’ the ends together using a dab of water).  Cut two more strips with notches to look like the bow ends, and use the final strip to wrap around the two bow loops to make the center loop (see red bow in picture).  Now you can wrap the cake with the ‘ribbon’ and after the bow is hard, simply place it on top.
    
  • Using chocolate to make greeting cards. Simply melt Wilton’s candy melts or your  own favorite chocolate and, using a Ziploc bag, pipe melted chocolate into a rectangle on a saran-wrap covered tray (see Decorating FAQs for more detailed directions). Once the chocolate was hard, pipe on your ‘greeting’, and place on the cake.

Now you have a nice present to take someone special.  And see the Mickey Mouse cake to see how you can make it look like something is popping out of the present as well...what a fun surprise!

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The Purse & Hat Cake:  This Purse & Hat cake was made for my good friends Mother’s Day party for her family.  She thought of the idea, and I loved it!  It was so different from the normal breakfast or ‘tea’ cakes usually served for Mother’s Day, and all of the Grandma’s, Mom’s, Aunt’s & Cousins really loved having such a wonderful & different centerpiece for their special day! Directions for the Purse Cake can be found in the Purse Cake picture above, so the below just includes directions for the Hat cake.

• Make 1 cake mix according to recipe directions & fill the one 10inch round pan and one 1 & 1/2 quart glass bowl.  Bake cakes according to directions.
• Once baked & cooled, level your cakes, and fill & stack the layers.
• Frost the entire cake to compliment your purse cake, and decorate as desired. While you could trim the hat with fondant, flowers or buttercream, I used the same licorice I was using in the Purse cake.  I use 1 Twizzler Pull n’Peel around the brim for the trim, and the  used another as a flower.  To make the flower, I pulled the licorice into it’s strips, and looped them around each other to make the flower.

The two cakes together were really very special and so cute!

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The Ruby Slippers Cake:  This Ruby Slippers cake was obviously inspired by a little girl’s love of the Wizard of Oz.  She had a Oz themed party, and really wanted two Ruby slippers for her cake.  So I was happy to oblige...even if my kitchen was covered in glittery red sugar by the end of it all!  Here goes..

• Make 1 cake mix according to recipe directions & fill the two 8x8 pans.  Bake cakes according to directions.
• Once baked & cooled, fill & stack the layers, and refrigerate for 30 minutes or more if possible.
• Once cool, cut the cake into two halves and carve each half into a shoe shape (just look at the bottom of a tennis shoe or ballet flat for a shape guide, or see Carving FAQ’s for more ideas).
• Then cut each shoe cake at an angle from center down towards the ‘toe’ and slightly round out the back end of each cake to give the high heel illusion (see below diagram). Once all cuts are made, crumb-coat each shoe and refrigerated.

• Once crumb-coat is set-up, frost both ’ruby slippers’ red & get ready to glitter.
• To apply glitter, first cut a paper-towel into the shape of the ’sock’ part (where the foot would go in) and place on the frosting (to block the sprinkles from this part), then start sprinkling & spreading the glitter around the rest of the shoe. You could avoid the paper-towel sock and just scoop out some cake where the foot would go in and then frost it a separate color too!  I actually left the paper towel ‘sock’ on the cake because the frosting bled into the towel creating a really nice fabric pattern and I thought it looked cool!
• Finally, outline the ’heel’ and ’sock’ part in black to give the shoe more form, and viola, a Ruby Slipper cake ready for the Yellow Brick Road!.

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The Monster Truck Cake:  This Monster Truck cake was one of my first cakes, and certainly one of the first 3-D cakes where I used ‘mixed media’ (cake, donuts, chocolate designs, flags from photo paper, etc.). I had such fun with this first attempt, I got quickly hooked on making cakes after this one...so thank you to my good friend who encouraged me to do her son’s Monster truck birthday cake! 

• Make 2 cake mixes according to recipe directions (yellow works best) & fill the two loaf pans.  Bake cakes according to directions.
• Once baked & cooled, get ready to cut. Use 1 loaf cake for the bottom, and cut the second loaf in half.  Once cut in half, taper one end of the cake to make the windshield area (see diagram below).  Place the full loaf on the bottom and put the trapezoid-like cut-out on top.

• Once your cakes are cut, start crumb-coating & stacking, and refrigerate for 30 minute or more if possible.
• Once cool, frost the bottom 3/4 of the bottom layer in black so it will sort of disappear behind your wheels.  Next, frost the top 1/4 of the bottom layer and the whole top layer in your preferred color. I used blue to match the inspiration truck (Blue Thunder, Thunder, Thunder!). Then I decorated the truck to match the pictures I had looked up, using a ‘mixed media’ of sorts (see Decorating FAQ’s), including:
  • frosting to pipe on the windows, words & lightening bolts.
  • Entenmanns donuts for the wheels (connected by just sticking to the frosting-no need for toothpicks).
  • frosted small breadsticks for the black posts connecting the ‘cab’ to the ‘bed’ of the truck,
  • photo-paper & toothpicks for the back flags stuck into the back of the ’truck bed’ (I looked up a ‘Ford’ logo on-line, copied it into PowerPoint and sized, printed 4 of them out on photo paper, cut them out and attached them to two toothpicks (colored the toothpicks black with a Sharpie).
  • a chocolate square and Ford logo for the front hood (I simply made a chocolate square with melted down Wilton candy melts and put a printed out logo on it, and placed it on the hood...you could have piped the this logo on the cake, but the hood was pretty small so I went with ‘mixed media’).
  • crushed graham crackers for the dirt that the truck was ‘driving’ over.
  • a few Hot Wheels or Matchbox cars on ‘dirt’ or under the cake so that the Monster Truck cake looked like it was crushing the cars.

This Monster Truck cake will be a big hit for your Party, Party, Party! :) 

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The Birthday Age Cake:  This Birthday Age cake was made for my oldest girl at a simple family party.  We were at a summer place on vacation with my family, & as I had no cake tools, I just totally whipped this cake together with the butter knives and pots I could find in the kitchen. It ended up being a mix of home-made cake and store bought cupcakes.  So fun & simple, here goes

Make 1 cake mix according to recipe directions & fill the two 10inch round pans. Bake cakes according to directions.
• Once baked & cooled, take one layer and frost it and place on plate.  I used chocolate frosting for my base cake.
• Now, take the second layer and cut into the number you need (obviously my daughter was turning 5), place it on top of the bottom layer, and frost as desired ( I piped on stripes to mimic the airbrush striping on the store cupcakes).
• Once cake is assembled, cut out notches along the outside of the bottom cake, so you can nestle in the amount of cupcakes you need (I used 5 cupcakes to match the number).  Simply nestle the cupcakes in the cake on the plate, and you are done!

And I will tell you, even though this cake took less than 1 hour to make once baked, my daughter still talks about it as one of her all time favorite cakes!  I’m telling you...kids just love anything you make, especially if it’s different from the norm.  I also got a kick out of this cake because I love number cut-outs (I don’t know why but I think it’s fun) and I love incorporating something unexpected into cakes (adding the cupcakes made it so festive!).  So go for it and you’ll have a hit on your hands!

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The Game Board Cake:  This Game Board was made for three 13 year old boys who were having a Game Night themed birthday party. The Mom told me the games they were playing (Blokus, Boggle, Trivia & Cards) and I worked to incorporate them all onto the cake.  The boys were amazed by how closely the cake compared to the games, and got a kick out of the Boggled Happy Birthday greeting! This cake was to serve 45 people, so there is a lot of cake here...you can size according to your needs of course!  Ok, here goes:

• Make 5 cake mixes according to recipe directions & fill your 9x13 pans (if you do not have 4 separate pans, and I did not, you’ll need to bake them two at a time) and your 8x8 pan and bake according to directions.
• Once baked & cooled, level your cakes. Then, fill and stack your 9x13 layers, crumb-coat the entire cake and refrigerate for 30 minutes or more if possible.  Next, cut your 8x8 cake into a 4x4 cake, crumb-coat and refrigerate.
• Once all cakes are cool, I started decorating.  Based on the homework I had done earlier (I looked up the theme games, and drew up some plans), I piped on the Blokus board, trivia cards and side names and card suits. Then I piped on the detail for the 4x4 Boggle board (including a Happy Birthday greeting in all turned around letters) and placed it on top of the cake.
• Finally, I made a Royal Flush card set out of chocolate (I melted Wilton Candy melts, and piped out 5 rectangle cards on a saran wrapped tray).  When hardened, I piped on the suits and placed on the cake.

This cake will definitely test your piping skills as it is pretty much all frosting work, but it is totally doable &fun! And when the kids see how closely the cake replicates the actually games, they will think it is awesome! And don’t be afraid to try your own family favorites….Monopoly, Candy Land, Scrabble, etc!

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The Sunglasses Cake:  This Sunglasses cake  was made as a side cake for a beach themed party.  It went along with the large Beach Ball scene cake (see Ball Cake Gallery) and was made with some extra left-over cake as follows: 

• Make 1 cake mix according to recipe directions & fill the 8x8 pan.  Bake cake according to directions.
• Once baked & cooled, cut cake into a sunglasses shape (you can free-hand it or see Carving FAQ’s for further directions on cutting). Then crumb-coat and refrigerate for 30 minutes if possible.
• Once cool, decorate cake as desired. Once decorated, put it on top of crushed graham crackers (for the sand) and use homemade chocolate shells to embellish (used Wilton candy melts and the seashell mold).

Along with the Beach Ball cake, it made for a perfect little add-on for a very special birthday girl.

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The Noah’s Ark  Cake:  This Noah’s Ark cake was made for a my little girl’s Noah’s Ark themed class party, and was truly a last minute cake!  I did not know I needed to make one, but when I found out, I couldn't let the kids down!  I made it in just 2 hours (never having made it before) and as it had to serve 30-40 people, most of the time was spent simply baking, & not much effort was put into decorating!  We happened to have a Noah’s Ark toy set (go figure!), so that really saved the day!  So, in case you ever get stuck and need  Noah’s Ark cake, here goes:

• Make 3 cake mixes according to recipe directions & fill the two 9x13 pans and the two 8inch round pans. Bake cakes according to directions.
• Once baked & cooled, fill and stack the 9x13 cakes and frost in blue frosting (this will be your ‘flood’).  I kept the icing messy as it was a tumultuous ocean (yeah, that’s it, stormy seas...not a rushed Mom).  Place it in the in refrigerator for 30 minutes or more if possible.
• Next, fill & stack the two round layers. Once stacked, cut into a diamond shape (see below), and this will be your boat.  Frost with chocolate frosting and set in refrigerator to set-up.

• Now, take two graham cracker squares, frost with chocolate frosting and refrigerate.
• When the boat cake and crackers are cool, tilt the graham crackers up like a tent on top of the boat cake and viola, a Noah’s Ark cake!
• Next, put the Ark cake on top of the water cake and decorate. I totally lucked out and happened to have a Noah’s Ark toy set that I used for the animals, but you could pipe on animals, or print out pictures on photo paper and use the cut-outs on the cake (see the Noah’s Ark cupcakes in the Cupcake Photo Gallery).

So, while I knew the cake wasn’t perfect, the kids did not know (neither did most of the parents) and it was a big hit! It just goes to show that people love cake, so never worry about making it perfect….just have fun and others will love your cake (& you) for it!

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The Lightning McQueen Cake:  This cake was one of my first attempts at a 3-D cake and of course it was my daughter’s favorite Disney character...Lightning McQueen.   You’ll see that this cake is not as polished as the others, nor uses some of the fun things like donut wheels or jelly bean headlights (see, practicing cakes really makes a difference, so see some of the other 3-D cakes for more ideas), but for a first time 3-D cake maker, not bad!  So for what it’s worth, here goes…

• Make 2 cake mixes according to recipe directions & fill the two 9x13 pans.  Bake cakes according to directions.

• Once baked & cooled, get ready to cut. Simply cut one cake into a car shape for the bottom layer (see birds-eye view in the left diagram), and the other into the cab part of the car  & the back foil (see straight-on view in the right diagram below). 
   

• 3) Now fill & stack your pieces, crumb-coat the entire cake and then refrigerate for 30 minutes or more if possible.

• 4) Once cooled, frosted in color preferred and pipe on all the details. 

Next time I make this one, I’ll use some of the tricks discussed in other cakes on these pages  (like fondant accents & donut wheels) and make him really “faster than fast”...Ka-Chow”!
 

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The Steps Graduation Cake:  I made this cake for my little brother when he graduated High School!  He’s the youngest of 5, so he deserved an extra special cake...especially after working so hard to live up to his illustrious sister’s successes (wink-wink & hee-hee).  I made him a Staircase cake-telling him to keep on climbing and noting his big successes on each step. 

• Make 2 cake mixes according to recipe directions & fill the three 8x8 pans.  Bake cakes according to directions.
• Once baked & cooled, level your cakes and begin cutting to size as follows (see diagram below for details):
  • use one 8x8 as the bottom layer (making the bottom step). 
  • Cut a quarter strip of cake (2 inches) from the second 8x8 cake and use the remaining 3/4 cake for stacking on the first layer (making the 2nd step).
  • Cut the third 8x8 cake in half for stacking on top of the 3/4 cake (making the 3rd step). 
  • Finally use the reserved 1/4 cake strip for stacking on the top (making the top step). 
  • Again, see below diagram (& yes, you will have 1/2 of a cake layer left over for you..Yum!).

• Once all cuts are made, fill your layers and stack with the back edge of each layer lined up, creating your stair step look. Crumb-coat the cake and refrigerate for 30 minutes or more if possible.
• You can now decorate however desired. I frosted it all in white, and decorated each step with piped images of my brother’s favorite high school achievements (soccer, lacrosse, theatre, his high school logo & class year). I then decorated the next step with step with his college logo and the top step with a blue sky (“The sky’s the limit!”). Best of all, I used the ‘mixed media’ concept (See Decorating FAQ’s) by printing out a photo of him on nice photo paper, cutting it out, taping it to a lollipop stick, and sticking it in the cake on step two.  It looked so cool-like he was posing on the steps of his own success!  He got such a kick seeing himself stand on his own cake...it was too fun!

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The Spiderman Cake:  This cake was made for a fun little 4-year old who, of course, loves his web-slinging superhero's! It is super simple and requires only concentration when doing the mask lines.  Just hold your breath & go for it ( & remember, lift the decorating tip before you breath again, then start again). Here goes:

• Make 2 cake mixes according to recipe directions & fill the two 10-inch pans and one 3-inch deep 8-inch round pan. Bake cakes according to directions.
• Once baked & cooled,level your cakes. Place the 3-inch deep cake in the refrigerator to firm up.  Take the two 10-inch rounds and fill & crumb-coat, and refridgerate for 30-niutes or more if possible.
• Now, get your 8-inch round cake and make a paper-towel template for your Spiderman face shape (See Decorating FAQs for details on making paper-towel templates for shapes). Cut the cake using the template and try to keep your knife at a wide-angle so the sides appear rounded. Now crumb-coat this cake and refridgerate for 30-minutes or more.
• Once cakes are set-up, frost the base with light blue frosting and the head with red frosting. Once frosted, place the head on the base and put the whole in refridgerator to firm-up.
• Once base-coat frosting is set-up, pipe black line & web details onto the cake, add the white eyes, and the black spiders as well.  If you would like use, add a cartoon thought sign for good wishes (See Decorating FAQs for details on decorating with mixed media). 

Now you you can swing into a great party & get a WOW along the way! Bake on!

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The Giant Cupcake Cake:  This cake was made for a fun 7 year old & you should have seen her eyes when she saw the size of this 'cupcake'!  This Cupcake cake is from one of the few molds I have and it was fun to use.  I'd recommend this mold if you're looking for a fun gift for a cake crazy friend!  It's from William & Sonoma.

• Make 2 cake mixes according to recipe directions & fill the cupcake mold pan. Bake cakes according to directions.
• Once baked & cooled, level both sides of the mold & fill to stick both top & bottom together. Crumb-coat, and refrigerate for 30-minutes or more if possible.
• Once cake is set-up, frost the base and then the top any way you would like! I used Hershey Kissables as the 'sprinkles' and added cut-outs of the characters from the movie she was seeing at her movie party. I surrounded the Giant Cupcake cake with mini-cupcakes for effect (it made the Cupcake cake look even bigger)! 

And this cake would be good for any occasion...too fun Bake on!

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The Donut Cake and Coffee Cup Cake:  Happy Birthday Dad...more to come!

• Make 2 cake mixes according to recipe directions & fill ....
• Once baked & cooled, ...
• ....

And this cake would be good for any occasion...too fun Bake on!

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