The Amazing Mike

Mike Mccarey of Mike's Amazing cakes is known for making exceptional 3 dimensional cakes that's totally out of the box. He's won several Food Network Challenges -- Elvis Birthday Cakes, Cartoon Cakes and Sesame Street Cakes to name a few. He was actually the first Food Network competitor that inspired me to give sculpted cakes a try and last month, I was given the opportunity to learn from Mike. He is just not amazing but A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! He is an excellent sculptor and such a speedee gonzales too! Most he has done was 70 cakes a week. Again, 70!! I feel his company name should actually be "Mike's Incredibly Amazing Cakes".

I took 2 back to back classes at Mike's. First was the Eiffel Tower Cake and let me just say, for a complicated looking structure, he made it quite easy yet still looking difficult to make! Here is a photo of me with the 2 Mikes and of course the cake.

As mentioned earlier, Mike competed on Food Network Challenge Sesame Street Cakes which is one of my favorite episodes. It was a fun episode to see Cookie Monster, Elmo, Oscar and a HUGE Big Bird! Who in the world can make a huge Big Bird cake in 8 hours on top of 2 other characters? Mike. So the second class is called Structures. He discussed various support structures to make 3 dimensional cakes and to culminate the class, we made our own mini version of his wining Big Bird cake.

In progress...

I could continue to talk about how amazing Mike's cakes are but more than just an amazing sculptor, was an excellent teacher. He was so nice, very patient, generous with information, thorough, and encouraging. Both classes were beyond what I expected. Bottom line: it was SO worth the trip.

Thank you for everything, Mike!

Hello Kitty aka "Kitty"

When my Izzie was 2, she would call Hello Kitty "Kitty Cat". Little Annika who turns 2 calls Hello Kitty "Kitty!". So for remainder of this post, I shall refer to the famous cat "Kitty" since this is about Annika and her cake.

Here’s a little about Annika...she was born during spring time of 2009...she’s a cutie...and she LOVES "Kitty". So what would be a perfect cake for her? Hello Kitty that feels like spring!

Here is Annika’s special cake. Hello Kitty’s body is made out of rice cereal treats while the head is styrofoam covered with chocolate and fondant. Cake was chocolate with vanilla buttercream covered with fondant as well.

After the party, I got a sweet email from Annika’s mom saying how Annika loved it. Few weeks later, she shared some photos of Annika’s party. And she wasn’t kidding when she said Annika loved it! The photo below shows proof that she really DID love it.

Most people say kids are easy to please. On the contrary, kids these days are quite critical too! So I say they are actually the best critics. You get an honest opinion when you ask for one. I didn't ask for one this time but the reaction above says it all.

Ariel & Nemo

You have probably seen a couple of my cakes with the name “Cayleigh” on it. This cake doesn’t have her name on it but it is for little Cayleigh. She turns 1 and celebrates her birthday with her brother Clayton at a local aquarium. To go with the underwater theme, her mom requests for an Ariel and Nemo cake.

All my cakes have always had gumpste, fondant or modeling chocolate figures. With this cake, I decided to make Nemo and Ariel (figures only, not the shell or reef) out polymer clay. It wasn’t easy as I thought but it wasn’t hard either. The hardest part really is kneading it. You really need to work it! It also attracts a lot of dirt so you have to keep your work area and hands extra clean. But the good thing about polymer clay other than it being a keepsake is you can add details to it even after baking. Of the 2 figures I first made Nemo and he originally looked like a tadpole. Seriously! But after the initial baking, I built it up and added more cheeks and it was then that he looked like Nemo.

Here’s a close up of Nemo.

And here are the cute celebrants! Happy Birthday!

Alvin Bowls to 40

One of my regular customer's husband turns 40 and loves to bowl. Her request: a black bowling ball cake. And here's what I came up with.

I've not made a cake ball of this size yet nor have a covered one. It's not that big - 8 inch to be exact- but it is quite tricky to cover with fondant and more importantly, to keep it upright without having a flat bottom. The solution: styrofoam! And boy, was it great. But there still IS cake in there. 2/3 of it that is.

The little pins (yes, they're tiny)...I decided on them 20 minutes before pick up and I'm glad I made them. A friend of mine who saw the photo on facebook said she definitely will win and knock those pins out! Ha!

Okay, on to another cake story...

Natalie's Pokemon Cake

When Pokemon was first introduced in the 90's, I recall it to be such a hit to youngsters as my my nephews and nieces were fanatics. They collected toys, games, cards and even traded. When I got a request for this Pokemon cake, I was actually surprised that he is still popular and kids still love the little yellow character!

Pichu

Natalie turns 8, loves Pokemon and knows what she wants on her cake: her 3 favorite pokemon characters and a big number 8. Her aunt and uncle got this special cake for her and she loved it. So did the other kids. I was told that before the balloons got on the cake, the kids had to have a taste of them and bite marks all around. Natalie on the other hand, was protecting it from all the other kids as you can see in the photo below.

This cake was simple to make: round covered with fondant and a cut out number 8. But I had to get my characters spot on since Natalie knew her characters. I took extra time to make sure they were as close the character. Natalie's smile tells me it was worth it.

Pocoyo!

Last year, I was given the opportunity to make Gabriel's baptismal cake. Now he turns 1 and his is wonderful mom, Katrina, decided on Pocoyo for his theme since he looks much like Pocoyo! I have never heard of Pocoyo till now and after watching a few videos and checking out their official website, I was sold.

Here is a simple cake I made for the birthday boy. Pocoyo is made out of rice cereal treats. The birthday cake beside Pocoyo is cake whose design is based on one of the show's episodes.

We can't leave the back part of the cake without a story. Here it is. We can't have a party without gifts right?

Till next time Gabriel, happy 1st birthday!

3 Days with the Master of Sugar Flowers

Here it is...my 3 days with the ONE and the ONLY Ron-Ben Israel of Ron-Ben Israel Cakes.

Question and answer with Ron

Ron is known to the cake world as the master of sugar flowers. My 3 days in his class validates all rumors. He was amazing. His techniques and flowers were spot on. They were beautiful, graceful and so life like. But more than just sugar flowers, his cakes are amazing as well. If you have not seen them, it is worth the time to check them out. They are clean and precise, the way I would want my cakes to be.

I am an amateur when it comes to sugar flowers. My definition of flowers don't go past beyond the cut out flowers I made for my Tangled cake. I did take a class 15 years ago but I did not care for them. They did not inspire me. Ron's class completely changed my views on sugar flowers. I have an increased appreciation and the confidence to try them once again.

Here are some photos taken from class plus photos of the flowers I made. Well, what's left of them. Unfortunately, some of my flowers did not make it safely back particularly the roses (which were my fave!). I still wanted to share them just the same.

Sweet peas

Sweet peas, rose buds, peony and hydrangeas

My poor rose...

Ron's sugar flowers. The photo don't do it justice.

I pass!

Thank you Ron for sharing your talent. I am truly grateful for this opportunity. Thank you too to Minette Rushing of Custom Cakes for being such a gracious hostess.