Lauren (Heart) Elmo

Lauren turns 1 and she loves Elmo. Her mom, Jill, created a fun and Elmo filled party for her baby and having my cake be part of it was great.

Things that served as inspiration for this cake were Lauren's candy station banner, candies, and of course Elmo! This is my 3rd Elmo cake but know what, I love making Elmo cakes!

Below is a photo of baby Lauren holding her finger up just like Elmo. Isn't she a cutie?

Cat in the Hat

Dr Seuss' "Cat in the Hat" now airs PBS Kids. Ben is one of this show's biggest fan so for his 3rd birthday, he gets what he loves. Ben is particularly obsessed with the Thingamajigger. But with a budget to work with, I thought of doing the cake this way to have all the characters including the Thingamajigger without going over her budget.

The TV screen was inspired by an icon on the Cat in the Hat's website with modification and hand painted with black outlines which is a Dr Seuss trademark. The screen, on the other hand, is an edible image. Cake is chocolate filled with chocolate mousse.

Ben and his Sister Rebekah were excited to see the cake and I was too! My 3 year old and I were happy with the cake turned out and couldn't wait for them to see it. We were all happy!

Happy 3rd Birthday Ben! Till next year :)

2D Pablo

A year ago, I made a 3D snowman cake for Bam-Bam's 2nd birthday. This year as he turns 3, we went 2D of his favorite character Pablo of Super Spy Backyardigan.

The cake was 12 inches high, chocolate cake filled with buttercream. Photo above shot at an angle shows the dimension of the cake.

Bam-Bam and his mom picked up the cake and it was great to see Bam-Bam's reaction. He loved it and exclaimed "Pablo!!!" with a big smile on his face. This is why I love my job.

Turntable Cake

This cake was for my daughter's teacher's husband who is into music and his turntable. A photo of his actual turntable was given to me to replicate. I did the best I could to get as much details into a small cake to serve about 10 people. I was told he loved it and took out his other favorite thing-- his SLR camera with back drop and all and kept taking photos!

Tennis, Shopping and Fashion

Jackie loves fashion, shopping and tennis. As she turns 16, her parents decides to throws her a surprise birthday party organized by Pinnacle Production Group.

A closer look of the bag

The bottom tier shows her love for tennis with a tennis skirt and balls. The top tier holds her favorite stores represented in their respective shopping bags and at the very top is a personalized bag inspired by Juicy made out of rice cereal treats. The cake was vanilla with chocolate ganache then covered with fondant.

Aiden loves Elmo

Aiden loves Elmo. For his 1st birthday, his mom asked me to make a cake of Elmo with his piano. I deliberated between making a 2D cake but I could not resist making a mini set of Elmo's World, the show on Sesame Street that features Elmo and his piano. I did a rough sketch of how I would do it and my Izzie said she wanted that cake too! With that, I went for the set.




The cake is chocolate filled with mocha and vanilla buttercream, iced with buttercream as well then adorned with fondant accents. Everything is edible except the backing of the wall. Elmo's piano top needed to slant a bit and I know that for a fact since I just came from Elmo's World Live in Sesame Place, Philadelphia.

Happy 1st Birthday Aiden!!! Next time I'll tell your mommy not to hold back when you want to touch Elmo!

Emilio Rocks!

Emilio turns 4 and his awesome mom Trina creates a rockin' party for him filled with music and fun. Trina wanted a simple 2 tiered cake with subdued colors of avocado green and charcoal gray for her son's cake, inspired by a card she saw on Etsy. Here's what I came up with and I'm glad to hear they liked it!

Happy 4th birthday Emilio!

Movie and a Popcorn

Enzo's cake
Disney themed with gumdrops

I have not made the same cake twice in years since everyone has different themes in mind. But this cake I feel is very versatile. With minor detail adjustments, you can personalize the cake to the celebrant's request.

Enzo turns 1 while Bella turns 10. When I got the request for Enzo's cake to reflect different Disney characters and with the budget she had, I thought of a movie reel and of course, we can't leave out the popcorn! Bella on the other hand, didn't have a particular theme in mind but was having a slumber party with 10 of her closest friends. With slumber parties at that age, you talk about your favorite shows or watch a movie. These cakes were only days apart and after showing Enzo's cake, Bella's mom wanted the same with a few changes.

Bella's cake
With her favorite shows, hand painted personalized m&ms

Some cake details up close

A lot of people have done their own version of a movie themed cake but if you're a cake maker reading this and you're given a budget for a cake with different elements, consider this. I think it works! Plus, I enjoyed every minute making those popcorn kernels.

My Izzie Turns 3

Photo taken at Izzie's school. Pardon the unedited photo.

One nice day months before her birthday, Izzie stands on a stool beside me, watches me work on a cake then tells me "Mama, I want Elmo standing cake holding Izzie's hand". I thought she would forget but on the contrary, kept telling me about it! How can I say no to that right? :)

My hubby was in charge of making the structure and I think he did such a great job. Thanks Hon!!

Both muppet Izzie and Elmo are made of the same structure just flipped around. Both then filled with rice cereal treats and modeling chocolate or fondant. Wish I did make Elmo a little thinner. First he looked like a dirty old man wearing boxers - yikes! But after putting everything on, he looked a little better -- now, a chubby little monster that's somewhat cross eyed wearing his goggles hehe! Izzie still loved it regardless. That's what matters. She loved her muppet too. She wants to learn ballet hence the tutu. And oh, here's the inspiration why Elmo's wearing scuba gear. We gave out fighting fishes with the Elmo background you see which was made my fab sister.

Izzie's fish. His name's Elmo!

Happy Birthday Izzie! Mommy and Daddy loves you!

Precious Cayleigh

Baby Cayleigh is welcomed into the Christian world with a cake that holds a Precious Moments inspired figure of a girl praying with a bear per request of her mom. Cayleigh's mom is one of my favorite regular customer and the best part is she leaves the design of the cake to me! Here's what I came up with, inspired by Dot and Grace of Cupcakes by Design.

The base is completely covered with pieces of fondant to embody a quilt. To match, I added a quilted heart on the top tier. Cayleigh's name is stamped with floral accents.

Welcome to the Christian world little princess Cayleigh!

Old MacDonald Had A Farm...

Little Austin celebrated his first birthday in Lemo's Farm (www.lemosfarm.com). What other way to complete the party with a farm themed cake!

Lemo's farm is known for their pony rides, petting area and their train ride. Since it was going to be costly to make a moving train from scratch, we opted to have Thomas the Train and tracks around the cake to go with the venue. Here are a few shots of the cake.

Ee i ee i oh!

And on this farm he had some pigs,

Ee i ee i oh!

And an oink, oink here,

And an oink, oink there,

Here an oink, there an oink, everywhere an oink oink,

Old MacDonald had a farm,

Ee i ee i oh!

Old MacDonald had a farm,

Ee i ee i oh!

And on this farm he had a horse,

Ee i ee i oh!

And a neigh neigh here,

And a neigh neigh there,

Here a neigh, there a neigh, everywhere a neigh neigh,

Old MaDonald had a farm,

Ee i ee i oh!

Old MacDonald had a farm,

Ee i ee i oh!

And on this farm he had a chicken,

Ee i ee i oh!

And a cluck cluck here,

And a cluck cluck there,

Here a cluck, there a cluck, everywhere a cluck,

Old MaDonald had a farm,

Ee i ee i oh!

Old MacDonald Had a Farm,

Ee i ee i oh!!!

Alison and Dave's Special Day

I love weddings. I love the planning part of it, the day of and of course the cake! However, having a child and being around more of them now, most of my cakes have been children's cakes. This month though I was given a chance to work on a wedding cake and I truly enjoyed it.

Wedding cakes are so different from creating a child's cake. It is simpler design wise but the smallest detail you put on it I feel needs to be perfect and precise, which doesn't make it simple to make. And making it look cohesive and detailed but not overly decorated I think is important.

"Lace"

This cake I made for Alison and Dave was inspired by Alison's beautiful Monique Lhuillier dress. ML is known for using beautiful lace on her gowns and the signature ribbon tied around the bride's waist. So I focused on the lace and the bow for the cake. The bottom 2 layers of the cake being the "skirt", then the bow and working up to the "torso". The "lace" were hand cut pieces of gumpaste then hand piped with royal icing. I only had a small swatch of the lace which didn't give me an option to make a mold. I did some string work too to create the hem. Last minute I decided to add the lowest tier to elevate the cake and give me room to pipe the hem.

Jane Hammond events busy transforming the room

Congratulations Dave and Alison! Wishing you all the best and happiness.

ICES 2010

Just a couple of weeks ago, I attended my 1st ICES convention in San Diego . This year's theme was Hanging 10 in 2010. Each year, a cake decorator creates the main show cake for the event. This year, Susan Carberry of Cake Cottage created this ginormous and amazingly detailed cake as this year's ICES cake.

It was overwhelming to see hundreds of cake decorators, some coming for the first time while others veterans eager to see what's new in the business and to learn from the who have taken the time to share their talent. There was what they called a Cake Shack where decorators can bring in a cake to share. I wasn't expecting a lot of cakes since this was not a contest but surprisingly, there were a good number and they were from all over the world! I myself brought 2 cakes to share. The one seen above is inspired by geometric shapes and the Modern Art Museum. I wanted to make a modern showpiece worthy to call art. I do hope it is! The second cake below is inspired by tin lanterns. Both photos were by Stringer Photography, taken at the convention site.

Attending this convention was a wonderful experience and I hope to be able to attend more events like these in the future. The one thing I realized with this event is that there are so much more I need to learn, so many sacrifices to make and hurdles to go through to survive in this industry. Cake decorating is more than just a job or a business. It is dedication and passion that makes us do what we do. I admire the great ones out there and they are such an inspiration. I do hope to make it like them someday. When that will be, I don't know but it never hurts to dream right? :)

Scarface

This was a cake requested for trainer who has a dog named Scarface (named so because of his scar looking white streak on top of his eye). Instead of going for a dog training theme, the customer decided on a more personal approach and focused on Scarface and his bowl of food.

Scarface's dog collar

The entire cake

The dog bowl is chocolate cake filled with ganache and strawberry preserves. The "dog food" are Reese's Puffs -- they're yummy and addicting! Around the bowl is Scarface's collar with his initials and name on it. And of course, we can't forget Scarface!

Kiss me Princess!

Princess Gene celebrated her ... :) birthday last month and as a surprise her cousin Wendy ordered this cake. She actually heard about me through Gene (she's actually my dentist!) and it was real nice of her to ask me to do this special cake.

Wendy requested a simple cake with a frog prince topper to be kissed by Princess Gene. She wanted the frog to be ugly but cute. I wasn't sure how this would turn out since I've not made a frog yet ever but I was happy to hear they loved it. Princess Gene was truly surprised and I am looking forward to getting her photo kissing her "prince" to add to this post. So stay tuned!

Maggie's Elephants

To my readers, if you have been following me for awhile now (thank you!), I made a toy box cake for Mia awhile back. Mia Gabrielle, whose nickname is Maggie, turned 1 and with delight, I was asked to make her first birthday cake.

The theme of the party was elephants and balloons. I had free reign of what I wanted to do with the cake as long as it had elephants, balloons and simple. I decided to do tiers of the same size stacked randomly. I did have a little trouble with the fondant this time since I used a different brand of fondant which had some dried clumps! Ugh! But overall, the cake looked the way I hope it would.

Photo of the beautiful family with the celebrant

Enjoy your toddler years Maggie! See you soon!

Ria's Leotards

This cake is for Ria who is a great rhythmic gymnast. She is actually getting this as an advance birthday present since she is going to compete in Prague. Her mom gave me a photo of one of the leotards she uses in competitions to replicate in cake. In reality her dress is filled with gems and rhinestones but for cake and budget, I had to hand painting the details and painting the yellow parts with gold dust for shine.

Side view of the cake

I truly enjoyed making this cake. It gave the chance to paint and pipe, 2 things I don't get to do much these days. I hope to do more cakes that involve a variety of techniques vs just figure modelling.

Mahjong

My grand aunt came to visit us just this week and the day before she arrived was her birthday. We decided to throw her a small birthday party at a local restaurant and of course have cake.

There are only 2 things that my grand aunt loves: shopping and mahjong. I went for the mahjong since it's simple for the time I had to work on it and I know she'd love it over shopping. I am not a mahjong player though so I had to do a little bit of research. I was so glad I went for this. She was truly happy and so were the guests. This time the chocolate cake was filled with raspberry preserves and Chambord ganache.

Rusty Poo

Rusty!!! FOOD!!!

Rusty is the family dog and he's loved by everyone. He originally belonged to my youngest sister then passed on for awhile from me to my cousin and is now finally with my other sister, Didi. Rusty now is their baby and he'll be moving to Philadelphia with them in a few months (sniff!). Last year for Didi's birthday, I made her a tennis bag cake (see May 2009 post, "lets play tennis"). This year, I could not think of anything Didi would like in her cake then I thought of their baby-- Rusty!

I dressed Rusty in a tux inspired by one he wore for my wedding. He was still a baby then and looked quite handsome in his little tux. With a day to work on this cake, I was on it. Luckily, Rusty was around while I was making the cake so I had him as a model. This is my first 3D dog cake so I'm not sure if I got him right. I for sure made him a little fatter than he actually is after I put on all the clothing.

Rusty with his look a like (I hope!) cake

Happy Birthday Sis!! We're going to miss you all when you all when you move to Philly. Who's going to have dimsum with us every Sunday when you leave? :(

Go Clayton Go!

Clayton turned 4 and had a fun celebration at Safari Run. As the name suggests, the place gives you a feel of the Safari with animal prints and stuffed animals. To go with the theme, my loyal customer who is Clay's mom got him a Diego cake and cupcakes with safari animal toppers.

These aren't good photos of the cake but I thought I'd share still. The cake is iced in buttercream with 2D fondant accents and airbrushed background. Cupcakes are 2D as well. I made 6 different animals for variety. Here's 3 of the 6.

Go Clayton Go! Happy Birthday!!!

Wiggles To the Big Red Car!

"Toot Toot Chuga Chuga Big Red Car...We're driving near and we're driving far..." Having last song syndrome since I made this cake. Plus, my daughter asks me to sing it in the car too!

Jonas turns 2 and he's a big Wiggles fan. His mom decided to throw him the most fun Wiggles party and even asks the guests to come in their favorite Wiggles color. For his cake, they decided on the Wiggles' big red car though this one is actually quite small.

Greg, Murray, Jeff (sleeping) and Anthony

The car sits on a 10 inch cake with the Wiggles house as a backdrop. Everything is edible including the house. This car is my 2nd car cake. Being small, the way I carved this cake was completely different from my first car cake. The one thing they have in common is they're both red :) I wonder if the next car I'll make will be red too! I do think for next time, I'm going to need tips from the guru of car cakes - Debbie Goard of Debbie Does Cakes. She makes the most amazing dogs, cars, food, and all other things you can possibly imagine.

Happy Birthday Jonas! Thank you for having us at your Wiggles party!