Please DO NOT Feed the Gator Cake

My niece's best friend wanted an alligator/swamp themed cake for her son's first birthday, and this is what I created.  I call it my "Please DO NOT Feed the Gator" Cake.  But notice (LOL) that the turtle is trying to cover the "NOT" with a handful of mud.  Mr. Turtle wants the alligator feed so the alligator doesn't resort to eating him.

I made a smash cake for little Clayton too.  The alligator on his cake wasn't as toothy as the gator on the big cake.  I didn't want the poor little boy to be afraid of his cake.

Sorry I forgot to take pictures as I was making the fondant alligators, but I did snap a few pictures of the cake.  Here I am applying the five different shades of blue.

I use acrylic disks to get my top and side perfectly flat and the edges sharp.  I cover the disks with Glad Press and Seal wrap to make it easier to separate the disks from the cake.   Do you think the side of the cake looks like water or the sky?  I think it looks like the sky with a few fluffy white clouds.   I wasn't sure how to make it more water-like so I left it alone and didn't try to fiddle with it.

So sorry about the lack of step-by-step picture, but here is the final product again.

Happy Decorating,

Carol

Coco Cake - Inspired by the Movie

This is a cake that I made for a friend with a theme of Coco (from the Movie).  It is not my favorite cake but I guess it is okay.  The lamp post look a little too tall and wonky, and some of the light globes aren't quite round.  I also should have put more yellow in the globes to make them stand out more against the white and pale blue background.  The birthday girl's name, Maeve, should have been in a different color - it doesn't stand out enough against the cobblestone textured board.  But I do like the ribbon roses on top.

I made the Miguel figure from fondant mixed with tylose power.  I modeled the figure after the Funko version of Miguel.  I'm not very good at sculpting figures and the Funko version looked the easiest. 

I started with the face...

And then moved onto the body.  Once the body was on I placed his gum paste guitar in front of him and fitted his arms around the guitar.

For the COCO emblem, I cut the letters using a paper template, and used petals from a daisy cutter to make the narrow ovals on the "Os".

I put the COCO letter on the top tier, and added some easy ribbon roses on the top of the cake.  I made the leaves from fondant in several shades of yellow, orange, and red.

I cut the houses out by hand.  I used a strip cutter to cut the yellow molding around the door, and used a texture mat to give the roof some relief.

For the flags I used floral wooden stamps and then used a square cutter to cut the shape.

The lamp post went on last.

And then I placed Miguel in front.  I made his dog, Dante, too, but he looked so bad I didn't put him on the cake.  Like I said- I'm not very good at making figures.  

To give the cake some extra height I made a topper to mimic the swags of flags on the cake.  I cut the flags in the topper using my Cricut Explorer, hung the flags between two bamboo skewers, and added some ribbon. To match the rest of the cake the ribbon should have been darker shades of red and orange but all I had in my stash of ribbon were the paler colors.

So here is the finished cake.  I hope my friend likes it.

Happy Decorating,

Carol

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Supply List: 

Funko Mini Miguel - guide for make my fondant Miguel
Knit Weave Impression Mat - to give texture on the roof tops
PME #3 Strip Cutter - for the trim around the doors and windows of the houses
Wooden Stamp Set - to make the impression on the fondant flags
FMM Uppercase Funky Alphabet
14" Cake Drum
Cricut Explorer 2 - to cut the flags of the topper

"Oh Baby" Drip Baby Shower Cake - Why can't I get my drips to look right?

Sigh--- I just can't get my drips to look right.  My cake looks more like a tall, melted candle than a pretty drip cake.  I guess my chocolate is still to thin, and my drips too close together and there are too many of them.  I tried to fix the drips but they ended up looking worse.  I even scraped the front drips off and tried again, but that still they looked like shit.   Oh well - the mom-to-be didn't seem to care.

But the top of the cake looked nice with its macaroons, meringues, and sugar cookies.  And my Cricut cut topper came out nice.

The gum paste shoes and block added the finishing touch.  You can't see it, but the letters on the block spell out the baby's name: Blake.  The mom-to-be loved that.

 So another cake finished, but still a lot to learn. I will master the drip technique one of these days.

Happy Decorating,

Carol

<< Disclosure: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to ear fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.>>

Supply List: 

Multi Cutter Square Fondant Cutter - To cut the sides of the baby block
FMM Alphabet Tappits - Upper and Lower Case - For letters on baby block
Knit Weave Impression Mat - To give texture to fondant baby blanket
Fondant Crimper Set - To finish the edge of the baby blanket with the ruffled look
14" Cake Drum
Cricut Explorer 2 - To cut "Oh Baby" topper
Clear Lollipop Sticks - to attach to "Oh Baby" topper

Woodland Animal Cake - Animals made with Cookie Cutters

I'm not an artist or a sculptor, and I struggle to make anything 3D.  My 3D figures always look a little scary, oldly shaped, and usually downright ugly.  I wanted to make a Woodland Animal cake for a friend's baby shower, so I was thrilled when I found some cake examples using cookie cutters to form the animals.

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For most of the figures I used Ann Clark's Woodland Animal Cookie Cutter Set to get the main shape of the animal.  I then used other random cookie cutters to make the details.  For the fox I cut out the body using some orange-ish fondant.

And then I used heart shaped cookie cutters and tiny heart shaped plunger cutter to form the inside of the ears and the white patches of fur on the face.  Before placing the heart shapes on the checks I cut off the lower 1/3 which helped to define the shape of the face.  I made this cut using oval cutters from Sugarbelle.

For the white tip of the tail, I cut out the shape using the fox cookie cutter, and then I cut a random pattern from the bottom using a flower gum paste cutter. (I think is was a tulip cutter.)

Then I just added a white rectangle for his stomach fur, some rectangles for legs, black feet, eyes, and a nose.  In just a few minutes he was done.  How easy is that?

Note, to make the bird I used two different sized paisley cookie cutters.

For the Raccoon I used the same fox cookie cutter (I flipped the cutout so the tail would face the opposite direction), but embellished it a little differently to make it look like a raccoon.  To make his "mask" I used an oval cutter, stretched it out a little more and then cut the V shaped notches with the tip of a heart cutter.

Next I made a frog.  I used a cutter from the  Wilton 50 cookie cutter set to cut out the entire frog in the light green, then used the oval cutter to cut off his legs. (Frog legs anyone?)  I cut another frog from the darker green and cut off the top portion of the frog's body.  Then I just placed the light green on top of the darker green to give the frog the 3D look.  I placed his eyes and a few dots cut from a #5 piping tip and called him done.  (I planned on placing a white oval of fondant on his chest, but I forgot to do it.)  The mouth was made in a roundabout way.  First I made the mouth from a thin piece of black fondant and placed it on the green fondant.  After a little while I decided the black fondant mouth was too harsh looking so I took it off (intending to replace it with green), but the black fondant had stained the green fondant.  I thought it looked fine so I just left it like that.

I also made a squirrel but I didn't like the way his looked so I stuck him on the back of the cake.

The owl cake toppers I made ahead of time using a mixture of fondant and Tylose Power.  I got a little more complex with the layering of the topper, but it is the same technique as the examples above.

I used Ann Clark Owl cutters  for both the small and the large owl.  I cut out the owl shape and then trimmed off the wings using an oval cutter.  I also pushed a wooden skewer into the main body of the owl, and secured it with a little bit of water.   I cut out another fondant owl and trimmed off the head so I was only left with the wing section.   I textured the wings using a random leaf texturer I had, and then stuck the two pieces together with a little bit of water. 

Next I textured some white fondant and then cut out an oval shape for the white breast of the owl.  At the top end of the oval I cut out circles, and then placed a thicker white circle into the opening.  I used a thicker piece of fondant for the eye area because I wanted them to stand out move.  Note: I texture the fondant before you cut it out so it doesn't get distorted.

Next I added the eyes using circle cutters and piping tips to get the sizes exactly the same.

As a final step I added the yellow beak and feet.  I also added a few more touches (triangle inside the ears and another oval cut out around the white breast.)  For the apple tree I used a cookie cutter I found on Etsy.  I let all three pieces dry for a few days so they would be nice a hard when I placed them on the cake.

So here is my Woodland Animal Cake made with cookie cutter animals.  Kind of cute, huh??  Using cookies cutters to form the animals is so much easier than sculpting them my hand.  Give it a try!

Happy Decorating,

Carol

<< Disclosure: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to ear fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.>>

Supply List: 

Ann Clark Woodland Cookie Cutters
Heart Shaped Cookie Cutters
Heart Shaped Plunger Cutter
Sugarbelle Oval Cutters
Paisley Cutters
Wilton Cookie Cutter Set
Tylose Power
Ann Clark Owl Cutter Set
12" Cake Drum