Raising the Tardis - Doctor Zimmo?

When Shannon asked me to create a Tardis cake for her husband Zimmo's birthday I jumped at the chance to refine my original version!So from the base up - here's how to raise a Tardis.
Before starting on the cake I rolled and cut sugar paste panels for the sides and tops.

The base cake was chocolate mus with chocolate ganache and a chic chip chocolate cream filling. Covered with a nice smooth ganache, it was ready to decorate.

 A nice shiny layer of black fondant.

 

 A black and white checkered band completed the 'police hat' - pommy colours of course.

 

Then it was time to build the Tardis. Inside were layers of chocolate mud cake and ganache, then grey fondant (to add a darker base for airbrushing later). Panels were attached with royal icing, and same was used to create nice sharp edges.

 

 

The came the fun and messy part ( and no I didn't do this in my kitchen!) - airbrushing. Hubby set up the booth in the garage and on went the layers of Tardis blue and a bit of black for shadow.

 

 With a big soft brush and dark and mid blue petal dust more shadows and highlights were added.

 Pop in some white fondant windows with a bit of dusty brown shadow for that 'Tardis needs a wash' look. Add the light on the top.

 

 Add the Police Call and St Johns Signs and a couple of door handles (to be painted silver) so the Doctor can get in and out of course.

 Attach the top signs and place on the base with a little gold birthday message complete with 11's signature bow-tie.

 

 

 

 

 

 I hear a good night was had by all at his party. Happy Birthday Zimmo.

XOXO

Sugarpie.

One cool Monkey....

When Jess (huge Macaron and Cake pop fan) asked if I could make a monkey cake for her partner Corey's (Corz) birthday my thoughts ran straight to the Paul Frank monkey faces. Corz is a huge music fan so it seemed natural that his monkey should be rockin' a huge pair of retro inspired headphones.
So here is what we did.

 Our Monkey, lets call him Charlie, started with a chocolate cake base filled with a delicious thick cookies and cream butter cream. top that with a layer of chunky crushed Oreo cookies then do it all over again.

 Two cakes were used to create Charlies face, the top carved for the upper head. Both were covered in rich choc ganache then covered with a light and dark chocolate fondant. His awesome red headphones where black fondant covered donuts (yumm) and shaped fondant band.

Charlie looks pretty happy chillin' on his blue cake board don't you think.

Hope you had an awesome birthday Corz.....look forward to next year  - I hear you have a huge challenge for next time Jess. Bring it on!

xoxo

Thing1 and Thing 2

When one of the ladies from work ask if I could make a Dr Seuss cake for her daughters 18th birthday I couldn't wait to get started. Ashleigh is a big fan of Thing 1 and Thing 2 so it was only fitting that they burst from the top of the cake in celebration.

Every good cake starts with a solid smooth ganache. The ganache encases a rich chocolate cake with chocolate fudge filling.





 To allow plenty of drying time I created their heads around a Styrofoam ball and set them aside with a handful of red and blue stars ready for later.

The cake was covered in thick stripes of red and white to represent the Cat in the Hat's top hat. The crown of the hat 'exploded' ready for the little tricksters to be added.

 The red skivvies and arms sat to dry for while as well.

 The look quite happy bursting out in celebration surrounded by stars and sparkles.

 A text message from her told me that there was one very happy birthday girl!

xoxo

Rainy days and fondant....

It's another busy two weeks of cakes and fun but this rain is driving me crazy. Rainy days and fondant are not the best of friends. Fondant picks up every little bit of moisture that is in the air giving it a a tacky surface so the trick is to get it as dry as possible so that the moisture can't be absorbed. I get very strange looks from people when I tell them i put my freshly iced cakes in the oven but the dry warmth of the heat light in a fanforced oven works it's magic quite well iff you give it enough time.
So next on my list is a cute hightea inspired teapcot cake with matching cupcakes, another Moshi Monster cake (a little orange tiger) and this week 250 cake pops for a work function.
I am excited about the cakepops and have been waiting for this week to roll around. With the help of my amazing hubby I have made my deep display trays and today picked up the polystyrene blocks to go inside (after a covering of tissue paper). The chalk board signs are drying in the craft room, the sticks and bags counted and recipes ready to go. Hopefully the fun and delicious display will wow the crowd.
This weej I had a lot of fun making bright Disney insired cake for little Dom's 3rd birthday.  The bottom layer is a vibrant swirl of red/blue/yellow and green vanilla cake and the top layer a yummy chocolate sandwiched with layers of cookies and cream filling. Iced in bright disney colours with lots of stars it features 3D 'Mickeys' around the sides. To top it all off a bunch of bright starry cakepops complete the look...

yumm...
xoxo