You're Only One Once, Part 5

Hello all, time for another cake-y edition of Prison City Cakes. *yay* I can hear you all now. Well, let's get down to business. Monkey business, that is. This week's first birthday theme is centered around monkeys.

Well...OK, the main cake is a giant cupcake, but everyone knows it's the little things that matter. Like the adorable Smash Me monkey cake.

Let's take a closer look at the two cakes.

 

The giant cupcake is a pan available from Wilton. The top and bottom of the cupcake are baked separately. After cooling, they are stacked like a tier cake (i.e., you put frosting on the top of the bottom layer and then stack on the top).  The cake was then base-coated in hot pink buttercream frosting on the bottom (for the cupcake wrapper) and traditional white buttercream frosting on the top. The sides of the "wrapper" are decorated with fondant polka-dots.

The surrounding cupcakes are traditional cupcakes baked in the "new" silicone baking cups. They are topped with bright yellow and hot pink buttercream frosting, and the candles are available through Wilton. 

Lastly, the Smash Me cake in the form of monkey. This little guy is not too complicated. The cake is the small standing bear pan from Wilton (it really is a very versatile pan). The ears were removed and re-located to the side of the head to create monkey ears. The cake is decorated using the star tip (to create the texture) and base of the feet and mouth are made by smoothing the light brown frosting. This is especially important for the mouth as it creates a monkey mouth rather than a bear pretending to be a monkey. The tail is simply made with frosting and the star tip (similar to the cat cake).

I still have a few first birthday cakes to go, but then we'll move on to something completely different. All right, NOT completely. It'll still be cake. Till next time!

Your're Only One Once, Part 4

This week features the Wilton's castle set. Basically, you bake and stack a two-tier cake (make sure to follow proper stacking instructions - i.e., use dowels and plates), and then you attach the towers. The castle looks pretty amazing when finished, but it can be tricky frosting and, for lack of a better term, sprinkling the sparkles onto the cake. The first cake features pink and the second purple (stay tuned for Cinderella's castle in blue). Enjoy!

 I need to look for a close up of the "Smash Me" cake. It is once again made from the small bear pan, and this time it's actually a bear! The little white bear is dressed as a princess. I cut the crown from Styrofoam (once again, be sure to remove the piece before feeding it to the child) and her dress is made out of buttercream frosting (use the rose tip to create ruffles of fabric.

Not all princesses are the same, so no two princesses can have exactly the same cake! Here we have the castle done in purple and the "Smash Me" bear is brown. Also, instead of the same princess dress, this little bear likes to be surrounded by flowers.

I still have lots more cakes to share. Till next time confectionery lovers!

You're Only One Once, Part Three

Have you enjoyed the previous two blogs? If you didn't, why are you still here? If you did, you'll like this one as well.

Here we have the kitty cakes:

The main cake was made from the bear face pan from Wilton, as well as a cut 9" x 13" pan. The kitty ears were the cut off corners of the 9" x 13" and the paws are the original bear ears. The space to the right of the Happy Birthday message was for the number 1 candle. The little kitty "Smash Me" cake was made from the little standing bear cake (next time you'll actually get to see it in bear form). The cat's tail is just frosting, and the ears were made from trimming the bear ears into points.

If you ever have any questions or comments, please feel free to post them. I'll answer as soon as I can. **I did have a question on my YouTube video about smoothing the sides - the simplest answer is to make sure that you use enough frosting. If you're using a design pan, you most likely use the star tip to "frost" the cake. However, there are times when the sides are smooth, but the top is star tipped. For those times, make sure that you frost and smooth the sides first. Also, if you're making a cake from the molded pans, be sure to follow the decorating directions that come with it. You can always play with the colors, but if you want the character to actually look like the character, then follow the directions.

Next week will be a two for one (two adorable design options in one blog post) featuring the castle cake kit and little standing bear pan.

You're Only One Once, Part 2

I know, I know, it's been like two months since I was here, and I was supposed to be updating more regularly. But, you know what? Sometimes people have other things to do. :-)

Let's get to it, shall we? Here is my second  (as in I made it or the second I made at home - it's not like I've had multiple first birthdays *sheesh*) 1st birthday cake:

Isn't it cute?

The main cake was a bunny face pan from Wilton's (http://www.wilton.com/) atop a half sheet cake. The sides of the cake are adorned with little "Candy Melts" bunnies (the white chocolate and bunny shapes were also from Wilton's).

The "Smash Me" bunny cake was the Wilton small bear standing shaped pan. I cut off the original ears, cut ears from Styrofoam and attached them to the bunny.

****Very Important Note Here****You MUST REMOVE the ears from the smash me cake prior to letting the baby eat it!!!****For the love of all that is good and holy, I don't need a million complaints that someone let their child or relative eat Styrofoam and got sick or choked or died. REMOVE the EARS!****Thank You****

More birthday cakes to come.

You're Only One Once

I really love decorating first birthday cakes. They're magical, mystical, and end up smashed up into babies' faces. There is truly nothing like them. Or turning one. Of course, nobody actually remembers turning one. That's what pictures are for.

My next series of blog posts will showcase baby's first birthday cakes. Enjoy the cuteness!

Wow, I have a much better camera now. These were taken on my old Olympus 35mm. Can you see that weird purple light streak? Anyway, this is about cakes NOT cameras. Here, we have my first at-home decorated first birthday cake. I've since gotten even better at the bear pan (pound cakes truly are better to use for this pan as they'll support the structure and retain the support better than a standard cake batter).

I love the baby "smash me" lion. Also, I will note that larger lion's mane was a little too soft and ended up melting off (just on the one side as seen in picture two). Ahhh! Still, you can't help but love that cute little lion face. Unless you're heartless. Seriously.

More cakes to come.