Stephanie’s Cakes

Monkey alert! This cake was a dummy cake (carved styrofoam) for the Birthday Cake contest at the San Mateo County Fair. The cakes are on display for the entire run of the Fair, so I try to use styrofoam as much as possible for fear of real cake settling or falling apart during the week of the Fair. Blech! Still, I make sure my designs are something I could do in real cake - that’s not a rule, but it just seems more in keeping with the spirit of the contest, somehow.

The cake was inspired by a few I’ve seen online, and I added the twist of the monkeys celebrating by dismantling the candles. The monkeys are made out of modelling chocolate, which is lovely stuff - if you’ve ever warmed up a Tootsie Roll and used it to make worms or faces before eating it, you’ve pretty much experienced what it’s like to work with modelling chocolate. It does get good and solid as it cools down, and in my experience you don’t get as much time to make adjustments as you do with fondant because it sets more quickly - which can be a good or bad thing, depending on what you’re trying to make.

The bananas are all hand-piped with yellow buttercream; once the buttercream had set a bit, I painted on the brown banana ends and lines with brown gel coloring. It did bleed a bit as the cakes sat on display, but the effect was still good. If I made this cake for a party, I might make all the bananas out of fondant instead. It would take a while, but it would give the cake great dimension.

This was a fun cake made for a little girl turning one - “something girly and princess-y” was the request. I let my inner princess loose and came up with a whole bunch of sketches, from Cinderella-style carriages to crowns on pillows to this design, with a bevy of bows, ribbons, and pearls. I had not made a loop bow in a long time, so it was time to get out the fondant and gumpaste and start looping those ribbons… if you don’t make them far enough in advance, the loops don’t have enough time to harden and you’ll end up with a very flat and sad-looking bow staring back at you in the wee hours of the morning and a brain running in circles trying to figure out if putting the loops in the oven will help them set or melt them completely…

The cake is iced in buttercream with fondant bows and a fondant name plaque. The diamond pattern is embossed into the buttercream with an edible pearl at each corner. The little cake is a “smash cake” for the birthday girl - with a little extra glitter on top.

I was thrilled with how this castle cake turned out, although the photos don’t quite do it justice! Made for a three-year-old’s party, it got dolled up with a few Disney princess figurines once it arrived at the party.

Construction notes: The towers are made from rice krispy treats, which were a great success. I had my worries about them staying solid (dreams of melting marshmellow and swiftly tilting towers), but they remained upright the whole time, especially with a nice coating of buttercream to stick them to the cake. The pointed roofs are ice cream cones with a coating of buttercream. I’d say it turned out fit for a princess!

A sweet cake for a second birthday party being held at a party playhouse - a spot where kids can romp through a giant play structure filled with slides, climbing nets, ball pools, bounce-floors, and more. Definitely a great spot for the under-four-foot-tall crowd to work off some extra energy before sitting down for cake and presents! This cake features sugar cookie versions of the birthday girl and her friends playing in a ball pit made of fruit candies.