Stephanie’s Cakes

When our managing editor, Kathy, decided it was time to leave for greener pastures, the entire staff wanted to make sure her send-off was extra-special. We ran through lots of cake ideas: Hawaiian luau? A stack of books? A laptop computer with an image of our Web site? But we kept coming back to ideas that featured Kathy’s beloved dogs, Frances and Mickey (Mickey’s the dachshund). I decided this was a good chance to really challenge myself by making 3D versions of the dogs.

So we sneakily borrowed and photocopied Kathy’s dog photos while she was away from her desk, and I came up with a design that incorporated not only our magazine (hanging from Frances’ mouth), but also the giant blue mug that lived on Kathy’s desk - an item that everyone fondly associated with Kathy. After a few experiments, several construction diagrams, a double batch of buttercream, and a big dose of “hope-this-works!” faith, two very obedient cake-dogs showed up for the party.

This was certainly one of my most challenging cake endeavors. Both of the dogs are iced in buttercream; their heads are built on styrofoam bases frosted in buttercream, and their ears are fondant. I decided to use styrofoam for the heads because using real cake would have made them too heavy to stay in place (in the case of Frances - I didn’t have time to build a wooden frame that could support a carved cake head) or too crumbly when carved that small (Mickey). Frances’ front legs are made of iced plastic tubes, but other than that, both dogs’ bodies and paws are cake. I took a little artistic liberty with Mickey’s body length, obviously, but it was used to good effect when the blue mug was placed in the middle!
We ended up not cutting into the dog cakes at the party - there was enough cake in the oval underneath the Frances cake to serve everyone - so Kathy took both of them home, where the real dogs had a chance to pose with their sugary counterparts:

Here’s Frances:

and Mickey:

And here are a few pre-party photos, taken before I added the magazine and blue mug (click to enlarge)

Who’s a good girl, fetching my magazine for me? awwww… now, where did I put those snausages?

When my friend Kacey’s wedding shower took on a Hollywood theme, I was excited - that’s a great theme for cake-making! I had lots of ideas: a big pile of film canisters, or something like the Hollywood sign, or an old-fashioned movie marquee… but this walk-of-fame star stood out: it was simple, bold, recognizeable. After much research (thanks, Google Image search!), I created the star template and got down to business - the cake is a 12″ square, and the marble stone-style design is made by flattening together small dots of colored buttercream so they meld into one flat surface. The plaque in the middle is fondant, but everything else is buttercream; I painted the star border, the names, and the plaque with gold luster dust to give it a nice shine. Time to start working on that Oscar acceptance speech!

(click on the images below to enlarge)

This is one of my favorites Made for a departing coworker, Clary, it’s a giant iPod complete with headphones and a little fondant figure of Clary herself. The song titles have all been “tweaked” to include grammar- and journalism-related terms, which is why the first one reads “Comma Chameleon” instead of “Karma Chameleon,” for example. The cake is iced in buttercream, with a silvery fondant strip around the bottom to mimic an iPod’s metallic backplate. The headphones are cake and iced pretzel sticks. Sounds good, eh?

(click on a photo below to enlarge)

A creation for our editor’s baby shower, this rocking horse cake involved stacking the horse’s body (it’s one solid cake - made from the Wilton 3D duckie pan and a little judicious sculpting) on four plastic pillars which were embedded in the bottom oval cake. The rockers, saddle, and reins are fondant, but the rest of the cake is iced in buttercream.

I had nighmare visions of the leg-pillars splayed out in all directions with the horse embedded nose-first in the cake below, but everything stayed in place to form a very cute cake. Curious about what it looked like post-dissection? Still cute, but slightly creepy:

This is my second-ever wedding cake, created for a wedding held underneath the gorgeous redwoods near Pescadero, Calif. A chocolate-yellow marble cake filled with cheesecake mousse, it’s frosted in buttercream with the delicate triple swiss-dot pattern and gorgeous blue hydrangeas (parked safely in water vials to keep them fresh and out of the cake itself).

I wanted to make a cake for someone who loves cheese, but the celebration we were all attending was going to involve a poker tournament — not exactly the best environment for plates and forks and such. There was only one solution: cupcakes! Portable, easy to eat with one hand, and with some mini cheeses modelled out of fondant and candy clay (complete with frilly toothpick, of course), very appropriate for the cheese-lovin’ host. Get your gouda on!

This cake, for my husband’s grandmother, was inspired by her love of flowers and the outdoors, complete with a fondant version of her beloved corgi!

Most of the flowers are royal icing, aside from the roses, which are buttercream. It was also my first chance to use wafer paper butterflies, which are really interesting: images of real butterflies are printed with edible ink on rice paper, and you cut them out and brush on a bit of piping gel and edible glitter to make the wings sparkle. Eating one is kind of like eating unflavored cotton candy - they just melt away without a lot of flavor. When done right, the butterflies are very realistic… I need a bit more practice

(click on the images below to enlarge them)

I think this cake takes the award for travelling the longest distance - about 100 miles to Monterey for my friend’s baby shower. It took a couple of punches on the way (the top tier slid in the box and smushed a bit, and one of the little shoes took a tumble in the car but remained intact), but held its own and made it to the party in one piece. Actually, in two pieces - I’m usually too nervous to transport a cake already stacked, so I’ll carry the tiers seperately and stack them on-site. It’s a little less nerve-wracking, especially when you don’t know what kinds of crazy drivers will be on the road with you.

The baby booties, most of the stripes, and the flowers are made of fondant; the rest of the cake is buttercream.

click below for a close-up of the baby booties

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.

How do you say “bon voyage” in cake? This luggage cake is the closest I’ve come (so far). Created for a coworker leaving on a three-month tour of South America, this chocolate-buttercream suitcase features fondant travel stickers of the countries on her itinerary, plus our company logo and a San Francisco badge to remind her of home. The buckles and straps are made from modelling chocolate, which is kind of like a cross between the flavor of a Tootsie Roll and consistency of thick playdough. Edible clay. Mmmm.

(click on a photo below to enlarge it)