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Mary K. · **Joined:** Fri Sep 26, 2003 5:34 pm **Posts:** 9788

Here is a link to the pictures of one of our members for her little boys 3 and 4th birthdays. They're cute and for the sake of including them with the other pictures, and no other way to pull them over here, I'll just post a link to them. There are pictures for both a Monster Truck Cake and a great big green snake. You all go have a look!

gimli417 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 13, 2007 3:36 pm

Ok, I can't figure out Photobucket, so maybe someone can clean this up a bit?
Anyway, here is my baby shower cake. No inside shot, heh.

Jen

gimli417 · **Posted:** Tue Jul 17, 2007 1:41 pm

Ok, here is my tombstone cake. I tried to do chocolate transferish things for the "carving" at the top, but it didnt' quite work. Plus, the fishing pole broke, and they didn't want to settle into the frosting, so I ended up piping frosting under them and on top of them, so I should have just skipped the chocolate all together, heh. I also didn't have any room to write Happy Birthday, but maybe this style didn't really need it, hahaha.

It's propped up with some cardboard and paper towel rolls, so it looks like an old leaning stone. I should have added grass around the bottom, but didn't think of it in time. (My son got stung 7 times by wasps last night, so decorating time was severly shortened!)

Jen

SmilieFace · **Joined:** Mon Feb 28, 2005 9:57 pm **Posts:** 1194

Jen, as always, the cake looks great! Too bad about the chocolate transfers, but there's always next time. It was a "learning experience."

Good idea on how to prop up the cake, though.

I hope your son is recovering well/has fully recovered from those wasps!!

Kyriosity · **Posted:** Thu Jul 19, 2007 10:32 am

50th birthday cake! (Click for larger image.)

~Valerie

SmilieFace · **Joined:** Mon Feb 28, 2005 9:57 pm **Posts:** 1194

Valerie -- Nice Job! Did you use fondant? The 5 and 0 look beautifully smooth. What size pans did you use? I know you were worried about them cooking all the way through...

Kyriosity · **Posted:** Thu Jul 19, 2007 4:24 pm

Thanks! Yes, I used the packaged, pre-colored fondant for my maiden voyage (pricier, but safer!), and found it fairly easy to work with -- just a couple tears because I didn't really know how to handle the stuff. I used the purple and pink from three packages. Now I have the orange and yellow left over for some future endeavor. The white is buttercream, using the directions on the pan instructions + the Viva method. The writing is a store-bought decorating tube. I used a 14" pan. Since I didn't have a cooling rack big enough for the resultant cakes, I let them cool completely in the pan. It worked out OK, but a larger cooling rack is now on my mental shopping list. :wink:

~Valerie

gimli417 · **Posted:** Thu Jul 19, 2007 8:32 pm

Good job! It has a cool retro feel to it, too, which is so groovy, baby!

Jen

Kyriosity · **Posted:** Fri Jul 20, 2007 7:07 pm

Glad you dig it, Gimli. :wink:

~Valerie

gimli417 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:07 am

Here are my library cakes. The book is red velvet with cream cheese, and the hearts are DGCC, with a double row of stars around the bottom to cover a spot I missed with frosting, heheheh. People seemed to appreciate them, since there was just about 1/4 left of the book, and none of the hearts. Everything else was storebought yuckiness.

Jen

susan259 · **Posted:** Tue Jul 31, 2007 4:36 pm

Jen--Being a librarian, I have loved that book pan for a long time.

SmilieFace · **Joined:** Mon Feb 28, 2005 9:57 pm **Posts:** 1194

Jen,

You've been a busy baker.

I like both of those pans, though I own neither. You did a good job on the cakes; I like the writing.

gimli417 · **Posted:** Mon Aug 20, 2007 12:36 pm

I made three birthday cakes this weekend, for my sis and her two kids, and here they are:

The heart was Triple-Layer Strawberry cake, with cream cheese frosting, the rocket was vanilla with buttercream, and chocolate legs, and my sis requested my raspberry swirl cheesecake. All three were very happy with their cakes, but sad that they couldn't take them all home with them today (they live in Ohio). But they took a few pieces of each, and my mom's office is probably enjoying the leftovers as I type!!

Jen

SmilieFace · **Joined:** Mon Feb 28, 2005 9:57 pm **Posts:** 1194

Jen, you are an amazing decorator. Just amazing!

Kyriosity · **Posted:** Sat Aug 25, 2007 11:54 am

Here's my first tiered cake!

I was pleased with it for a first effort, but it's pretty flawed: the tiers are crooked (I added a cake leveler to my Amazon wish list); the ganache isn't as smooth as I could have gotten it; I forgot you're not supposed to refrigerate fondant, so it got kinda slimy from condensation and started sliding off the cake in places; you can see the aluminum-foil-wrapped separators (I was too cheap to buy the Wilton Fanci-Foil), which I meant to camouflage with more fondant, but I ran out of time; I should have put more frosting between the layers within each tier. So while I was delighted with it overall as a "maiden voyage," there's room for improvement next time! I also have a much greater understanding of why fancy cakes are so expensive. The ingredients alone for this one were ~$50 (for which I'll be reimbursed), and I invested quite a few hours in it. But it really was an investment, and not a waste of time. And of course it took longer for me than it would have for a more experienced baker/decorator.

~Valerie

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