Jungle cake and swimming cupcakes
I made TWO birthday cakes this week- which is a lot for me since I only make a cake every few months or so. The most time consuming was definitely my jungle themed cake for the 7-year old daughter of a lady in my lab. It was great b/c I delivered the cake to their home and had the chance to see her reaction in person. It was so much fun watching her take it all in and slowly discover new things in the cake. It was also fun b/c I had made her b-day cake the year before so she was definitely looking forward to this cake for over a week :)
The same weekend I also managed to whip up some swimming b-day cupcakes for my guy (which I met in a masters swimming group). The swimmers definitely got a kick out of them!
Here's a teaser of the jungle cake:
Details if you're interested: Jungle cake is two-tier cake (9" and 6") on a 14" cake board. Yellow cake with strawberry buttercream frosting (aka a ton of reduced sugar strawberry jam mixed with italian meringue buttercream- YUM!), fondant river brushed with piping gel, chocolate rocks line the riverbed, hand-sculpted fondant/gumpaste figures, fondant flowers.
Front view:
Top view. Gives you a good sense that the cake really had 180 degree views.
Back of the cake.
Closeup of the animals b/c I spent soo much time on them....
Lion
Zebra
Giraffe
Hippo
My attempt at an artsy-style photo. Not too bad!
And finally... action shot (courtesy of bday girl's mom) . This picture was taken like a second after the B-day girl blew out the candles. I LOVE how you can see each kid trying to grab an animal :) By favorite picture BY FAR (since I never really have the chance to make cakes for kids...)
Onto the swimming cupcakes....
We've got kickboards, goggles, bathing suits, flippers, lane lines, and swimmers.
I loved my little swimmers!
Birthday boy seems pleased!
The same weekend I also managed to whip up some swimming b-day cupcakes for my guy (which I met in a masters swimming group). The swimmers definitely got a kick out of them!
Here's a teaser of the jungle cake:
Details if you're interested: Jungle cake is two-tier cake (9" and 6") on a 14" cake board. Yellow cake with strawberry buttercream frosting (aka a ton of reduced sugar strawberry jam mixed with italian meringue buttercream- YUM!), fondant river brushed with piping gel, chocolate rocks line the riverbed, hand-sculpted fondant/gumpaste figures, fondant flowers.
Front view:
Top view. Gives you a good sense that the cake really had 180 degree views.
Back of the cake.
Closeup of the animals b/c I spent soo much time on them....
Lion
Zebra
Giraffe
Hippo
My attempt at an artsy-style photo. Not too bad!
And finally... action shot (courtesy of bday girl's mom) . This picture was taken like a second after the B-day girl blew out the candles. I LOVE how you can see each kid trying to grab an animal :) By favorite picture BY FAR (since I never really have the chance to make cakes for kids...)
Onto the swimming cupcakes....
We've got kickboards, goggles, bathing suits, flippers, lane lines, and swimmers.
I loved my little swimmers!
Birthday boy seems pleased!