Baking Cakes

Last March I was asked to make a birthday cake…and not a little homely cake like the kind that your mom makes for you, but a 3-D cake shaped like a teapot for a little girl’s birthday party. Little did I know what I was getting myself into…and now baking cakes is one of my favorite creative things to do!

The first creative cake that I ever made was a 16-in round John Deere-themed cake. “Nothing Runs Like a Deere” was written in vividly dyed green, yellow, and black buttercream icing. My brother sketched the design for me from a John Deere T-shirt. After poking hundreds of little holes into the paper drawing, I was able to transfer the outline of the picture onto the chocolate cake using powdered sugar. Icing it was literally “a piece of cake”…as easy as coloring in the lines of a picture in a coloring book.

My latest project was a pig cake. Yes…a cake shaped like a pig. It was amazing how quickly this cake came together. The most challenging part about this creation was actually designing it. All I had as a reference were a couple of pictures pulled off the internet. I baked the cake batter in an oven-proof bowl to form the head. The legs and snout were formed out of mini loaf pans. An oblong oven-proof pan created the body. The eyes, ears, tail, nostrils and prize ribbon were all made out of gum paste. Plenty of frosting sculpted him into the perfect shape and made him taste sweet as well.

Just in case you are wondering…do I take orders? Unfortunately the answer is no…school and work take up all of my spare time now, but maybe I will some day.