Sig's Birthday

If there are any other Pixar fans out there, you'll appreciate this one. Sig's birthday was "Jersey Shore" themed, so this cake did not fit in whatsoever. But a great cake doesn't need to fit in to be great. I was very excited to show Sig this cake, thinking he too was a Pixar fanatic. However, to my disappointment, he didn't understand what it was.

This ball has appeared in almost every Pixar production since it was first introduced in the short film "Luxo Jr."

Here is my rendition of it. This was made with two round cakes stacked. I cut the edge of the top layer to make a hemisphere. Then I dyed frosting red, yellow, and blue and iced away!

Ben's Birthday 2010

This came out so much better than I ever imagined. Michelle and I were hopeful, though, and kept on pressing through! This is a very simple cake as far as ingredients go, but needs a lot of patience and creativity to create the structure.

Ben had recently gone to British Columbia, to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics. Ok, that wasn't actually him, but he sure does look like Evgeni Plushenko (minus the blonde hair). Anyway, he did actually go to BC and uploaded some stunning mountain pictures from the trip. They were the inspiration for this cake.

This cake was actually made completely out of cupcakes. After they had baked and cooled, we started stacking. It's very helpful if you have a sharp knife to cut edges of the cupcakes off. This makes for a more realistic mountain.

The snow was (of course) seven minute frosting. If you are making a cake with snow, definitely use this recipe! The icing will flow down the cake and when it cools, it gets these great grooves and has a smoothness very similar to snow. Also, make sure you frost while the icing is still warm! This will help it "fall" down the mountain for a natural look.

Meet you at the bottom!

Robert's Birthday

They look like Krabby Patties, but they're meant to be Bubba Burgers! These are cupcakes cut in half to create a top and bottom bun. The meat is chocolate cupcakes sliced up, the cheese and lettuce are just icing. There was meant to be red for ketchup, but there was a lack of red food coloring...
I cannot for the life of me remember what was on top for sesame seeds. I remember they didn't look as realistic in person, though.

I always browse the internet first before I start a cake. I also try to be as original as possible. I found many hamburger cakes. This inspired the hamburger cupcakes. The other reason I like to  make cupcakes so much is that people are way more inclined to have a cupcake than they are to have a slice of cake. Maybe it's a social thing. It could also be a "I'm watching my weight" thing. Mini cupcakes are even better. Those never last long. If you are making dessert for an event, consider mini cupcakes. Brownies work well too. I get the feeling that people who normally wouldn't allow themselves to have a piece of cake are willing to try a mini cupcake. It's just a taste!

Jillian's Birthday

This cake was really fun to make. It was also very difficult to pull off. I'm still not quite sure if I did. Some people didn't know what it was.

My friend Jillian LOVES rice crispy treats and LOVES sushi. I try to give people what they like, thus the sushi rice crispy treat cake! I made the rice crispy in a measuring glass (the kind that goes up to about 4 cups). It was very difficult to find something that would give a cylindrical shape.  Also, it was very difficult to get it out! So if you come up with something better, let me know!

The toppings are:
Mini air heads (green for celery, red for raw fish)
Fruit slices with the sugar cut off (orange and dark green)
Swedish fish for the small sushi (orange, yellow, red)
Green airhead for the garnish (cut up)
Mint oreo filling for wasabi. (I happened to have a whole bag)
Chocolate icing for seaweed

I recommend refrigerating the airheads you wish to slice. Otherwise, you may want to work them with your hands so they are soft enough to shape.

I thought this was a very clever cake since it had "rice" and Swedish fish. It was fun to eat the little ones, but almost impossible to eat the big one. I'd recommend sticking to the little guys rather than try to make things giant.

Ben's Birthday

Rock climber Ben get's a rock climbing cake!
I can't even remember what kind of cake this was. Probably chocolate. The cupcakes and mini cupcakes may have been vanilla. The icing is chocolate on the cake and vanilla on the cupcakes. The line and letters are made from licorice shoe string. The rocks are candy rocks. And the rock climber is a bendy man! I'm not sure what it is exactly...

Other than that, It think this cake is pretty self-explanatory!

Courtney's Birthday

Here is the cake that started it all. This is a very fun, easy to make cake. Any colors can be used if you don't want the whole rainbow.

This is just cake mix from a box (white or another light color), food coloring, and seven minute frosting. To make the color layers, start by  mixing up the cake batter. Separate the batter in equal amounts into separate containers, depending on however many different colors you want. I used seven here. Add a few drops of food coloring to each. The strength of the color is by preference, so play around with this and see what you like.

Note: Red is a hard color to get, unless you want to use an entire bottle of food coloring. As you can see, the red will generally come out pink.

Pour the batter, one by one into your prepared cake pan. Make sure you keep track of the order! I started with purple and worked up to red/pink. If you plan on flipping the cake after it has baked, start with the layer you want to be on top. Otherwise, start with the layer you want to be on the bottom.

Just bake the cakes according to the box and let cool. I like to use seven minute frosting because it comes out white (and I like the taste). Unlike regular icing you are probably used to, this recipe does not use any butter. It's mostly sugar and egg whites (low cholesterol but high sugar). If you do decide to use the seven minute frosting, make sure the cake is completely cool before icing it! There was a mishap once where the frosting melted off the cake. Whoops!

This is also a single layered cake, but feel free to put icing in between to make a rainbow layered cake! You can also play with the colors and but red, orange, and yellow in one cake and green, blue, and purple in the other. Just a thought!
Also, try cupcakes!

The "Courtney" and butterflies are just gummies found at Wegmans.

Enjoy!