Saxophone birthday cake - June 2014

A copy of a cake design found by the customer. 

The weather is hot and humid and the cake is a Victoria sandwich (not the most stable platform for a heavy sugar saxophone) so I made the sax out of rice crispie treat covered in fondant to try and minimise the weight.  I air brushed the sax and the cake (I know you can't really see but it's got a lovely graduated colour on the sides and a shimmer effect coming out if the sax) then I painted in the details.

Around the sides I used a mix of white modelling chocolate and fondant to create a white ribbon that would be stable enough to get on the sides of the cake, but not dry too fast.  

I used an extruder to create the five horizontal lines for the sheet music that go all the way around the cake, and on top. I used the waxed paper transfer method to get the sheet music on the cake sides. Then I piped the (real) music on.

This cake was made for The Angel Food Bakery in Brighton's iconic South Lanes,

where the Cake Angels bring Cake Love to the public on a daily basis!

Boo's Strawberry cake - June 2014

So our little Boo is about to turn four (can't believe she's so grown up!), but I'm going to be away in Spain so I've been charged with making a topper for her birthday cake which I'll deliver a week before it's needed. 

At first she wanted Mr Tumble's spotty bag, then a dinosaur, but then she saw a photo of my buttercream strawberry cake from last month and decided she wanted that.  Couldn't do that a week in advance so I've made this instead.

First I made the flowers and leaves and left them to harden for a day.  I decided to keep them simple and not airbrush them.

I made the strawberries out of rice krispie treat (made with marshmallow fluff, not gelatine so they are vegetarian), flavoured with strawberry and coloured pink.

Once the rice krispie treats were set hard I carved off a bit of the bottom, so they'd lie at the right angle, covered them in fondant and airbrushed them a deep red with a little black shading.

I love my airbrush!

When the strawberries were dry, I piped the seeds on with royal icing and added calyxes.

I arranged the finished pieces on a fondant disk that can just be popped onto a layer cake.  

Now I just need to wrap the presents and I'm ready to deliver.  

Hoo ha.

Happy birthday my darling girl.  We love you very much.

P.S.  There are 2 strawberries because I'm pretty sure her sister will want one too!