Thursday, June 30, 2011

Chinese Dragon Cake

My sister-in-law asked me if I thought I could make a dragon cake for my niece's 12th birthday. I did a little googling and found some really great ones, but thought the Chinese Dragon looked the easiest. It also turned out that the Asian Lung Dragon was her favorite from her Dragonology book. 

So, a little prepping, and a few bowls of green frosting and fondant later....





Can you tell I had two differently shaped Bundt pans?? 

Probably not 'til I mentioned, right? ;)

Mario's sidekicks...

My next attempt at cakery came when my husband announced that he *had* to bring something to a bake sale for his college's fundraiser and I found a cupcake competition online. 

I just knew this was a perfect excuse to be creative!

So I decided to hit up some Nintendo supporting characters (and candies) for help:
1 up and Super Shroom 
 Adding in some Koopa Shells

This goomba was made from microwaving a tootsie roll, stretching it over, and adding some iced details.
 Petey Piranha- chomp chomp! 
 Packaged, ready for transport

I *love* Kirby!!
Okay...so he's not on Mario Bros. but I couldn't help it - the inspiration bug hit!
 Kirby, Coins, and an Invincibility Star

So that's what I made for his bake sale. And the online contest.
Only I misread the deadline as midnight, not noon, and missed entering by 1.5 hours. 
I was a little peeved. 
But at least the cupcakes were still well received :)

The very first one

This was my very first attempt at fondant. I found a recipe for the homemade marshmallow fondant and decided to make a cake for my daughter's first birthday.

While the fondant turned out well, I hadn't bothered to learn about plain ol' icing's role...

The site I used said I could use a jam spread, and while it kept it on the cake, it certainly did nothing for it's smoothness....and you can see where the strawberries oozed a little under the butterfly and roses. 

But, we are nothing if we don't learn from the past - so, here it is :)





That poor cake...



1 year olds don't care what they look like though!


Here was K's 'smash' cake. I'm a terrible mom. I didn't want her having all that sugar from the frosting... she might be the only kid who never put her hands near the cake though!


And, while we're on topic...

Here she is looking cute at the party.

This is also the first time I used my favorite white cake recipe. I'll get around to posting that as well.