Sushi Revisited

This week's cake was a great deal of fun, as I got to redesign an old favourite: SUSHI! 

Vanilla sponge with vanilla buttercream was wrapped in a turqouise fondant finish with sushi maki and sushi nigiri cake truffles, a gumpaste fortune cookie and chopsticks. 

And here are some others from the last couple of years. Instead of a bento box or wood slab, I decided to make a turquoise platform with hand painted bamboo. While it's a different base, the sushi elements are still classic. Can't wait for the next.

-Danielle

Happy Holidays!

Happy holidays from Sweet&Splendid! Thank you for another wonderful and successful year, and we look forward to serving you in 2013!

-Danielle

Heisenberg

There are only a few TV shows I've gotten really into. Like, "stay in bed all day and watch an entire season" into. Breaking Bad is one of those shows. So imagine how happy I was when I was asked to make this:

A subtle homage to the birthday boy's favourite show is represented by Heisenberg's (Walter White's alter-ego) hat and glasses. The cake itself was made from vanilla sponge and filled with cookie dough, sandwiched by layers of vanilla buttercream. Highly addicting.

The cake also featured meth. Lots of meth. Made from homemade, blue-raspberry flavoured hard candy. 

Happy birthday to a man of great television (and baked goods) tastes!

Danielle

bombs away

A close friend with a penchant for Jägermeister is turning another year older, and it's only fitting I prepared a cake that truly captured his spirit and adoration of this fine beverage.

Vanilla cake and cookies and cream filling were carved and shaped into the iconic bottle and topped with a rice paper label.

Happy birthday, Paul!

diamonds, hearts, clubs and spades

This  request was for a gal who loves the finer things in life...

...and Kate Spade purses.

This vanilla cake was sculpted to look like a Kate Spade shopping tote. Gumpaste was used to fashion the tissue paper and the stargazer lily. Other details include an edible logo and a tag with a birthday greeting in the same font as used in the logo. Lastly, gems were affixed to the edge of the logo.


Happy birthday to the birthday girl!


-Danielle

beachy, wedding edition

Last year I made a beach-themed cake for a couple's engagement party (check it out here). This year, I applied the same design to a scaled up cake for their wedding reception. 

Like the engagement cake, all three tiers (12", 9" and 6") were made from a rich chocolate cake with mint flavoured swiss meringue buttercream. The outside of the cake was covered in vanilla buttercream. It's notoriously difficult to get a non-crusting buttercream smooth as glass and I had to make a few passes to get it looking sharp, but overall I'm very happy with how the finished turned out! Even more so when the dark chocolate interior is considered. Totally covered.

The details were the most fun. Buttercream was piped to create corals, gumpaste was used to create pearls and frangipanis, and the shells are made from white chocolate. To finish everything off a turquoise satin ribbon was wrapped around the base of each tier.


Congratulations to the newly married couple!


-Danielle

greatest hits

I've been wanting to do something like this for a while, and this week I finally got the opportunity. 

Vanilla cake with chocolate buttercream were sculpted to create this replica Gibson Casino guitar. The body was covered in yellow fondant and a wood grain was painted on. Black petal dust was then applied along the edges in a gradient. 

The neck and head were sculpted from the same cake and decorate with fondant and silver gumpaste details (and some bits of dried pasta). The strings were actually pulled taught and threaded like real strings through the body and through machine heads at the top. I haven't tried, but I don't think you could actually play it.

The birthday boy is a musician and as an added personal touch, a Billboard Top 10 chart was printed on rice paper and placed on the cake board. All the songs are his. And boy do they seem popular.


Happy birthday, and rock on.


-Danielle

doll

This almond and vanilla birthday cake was decorated with a contemporary take on an Asian doll. The pearl necklace and border (coupled with a bob hair style) make it extra chic.

Happy birthday to a very classy lady. 


- Danielle

a wine and cheese affair

This weekend's cake is something I've been waiting to try out. Lucky for me, a bride-to-be was having a bridal shower that fit the theme perfectly!

As you might have guessed from the picture, the shower was a wine and cheese soiree. To compliment the event I prepared a wheel of cheddar, a wrapped block of soft cheese (you can use your imagination, let's say... havarti? Sure.), some crackers and grapes. 

The cheese wheels were made from vanilla cake with a lemon-cream cheese buttercream. The grapes and crackers were made from fondant. And the cheese board is itself just a cake drum with patterned paper (I was so happy to have found it!). 

Even those with a lactose allergy can enjoy the wonderful spread. Congratulations to the bride to be!


-Danielle

Technic(ake)s

For the ultimate house music junkie:

A vanilla and cookie dough filled cake were decked out to look like a Technics turntable. The cake was pretty small (served 10) so to get all the detail in was quite a challenge! Gumpaste was used to sculpt the needle and dials and silver details were painted onto the record platform. 


Just call me DJ Kitchenaid. 


-Danielle

who do you wannabe?

This week Sweet&Splendid was asked to sponsor a charity event; specifically, a fundraiser/awareness campaign for the 519 Church Street Community Centre. They do great work for the community and their members/guests deserve a delicious thanks.

The event was Spice Girls-themed (and featured a Spice Girls tribute band) so to suit the occasion, I constructed a vanilla single-tier round cake and decked it out with a mod union jack design. In the centre I placed a cut-out of the organization's logo.

Around 100 guests were involved so in addition to the main cake, I also prepared some yummy vanilla mini-cupcakes with buttercream of varying colours and flavours. I'm partial to the pink bubble gum, myself.

The fundraiser earned a ton of money and I'm so happy we got to be a part of it! 

-Danielle

hoppy easter!

the big one

I love cupcakes. There isn't a flavour I've encountered that I haven't enjoyed (my attempt at a chocolate bacon cupcake, while bizarre, was still devoured mercilessly). My only complaint is that one is never enough. Except in this case.

This birthday cake was crafted to celebrate a 29th birthday. The birthday girl also celebrated some other big events, so these were reflected in the cake base too.

Chocolate mud cake (ganache filling, ganache coating) was carved and stacked to create this 20-serving cupcake. The cherry (my favourite part!) and sprinkles were made from gumpaste.

To emphasize the whimsical nature of the cake, the board was covered in a two-tone swirl of pastel blue and purple. A gumpaste diploma and engagement ring finished everything off.


Happy birthday and congratulations to the birthday girl! 


-Danielle

heavyweight cake

This knock-out cake was prepared for a going-away party. The recipient is a fan of UFC so the overall theme reflected this. Chocolate mud cake was carved into an octagon and covered with dark grey fondant. 

The cage was prepared by piping royal icing onto transfer sheets and allowing them to dry overnight. Then they were applied to the cake with royal icing to hold the panels in place. It's a good thing I made extras because I must have broken about 15 of them (and I only required 8). Royal icing would never survive in the octagon.

All the best to the fearless leader! 

-Danielle

olivia's pig

Baby Olivia celebrated her second birthday and to deliciously mark the occasion a cake was prepared in the likeness of her favourite cartoon namesake. 

Olivia in her ball gown was carved from a three tiered chocolate and cream cheese cake and covered in fondant. Her eyes were sculpted with gumpaste and held in place with wooden dowels.


I can't think of a more perfect pairing! Happy birthday, Olivia(s)!

-Danielle

candi[e]d camera

For a very special 60th birthday, I created a camera cake! Modelled after the Canon Rebel T1i, this chocolate and caramel cake was carved to 1 : 0.5 scale. 

All of the details were sculpted or added with fondant and edible rice paper. 

Also included were edible photos, one representing each decade including major milestones.

An amazing project for an amazing person! Happy birthday, dad.


-Danielle 

miscellaneous december

I didn't want to interrupt this blog's holiday spirit so I held off on sharing all of the pictures from this month's cake inventory. Now that the season is winding down, here they are!


1) Based off the wedding cake pictured here , I prepared this small marble cake in the same style with white and dark chocolate pleats accented with chocolate roses. Happy birthday, Talia!

2) My friend Brandon is convinced the global economy should be backed by sterling. I believe the global economy should be backed by cake. We've reached a compromise, I think, with this 30th birthday cake. Happy birthday, B!

3) To celebrate the upcoming nuptials of a lucky couple who are tying the knot at a vacation destination, I made this pink beach-themed bridal shower cake. Opalescent shells and pearls were placed along the sandy beach (brown sugar) lining the cake, with piped buttercream coral and finished with a congratulatory greeting on the top. Congratulations, Tina and Alvin! And bon voyage!

4) The fourth iteration of cake sushi: the birthday girl loves dynamite rolls so I crafted a wooden sushi serving box out of chocolate cake and placed some dynamite maki and salmon, tuna and red snapper nigiri. Little extra features included a bamboo border, chopsticks and a personalized fortune cookie. I always love the opportunity to do something I love (sushi!) with the freedom to customize each cake. Happy birthday, Maddy!

5) This wedding cake was filled with alternating layers of red velvet and chocolate cake with cream cheese buttercream. The bride's and bridesmaids' bouquets had beautiful blue orchids and white roses so I accented the cake with edible flowers. Congratulations, Jackie and Barry!

6) This coconut cream birthday cake was fashioned to look like a Tiffany & Co jewellery box. The bow, tag and "22" charm were made from gumpaste. Happy birthday, Michelle!

It has been a busy end to 2011 and I can't wait to see what 2012 has in store for sweet&splendid!


-Danielle

the finer things in the life

 

I've never been able to justify spending extravagant amounts of money on myself, although I have been able to justify receiving extravagant gifts - with ease. I hope the recipient of this cake feels the same way - at least about the latter part. This cake was prepared for a 40th birthday party for a woman who loves the finer things in life. 

The bottom tier is a 10" square chocolate and vanilla cake covered in teal fondant to look like a Tiffany & Co. box. The ribbon was sculpted out of gumpaste and dusted with heaps of pearl dust to give it a beautiful shimmer. 

The birthday girl's nickname is Diamond Girl and to incorporate that some hand-made sugar gems were as diamond jewelry. Side note: making these gems created a bigger mess than creating the rest of the cake. Boiled sugar is very, very splashy.

The purse was constructed of five layers of red velvet cake with cream cheese buttercream. Each symbol was hand painted with gold luster dust, and all the detailed pieces were made with gumpaste (the tag is engraved with "LOUIS VUITTON PARIS). This was an extensive but amazing project.

Happy birthday, diamond girl!


-Danielle

agar-agar

Nothing makes me happier than combining the two things I love most in life: science and cakes. Many years ago, I spent a good part of my undergraduate degree in a wet lab working with cell cultures. I looked every the bit the part of a scientist; lab coat, goggles, and hollow expression resulting from chronic sleep deprivation. 

My microbiologist friend celebrated his birthday and I took the opportunity to step back into the past, channel my inner biologist, and create a petri dish cake for him.

The top of the dish was covered in yellow fondant agar with petal dust and gel coloured colonies. Sprouting from the biggest colony was a mutant bug. But it's ok, he looks pretty benevolent to me.

Because many scientists share the same incubator and work space, it's very important to label your dish with the culture species, the date it was plated, and the cellular density, to keep track of growth. It's also important to label any dangerous cultures with internationally recognized symbols. Safety first!

Happy birthday Alex, I wish you many more years of geek-dom!

-Danielle

quack.

A plastic yellow duckie bathtime toy was recreated out of cake this week to celebrate a baby shower. If only I could have figured out how to make it squeak...

 

The body of the duck was carved from lemon buttercream sandwiched between three layers of vanilla pound cake. A ball of rice krispie treats was used to shape the head, and gumpaste was used for the beak.  All the other details were made from gumpaste or fondant.

 

To dress the cake up a little bit a pink layer of folded fondant was applied to the cake board and finished off with some fondant bubbles. In case the pink bow, flirty eyelashes and "it's a girl!" script hadn't given it away, the mommy-to-be is expecting a little girl.

Congratulations to the new mom (and dad)! 

-Danielle