Wall-Mounted Deer Head Cake

by caralin, in category 3D sculpted cakes, animals, carved cakes that look like stuff

Oh, hello, deer!

I made a wall-mounted deer head cake! As you do.

The birthday fella is an avid hunter and outdoorsman, so his daughter requested a deer cake. Fair enough, I thought, but the ultimate hunter’s trophy is the buck’s head with a full eight-point rack. So why do a whole deer when I could do a buck head on a wall?? Why indeed!

My next thought was: are wall-mounted cakes are a thing? Before starting this one, I did a quick Google search and didn’t find much, so I came up with my own structure and design plan. It worked – yay! Judging by the success of this one, I now hereby declare wall-mounted cakes to be “a thing”.

Everything you see is edible. There is some inedible structure hidden inside, of course, but all of the finishes are either fondant or modelling chocolate. This includes the “wooden” mantle and mounting plaque and the hand-painted wall paper (done with a combo of edible-ink marker and gel colours with paintbrush). The antlers are modelling chocolate!

This is the tastiest taxidermy I’ve ever seen – perfect for your favourite outdoorsman! I guess now that I’ve done a fishing cake and a hunting cake, I’m quite the outdoorswoman myself (that’s how that works, right?). And no, it wasn’t venison flavoured – it was chocolate with vanilla buttercream. Yum!

Check out a video of the cake!

I made a 3D, wall-mounted deer head cake! I'd never seen a wall-mounted cake before, but I thought hey, why not? I think it turned out well, and it was a fun challenge (and it was actually impressively sturdy!). . . . #Cake #Deer #SculptedCake #3DCake #InstaCake #cakestagram #buck #Taxidermy #Hunting #Venison #Toronto #torontocake #Sports #Outdoors #Outdoorsman #OutdoorSports #Manly

A video posted by Cakes by Caralin (@cakesbycaralin) on Feb 29, 2016 at 2:58pm PST

Feb272016Feb 27 2016

NBA Jersey Cake

by caralin, in category 3D sculpted cakes, birthdays, carved cakes that look like stuff

I had a very exciting cake to make this week – I made the birthday cake for Canadian NBA superstar Andrew Wiggins! I’ve made jersey cakes before, but never for the person actually ON the jersey.

I replicated his jersey down to the last detail, including his team logo!

His team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, was in town playing the Raptors, so our hometown Toronto boy got to celebrate his birthday here at home! It was an honour for me to be a part of it. Happy Birthday, Andrew!

Feb62016Feb 6 2016

Minion in Love Cake

by caralin, in category 3D sculpted cakes, anniversaries, carved cakes that look like stuff

It’s February, and love is in the air. Everyone loves minions, that much we know – but what do minions love? Bananas! Now, my husband said apparently not everyone knows that minions love bananas (WHAAAAAAAT?), so here is some evidence for you.

Now that we have that detail sorted, we can get back to romance, because THIS particular minion has found someone he loves even more than bananas (I know – what??).

Poor, sad, neglected banana. But at least it’s realistic-looking!

Well, whoever (or whatever) you love, make sure you let them know – this heart-filled month and all year long!

(PS – Minions also love cake – check out another minion cake I made here!)

Jan272016

Jumping Fish Cake

by caralin, in category 3D sculpted cakes, animals, birthdays, carved cakes that look like stuff

Normally when people think of fish cakes, this isn’t the type that comes to mind. This one is even better, though – it’s cake! It was for the birthday of an avid fisherman.

Apparently, it took some convincing for the guest of honour to believe that the fish was part of the cake. He thought it was a plastic topper, but nope – it’s entirely edible!

The fish itself was hand-sculpted with rice krispy treats and modelling chocolate, and the water was vanilla cake with lemon buttercream. Tasty!

I’ve made a crab cake before, but this jumping salmon takes the cake! Nothing fishy about this one! Ahahaha… Okay, I’m done.

Jan132016

Masha and the Bear Tree House Cake

by caralin, in category 3D sculpted cakes, animals, birthdays, carved cakes that look like stuff

I can hardly BEAR how cute this cake is! (Ahaha, punny.) If you’ve never heard of the show Masha and the Bear, you should check it out – it’s actually a kids’ cartoon from Russia, and it’s super cute. For twins Jora & Joesh, it’s apparently the best show ever. Their mom said they’re obsessed with it, so, she asked me to replicate the characters’ tree house as a 3D cake.

I’d heard of the show through my friends’ kids, but I actually watched a few episodes myself as my “homework” for making this cake. I love the bear – he’s my favourite (especially when he’s made entirely of modelling chocolate, as he is here!).

He lives in his tree house, and Masha, the little girl, comes to play with him there.

I’m loving wood grain textures these days, and this cake had lots of it!

Happy Birthday to the twins – I hope they enjoyed this BEAR-Y cute cake!

Jan102016Jan 9 2016

Hot Cuppa Teacup Cake

by caralin, in category 3D sculpted cakes, birthdays, carved cakes that look like stuff

Did you know January is Hot Tea Month? When it’s snowing and blowing outside, there’s nothing like a hot cuppa to warm up – especially when it’s made of cake.

My husband is British, so we drink a lot of tea in this house. It’s not usually like this, though! This cake was requested for a 13-year-old’s birthday – clearly tea’s appeal is ageless. I made a custom teabag label for her special day from wafer paper with edible ink. You can eat the whole thing – tea, cup, string, label and all!

The cake itself was baked in a half ball pan, to form the base of the “tea”. Modelling chocolate under the fondant allowed the cup’s china to stick up past the liquid level.

For the tea itself, I made a white chocolate ganache and coloured it with a little bit of dark chocolate. On top, I poured some thinned corn syrup to provide the liquid-look gloss. Add some hand-painted roses and edible gold paint edging, and this cuppa looks good enough to drink (or eat…)!

I guess this is a literal CUP cake?? Pass the milk and sugar, please!

Dec222015

Star Wars BB-8 Cake

by caralin, in category 3D sculpted cakes, carved cakes that look like stuff

Folks, this IS the droid you’re looking for.

You’ve likely heard of a little movie that just came out called Star Wars: The Force Awakens. You know, the one currently smashing all the box office records. Well, I’ve had the chance to see it (loved it, no spoilers!), and I must say that I’m quite enamoured with this little fellow. Meet BB-8!

He’s cute, he’s funny, and he’s sweet – especially when he’s made out of cake. Complete with accurate designs on all sides!

As someone who was scarred by the unfortunate new-character attempts of Episode One (not naming any names, but I’m looking at you, Jar Jar Binks), I was especially delighted by BB-8. He’s like R2D2’s adorable little brother! Who could say no to this face?

“Beep beep be boop.” Aw, thanks, BB-8. We like you too. 🙂

Click below for a 360 video!

This IS the droid you're looking for – and he's a cake! In honour of #starwarstheforceawakens , here is my #BB8 cake! #bb8awakens

A video posted by Cakes by Caralin (@cakesbycaralin) on Dec 22, 2015 at 2:25pm PST

Nov302015

Elmo Cake

by caralin, in category 3D sculpted cakes, animals, birthdays, carved cakes that look like stuff

Who loves Muppets? I do! Doesn’t everyone? (At least everyone I know does!)

I loved Sesame Street as a kid, so the show still holds a very fond place in my heart. Elmo was introduced a bit after my time (Grover was always my favourite!), but he’s cute all the same – and he was certainly fun to make as a cake!

Nov252015

Elsa & Olaf “Frozen” Cake

by caralin, in category birthdays

Do you want to build a Frozen cake?

And no, I don’t mean heading down to your local DQ (though those ice cream cakes are DELICIOUS)… I mean the smash-hit Disney movie with those catchy songs that kids (of all ages) couldn’t stop singing (ever…).

With Toronto’s first real touch of winter weather lately, what better time to share this snowflake-covered confection?

Like so many little girls, this birthday girl’s favourite character is the lovely Elsa. In this case, she was piece-cut from fondant, with modelling chocolate hair and hand-painted makeup (I guess most make-up is, really…).

Of course, everyone’s other favourite character is the lovable Olaf, done here in solid modelling chocolate (okay, not entirely solid… there are bits of dry spaghettini in his arms. There, you know my secrets!).

Speaking of secrets, this photo shows a good close-up of the tiny little snowflakes that covered the cake. Unlike the bigger ones that were individually hand-painted, these smaller ones used a very sophisticated technique called “dip my brush in the edible paint and flick it repeatedly at the cake”. 😉 Good thing it was white, or it would have made a huge mess!

And speaking of making huge messes… I wanted to capture the beautiful colours of the rich night sky from the movie. So, instead of using a plain blue fondant, I actually started each of these with white fondant and airbrushed on several shades of blue and purple. I loved the effect, but whew, did I find that blue everywhere!! I used a drop cloth for the immediate area, but I learned through this cake that airbrush colour is very floaty. Oh well – I think it was worth it! 🙂

Well, Thora – it was a lot of fun making this cake for you, so I hope you had a wonderful birthday (and I hope you get to build lots of snowmen this winter!).

Nov192015

Who wants STEAK (cake)?

by caralin, in category 3D sculpted cakes, birthdays, carved cakes that look like stuff

Everyone loves a good steak.
If you’re craving something that looks meaty and but tastes sweet, this cake should hit the spot!

This nice, juicy t-bone is actually a chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream. It’s covered in a blend of fondant and modelling chocolate and hand-painted to give it that char-grilled look and texture. The parsley, salt and pepper (actually chopped fondant) top it off!

There’s a side of gumpaste carrot and modelling chocolate tomato…