So I know that I haven't done a lot lately but I have quite a few projects coming up.  This cake was for my daughter's 9th birthday.  I wanted a cake that was fairly easy because I've been trying to find some good scratch recipes.  So my main focus was on the cake itself, rather than how I was decorating it.  This cake is great too, because anyone could do it.  For a simpler version just do the 8 inch bottom tier and cover the entire top with M&M's.  Easy peasy.

The top tier was made from the Hershey's recipe, Perfectly Chocolate Cake.  I will share this recipe because I absolutely LOVE it!!  I've found a scratch chocolate cake that I will use forever!!  It's light and moist and delish.  It's also very easy to work with.  It's everything I've been looking for in a scratch recipe.  Yay!!!

"Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake
2 c. sugar
1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. cocoa
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 c. milk
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. boiling water

Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour two 9-in. round pans (I used 6 inch pans for the top tier of this cake and made cupcakes with the leftovers).  Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla; beat on med. speed 2 min. Stir in boiling water. (batter will be very thin) Pour into pans. 

Bake 30-35 min. or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 min.; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.



I used a Hershey's buttercream recipe for the frosting too.  This frosting was heavenly but wouldn't be good for traditional cake decorating.  It's too goopy for real decorating and doesn't hold it's form well.  I used it anyway because I love how it tastes, and I knew I'd just be covering the whole cake up anyway.

"Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting:
1/2 c. butter or margarine
2/3 c. cocoa
3 c. powdered sugar
1/3 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating on med. speed to spreading consistency. Add more milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. Makes about 2 cups.

I tripled the recipe for the two tiers, but could have gotten away with just doubling it.  
The bottom tier was a vanilla cake I found on the bakerella blog.  It was very good but I'm not posting the recipe because I probably won't use it again.  It tasted great, but it was very heavy and dense.  It was moist, but the kids just didn't like the texture well.  So I'd say it's good for adults, but not the keeper recipe I was hoping for.  In case you are interested, here is where I found the recipe:   http://www.bakerella.com/finally-i-found-it/  The bottom tier was an 8 inch tier.
After the cakes were baked I covered a cake board and a 7 inch cardboard circle with foil.  
Then I assembled the bottom tier.  I put a bit of frosting on the board to hold the cake and started alternating cakes and frosting.
Once all three tiers were assembled, I covered the whole cake in frosting and put it in the fridge.
I thought it would be a nice change to add some fresh strawberries to the chocolate tier, so I cut some up.
Then I started assembling the chocolate tier.  I leveled the cakes (incidentally, I made the three tiered layers just under 1 inch thick and the two tiered layers 1 1/2 inches thick).  
I used Kit Kat candy bars on the sides.  The 8 inch tier took 10 full size bars.  I bought these king size packages that came with 3 full sized bars.  The 6 inch tier took 7 full size bars.
Because I had refridgerated the cakes before I decorated them, I had to pipe a bit of frosting on the cold cake so the candy would stick.  Then I just went around the cake and placed on the Kit Kats.  I then used a ribbon to tighten them up a bit and hold them into place.  I wouldn't skip the rippon as it really helps keep it all in place.
Because I was stacking cakes, I used a plastic rod to hold the weight of the second cake.  I intentionally kept the cake just over three inches high so there was room for the m&m's to cover the top portions.
Because this frosting was so sticky, I was afraid that the cakeboard from the top tier would bring the frosting up with it when I took the cake apart to cut so I did something with this cake that I've never done before.  I placed a small circle of parchment paper between the tiers before I stacked them.
I stacked the cakes and they were ready for the finishing touches.
It was a huge success and of course the kids LOVED it!  Who wouldn't?  The candy on the cake added a nice touch.
 
This was my 7 year old son's birthday cake.  I must admit that I saw a similar one online and wanted to try it, so I showed it to him and hyped him up about how cool it would be to have a cake like that.  :-)  I was happy he took the bait because it was really a fun cake to make.  
I did have some problems with this cake because I had no instructions, so I just had to figure it out as I went.  There were a few things I would do differently.  I am not very happy with the proportions of the machine and would change them a bit if I did it again.  I started by buying a glass bowl.  I finally found one at a Hobby store in the flower department.  They had some vases and one of them worked great.  Based on the size of the bowl, I estimated how high I wanted the machine body to be and made the rice crispy treats that size.  One thing that is VITAL to using rice crispy treats is that one must eat the scraps and/or share them with their children.
After letting them harden up for a while, I rolled them up and started shaping the base.  Here is where I made my first mistake.  I made the base and lid to be the actual size I wanted the body to be, but I didn't account for the added fondant.  So when I put the fondant on, the base and cap were both bigger than I'd intended.  Next time I'll be sure to make the treats smaller than what I want the final product to be. 
Next I cut a flat portion about two-thirds down the face of the body.  It was hard to get a good pic of this, so this was the best I could do.
Here is the rice crispy treats before I frosted them.
After they were shaped, I frosted them with a light coat of frosting to fill in the holes and smooth out the texture.  I let them sit for 15 minutes after they were frosted and then I used a plain Viva paper towel to smooth out the bumps (place the towel soft side down on the area and with a fondant smoother or your hand, gently rub over the towel to smooth the surface).  I use that method for smoothing my cakes too.
Now it's time to cover the whole thing in fondant.  By this time I realized that the proportions were going to be off, so I made the initial covering really thin.  This made for a horrible bumpy texture, but I knew I was covering most of it up anyway, so I didn't worry about it.
You can see every flaw because the fondant is so thin.  Then I covered it up I put it in the fridge to harden up and prep it for decorating.
After it was good and hard I started decorating it.  I began with a thin black rectangle...
Then I worked on the face of the machine...
I used a round cutter to cut out the quarter hole.  Then I cut off the top of the circle.  I put the cut circle back in when I added the plate to the cake.
I put the face of the machine on (adhering the parts by brushing their backs lightly with water).  I placed a very thin piece of grey under the plate so that there appeared to be a slot for the quarter...
I wanted a little foot to go around the base so I figured the best way to accomplish that was to just add some fondant on the base to make the extra curve, so I did that next....
Then I rolled out red fondant and started adding the pieces to the body.  I just eyed their size and made adjustments as I went.  I attached the pieces to the top of the base, then worked my way down to the bottom.  I put it over the hump at the bottom, then used my pizza cutter to cut off the extra at the base...
After I was done with all the strips around the base I made a slot for the balls to fall into.  I was tempted to make it a working machine (my husband and kids really pushed for that).  When I say working, I don't mean with a coin, but just that one could get gum from the machine.  In the end, I was just too tired....remember my baby is only 7 weeks old...  If I wanted it to be working, I would have used a tube or pipe of some sort and molded the rice crispies around it so that there was a hole at the top and it was fastened to some out at the bottom.  It was too much, but I believe it could have been done. 
My bowl had a lip on it, which worked well because there needed to be some space at the bottom of the bowl any way.  So I went ahead and filled the bowl with gum, then closed it off with paper taped to the lip of the bowl.  
Then I turned the bowl over and placed it on the base.
Then I added a strip of grey fondant all around the bowl and a thinner strip of red for decoration.
Now for the cap...which I made way too thick....
After I covered it, I made a small screw with grey and covered the edges with red...and the cap was ready to go.  One thing to be aware of is that you can't just have it flat or it won't be fit to the bowl.  I should have taken pics of the underside of the cap.  I had it molded to the shape of the bowl and after I put the fondant on, I still had to take a knife and carve out some.  I put a bit of buttercream frosting on the bowl so it wouldn't slip off.
And the gumball machine is ready to go.
I think when I have more time I will add a section on covering a cake with fondant.  This way I won't have to go over it in every post I make.  I rolled out the fondant to place over the cake.  
I always refrigerate my cakes overnight before covering them with fondant.  I find they look better when the frosting is good and hard so they keep their shape.  Then when I am ready to cover the cake I lightly spritz it with water so the fondant will adhere to the hard frosting.  On a small cake like this one, I just drape the fondant over my rolling pin and carefully drape it over the cake.  If I am covering a large cake, I slide one of my pizza pans under it and slip it off the pan over the cake (you can use cardboard but I like my pizza pan because it doesn't have sharp edges that can mare the fondant).
Then I use my hands to smooth the fondant down around the cake.  I pull up the sides as I work to smooth out the edges until it's worked all the way down.  Then I go over the entire area with a fondant smoother to smooth out the bumps and make sure it's adhered to the cake.
I decided to do a marble pattern for the letters and border.  This was accomplished simply by mixing a bit of dark fondant with lighter fondant and stopping the mixing before it is even.  I just used cutters for the letters.  I finally got a few more cake tools to help with fondant.  I got some rollers that allow me to make textures on the fondant as well as cut borders.  So I used the roller for the first time to cut this border.  :-)  This was the first fondant ribbon border that I've made...  
...stuck the letters on with a bit of water.  I'm still not great at getting them centered...still learning...but my 'happy' was way off...
...added some dowels to support the weight of the machine.  I used to use wooden dowels but I got these plastic ones at a cake store and will never look back!  They are great because they can be cut with regular scissors, so while they are more expensive, they are MUCH easier to use.  
The cake was too high to fit into my fridge, so I had to wait until the actual part to put it all together.  But here it is.  It was a big hit!  Thanks as usual for supporting me and reading my blog.  :-)

Batman

11/14/2011

4 Comments

 
This cake was made for a surprise birthday party and I had a TON of fun making it!
I started the fondant work a day or two before I made the cakes.  First I colored the fondant...
Next I drew some ideas for a city scape.  I'm not much of an artist, so I looked online for ideas and came up with this...  In the end I had to lose one of the buildings which I really liked (there wasn't enough room) but overall, it worked pretty well.
Then I rolled out black fondant and went to work cutting out buildings.  I used my pizza cutter and a straight razor blade for the small details.
It took a lot of buildings.  :-)
Then I went to work cutting out windows.  I saw some cakes online with yellow dots piped on for windows but I didn't like how they looked and decided to use the real thing...
I attached the windows and the 50 using a bit of water.
I decided to go with a 10 inch square and an 8 inch round.  I assembled them using my typical three layers.  This is the crumb coat...
After the cakes were assembled and set up I started covering them with fondant...  First I rolled some out...
Then I lightly spritzed the cake with water so the fondant would adhere and I covered the cake.
Using a fondant smoother and my hands I worked the wrinkles out (as best as I could).
And using a pizza cutter, I cut the extra away...
I did the same for the square cake and we were ready for the decorating.
This is the beginnings of my bat symbol...
I started organizing the buildings and adhering them to the cake with a bit of water...
Then I started adding the spotlight..
...stacked the cakes...
... continued making the spotlight...
...and added the Batman symbol.  
 
This is my sons 5th birthday cake.  Keep in mind that I am due to have my baby at any time now, so I'm not blogging about this one.  I still wanted to include a couple of photos of the finished product though because it came out really cute.  Here is my condensed blog:  I made two cakes, frosted them, and covered them with fondant.  I then decorated them with fondant and put on the toys.  :-)  Enjoy.
 
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This cake was so much fun to make!!  I saw one made about 8 months ago and have been positively SEARCHING for an excuse to make it.  Finally a baby shower presented itself.  It was a combined shower for myself and a friend.  It was made quite clear to me that I was making the cake for my friend.  I was not allowed to make my own shower cake.  Someone else made me a cake, which was heaven.  I don't think anyone has actually made a cake for me since I was a kid.  
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I started by making two 1 1/2 inch thick sheetcakes, lemon flavor.
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I trimmed them down to just over an inch and a quarter thick and cut three pieces out approximately 6X8 1/2 inches.  The piece on the top right was left over and my family enjoyed it a few night before the shower. 
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Then I started frosting and filling.  I have taken to frosting a thing layer, then adding the filling on top of the frosting.  It's much easier than torting the layers and having to deal with more layers.  This lemon cake had raspberry filling, one of my new favorite combinations.
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Layer number two.
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I did my usual three small layers.
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Then I add a crumb coat to hold it all together.
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Next I pipe on the frosting.  Most people say only use a thin layer of frosting when decorating with fondant, but I feel that since most adults don't actually eat the fondant, I like to have more frosting underneath.
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And smooth it out....
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I didn't worry about getting it perfectly smooth because I knew that I would be covering it up (and I had lent out both my fondant smoothers, which I use to do the final smoothing).  Then the cake goes in the fridge for the night to harden up.
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Now starts the fun part.  I dyed some fondant light and bright pink.
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I started by rolling out and cutting some light pink fondant to go around the center of the cake.  This was one of those projects where I didn't have any instructions, so I just creatively thought about how I could get the look I was going for and used trial and error to find my way.
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After lightly spritzing the cake with water so the fondant would adhere, I applied the light pink around the entire cake.
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Then I measured out how big I needed the blanket that was going to be on top.  I used my cake comb (a real comb that I bought for the purpose of cake and use solely on cakes) and made indentions (my life will be so much easier when I finally get that fondant kit that allows one to texture, or make indentions or cute borders...I really need to pick one of those up).  
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Then I made a billion little tiny dots that would be used on the quilt (okay, about 60).
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I stuck the dots on with a bit of water and pressed them down slightly.
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When I was done with the dots, I laid the blanket across the top of the cake.  I just trimmed the corners because I knew they would be covered up by the frame of the crib anyway.
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Then I added a white strip for the bottom sheet.
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And a thinner light pink strip to look like I'd folded down the blanket. 
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Next we needed a billion little flowers for the skirt.
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I then went to work cutting out strips for the skirt.  I measured how thick I wanted them to be and went to work decorating them with the flowers (held on with a bit of water).
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Then I moistened the bottom of the middle light pink strip and started attaching the crib skirt.
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I took care to keep the corners pretty flat so I could put on the frame without too much interference.
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Now I intentionally kept the frame until last.  I wanted to measure it exactly once the cake was made so it fit well.  I'm not much of an artist, but I got the measurements where I wanted them, then I sort of sketched the crib around those measurements.
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Then I went to work making the frame.  First I taped my drawings to the bottom of the small cookie sheet.  Then I taped parchment paper over the top of the drawings (so I could see the pictures through the parchment).  I'm a HUGE fan of Candyquik, so I used that.  I melted it and put it in a piping bag with a 3 tip.  Then it was mostly trial and error, but I filled in the forms for the front, back, and both sides.  If I make this cake again, I will make them a bit thicker next time.  This worked okay, but I think they would look better and work better if they are a bit thicker.
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After I was done with the frame, I set to work putting it all together.  I used royal icing to hold the first side in place, then the opposite side.  I then added the headboard and used the candy coating to hold one corner together.  I put the cake in the fridge to let it harden, then glued the second corner.  I repeated this process until all four corners were stuck, then I went and added a bit more on the corners to refine the look and strengthen it, and viola.  The cake turned out really cute!
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I added a couple of details like a pillow and teddy bear, and it was finished.
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I'm happy to report that my morning sickness is now gone and we are back to cake!  Yay!!  I'm easing in with a short and simple tutorial on Fourth of July Cupcakes, but I do have several more projects planned in the next couple of months, so stay tuned.  Thanks for you patience when I was too sick to think about cake.

brandi  :-)
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My husband wanted red white and blue Fourth of July cupcakes, so I made these.  Normally I refuse to make blue cake.  I think it's unnatural and unpalatable.  Who wants to eat blue cake??  But in this case, since it wasn't all blue and since I do love him, I decided to compromise a bit and make these.  They were very easy.
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I started with white cake batter.  I put about 1/2 cup batter in two bowels and dyed them red and blue.  Then I filled the cupcake slots about 1/2 way full with white batter.  Using a spoon, I added a spoonful of red, then blue batter to each cupcake and swirled them around.  I tried not to mix the red and blue because I didn't want purple.
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Then I baked the cupcakes.
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The swirly frosting didn't work as well as I'd hoped.  I put dye directly in the piping bag (blue on one side, then red on the other) and added white frosting to that.  The first few cupcakes had bright colors but the dye ran out fast.  In the future I think it would work better to actually dye some frosting in each color and add gobs of frosting instead of just the dye.  I piped the frosting on using a large star tip.
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Nevertheless, here is the end result.  They were fun and the kids loved them.
 
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Well, the Sand Castle Wedding Cake was a big hit.  I was quite happy with how well it came together.  This cake had more detail work than any I have ever done, but I think it all turned out quite nicely.

I started the process about a week and a half before the wedding.  I wanted to make sure that the castle turrets were good and hardened before hand, so I started by making those.  
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First I added a few pinches of gum tex to the fondant I was working with.  The gum tex makes the fondant dry hard.  I kneaded it in and rolled some out to experiment with the turrets.
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I cut the fondant into a rectangle, using a paper towel roll as a guide for how wide I needed it.  The roll would eventually support the turret as it dried.  Then I placed an imprint mat onto it and pressed the brick pattern into the rectangle.  
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I then wrapped the rectangle around the roll and sealed it's edges with water.  I mostly just worked the edges together by pressing on them with my fingers.  There was a seem in the back of the turret, but I knew it would be back facing, so I didn't worry about it.  Then I set the turrets aside to dry.  I actually ended up making 5 so I had backups in case something happened to them.
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I wasn't sure how I was going to do the top of the turrets, so I experimented with a few ideas.  I first took a Styrofoam cone and cut it down to the size I wanted.  Then I covered that with fondant and experimented with using small cut out circles as individual tiles.  In the end I didn't like how it looked.  It looked more like a tree, than a building.  So I abandoned it and came up with another idea.  The picture above shows the top that I discarded standing by two turrets. 
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Then it occurred to me that I have these great candle holders which, when inverted, were just the right size.  So I decided to try those as a base for the towers.  I cut out some fondant and wrapped it around the candleholder (after thoroughly cleaning the candle holder, of course).  I dusted it with powdered sugar to keep the fondant from sticking.  
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I wrapped the fondant around instead of trying to lay it over.  This also left a seam in the back, but again, I wasn't concerned about that.  

Then I trimmed off the bottom and had a great start to my towers.
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They really needed a bit more than just the cone, so I made some brick decoration to go around the edges.  I fastened them to the cone after the cones had dried pretty well, again using water.
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I failed to keep track of how much time this cake took (which was probably a good thing, because it took a LOT of time).  Now that the turrets were ready to go, I was able to relax until three days before the wedding, when the baking began.
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I baked and assembled three square tiers, sizes 6, 10, and 14 inches, and covered them with fondant (see my baking page for more details on baking).  
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I pressed my brick pattern into the sides of the cake which left a very faint brick laying pattern on the sides of the cake.  Since the wedding was outdoors, I didn't trust the fondant to hold together if it was hot, so I opted not to piece together sides with a heavier pattern on them.
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I also melted candy to mold into the shells that would be used for decorating the finished cake.
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Next I started making the decorations that would adorn the cakes.  I started with the bricks that would cover the tops of the cakes.  I made enough to cover all three cakes.
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Then I cut out the corners of the top two cakes.  This was because I wanted to set the turrets into the cake to make them look more realistic.  This was the hardest thing I've ever done to a wedding cake.  I felt like I was ruining it.  :-)  There was something so wrong about cutting away a perfectly good corner of a beautiful ready made cake.  It went against everything I've learned so far.  But knowing it was necessary, I went ahead and did it.  It was quite simply done.  I just used a circle cookie cutter to cut a nice round edge.  It worked great.  The perk of this was that my 4 year old and I got to sample both cakes (one was lemon with raspberry filling and the other was chocolate with raspberry filling).  They were both delish!  I used a piece of saran wrap to cover the exposed corner so the cake didn't dry out.
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Next I went ahead and attached the brick edges to the tops of the cakes (using water and a paint brush).
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I then made the windows, door, and stairs.  
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After dying the fondant, I made paper cutouts of the shapes that I wanted.
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Then I started cutting out the door and windows.
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I used a blunt tool to mark the details of the doors and windows.  
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I wanted to give the windows a bit of depth, so I raised them up with white fondant backgrounds.
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Finally I gave them a light brush over with an edible silver paint.
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After placing on the decorations, I added plastic dowels to the cakes to support the weight of each tier.  This time, after measuring them, I left them slightly above the cake, so I could more easily place the tiers on each other.  It didn't work as well as I'd hoped.  You can also see in this picture that I messed up the fondant on the bottom of this tier.  I gouged it way to short when trimming and had some wrinkles.  I didn't worry about them though because I knew I'd be covering them up with decorations later.  
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Next I added the details and dowels to the other tiers...  
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I struggled with how I would incorporate the wedding colors into the cake.  The bride and groom are Gator fans and chose the traditional gator colors, bright blue and orange.  However, the bride was clear that if I couldn't figure it out, she didn't mind not having the colors.  I wanted them represented though, so I made small flags out of ribbon and fastened them onto the cake.
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Lastly, I painted the shells light shimmery colors and ground up Nilla Wafer Cookies to imitate sand.  I also made a batch of royal icing so I could attach the turrets at the event.

I didn't take pictures as I assembled the cake, but here's how it went:  First I stacked the tiers on top of each other (I always assemble at the site, just to be safe).  Then I used royal icing and dowels to attach the turrets into place.  Lastly, I added the cookie sand and candy sea shells, and my sand castle wedding cake was complete.
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I'm anxious to get to the Sand Castle Wedding Cake, so I'm going to zip through this one.  I'm still associating nausea (morning sickness) with anything cake, so forgive the brief explanations.  I'll get back on track as soon as I possibly can.

I started with one 12 inch by 12 inch by 2 inch cake.  I cut it in half and cut off three inches of each of the sides.  So I was left with two 6X9X2 inch pieces.  This will form the base of the trunk.
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I put the two pieces together and frosted them.  Then I made some brown fondant to make the chest.  I wanted it to be a darker brown, but ran out of food coloring and didn't have the time to go get more.  I got the marble effect by not mixing the color in completely.  I covered the base.
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The biggest part of this cake is the details.  I started by cutting strips of yellow fondant (to be painted gold).  These were used as the metal bands.  I measured the edges of the cake so I knew how many to cut.
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I actually mapped out the areas and numbered them, so I knew which pieces were for which part on the chest.  The small white papers showing in the next pic are the numbers that helped me keep track of the pieces.  I also fashioned the handles.
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Next I used an edible gold dust mixed with clear vanilla to paint the pieces gold.
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I used Rice Crispy Treats to make the lid.  I love using them because they are easy to mold and fun to eat when the cake is cut.  :-)
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Next I needed to create a way that I could prop the lid partially open.  I cut a cardboard rectangle, with two holes for the dowels, and fastened the lid to it with some frosting.  The wholes will catch on carefully placed dowels and will hold the lid partially open.  (note, this was cake cardboard.  I didn't bother to cover it with foil but certainly could have)
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Next I covered the lid with frosting and covered it with more marbled fondant.  I could have gotten it a lot smoother, but I was so sick I just didn't care.  I really just needed an 8 year old's birthday cake and wanted it done.
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It's so lumpy it's laughable.  Oh well.  Better next time...when I'm not pregnant.  :-)
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Next I started laying on the 'metal' bands.  I did this simply by brushing the area with a wet brush and laying them on.  Same with the handles.  (Royal Icing can be used for heavier decorations).  I also added rivets by pressing gold decorating balls into the fondant (and using a bit of buttercream to hold them in place).
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I measured the dowels to be about an inch above the base cake.  Then I just lined them up with the holes in the cardboard, and lowered the lid into place.
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Lastly, I filled up the gap with candy.  I used chocolate coins, candy necklaces, ring pops, and skittles.  It was a huge success.  The kids all loved it.
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Okay folks.  I've got three cakes to get through and I'm still plagued with morning sickness to the extent that I don't even want to think about cake.  However, I know some of you are waiting, so I will do my best to satisfy, though it may be brief.  :-)  I'll start with the barbie cake.

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I started by baking 2 ten inch layers and one six inch.  I assembled them with frosting.

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After assembling them I carved them into the shape of the skirt.
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Next I frosted and smoothed the skirt.

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From here it was just a matter of assembling and decorating.  I added a fondant ruffle to the bottom to serve as her petticoat.  
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Then I cut a circle of fondant out for the skirt and placed it over, trimming the bottom to how I wanted it.
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I made a fondant top for Barbie before placing her in the cake...
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And in she goes...
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I covered up her waist with more white fondant and started decorating...I added sleeves, buttercream dots, candy balls, etc.
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And for the finishing touch I dusted her with gold power.  It was a bit out of control, but I've never used it before and wasn't sure what to expect... but here she is.  There are a few things about her that I think I would do differently.  But it works for a small child's b-day party.  Sorry so brief, but good grief, I gotta get to bed.   I'll add the treasure chest cake and the sand castle wedding cake asap.
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I am having a HUGE crisis!!  I am pregnant (that's not the crisis) and the problem is that I have severe morning sickness, and even the very thought of cake causes the most heinous nausea!  I'm doing a wedding cake next week and can't wait to get it behind me.  I've done two small cakes since I last blogged but just haven't the spirit to blog about them yet.  Ick!!  It's causing major conflict in my life to be so sickened by something that I previously had found so much joy in.  What a mess!  I even turned down doing a topsy turvy wedding cake in May because I just couldn't face it.  :-(

So here's the deal.  When I feel up to it (and I will try), I will blog about my barbie and treasure chest birthday cakes.  Eventually I'll get to my sand castle wedding cake too.  But in the mean time I'm just going to have to sign off for a bit.  After all, how can I possibly work when that picture of the big bowl of frosting is making me sick.

brandi :-)