Drumming Up New Ideas......

This was a fun cake that I did for a neighbors son as he graduated from High School.

This is all buttercream - no fondant. While fondant might have made it easier to create the details - I kinda enjoyed that I wasn't rolling and cutting.......especially rolling fondant for such a BIG cake! This was 3 layers of 12" cake!!

The drum sticks ARE made from fondant though.

In the end I think that it all turned out really really nice! Many folks thought the drum sticks were real.......yea!!

Oh The Places You'll Go!

So this one was kinda fun. My friend, Mary Jo, had no idea what she wanted to do for a friend who just graduated college. That said she kinda just said, "Make it chocolate" and let me go from there. Wanting to try painting a bit more on the fondant I mentioned that when I graduated from college I received the same book from 3 people and Dave did too. Sounded great to her and a cake idea was born (yes, I am sure if we google it someone else has done it too - but I didn't google it so it is completely my idea!).

First I started with the things that made me the most nervous..........the wording and the character at the top of the cover. You know what book this is now right?? Oh The Place You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss.........who has a birthday coming up ya know!

After I painted the whole thing out it didn't look like it popped. I knew what was missing - the black detail outlining on the book. Dave said I didn't need to do it. I knew if I even tested one spot with a black outline I would have to do the whole thing. So instead I sat and looked at it for a minute - then I got out the black. It did not take nearly as long as I thought - and it really did seem to make a difference.

Then I looked at how bland the sides were and thought I should paint some CHEERS to the Graduate.........only Yea You! is all I could come up with...........what else???

Well DUH!! - Quote the book!! So I dug one of my books out and began quoting!

I really love this book............and yes, we have gifted it to others and they are Off and Away

I hear the Graduate loved it! They were away on a Girls Weekend , but Mary Jo texted me to tell me it was a HIT!!

This cake was Chocolate with a Vanilla Buttercream icing and a Vanilla Fondant on the outside. All design is hand painted with icing tints.

Sometimes You Wing It

My wonderful niece's graduation cake. Not hard really until you factor all the elements that went into it.

#1 - not my kitchen
#2 - I was on vacation for an entire week before doing this cake
#3 - I had virtually none of my cake stuff with me and had to make things up
#4 - the few fondant pieces I made ahead of time kinda broke


Still I think the cake turned out pretty cute. Now....does it look like it is leaning a bit? Yeah, that is because the couple of things that were supposed to be bought for me were kinda forgotten - other people have crazy lives too - so we made due with what I could create.


See how the edges of the cake look like they are sinking into the lower layer? That is because the divider to keep it stable is a Butter Box. Yep it is the thin cardboard that surrounds 4 sticks of butter. Then I folded it in half and wrapped it with plastic wrap. Tah Dah......a cake layer divider was born. Although not a terribly stable one. Since I had no dowel rods we used those skinny wooden skewers. Again - not terrible stable, but they worked for the little time the cake needed to stay together.


Everyone loved the cake - The graduate was happy - and really that is all that counted. Although maybe it is my vanity that makes me think the cake is what made her happy that day. Perhaps it truly was the fact that she was GRADUATED from High School and moving on toward the next big challenge in her life........College!!

The cake was 1 layer White Vanilla - 1 layer Chocolate Chocolate Chip - 1 layer Banana. Vanilla Butter cream and Vanilla fondant for the extras and the name.

Off to College

Cake art. Yeah yeah we see them do it on those TV cake shows like there is NOTHING to it. HA!! You know full well that before it airs they have cut out all the parts where the staff are cursing like sailors becaus it is so crazy trying to get that exact right angle for the edge. If they say otherwise they are FIBBING!!

How do I know this?? Well I know this because I am beginning to start working with more detailed cake carving.


This cake was for our niece, Meghan, who was finishing up high school and getting ready to head off to college. I thought - stacked books - too cute. Googled the thought and designed something off of other wonderful cake decorators who have gone before me. No need to reinvent the wheel.


Crumb coated......what is the little round cake? The topper........wait til you see.


Fondant was not my friend this day. Still brand new to doing fondant I will admit that I had to roll this out 3 times before I got the right shape. Think I need one of those rolling mats that details the sizes? Yeah, me too.

In the end it looked okay. This is my first book ever.......so I was fairly impressed with myself. I admit that I did whisper a few curse words to myself, but later I patted myself on the back too.


Another "of course" moment. Not long ago I realized how they painted on stuff - diluted food color and a paint brush. Duh..........and Of Course!! All in the same stream of thought. So I diluted a bit of brown food dye and got ready to paint the books.


However, I did not paint this book red. This is the base book that was covered in red fondant. Then I took the food coloring paint and created the look of some pages.


Layed some lines on the sides of the books with thin strips of fondant - kinda gives it a more "bookey" feel don't you think?

>Stacked the books on top of one another. Do you see what the smaller round cake was now? The base for a Graduation Cap. The top part is a piece of black fondant......the tassle is red fondant. I did those pieces a few days before.
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The final touches were a bit of icing to detail the cakes. And TAH DAH!!

Cake flavors were Chocolate Chocolate Chip and White Vanilla cakes. Icing was Vanilla Butter cream and a Vanilla Fondant.

Positive Reinforcement in a Cake

Along with the "Basic" graduation cake came a slightly more elaborate Positive Reinforcement cake. The Bobcat Award is an award granted to kids when they are caught doing something Wonderful. So it seemed only right that there should be a Bobcat award for the Entire Class of 2010!!

The cake was a Chocolate Chocolate Chip with a yummy Buttercream icing for the topper. Everyone loves chocolate!

Graduation Cake

Pretty Basic and Straight to the Point. Brigham Bobcakes Class of 2010 Graduation. Can you believe another year has passed and the kids who just started Kindergarten will be starting Junior High in just a few short months!!

Goodness Gracious!

This cake was a half sheet completely of Vanill White Cake with a Vanilla Buttercream icing. Perfect flavors to feed masses of people without worrying about what anyone would love - everyong LOVES white cake.