A Baker's Dozen

Today is my father-in-law's birthday!  Happy Birthday Jan!  We are also planning and preparing for Monkey's 4th birthday which is coming up in a few days.  So I've got cakes on the brain.  Won't you join me on a walk down memory lane?

Once upon a time I took a couple of Wilton cake decorating classes and learned a few things about icing and fondant.  I also watched Ace of Cakes religiously hoping to soak up some new techniques.  How's that for a resume?  ;)

This is the cake I made for Jan a few years ago when he was in town celebrating with us. 

This duck was Monkey's 1st birthday cake.  We had about two dozen rubber duckies floating in our pool for her party.

Fast forward one year.  This time I made one cake for Jan and Monkey to share.  This was my first attempt at marshmallow fondant.  Hey, ya gotta start somewhere.   

Here's a falcon cake for my hunky falconer husband.  I used the Wilton 3D duck pan but re-positioned the head and propped it on a cake perch.

The sandcastle cake was Lil Bean's 1st birthday cake.  The graham cracker crumbs looked so much like sand that she wouldn't eat it.  Whoops.

Sand Castle Cake

The castle turrets were baked in coffee cans.

This was Ryan's most recent birthday cake.  I experimented with the filling rather than the design this time.  Inside is a layer of peanut-butter filling.  It was delish.  I used a Paula Dean recipe, and really, how can you go wrong there?

Peanut Butter Filling Cake

Then there's Dora's Backpack for Lil Bean's 2nd birthday.  She still gets excited when she sees pictures.  The kids ate every bit of it, including the marshmallow fondant map. You can see how much my fondant skills have improved!

Dora's Backpack Cake

Here are some cakes I made for class.  My hubby surprised me by enrolling me and a friend for the class as a birthday gift so the first cake was dedicated to him.  If you've taken the class these cakes will look very familiar.  :)

Wilton Rainbow Cake

Wilton Rose Cake

Rose Cake

This cake was for our volunteer luncheon at school on St. Patty's day.  I used some of my newly learned skills. 

Shamrock Cake

These are my Wilton fondant class cakes.

Wilton Fondant Bow Cake

I love this one.  I don't think we even ate it.  There is only so much cake we can handle in a short period of time.  But it sure was pretty.

Fondant Flower Layered Cake

Now I'm gearing up for a Rapunzel cake.  Hopefully I'll have some amazing pictures to post next week!  {fingers crossed}