My 30th Birthday - dog cake

APRIL 2011

Considering I go on about Hamish my Labrador so much at work I thought I should do a cake of him for my birthday.

I made a smallish cake using Mum's pudding tin and then another 2 small round cake tins. The pudding tin was vanilla/chocolate swirl cake using packet mixes and the larger (but still small) cakes were vanilla only.

I put the separate cakes on top of each other and carved out a semi-circle to make the puppy body.

I froze these and then pulled them out a few days later to dirty ice with buttercream (not made with shortening this time). I used my turntable which made things so much easier!

I put the cakes in the fridge to harden up and started to colour some fondant to a tan colour - same as Hamish :-) It took a long time to colour 1kg of fondant!!!!

I finally got there and rolled out the fondant to cover both cakes. I then made the paws and tail in the same colour. The tail needed three toothpicks in it to keep it upright.

I coloured some more fondant a darker brown to add the ears and snout. I needed to enhance the eye area so I added some eyebrows at the last minute too.

I used pre coloured black fondant for the nose and eyes.

I coloured white fondant with blue to create the colour and added some detail for studs.

Ian's 60th Birthday - school bus

APRIL 2011

With Ian's new employment as a school bus driver, how could I resist making a bus cake for his birthday. It had to be a quick and easy one because I was really pushed for time. Luckily I got Kelly to help me out with the accessories.

The cake was made from a vanilla packet mix (Green's brand). I borrowed a loaf tin from my neighbour as standard log tins aren't big enough and I didn't want to make a huge square cake and cut it in half...this was quick remember!

I carved the cake and it didn't really look like a bus. I made a slight change from the slanted windscreen to 90 degrees and it looked a little better. Once carved I covered it in buttercream using shortening (Sno creme from Caroline's Sugar Art).

I coloured white fondant to a great yellow colour and pressed into the shape. I then attached all the accessories.



The side mirrors were held on with florist wire. The tyres were held on with toothpicks. Everything else was attached with a small amount of buttercream.

I placed the cake onto a small platter so that it was raised and the tyres could be placed into the cake. I completed this look by piping green grass all around the cake to cover the platter.

I used an edible marker to add some black detail.

The rest of the accessories speak for themselves - all edible!!!

Ian was quite surprised and loved the cake.