Author Archives: Laurie

Wild Things Cake

18 Monday Feb 2019

Posted by in General Information

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

I just ran across this fun cake from a couple of years ago, made for Noah and based on the beloved children’s book “Where the Wild Things Are.”

The cake is a 6″-8″ tiered cake with smooth buttercream icing. The “bark” on the bottom tier is made from melted chocolate, spread thin on waxed paper and broken into strips once cooled. It creates such a neat look. The arrows and crown are made from fondant.

I don’t have many other details on the cake, just wanted to share…hopefully make you smile a bit remembering a favorite childhood memory or two.

You’re welcome 🙂

Ideas for the GUYS…

04 Friday Jan 2019

Posted by in General Information

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Happy January 2019!

One of my New Year’s “inspirations” (I hate to make resolutions, too binding) is to get caught up on posts, so here goes…

Since I do so many cakes for teens, kids, babies, showers, etc., I thought it would be fun to highlight some cakes I’ve done for the guys this past year.

The theme of all of these cakes involve cars, sports, or other stuff guys might like (or gals, just sayin’)….

NASCAR

This is a 10″ cake with smooth buttercream icing on the top and black buttercream on the sides. I used a fat round piping tip to make the tire treads. The logo is hand-cut from fondant and the flag is fondant, too.

Car Logos…Mercedes, BMW, Mustang

These cakes are 8″ in size with smooth vanilla buttercream and hand cut logos in fondant…

Carpentry-themed

Love these cakes, so much detail. The first is a retirement cake for a gentleman moving on to a 2nd career as a finish carpenter. The second is a birthday cake for a hard-working dad. Both are smooth buttercream iced with fondant tools and other fun details.

Along the way, I discovered some tool cookie cutters, so fun~

Cigars and alcohol, oh my…

This Corona cake I did awhile back, but wanted to highlight it again. Here’s the full Corona Ice Bucket cake post.

Sports

I actually did this one for 8-yr-old Thomas, but it would be great for any New Orleans Saints fan. (Full-Disclosure: The helmet is a topper provided by Thomas’s mom, I did’t make it…but wish I had 🙂

And who wouldn’t love an OSU cake and cookies?

Hunting & Sasquatch (my all-time fave!)

Here are a couple of cakes that kinda fall into the same category. Especially if you believe in Sasquatch :)))))

Well, that’s it for this post, hope you got some ideas for your next guy (or anyone) cake! Happy caking!!

New cake ideas for 2019… Bunting Toppers and Drip Cakes!

30 Sunday Dec 2018

Posted by in Cakes

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Happy (almost) 2019!!

I can’t believe I’m on the verge of entering the 7th year of this all-consuming “hobby” lovingly named Gray Barn Baking way back in January 2013.  I’m still enjoying this new chapter of my adult life and appreciate ALL of you for indulging my passion for creating sweet things to satisfy and delight the soul.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for taking the ride with me!

That said, I’ve been so busy creating that I’m way behind on my posts, so I’m determined to get caught up by putting out some combo posts…This one may get the creative juices flowing and give you some new ways to think about cakes for your upcoming celebrations.

First, consider these adorable bunting cakes toppers as a creative alternative to an inscription on top of any cake.

The bunting message can be customized to express any sentiment and is all the rage right now in cake decorating.

Another trend in cakes is the drip cake. If you’ve been checking out cakes anywhere, you’ve seen these babies.

Drips can be created in any color, but chocolate drips on a white cake are arguably the most dramatic…

The gender reveal drip cake is also huge.

Or a simple drip celebration cake (this one is chocolate cake with salted caramel toffee filling, chocolate ganache drip and gold sanding sugar…yummmmm!).

Here’s a 1st birthday ice cream cone drip cake in aqua and pink with matching cupcakes and cookies (and a cute sprinkle smash cake:).

Or add some flowers to Dress-Up-The-Drip!

All

All it took was some decadent caramel and an apple on a “naked” cake (also a big trend right now) to create this little beauty!

So let your imagination go NUTS for your next event and get away from the traditional sheet cake and buttercream borders…

Hope you are inspired to try something new in 2019:)))))

Nightmare Before Christmas Cake

16 Tuesday Oct 2018

Posted by in Cakes

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

I got to do a Jack Skellington and Sally cake for Sophia’s 5th birthday last weekend… so fun (and fitting) for this time of year!

NIghtmare cake0005

If you’re not up on your Tim Burton movies, Jack and Sally were the stars of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” movie which came out 25 years ago–hard to believe!  Nice to see kids are still discovering this fun, unique holiday classic 🙂

This was a 10″ pumpkin latte cake (so yummy for this time of year!) iced with pale purple-tinted vanilla buttercream.  All of the details were made from fondant which I let dry for a couple of days to give it some strength.

The Jack/Sally heart was the most difficult to get right, always hard to duplicate an image with layers of fondant.  Loved the little fondant pumpkins!

Thanks for picking such a FUN theme for your birthday, Sophia….it was a pleasure making your cake!!

NIghtmare cake0000

A Burrito Cake….really?

11 Thursday Oct 2018

Posted by in Cakes

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , ,

Ok, just have to do a quick post on this cake as it was SO fun to do.  Maria (she’s the greatest!) ordered it for her godson’s birthday, and I was so excited to do it for her…Realistic food cakes fascinate me (I’m a detail person), so this one was super cool!

burrito cake0001

I wish I would have taken more shots of the construction and detail steps (just so I can do it again if needed), but I didn’t, sorry :(.

I started with a 12×12 square chocolate cake, cut in half and stacked (with caramel turtle filling) and carved it into a burrito shape.

After rough-icing the carved cake with vanilla buttercream, I chilled it for an hour or so and then covered it with ivory-colored fondant fashioned to look like a tortilla.  Diluted brown food color painted on the outside made it look toasted. Wrapping the bottom half with foil made it look even more realistic.

burrito cake0003

The food details (rice, beans, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, chips) are made from homemade marshmallow fondant (check out this video from the Artisan Cake Company to see how it’s done) and the guac and sour cream are green and white buttercream.

Hope you were surprised with your burrito cake, Antoni, it was sure fun to make!