Category Archives: Cakes

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

30 Sunday Dec 2018

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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!

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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

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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!

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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!!

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A Burrito Cake….really?

11 Thursday Oct 2018

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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!

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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.

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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!

15th Birthday Watercolor Cake

23 Sunday Sep 2018

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Ok, so I love these water color cakes and am excited whenever someone orders one because they are so fun to do.  The other neat thing is  that they are so unique…just like the person I’m making them for.  No 2 cakes are the same.

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I’ve had the privilege of making beautiful Audrey’s birthday cakes for a few years now and it seems that she always has a specific design in mind.  Colors, look, style, everything….which is fantastic for someone so young.

She knows exactly what she wants and it always looks great.

This one is a 5″ and 7″ 2-tiered cake with chocolate cake and marshmallow cream filling. The water color icing is turquoise, silver and white. And she wanted a silver fondant “15” on top.  The silver and black plaque and name are also made from fondant.

 

I loved the way it turned out, classic and unique–just like Audrey.

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Hope you had a very special 15th birthday, Audrey, I loved making your cake!

Shark and Mermaid Party

10 Friday Aug 2018

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This was such a cute idea for siblings whose birthdays were being celebrated together…Sharks and Mermaids!  Mom, Emily, was clever… do the work to have 1 party with 2 celebrations for Elin (3) and Kyle (1) with a theme for both that work together.

Each 8″ cake was decorated with his/her own theme and had a few dozen matching cookies to make each child know that their birthday was special…smart thinking, Mom!

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1-yr-old Kyle had a chocolate shark-themed cake with cookies and cream filling, rough-iced with ombre blue buttercream made to look like waves.  The fin, life preserver, letters, sea life, sharks, and other other details were made from homemade marshmallow fondant.  The bubbles were white buttercream piped on with a small round tip.

The shark, surfboard, and life preserver cookies matched the color scheme.

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3-yr-old Elin’s mermaid cake was funfetti with vanilla buttercream, smooth-iced with turquoise, white and pale pink stripes.  The tail was molded from rice cereal, then covered in pink fondant and dusted with pearl dust.   The number 3 and other sea life were fondant…the sea plants were made by winding long strips of pink fondant around straws, letting them dry overnight, then carefully removing the straws once the fondant was set up.

 

 

Once the cake was iced and decorated, I added some fun shiny pearls to look like colored bubbles.

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Elin also had her own sea-themed cookies.

 

 

This duo-themed birthday was sure fun to do…

Hope you had a great celebration, Elin and Kyle!