I made these cupcakes for a co-worker of mine who was having a graduation party for her son. His school colors were red and black so I decorated a cupcake stand with construction paper to match. I made two kinds of cupcakes: Boston cream (yellow cake, pastry cream filling, chocolate ganache frosting) and chocolate raspberry (chocolate cake, chocolate raspberry ganache filling, cream cheese frosting). I topped each cupcake with alternating red and black molded chocolates that were shaped like diplomas and graduation caps. The “Congrats Dan” sign was made out of fondant circles that were attached to lollipop sticks and stuck in to a Styrofoam dome I had covered in black tissue paper.

More experiments with cupcake decorations. The chocolate cupcakes were topped with cream cheese frosting applied using a pastry bag. I make some fondant cutouts to put on top. The vanilla cupcakes were also frosted using a pastry bag and a combination of silver dragees and royal icing flowers were used as decoration. 

I had recently jumped on the cupcake bandwagon and I wanted to explore the many ways you can “dress up” a cupcake. I thought adding these pretty royal icing flowers as toppers to the cupcakes was a really nice touch. I used a piping bag to swirl on the frosting which makes them look neater and more uniform.

This was a cake I decided to make to celebrate spring. Lemon cake was covered in vanilla buttercream and decorated with hand-piped royal icing flowers (Primrose, Pansey, Daffodil, Rose, Apple Blossom, and Violet).

This cake was entered in the 2008 Mid-Atlantic Cake show Wedding Cake Competition. It was my first entry in the Wedding Cake competition and there were over 80 entries that year. The theme for the competion was “Fabric Fantasies”. You had to choose a piece of fabric and decorate your cake to match it, then use the fabric as part of the table decoration. For my entry I decided to make a cake that looked like a Saree (or Sari). A Saree is a garment typically worn by woman in India. It consists of a long piece of cloth worn wrapped around the body with one end forming an ankle-length skirt, with 5-7 pleats in the front, and the other end is draped over one shoulder. My husband is originally from India and we have been there a few times now so I own a few Sarees myself.

For the cake I decorated all of the tiers as well as the fondant draping with free hand embroidery to match the decoration of the Saree. The embroidery was done using royal icing and was then painted with silver, red, and green luster dusts. All the rhinestones on the cake and cake base are made of poured sugar that was cast using a homemade silicone mold. The decorative cake plate and cake server are made out of rolled fondant. The handle of the cake server was piped with royal icing to match the cake decoration, and both the plate and cake server were painted with silver luster dust. The picture frame is made of wood, but was hand painted to match the design of the cake. The Saree that was the inspiration for the cake has been used as part of the table covering.

I was trying a few different techniques to decorate cupcakes and I tried one method called “cornelli lace”. It’s basically a random zigzagging pattern that never crosses it’s own path and the final look is pretty unique. This had to be done on a cupcake that is frosted smooth.

This birthday cake was for my dad. Now that he lives in Florida one of his favorite things to do while visiting me in NJ is go to Atlantic City and play the slots. The base tier is a cake dummy that was covered in gray fondant. The “payout plaque” was made from white fondant with a brown sugar border, and symbols were all hand painted. The pull lever is made from a wooden dowel that was covered in fondant. The top tier is a chocolate cake with cream cheese buttercream, covered in gray fondant. All of the details were molded out of fondant, except the quarters. I created a silicone mold out of quarters from different states (I picked states that are important to my dad) and then used the mold to make chocolate coins which I dusted with luster dust to give them shine.

This cake was entered in the 2007 Mid-Atlantic Cake show, Advanced division. I have always loved Art Deco style and I found a picture of a beautiful stained glass window that I used as my inspiration. The 12in, 8in, and 6in square tiers are all 8 inches tall. All the tiers were covered in gray fondant and then airbrushed with luster dust to give them a metallic shine. The art deco design was made of fondant cut-outs that were hand painted with luster dust and then attached to the front of the cake.

My best-friend’s boyfriend asked me to help him propose to her by making a cake. The couple met while working at a summer camp and there was a picnic table near a swing set where they would sit and talk when they were first getting to know each other. He asked if I could re-create that setting. The cake (yellow cake with vanilla buttercream) was covered in fondant and then painted green to look like grass. The picnic table was made by cutting out fondant “planks” that were hand painted to look like wood and allowed to dry. The planks were pieced together with royal icing in order to “build” a picnic table. The swing-set was made of royal icing pieces that were attached together and painted gray. The swings are fondant pieces suspended using dental floss. The couple was hand molded out of fondant.