Welcome

Decorated Cakes Have Always Been Fun

Joanie started baking and decorating cakes at a very young age. Her first cake was a layer cake with clowns draped over the upper edge. looking like they were falling over the edge. As the years have passed, we have been asked to do a large variety of cakes for special occasions. Ray had friends when we were stationed in Germany who wanted cakes for birthdays, anniversaries, welcoming relatives who were visiting, etc. We found that the more people knew that we decorated cakes, the more often we were asked to do something special. Once we returned to the U.S. from Germany, the cake decorating continued, but we also branched out into making decorated Christmas cookies for ourselves and our friends and neighbors. When we moved to Florida from Montana, we still have enjoyed doing decorated cakes. We have made cakes that looked like a Star Wars scene for the boys across the street, a Wizard of Oz cake with rainbow for a friend’s daughter, a cake that looked like a Lego man and several others. One of our very favorites was a birthday cake with three layers that was taken from the theme of Alice in Wonderland, with the top layer being a teapot, the second layer looking like the book and the bottom layer with playing cards resembling the Queen of Hearts scene. There was even a pocket watch like the one the March hare carried in the story. Some of our other favorites are a topsy-turvy cake for a Valentine’s Day theme, a Mother’s Day cake that looked like an old fashioned hat, and a cake that looked like a volcano. And of course, our decorated Christmas cookies get more elaborate each time we decide to make them. We held a tea party for Ray’s goddaughter with 16 of her friends, and decorated cookies and tea sandwiches to go along with the theme. We chose royalty as the theme, and each girl attending was given a royal title, such as Duchess or Countess.

Cakes&Smiles

A 13-year-old had a birthday and saw this cake in a magazine. She asked, can you make this? So the cake was made. And has been made, over and over. It took first place for yearsin various baking contests. People love this cake. It got a little sad because we knew that if it was entered in a contest it would make the other cakes look bad. So we stopped entering it. The design has developed a little through the years, so now all of the parts are airbrushed and more dimensional and the tomatoes even have realistic looking seeds and divisions.

How do you make a Castle Cake?

Begin with sculpted ice cream cones.

Notch the cake corners so the cones fit.

Add a center tower with sugar ice cream cones.

Pipe in some details for the walls and windows.

Add a "water" moat.

Candies for the top edge of the wall.

Airbrush color on the towers...

...and flags at the tops of the spires.

Make the cake as detailed as you want...

...and don't forget the windows.

3D train cake

Thomas - We sculpted the face by hand

Simple wedding cake used as a centerpiece

Centerpiece for a party table

Cake had edible sparkles on the frosting.

Sugar cubes to go with the cake.

Small cookie hearts

How to make a chocolate gift. Cut the names so they are raised. Then get a glass or other things you can mold the food safe rubber in. After you mold the rubber, melt the chocolate and pour it over the mold. Let cool and harden and take out slowly. Now you have it. We took the same mold but changed the names as you can see at the right. We made some for gifts.

Paper cut-outs for molding

The outside part is made from Rock Hard spackle.

Red and Gold braid for making the mold.

Food-safe rubber material makes the mold.

Rubber must be melted slowly.

Edges to hold the liquid rubber in place.

Liquid chocolate goes into the finished rubber mold.

Final chocolate heart

Another of the Cheeseburger cakes. Three layers.

Close-up of the "fillings" for the cheeseburger.

We experimented with a topsy-turvy cake for a Valentine’s Day auction at our church. We were pretty excited about the outcome, including the fondant flowers and draped “fabric” on the bottom layer.

A friend asked us to make an Alice in Wonderland cake for her daughter”s 16th birthday. We learned to do a dimensional cake by experimentation to find the exacr way to make the teapot.

How do you make cake look like a volcano? We figured it out, including the coloration of the lava.

Some friends of ours were going camping in their RV, so we made a cake to show the fun they might have on their trip.

One of the neighbor boys was having a birthday, so we made him a pirate ship for his birthday.

The daughter of another friend loved the Wizard of Oz, so she wanted a Wizard of Oz cake for her birthday, complete with the lollipop forest, the Wizard’s hot air balloon, the horse of a different color, the yellow brick road and the rainbow.

Other Food Craft Ideas

Our 40th and all the things from the wedding. Joanies dad made the bridge for our wedding cake. We made the roses for days. The colors match the wedding flowers.

Welcome

Decorated Cakes Have Always Been

Fun

Joanie started baking and decorating cakes at a very young age. Her first cake was a layer cake with clowns draped over the upper edge. looking like they were falling over the edge. As the years have passed, we have been asked to do a large variety of cakes for special occasions. Ray had friends when we were stationed in Germany who wanted cakes for birthdays, anniversaries, welcoming relatives who were visiting, etc. We found that the more people knew that we decorated cakes, the more often we were asked to do something special. Once we returned to the U.S. from Germany, the cake decorating continued, but we also branched out into making decorated Christmas cookies for ourselves and our friends and neighbors. When we moved to Florida from Montana, we still have enjoyed doing decorated cakes. We have made cakes that looked like a Star Wars scene for the boys across the street, a Wizard of Oz cake with rainbow for a friend’s daughter, a cake that looked like a Lego man and several others. One of our very favorites was a birthday cake with three layers that was taken from the theme of Alice in Wonderland, with the top layer being a teapot, the second layer looking like the book and the bottom layer with playing cards resembling the Queen of Hearts scene. There was even a pocket watch like the one the March hare carried in the story. Some of our other favorites are a topsy- turvy cake for a Valentine’s Day theme, a Mother’s Day cake that looked like an old fashioned hat, and a cake that looked like a volcano. And of course, our decorated Christmas cookies get more elaborate each time we decide to make them. We held a tea party for Ray’s goddaughter with 16 of her friends, and decorated cookies and tea sandwiches to go along with the theme. We chose royalty as the theme, and each girl attending was given a royal title, such as Duchess or Countess.

Cakes&Smiles

How do you make a Castle Cake?

Begin with sculpted ice cream cones.

Notch the cake corners so the cones fit.

Add a center tower with sugar ice cream cones.

Pipe in some details for the walls and windows.

Add a "water" moat.

Candies for the top edge of the wall.

Airbrush color on the towers...

...and flags at the tops of the spires.

Make the cake as detailed as you want...

...and don't forget the windows.

3D train cake

Thomas - We sculpted the face by hand

Simple wedding cake used as a centerpiece

Centerpiece for a party table

Cake had edible sparkles on the frosting.

Sugar cubes to go with the cake.

Small cookie hearts

Paper cut-outs for molding

The outside part is made from Rock Hard spackle.

Red and Gold braid for making the mold.

Food-safe rubber material makes the mold.

Rubber must be melted slowly.

Edges to hold the liquid rubber in place.

Liquid chocolate goes into the finished rubber mold.

Final chocolate heart

Another of the Cheeseburger cakes. Three layers.

Close-up of the "fillings" for the cheeseburger.

A friend asked us to make an Alice in Wonderland cake for her daughter”s 16th birthday. We learned to do a dimensional cake by experimentation to find the exacr way to make the teapot.

How do you make cake look like a volcano? We figured it out, including the coloration of the lava.

Some friends of ours were going camping in their RV, so we made a cake to show the fun they might have on their trip.

One of the neighbor boys was having a birthday, so we made him a pirate ship for his birthday.

Other Food Craft Ideas

Our 40th and all the things from the wedding. Joanies dad made the bridge for our wedding cake. We made the roses for days. The colors match the wedding flowers.