Christmas Stocking - $110

The final cake for the year! I got a request from a repeat client for a Christmas cake that wasn't fruit. She already had one of those but wanted another cake for members of her family who didn't like fruit cake. This one is chocolate, covered in chocolate buttercream and then fondant. All the little presents and candy canes in the stocking are also made out of fondant. Really cute!

Javan's Blue Racing Car - $110

One of my final cakes for the year and I was very pleased with the result. The cake was banana cake, covered in blue fondant and then heavily sprinkled with blue metallic edible glitter. The #3 was how old the child was and I put the letters of his name onto miniature fondant racing cars. A fun cake to do and I wouldn't mind trying it again.

Spotty Christmas - $100

This one was rather fetching in it's simplicity. I made a 9" fruit cake then covered it in almond icing and then white fondant. I then cut out spots to match the ribbon I had put around the outside. It looked so nice I made one exactly like this to take with me to my Christmas feast. Please add an extra $10 if you want fruit cake.

Noah's Toy Story - $130

What a mission this one was! The cake/bed turned out really good, but I am not sure about the figurines. Hopefully, little Noah wasn't expecting the figurines to be exact replicas of the characters. I made a Buzz Lightyear, a Woody, a cowgirl and a horse. On the corner of the board were also Mr and Mrs Potatohead (both of whom I was very pleased with). I had terrible trouble with Buzz's helmet and in the end had to make a stylised one. Also, as I was packing the cake up, I knocked the cowgirl and her legs fell off. I didn't have time to make new ones so I just cut her off at the waist and made it look as though she was sticking out from under the bed. It worked, thank goodness. Only two more birthday cakes and 11 more Christmas cakes to go and that's it for the year - and what a year it's been!

Hanna's Farm Cake - $130

Phew - what a week this week has been. Not only have I had to do this farm cake (plus 40 matching cupcakes), I have also had an Alice in Wonderland cake and a Dolly Varden cake to do, all required for the same weekend. This cake is proving to be very popular. It's a real cutie anytime, but this one was tweaked a little bit. Not only did it have the usual complement of farm animals, but it also had two white dogs and a grey and white cat on the top as these are the animals the little girl has at home - I hope she recognises them. I added a few ladybirds and a few extra ducklings to this cake, just for something different.

John's Alice in Wonderland - $130

My second Alice in Wonderland-type cake, and once again a pleasure to create. This time round I played around with the characters and added a Cheshire cat, Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee and the bong-smoking caterpillar. Also there were lots of rose bushes and some playing-card soldiers. I have so much fun trying to decide what decorations to put on these cakes that I don't think I will ever do any two the same.

Lily's Lady in Purple - $100

Surprisingly, this is the first time I have made a Dolly Varden cake. I really did enjoy it and feel she turned out quite glamorous. The skirt is fondant covered cake and the doll is just a waist-up doll with a pick on it to stick into the cake. I had to not only design her skirt, but dress her top as well which I did by wrapping her in purple fondant and then dusting her in lavendar glitter. I hope I get the opportunity to do more of these ones as it was fun.

Karen's Cows - $130

What can I say, isn't this just the cutest cake ever? The cows were a joy to make and turned out gorgeous. I hope I get to make more of them. The whole cake was very satisfying to make and because it was just a little bit funky, I decided to add some wiggly candles and they matched the whole thing beautifully.

Christmas Cakes (2) - $100

This was an order I had to fill. The customer bought me her Christmas cakes to ice. She had made the cakes but just wanted me to ice them for her. I didn't have a problem with this as the icing is the fun part. I made each one different and was very happy with the result. I am especially pleased with the present cake as it was the first time I had attempted to make a fondant bow and am very happy with the result. Please note if you want fruit cake an extra $10 applies.

Matthew's Guitar - $110

I had a bit of fun making this one. The cake was fairly straightforward but I had been given photos of the electric guitar Matthew was getting for his birthday and asked to replicate it. I am proud of what I ended up with as I had to make the template freehand and I don't feel I am much of an artist. What I am most chuffed with is the detail - the guitar even has six strings attached. These I made with some gold glitter thread I had left over from a cross-stitch project. The amp was a last minute decision but it just finished the cake (and gave the guitar something to lean on). All in all a really cool cake.

Pooh's Picnic Topper - $50 complete

This was a decoration-only order. The customer wanted a picnic scene with Pooh and co. The characters were a bit smaller than normal as there was so much put on top of the cake as well as them. Apart from the animals you might also see a cake with a slice cut out (Tigger has the slice), a bowl of fruit with banana, grapes and apples, a sliced watermelon, a picnic basket with cover, four glasses of milk with straws and, of course, the jar of 'hunny'. So cute!

Melva's Flowers Galore - $100

Sometimes you imagine what a cake is going to look like in your head but when you start putting it together it turns out completely different. This is one like that. I had a design for this cake, but something happened and this is what I ended up with. I think it's a cake you either love or hate - I love it. The cake was first of all covered in white fondant then packed with flowers in shades of red/pink, purple and blue. On the top flowers I put a green cachous and then, of course, dusted the whole thing with the obligatory white glitter.

Victoria's Teapot - $130

What a lot of trouble I had with this one! I never realised how hard it was going to be to cover a round cake in fondant. Not only that, the first two handles I made broke when I attached them. The final handle actually has two wooden skewers holding it onto the cake. Apart from those problems, the finished cake was really quite cute and I was reasonably happy with the end result.

Winnie the Pooh - $130

A really cute cake. This was for a little one-year-old who loves Winnie the Pooh and friends. I did the bottom tier like the 100-acre wood. It was completely covered in trees and had little hedgehogs, ladybirds and butterflies on it. The second tier was just a beautiful blue and then a picnic scene. I had made the usual four characters but also had a go at making Kanga and Roo and Rabbit. I was especially pleased with the honey pot with honey dribbling out of it. Another touch I liked was the bees on wire around the cake. A very satisfying cake to make and I hope to make another one day.

Sophia's Kitten & Butterfly - $110

I was invited to the first birthday party for my great-niece last weekend (makes me feel old). She loves cats and her favourite colour is purple, so this is what I came up with. The cute little ginger cat is stalking up on the fondant butterfly which is perched on top of the sparkling #1. The whole cake was covered in a delicate mauve with white daisys scattered around, and then Sophia's name in purple glitter on the front. Just to finish it off I placed a purple flower candle for something to light and blow out.

Raewyn's Alice in Wonderland - $130

This cake is a bit more expensive because of all the detail in it. I have had to post three pictures as the different decorations went all around the cake. I was absolutely rapt with how this one turned out and had so much fun making it. Once again the new butterfly cutters came in handy as did some tiny shape cutters which I used for the scattered hearts, diamonds, etc. I had to wrack my brains a bit for things 'Alice' to place around. One of the last minute thoughts was the little card soldiers, but they turned out so good! I was also particularly taken with the flamingos. I'd love to do this one again sometime.

Jessica's Fairy House - $130

An oldie but a goodie. I haven't made one of these for a while so really enjoyed making this one. There is never two of these cakes the same. This time round a couple of differences I made were that I cut out three little heart-shaped windows in the door, and it looks cute. While in Oz I was given as a birthday present some butterfly cutters, so as you can see I have placed a few little butterflies on this cake. The stalk of the cake was marble cake made in the colours of yellow, green, pink and purple. It looked just right for a fairy cake.

Michael Jackson - $110

Phew, what a week it's been. This was the first cake required this week. It is, if you can't recognise him, a Michael Jackson cake. We had a few problems with him, but hey, it's all a learning curve. First of all I made a fairly good MJ and had him standing up while I made a few other bits, and all of a sudden he just broke in half. Back to the drawing board. This time I made him with a nice strong skewer down his back and he worked perfectly. I am really pleased with this one. The cake was a slab cake but I indented the top to look like boards and then painted them to give the effect of him being on stage. The candles I cut down and placed in stars trying to convey the impression of stage lights.

Lashania's Stars - $120

I did this one three weeks ago but am only just posting it because I had to do an emergency dash across the ditch to mind my three little grandchildren for a couple of weeks. The panic is now over and I am home again. To those customers I had to cancel at the last minute, I am very, very sorry. Here is another version of the star cake which is so popular. This time is is in hot pink and black and white and it turned out really nice - brighter than the photo shows. It's fun doing these cakes as they always seem to end up looking good.

Mini Christmas Cake - $35

I was talking to a client today and she asked me if I did Christmas cakes, so I have posted some designs I did last year. I do two sizes, 15cm and 22cm. The 15cm is a perfect size for one or two people, or to give for a gift. This one is covered in almond icing, then fondant. I have then put a collar around the top and made some fondant presents and a candy cane for ornamentation. There has also been some blue edible glitter sprinkled in the middle. As with normal Christmas cakes, the cake itself is a fruit cake, but if you don't like fruit, we can come to some sort of arrangement for another type.

More Mini Christmas Cakes - $35

Christmas Cake, Rudolph - $100

A hit with the littlies, this cute Rudolph smiles out of the cake. He is first of all covered in almond icing, then fondant and finally iced in royal icing using the floodwork technique. His nose is bright red with red edible glitter added to make it shine. The snow in the background is made with light blue sugar balls. I never get sick of making these ones as he's a delight.

Christmas Cake, Tree $100

This cake is covered in almond icing then white fondant. The outer edge is plain but inside the frilly circle is a royal icing tree, two fondant candy canes and some 3D fondant presents. The background is sprinkled with edible glitter. A matching christmassy ribbon is put around the outside.

Christmas Cake, Santa - $100

Like the cake in the next picture, this one has been covered in chocolate fondant. I won't be using this again as it doesn't taste very nice. This year it will be normal fondant, tinted to any colour you like. Santa is iced in with royal icing using the flooding method. He is holding a glittering fondant star in one hand and a fondant candy cane in the other.

Christmas Cake, Candle - $100

Last year this cake was made with a chocolate fondant icing, but this year I am not going to use this as it doesn't taste all that nice. I will be going with normal fondant so the background can be coloured any colour you like.

Jessica's Baby Jungle - $130

Here's a little cutie - a jungle cake, but with toy animals on it, rather than 'real' ones. I am pleased with how this one came out. The original idea was to put the snake in the shape of the '2' on top, but didn't have any room in the end so it had to go on the side. This cake is for a little girl so it was in girly colours, but can be done in any colours desired. Cute!

Courtney's Stars - $120

Isn't this one beautiful! It is around the same lines as Red, Black and White Stars with a couple of tweeks. First of all lime green is Courtney's favourite colour, so all the stars were lime green and silver with glitter on them, making them sparkle. The cake is chocolate on the bottom and banana on the top. Both tiers have a black ribbon around them and a line of silver beads (inedible). The stars are 'pouring' out of the top of the cake. Usually I would also have the number coming out of the top, but this cake had to travel to Ohakune (a long way) and I didn't think the numbers would survive the trip. Love it! Love the colours!

Elephant - $80

I just had to share this with you. It is actually a cake I whipped up for the local school Bring and Buy. Inside a lovely rich chocolate cake and on the outside chocolate buttercream icing. I had a look through spare bits and pieces I had lying around and found this little fondant elephant and some different sized gold fondant balls. I iced one little gold ball to the tip of his trunk and put the others in front of him. Then I finished it off with a gold ribbon and a couple of gold/yellow flowers at the bow. A sprinkle of gold holographic glitter and it was finished. Actually the photo doesn't do it justice, as it was really beautiful in it's simplicity.

Neha's Thomas the Tank Engine - $80

Here is the other cake I had to make for Neha. She is a big fan of Thomas but her parents asked me to make it a bit more 'girly'. I have used pink as the background and have Thomas looking at a grouping of flowers with the candles in the middle. The bow tie isn't standard - it just happened to be 'tie day' at pre-school when this cake was going to be taken in. Please note: Add in an extra $5 if you want the train and track around the outside.

Neha's Elmo - $80

I had a rush request for this one, but I think it turned out really cute. Because I was a bit rushed for time I put the image on a plaque which I then laid on top of the cake. This meant I could start icing the image before the cake was ready. This saved a lot of time. I also had a Thomas cake to do for the same girl (see above) and made that one the same way.

Pete's Landrover - $130

This cake is deceptive in it's simplicity. It is actually quite a detailed cake to make. The whole thing is edible with just the exhaust pipe and the wing mirrors having bits of wire in them. It was commissioned for a 50th birthday. Seems the husband has always lusted after one of these types of Landrovers, and every year asks his wife for one for his birthday. So this year she got him one. He now clarifies his request with specifying 'real' when asking for a Landrover. My first ever car-cake and it was a challenge.

Fairy, Butterfly & Flowers - $130

The colours on this cake were just beautiful. The cake itself was iced in a very pale blue and then it was covered on the two top surfaces with flowers in yellow, pink, blue and purple. I made the flowers all different sizes and styles and it all came together great. Also added are leaves in three different shades of green. Then there are butterflies in the same colours as the flowers. They are all on wires and are placed intermittently about the cake. It is all finished off with four fairies - also on wires. The butterflies and fairies have liberal amounts of edible glitter on them. There is a space left on the icing in the front for a name to be iced in. All in all, a perfect little girls cake.

Jayden's Jungle - $130

Here it is - the Jungle Cake. I had a lot of fun making this one but, boy there is also a lot of work in it. It isn't covered in a solid sheet of fondant like my normal cakes. This one is iced in buttercream, then the fondant leaves are layered on top of that. It is also decorated with two parrots, two monkeys, two snakes, two giraffe, and an elephant, a lion and a crocodile in the lake. It was an exciting cake to make and judging by the parents, an exciting cake to receive.

Paul's Calculator - $100

One of my more unusual requests. This cake was to be a surprise for an accountant - hence the calculator. I was a bit worried as it wasn't looking quite right, but then I put the 'paper' coming from the roll at the back, with Happy Birthday written on it, and the whole cake seemed to come together. The client was very pleased with the result, as was I in the end.

Leah's Tea Time - $30

This cake turned out a lot better than the picture shows. It was my first international order! A woman in the US emailed me and asked me to make a cake for her sister-in-law who works in Wellington. She wanted me to deliver it to her workplace as a surprise. I have made the letters out of crimson royal icing and then coated them in crimson edible glitter - gorgeous. The flowers and grass are made out of fondant. The flowers are in three sizes and vary in colour from the palest pink, through to a solid crimson. Looks great.

Harsha's Stars - $120

I loved how this cake turned out. The instructions I had for it was that the birthday girl (lady) loved the colour gold and also liked jewellery, so I suggested gold accessories with just a few touches of glittery gem colours - blue, red, green and purple. The design of butterfly was something new I was trying and they turned out quite nice. Normally butterflies come out a bit heavy looking, but with punching the holes into the wings it has made them look lacier. Of course all the glitter is edible, though the ribbon and stringed beads are not.

Perez's Blue Stars - $120

This was a bit of a rush job but it turned out really great. The turnaround time from baking to finished product was just 24 hours - a record. The cake was for a one-year-old and was wanted in boyish colours with stars. I made the bottom tier a very pale blue with a darker blue top tier. Though it looks yellow, the circles around the bottom of the cakes and the flowers are actually a lime green. The lettering is dark green, heavily covered with emerald edible glitter. The stars are in three shades of blue and all have a light blue glitter on them. Just as a finishing touch I put a little plastic train on the top and it all came together beautifully.

Horse - $130

Okay, this was a strange one. I was asked to make a cake for a 21st birthday. The instructions were that she wanted a horse appearing to jump out of the cake. I had never sculptured a horse before so that was a bit daunting. I was quite taken with the end result. The lines of the cake were clean and uncluttered and the cake turned out really nice. You can even recognise that it's a horse jumping/drowning (your choice). The customer was very pleased and so was I. What a cake to come home to just after I have had a lovely holiday in Sydney with my daughter and my beautiful grandchildren. Happy 1st birthday Ben and thank you for taking your first steps while Grandma was there to see.

Heidi's Stars - $120

I was asked to make a 30th birthday cake only using the colours white, black and red. I cheated a wee bit and added a touch of silver and it all looks lovely. I made the '30' explode out of the cake by splitting the top of the cake and peeling it back. Also I put a cascade of different sized stars pouring down the side. It has turned out well and looks like a 'party in a cake', which is what the customer wanted.

Brayden's Farm - $130

Oh dear, now I am in a bit of a quandry. The no.1 Farm Cake had been my favourite up until now, but I think this one might have just nudged it out of first place. This cake was made for a little boy so the colours had to be changed a bit and I do like the clouds going around the top tier. The name is in cut-out letters dusted with holographic glitter which just makes it special. Love it!

Shea's Soccer - $130

It only seems fitting that with NZ being in the grip of World Cup fever that I should post a soccer cake. Well here it is and what a beauty. Of course I could make this cake in any other sporting code by just changing the style of ball. The scarf and the little character can also be altered to team colours of your choice. A very smart looking cake and I am very pleased with the result.

Pink Farm - $130

Finally! The farm cake. This would have to be one of my favourite cakes so far. I just love the little animals. The colours go beautifully together and I am so pleased with the final result - as was the customer. I already have an order for another farm cake, just from this photo. The next one I make is for a boy so I will have to change the colours a bit. I will be posting a picture of that one in a couple of weeks.

D & D's Dora the Explorer - $110

This is a Dora and Diego cake I made for two-year-old twins. The little birthday cake Dora and Diego are sitting around is also made out of cake so is completely edible (also a good place to place the candles). The whole thing looked a bit 'green' so I put a river running across one corner and down the sides. It turned out very effective. Then, of course, there were the stars all around the outside - no Dora-themed cake would be complete without them. The palm trees were the hardest thing about this cake. Trying to get those fronds to stay on top of the trunk - frustrating!