Cakes: Birthday & Baby

This first cake is one I made for Zoë's piano teacher and a friend of mine. She's an amazing woman, and is a pseudo-grandmother to my children. The cake is a white cake with an orange custard topped with chocolate fondant.

I have to add that Miranda and Megan helped me bake the cake. As I was decorating the piano portion and showed it to Miranda, she exclaimed (because she doesn't know any other way), "You need a piano seat!" So I took a scrap I'd cut off from the double 9" rounds to form the piano shape and made that into the "bench". It isn't the most professional-looking job, but I was a little pressured on time that day.

I brought it to book group to share with Kathleen and with all our friends. Isn't she a trouper to show up to book group on her birthday?!




This next cake is one I made as a trial for a cake I'm making for a friend's baby shower. The final cake will be MUCH larger. I just microwaved the cake in a little dish (about 4 in diameter, and it's about 6 inches high) and then covered it with buttercream frosting. The final cake will be a double layer of 10X14, so quite a bit larger.

I piped a basket weave around the cake and made a rope around the base and top edges. I'm not happy with the "rope" and I think I'll use a different tip when I do the final cake. I then made the face, 'hood' and the quilt from fondant-gumpaste mix. The hood is still drying (I attached it for the pic), or I might've considered piping a basket weave on the hood, but I think I like it without the extra buttercream on it.







I'll also need to figure out how to get my quilt squares to stay together. I'm might have to do two layers for the blanket. I hope not, tho'. Maybe I should use gumpaste glue?

I was also wondering how I would adapt this for a boy. I couldn't put a bow in the hair, and the lips are far too feminine (not that boys don't have lips like that, but stereotypes certainly don't lend well to that). I might not even try to make a bassinet for a boys' shower cake. I might just try a theme on "snails and puppydog tails"... wouldn't a dog's wagging tail in a pile of dirt be apropos? crushed oreo cookies, dog tail, some snails, all on a green "grass" cake? I'm still working on the idea...