Lighthouse Cake for my Dad’s 80th Birthday

Lighthouse CakeMy dad turned 80 last week and we celebrated with family and friends in Durban on a beautiful spring day.  I had the privilege of making my dad’s birthday cake and I knew I wanted to include his passion for the beach and the sea in this cake. I started with a boardwalk sugar paste board and then added the first layer, a chocolate fudge cake, which I painted in shades of blue and white for the sea. The stamped images portray my dad’s passion for boats and everything nautical.

The second tier represents the sand on which my dad spent so many hours playing sandcastles with us his children and now his grandchildren. I chose a salted caramel flavoured cake for this tier. I had the waves gently kissing the 2nd tier and added wooden sugar paste posts to represent the many hours spent walking along the Umhlanga boardwalk. Finally the lighthouse nestled in the chocolate rocks was the most important as my dad has always been and will always be an inspirational beacon in all our lives and the lighthouse represents his guidance, help and protection in our lives. I asked my niece and nephew to add their creations to the cake and Tanith made a beautiful seagull and Roarke made a golden beach ball. A sugar paste life buoy, rope, sea shells and miniature beaded bubbles were the final inspiration for the most incredible dad! I was touched by how much my dad loved his cake and he became quite protective over it when it came time to cut and share his beautiful cake.

Lighthouse Cake

Lighthouse Cake

Happy 80th Birthday Dad! I love you!

 

Blue & Peach Cupcakes

Blue & Peach Cupcakes Blue & Peach Cupcakes1Jenny celebrated a family birthday lunch and ordered cupcakes from me as part of her decoration for the table.  She chose blue and peach as the colour scheme and then asked me to do a variety of cupcakes and include the ages of the guests celebrating their birthdays.  I loved doing these sugar paste blue and peach butterflies and used a mould for the funky leaves that I added for variety.

Blue & Peach CupcakesBlue & Peach Cupcakes

Wedding Cake for Elize & Alan

Peggy Porschen inspired Wedding Cake

When Elize and Alan first asked me to make their wedding cake I was really nervous as I had not before undertaken a 3 tier wedding cake let alone did I have the first clue about making sugar flowers for a wedding cake.  They knew they wanted a tiered wedding cake with a cascade of flowers, hearts and doves.  The initial pictures they showed me were a little old fashioned and not exciting enough for this brilliant couple so I suggested one of Peggy Porschen’s cakes from her Cakes In Bloom book.  Both Elize and Alan were excited about the cake I showed them and asked for a few colour and flower changes and the addition of doves and hearts as they were to be part of the theme of their beautifully planned wedding.  All that was left to me was to learn how to make sugar flowers which I did with the help of my wonderful friend and teacher Pat of Cakes by Pat and with the help of the step by step instructions in Peggy’s book.

The pictures in the collages below show my packing on the day of the wedding with everything ready to take to the venue to set up this floral cake.

Peggy Porschen inspired Wedding Cake

I was so delighted with how this cake finally came together after many hours of patient flower making and I had such a sense of pride in creating my first wedding cake of this size and with these detailed flowers.  Elize and Alan were so delighted with their cake and I will include a blog with photos of them cutting their cake taken by their awesome wedding photographer. Everyone commented on how real the flowers looked and how delicious the cake tasted and this was the best compliment to me.  I am so grateful to Elize and Alan for trusting me with their cake and I am so privileged to know such a loving and beautiful couple and to have had the chance to create something beautiful to add to their special day.
Peggy Porschen inspired Wedding Cake

Peggy Porschen inspired Wedding Cake

Hippie Figurine

Yolanda of Crave Cakes asked me to do a Hippie Figurine for a 21st birthday cake.  A friend of her daughter was celebrating her 21st with one of Yolanda’s cakes and knowing her well Yolanda sent me the brief and photos of a beautiful blonde young woman with a gorgeous hippie style. I created this mini sugar figurine in blue stitched denim dungarees to show off long slim legs and a cute printed bandana top as well as a hand painted bandana to hold back her blonde sugar tresses.

Hippie Figurine

Cupcakes2Delite goes Hippie!

Beautiful expressive blue eyes, a soft gentle mouth and long lashes finished off this figurine perfectly and I was delighted to see that Yolanda placed her on a gorgeous hippie car cake to complement her style!

Hippie Figurine

Just Chillin on my 21st!

Ninja Turtle Cake and Cupcakes

Ninja Turtle Cake & CupcakesZanele always has the best praise for any orders I make for her and I love that she called me a genius after making this Ninja Turtle Cake for her son Theo.  The genius part may have loads to do with the inspiration I got from the photos she sent me and from the fact that her 6 year old son is a Ninja Turtle fan and was bound to be excited about the 4 little masked ninja turtles popping out on top of his birthday cake. The children were delighted with the Ninja Turtle Cake and Cupcakes and the adults enjoyed their flower topped cupcakes. Thanks again Zanele for trusting me with another birthday order for your celebrations.

Ninja Turtle Cupcakes

Minion Cupcakes

Minion Cupcakes5 Minion Cupcakes in Party HatsThese Minion Cupcakes are just too cute not to blog about.  Their bright yellow sugar faces, naughty smiles and googly eyes just makes them so loved for party themes at the moment.  Welile asked me to add purple party hats to the minion face cupcakes above to get them completely party ready!

The next order just a few days later was for a birthday celebration for a guy, a surprise from his girlfriend Refilwe, so I sugar dressed these cupcakes in the traditional blue minion dungarees. Refilwe said to me she had never seen her boyfriend so excited as when she gave him his cupcakes!

Minion Cupcakes in DungareesMinion Cupcakes in DungareesMinion Cupcakes in Dungarees