Monday, January 30, 2012

Gumpaste Stiletto Heel

 Hey guys! I made this shoe yesterday to be a topper for a birthday cake that I am working on. I will post pics of the cake this week. The salt shaker is just to give you an idea of the size of the shoe. The heel is made with gumpaste. You can't tell from this pic, but the buckle has sparkly silver hologram glitter on it that has flecks of hot pink in it so it's really pretty in person! I apologize for the quality of this pic...I took it with my cell phone last night so I will take better pics of it with my dslr camera this week. I'm a big fan of spike heels and stilettos and I wear shoes like this one to work EVERY day. So when I wanted to make a gumpaste heel, I started looking for tutorials and all that I found were shoes that I wouldn't personally wear myself. Some of them didn't look like real shoes either..kinda flat and stubby. So I figured that I would just have to try making one of my own. In October of 2010, I made a little 6" shoe box cake and I wanted a sexy heel to be the topper for it. I knew that it had to be high and look like something that I would like to wear! This is the shoe that I came up with...
I wanted it to have more straps but I was still new to caking at the time and I had no idea how to bring my idea to life. That was the first and only high heel that I had made until yesterday. I had been researching stiletto gumpaste heels again and I found some sexy ones that I got excited about but I couldn't find any tutorials to go with them. So I just kept looking and I came across one that I loved! And guess what? There was a tutorial with it on how she made it! =) Her name is Roxanne and she is amazingly talented! She came up with a neat little contraption to form the sole of the heel after she cut it out. Very creative! And her shoes are so lifelike!! When I made my purple heel in 2010, I had cut out 2 soles but I have no idea what I used to form them (it was too long ago so I can't remember). =/  Luckily, I kept the 2nd sole, already formed and hardened so I just used that to drape my freshly cut out gumpaste sole on for the new shoe. I will show you guys Roxanne's awesome tutorial that I found! Well first, check out her Valentine inspired shoe that I got my inspiration from here. And here is her tutorial of another amazing shoe that she created! I love her version of the spike for the heel! Go check out her awesomeness! She's on facebook too! She is The Cake Engineer. When you guys visit her site, tell her that Cakes by Dusty sent you!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Congratulations Pebbles!


6"-8"-10"
This was my first time stenciling on a cake. I practiced on a dummy cake first and it came out perfectly. So I was excited about that, obviously! Then when I did it on the actual cake, it did not come out perfect and that was not a happy moment for me. =/ I think that my royal icing was a little too runny for the stencil but I didn't come to that realization until after I had stenciled on both of the tiers! Grrrrr! Next time I will make sure that my royal icing is thicker and hopefully that will give me better results! The top tier is strawberry cake, middle tier is chocolate and the bottom tier is white almond sour cream cake. I was excited to make those cute little baby girl shoes again. =)

Happy Birthday Jovanda & Crystal!


6"-8"
So when I got the order for this cake, I assumed that Jovanda & Crystal were twins! As it turns out, they are just friends (both turning 25) and this cake was a surprise for them ordered by their good friend, Lauren! What a sweet friend! =) Both tiers are white almond sour cream cake with buttercream filling.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Matthew's Happy Feet Cake

6"-8"-10"
This cake was boxed up and ready to go before it was brought to my attention that the main little "Happy Feet" penguin did not have his yellow bow tie on! You can't forget the bow tie! So I added it and I took a quick pic of it with my phone. I haven't uploaded the pic yet but I'll add it to this post as soon as I do! All three tiers are white almond sour cream cake with strawberry cream cheese filling.

Happy 35th Brenda!

4"-6"
I was given a photo of a cake to replicate so this isn't my own design. The original cake was flawless and beautiful but I have no idea who to give the credit to since I do not know who made it. Both tiers are white almond sour cream cake with strawberry cream cheese filling. =)

Kady's Rapunzel Cake

8"
It's always tough to photograph a cake that is incomplete without a topper. Thankfully, Kady's mom was nice enough to send a picture of the cake with the topper and candles. Yay! =) Chocolate cake with buttercream filling.  

Happy Birthday Courtney!

6"
Courtney's mom drew me a picture of the cake that she wanted, so I just brought her drawing to life. =) The cake is white almond sour cream cake with buttercream filling.

Ava's Princess Cake

 4"-6"
This cake is a pretty pink version of a cake that I had made for my sister, Charity. Only her cake was turquoise instead of the pink. You can never go wrong with pink in my opinion! =) Both tiers are strawberry cake with cream cheese filling.