Taking the Cakes

James has been after me for a while to post the cakes that I have made for my kid's birthdays.  I like being creative and making cakes that look really awesome.  Some have been more awesome than others, but all have been a challenge.  The kids get to choose their cake theme and I get to design and make the cake. 

It all started with this one: 



Anyone who knows Seth understands why I chose a lion for his first birthday cake.  He still sleeps with his stuffed lion every night and poor Lion is looking quite sad now because he has been so well loved.  My sister Amy and I created this cake out of a twelve inch round, some cupcakes, marshmallows, doughnuts, candy and rolled fondant.

An obsession with all things motorized inspired Seth's second birthday cake: 



This was one of the cakes that didn't turn out quite as awesome as I envisioned it. I couldn't figure out how to make the landing gear, so I just left it off. Seth loved it however and that's all that really matters anyway isn't it? The cake was baked in a football shaped cake pan, the tail was an ice cream cone, the rotors were black licorice and the details were created with some rolled fondant. 

Seth turned three six months after Jacob was born and I'm not sure how I found the time or energy for this next cake.  I must have had someone watch the kids while I made it...  This was my first attempt at sculpting cake and it was a little nerve wracking, but it turned out great!



This is Rolley from the Bob the Builder shows.  My mom had gotten a great deal on all the party decorations and the Bob candle holder, I figured we needed a machine for Bob to ride on, just like he does in the show.  I used store bought pound cake, rolled fondant, some doughnuts and a couple of Ding-Dongs.  The road is also a Texas sheet cake, because I thought we wouldn't have enough cake for everyone to eat if I just served Rolley.

I let Seth choose the theme for Jacob's first birthday because, let's face it, a one year old doesn't really care much as long as they get to have cake all over their faces at the end of the day.  Hence our pirate island cake:



Now this cake is probably not the most visually impressive cake and I couldn't find a cheap pirate boat that was small enough to sit in the "water" of the cake, but each child that came to the party got their own individual Pirate Island cake with a treasure buried inside (a quarter that I washed thoroughly).



The other awesome thing about these cakes was the sand.  It was made from finely crushed vanilla sandwich cookies and it looked an felt just like real sand, but tasted a whole lot better!

Seth's fourth birthday was the year of the Thomas the Tank Engine cake!  This is probably one of the coolest cakes I've made to date.  I found this Thomas Cake Tutorial on the internet and it gave me all the inspiration and motivation I needed to tackle this project.



I can't believe how much older Seth looks now than he did then.  It's only been a year and a half.  Anyway, if you are interested in making this cake, just follow the link above for the tutorial and you too can make an awesome Thomas cake.

For Jacob's second birthday he asked for a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake.  This cake was fun to make, but there were so many different parts, it took a really long time! 



The base of the cake is just a 9x13 sheet cake.  All of the "clubhouse" pieces are made from shaped rice crispy treats which I then assembled and frosted.  This was a very precarious cake.  The black Mickey "head" piece keep trying to roll off and the ears kept drooping.  A night in the fridge firmed things up a bit and it lasted long enough for Jakes to blow out the candles and for all of us to eat it.

That same year, my niece Amelia turned one.  Jenni and I had a deal going where I make her kids birthday cakes and she takes pictures of my kids.  I don't know how that is going to work out this year since they moved to Nebraska.  Oh well, at least you got one cute cake out of me Jen!!  Here is Amelia's monkey cake:



I used the super cute monkey picture that Jenni put on the birthday invitations for the design.  I don't know where she got it, but kudos to whoever designed it.  It's one of the cutest monkeys I've ever seen.  And it looks great as a fondant covered cake too! 

As a testament to how much Seth changed between his 4th and 5th birthdays I present his Optimus Prime cake.



My baby goes from liking the sweet, innocent Thomas the Tank Engine to liking the gun blasting, axe wielding Optimus Prime.  This Optimus is from the Cartoon Network's, Transformers Animated series so it might not look like the Optimus you grew up with.

And finally, we have Jacob's third birthday cake.  Also a testament to how much my boys have grown.  Seth is in love with Batman and since Jacob loves whatever Seth loves, he asked for a Robin cake. 



This is the Lego Robin from the Batman Lego video game.  It's a sculpted cake covered in marshmallow fondant.  If you want to see a really cute picture of Jakes dressed up in his Robin costume with the cake, go to our family website and check it out. 

So those are my cakes so far.  Seth says he wants a Lego Batman cake for his next birthday, we'll see if he changes his mind by then or not...