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I don't update here very often anymore, so to see all my recent cakes, read my booking calendar, and to contact me please visit...

http://cakesbymaddi.wix.com/cakeskingston

Fall Basket Cake - 50th Birthday

This week I made a Fall Basket Cake for a 50th birthday. Everything on the cake is hand made. The decorations are all hand sculpted out of fondant and then painted with an edible food dye.

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http://cakesbymaddi.wix.com/cakeskingston

The best Angry Birds game ever...on a cake

Angry Birds Cake- Top View

This weekend I completed an Angry Birds cake, (I've never even played the game...), and I quoted it for high detailing, and that's exactly what I did. I think this is the MOST detailed character cake I've ever done, but I had fun creating my own game scenario. I didn't snap a photo of them, but also included with this cake were 6 pig cupcakes, that were green batter, with the pigs faces detailed on top.
The inside of this cake was strawberry shortcake, shortcake batter, with real strawberries in a sauce in between each layer of the top and bottom tiers.

In my opinion the photo's don't do it justice, but you can mostly tell that several of the birds sitting in the middle are 3D, they are fully buttercream, the clouds are mostly all 3D, the eggs and slingshot on top are gumpaste decorations, and the crown on the King Pig is made of fondant.

 For those who HAVE played Angry Birds, you will note that every pig and every bird is included in the game an all are flying in all directions, feathers, explosions... it's all there, for those who haven't take me on my word that there's a lot of specific detail on this game directly from the game. Have a look! Comment if you like it ;)

3D explosion clouds

Fondant crown on King Pig, 3D buttercream red & green birds

View my new webpage!

Check out my new site! It's still partly under construction so check back often to see my latest updates.

 

http://cakesbymaddi.wix.com/cakeskingston

Find me on Facebook!

Hey everyone! I'm on Facebook too so feel free to find me, like me, and I'd love to hear your comments!

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Newest Cake Design- Fall & Wedding Flower Theme

Quote sketch for anniversary cake- Fall & Wedding Flower Theme

This is my latest cake design, still awaiting order confirmation on it as this is just the quote drawing, but I really liked how it turned out so I thought I'd share it. It's a 10" square warm brown base, with an 8" moss green square top, with gumpaste calla lillies and fall leaves of various sizes . The branches are chocolate, and the cupcakes surrounding the bottom are Gerber daisies (undecided gumpaste, fondant, or buttercream). Hopefully now I get to make it!

Turbo Power Rangers

Wow what a weekend! 3 cakes in a row whew! But alas we made it through...
Here is the last cake from little my cake marathon, I had a request for the red Power Ranger from the Turbo Power Rangers  series, so I looked him up a little bit and couldn't decide on the design I wanted to go with, so figured I'd wing it on the day. It was as I was leveling the cakes and happened to stack them on top of each other in a way they looked rounded, that I was struck by inspiration and decided to sculpt the Power Ranger's helmet. So I went with it, mixed up all my colors, and then later that day sent it off to the party! Talk about last minute creativity!
Here's how it turned out...

Red Power Ranger Cake

Power Rangers Helmet Side

Damask 80th Birthday Cake

Damask 80th Birthday Cake

I love damask, and I have not yet had the opportunity to put it on a cake. This weekend is our family reunion and my aunt's 80th birthday, so for her I have designed a very elegant 2 tier square cake, with a lemon cake base and lemon curd filling.

It will be donned with damask and quilting, and accented with edible pearls and fondant roses. The accent colors are pink and lavender, with a white base and black damask piping and borders. I am also adding chocolate filigree to the bottom tier sides, and placing a matching style of filigree on the top of the cake.

Damask 80th Birthday Cake- Top

Damask 80th Birthday Cake- Front

Fondant Roses and Chocolate Filigree

It's Strawberry Shortcake!

A basket of strawberry shortcake...

This week I am creating a Strawberry Shortcake character cake, for Abby who is turning a big 7! I gave her several Strawberry Girl options, and this is the one she liked best. I am making a 9x13 cake, double layered, with pink marbled vanilla cake and buttercream filling.
The sides of the cake are going to be chocolate buttercream basketweave and decorated with strawberry blossoms and sitting in a bed of grass. On top of the cake, in each of the corners, I am going to have miniature strawberry bushes decorated with blossoms and fondant strawberries, and then in the middle of the will be Strawberry herself and Happy 7th Birthday Abby.


Here's how she turned out!

Strawberry Shortcake 7th Birthday Cake

Strawberry Shortcake Birthday Cake Side Basketweave

You'll Never Walk Alone: Liverpool FC

Liverpool Football Club Logo

Yay more soccer fans!

This weekend I made a Liverpool Soccer (Football) Fan Cake for a joint father-daughter birthday party (love it!). They are both mega fans of Liverpool FC so I made them a surprise birthday cake and incorporated as much LFC fan stuff as I could fit onto it.
I chose to make a stadium cake, I had never done one before and really wanted to so I gave it a whirl and it turned out great. It had a 9x13 2 layer base, with 2 more layers carved and stacked for the stadium bleachers. I left one long side open so that the center of the field could easily be seen.
On the center field, I hand piped the LFC logo, and wrote Happy Brithday (centre) Neil (left) Tegan (right) in the green banner at the bottom. I built miniature soccer nets as well as a red and white soccer ball to also go on the field.
For the audience, I individually hand piped [way to many] dots using the LFC fan colors, and made miniature flags and banners out of fondant to place amongst the crowd.
On the very back of the cake I wrote "This Is Anfield" the sign that people entering the stadium go under at the entrance, and threw on some LFC fan facts on the stadium upper walls.

Front- Liverpool FC Soccer Fan Cake

Back- Liverpool Soccer Fan Cake

Field- Liverpool Football Club Soccer Fan Cake

My Little Pony

This week I am doing a birthday cake for a little girl who is turning 5, and loves My Little Pony- in particular "Fluttershy". 

 So for her I have designed a 2 tier cake (carrot cake- great choice for pony lovers) that is going to have an 8" round bottom and a 6" round top. The base tier will be a soft cream yellow, with small butterflies and carrots piped on, and the top tier will be pink with quilted lines and edible pearls! Of course topped off with a pretty fondant bow...Oooh La La!

Top of the cake- Hand-piped pony

On the very top of the cake I am going to hand pipe an image of Fluttershy which I have hand-drawn out to be holding a flag with a birthday banner on it.

Front of cake- Bow replaces where Fluttershy is

Here's what I have for her so far...

...the bow is going to be sitting on the shelf of the bottom tier and trailing down the cake.

My Fondant Bow (Lavender)

My Little Princess!

My little sweetie girl is having her big first birthday party coming up, I have decided to make her a princess castle cake along with a tray of assorted girly girl cookies, and gourmet cupcakes for the adults who aren't as into tonnes of icing (a recommended option to have at parties). The body of the cake will be 3 layers high, with carved out pillars and iced ice cream cones for turrets, and an additional 3 cake layers up the center of the castle. I am trying my hand at something brand new for this cake (as it is my own and I love to experiment) and I am going to pipe out chocolate garnishes and decorations and use them as detail for my cake. So we shall see how it works out!

So far for the cookies we have circles, hearts, and flowers. The nice thing about doing cookies and a cake is that I can use my leftover royal icing to make intricate transfers that I will put on the cake to give it a nice feminine lacy look. But piped chocolate has a similar affect, so I'll feel out my design as I go.

Well our party went very well, the cake and cupcakes were a hit! Boy did the cake ever use a lot of buttercream! I used a basket weave for the brickwork around the castle walls and the weight piles on quickly. I ended up with a slightly simpler design than my original plan (VERY busy trying do work on the rest of the party as well as my cake) but I have decided that I LOVE chocolate garnishes! So elegant and pretty to look at, and I found very easy to work with and temper. I was very pleased with my first attempt at it (and did it ever save me time on my cake...instant stick on's and voila! an elegant cake with 1/2 the effort of detailed piped buttercream).

I had lots of extra chocolate, so I made some fancy garnishes for my cupcakes (double chocolate...mmmm very popular) and they instantly added spark to my table, definitely something I will be adding to my repetoire! I can see them being excellent for fancy christmas and new years parties or like my event an addition to a birthday cake for those who don't enjoy icing as much but want a sweet little something. 

Mina loved her Girly Girl Sugar Cookies, (so did her brother), flowers hearts, and circles, kept it simple...

The Free (or discounted) Cake Dilema

This was written by another cake decorator, and it really is very true. Especially when just starting out, there is so much cost behind equipment & tool purchase, while trying very hard to establish a client base (which does mean throwing deals here and there).
Here is the link to her site and original blog:
http://www.motherofcakes.net/2012/01/03/free-cakes/

Free Cakes

by Mother of Cakes

By the end of this post someone will have just finished working 12 hours and 20 minutes working on a cake for a birthday, baby shower or wedding. They will have skipped sleep, missed a day with their family and spent a good penny on ingredients. Pushing themselves as they juggle between sleep and sanity. All for a free cake! Yes you heard it here. FREE CAKE!

How is this cake free you ask? I’m sure you want to grab one of these for your next event. You too can have a cake “as seen on tv” for free!

Let me explain something to you. When cake artists are at work. They usually put in about 300% more work than most people. Like many artists they are in this for the passion and love. Like they say “love don’t pay the bills”.

Well the reality is, the bills have to get paid. No matter how appealing a free cake sounds and you would love to get a great deal. Its like stealing! Yes you are robbing someone, who has worked incredibly hard to make you edible art that will adorn your function. Feel guilty yet? If the answer is “NO” then my time is wasted on you. I suggest you go to your local grocery store to get your next dream cake. If you have little respect for the artists then this cake is not for you.

So perhaps stealing is too strong a word. But borrowing implies you’ll be giving it back. I’m not sure rent-a-cake is going to catch on. Or whether anyone would want their “borrowed” cake back after you’ve had a slice.

Wondering why I am against the free cake idea. Well lets say many of us in the industry have been asked for discounts that are often insulting and sometimes a little crazy. Its understandable that we all have reasons to save money and love a good deal. But this is not the place for a bargain. Cake decorators don’t exactly make a lot on cakes. Well you have a few who do. But thats only the ones you usually see on television with brands that represent them. The majority are not on television and are equally talented. They do not demand remarkable prices. Many undervalue the costs of their cakes. So when someone requests a 3 tier cake with all the trimmings and sparkle for under a $100. Well its just unfair.

So lets make a resolution starting this year. Lets forget about the “free cakes” and start appreciating the workmanship and time these artists invest in your cake.

Go England!

In air of the Euro 2012 Cup (Soccer/Football Euro Championships... just so you know), my soccer nut brother is getting a simple theme cake of his favorite team, England's Newcastle United.

It is a double layer chocolate-vanilla marble cake with chocolate (black) and vanilla buttercream icing.

...And here's what we got:

Happy Birthday Austin!

Love Sissy!

Lilly's 3rd Birthday

In 2 days I have a cake due for a little girl's 3rd birthday. She lives on a strawberry farm, and loves strawberries I'm told, so I have designed for her a 2 1/2 level cake strawberry fantasy garden. The base will be a 9x13'' cake split and filled, with the top 2 levels being 1 9x3'' round cake cut vertically off center and placed upon itself. It will be mostly a BC frosted cake, with buttercream flowers and details with a few fondant decorations mixed in, and then some sugar cookie cake toppers to finish it off.


Here's how we turned out!

Lilly's 3rd Birthday- Strawberry Fantasy Garden Cake

Fondant strawberry decorations and royal icing butterflies

Happy 3rd Birthday Lilly! Hope You Like Your Cake!

Please visit Lilly's Farm at Fruition Berry Farms for a great day of family fun!

You can visit Fruition's site at:

http://www.fruition.ca/

Cristine's Wonky Cake

This week I was commissioned my first wonky cake for this weekend (albeit somewhat short notice, but it's for a family friend, so exceptions were made). It will be a buttercream cake with fondant decorations, as well as wire outbursts for some 3D effect.
Last night I finished my sketch, she wanted something really bright and funky, and this is where we ended up.

Sketch of Wonky Cake- CakesByMaddi

Tonight I start the fondant coloring, and tomorrow cutting it all up...

...1 hour to pick up and she's done!

Christine's "Peach Berserk" Wonky Cake

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CRISTINE!

Hello From Cakes By Maddi

Hello cake lovers,

I have recently decided to develop my home cake making business, and through my new site I will be displaying all of my cake and cookie creations that I have custom designed for people. I welcome you to browse through my pages and encourage you to come back often as, like I said, the site is new and I am still progressing with it. To view my creations go to the gallery page at the top and scroll through my works.

I must admit I am new to this whole blogging thing, I have been in the stone age for several years and finally I am starting to catch up with the latest and greatest of tech and web stuff...now just to get one of them new-fangled digital cameras (not kidding...).

A little bit about me is that I am a stay-at-home mom, and I am married to my wonderful husband Mike. We have 2 wonderful little rug rats, one boy, one girl, and one more on the way (yup it's busy) and between me and them I'm not sure who enjoys my tasty hobby more! LOL. I am based out of Gananoque, ON and am open for local orders (pick up only), and I can be directly contacted through:

cakebymaddi@gmail.com

So thanks for reading, come back often and check out my latest creations, and feel free to comment, ask questions, and if you are looking to order from me, just know that the sky is the limit when it comes to ideas and working within all price ranges!