This cake was for a little boy who loves dinosaurs. I went for something of a stegosaurus / brachiosaurus blend, creating a basic shape that was stable and easy to decorate, with spiky armour for added interest and coloured spots for general silliness.
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Another Piñata
A large pile of candy, on top of a yummy cake, under a dome of decorated chocolate, surrounded by a hoard of ravening first graders.
It didn’t last five minutes!
Ben Ten’s Omnitrix
This interpretation of Ben Ten’s Omnitrix was a round cake on top of a square one cut to shape and iced in light and dark grey buttercream. The cut-out sections were covered in white buttercream and stuck back on top for the diagonals. I used grey and green fondant for the pattern on the watch face and the buttons round its edge; the strap was a thin layer of black fondant placed directly onto the cake board.
Presented on top of a Ben Ten tablecloth, this cake made a wonderful centrepiece for a Ben Ten themed party.
Cake Pops
My first cake pops, made with the aid of two sixth grade neighbours. We baked a vanilla sponge and broke it into fine crumbs which we then blended onto the bright pink buttercream we’d made earlier. Using our hands, we moulded the mixture into mini-cupcake-shapes and let them chill in the freezer. While they were cooling, we melted some white and dark chocolate and prepared small bowls of various decorations like coloured sprinkles and mini M&Ms. The base of the cakes were then dunked into molten dark chocolate and the stick inserted. After another stint in the freezer to let the chocolate set around the stick, the tops were swirled in white chocolate and carefully decorated, then stood in a foam block to cool.
The final steps were to decorate another foam block with bright pink tissue paper, tie a birthday ribbon round it and arrange a selection of the cake pops – a perfect home-made gift!
Shark Attack!
A sinister fin – triangular cake covered in textured grey fondant – silently warns of the shark’s presence below. The sea is a simple victoria sandwich, with choppy waves of blue-green buttercream topped with flecks of white buttercream “foam”.
(Actually, we are far more of a threat to sharks than they are to us; many shark species are seriously endangered due to human activity such as commercial fishing and habitat degradation.)
The TARDIS
With a house-full of Doctor Who fans from out of town, this made the perfect cake for an impromptu birthday party. I sandwiched multiple squares of cake with blue buttercream until it reached the right height and carved the top to shape, covering the whole thing in blue buttercream to form the basis of our TARDIS. 
The Police Box sign was made as a runout, in white royal icing with blue writing, and attached that to the front door after the windows and other details had been piped in place.
It was the birthday boy’s inspired idea to stand her on a base of plain and chocolate popped rice breakfast cereal!
(If you want to find out more about Doctor Who and the TARDIS, here is the official BBC website and some useful info on Wikipedia.)
Recipe for a Perfect Afternoon
A couple dozen cupcakes, lots of coloured buttercream, candies for decoration, and boundless enthusiasm!
Simple Christmas Cake
A “secret” family recipe, baked in Gareth’s grandmother’s cake tin and left to mature for a few weeks prior to decoration (liberally doused with cognac every few days), this traditional Christmas cake was first wrapped in homemade marzipan then covered with thick royal icing. The tree was a runout made from coloured royal icing and decorated with tiny stars and piped-on tinsel, topped with a marzipan star.
Delicious!
Air Otto
An aeroplane carved from sponge cake and covered in chocolate buttercream. Decoration, text and vapour trail were piped on in coloured royal icing.