hotdog cake

what you'll need:

novelty cakes - hotdog cake

◦one loaf cake for the bun - choose a lighter color, firm style of cake for carving shapes like this

◦one 6" round or square layer of pound cake for the fries

◦yellow, brown, ivory and red paste food colors

◦buttercream frosting

◦light corn syrup for the ketchup

◦aluminum foil

◦cake plate or board

here's how to do it...

novelty cakes - hotdog cake

1. Bake your loaf cake and one layer of pound cake in either a round or square pan, whatever you have. Only fill to about 1/4 full for the layer - this will be used to make the fries.

2. Use a serrated knife to carve a little off each corner, rounding as you go. Cut a channel down the middle of the cake so the frank, weiner, whatever you call it has a place to live later on. Save the piece you cut out - this will make the frank for your hotdog.

3. Crumb coat the 'bun' and 'weiner' cakes and refrigerate for an hour or so.

4. Cut the single layer of pound cake you baked previously into 6" long french fries and place on a baking tray, under a hot broiler for about 1-2 minutes, until golden brown. Watch them closely - they go from golden brown to burnt pretty quickly if you're not careful. Turn and repeat on remaining three sides.

5. Frost the 'bun' in medium-light brown buttercream. You can achieve this color using yellow and brown paste food colors.

6. Mix a darker brown by adding cocoa powderto the buttercream. Frost the 'weiner' all over.

7. Crumple a large sheet of foil and stick to a cake board or plate with frosting so it doesn't move around. Place the hotdog bun to one side of the plate and stick down with frosting. Add the 'weiner' and patch any areas of frrosting that need it. There will be some - trust me!

8. Make some relish by cutting green gummy type candies into small dice and rolling in granulated sugar - this stops them sticking to each other. Make onion rings by cutting thin strips from white gummy candies and rolling in granulated sugar. Add the onions and relish to your hotdog. Mix a small amount of buttercream for the sesame seeds by using either yellow or ivory paste food color (ivory is better, if you have it). Pipe the sesame seeds onto the bun with a #4 tip.

9. Make some ketchup by mixing light corn syrup and red paste food color. Stack the fries, sticking them down as you go with small dabs of frosting to secure. Drizzle ketchup over the weiner and fries. Make some mustard by mixing buttercream with a little yellow and a just a tiny drop of brown paste food color. Use a #4 tip to pipe a line ketchup on top of the hotdog.

birthday cake pictures - pizza cake

what you'll need:

birthday cake pictures - pizza cake

• one 10" round yellow cake layer, for the pizza base
• brown and red paste food colors
• buttercream frosting
• about 2 ounces of white chocolate, for the grated cheese
• chocolate & coconut candies, for the sausage
• green jelly jube type candies, for the peppers
• red jelly jube type candies, for the pepperoni
• thick, string type black licorice, for the olives
• take-out pizza box and paper liner, for authenticity

here's how to do it...

birthday cake pictures - pizza cake

1. Bake the 10" round cake for the pizza base by dividing the cake batter evenly into two pans. You'll only need one layer per pizza cake, so you can either make two pizza cakes or freeze the spare layer for another project.

Mix some buttercream with red and just the tiniest amount of brown paste food color to get a darkish red that's the perfect 'sauce' color and frost the top of the cake, leaving a 1" ring of unfrosted cake all around. Don't make it too perfect - you want this to look like real pizza. And don't worry that the 'sauce' doesn't look very saucy yet - it will, I promise. I have a trick up my sleeve!

2. Using a fine grater or microplane, grate the white chocolate over the top of the pizza. This will be your cheese base

.

3. Place the cake under a hot broiler for about 2 minutes. Don't leave it under the broiler for too long - you just want to melt the frosting and white chocolate 'cheese' a little to look more realistic.

4. Place a paper liner in the pizza box, secure with a dab of frosting to stop it sliding around and then secure the pizza to the paper in the same way. Starting to look like a real pizza huh?

Now look at that! Your sauce has a glossy sheen, like real pizza sauce and the cheese is slightly melted into the sauce. If you just wanted to make a 'cheese pizza' cake, you could stop right here.

5. Time to have some fun with toppings. For the sausage, cut different sized pieces from the chocolate/coconut candies and sprinkle them on. For the green peppers, cut small 1" x 1/8" pieces from the green jelly jube candies and sprinkle them on randomly. Roll out the red jelly jube candies until you can almost see through them and use a 1" to 1 1/2" inch round cookie cutter to make the pepperoni slices. Sprinkle those on too. To make the olive slices, cut slices off a rope of black licorice and use the tip of a #12 round cake decorating tip to cut a small circle from the center of the 'olive'. Place the olive slices where you think they look the best.

Sportacus kids birthday cake

what you'll need

The size, cake flavors and fillings shown below for the Sportacus kids birthday cake are just suggestions. You can make any adjustments you need to fit the number of people you'll be serving. All the step-by-step instructions will work for any size cake.

• one filled 9" or 10" round cake - this one's Lemon Ginger Pound Cake, filled with Gingernut Crunch Filling
• buttercream frosting
• Sky Blue powdered food color or gel paste food color
• Black Candy Writer
• white candy melts
• Red powdered food color or Candy Color
• Copper (Fleshtone) gel paste food color
• Small offset spatula
• several decorating bags, each fitted with a #10 round tip, or similar
• cake board or plate

here's how to do it...

Ok, ready? I'll walk you through it and in no time you'll be admiring your completed Lazytown kids birthday cake.

1. Bake your cakes using your favorite recipe. Tort and fill the cake.

Trim the cake, as shown, to approximate Sportacus' face shape.

2. Cut a trimmed section, as shown. We'll use the larger trimmed piece to make the cap.

3. Attach the cap piece by buttering with buttercream and gently pushing into position, as shown.

Use another piece of the trimmed sections to extend the chin a little and attach with buttercream, as shown.

Crumb coat the cake, filling in any gaps where the pieces join and refrigerate for at least an hour, preferably overnight, until the crumb coat and filling are very firm.

4. Tint about 1-2 cups of buttercream flesh tone (with the copper food color) and top coat the face area.

5. Tint about 3/4 cup of buttercream blue and top coat the cap area.

Add two vertical stripes to the cap with un-tinted buttercream.

Pipe two rounded triangle shapes for the eyes.

6. Use the chocolate piping technique to create the eyebrows, pupils, mustache sections and a mouth.

7. Pipe a nose in the center of the cake, using a decorating bag with a coupler, but no tip attached. Start with a vertical sausage shape and add a marble sized bead of buttercream on either side. Go back and add more height to the tip of the nose with a marble sized bead of buttercream on the lower end of the sausage shape. Smooth the nose with your small offset spatula or the back of a teaspoon. Dip the spatula/spoon inyo very hot water after each smoothing stroke and wipe clean.

Place the pupils and eyebrows in place and top each pupil with a small bead of un-tinted buttercream. This gives the eyes a direction.

8. Place the mouth about 2" under the nose and wiggle a little to secure in the buttercream.

Use a small serrated knife, held at a slight angle to the cake surface, to make two small cuts in the cake, just above the mouth. Gently push one section of the moustache into each cut to secure.

9. Tint about 1/3 cup of buttercream light blue and use a #10 tip to pipe two tapered, slightly flattened oval shapes on the cap, directly over the eyes, for the goggles. Pipe a line from the edge of each goggle lens to the side of the cake to finish.

hamburger cake

what you'll need:

novelty cakes - hamburger cake

◦one complete 10" round cake for the bun bottom

◦one 10" diameter bowl cake for the bun top & fries - choose a flavor that will give you a lighter color for the fries

◦one 10" layer of chocolate cake for the burger patty

◦yellow, brown, green, red and ivory, paste food colors

◦cocoa powder

◦#366 tip

◦#4 tip

◦buttercream frosting

◦light corn syrup for the ketchup

◦about 2 cups of chocolate chips, crumbled in a food processor

◦red candy melts or white candy melts and red candy color

◦cake plate or board

here's how to do it...

novelty cakes - hamburger cake

1. Bake your cakes using your favorite recipe. Tort and fill the 10" round cake and cut a 1" layer off the widest end of the bowl cake - save this to use later to make the french fries. Crumb coat all three cakes. Refrigerate for at least an hour, preferably overnight.

2. Mix some buttercream with yellow and a tiny amount of brown paste food color to get a medium brown that's the perfect 'bun' color and frost the 10" round cake and the bowl cake all over.

Mix cocoa powder and buttercream to get the perfect 'patty brown' and frost the 10" layer all over. Press the crumbled chocolate all around the top and sides of the patty and stack on top of the bun bottom.

Place the bun on a cake plate or board and stick down with buttercream frosting. For an extra presentation edge, try using a sheet of chequered paper from a pizza box under the cake.

3. Draw or print a template for the tomato slices and use the one color chocolate method to complete.

4. With a large leaf tip (#366) and green buttercream, pipe lettuce around the perimeter of the patty using a continous 'up,around and down' motion. Make ketchup by mixing light corn syrup with red paste food color and spoon over the lettuce.

Spoon a large dollop of buttercream in the center of the patty to hold the edges of the tomato slices up to same level as the lettuce and ketchup, so they don't break. Place the tomato slices so that they extend past the edge of the patty a little - you want to be able to see them once you've added the bun top.

Make mustard using buttercream with yellow and a very tiny amount of brown paste food color. Pipe a line of mustard around the perimeter of the burger, on top of the tomato slices.

5. Cut 8" long french fries from the piece you removed earlier from the bowl cake and place on a baking tray, under a hot broiler for about 1-2 minutes, until golden brown. Watch them closely - they go from golden brown to burnt pretty quickly if you're not careful. Turn and repeat on remaining three sides.

6. Stack the bowl cake on top of the hamburger patty to form the bun top.

7. Mix a small amount of buttercream for the sesame seeds by using either yellow or ivory paste food color (ivory is better, if you have it). Pipe the sesame seeds onto the bun with a #4 tip. Stack the fries next to the burger, sticking them down as you go with small dabs of frosting to secure. Drizzle ketchup over the fries.

Your Hamburger Cake is done! Now go get a well deserved cup of coffee and sit back for a few minutes to admire your handiwork. Remember to take a picture while your masterpiece still looks perfect.