Designs for '08
Some notes from Zilly

"We began the year with a wedding show at the Holiday Inn in Amherst.  I designed this square fondant cake in robin's egg blue with a gumpaste applique in a damask pattern that gradates from a light pearl pink to a deep red.  The flower topper is made entirely from gumpaste.  It also transitions from deep red in the center to a pearl pink at the outer petals.  It is a creative combination of a lotus flower and a chrysanthemum.  This cake was designed in Photoshop first and can be created in any combination of colors; see my page on digital designs to understand how that process works.  If you don't live in Buffalo, my appliques can be created  in my studio and mailed to your baker for your wedding cake!"
 


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"Collaborating is always fun!  Kevin Gardner and I worked together on this design.  It  has hombre striping around each tier that gradates from ivory at the top through a range of pinks & corals, all the way to a rich chocolate burgundy at the bottom.  We don't use an airbrush!  The colors are mixed by hand and applied painstakingly with a piping bag and a spatula.  We can work with any combination of colors to create an original palette that fits your event and venue."






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"I added something new to Melissa's ruffle design cake.  Elevated on a four-inch styrofoam base, the cake appears to float on hydrangea blossoms.  This cake is pretty with the violet flowers complementing the ivory  buttercream, but you could use green or pink hydrangeas as well.  Other flower with ruffles, such as carnations, would work, too.  When I work with fresh flowers on a cake, I use flower inserts filled with water to keep them fresh.  Your florist can supply flowers for me, or I can provide them for an extra charge."



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"Lily's Bat Mitzvah cake was a special treat to design.  A dancer herself, with two artists for parents...I knew she'd need a special cake! She wanted something stacked, but her mom didn't want it to be too bridal.  After asking  her about her plans for the entire party, I decided to use the "Hamish Hand" she had adopted as a symbol.  She gave necklaces and ties that bore this symbol as gifts to her younger guests.  Making hand-cut cookies that echoed this symbol seemed like a playful way to dress up Lily's cake without using a lot of colored buttercream.  The large cookies on top are gilded in gold!"


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"Many of my clients like the graphic look of fondant and gumpaste designs, but they do not want an entire cake covered in fondant.  Depending on the design, I am often able to offer a "hybrid" option: a buttercream cake with gumpaste design elements.  On Janelle's cake pictured here, the black dots and ribbons are made of gumpaste, and completely edible.  The rest of the cake is Italian Meringue buttercream.  For the record, we do make our own fondant by scratch, so if you think you don't like fondant, you might find you like ours!"




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"Mini cakes are a great choice for those having a small, intimate wedding.  Fifty of these little beauties were topped with two handmade gumpaste flowers each.  I packed them in small, clear boxes tied with satin ribbons.  The little cakes decorated the reception tables and were favors for each guest to take home with them.  A larger cake in the same design was on display for the reception.  The bride and groom cut the larger cake and it was served for dessert."


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Retirement Cakes

 "When Fritz retired from Praxair, they wanted a special cake that represented his interests, but looked like a drawing that an engineer like him might submit.  Oh how I do love a challenge!  These symbols are all hand cut appliques in gumpaste on a fondant panel."





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"A rather long quote, a regular light bulb, and a CFV light bulb needed to adorn the retirement cake of a prominent Buffalo environmentalist.  I used a fondant panel with layered gumpaste appliques, finished with details in royal icing.  Voila!  Light bulbs complete with their inner wiry thingies.  (Just because I can draw it doesn't mean I know what it is called or how it works!)"









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Kid's Birthday Cakes

"A Sponge Bob themed cake, hand-painted and then appliqued with flowers.  I finished it off with a fondant-covered pineapple house made from rice krispy treats!  They supplied the plastic bendy Sponge Bob, but I sculpted Gary out of gumpaste.  Meow."



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"A shark cake for Bryce!  The fondant background is marbled to look like the sea, and the rest is gumpaste applique.  When he saw it, the 3 year old birthday boy put his finger near the sharks mouth and then pulled it back fast and said "OW."  Yep, it's that realistic!"




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"Basketball was all my son could think of when he turned three.  Here's a large basketball for William that served about 18,  and a smaller basketball to serve 10 that I made for his older sister Eliza.   My kids light their own birthday candles, but then again, their Dad is a specialist in combustion!"


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Specialty Cut-Out Cookies


"Our cut-out cookie display changes every two to three weeks, so stop in regularly to see the design du-jour.  I think of them as little works of art, and I try to design the whole tray so that it harmonizes together.  These began as flowers, but they seemed to have morphed into nebulizing energy fields.  I'm pretty sure I made them on Pi day (3-14).  I'm a push-over for nerdy math stuff!"








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"Love Bugs!  Fun, zippy colors for these fun, zippy little cars.  Julian helped me pipe them, and he added the racing stripes.  An inspired choice, I think.  Have any ideas of your own?  Commission some custom cookies as favors for your next party.  You can choose a cutter from our very large selection (yes, it's true, I can't pass up a cookie cutter), or let us design something for you.  We can hand-cut cookies in any shape you can dream up!"