Ice Cream Cone Cake Balls

Despite his face, these really were enjoyed by all!

I love cake balls and was looking for a cute way to decorate them, without having to be extremely talented... or patient. 
I was afraid the mini cones would be a nightmare to find, but they are conveniently located at my (and probably your) local Walmart.

Here's what you need:

1 pack Mini Ice Cream Cones

1 Cake Mix (any flavor)

1 Container of Frosting (i always use Cream Cheese flavor, but i hear any flavor will work)

1 package Candy Melts or Almond Bark (only use GEL food coloring if you plan to color your Almond Bark)

Any "Toppings" to decorate your "ice creams". I used sprinkles, melted milk choc chips, and mini M&M's.

Directions:
1. Bake the cake according to instructions on box. Allow to cool completely.
2. Crumble cake into large bowl. I don't like mashing food with my hands... So, I break the cake into the bowl in large chunks then use my hand mixer to pulverize the cake into crumbs.
3. Add an entire container of frosting to the cake crumbs and mix until combined. I also use the hand mixer for this, although some prefer using their hands.

4. Scoop 1" balls onto cookie sheet. A cookie scoop is VERY useful for this step. Roll balls to create a more uniform/smooth ball.

5. Place cookie sheet in freezer for an hour, or until firm.

6. Melt candy melts in microwave for 30 sec increments until completely melted. DO NOT OVER HEAT!

7. Remove from fridge and press a ball into a mini cone just enough for it to stay put.

8. Dip into candy melts making sure to dip the upper part of the cone. This will help "cement" the ball to the cone once the candy melts harden.

9. Add sprinkles, mini M&M's, or any other toppings before the candy melts harden, this will "cement" the toppings to the ball.

10. Store in fridge until candy melt coating is hard, then serve!

More Fondant Cakes

Rainbow Cake

I made this for a friend's daughter's birthday. I frosted it with butter cream, then cut out fondant hearts in every color of the rainbow and put them on in a diagonal pattern.  I just free-handed the letters using fondant. For the rainbow and number on top, I used gum paste. The inside was also a different color of the rainbow for each layer.  Unfortunately, they didn't take a picture after it was cut.

Paris Cake

I did this one for another friend's daughter.  For the Eiffel Tower, I printed an image I found online, cut it out, layed it on some gum paste and cut around it for the basic shape.  I then colored all the black markings with an edible marker.  The number and name plate are also gum paste. My friend Melanie created an adorable dessert table for the party...

Forget Me Not Cupcake Bouquet

For Mother's Day gifts, a friend and I made Forget Me Not cupcake bouquets to go with Dieter F. Uchtdorf's Forget Me Not book.We made them today, so they were early, but our moms loved them!  The cupcakes are frosted with green buttercream, and the flowers were made with a Wilton 103 petal tip. We put half of a 6 inch round styrofoam ball in the top of a 6 inch terra cotta pot and stuck the cupcakes in with toothpicks (two per cupcake).  The holes were filled in with tissue paper. I made a little card to stick in the top and tied a bow around the pot to finish.

Flow Icing Cookies

I made these cookies for a bridal shower.  This is my first attempt at the flow icing technique.  Basically, you make royal icing in two consistencies, using the thicker icing (it acts like a dam) to outline the cookies, then filling in the center with the thinner icing.  I also used the thicker icing to write on the cookies once the thinner icing had dried. I like how it dries hard so you can stack the cookies, and it looks nicer than regular frosting.  You can do all sorts of designs while the thin frosting is still wet.  I want to experiment more with this because it was pretty fun, and the possibilities are endless.  I got the icing recipe from this website: http://www.sweetsugarbelle.com/blog/2011/04/royal-icing-101-or-all-roads-lead-to-rome/
She has some really cute cookies!

2 cakes in 1 weekend

I made some cakes for a brother/sister birthday party this weekend.  It's A LOT of work to get two done by the same deadline!  I had to literally pull an all-nighter to get them finished in time.  Thank goodness for a mom who came and watched kids so I could sleep the next day!

 The boy wanted a lego stormtrooper.  It turned out to be as big as a small child becuase they had a lot of people coming to the party. I made chocolate cake with caramel buttercream.  The head is formed from rice krispie treats.

Here's the Hello Kitty cake I made for the little girl.  I formed the kitty with a mixture of fondant and gum paste.  Fondant alone is too soft, and gumpaste alone was too hard for me to get really smooth, so the combo worked great.

The top layer is pink cherry cake with cherry buttercream, and the bottom is white cake with chocolate buttercream.

This time around, I got a cake leveler and a new rolling pin.  The right tools make the process so much easier.  I also made the MMF(marshmallow fondant) in my Bosch mixer, which was better than doing it by hand, and it turned out really smooth.  I rolled the fondant thicker than I have in the past, which also made a more smooth surface with less bubbling/sagging issues.  I'm learning as I go!  I feel like I've run a cake marathon, but I think the family was happy with the results. 

Yellow Wedding

My cousin got married here in AZ, but her family and the groom's family were both from other states, so we threw together a quick, inexpensive luncheon for their wedding day.  The centerpieces were yellow squares of material from Hobby Lobby (99cents), some petals, tissue paper flowers that were so easy to make, and a picture of the couple (frames were 3 for $2.50 at Target).

I made the cake and topped it with a yellow tissue paper flower.

 Behind the serving table, we hung some lace that my mom already had, and I made fan circles out of scrapbook paper.  I also got a wreath from the dollar store, made some fabric flowers out of scraps, and added a letter "M" ($1.50 at JoAnn's), and hung it on the backdrop.

For the sign in table, we borrowed a yellow bird cage for cards, and put a yellow candle by a framed  picture of the bride and groom. 

For very little money, and not much time to prepare, we pulled off a cute little reception for their big day!

Antique Wedding Cake

I bought some lace molds to make this cake. The hard part was that the molds don't make clean cuts around the edge of each piece, so that work was left to me. All the decoration is fondant, with the exception of the brooches.  This took  three days from start to finish, and my kitchen was a total powdered sugar disaster by the end!

Wedding Cake & Toppers

EmmaLee made this for my wedding (I wish I could claim that this cake was my creation!):


I just love it! I almost wish it was fake so I could keep it on display. Hopefully she will post a link to the tutorial she used. She made it all from scratch and flavored the frosting with pistachio flavoring...it was delish!



I made the little toppers out of wooden clothespins from Hobby Lobby. Really simple- paint, hot glue, fabric...you get the idea.

Fondant Hat Cake

Yo Gabba Gabba Cake

I made this cake for Brynlee's 2nd birthday because she loves this show. 

 The orange top is supposed to be D.J. Lance's hat.
-EmmaLee

Triple Chocolate Cake

My mom loves Mary Engelbreit stuff like this:

 So I decided to make her a cake like this:

 I love to decorate cakes, but I usually don't love eating them.  However, this is the best chocolate cake you'll ever taste!  I won't pretend it's good for you in any way, because it's completely evil, but soooooo yummy and moist! I made the Mary Engelbreit-esque flowers from marshmallow fondant and arranged them once the cake was cool. Here is the recipe (given to me by a friend):

Triple Chocolate Cake

Cake Batter:

1 box Devil's Food Cake mix (just powder)

1 small box instant chocolate pudding mix (just powder)

4 eggs

1 cup mayonaise

3/4 cup sour cream

1 cup water

12oz. package of mini chocolate chips

Mix all together (stir chocolate chips in at the end)

Bake at 350 for 50-55 min. in a greased bundt pan.

Let cool, then turn over onto a cake stand.

Topping:

2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

3/4 cup chocolate chips

 (I've done it with milk chocolate and dark chocolate- it just depends on the flavor you're going for)

Boil cream, turn off heat and stir in chocolate chips.  Pour over cake and refrigerate.  Serve cold.

-EmmaLee

Youngest tries to be like the eldest...

After seeing all of Em's pretty fondant cakes, I thought I would give it a shot for Jacob's birthday cake. Then I remembered that I am really awful at cake-decorating and don't have any of the proper tools. I made Jacob's little sister come help me, because I was stressed out about finishing it in time. Here's what we ended up with:


We were supposed to put orange flames over the purple ones, but we were over it by then.
I realize that it looks pretty crappy, but I'm sorta proud of myself since we had no idea what we were doing. I don't know if this is something I'll be sticking with, because it made a huge mess and took a lot of work, but it was fun to try.

Natalli

Fondant Cakes

Here are some cakes I've made using this tutorial for
 marshmallow fondant...

Mario cake

Muse cake

SF giants cake (AT&T Park)

EmmaLee