This Is How I Make the Big Bucks...or Just the Bucks

I thought I'd share some photos of cakes that I've done. The one above was a going-away cake for a guy that was a total Metalhead. It had the looongest inscription I had ever written. It practically covered the top of this 12" red velvet cake. I drew a chain border on the bottom and added spikes to complete the heavy metal look. I am really glad the spikes worked out. Our frosting has a tendency to get a soupy the longer I work with it. Thanks to a whole bunch of powdered sugar, the spikes worked!

I didn't want to do this design, but the customer insisted. Since I wasn't at the bakery to put my foot down, I got stuck with it. Generally I try to avoid drawing people on cakes. Cartoons, yes. People, no. I searched for a long time online to find a really cartoonish girl with a shopping bag that could be pulled off without massacring the face. I found an all-black sillhoete, and improvised. I was happy with the results, but at the same time totally frustrated. Now I can't tell people "no" when they want a person on the cake.

This cake was for the birthday of one of Dubai's gossipy magazines. I hate icing rectangle cakes.

The birthday girl brought in a picture of this beach/sea-themed cake. I tried to follow her drawing exactly. I have done better aquarium-type cakes. I just don't have a picture of said cake.

I was worried about this one as well, because the lady who ordered it would not listen to me. I had to tell her five times that we didn't use marzipan, fondant, or airbrushes. Luckily she liked it!

Here's the top view of the map I made.

This little face belongs to Princess Lillifee. Yeah, I haven't heard of her either. I think she's a Central European cartoon character or something. This was also rather nervewracking because 1) it's a face and 2) all I had to go on was a 1" square image. Normally when I draw on cakes, I make a stencil and trace the image on the cake because I don't draw with pencils particularly well, and buttercream poses more of a challenge. This character was a series of stencils that when laid on top of eachother made the face of Princess Lillifee. I was quite pleased with myself over this one. And it marks the first time the customer called me to tell me how much she like it.

Anyway, that's pretty much what I do. Along with icing cupcakes, ordering supplies, tracking inventory...I don't have pictures of the rest of my tasks.