3D Thomas the Tank Engine Cake

My son turned 2 years old and one of the things he really likes is Thomas the Tank Engine. Since it was a small kids party I decided to be brave and attempt a version of Thomas in 3D!! **gulp** I was nervous for about a week. So nervous that I didn't even want to start baking it! I knew I needed to make a very stable cake that would carve well. The best thing I could think of was a chocolate cake from scratch. They are always more dense and never break apart. Their are a lot of people who say that a cake from scratch is better than a boxed cake mix, then you give them a cake from scratch and guess what? They don't like it!! They say it's too hard, too dry or "not the same". This was my dilemna, I knew a scratch chocolate cake would not go over well, so I had to compromise the taste for structural integrity of the cake. I started by making the face out of fondant. I used a circle cutout and made it about 3 1/2 inches in diameter. Then I made the chocolate cake. It was resting on a full sheet of cake. 1/2 was Tres Leches (Three Milks) and the other half was white pecan cake with coconut cream cheese filling...duh. LOL

I used my sons little Thomas to copy the facial features. Then I stacked and filled the chocolate cake with cookies and cream buttercream filling.

I really needed to concentrate so I put the kids to bed, then I grabbed my big serrated knife and started chopping off the front of the cake and trying to copy the shape of the train. Then funny enough I ran out of chocolate cake. All I had left was a box mix so I stuck it in the oven and then froze it for an hour so it would be firm. Nope, I could barely carve that sucker, it was not sturdy enough at all! Buttercream icing to the rescue!! I crumb coated my cake and stuck it in the fridge. The next morning I finished decorating the details on the tank and also on the full sheet cake. Well, my son saw the cake and screamed "Thomaaaaaaaassss!" Mission accomplished! :)

Playing Catchup!!

I have been getting cake orders every week for the last couple months. I know this doesn't seem like a lot, but most of them are cakes which require a lot of details. Such as edible flowers, handmade decorations, hand painting, fondant covering, fondant cutouts. All of these things can take hours maybe even a couple of days to complete. I have to plan early in the week with materials and recipes. Plus making sure the structure of the cake is strong enought to travel up to an hour. I have a lot of patience with these things and enjoy the planning and organizing the whole process requires. Otherwise, I would have stopped making cakes immediately. There are many more posts to come. I'm trying to catch up with my blog, so be patient. I don't know that anyone even reads this but if you do I will be back soon. I'm going to try posting recipes and maybe even a tutorial on how to make a fondant or gumpaste lily!!! So if you do read this blog check back soon and you may find something you may like:)
Also, if you live in Riverside County spread the word on my facebook page- Contempo Cakes by
Angela Cabral!

Thank you!!

May Religious Cakes

The month of May is filled with a lot of religious celebrations. There all once in a lifetime events for most people so they deserve a unique and tasty cake creation! :) Below are some of the cakes I created for these unique occasions!

The Pink Bow Cake!

This cake was for my cousins little girl. She wanted a pink and brown cake with stripes and polka dots. I had a similar creation in mind, however, my cousin sent me a cake image which is very similar to the one below. It had chocolate fondant accens, and pink and white fondant accents. The pink bow is made out of Sugarveil, it was the first time I got to play with my sugarveil and I was quite excited about that. Of course, everytime you try something new you find new challenges along the way. The Sugarveil is similar to royal icing only once it starts to set it becomes flexible and fabric-like. It took a lot longer than to set than the instructions stated. That put me a little behind schedule. Once it was done, I was able to cut the sugarveil with scissors and make a bow, just like I would make a fabric bow. The bottom tier was red velvet with cream cheese filling and the top tier was chocolate with strawberry swirl and strawberry bavarian cream. The cake doesn't have a topper because my cousing purchased her own and added it to the top of the cake.

Open Bible Cake

The Bible cake was made for a confirmation. It was chocolate cake with whipped cream and fresh strawberries and bananas, topped off with buttercream icing. The rosary, cross and dove are made with fondant.

Hello Kitty Communion Cake

I had two Hello Kitty cake requests. The first was for a birthday/first communion. It was red velvet with cream cheese and half caramel mousse topped with whipped icing. I drew a Hello Kitty by hand on fondant for the birthday side and the other side is a handmade edible Hello Kitty in a first communion dress. I added fondant accents, such as handmade sugar roses, cross, and chalice.

Hello Kitty Communion Cake Part II

The next cake is a half sheet cake similar to the one I made for the birthday/communion cake above. I made another Hello Kitty out of fondant and dressed her in a first communion dress. This time the color of choice was in lavender and I really like how this looked. It was a vanilla flavored cake with strawberry filling and iced in a vanilla whipped topping.

Baptism Church Cake

The final cake I had was a baptism cake for my two nieces. It was three tiers, the bottom tres leches, the middle was banana cake with coconut cream cheese filling. (You should know that I LOVE coconut cream cheese filling:)) The top tier was strawberry cake with raspberry mousse filling. There was a fourth cake on the side but that one didn't make it to the cake! By the way I must mention that this cake barely made it to the event! Whipped topping on a cake over two tiers is a big NO-NO!! It made for a very unstable cake and the chocolate cake slid off. Two things happened that avoided this disaster, first, the tier above was made out of banana cake, which is ALWAYS made from SCRATCH and is very stable and dense. Second, my husband was standing right next to the cake and was able to catch the cake before it tumbled to the ground!! The topping was ruined so I had to quickly make more whipped topping and RE-decorate the entire cake!!! I made it to the party with about 30 minutes to spare!!! But the end result was not bad for a quick redo:)

Happy Easter from Contempo Cakes

Well all the stress from the past months past and I'm taking time off Easter to relax and have fun with my family at the park! Phew, but what would Easter be without a cake? LOL I made this for the family to enjoy on Easter. The bottom tier is tres leches and the top tier is white cake with coconut cream cheese. By the way ask me what my favorite filling is and I will say coconut cream cheese every time:) I make it from scratch and the recipe never fails me. So I thought I share it with all of you today!

Coconut cream chese filling recipe:
3/4 lbs of powder sugar
1 lb of cream cheese softened (2 -8.oz packages)
3 sticks of butter softened
1 TBSP lemon juice (fresh squeezed is best but bottled works well too)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp imitation coconut extract

To soften the cream cheese and butter leave on countertop 1-2 hrs until softened. I use a kitchen aid mixer with the paddle attachment, but I'm sure you can use a hand mixer as well. Add all the ingredients in the order listed to the bowl, then on the lowest possible speed, blend together for 2-3 minutes or until well blended. That's it! You're ready to fill your cake. Or you can store it in an air tight container in the refrigerator for about a week if you need to make it ahead of time, let it come back to room temperature before filling the cake layers. This goes really well with banana cake, white cake, or spice cake.

Black, White and Red 15th Birthday Cake

This cake is an example of the type of cakes I enjoy making. It is very simplistic and modern in the details. However, although it appears simple it is very time consuming. I spent several hours a day for about two weeks making the fondant roses. Each one would take up to 30 minutes to complete. My niece asked for a cake that was black and white with red roses flowing down the cake in a curve. I believe I was able to accomodate her request. The cake was made up of five different cake flavors. The bottom tier was marble cake with chocolate and coconut filling. The next tier was red velvet cake with cream cheese filling. The next tier was chocolate with cream cheese filling. It was followed by a strawberry cake with strawberry mousse filling and white cake with caramel cream cheese filling. Aside from these five tiers there was a 16 inch round cake made of yellow cake with tres leches and strawberries. What can I say it was delectable:O!!!

Curious George Cake!

My son loves Curious George, so naturally he wanted a Curious George themed party! Once I bought the decorations for his birthday, my son knew he wanted the colors to be, blue, green, red and yellow! The bottom tier was a devil's food cake with vanilla pudding and milk chocolate ganache filling. The top tier was banana cake with coconut cream cheese filling. Wow! This cake was a huge success. The colors matched the party theme and it tasted absolutely deeee-lish!!! This is the final result! :)

Prada Purse Cake

This past week I had two cakes to make and a party to plan and prep for. I was asked by a co-worker of my sister's to make a cake for my sister's birthday. The wanted to celebrate for her at the office on Friday. So of course I wanted to try something new, something that people don't usually thnk to ask for. I wanted to try to make a purse cake and it was very fun to make! Not to mention fashionably-edible:) I loved the colors and how everything turned out. I got to use my new stencil and quilting tool! Below is the end result! By the way, it was a devil's food cake with bavarian cream filling. The cake is buttercream, with black fondant accents. Thanks for looking!