Woyzeck
I was the production designer for a production of Woyzeck at the University of Wisconsin - Madison’s University Theatre. At the end of the play, the corpse of Woyzeck’s murdered lover Marie was lowered from the ceiling. The corpse was made of styrofoam, but I used fondant to decorate it as I would a cake. The open chest cavity was full of pea-flavored cake balls.
Star Wars cake
For her seventh birthday, Alex had very specific cake specifications. She wanted a cake being cut in half by a light saber with “Jedi trainers” around the sides.
Head Chopping Cake
When I asked Sam what cake he wanted for his fourth birthday, of course he wanted an Axe Cop cake like his sister had.
Sugar Dome
I’m back on Food Network, on the Sugar Dome episode “When Toy Stores Come to Life at Night!”
Halloween Wars!
Check it out – I’m a warrior of Halloween Wars! You can watch my TV debut on Food Network, October 7th at 9:00 Eastern and Pacific.
Carousel Cake
My grandmother lives near a beautiful old carousel from the 1920s. When we visited her when we little, she would always take us to ride it. When I was designing her 90th birthday cake, I got to thinking about riding the carousel with her, and this is the result.
Axe Cop Cake
For my niece’s sixth birthday we decided on an Axe Cop theme. Axe Cop’s favorite food is birthday cake with a candle of himself on it, so I took that as my starting place for the cake.
Zebra Cupcakes
When I asked my nephew Sam what he wanted for his third birthday cake, he immediately responded, “Zebra cupcake!" I have no idea where he got this idea, or what exactly he thinks a zebra cupcake looks like.
Mater and Lightning McQueen Cake
For my little friend Max’s second birthday cake, the only guideline that his parents gave me was that the party was Cars themed. So I asked my five-year-old niece for her expert advice on designing a Cars cake. She suggested that I make Mater and Lighting bumping tires.
Sneetch Cake
I have been looking forward to seeing my niece and nephew perform in school plays since before they were born. Finally, my dream has come true. At her pre-K graduation, my niece Alex appeared in their stage adaptation of Dr. Suess’s The Sneetches. To celebrate her accomplishment, I decided to make her a Sneetch cake.
Torchiere Wedding Cake
My friends were getting married at the Orpheum, which is a beautiful old movie theater from the 20s, so I was thinking art deco; I was thinking stage lighting; I was thinking theater curtains; I was thinking dusty elegance and timeless romance.
Calder Cake
A few years ago I took a kinetic art class and we made little wire versions of Calder-style hanging mobiles. I decided to try to make one using cake to serve at a graduate student conference being put on by my department.
Banshee Cake
My niece Alex’s specifications for her fifth birthday cake: “I want a Banshee cake. And one switch will make the lights turn on and one switch will make the wheels turn and one switch will make the mouth open and close.”
Peep and the Big Wide World Cake
When it came time to design my nephew Sam’s second birthday cake, I turned to Sam’s older sister, Alex, to help me conceptualize the cake. Alex came up with the idea that Sam might like a duck cake, which I thought was a very good idea. Sam loves animals of all kinds. After further discussion, I suggested that we should make a cake based on the TV show Peep and the Big Wide World, which could include not only Quack (a duck), but also Peep (a chick) and Chirp (a baby bird).
Zoom! Boom! Bully Cake
For my niece’s fourth birthday, I made a cake based on Zoom! Boom! Bully from John Scieszka’s Trucktown.
Jet Truck Cake
This cake was for my nephew, Sam’s, first birthday. It’s based on a real truck.
Flying Saucer Cake
The occasion for the cake was my friend Isaac’s third birthday party. My goal in this design was to evoke the classic B-movie spaceships from the 50’s and 60’s (the title of the party’s evite was “Plan 3 from Outer Space”.)
TARDIS Cake
It's a TARDIS! It's bigger on the inside! It's two feet tall (quarter scale)! And aside from the lights, everything you see is edible.
Dinosaur Graveyard Cake
Pastry arts for a good cause – this cake was raffled off at a fundraiser for my niece’s preschool.
Demolition Cake
The Demolition cake was created for my truck-obsessed niece’s third birthday party.