the "cake boss" of philly...

It seems like all my architect friends are multi-talented - do you remember Tina who owns this amazing home? When she's not working as a fulltime architect or fixing up her home (by the way, she completed renovations on her third floor and I hope to photograph it soon!), she's baking! She bakes at least every other week because not only is it creative and makes her house smell amazing - she says it relaxes her. She make delicious desserts, but she also makes incredibly detailed and elaborate cakes that continue to blow me away. Her passion for cake-making started early:

I’ve always liked to bake- I remember treating my family to Easy Bake Oven cakes when I was in first or second grade. I loved that pink oven! But my mom was the real inspiration for the specialty cakes. She made a unique cake for each of our birthdays and for some holidays too. I remember cakes that were shaped like big hats with ribbons and flowers, swimming pools with diving boards, ice cream cone cupcakes and easter bunnies. I think she got a lot of her ideas from magazines. When I got older, I eventually took over the helm and starting making cakes for my sister’s birthday parties. Slowly, it just became my ‘thing’. I introduced the shaped cake phenomenon to my college friends with a turtle cake that I made for Suzie (my roommate) for her 21st birthday. It was a huge hit and Suzie became my cake baking partner in crime. She’s really the creative genius behind most of the cakes we’ve done together. Her ideas are insane but somehow she always convinces me that we can make it happen. And we usually do.

Here are just a few of the cakes she's created:

**WARNING** the following cake may not be appropriate for young children...

Aren't they awesome? The photos really don't show how much detail actually goes into each cake - it's ridiculous. And the best part is that they are tasty as well! Tina has a lot of natural talent, but did take a class a few years ago:

I took a 4 or 6 week Beginner class at Fantes a few years ago with Jackie where we learned a lot of the basics like frosting a cake and using a piping bag. It was at that class that I realized I wasn’t destined for a life of buttercream roses. I sucked at them! Which is fine since I much prefer ski slopes and Dolphin tavern stripper cakes.

Pretty cakes with buttercream roses are a dime a dozen - how many people can make a cake that looks like a pool table? Tina mostly bakes for fun, but she has been commissioned to do a few cakes for parties - if you are interested in having a custom cake made for you, please email me and I will be happy to send you her information.