I was invited to join an international collaboration of cake and confectionery artists from around the world, called Sweethearts of the World. For this collaboration, artists were asked to creat a headpiece of edible mediums that told a story about themselves. A quick glance around my page here will probably explain why I chose an Octopus as my subject.

This cake was created for The Labyrinth Masquerade Ball at The Center for Puppetry Arts. I was invited to create a goblin of my own design, and here she is! Labyrinth is one of my favorite movies, and I'm a big Jim Henson fan. His collection is housed at the center, and is a must see if you're in Atlanta! (and I got to meet Brian Henson, his son, at the event!).

Photos by Allerdice Photography

To watch the making of this cake, please go to my Videos and Tutorials page!

Ganesha is a Hindu diety, and although I am not Hindu, Ganesha is very important to me. He is the god of new beginnings, and the remover of obstacles. (the pic of me is included for scale). Photography by Allerdice Photography

This piece was made for a collaboration of cake artists to celebrate the beauty and culture of Japan.Twice a year, on the grounds of Senso-ji, Tokyo’s oldest Buddhist temple the Shirasagi-no Mai, or White Heron Dance, is performed. Once I had completed the piece with the traditional representation of the costume and makeup, I had a bit of fun with my Edible Artists’ Oil Paints, and painted her more in the style of Japanese cosplayers.

The White Ravens in this piece are made of white chocolate, and their costuming is fondant. The entire piece is hand sculpted.

This fella was made to join the other creatures created for the feature Chocolate Magic, at Cake International in Birmingham, England.

I was invited to create a cake for the celebration of the collectionof the original puppets from The Dark Crystal on display at the Center for Puppetry Arts here in Atlanta. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to create a cake for the show’s opening (see my Skeksis: Lord Chamberlain cake), as well as for the closing of the show, this Aughra cake.

I created this Humpty Dumpty to teach as a two day class. Please check my calendar to see when and where I'm teaching this classic character next!

This sad little cake was created for a collaboration called The Caketastics. The object was to create a "monster" that represented a social issue. Since depression is at the core of many social issues, that's what I chose. I was also interested in creating a cake that represents the opposite of what cakes are usually created for.

I was invited to create a cake for the celebration of the collectionof the original puppets from The Dark Crystal on display at the Center for Puppetry Arts here in Atlanta. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to create a cake for the show’s opening, this Lord Chamberlain cake, as well as for the closing of the show (see my Aughra cake). I was also lucky enough to meet Brian Henson, Jim Henson’s son, a gifted puppeteer himself.

This piece was created for a large installation called Chocolate Magic. The 10'x20' installation was created by me and Daniel Dieguez, and was full of fantastic and unusual creatures. This particular piece was one of my favorites, and was designed with the idea first of a rat riding a snail. As I was planning it, I held my hands to imitate the snail beneath the shell, and decided I liked the hand as the snail!

This is a Warthog Cake. I created it for the 13th birthday celebration for Ria's Bluebird in Atlanta.

I made this panda cake for the annual benefit for Zoo Atlanta; Jazzoo. It was made of 17 full sheets of cake soaked with a Mandarine Orange Liquor, 40 lbs of Orange Zest Buttercream, and filled with a dark chocolate and candied ginger ganache. She ultimately weighed close to 180lbs

This cake was created for the Grand Opening of Chic Evolution in Art Gallery , and the imagery was drawn from the fantastic art of Lucio Carvalho. You can see more of his gorgeous work at Chic Evolution in Art

The Babirusa is another creature from the Chocolate Magic Installation at Cake International, Birmingham. He was by far my favorite. He stands with the Witch of the Forest, and together they create magic!

I have always dreamed of making a book. In my dream book, some images would be of cakes I made for specific events, and some would be cakes I made just for the joy of it. Lady Billy is one of the joy cakes. I figured no one would ever ask me to make a beautiful goat cake, so I made her just for me. And for my dream book.

I made this cake for the Atlanta Opera Ball, the theme was Madama Butterfly

This cake was created to celebrate International Children's Rights Day. We were invited to create a cake depicting a favorite story. I chose East of the Sun, West of the Moon, which is a beautiful old Norwegian tale about enduring love.

Photography by Luke Allerdice

This cake of the 20's era flapper Zelda was created for a benefiot event for Kate's Club in Atlanta.

This gingerbread house was created for the annual Christmas Gala at Callanwolde, a beautiful Tudor mansion here in Atlanta that once belonged to the Coca Cola Family.

Photography by Luke Allerdice

This Downton Abbey cake was made for the Season 5 Premier event at The Fox Theater, hosted by Georgia Public Broadcasting. She was made of Vanilla cake and buttercream, with an Earl Grey Tea soak. It took 18 hours to make her.

This Giant Octopus cake was created for The Georgia Aquarium. It weighed over 200 lbs. Recently I was invited to recreate it (smaller!) for a wedding. You can watch the time-lapse of the making of the Octopus Wedding cake below.

Mariana of Austria was one of the Habsburgs, a lineage of royalty that believed (like many did) that the way to keep the line pure was to marry within the family, thus she was married to her mother’s brother when she was 14. One of the results of this intermarriage custom was the “Habsburg chin”, a distinct feature of many in the family. Mariana grew to become a powerful leader and the queen of Spain. She was a remarkable woman.

This cake was made for the wrap of the back to back filming of the next two Avengers movies. It seems this cake has launched a thousand theories...

This piece was created onstage in 8 hours at The Oklahoma State Sugar Art Show

This cake is an edible illustration of The Lady of the Lake from the Legend of King Arthur. She is made of cake, modeling chocolate, gum paste, and isomalt.

This is an evil clown cake. I mean really. Look at him. He is a really bad clown. And he's delicious.

I made this piece simply for the fun of sculpting a laughing face. I can’t explain the octopus on her head.

This is a gangster hog cake. It was created for my beloved Ria Pell's birthday.

These are hand sculpted out of white chocolate. I made them for the episode of Bizarre Foods.

These cakes were made for the cast and crew of the show The Walking Dead. I have created many cakes over the years, given as gifts from AMC to celebrate various milestones in the show’s illustrious history.

Photo: Burt Welleford, myself

This standing frog cake was created for an episode of "Making it in America".I have taught this as a class all over the world.

I made this snail cake because I thought it would be fun. And it was!

I created this cake simply because I wanted to make it. It led to one of the most flattering things ever: This gentleman said he was googling images of the nursery rhyme because it was his children's favorite, and he found my cake, and chose it as the image he would have tattooed on his chest. Can there be a higher compliment?

This was from my first competition on Food Network's Cake Challenge.

This is a demonstration piece (so a bit rougher and rushed) from one of the classes I teach.