As head sugar artist at Bredenbeck’s Bakery and Ice Cream Parlor on Germantown Avenue in Chestnut Hill, Diana Anello always has to be on her toes because she never knows what sort of cake she’ll be asked to create next.

And I’m not talking about simple round or sheet cakes with cute little drawings of butterflies on them. I’m talking about full-on three-dimensional cakes that have the ability to upstage a party’s entertainment. Cakes that neither she nor many cake veterans have ever attempted to create before.

“There's nothing that crazy anymore. There really isn't,” Anello said. “There is no so thing as normal. It's crazy to have someone order a normal cake at this point because everyone watches these cakes shows and has these crazy ideas.

Anello’s latest creation, the Phillie Phanatic’s birthday cake, was unveiled at the Phanatics’ birthday celebration before  a crowd of 45,716 Phillies fans at the April 17 Phillies-Marlins game at Citizens Bank Park, and an even bigger audience at home as Phillies broadcasters Tom McCarthy and Chris Wheeler picked at it between at-bats.

The twist on this cake? It was made almost entirely of Tastykake treats. 

“This is my third year doing it for them and it was a surprise the first year,” Anello said. “Harry Kalas had just died and apparently they used to just use like a little tiny quarter sheet cake or something, and Tastykake being a major sponsor that year said, ‘No, no. We've got the cake.’ So I've done a couple showpieces for them before so it was an automatic call to me.”

The team at Bredenbeck’s wents through 20 cases of Tastykakes according to Anello, and in the end they designed a scene where a figure of the Phanatic, who is standing on one cake, is staring at Kirby the Krimpet (Tastykakes’ mascot), who is standing on another cake—both made of rice cereal treats. And in between them is a big extravagant, towering birthday cake.

Although it took her roughly four hours to make the Phanatic and three to make Kirby, Anello noted that the most time-consuming part of job was unwrapping all of the treats. She had two assistants help her.  

“Planning it out, not that big of a deal,” Anello said. “Maybe an hour. And then figuring out how to make a board to support the weight and keep the distribution of weight even is huge.”

The toughest step in the process was putting all the treats on the cakes said Anello.

“You can't stack Tastykakes on top of themselves, especially in the sunlight, and this had to stay in direct sunlight,” she said. “And unfortunately, or fortunately, it was a bright, super sunshiny day and it was incredibly windy. So the cake that I made actually came apart in two pieces.”

“There's a certain pattern that I have to produce in order to get the Tastykakes to adhere to the cake,” she added. “I can't just go putting icing on it, that won't work. You have to think about it as laying title.”

But the Bredenbeckers were up to the challenge.

“It's totally fun,” Anello said. “It's like playing Tetris for me.”

So far, Bredenbeck’s has come up with a different design every year for the Phanatic’s cake.

“So next year I'm going to have to out-do myself from this year,” Anello joked. “They’re probably going to have to be playing baseball or something, I don't know.”

Bredenbeck’s, which is owned by Karen Boyd-Rohde, has always been known for treats like its pound cake, rum ring, German cookies and ice cream, but Anello said its becoming more known for its cakes these days.

Recently, Bredenbeck’s also made Tastykake-themed cakes for La Salle University and Drexel University. And last year, the bakery delivered a Stanley Cup cake to the Flyers that was made entirely of Tastykakes.

But Tastykake isn’t the only customer making wacky requests.

“We get amazing requests,” Anello said.

Among the tall orders Anello and company have filled, a standing up guitar cake for Jon Bon Jovi’s birthday, a baby grand piano cake for Sir Elton John’s birthday and huge motorcycle wedding cake for a couple were among the more memorable requests.

“I love the challenge of it,” Anello said.