Showers of Happiness!

I was looking at pictures a while back and came across the pictures of the wedding cake I made last year. As much work as it was, it was quite an adventure and it meant so much to be a part of such a special day. Well - after I was done, I vowed that I would never again make a cake of that magnitude. Just too stressful. But I love being a part of weddings. Making beautiful things for others just makes me so happy. So I was absolutely giddy when my nephew Ken's fiance asked me to make carrot cake for her bridal shower. Love that girl!

I decided on cupcakes since it's so much easier - no cutting involved, everything is in a perfect portion. My mom had a recipe for carrot cake that she gave to me - it used a LOT of carrots, which was perfect, since I had plenty to work with from an extra large crop in my garden last fall (and it's a good thing that carrots last a long time in the fridge!). I did a test run first, on St. Patrick's Day, and dropped off a little box with four cupcakes, since her birthday had been the week before. She loved them. She was actually a bit disappointed that I hadn't brought over more, since she only got to have one. When she went to work there was one left and when she got back home, there was an empty box in the fridge with just a small smear of icing and a few cake crumbs inside. Well - I just had to make up for that. I made three dozen cupcakes, and there were plenty left over for the bride-to-be.

Here they are, all ready to go. Same carrot cake and cream cheese frosting, this time decorated with royal icing apple blossoms in bright pink and orange, to match her wedding colors. So pretty.

Thanks for asking me to make the cupcakes Dana, and I wish you and Ken a lifetime of happiness.

B-b-b-b-b-Bailey!

This cake was so much fun and I was so happy to make it. It's for my friend Heather's daughter Bailey. Heather and I haven't known each other too long, but she's been such a good friend, and always comments on how lovely and delicious my cakes look - so when she asked me to make a cake for her daughter Bailey's 3rd birthday, I was happy to do it. I honestly don't know where the time has gone on this one either - it seems like just yesterday Bailey was a year old and I was watching her toddle to the door when I came to pick up a bicycle that Heather was lending me for a bike race when the tires on my bike both went flat the night before!

Anyhow, Heather absolutely loves chocolate, so she wanted chocolate cake, chocolate buttercream frosting and filling, and of course, Bailey's favorite character, Dora the Explorer! As I was preparing to make it, I saw towards the back of my fridge a small container of cream cheese frosting left over from Easter. Since I didn't quite have enough chocolate frosting left over from the cake I made earlier in the week to frost and fill this cake, I asked Heather if it would be okay to mix some of the chocolate frosting with the cream cheese frosting, just to fill the cake with. The outside would still be regular chocolate buttercream. And thus - chocolate cream cheese filling was born! My friend Jennie, who was visiting at the time I was making the cake, taste tested it, since she happens to be a bit of an expert on all things cheesecake from our time in college. Her verdict?  It. . . is. . . divine! Think, chocolate chip cheesecake. Yummy!

So here it is - the Dora face is made with fondant and outlined with black icing. The letters are yellow fondant, dried a bit to make it easier to cut, and the flowers on the sides are fondant as well.

 Happy Birthday Bailey!

Happy Birthday to Owen!

Just a few months ago, I made a cake for my friend and co-worker Winston for a baby welcoming party for his son Owen. He's brought pictures to work, and his son is just adorable. Well, I can hardly believe it, but the little guy is a year old. How time flies!

A few weeks ago when I was at work, Winston came up to me and asked me if I could make a cake for his son's birthday. He wanted something similar to the last cake I made, but this time with different colors - yellow, orange and red. Turned out Owen's birthday outfit was going to be yellow, so I focused on yellow for the main color. And instead of doing plain stripes, I did zigzag lines on the sides of the cake and stars on top. And of course, no first birthday is complete without a smash cake for the birthday baby!

The cake itself is yellow cake with chocolate buttercream frosting and filling, both for the main and smash cakes. All decorations are made with fondant and the letters are a fondant-gum paste mix.

Happy Birthday Owen! I hope you had a wonderful day!

Happy Easter!

I can't believe I have been decorating cakes now for two years. Easter is one of my favorite times of year for cake decorating. I have been making Easter cakes for family get-togethers, and this is my third one. I love Easter so much because it's my time to brush up on my technique with making royal icing flowers. Last year I did an assortment; lilies, violets, apple blossoms, daffodils. This year I decided to keep it simple. Easter lilies, this time made with a bigger lily tip so the size is much truer, and some pink apple blossoms. And while I was at it, I made lots more apple blossoms for some cupcakes for the following weekend (but that's another story). The cake itself is a yummy carrot cake - it's a spice cake recipe, but not overly spiced and so wonderfully moist. The cake I used for this was actually frozen on St. Patrick's Day. I filled and frosted it with cream cheese frosting, added a basketweave design (can't have Easter without a basket!) added my flowers and a message, and - voila!

I hope everyone had a Blessed Easter!

Star Wars, and Legos!

I love repeat customers. They are proof that I must be doing something right! This time, my friend Ratna, for whom I made the topsy-turvy lion cake, wanted a cake for her nephew's birthday. He was coming to Wisconsin from California with his family, and Ratna wanted to surprise him. I'm so glad I was part of the surprise!

The first thing Ratna told me is that her nephew loved Star Wars. Well, that opened up a whole world of possibilites. Classic Star Wars, Angry Birds Star Wars, Lego Star Wars.... and then there were all the characters! She told me that he loved Lego Star Wars, and after poring over some ideas, we found one that would work well. I would put some figurines on top of the cake, and decorate around them with fondant accents. I was going to get some star wars lego figurines, but they were a bit out of Ratna's price range, and she didn't know which ones he already had, so we went with a couple playskool star wars figurines. They are a bit young for the birthday boy, who is 9 years old, but perhaps he can pass them down to a little brother. The best part - the figures are posable, so when I couldn't shut the lid to the cake box, I just bent Darth Vader and the Storm Trooper over at their waists and down went the lid. It looked really funny, these two figures crouched over under neath the cake box lid. I would have taken a picture too, if the batteries on my camera hadn't died.

The cake itself is chocolate with oreo buttercream filling. I made the same combo for Ratna's son and she loved it so much she had to have it again. Then I added a fondant star wars logo with the birthday boy's name on top, with some fondant lightsabers and stars, fondant legos around the base of the cake, and a message on the cake board using  a lego font I found online. So it might not be Lego Star Wars, but it is legos and star wars. Very original, very fun! I hope the birthday boy liked it!

Happy Birthday Aazil!

Bawk! It's Angry... Evan!

Well, I hope he's not angry. It's his first birthday after all.

So what am I talking about, you ask? None other than the game that has become a widespread phenomenon, Angry Birds! If you haven't heard of it, check it out, but be forewarned, it is addicting!

Anyhow, this cake was sooo much fun to make. Even my kids had a hand in the design, since they are such experts on the game itself. Of course, if it had been up to them, the scene on the cake would have been completely functional, but seeing as it was for a one year old, I had to keep it simple. The cake itself (and the smash cake) are both yellow cake with vanilla buttercream filling and frosting, decorated with fondant clouds (and stars on the smash cake). The birds and piggies, and frying pan are all marshmallow fondant, and the slingshot and logs are chocolate fondant reinforced with toothpicks. The only snag I hit was the border on the bottom of the cake. I pulled out my favorite tip for making that grass border I love so much, and in the process of cleaning and prepping my work station, it vanished. I still have no idea where it is. It was late at night, all the stores were closed, and I wouldn't have time to get a new tip the next morning before I needed to deliver the cake - but did I give up? Nope! I improvised - using my small star tip, I made long, drawn out strands around the base of the cake. Not exactly like the effect from my grass tip, but I think it looks pretty good!

So here's the cake and smash cake, ready to go.

Happy Birthday Evan! Hope you had an awesome day!

La-La-Luci!

This cake was "sew" much fun to make. It involved me buying two new toys - another fondant mold, like the one I used for the whale cake, and a set of letter cutters. I love using new toys!

My friend Rachel asked me to make this cake for her daughter, Luci. Luci loves LaLaLoopsy dolls, and given her name, Rachel planned a LaLaLuci party. Her only request was that I use lots of bright colors and buttons, a ball border and some toys on top. She actually found a picture of a cake and after showing it to me said that she really liked the gumball border on the bottom. When I told her those weren't gumballs, but rather, fondant balls, I got to thinking, why not use gumballs? I mean, they are so much easier than rolling out little balls of fondant. The only thing I wasn't sure of was making them stick. And then Rachel said, "why not just pipe a line of icing around the base and stick them in there?" Duh! So she picked up some pink and purple gumballs at the candy store while she was getting candy for party favors, got the toy to go on top, and I picked them up from her house. Then I bought a silicone mold that makes really cute borders that look like lace along with buttons and little button flowers. But by far my favorite part was the letters. I've been meaning to buy these for months now and when I saw that the letters on her invitations were exactly the same as the letter cutter set, I ordered them! My friend Ann has been using these cutters for a long time now and I love how cute they look. And since they are gum paste, I can slide them around on the cake to position them just right before "gluing" them down (I just use water).

The cake itself is strawberry, with plain pink buttercream filling and frosting and of course lots of colorful fondant accents.

Happy Birthday Luci! I hope your day was sew much fun!