Graduation times two!

My neighbor Karen is not only neighbor, but one of my closest friends. My biggest regret is that I didn't get to know her sooner - it took a few years of being neighbors before I said hello, and we've been friends ever since. Earlier this year we were out for a walk, she told me that she wanted me to make a graduation cake for her twin grandsons. I was honored to be chosen for this task, and when the date got closer, I asked what she wanted. She told me that her grandsons, Peter and Jacob, are both going to college at the Art Institute. Jacob will be studying film, and Peter will be studying graphic design. She wanted a small cake that would be big enough just for immediate family, so I decided to decorate half of the cake for each graduate. I know they'll be wonderfully successful in their endeavors, and wanted to make a cake that showcased just how proud their grandparents are of both of them.

The cake itself is yellow cake with chocolate buttercream filling and vanilla buttercream frosting. All of the decorations are made out of fondant and food-safe marker. I had so much fun making this cake and from what I heard, the boys were impressed.

 

Best Wishes Peter and Jacob - you both have a bright future ahead of you!

Daisy Scout Garden Party

This year my daughter became a daisy scout. I was a brownie scout myself as a little girl (they didn't have daisies back then) and it's been so much fun to watch her grow and learn. I've been to a few girl scout outings with her this year too and they were all so much fun. It brought back a lot of memories from when I was a little girl.

Last Friday was the last meeting of this school year and to celebrate everything they have done and learned, they had a garden party. They played games, did a few crafts, went outside to blow bubbles and had some snacks. When the troop leader asked the other moms to bring treats, I volunteered to make some mini cupcakes for the event. I had made some earlier this year that looked like mums, and the troop leader was so impressed that she wanted me to make them again. This time I made roses (which ended up looking more like carnations), violets, sunflowers and daisies, all made with buttercream. And for each cupcake, except the ones with the violets on them, I put a little bee. I found them when I was shopping with my mom and thought they would look perfect. When I dropped the cupcakes off at school for the meeting, one of the co-leaders told me that the bee actually has a significance for Daisy scouting. In the first meeting of the year the girls were told a story of two little girls who were led to a garden by a bee, and that is where they began their journey as girl scouts! I loved all of them but my favorite was, of course, the sunflower! And the daisy. Oh heck... I love all of them. Especially those cute little bees!

 Congrats to all of the girls of Daisy Troop 8647 on a great year!

A special cake for an amazing lady

Several months ago, while talking to my friend Jennie, she told me that she might be seeing more of me in May and June. Her mother has been affected by tremors for years and they had been getting to the point where she needed help to be able to function. She could barely hold a glass of water without her hands shaking. She soon discovered that Froedert hospital here in Milwaukee had one of the best neurosurgery teams in the state and went through an initial consultation. She was accepted as a candidate and the appointments were set for her pre-op appointment and the two surgeries required for her procedure. Both surgeries were scary for Jennie and her parents. After all - it's brain surgery. But she made it through both with flying colors. What an amazing woman. And my friend, being the awesome person she is, shaved her own head when her mother had to have hers shaved for the surgery.

Anyhow, the day of Jennie's mom's second surgery happened to be the same day as her birthday. When Jennie told me that after the first surgery, I said right away that I was going to make a cake for her mom. She may have been in the hospital, but dang it she was going to have her cake and eat it too! I asked Jennie what her mom's favorite color and cake flavor were, and she said yellow to both, and that yellow roses were her favorite. I didn't have any royal icing roses left and didn't have time to make more, so I did the next best thing - I made yellow roses with buttercream! The cake itself didn't even require any baking on my part. I used three cake layers that I had wrapped up and tossed in the freezer a couple of months ago. They were still just as moist as the day I had made them. The outside of the cake is vanilla buttercream and the layers are filled with the same.

Jennie's mom didn't know that a cake was on its way, so when I walked through the door to their hotel room, said, "I hear it's someone's birthday today" and presented the cake, she was so happy I almost started crying. I honestly have so much appreciation for everything she has gone through and her strength through all of it!

Happy Birthday Mrs. Silver. And many, many more!

A Mother's Day tea party!

A few weeks ago I got a request for a special cake for mother's day. It was from my friend Ratna's sister Sandhya. She was planning a tea party for her sister and wanted a cake for the event. At first she wanted a cake shaped like a teapot, but when she realized that a cake like that would be out of her budget, we agreed on a two layer cake with a picture of a teapot on top and some teacups on the sides. The cake itself is chocolate cake with chocolate ganache filling. Perfect for Mother's Day!
All of the decorations are made with fondant.

Happy Mother's Day!

Lab Week - We ROCK!

For those of you who are new to my blog and don't know, my cake decorating business is really a side business. My day job is as a Medical Technologist. Every year, at the end of April, those of us who work in the medical laboratory field get to celebrate the small yet important role we play in the overall patient experience. Each year has its own theme with a poster designed by someone in the medical laboratory field. I loved the poster for this year!

And with this being my first year as a permanent part time employee since Lucas was born (I've been picking up hours on an as needed basis since then and was finally hired to a part time position earlier this year), I wanted to take part in the festivities. And what better way than by making cupcakes?

Yet, these are no ordinary cupcakes. These are special cupcakes. Lab cupcakes! And I got to use a new toy - food markers! The cupcakes themselves are red velvet with vanilla frosting. I usually do cream cheese frosting with red velvet cake, but since I knew that the cupcakes would be sitting out for a while and I know what happens to cream cheese when it sits... I made something that is much less likely to become a breeding ground for bacteria.

So now for some explanation of the decorations... These are dedicated to the techs who work in Blood Bank, readying units of plasma and blood for transfusion to save the lives of patients every day

And here are the lab coats that we wear to keep ourselves safe from spills so we can go home with our clothes as clean as when we left. (and they look pretty sharp too!)

 And last but not least - my personal favorite. White Blood Cells! These are the cells in your blood that help to fight infection. The pink one is a Neutrophil - they fight bacterial infections. The blue one with the round purple circle on the left is a Lymph - they fight viral infections. The blue and purple one on the right is a Monocyte - it's not what you have a lot of when you get mono, but those cells gobble up the viruses and bacteria that make us sick. Kind of like little vacuum cleaners.

Happy Lab Week!!

Happy Easter!

Every year I make a cake for Easter, and this year was no exception. I went a bit simpler this time around, just because I was also hosting dinner. But I wanted the cake to be special, so I made a new kind of filling to go inside - lime curd! Last year my dad had bought a ton of limes at the grocery store and my mom had already had a ton of lime juice in the freezer so she gave them to me. Note to my readers - you can buy limes and lemons, juice them and put the juice in ice cube trays, then freezer bags when the juice is frozen. That way whenever you need a little bit of lime or lemon juice for a recipe, it's right there!

This lime curd was so easy to make. Lots of stirring but I didn't mind because the lime curd smelled wonderful. So fresh and summery - a real breath of fresh air after a long winter! Added to the yellow cake and it was delicious.

Here is my finished cake - complete with the last of my royal icing flowers. Which means that the next chance I get, I'll need to make a batch of royal icing to make more flowers for next time! And to add a little bit of fun, I piped some grass on top and put some jelly beans in there too - courtesy of my wonderful husband. He's a truck driver and one of his stops the week before Easter was at the Jelly Belly factory about 45 minutes south of where we live. One of the perks of being a truck driver - free jelly beans!

Happy Easter!

God Bless Casey

I love happy endings. And happy beginnings. Heck, I love anything happy! A little over a year ago, I made an awesome Incredible Hulk cake for my friend Leanne's son Luke. A few months later, she and her husband announced that after a long time of trying, they were expecting a little girl! I was so happy for her - especially since I would now be able to give her my daughter's baby clothes that I no longer needed. Cecilia was born at the end of December, and Leanne was due at the beginning of January. Perfect! After Casey was born, I brought the clothes over and she told me that she would be in touch for cakes for her baptism and Luke's first communion. Fast forward a couple months and I got an e-mail from Leanne saying that Casey's baptism was a little over a week away and she wanted a cake, but it didn't need to be fancy. Nice and simple, with lots of lavender. I found a design, she approved and I set to work. The cake itself is yellow cake with vanilla buttercream frosting. No filling on this one. I could have filled it but then the layers would have been really thin and there would have been more frosting than cake. I then added some fondant accents and letters, and dusted the cross with some purple luster dust.

A pretty cake for a pretty little girl!

When I dropped off the cake, Leanne was just finishing up giving Casey a bath. I waited patiently for her to dry Casey off and get her dressed, and then offered to hold her while Leanne wrote out the check for me. Casey is such an adorable baby - she took a few moments to warm up to me, but once I started talking to her and telling her that I'm the cake lady, and how I make lots of yummy cakes, her eyes just lit up! Looks like I have another fan!

Happy Baptism Casey and God Bless you and your family!