Happy 50th Jerry and Judy!

A co-worker that I refer to only as "Mama May" (she is my work mom) asked me to make a birthday cake for her husband and his twin sister's 50th birthday party at the beginning of this month. After searching for ideas to incorporate 100 years (their ages combined), I decided to go with the practical "Over the Hill" theme but add some of my own touches to it. Happy 50th Jerry and Judy! May your next 50 be just as fabulous!

It's Been a While - Flashback

 

Unfortunately the start of the new school year along with finishing up my masters degree has taken up the majority of my time and time I'd like to be baking is spent writing lesson plans. While I have a few upcoming cakes to make for family and friends I decided to have a flashback to my summer.

This summer I was able to teach a cooking class at the middle school. Our final project of the summer was making and decorating cakes...here are my future baking assistant's pieces of art!

Angry Birds!

I'll admit, I've wasted hours of my life playing Angry Birds, so when a friend of mine asked if I could do an Angry Birds cake for her son's 8th birthday I had no problem coming up with this idea.

The cake was a marble pound cake, which worked great for carving out the birds, and I only had to scrape frosting once to fix a mess up while icing it free hand. I was very pleased with how it turned out, and the birthday boy was thrilled when I dropped it off. While I guess I can say the Angry Birds have consumed a few more hours of my life, I really enjoyed making this cake.

LeClair Baby Shower

I does not seem possible that it was over ten years ago when I spent a Saturday afternoon two house down from my parent's helping my friend Donna get ready for prom our senior year...and now last month I was honored to make cupcakes for one of her baby showers. Where does time go?

Donna showed me a picture of her invitation to the shower and asked for cupcakes that included the color purple and giraffes. I was stumped for a while and after spending some time walking around JoAnn Fabrics I found a giraffe cookie cutter, fondant pens, and I had my idea. I made giraffe cut outs from fondant and used the fondant pens to create their spots. I was pleased with how they turn out and am now able to add another technique to my toolbox!

Congratualtions Donna and Matt!

Happy Birthday Alex and MacKenzie!

If there is one thing I loved about having a birthday when I was a kid it was picking out what kind of birthday cake I wanted. It was a question my mom always asked my brother and I, "What kind of cake do you want this year?" Granted, Dairy Queen won out a lot, but you have to remember, I was a child of the 80's and the introduction of a cake made of ice cream was a pretty big deal. I think if my future children request a Dairy Queen cake some day I may fall over dead.

A friend from High School contacted me and asked if I could make a cake for her 4 year old son and 6 year old daughter's joint birthday party. I was honored and had a blast making the cake.

Alex requested a blue dragon peanut butter cake, he was very specific. While MacKenzie stole my heart asking for a pink princess cake made with chocolate cake, hint hint, Ariel was her favorite princess. I had a so much fun making the cakes, but the real fun came when I got to drop them off. I have made a lot of cakes for adults, but the excitement that poured out of these two kids was like nothing I'd seen before. It was my birthday when they were delivered and it was the best part of my day. Happy Birthday, Kids!

My First Wedding Cake

On July 23rd one of my oldest, dearest friends, Kaylee, got married and I was honored to be asked to make the cakes for her wedding dinner with close family. She made a beautiful bride and I have never seen a bride and groom look so in love on their wedding day. I was very happy to be able to add to their special day.
Kaylee's wedding was a very natural theme. I made three separate cakes, one carrot, one white with cream and strawberries, and one chocolate with cream and strawberries. For decoration I kept it simple with buttercream stars and fresh flowers.

Congratulations Kaylee and Shane, and the offer still stands, I'll be happy to make your one year anniversary cake as well!



 A huge thanks to Whitney Foley, owner and photographer of Transitions Photography, for these beautiful shots!

Pretty In Pink Cupcakes

This weekend my cousin celebrated her 30th birthday and asked me to make the cupcakes. She had some great flavor combinations, Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, lemon cupcakes with buttercream frosting, and rich chocolate cupcakes cupcakes with amaretto frosting. After my fun with fondant last week I used more fondant to make flower decorations for the cupcakes. Making these cupcakes allowed me to enjoy my favorite part about baking, making others happy! Happy Birthday Mel, I hope your day was special (and delicious)!!!

First Fondant Cake

I have never been a fan of fondant. I personally don't care for the taste, and after trying once, and failing miserably at doing a fondant cake I gave up, until now. This is not my first time successfully working with fondant (see picture below) but it is my first time successfully doing a cake!

I felt there was no better way to procrastinate my dull grad class work on grant writing than to bake a cake from scratch, make fondant from scratch, and decorate a cake. I was very pleased with how it turned out and plan to do more fondant cakes in the future, I guess I can add that to my frosting flavors!

Flavors!

I've tried a lot of flavors that I've really fallen in love with. My personal favorite is my carrot cake with cream cheese frosting...however a white cake with buttercream and custard and fresh strawberry filling is pretty spectacular too!

Welcome!

I've always loved baking, from the time I was able to walk I was helping my mom in the kitchen. Over the past few years I've taken an even greater interest in making cakes, cookies, and treates for anyone and everyone. One of my favorite places in the world is my kitchen with an apron on, music blasting, and a recipe in front of me. What I love the most is the happiness the things I create bring to other people. Whether it's taking a treat to work or making a cake for a wedding, I LOVE to make those around me happy. So, now's the time to take the next step and show off my work and cakes that I've done for friends and family.