A Thank You

I'm really a ridiculously erratic blogger. Really. I am so lucky to make the cakes that I make, when I do get to make them. I'm even luckier in that there are people out there actually taking the time to look at my cakes and share in my cake joys and frustrations. I'm only a hobbyist. And I certainly don't feel I deserve to be honored for my inconsistent blogging...but I am! How 'bout that?

So this is a thank you to Baking Momma for this lovely award and the lovely words she typed about me on her beautiful blog. Thanks!



Now I'm blessed to pass this award along to:

Sweet Things
Party Perfect
Thirty Handmade Days
Pink Little Cake

I love reading these blogs! I love all the blogs I read and I only recently discovered two of them...the other two I've been following a long time!

I hope you enjoy following them as much as I have!

Blessings!

Christmas, an Anniversary, and a Company Cake

So I know I've been MIA for A LONG LONG time...I mean a month in the blogosphere is similar to a year in other circles. Let me start by apologizing for missing a post and then not getting a picture of the Christmas cake to even make a belated post out of... such is life.

Here, however, is a picture of my hubby and I on our anniversary celebration. 6 years!!! We finally made it past 5! My hubby always says no one listens to what you have to say about marriage for the first 5 years...since you are "newlyweds". LOL!

I had wanted to remake our wedding cake (the top layer only) but didn't get a chance to and with my new weight loss regimen...decided it was best not to make a cake that would sit here and beg to be eaten.

The following weekend I made this cake for a belated Epiphany Party which is my hubby's yearly office party. The cake is based on their office logo which is basically a blue tree.


I was so thrilled that with my new cake turntable my fondant was much easier to apply and cut off and overall I had a clean look on the bottom of my cake with no holes to cover! So wonderful!
It is a chocolate cake with oreo buttercream (my hubby's new favorite) covered in marshmallow fondant. AND, the most exciting news of all...I used the below gift to make it!!!



My refurbished commercial KA mixer!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With a 6 quart bowl!!!!AHHHHHHHHHHHH! Yes ladies I can finally stop killing those poor handmixers (I've already had to toss 3) and move on to something more my size. This was the merriest gift of all! :)

So I'm back! On arriving back I discovered I won a blog award! I know little about it, but I know I get to name other blogs to receive this award now...so more on that next time!

Blessings in this New Year!

Advent Cake

I made this mostly buttercream cake for an Advent social I attended. I wanted something not "Christmasey" but not "generic holiday" and this is what I decided on. I used "REJOICE" since it's commonly heard in the song "O Come O Come Emmanuel" and is what the whole season of Advent is about...rejoicing as we await the coming of the Savior. So I also included text around the sides of the cake, "Hope. Joy. Love. Fiat (Your will be done)."

I was surprised how well I was able to pipe...given piping isn't my thing, but I think it has much more to do with a good consistency of icing. Which I actually managed to achieve by adding a bit of corn syrup to the all shortening buttercream. I'm really pleased that this little trick did wonders for my piping! Woo hoo!

The stars and dove are made from fondant. It's a vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream. Nothing fancy just a little cake for a very blessed night with the ladies. It was fun! I have lots leftover again...funny how even when I make it teeny it is still too much! LOL!

Advent Blessings!

Choo-Choo my son is two!

Happy Birthday to my little man! I cannot believe it has been two years this week!!!! He was born on the first Sunday of Advent so we are celebrating tomorrow...even though his birthday is not until Wednesday.

I made him this "Choo-choo" cake. He, as all little boys do; loves trains, planes and helicopters.

This cake was made all in one day so the fondant was a bit rough to work with hence a little bit of trouble here and there. I am overall happy with it although if it was for someone else I would have piped little royal icing dots over all the "seams" and hidden some of the fondant flaws. Given the holiday weekend...all of the shopping and having family in town...that didn't happen. Sooo I'm leaving him (the train) as is and remembering that my beloved 2 year old son will love his cake even with all its little flaws!

Advent Blessings!

Sugar and Spice Cake

This cake was for a baby shower I helped plan for a friend having her first girl. We did a "Sugar and Spice...that's what little girls are made of" theme. The colors were pink and green.




I had originally promised to make this cake simple and then I decided to change my mind. Hehe. WELL...in the midst of attempting a feat beyond my skill...I went back to the original plan for something simple. Soooo I ended up with an entire 6 inch 4 layer cake in my fridge because I ended up not using it atop my 8 inch cake. Long story short...keep it simple silly. :P It was for the best since about 5 people (for one reason or another) ended up canceling. So there was cake leftover even having an 8 inch. Good thing I changed my mind AGAIN! I also made gingerbread girl cookies for the favors which you can see here in this picture...a little bit...lol!



I did a chocolate/vanilla layered cake torted and filled with buttercream. In the center layer I added mini chocolate chips. It was covered and decorated with buttercream and marshmallow fondant decorations. I love the colors! I ended up changing my design a few times but in the end I was happy with it. I had some trouble with the buttercream...grrrrr. But I'm still learning!

Blessings!

Monkey/Ducky/Clothesline cake

This photo is not fan-tab-ulous, but I couldn't find my camera and my hubby took it with his cell phone. Oh well. I told you in the beginning I'm not a photographer...still working on that.

This was a baby shower cake for my sister-in-law who is pregnant with my first niece!!!! She and her husband love monkeys and ducks (their bathroom is decorated in this theme) and the party theme was based around baby clothes on a clothesline so I incorporated all of it into this cake.

The top tier is white cake with white chocolate buttercream. The bottom tier is yellow cake with eggless chocolate chip cookie dough buttercream (say that five times fast). Both tiers are covered in marshmallow fondant with fondant decorations. The clothesline is a sour candy string I rinsed and attached between pieces of fondant "wood". I piped the clothespins and handpainted the baby blanket. It was lots of work! BUT also lots of FUN! :)



Blessings!

Ladybug Cake

I made this cake for a friend's daughter's 2nd birthday party. She bought supplies and came over to help me put it all together. It was a lot of fun working on a project with "support staff" so to speak. I enjoy talking about cake decorating so I explained how I do things when I make cakes and she and I had a blast! Her daughter loves sunflowers so we incorporated that into the design.



I made cupcakes for the kids and we worked together to make ladybugs, flowers and leaves ahead of time. There is one little pink ladybug to represent her daughter and all the others are red. I was so worried there wouldn't be enought sunflower petals so I continued making them until all of my yellow fondant was gone!





I made the big ladybug out of krispie treats and stuck a lollipop stick into her head to help hold it higher and secure it.



The cake is chocolate/vanilla layers with buttercream filling/crumbcoat and marshmallow fondant. All of the decorations(excepting the krispie treat ladybug) are fondant.

Here's the view from above:


I had a lot of fun with this cake! I hope you enjoy it too!

Blessings!