Dog Cake

Doesn't everyone throw a party for their dog's first birthday?!  If they don't, they should and if they do, it should include a dog-themed cake, of course.  Our friend Jason knows how to throw a party, and he did just that for his pooch Sydney, a creamy, yellow lab.

I was given one detail....red velvet.  Thought I'd keep it simple and the cake was a hit.  And although she didn't get to eat any, I'm sure Sydney loved it.

This bone cake was two 9x13" carved, red velvet cakes with cream cheese frosting.  Covered/decorated with marshmallow fondant.  Americolor Gourmet Food Writer pens were used for the paw prints.

Cigar Cake

Made a cigar cake for my co-workers' 50th birthday.  All things considered, I thought it turned out well, though, it did kind of look like a loaf of bread.  Next time, I'll include a burnt end and maybe make it a little longer.

Two 9x13" cakes, stacked & carved.  German chocolate cake w/ coconut pecan filling.  Iced with dark chocolate ganache and covered/decorated with MMF.

Easter Cookies

Me and the kiddos made Easter cookies again this year.  Well, I baked and topped with fondant. they went wild with the Americolor Gourmet Food Writer pens.

While they did that, I set a few aside that I had iced w/ royal, to decorate and give away to friends.  I stole borrowed a great idea from Meaghan at The Decorated Cookie.  She always has the cutest and most fun ideas which that can be used in so many different ways, and I've borrowed several of them before.

I hope you and yours had a wonderful Easter!

Hannah's Cake

Last year, when I made Hannah's birthday cake (which you can see HERE), it was all about Hello Kitty. But when her birthday rolled around this year, and I asked her what she wanted, her only requirements were a pink kitty with a crown.  Alrighty, then...and here's what she got.

10" white cake with oreo cookie/buttercream filling.  Covered and decorated with marshmallow fondant.  Even her highness is all fondant.  Very fun cake to make!

Mark & Aimee

Mark & Aimee were wed this weekend in the backyard of a very good friend of mine.  Everything was wonderfully decorated with such attention to detail, and I could only hope my cake added to the beauty of it all.



(iPhone photo)



12", 8" & 6" marble cake with vanilla buttercream. 

Covered & decorated with marshmallow fondant and gumpaste flowers.

Ashley's Sweet 16

A really good family friend's daughter asked if I would make the cake for her Sweet 16 birthday party! 

In our initial conversations, she indicated she wanted white w/ a diamond pattern and that I somehow incorporate yellow.  Here is the design I created.

After going back and forth a little more, she settled on a yellow lower tier w/ the diamond pattern on top and a fondant fabric flower.

Here is the finished cake.

10" white cake with oreo cookie filling and 8" red velvet with cream cheese filling.  Covered and decorated with marshmallow fondant. 



Here's the topper, which I added upon delivery.
(love my airbrush!)



Adrian's Cake

Made this cake for my co-worker's son for his 2nd birthday!  He LOVES Handy Manny!

Not all of Manny's tool friends are included, but you get the idea.  I love how the painted fondant really looks like wood.  Oh, the things that can be done in cake.

9" x 13" cinnamon chocolate fudge cake with vanilla buttercream.  Covered & decorated with marshmallow fondant.

Billy's Cake

I got a VERY last minute cake request from a friend of a friend of my husband's, who's familiar with many of the cakes I've done.  He wanted a cake for his friend's birthday giving only four day's notice, asking that it be a smaller round, red velvet and to somehow incorporate his friend's three least favorite things: tomatoes, olives and coconut.  Um, helloooo, random.  But I agreed.  Here's what he got:

That's one mad tomato and his olive army.

8" red velvet, covered & decorated with marshmallow fondant.  'Coconut' is white chocolate shavings.  And Billy is edible image.

Christmas Cake

I threw together this cake for Christmas dinner with family.  Well, I wouldn't say threw together exactly, thought went into the cake, but not so much the design.  I love how it turned out though; very Christmas-y.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!  I know I did and I'm anxiously looking forward to 2011!

8" cinnamon chocolate fudge cake w/ peppermint meringue buttercream and candy cane crunchies.  6" pound cake with vanilla buttercream.  Covered and decorated with marshmallow fondant and sanding sugar.

Terry & Maria's Cake

Hubby's coworker reached out to me a few months ago to make a wedding cake for them and I happily obliged.  The bride wanted something very simple and clean and here's what they got:

12" cinnamon chocolate fudge cake, 10" pistachio cake and 8" red velvet cake, each filled and iced with swiss meringue buttercream.  Covered and decorated with marshmallow fondant.  The black fondant ribbons were accented with black sanding sugar. 

Shawn's Cake

This is by far one of the most unique cakes I've made.  And one that required some ingenuity and structural pieces.

My friend Laura wanted to surprise her husband with a cake for his 35th birthday!  Both she and her husband Shawn are really into curling.  You know, the sport!  They belong to a club, so it's not just an enjoyment of the sport, it's a participatory activity for them.

So, she wanted to surprise him with a curling rock (or sometimes known as a stone) cake and I was happy to oblige.

Having never seen a rock in person, I was working entirely from a picture, but I wanted it to be very close to actual size. 

It was a fairly simple cake.  I carved a three-layer, 10" round and used 1/2" PVC pipe pieces to make the handle. My piping around the edges needs some work. 

Overall I'm very pleased with the cake and the birthday boy LOVED it!



Out for delivery

Cinnamon chocolate fudge with raspberry swiss meringue buttercream.  Covered and decorated with marshmallow fondant

Update: Giveaway Winner

Unfortunately, the original winner of my 1st Giveaway did not contact me in an adequate time frame to collect her prize, so I've selected a new winner.

Congratulations to Loren at The Baking Sheet!

Please email me your address and I'll get your new apron in the mail!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Once again inspired by Meaghan at The Decorated Cookie, I made these fun cookies for the Thanksgiving holiday.  I also made Bridget's turkey cookies from bake at 350.

I'm especially fond of the pie.  And while Meaghan didn't have a cooked turkey template, it was pretty easy to create as well. 

My own sugar cookie Thanksgiving feast. 

Now...how to draw some corn, yams, macaroni & cheese, green bean casserole, biscuits & mashed potatoes.  Anyone?

Hope you and yours have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Julie's Cake

I made my first vegan cake to help celebrate a friend's birthday!  I researched a few different recipes and scoured the web looking for vegan fondant.  Who knew that Satin Ice, which I have used before and can easily find, would be just what I needed. 

I struggled somewhat decorating this cake though.  My swirls kept sliding, which affected the coloring of the airbrushed cake.  Thankfully, I know exactly how to do it cleanly next time.

8" vegan red velvet (so freaking tasty) & 5" vegan vanilla sour cream cake, filled and iced with vegan cream cheese frosting.  Covered and decorated with Satin Ice fondant (which is also vegan).

My 1st Giveaway

I've been fortunate enough to win a few giveaways, so in the spirit of giveaways and paying it forward, I'm hosting my first giveaway.

I'm giving away this colorful and stylish "Vibrant Large Flowers" three-pocket half apron, handmade by Doris at GreatGoods.

Created with 'Vibrant Large Floral on Black' twill fabric designed by Sanae, it also has a coordinating flower print accents waistband and is fully lined.  It measures approximately 25” wide x 12” long with adjustable waist ties (35” each).  It can be tied in the back or wrapped around to the front as shown in picture.

This apron is perfect for baking, gardening or any other variety of jobs.  I have this same apron in the 'Brown Lacework' printed fabric and I absolutely LOVE it.

HOW TO ENTER

Just leave a comment that says - "I like cake!"

Earn an extra entry by tweeting about the giveaway on twitter - include a link to this post. Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

The giveaway ends on Sunday, November 21st at Midnight MST. One winner will be chosen randomly and announced on Monday, November 22nd.

RULES

This giveaway is available to residents of the U.S. and Canada ONLY.

Good luck!



Riley's Cake

This is also the 3rd year I've made Riley's birthday cake.

Riley recently got a new turtle she named Lily.  And decided she wanted a turtle cake for her birthday.  But not just any turtle cake, but a pink turtle cake.

Three 10" carved cinnamon chocolate fudge cakes with vanilla buttercream for the body.  Head is butter pecan with vanilla buttercream.  Covered and decorated with marshmallow fondant.

And I also wanted to share a picture of Riley with her cake.  One, because it was her birthday and she loved her cake; and two, because it's hard to gauge the size/scale of a cake when it's photographed by itself and this cake was pretty big. 

Cut cake.  Something I usually never get to see or want to take a picture of.



James & McKenzie's cake

This is my 3rd year making a birthday cake for twins, James & McKenzie, who celebrated with a Woody & Jessie, Toy Story themed party this year. 

I also made fondant figurines of Woody & Jessie for the cake top, but naturally, I didn't get a picture snapped upon delivery when they were added.  Hopefully Mindy will email me a copy so I can share pictures of those too!

10" cinnamon chocolate fudge with vanilla buttercream.  8" vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream.  Covered and decorated with marshmallow fondant.



Omarr's Graduation Cake

Dionne, whose birthday cake is below, wanted to surprise her husband Omarr with a graduation cake. He recently graduated from the University of Phoenix with a Master's in Justice & Security Administration.

She gave me free range for the design, which got me excited to try something different.  I thought stacked books was a much more mature design than a round, colorful cake with a graduate cap topper. 

I did a little research and used courses listed in his degree program as book titles.  I airbrushed the cake to give the books a leathery and worn look, which I really liked.  Accented with gold, the school logo was hand painted and the cake personalized with a standing, gold, fondant letter 'O', which was added to the cake upon delivery (so I don't have a picture).

I'm very happy with the outcome and Omarr was too!  So much so, he didn't want to cut it! *smile*



White cake with vanilla buttercream.  Covered & decorated with marshmallow fondant.

Giveaway Win!

If you didn't already know, I.LOVE.BLOGS.  I follow and read all kinds of blogs.  Entertaining, insightful, informative and most with purrrrdy pictures, I like to spend a good chunk of my day checking out the goings-on of my fellow bloggers, who for the most part are everyday people like you and me.  Shoot, I'm willing to guess that most of the people who read my blog are bloggers too.  Hello friends!

I started my family blog, WHOA {just realizing}, 5 years ago this month!  And I have since started two others (this one included).  The 3rd blog is on pretty shaky ground, but I do have intentions of getting that train back on track. 

Blog following has its advantages and I'm happy to say I'm reaping the benefits of a giveaway I recently won from TamStyles' "Get It Girl Style" blog. 

Aren't these calling cards THE cutest! 

They were created and printed by Pam at pixelimpress who customized my order with the quatrefoil pattern.  Tres` chic, oui?!  And guess what -- Pam has a blog too!

I absolutely LOVE them!  Big thanks to Tam and Pam!

I think I'm going to host my first giveaway too, so check back soon!

Eddie's Cake

I was asked to make a birthday cake for Eddie's 40th birthday, commemorating all of Eddie's favorite things in a the form of a pie chart.

30% for his love of flying planes, 20% to being a kid, 25% for all his schooling (to include law school) and another 25% to chasing T&A (and if you don't know what that is, try and get a closer look at the picture).

I covered the board and created a graph paper look.  The items denoting all of Eddie's favorite things included a stack of books, a plane, a red wagon and a woman's naked torso.

12" round white cake filled with vanilla buttercream.  Covered and decorated w/ marshmallow fondant.