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.  

Dionne's Cake

My friend Dionne was celebrating her 35th birthday and her husband wanted to surprise her with a cake made by yours truly!  This fun, modern cake was also a lot of fun to make and a big hit!





8", three-layer carrot cake with swiss meringue buttercream.  Covered and decorated with marshmallow fondant, silver dragees and a gumpaste peony.

From Sketch to Cake

September was a busy month for cake.  Well, not terribly busy, but one week alone was rough. I made two cakes for the same day, one of which was my daughter's 4th birthday party and Hello Kitty cake.

Here's the sketch I made for the cake design...

And the end result...

12" Cinnamon chocolate fudge cake with rasperry-almond buttercream filling.  Hello Kitty's body was carved white cake and her head was styrofoam.  Covered and decorated with marshmallow fondant.

And the sketch for Gaby's 2nd birthday cake.  The color and the birds were from the invitation that Gaby's mom, Karen, designed.

The cake...

Gaby's cake was a 10" white cake with blueberry filling and an 8" marble cake with vanilla buttercream.  Covered and decorated with marshmallow fondant.  The birds matched the invitation.

Thanks for looking!

BBQ Cookies

We had a small get-together at our house this weekend, mostly to hang out and cool off with friends and their kids by the pool.  It's HOT here in Arizona, so pool time is a must!  So, we threw some burgers and dogs on the bbq and made a day of it.

For fun, I made these sugar cookies with a half batch of dough I had in the freezer and leftover marshmallow fondant.  I borrowed the idea from Meaghan at The Decorated Cookie and used Americolor Food Writer pens for the 'art'.  I also let the kiddos decorate cookies too, and as usual, they had a blast making their own art!

This is such a fun, easy way to jazz up cookies and make them festive for any occasion, even a little 'ol bbq. 

Wedding #2

It's been a busy month and I am officially on a caking break! 

My co-worker is getting married this weekend and made a last minute request for a cake. 

8" & 4.5" red velvet cakes with swiss meringue buttercream.  Covered with ivory, marshmallow fondant, decorated with fuschia sugar beads and a gumpaste peony. 

I really like working with Isomalt/poured sugar and can't wait for more opportunities to use it!

I need a new camera!!

Mindy's 30th

Mindy's 30th birthday party was a blast and I was both happy and excited to provide the cake.  My thoughts now tell me that one should not try new techniques for such momentous occasions.  Hindsight things *sigh*. 

Any-hoo, Mindy loved it and I'm not terribly unhappy with how it turned out.  I definitely learned a lot from the experience and actually look forward to trying another.

10", 7" and 4" cakes.  Bottom tier was yellow cake with Hershey's chocolate buttercream, middle tier was white cake with strawberry filling and the top tier was white cake with vanilla buttercream.  All covered and decorated with marshmallow fondant.

Chris's Cake

My friend Chris turned 34 earlier this week.  His wife was throwing a party and asked that I surprise him with a cake.  And not just any cake, but an exotic cake.  If you're not familiar with exotic cakes, they typically involve naked ladies. 

SooOOoo, in an effort to keep my blog family-friendly, I will not be posting a picture of the cake.

If you'd like to check it out, click HERE.

It was two carved 9"x13" cakes (triple chocolate fudge) and two ball pan cakes (white cake), both filled and iced with Hershey's chocolate buttercream.  Covered and decorated with marshmallow fondant.

It was kinda weird how real the whole thing looked, but it was a very fun cake to make and the birthday boy was pleasantly surprised!

Arizona Weddings Magazine

OK, I am just a little giddy!  The wonderful couple whose wedding cake I made last spring is featured in the June/July issue of Arizona Weddings magazine.  And guess who's cake got a photo and a vendor mention??  Yep, that would be me!

WOOT!  WOOT!

Amy & Temesghan's Cake

I've made my 2nd wedding cake!  And boy was it a doozy!  Mostly because it was for a wedding I was also a bridesmaid in AND was 6 hours away in California.

I don't know that I'll be inclined to travel with a wedding cake again as it was supremely stressful between all the baking and prep (like the 16 pounds of fondant I made!), let alone the driving!  But I had a lot of fun with this cake and the bride & groom were very happy with it!

Five tiers of red velvet cake with swiss meringue buttercream filling.  Covered with marshmallow fondant, gumpaste roses and royal icing detail.

Many Thanks

I'm always grateful for those amazing tips that you may come across that can or will change the way you cake.  My latest, method-changing tip came by way of a tweet.  I don't recall when or who tweeted it, but I'm glad I read it, because it saved me.

I was making a cake and was out of the non-stick spray I mist my pans with before filling with cake batter.  I get it from my local cake supply store and it usually lasts me a while, so I don't buy it very often.  But naturally, when I needed it, I was out. 

Now, I know I can grease and flour my pans, but that's time consuming, and past experience has shown that it doesn't work that well for me. 

But this new tip is great, and almost the exact same thing, but with a little twist, so, here it is:

Equal parts, flour, shortening and vegetable oil.  Whisk together until smooth and brush onto your pan with a pastry brush. 

That's it.  Short and sweet.  And so simple.  And you can make a lot or a little depending on what your needs may be.  It's now my go-to.  Perhaps it'll work for you.

Pics later this week or early next of the wedding cake I'm working on!!  Stay tuned!

Life + Style Blog Feature

A short while ago, I reached out to Dayka at Life + Style hoping she could offer a little insight as to how to style our currently empty living room space.  After getting to know her, she was sweet enough to write a feature about my caking on her blog!

Check it out HERE.

Thanks Dayka!