Family Tree 2

For my Grandmother's 85th birthday, I knew I had to do something special.  There is nothing more important to her than her family, so I figured that everyone needed to be included.  With this cake, I not only used her favorite colors, but matched the invitations.  

The tree is made of gumpaste...7 branches for her children...14 leaves for their children.  All of those names, plus her 18 great grandchildren were written on the leaves of the tiers, all made of fondant.  The cake was Butterscotch Spice with cream cheese filling.  

Her party was so much fun!  There is nothing better than catching up with family, great food and fireworks!  

Happy Birthday, Grandma "Deanie"

Thank you for always having the confidence in me to achieve whatever I dream of.  

I love you!

 

Return of the Phantom Ghost

Once again, it's time to share goodies with neighbors.  I thought that I would be a bit more decorative than last year's roll of pre-made Halloween cookie dough.  My boys were in a big hurry to pass on the ghost last year, but this year, I took a bit more time.  Happy Halloween to all!

 

West High Senior Night

I usually do my large batches of cookies in December, and they are usually packaged for neighbors and family, but I was thrilled to make some special cookies for a friend and her students.  West High Volleyball Seniors and Cottonwood High Seniors all received cookies  and there were also some for the rest of the players and teachers, as gifts from Coach Wilder.  Flowers are beautiful and everything, but cookies seem to make everyone smile...so I thought that this was such a great idea!  

Thanks to Mindy Wilder for having enough faith in me to make this night special for her girls!  

 

Chocolatey Fall

 

When my dear friend's birthday would be celebrated with a girl's day out with lunch and pedicures, I knew that cake would be the perfect gift!  I have known Kim since my first year of teaching...more than 10 years ago and I am so blessed to have such a great friend.  

 

Her cake was made of Butterscotch Spice with Cinnamon Cream Cheese.  The chocolate fondant and the leaves made of modeling chocolate were a perfect compliment to the cake flavor!  The big problem with having a cake while getting a pedicure is the temperature.  Maybe I noticed it more than I usually do, but it was so hot in there that the leaves were melting on our forks!  No worries...they still tasted like chocolatey goodness...

 

As for the pedicure, it was so nice!  It was a gloomy & rainy day and it felt so good to get pampered.  Happy Birthday, Miss Kim...thanks for all you have done for me & my kiddles!

 

 

Hogwarts Sorting Hat

I had such a blast making this cake!  The sorting hat was for my oldest's good friend, Rayce.  He was having a Harry Potter Birthday and I am so glad that his mom asked me to make this specific design.  His mom and I are pretty close and fortunately, she trusts me when it comes to cake.  At first, I wasn't so sure I deserved such trust since it looked more like a beehive than a hat when I first started carving.  Finally, it started to take shape. 

My main concern, with this cake, was stability.  I knew that I needed a good support system and a dense cake to hold the shape.  The sorting hat was, my new favorite, Butterscotch Spice with cream cheese filling.  I loved that this was all chocolate fondant.  With petal dust and cocoa, I was able to work on the shadows and weathering of the hat. 

As I worked on the details, I had a bit of a Harry Potter movie marathon.  I thought for sure that I would need to watch at least 5 of the movies, but had finished the cake before The Chamber of Secrets had finished!  Not only did I get to make my vision of a great "character" come to life, but I was able to have a movie night.

Happy 8th Birthday, Rayce...

wishing you a magical year!

If anyone is interested in a Harry Potter birthday party and need suggestions, let me know.  Rayce's mom threw an amazing party, complete with Hogwarts "letters" as invitations...from the Headmistress herself!  Thanks for a great party, Brooke!

 Princess Cali

As the mother of 3 boys, I do a LOT of boy cakes!  I wish that one of them would have been a fortress, because I needed a dry run on this new style of cake!  There were so many techniques that I had never done, that I was learning as I went along.  Lucky for me, this cake only had to travel next door!  Next time, I know what I will do to increase stability.

When it comes right down to it, all that matters is that it tastes good!  The top of this cake was Not so Thin Mint chocolate with with white chocolate buttercream.  The bottom tier was Sour Cream White cake with pink buttercream!  Cali's mom asked for a buttercream cake, so the only fondant found on this cake, were in the details.  I found a fabulous scraper/cutter that helped me get the buttercream as smooth as possible; that is, before I roughed it up with the brick template!  

It was really fun to do such a "girlie" cake!  It isn't that often that I make cakes with pinks, purples and flowers!

Cali, Happy Birthday!

You are truly a little princess!

Get Set...GO!

This cake was made for and inspired by one of the cutest sets of twins I know.  Little Jack and Andrew love cars...all cars!  I was thrilled when their mom, one of my dearest friends, asked me to make their birthday cake. Made of my Sour Cream White cake with fresh strawberry buttercream, I hoped this would be a hit with this toddler duo and their family.  Details are both chocolate and marshmallow fondant and buttercream.  

Happy 2nd Birthday 

sweet Jack & Andrew...