My Aunt was celebrating a big birthday while we were at a family reunion out of state this summer, and she shared her birthday week with my Grandmother.  I decided to include both of their interests when creating their cake. 

My Aunt creates the most amazing dollhouses as a hobby.  I thought it only appropriate to include such a detail in her cake.  She has always loved plants (working in a nursery for many, many years), which I wanted to include, and of course she is a fan of chocolate, which made the top tier an obvious devil’s food.

My grandmother’s favorite color is light blue.  She is married to a man that cannot eat chocolate.  This made the bottom tier an obvious white cake.  Both cakes had a vanilla buttercream frosting (though the top tier had a thin chocolate layer below the buttercream).

The house was made from a kit I purchased at a local hobby store, painted by hand and built the day I made the cakes.

This was her inspiration: Simple cakes, in abundance.  She wanted simple.  I couldn’t have asked for a better request for my first wedding cakes!

I made 10″ , 6″ and 8″ white cakes with vanilla buttercream frosting, one 8″ devil’s food cake with chocolate buttercream and one 6″ devil’s food cake with vanilla buttercream frosting.

I also provided an 11×17 sheet cake.  They anticipated 100 guests, and I wanted to ensure that some of the guests had cake to take home.

To help with the variance in heights, cake plates and books were used.  I loved the final product, and was so thankful for the opportunity.  Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Tinahui!

The same person who ordered the root beer cake months ago called a few days before her daughter’s birthday to order cakes for a Valentine’s Day themed little girl’s party.  The opportunity to work with rose water again had me excited, so I began preparation.

The cakes were rose water flavored; delicate and lovely.  Each cake was four layers, alternating hot pink and white layers, with a pink buttercream / rosewater frosting.

Cakes were prepared to serve 30+.

Considering the fact that when my back was turned, my 3 year old ate half of two cooling cakes and I had to remake them, I think all turned out well.  Happy birthday Savana!

My sister in law had a special girl’s night celebration for her birthday.  As she has recently found out that she is pre-diabetic, I wanted to keep this in mind when making her cake.  It ended up to be four layers of chocolatey deliciousness complemented by fluffy Italian Meringue frosting.  It was a dream, and most importantly, the birthday girl was very happy.

Root beer cake with boiled root beer frosting decorated with root beer buttercream

I was asked to make this root beer cake less than 2 days before it was needed.  It served 30 and I used a combination of buttercream, boiled frosting and piping gel for the decorations.

I generally prefer to keep the color palate somewhat subdued when someone wants to highlight a particular theme.  That was the reasoning I maintained when making the cake white – I wanted it to be a canvas for the root beer theme.

Little girl's first birthday cake - serves 20

My dear friend’s daughter turned one, and I was fortunate to be the one to be chosen to make the cake.

Alayna's first birthday cake

The cake was a white cake with raspberry filling and buttercream frosting.

The little guests at the party got their own cupcake, complete with a cookie!

I also made cupcakes for all of the young guests at the party and topped them with sugar cookies.  Needless to say, the kids LOVED the fact that they got two desserts in one.

I recently made a Clifford the Big Red Dog birthday cake my best friend’s son on his 3rd birthday.

The top tier was red velvet cake with cream cheese filling and buttercream frosting.

The bottom tier was white cake with buttercream and fondant.  Cake served 50.

The adults were able to enjoy a kahlua chocolate cake and chocolate truffles

Both of my sons had a cake of their own for their first birthday

Jonathan approved of his first cake.

When I make cakes for first birthdays, I generally try to keep icing colors to a minimum and cakes low in sugar, as oftentimes little ones don’t have much exposure to sugar at this point.  By keeping the colors to a minimum, clothes (and surrounding areas) aren’t susceptible to stains.

All that mattered to my youngest boy was that the cake was yummy, and he did in fact approve.

They were a perfect breakfast, snack and dessert.  They were 3-year-old boy approved.

After a bit of bedrest, I had myself a second boy, a month early…

I baked 9 pies, cheesecake brownies and a pumpkin bundt cake for a church function…

We had gingerbread and Asti while decorating for Christmas…

I made gingerbread ornaments that my toddler couldn’t resist…

I made plates upon plates of Christmas cookies that my toddler also couldn’t resist…

I decided to teach said toddler how to make his own goodies to eat….

I became an Independent Beauty Consultant for Mary Kay…

Made Bakerella’s cake balls for my Valentines and worked diligently on finding the best recipe for brownies (Kahlua Cinnamon Brownies on were at the top of the list).

So basically I gave birth, started my own business, had numerous baking project that didn’t necessarily include cake, and put on several pounds from said projects.

Now that you are caught up, enjoy my most recent projects.