1950's

For a small birthday gathering with a 1950's theme ... I went with the poodle skirt, two poodles and a few records. Love the colors on this one. So retro. I crafted the poodles with melted white chocolate -- everything else is fondant.

A Ladybugs Garden Party

For a little girl turning one, fashioned after the party invitation. White almond sour cream cake with buttercream icing, covered in fondant with all fondant decor. Engineering the ladybugs sitting on the stools was quite the challenge, but a whole lot of fun.

St. Patrick's Day Engagement

The groom's parents were hosting an engagement party last night -- they wanted a fairly sophisticated cake with a St. Patrick's Day theme rather than a wedding theme. In my mind, St. Pat's Day and sophistication don't really hang out in the same room much, but this was my attempt at bridging the two concepts.

This is my white almond sour cream cake with buttercream icing and fondant decor. And a few shamrocks exploding out the top. Organza ribbon at the base of each tier. Words printed out on photo paper and "stuck" to the fondant banners.

Annie Turns Two

Her first birthday cake was one of the first ones I did and pictured on this blog -- you can go back to the beginning of the archives to see it. This year, she'll be our eldest daughter's flower girl in the wedding, and she's verbal enough to request what she wants on her cake. In this case, it's butterflies, ladybugs, frogs and flowers.

Retiring to New Mexico ... in an RV

In honor of my cousin -- the same one who rides the off-road Segway with the helmet labeled "Nutcase." This cake was crafted for her official office retirement party today. This is my version of the super-fancy RV they are hopping into after March 31. They will triapse down here and make it to our daughter's wedding celebration on their way to official retirement on their land in New Mexico. How's THAT for some awesome relatives?!

The cake had to be shipped nearly 1000 miles. It made it more than on time, and somewhat unscathed ... I hear it was listing to one side when it arrived -- and some (soon-to-be-ex) fellow employees determined the listing was obviously because she and her husband were sleeping on that side of the rig ;-)

I gotta perfect this cake-shipping thing, for sure. Although -- this was a pretty big cake to ship. I don't blame it at all for listing a bit to one side. Plus -- I can't control DHL, much as I would like to think I can.

Other views of the RV cake

M&M Chick

This one was made for a friend who's a chocolate freak and an M&M lover. Chocolate cake, buttercream icing, covered in fondant with fondant accents. Too cute!

Bridal Shower

Now we come 'round to the beginning of the season of the reason for this entire cake-decorating adventure I've been on for the past year ... eldest daughter's bridal shower was last night, and here's the cake I made.

It's a rendering of her gown -- not exactly the same, but close enough. The skirt was baked in a Pampered Chef batter bowl, then stack on top of a 9" round (all chocolate, of course.) Iced in buttercream. Fondant gown. Sugar glitter stuck on the appropriate places with light corn syrup.

And that mannequin that the dress is hanging on ... that's a Barbie doll with her head and arms ripped off, covered with black fondant. I knew there'd be a good use for all these old Barbie dolls one day!

Bridal Shower

Back view of the gown -- I mean, cake.

An Offroad Segway?

Never knew there was such a thing. But there is. And here's the cake to prove it. My cousin got one for her retirement present. So when her kids threw her a surprise retirement party, we knew we HAD to make a Segway Cake for the event. So here it is. Another shipper-cake -- this time it went only about 950 miles, and DHL got it there a Whole Day Early. (My shipping guy tells me they've got me on their "Do NOT piss this woman OFF" list now. Works for me.)

The wheels and standy-onny-thing-part are chocolate cake, iced in buttercream and covered in chocolate fondant tinted black. The fenders are gumpaste painted with silver luster dust. The handle thing is rice krispie treats made with melted chocolate rather than marshmallows, then covered in the same fondant -- I figured the kids could chew on that thing all night and leave the cake for the adults.

The cake itself shifted off to the side a bit in shipping, and all that green grass (royal icing) was demolished in transit ... but cousin's son and his wife did an excellent job of re-doing the green-grass icing and sticking some jellybeans (see post below) in the grass. Hopefully I'll have some pics of the "after arrival" cake to post, soon.

A couple more views

When she zooms out on this contraption, she wears a helmet with jellybeans all over it, and the label on the front says "Nutcase." So I wasn't being rude when I put the New Mexico NUTCASE license plate on the back of the machine (New Mexico is where they're retiring to). And the saying on the front is a bumper sticker her husband had made to put on the front of it.

Ballerina Girl

For a four year old who wanted ballet shoes and a tutu on her pink and white cake. A white cake with buttercream icing. The ballet shoes are made of gumpaste, and there is one for each birthday party attendee to either eat or take home as a souvenir. The tutu-on-top is purchased.

Winging it's way ...

to the frozen northland. If you have any pull with the DHL fairies, please put in a good word for this cake to get to its destination on time. All 3 shippers claim they can't promise anything due to yesterday's weather up there, so we shall see.

The colors in this picture are a bit more intense than they really are -- it's much more pastel than it looks here. A pretty little cake for a pretty lady artist turning 50-mumble-something.

And since she's my younger cousin, that must make me MORE than 50-mumble-something. Yikes. How'd that happen?

This cake looks so "simply pretty" to me, that it's one of the FEW cakes I've ever made that I wish I could have a piece of. (I'm not much of a cake eater -- I just love to create them for people who DO love cakes.) Oh well. DHL didn't exactly invite me to ride on the plane and hold the cake in my lap. Too bad for me.

Cutie Bug

Gosh darn, the kids party invitations today are so way cuter than what we had 25 years ago! I drew the ladybug onto a gumpaste plaque with food-coloring markers. Fashioned the rest of the cake after her colors and style. Chocolate bottom tier, white top tier, all covered in fondant. And that's real polka-dot ribbon wrapped around the base of each tier. You can't tell from the picture, but the Cutie Bug's shoes are black and white polka dot. Too cute!

Wedding Shower

This was an "Entertaining" shower for the bride and groom. The bride's sister wrote a darling poem (on the chalkboard, upper right), and I searched their bridal registries to see the types of things they are registered for as they plan to entertain a lot in their new life together. He likes beer, she likes champagne, and they registered for a champagne bucket and a big black cooler-on-wheels (I left off the wheels.) Champagne bottle is a candle, beer cans are plastic novelties. Chip and dip bowl, complete with chips and dip. A set of their dishes. A silver grill pan complete with hot dogs and hamburgs. A casserole dish filled with spaghetti. And the cake plate they wanted, complete with a wedding-cake candle. The fondant covering the cake is the same color as her attendants' gowns. They'll carry fuchsia tulips.

Go Texan Days

This little girl's birthday falls on the first day of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo -- a big deal down here. The parents are having a western-themed barbecue party to celebrate. This cake is based on the party invitation. Blue gingham surrounds the sides of the cake, red bandanna shapes on top, a twisted rope border around the bottom, and a boot and cowboy hat to hold up the Happy Birthday Ava sign. The sign had a red border added after I took this picture.

Number 11

Made for a friend of youngest daughter's who is on the basketball team at U of H. I guess you can tell what his name and number are ;-) Strawberry cake, per his request. Buttercream icing. Fondant jersey and fondant-covered board. A fun cake to make, and it was wildly appreciated.

Dino

(I heard Fred Flintstone calling Dino's name the whole time I was making this cake. Showing my age, much?)

Designed after the darling party invitation, complete with primary-colored dinosaurs and crushed graham cracker 'dirt'. White cake, white frosting. Gumpaste dinosaurs, painted with food colors.

Sam Turns Two

Hand-painted gumpaste train cars designed after the birthday invitation. Plus a little froggy and some ladybugs. My white almond sour cream cake with buttercream icing. Yummy!

Still Wild at 50!

A cake made for an amazing lady who was throwing her own 50th birthday party. The design was taken from the napkins/party theme. Half chocolate, half white, iced in buttercream with fondant accents.