Baby Boy Baptism

A two-layered white almond sour cream cake carved into the shape of a cross ... slathered with buttercream and decorated with a fondant bow. Yum. I'd like a slice of that with my morning coffee right about now ...

Two Cakes for a Hand Surgeon

This larger cake is for her birthday party celebration in the office, and the cake below is a smaller cake for her to take home and enjoy with her family.

The design on top (in royal icing) happens to be a topographic relief map of the human hand giving the "okay" sign. (No way could I do most of my cakes without my BFF Google!)

They had discussed in the beginning wanting a cake shaped like a hand giving the "okay" sign. I most definitely could not figure out the physics on that one, so they agreed to just a sheet cake with two hands drawn on top.

Well, I knew that just wasn't going to be awesome-looking enough for my cake standards, so I came up with this.

As it turns out, my muses were speaking directly to me. This is the position they put your hand in when they take an x-ray, and here I have an x-ray-looking-ish hand on the top of the cake. Who knew?

The Hand

I was originally intending to make this a pretty, delicate female hand with nail polish, a sparkly ring and a pearl bracelet. But it turns out to be darn hard to craft small slender fingers out of a 2" tall cake and have enough cake left for more than once person to eat. Once I got the fondant on this one, it was obvious this was going to have to be a man's hand.

So I made up the story in my head that this was a granddaddy farmer who got his hand caught in a hay baler and came to this lady hand surgeon to fix his hand so he could go back to providing for his family -- and keeping everyone else in the community fed. Thus, the blue chambray work shirt cuff and the hand lying in a bed of grass. Or alfalfa sprouts.

I'm hoping her little kids will get a huge kick out of this cake.

Fall Festival

It's that time of year again. This one is going to Annie's preschool's Fall Festival for the cake walk. A little 3-layer spice cake iced in buttercream and covered with fondant. Then I painted the whole thing with "Tiger Lily" luster dust mixed with a little Everclear. It kind of glowed in the dark.

Winnie the Pooh

He sure does like his hunny. This one wasn't for a child -- but for a grown woman who happens to love everything Pooh.

A tisket, a tasket ...

... a bronze and golden casket.

This was created for a local family-owned funeral home's grand opening celebration. Doug built their funeral home a few years ago. And they recently finished building on the addition. Tonight is the party to celebrate the completion. And here's the cake!

Bridal Shower

A simple little last-minute bridal shower cake. The bridesmaids are wearing champagne satin gowns, thus the champagne-colored fondant 'pearls' around the borders. It's 5 am. I'm suddenly craving a piece of that cake!!

Boo!

You've heard the story of the shoemaker's children never having any shoes, right? Well, here are some cookies for the fam. My son in law complained that I never make chocolate cookies for him, our daughters complain if there's nothing sweet to eat whenever they stop by ... so here's my answer to them all. 8 dozen Halloween cookies in the last 4 days.

Just. For. Them.

And anyone else who stops by, of course.

Happy Halloween!

(That's a way cool witch's hat in the background, but I need first daughter's photo skills to make it show up properly.)

Calling all purse freaks ...

I finally did it. A Louis Vuitton. For a friend of mid-kid. Is it just gosh-darned darling or what? Yes, I know, the pattern isn't EXACTLY the LV thing ... but I do my own version of it so I don't get sued for copyright infringement by the big and nasty LV Lawyers ;-)

This happens to be a carrot cake. Let's hope the recipient thinks my version is at least somewhat comparable to her grandmother's.

A Bear Knits in the Woods

Interestingly enough, this cake is for yet another 90-year-old matriarch, provided by her granddaughter. How cool is that?

It seems she growled at her kids when they were little, thus earning the nickname "The Bear." And she has proceeded to knit up a storm all her life ... so this is what the granddaughter and I came up with for the cake to celebrate her monumental birthday.

(It's the bottom cake tier in green that represents the woods.)

And those are her authentic knitting needles.

Now come on ... how fun is that?!

Let's Play Bridge

A special note to all "K's Cakes" addicts out there ... this is the second month of the monthly treats that the world's best granddaughter is providing to her 90-year-old grandmother for the year ahead. (For those of you not addicted to my blog yet, reference "Cookies for the Matriarch" in the August archive.)

The matriarch is a major bridge player, so this month was a bridge cake that she can serve to her friends at the next bridge game. Those are red ribbon roses on top, but they sure don't look like it in this picture.

Spidey!

I finally got a chance to make a Spiderman cake today. How. Much. Fun.

My first Spiderman, and my first experience airbrushing a cake. Spidey was fun, but oy vey on the airbrushing. Trust me, I protected the entire local environment in the kitchen from overspray and did a darn good job on it. However, I had NO idea that invisible particles of red mist were filling the kitchen and proceeding to fall upon all horizontal surfaces. All counters, tabletops AND the darn floor.

Oh well. It was still fun. Next time I'll don a hazmat suit and mask, and do it outside in the back yard.

I think he's so cool ...

28

This Oklahoma grad is celebrating her birthday (guess which one?) in a local venue while watching the Big Game (which is in Dallas) on TV. I hope her hubby is planning to give her some kind of big prize if Oklahoma scores her age!

Happy Birthday,Dougie!

A topsy-turvy cake for hubby's birthday today. Bottom layer is a carrot cake in the shape of a tool box, middle layer is a chocolate tipping-over paint can, top layer is a while almond sour cream flower pot. Wish you could see the silver clasp on the tool box better -- it's my favorite part of the cake. And that's spilled dirt from the flower pot on top (aka crushed Oreos) around the bottom border

If you know Doug, you know why the girls and I chose these 3 themes for his cake.

Almost party time!

Well hello, Charlie!

These cookies are on their way to Michigan to welcome our new great-nephew onto the planet. Since he can't eat the cookies, I'm hoping his big sister (whose first initial is also a "C") will get to eat them all. Eventually.

Baby cookies. SO much fun.

Aaron's Birthday STRIKES again!

A cute little birthday cake for one of mid-kid's co-workers. He's been with the company 12 years and absolutely LOVES to bowl. He's a bit freaked out about turning the Big 4-0, so the managers thought it would be nice to get him a cake that might brighten his mood about it all. I hope he loves it! Giant orange and yellow "4" and "0" candles will sit on top.

Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows ...

... anyone else old enough to remember Leslie Gore? Now I can't get that song out of my head. Anyway ... this was for a 13-year-old who loves blue skies and puffy clouds and rainbows and flowers. Not a bad batch of things for a 13-year-old to love, these days. Banana spice cake with buttercream icing and fondant. Mr. Sol is all gumpaste.

Prima Ballerina

For a cute little six-year-old who wanted a Ballerina Cake for her birthday. This ballerina is taking her bow in her buttercream frosted tutu. White almond sour cream/chocolate chocolate chip marble cake. Yum.

26 years ago today ...

... we were married. This is just a small carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and fondant fall leaves to commemorate the occasion. Can you imagine -- our girls and son-in-law actually WANT to come over and help us celebrate the anniversary! Or maybe it's just that I'm fixing dinner and providing dessert and champagne. Hmmmmmm...

Elisa loves Elmo

Little kids' cakes are so much fun to make. I don't think cakes this fun and festive even existed back when I turned two. Must be why I always seem to go a little overboard with them. Elisa gets a shortbread number two cookie on top, and a necklace of fondant pearls around the base of the top tier. White almond sour cream cake, covered and decorated with fondant.