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.

Groom's Cake

For a bride and groom who first met on a fishing trip, and still love to go fishing together. Cake is chocolate with chocolate-fudge icing (obviously). The basket was the closest I could find to a fisherman's creel -- an unpainted wood number from Michael's that I "stained" with brown and terra cotta food coloring. I hand-carved/shaped the fish from gumpaste, then painted with food colors thinned with vodka.

Happy Valentines Day

Created by special request for youngest daughter. She and her roommates are planning a stay-home-and-study (Right? You ARE staying home to study aren't you girls? Right???) Valentines evening tonight, but wanted something to celebrate with. What better than cake?! Their names are all printed in the fondant ribbon around the base of the cake. It's a yellow/chocolate marble cake with fudge icing, covered in fondant. Added bonus -- the school colors are red and white. They are all the most enthusiastic college sports-boosters I've ever seen.

Basketball!

A small half-ball yellow cake, iced in chocolate, trimmed out with various fondants.

Oddly enough, as a mother of only daughters and a total non sports-enthusiast (unless the Rockets, Astros, Tigers or Lions are in a championship), I'm enjoying creating all these sports oriented cakes almost as much as the fluffy-fairy-flower ones. Go figure.

Hope the young man loves his cake.

Is that a CAKE???

This cake was done for a woman who adores the Mary Frances line of purses. I had no idea what a Mary Frances purse was, but a few pictures later, I was educated. Mary Frances also has a line of pillows. This purse is my interpretation of a combination of one of her pillow designs, and her purse styles.

Chocolate cake, chocolate frosting ... covered with black fondant. All details from fondant and painted with either copper, pink or green luster dust.

This was such a delight to create. I'm lovin' these purse cakes lately ...

The back side

I love this purse. I mean, cake.

Valentine Birthday Party

Prettier in person, where the silver dragees show up as sparkly silver, rather than dull grey ...

But still a cool cake. And I'm loving those ribbon roses.

Not so nice

This was a very last-minute cake created for two friends whose birthdays are 2 days apart. They didn't take offense at it, I promise! In fact ... there was a bit of a fight over who got to eat the poop, and who was left with only the toilet paper.

Our friends have a GREAT sense of don't-take-yourself-too-seriously humor ;-)

Snakey Cake

This cake was done for an 11 year-old's birthday party that featured a Snake Handler/Rescuer guy as the entertainment. The birthday girl requested a topsy-turvy cake with bright colors, and I thought gummy worms would be an appropriate addition to the overall theme. Turns out she was a bit iffy on the whole gummy worms idea, unbeknownst to me, but when she laid eyes on the cake she told me that I had done a very nice job of integrating them into the overall theme.

I love 11 year-olds. ;-)

Baby Girl

The cake for a baby shower, inspired by the nursery decor. In this case, the nursery is decorated with the "Emily" collection from Pottery Barn Kids. If they'd had this design when our Emily was a baby, I so would have bought it. It looks just like her.

I decorated the cake board with fondant to resemble the rug in the collection. And the cake decor is designed after the quilt.