Bone Voyage

This is a going-away cake ordered by a family for their veterinary technician. The vet tech has seen them through many a family dog crisis, and he's now headed off to Veterinary School. Chocolate cake, chocolate frosting, white fondant. Woof!!!

Party at the Zoo!

Birthday girl's favorite color is purple, and her favorite animal is the tiger. We also have lion, hippo and monkey faces around the cake along with various vines, leaves, grasses and coconut trees. Even I was enchanted by this cake when it was done.

Pink Pink Girly Girl

These were the cookie party favors to be given to the guests at the birthday girl's surprise luncheon at a local restaurant. Totally the mom's idea, and what a great one!

And this ...

... was the cake to share with family the next day, on her "real" birthday.

Bridal Butterflies

A general bridal shower for a bride-to-be who loves butterflies, and whose wedding colors are pale blues and greens and yellows. I think perhaps this is the most enchanting bridal shower cake I've ever done. I loved it! Plus, the butterflies are edible.

And ... the cookie favors

Bridal gowns, wedding cakes and champagne glasses. Lousy picture. Great cookies. If I do say so myself.

Hippie Chick turns 11

Oh yeah. I love those 11-year-olds who are totally into the peace-and-love of the late 1960's. Cutest chick. Cutest party. Cutest everything. And a giant hot pink VW Bug cake for the festivities. What could be better?

Baby Cake

Designed after the adorable baby boy shower invitations, this cake features darling zoo animals with the very cool color combo of light blue, darker blue, lime green and a bit of brown.

Baby showers are certainly way more sophisticated than when I was having my babies 25+ years ago!

And to go with this great Baby Cake, the hostess had ...

Cookie Favors

Aren't they just too cute? I love the idea of sending everyone home from the shower with a cookie favor.

Bridal Shower

I think these bridal gown cakes are so romantic and perfect for a 'general' bridal shower. This one was based on the beautiful shower invitation. White Princess Sour Creme cake on top of a chocolate cake base. Something for everyone!

Barnyard pals

A sweet little cake based on the birthday girl's party invitations. The mom's friend crafted the poly animals on top that EXACTLY matched the invites. I just provided the grass and sky and fence and clouds and flowers ...

Bottom layer White Princess Sour Creme, top layer chocolate.

Tiny Little Gee-Tar

Created for a fella who got a new guitar for his birthday. This one had to be teeny-tiny because it had to ship to Chicago. Which made it entirely out of proportion. But I was rather proud of my airbrushing skills.

But as it turns out ... it didn't survive the trip to Chicago too well. It got pretty well smooshed and smashed. But the birthday boy shared his birthday with Election Day and got the election results he wanted, so he was too busy celebrating the bigger picture to mind a little smushed cake.

Fore!

Lucky young husband gets a new set of golf clubs from adorable wife for his birthday present. Adorable wife orders golf bag cake to match the present. How lucky IS this guy, right?

And what's a golf bag cake without ...

Golf ball cookies!

Princess Tea party

A princess cake for a darling 4-year-old who loves to play Princess with her little brother, and calls him her frog prince. How cute is that? The frog prince is perched on the right side of the cake, holding a big pink heart for his sister. Bottom layer White Princess Sour Creme, top layer Chocolate.

Denise

Ordered by a sister for her sister's surprise birthday party. I'm loving this black-and-white theme. White princess sour creme cake with buttercream icing and fondant.

And now, scroll down to read further about the background story on this cake ...

Lest you think ...

... that my decorating life is an easy, peasy piece of cake every day, I invite you to scroll down and see my latest ...

Cake Disaster!

Yup. This is it. An official Cake Disaster. This was to be the bottom tier of the "Denise" cake above. Had it all iced and covered in fondant the night before it was due. Got up the next morning to decorate it, and found THIS! Total collapse.

Had to run to the store, buy ingredients, rush back home and bake two more 10" layers, ice them, cover them in fondant, then assemble the entire cake ... all before noon.

Oy vey.

But I did it. And now I know that it can be done. But I'd rather do without the stress, thank you.

School Fundraiser

While I very much enjoy creating these cakes for various school fundraising events, I'll truly be glad when all schools are generously funded simply because every American recognizes how vital an excellent educational system is to the future of our country.

Boss's Birthday

So there's this boss. Who absolutely loves wedding cake. Who had a birthday. And he owns his own company.

So what did his employees get him for his birthday? This fancy little two-tiered wedding cake decorated with the swirling greens of his company logo.

That boss must be a really nice guy, and he sure has employees who love him!

A Fairies-in-the-Garden Party

Complete with gerber daisies, toadstools, butterflies and fairy atop. White Princes Sour Creme cake (what else?) iced in buttercream, covered in fondant. The party favors are below ...

Fairy Wand Cookie Favors

Star-shaped cookies on-a-stick, wrapped with ribbons in the party colors. For all the little fairy princesses to take home.

Turning 50

A pink champagne cake (for 60) iced in buttercream for a guy who's been a dancer/choreographer/director all his adult life.

The sides of the cake featured marquees for musicals that he either starred in or choreographed, the #50 was bursting with crystalline fireworks, and that freckly-looking stuff on the top of the cake is actually edible glitter.

I obviously needed daughter #1's photog skills to make that glitter look sparkly rather than freckly. Oh well. It was pretty.

I think I want a piece right now ...

OH NO!

Sorry, Lauren!

This OU grad's birthday falls right around their battle with UT every year. Last year the Sooners not only won, but they won with the exact points of her age. This year -- not so much.

Bummer.

And yes, those are "Longhorns turned upside down" around the sides of the cake. And none of the players from UT even showed up on the field.

At least in the cake version. I tried.

Have a happy birthday anyway, Lauren.

Roberts Elementary

This is a teacher-appreciation cake for a local elementary school. The parents wanted to do something nice for teachers and staff after all they had been through, post-Hurricane Ike. They requested a cake that looked like the school did on that Monday after Ike blew through town.

Thus, the messy school grounds and the downed branches, trees and leaves. If you look closely, the bottom right hand corner of the front of the cake features an orange hurricane symbol -- named IKE!

The actual school is a blond brick building with a red front door and blue shutters at the windows. They fly the American and Texas flags inside that little round sidewalk-enclosed garden space at the front door. And the international flags out front represent their upcoming International Festival.

I'm hoping there won't be a crumb left.

Fiona

Don't you just love this little princess's name? She has two darling older brothers, too. Fiona loves pink, princess-y, chocolate, raspberry and the prince-charming frog. I daresay she got it all with this cake. Plus a tiara she can wear forevermore!

Cookies for an art opening

A friend of ours celebrated the opening of her one-woman show in a local art gallery last night. Her paintings are absolutely exquisite. These cookies were designed after one particular piece of hers, entitled "Conception." While my cookie form of the art doesn't hold a candle to her actual piece, it was close enough for at least one person to exclaim, "Those cookies look just like the art!"

I highly encourage anyone in Houston to make a beeline to the Rotunda Gallery at St. Luke's Church on Westheimer to see her fabulous work. Her art will be on display there throughout the month. Hours are 8-5 M-F, 8-noon on Sundays. You will be quite taken with the rich depths of color and the organically flowing form of her work. It is gorgeous.

Henry

This little boy loves chess (and yes, he's only six years old). He also loves chocolate cake and chocolate icing. So he got it all for his birthday this year (the chocolate is under the white fondant). And that Number Six cookie on top was all for him. I hear he was quite the excited birthday boy when he laid eyes on that cake.

The chess pieces are plastic, but the chess board is fondant. Yes, I DID cut out 32 1" square white tiles, and 32 1" square black tiles. For any of you who know me, precision is not my forte, but I think this turned out rather well. Except for the fact that the bottom left hand tile should have been black, thus I messed up the entire board. Dang it. But I never did learn how to play chess ... hopefully Henry will forgive me.

Another Mom Turns 50!

You know you've done something right as a mom when your kids get you a glamorous gold-and-white party cake for your 50th birthday celebration. White princess sour creme cake with buttercream icing. Royal icing decor, painted with gold luster dust.

Buckingham Fountain

Long story behind this one. Today is Doug (my husband)'s birthday. The pressure is on every year to come up with awesome cakes for hubby and daughters. I happened to notice on my calendar a couple of weeks ago that 9/29 is the day that The Queen's birthday is celebrated this year in Western Australia. So I'm thinking ... Doug's birthday and The Queen's birthday ... same day. Hmmm... how can I combine the two? Then I think Buckingham Palace. Then I think Buckingham Fountain in Chicago. Mainly because our middle daughter was transferred to Chicago with her job this past June, and we enjoyed Buckingham Fountain when we helped move her up there.

Thus, a Buckingham Fountain cake. I labored over those beads (aka, water sprays) for a long time, thus leaving me not enough time to do more detail on the cake itself before I had to have his birthday dinner ready to go yesterday.

So while I would rather this cake have had way more awesome detail, I was at least happy with the fact that it's his favorite carrot cake with cream cheese icing, and it looked halfway decent ... even though way too girly ... and it tasted delicious.

But here's the best part of all ... in a fit of homesickness several weeks ago, middle daughter bought a ticket to Houston to be here for her dad's birthday. Of course, O'Hare being what it is, she is 90 minutes late so far, and we are still waiting for her to arrive ... but by golly she will be back home for her dad's birthday and we will all be so delighted to be together again for a few days ...

... especially since we've JUST NOW fully recovered from that dang Hurricane Ike.

Happy Birthday, Dougie!

Open House Cookies

For a house that was being shown yesterday. A red brick craftsman cottage (which is GORGEOUS!) with a crepe myrtle tree (hot pink flowers) out front. So cute. Hope the house sold.

Snow White

This was one of the cakes scheduled for the day Ike arrived. I was hoping to sculpt Doc, Goofy, Sneezy, et. al. out of gumpaste, but Ike had other ideas for my time. So we settled for Snow White standing on a pretty pink stage surrounded by apples, with a cute little bluebird perched on her outstretched hand. White Princess Sour Creme cake, buttercream and fondant.

Houston, We Have Power

Well, some of us do. What a wild ride this has been. And that's for us lucky ones who sustained hardly any damage and got our power back last week. I'm back in the cake baking business!

No, I Don't Like Ike

For all my beloved cake junkies out there who look to this site for eye candy on a regular basis ... don't expect any pictures until late next week at the earliest.

Ike has decided to make a beeline for downtown Houston tonight, so all party cakes that were ordered for tomorrow are canceled/rescheduled to next weekend and beyond.

With predicted 70-90 mph winds for a period of 8 hours overnight, it will be a true miracle if we have power when we wake up tomorrow. When Alicia hit here in 1983, we were without power for TEN DAYS. Ten days in AUGUST. In HOUSTON. And we had a one-year-old in cloth diapers!

We will be fine, but we may be without power for an extended period of time.

If so, don't worry, be happy. We are fine.

Sponge Bob Square Pants

Never thought I'd get the chance or have a reason to do a Sponge Bob cake. Finally!

Cannot even begin to tell you how much FUN he was to create. Strawberry cake with strawberry frosting per the birthday boy's request. Surprise design for the cake decided on by birthday boy's girlfriend (see below).

Happy Birthday, Al! Everything is edible, save for a few toothpicks holding those shoes onto his legs and the sleeves onto his spongy head.

Big bowl of basketball cookies

For "someone's" boyfriend who turns 21 today. Seems like an awful lot of cookies to me (3 dozen), but I'm betting he'll inhale them within the next 24-36 hours.

Fun cookies. Great for party favors. We (the girlfriend and I) even textured the fondant with a paper towel while hot out of the oven so the basketballs are all pebbly and basketball-looking.

Party at the Natural Science Museum

For a little girl who loves butterflies and ladybugs. Fashioned after the invitations and party plates. The butterflies are printed on rice paper with edible inks ... so everything on this cake is eminently edible. Chocolate cake, buttercream icing, covered in/decorated with fondant.

After we loaded this cake into Dad's car for transport to the party, I wished I could go to the party, too. They had the BEST looking juice pouches from Whole Foods and that cake looked SO glorious ... yum!

Night Blooming Cactus

No-it's-not-a-cake. Just our glorious cactus that bursts forth with these amazing blooms maybe 3-4 nights a year during July and August. Last night was a huge bloomarama. Tonight promises maybe 9-10 more. (If you look closely you can see the little green closed-up buds on the sides of the cacti.)

They bloom after midnight and are closed up again by 8-10 am. Fortunately I was up working on a cake last night, and actually remembered to take the camera out at 1 am to record this magnificence.

Interestingly enough, our neighbor's cactus bloomed last night, also. Such truly magnificent plants.

A couple of matching sheetcakes for the annual bowl-a-thon fund raiser for a local school that serves autistic kids. The design was taken from their darling invitation. Total white princess sour creme cake with total buttercream. The bowling pins are gumpaste, the bowling ball is fondant.

A fabulous mom turns 50

Her cute daughter (and son in law) drove all the way down here from Dallas to pick up this cake today for the mom's birthday party tonight in Houston. How's that for a fabulous daughter!!!

Hope they have fun with it all, and Happy Birthday, Mom!

Erin turns 26

(Don't ask how old that makes me!)

She loves her long-haired chihuahua, Bailey. She also loves pink and purses, and plenty of each. But she was so terribly forlorn the day she realized that little Bailey was growing too tall and big to fit in her purse any more.

So I made her a pink purse cake with a rice-krispie-treat Bailey (head) sticking out of it for her birthday this year.

In retrospect, I made Bailey's eyes too big ... but it's still a pretty good likeness.

Texas Family Reunion

I can hardly take any credit for this one. All I did was bake the layers, ice them, cover them in fondant, and make a fondant license plate to sit atop it all. The customer came up with the (very) clever design, then even came over to pipe all the writing on it -- freehand!

I may have to hire her to do all my piping. She says she'll work for cake. And frosting. And fondant.

Sounds good to me.

Turning a sparkly 12

One of my favorite cakes so far. Small and simple. But I adore it.

This is what happens ...

... when your plan ahead/organizing skills trump your lower brain functions such as remembering what day it is or where you left your car keys.

This cake isn't due 'til 8/16, and here it is -- finished, adorable and ready to go, on 8/2. Oy vey.

I have boatloads of cakes due on the weekend of the 16th, including eldest daughter's birthday cake and party. So I figured I was being SO smart and together and organized to shop for all ingredients last week and start baking ahead for the busy weekend. (I typically bake the cakes a few days ahead of when they're due, wrap them in plastic wrap while still warm and steaming, then send them to the freezer for at least overnight. The trip to the freezer helps keep the cake very moist, and gives it more body to hold up to the stacking and carving process.)

Well, I guess I was just having so much fun baking, icing and decorating that I forgot to put this one in the freezer after baking it, and just started decorating away!

Anyone need a buttercream-iced, fondant covered, chocolate stout topsy turvy cake to serve 30?

Bridal Shower

This one was designed after the shower invitation, which was an adorable multi-layered square invite in black, white and hot pink. White princess sour creme cake with tons of buttercream atop.

A study in pinks

Yes, the birthday girl loves ruffles and flowers and hearts and stars ... and everything pink. Hope she's having a fabulous 21st birthday celebration.

Black and White

A last minute birthday cake for 50 guests. Party theme was black and white. White Princess Sour Creme cake, buttercream icing, and fondant atop it all. That plaque on the front has two "D's" back-to-back -- which was what was on the party invitation.

Wish I'd done some back-lighting on this. Where is photog daughter when I need her!?

A tiny cheerleader turns four!

Designed after the birthday girl's party invitation. Lots of White Princess Sour Creme cake and loads of delicious buttercream icing. Fondant megaphones line the sides of the cake and the little cheerleader herself is crafted from gumpaste.

Youngest daughter was here as I finished the cake, and she had to really fight the urge to dive right in and cut herself a nice large piece of it for herself!

Ariel cake for Amelia

Another fun mermaid cake. With fondant "pearls" and white chocolate-molded sea creatures. Not to mention the green buttercream seaweed and blue buttercream wave-border. The party-goers receive cookie favors in the shape of seashells, sandy footprints and fish.

Fire Hydrant

I have long wanted to do a fire hydrant cake -- so now y'all know I can do one! What a bunch of fun this one was. Three 6" cakes, plus one dome-shaped cake on top. Iced in buttercream, covered in red fondant. The little sticking-out-thingies are rice krispie treats covered in red fondant and held onto the cake with toothpicks.

If you have a fireman in your family, I'm your cake lady!

Book Club Cake

A replica of the novel this book club read last month. Obviously a southern-based novel (note the cotton), so we did a fabulous pineapple-coconut cake with buttercream icing and fondant accents. How deliciously southern can you get? Also did a couple dozen "Southern Tea Cakes" to go along with.

Besides wanting to read this novel now, I kinda wanna join this book club! If only I had time ...