Happy Birthday, Humma!

Our middle child turns 23 tomorrow. She now lives in Chicago, a mere 1,000 miles away. No more elaborate birthday cakes for her. Now she gets a tiny little six-inch that will hopefully survive the trip via the USPS. This is a pink champagne cake, with pink buttercream icing. Covered and decorated with fondant. I also sent her a dozen decorated cookies -- all high heels, purses, princess crowns and glitzy sunglasses. Shhhhhhhhh. It's supposed to be a surprise.

Rubber Duckies

A first-birthday cake based on the party invitations. That's a "smash" cake in the foreground ... a personal-sized cake for the birthday boy to smash into and enjoy, all by himself. Happy birthday, Bobby!

Fairy Tale Castle cake

Not the best picture I've ever taken. But this is a two-story vine-covered stone castle cake with sugar cube dentils and paper towel roll/ice cream cone turrets which were covered in royal icing. Chocolate cake, buttercream icing, fondant "stones" set into the gray cement walls. The vines had pretty little pink flowers scattered everywhere. Wish I'd gotten a better picture of it all. It was pretty awesome.

Kate's Birthday

Our youngest turns 20 today. We have no more teenagers! But by golly we have the gray hair and wrinkles to prove that we've been through those years three times now.

Kate has had a bubble gum fetish since she came forth from the womb, I swear. She has begged for a bubble gum machine of her own for every birthday since at least age 5. Of course, being the mean parents we are, we never bought her one. (All that sugar??!! Horrors!!!) Even her friends today will attest to the fact that every time they are out in public, she hits them up for a quarter to get a gumball out of the nearest machine.

Weird.

Therefore, I thought a bubble gum machine CAKE for her 20th birthday would be perfect.

That's 4 layers of cake carved into the "machine" shape and iced with hot-pink buttercream. Silver-painted fondant accents, genuine gum balls affixed with buttercream to the bottom of the cake and filling the glass fish-bowl-vase which is affixed to the top of the cake with fondant.

It is an understatement to say that the cake was a huge hit at her birthday party last night.

A piece of cake, a scoop of ice cream AND a gumball. What's not to love?

Hope. Change. Vote.

No, it's not really a political cake. Just a simple last minute "inspiration" cake for a group of people who are doing their best to drag their homeowners' association into the 21st century.

Unbirthday

A pink champagne cake (pretty-in-pink and delish!) with buttercream icing and fondant roses, for a woman of a certain age who isn't really crazy about the concept of "celebrating" birthdays any more.

Cinderella

I LOVE making these doll cakes. Cinderella's dress is a cake baked in a pyrex mixing bowl, and she sits atop a 9" cake "stage" in order to provide enough servings for the party. I love to imagine little girls' eyes lighting up when they first see their princess birthday cake.

Had I gotten one of these when I was five years old, I'm sure I would have fainted.

It's mermaid season again

I never tire of making these mermaid cakes for little girls. Her tail is a fondant/gumpaste mixture. The seashells are all white chocolate. This way, each party-goer gets a piece of chocolate along with a piece of birthday cake. What's not to like?