After me, dude, after me

I think the bride was telling the youngest boy in attendance that yes, he CAN have the very first piece of cake after theirs. He just has to wait another minute or two....

Still cutting the cake ...

(Indulge me, please.) This one shows the flowers and the "groom's cake" which was actually 7 batches of brownies, cut and decorated to look like Dominoes. Back when we started planning this, my son-in-law-to-be hated cake but loved brownies. So I planned to do brownies for him, instead. He has since come to declare that he actually likes the cakes I bake -- but I thought the brownie idea was too cute not to do.

Hail, Hail, the Gang's all Here!

Couldn't resist posting this pic. We had record breaking COLD weather in Texas on the wedding weekend -- Easter Eve. So record-breaking in fact, that HAIL started falling from the skies as the kids took their vows. The world's shortest wedding ceremony, big excitement and much fun and hilarity ensued. Yee-haw!

The Cake Cutting

First pic of the wedding cake!

My photoshop skills are not up to par for blurring out the background properly, but cousin Sean has provided us with the first and only, so far, picture of eldest daughter's wedding cake -- the raison d'etre for this entire blog. No doubt I'll post a zillion more pictures of it from all different angles, as we get more. White almond sour cream cake, buttercream icing, covered with fondant. Decorated with real ribbons and fresh tulips. The bride and her attendants carried hot pink tulips. I think we had maybe 10 pieces left over. It was yummy.

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.

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.

Turning 50

A cake made for my cousin -- an amazing woman turning 50, who loves the color green and all things horse-related. I didn't think my skills were up to crafting an actual horse -- so I did a copper-plated horseshoe, and a gold 50, and some bright and pretty flowers scattered 'round, instead. Her first name starts with a 'J,' thus the Rocking J Ranch sign on the front. The sign on the back of the cake says, "Est. 1957." And there's a copper fondant twisted-rope bottom border.

It's another "shipper," so keep your fingers crossed that it gets where it's going on time and in one piece!

Two more cakes due this weekend. Stay tuned.

Fairies and Mushrooms and Magic, Oh My!

The party theme for a darling girl turning six. Chocolate cake, iced in buttercream, covered in fondant, with all fondant fairies, mushrooms, ladybugs and flowers. Royal icing leaves and moss.

Details, details ...

Victorian Again

A last minute cake for a lady who loves all things Victorian, pink, burgundy and dark blue.

18 Year Old Male

Somebody tell me a cake harder to figure out what to do with, than one for a young man turning 18! Actually, his mom had all the ideas -- she wanted a cake to show what he wants most in life right now -- money (the gold coins), a license, a car, a credit card, a winning lottery ticket, more money, and a couple of other "unmentionables" that were put on the back of the cake. (Just use your imagination -- I'm not telling what's back there!)

The cake is half chocolate, half white. Iced in my new buttercream recipe that I've been experimenting with lately -- it's supposed to hold up in the heat much better than only-butter buttercream. It uses a bit of flour to stabilize the icing and keep it from melting, rather than Crisco. So far, everyone loves it. Of course, it's not really "heat tested" yet ... we're supposed to get freezing rain and not go above 32 degrees here for the first 3 days of next week. Oh well.

I started the creative process by Googling images for credit cards, TX license plates, cars and lotto tickets. Found a really awesome car picture that I put on the front of the cake, and that set the tone for the remaining color scheme -- browns, golds and silver. Printed the images out on photo paper, cut them out then slapped them down on freshly-made (and still sticky) fondant. Cut the fondant around the edges and applied them to the cake with a little water for glue. I especially love the license plate -- printed out a generic TX plate, then printed out the guy's initials and his age to fit properly on the plate, and stuck those letters and numbers over the ones that were already there.

The lotto tickets are stuck to the sides of the cake. The "18" and the balls-border are all fondant, either rolled in or painted with gold and silver luster dust. Same with the gold coins.

Oh and -- the whole cake is covered in chocolate fondant.

Pineapple Empanada

Errr.... Pie. Errrrrrr...... Cake!

A fun cake made for a friend whose birthday is tomorrow, and who has lately been craving, requesting, nay even DEMANDING, Pineapple Empanadas be delivered to her.

Pineapple cake baked in a pie pan. Iced with buttercream. Topped with a fondant crust, with fondant pineapple chunks peeking out through the slits in the crust, all painted with ivory food coloring thinned with a bit of vodka, and sprinkled with sparkling sugar.

Not entirely sure how it would be to bite into a cake that looks like a pie. Hopefully it won't cause her any cognitive dissonance.

Finally!

2nd Day Air Guaranteed turned into 5th Day Delivery Get-My-Money-Back-from-DHL. But at least the cake DID get there, and it IS still perfectly edible. Plus, all reports say that it is in perfect condition, despite being turned on its side on their front porch all day long.

This is a little closer shot of the table top. I can't decide if the potato chips or the pizza slices are my favorite part.

Let's Play Euchre!

My, what a story this cake has behind it! Please everyone still keep your fingers crossed that it actually gets delivered today.

Ordered by my sister-in-law, to be delivered to her daughter-in-law, on the occasion of her 30th birthday and a Euchre party that she and her hubby were hosting last night. Adorable cake, right? Packaged up and shipped (1200 miles) in plenty of time. But somehow, DHL dropped the ball. The cake is languishing as we speak just a few short miles from my niece's front door -- and DHL's computers say something like "address sort" as a reason why it wasn't delivered (guaranteed!) yesterday.

Still don't know what "address sort" as an error message means ... and when the local DHL station was contacted today they said something about needing to make sure there were no transients hanging around the front door if no one was home ... this is a suburb of a not-even-that-big city. Sure sounds fishy to me. I'm just hoping the DHL driver didn't take it home last night and eat it himself!

It's a 2-layer, 8" square white almond sour cream cake, in the form of a card table with a tablecloth draped over, and a bowl of chips, some slices of pizza, and golden glasses of rum-and-coke on the table (all made from fondant) -- along with the winning Euchre hand for all 4 players.

I SO hope this gets there in one piece, today!

For a Lovely Lady

This cake was made for an amazing lady who is turning 90 ... she still lives on her own, fixes a meal for herself every night, and busies herself in the garden each day. I only hope this cake is worthy as a celebration of her life.

Chocolate cake with almond buttercream icing. Covered with ivory fondant and decorated with fondant flowers. Accented with fondant "pearls", buttercream shell border.