Happy Valentine

This cake is being sent by seven adult siblings to their Mama for Valentine's Day ... how sweet is that?

Purse Cake

This design was requested by a young lady turning 12. She found a picture of a purse that she loved in an old magazine touting the "300 most popular purses at Neiman Marcus this year" or some such. I searched the web for a long time to try to find this purse, but alas. She and her mom did a great job of drawing it from memory, the mom bought the feathers from Michaels, and I did my best to reproduce it. I happen to love the design, and think it could translate into all kinds of awesome purse cakes in the future.

This same birthday girl requested a cake decorating class from moi for herself and her 3 girlfriend party-goers on her big day. How could I refuse? The pictures of their resulting cakes are below.

Class Cakes

Are these adorable or what? I limited their choices of design and color (for the sake of my own sanity) but was, as always, fascinated by each girl's uniquely inherent creativity within those limitations. They frosted their cakes, mixed the fondant, colored the fondant, covered their cakes with the fondant, then decorated. AWESOME!

Go Rockets!

For a young man turning 13, and taking his party guests to the Houston Rockets game last night. They won! The Rockets logo on top is crafted of chocolate ... everything else is fondant over a chocolate-iced vanilla cake.

Enchanted Dreams

Cake design based on the birthday girl's party invitation. Those are pink and purple castles on either side of the princess carriage.

Another friend turns 50

Does that mean we're getting old?

Laissez les bon temps rouller!

Yup, Mardi Gras is big down here. This was made for a school fund-raiser. The mask is made of gumpaste formed over an actual mask. The star-swirly things are from Michael's.

Transformers

My skills don't yet extend to making a cake that actually opens up and turns into a car or a gun or a spaceship or whatever the transformer-thingies turn into ... but I can do a decent job on Decepticon and Autobot. Buttercream on fondant over buttercream and chocolate cake.

Gymnast siblings...

... again with birthdays mere days apart. This time, however, the sibs were a bit younger than the sibs below. I based the cake designs on their party invitations ... buttercream icing with fondant accents. The party was held at a local gymnastics school, which is a popular venue for little kids' birthday parties. Don't forget, Mary Lou Retton lives in Houston!

Physician siblings ...

... with birthdays mere days apart. The sister is a family practice doc, the brother is a kidney transplant surgeon. I'm sure you can tell whose cake was whose ;-)

Bridal Lingerie Shower

Is that cute or what? The hostess told me that the invitations had a pink slip on them ... so this is what I came up with. I brightened it up a bit with that spring green buttercream covering the cake ... and everything else is from fondant.

I'm already thinking spring because (1) I'm finally a bit weary of the holiday reds, greens, golds and silvers, and (2) our peach tree suddenly has its first 2 dozen or so blossoms on it! WooHoo! It's always so exciting to see such beautiful bright pink life burst forth from what look like totally dead gray-black branches.

Oh and -- that's a lemon poppyseed cake.

Ariel, the Popular Mermaid

These Ariel cakes are so much fun. From crafting her mermaid-tail to molding the chocolate shells to pearlizing the fondant bubbles ... fun from start to finish. One tier chocolate, one tier white almond sour cream. A great way to go for little kids' parties.

Fairies and Mushrooms and Dragflies, Oh My!

This time for an adult woman who adores fairies and dragonflies. The wings on both are gelatin. Everything else is fondant and gumpaste over a White Almond Sour Cream cake with buttercream icing. Oh my, indeed!

Quinceanera

A widespread tradition down here where a girl celebrates her fifteenth birthday and thus her initiation into adulthood. It is often a huge party, with an elaborate dress for the birthday girl, and a cake that echoes a wedding cake. In this case, the young lady wanted something a bit less traditional -- she wanted bright colors, a wild design and a cake that would make people say "WOW!"

This cake was pretty wow as it was, but I decided to ...

Glam it up with some super pearl luster dust

It softened all the colors and added a beautiful sheen to the whole cake.

There's also a stand-up number 15 made of gum paste that will be added to the top of the cake once it gets transported 5-1/2 hours away. It is the same blue as the bottom layer and hit with LOTS of super pearl.

Happy New Year!

Cake balls that we're taking to a New Year's Eve party tonight. Along with a gorgeous rose spray from Doug's garden. I was trying to make these cake balls look SO festive ... but now they just look like eyeballs at best. Oh well. They taste wonderful. The purple and chocolate ones are spiked with rum, the pastel ones are rum-less.

Happy New Year 2

Another view.

Purse Cakes

I love them. This one is an artist's (mine) rendering of a lady's actual favorite purse. It forced me to do what I never wanted to do before -- create frosting roses. Now I LOVE frosting roses! Chocolate cake, buttercream icing, fondant covering and royal icing roses and trim. YUM!

Weather or not

This young birthday boy has a fetish for The Weather Channel and all things weather related. I did my best to represent his birthday party invitation and address his weather passions. What a FUN cake to make!

One Brave Mother

This mom is hosting a gingerbread house decorating party for her daughter. All I have to do is provide the cake. I get the easy end of the deal!

Model T

Yes, the Tin Lizzie's wheels are melting thanks to recent humidity levels ... but is is this not the coolest cake for a car aficionado?

There's a New Teacher in Town!

The University of Houston has produced a new Elementary Ed Teacher!

Merry Christmas!

A fun little 8" cake. Stay tuned for 7 more cakes and several dozen cookies over the coming weekend. And to all my friends and family -- my apologies if you haven't heard from me lately. I'm up to my ears in buttercream and it doesn't combine too well with my keyboard. The girls are harping on me to get the Christmas letter done to enclose with the photocard that we at least DID get done -- some two weeks ago. So stay tuned. You're not forgotten. In fact, I think of you all most every day -- and wish I could electronically send you each goodie I make every time I post a new picture.

Time, time, time. Where do I find more?

It's beginning to look a lot like ...

... Christmas! These fondant lights were a lot easier to place on the cake than our tangled strings are going to be to place on our tree tonight! A simple holiday cake for a dinner party.

Nutcracker Ballet

For a young lady who's performing in same. Toe shoe, ballerinas, Christmas presents and holiday garlands with ornaments ...

Baby Girl Shower Cake

Can you even STAND how cute those little pink gumpaste booties are???

Here Lies My Youth ...

A very clever fellow decided to host his 50th birthday party in a funeral home ... deciding to have his own funeral while he was still alive so he could hear all the grand eulogies ... then party with all his friends afterwards. This is a huge 3-layer chocolate cake with a tuxedo-ed Ken doll ensconced therein. For those who don't like cake, there were these ...

The Party Favors

A mixture of chocolate and vanilla shortbread tombstone cookies with crushed Oreos in the bottom of the bag for dirt.

Turning 35

Not a person -- a company. How about THAT for an amazing accomplishment in this day and age? 35 years in business! They threw a big party to celebrate, and I had the honor of crafting the cake. Cake decor was taken from their party invitations.

Eldest (photog) daughter was my delivery assistant, and got a great shot of the cake with the company Christmas tree in the background.

Ten Lizzie

For the most charming 10-year-old you could ever meet. Her party was to be at a beauty salon ... all the girls were getting their hair, nails and makeup done. This cake was based on her party invitation. While the pearls aren't edible, all the makeup on top of the cake was crafted from candy clay. My new favorite medium!

Izzie is One!

For a very special one year old. The cake decor was based on her birthday party invitation. I did her baby shower cake, too, which was based on her nursery decor. If I should have the honor of being asked to do her sweet-sixteen birthday cake, would that make me old????

Bugs Slugs Dirt and Mud

Another little boy cake. Although one day I'm sure I'll be asked to do a bug and dirt cake for a little girl. The bugs are plastic, the dirt is crushed oreos and the mud is royal icing. The #5 cookie on top is for the birthday boy's own enjoyment.

Chocolate Decadence

Ohhhhhhhh my! Just a tiny little simple cake, but loaded with dark chocolatey goodness. Sometimes simple is best.

Star Wars

Silly me. I had no idea 3-year-olds these days are totally into Star Wars. Now I know. I went through dozens of ideas for his cake before finally (thanks to inspiration from my local 8-year-old boy) settling on this (rather short and squatty) R2-D2. After all, who doesn't love R2-D2? Total cake and buttercream body with fondant accents. His arms are rice krispie treats covered in fondant.

Tea Party

For Miss Ellie. Who is turning four today. She's also a bit under the weather with whatever crud is going around Houston right now, so I hope this cheers her up a bit.

Pea in a Pod

Just a tiny little cake -- a personal gift to the mother-to-be on the occasion of her baby shower. She gets to take it home and eat it all herself if she wants!

Cornucopia

I love Thanksgiving. I love the symbology of the cornucopia. And I finally got to do a cornucopia cake. Fondant apple, oranges, squashes and grapes. Delicious cake and buttercream everything-else.

My midwife's youngest son just turned 40

And we met him when I was PG with daughter #2 ... when he was still in high school. Now exactly HOW old does that make ME???? Please don't do the math.

Anyway ... it was his birthday this weekend. He's all growed up now and sells orthopedic braces quite successfully for a living. So I made him a cake.

The words around the cake were: "Brace yourselves ... Chris is 40!"

Harry Potter

Just a small little 6" cake for an adult Harry Potter fan ... but I must say I do rather love it. This was a whole lot of fun to research and craft. Is that quidditch broom cool or what? My golden snitch could probably use some work, but everything else rocks -- as far as I'm concerned.

Flashback!

This cake was requested by a young man turning 12. He wanted a "Psychedelic '60's" cake, three-tiered, and he told me to let my imagination run wild. He and his friends are totally into The Beatles, The Ramones, and All things '60's. How cool is that?

Thank goodness for Google. I was only twelve myself when the Psychedelic '60's were in full swing ... so it's not because of old age that I needed a little help remembering what to put into this cake, right?

Happy faces, love beads, tie-dye, flower power, and peace and love, dude!

Pink Princess

Once again -- can you even IMAGINE having a princess cake like this when YOU were a little girl? (I realize I'm older than most of you reading this by at least 2 decades, but) ... I remember when those little plastic ballerinas stuck on the top of a simple birthday cake were SUCH a thrill for me.

Now I'm infinitely fortunate to be able to take flour, sugar, butter and a few other ingredients, and make so many birthday dreams come true.

I have the best "job" in the world.

Cooking Lessons

Ohmigosh is this the cutest thing ever, or what? This was a birthday party for a darling little girl turning 4, and her birthday party was at a "kitchen table" type place where the little party goers were taught how to make penne pasta and ice cream sundaes. The party invitations featured pink aprons, hot pads, kitchen mitts, etc.

Birthday girl wanted pink cake, inside and out, so that's what she got. She also got a satin-white textured tablecloth on top of the pink cake, all decked out with four sundaes (because that's how old she is), four silver spoons, an apron, a bunch of oven mitts and hot pads, a bowl of penne pasta, and a vase on the table with the "flowers" spelling out her name.

Happy Birthday!

Do the Splits!

This cake was for the cutest little 3-year-old gymnast. It had me stumped for one long sleepless night, trying to figure out something clever to come up with for the gymnastics theme ... but I was finally hit with inspiration about 5 hours before this cake was due. And voila! This proud little gymnast doing the splits on top of her psychedelic gym mat was born. Just wish I'd gotten a better angle on this picture so you could see her little tongue sticking out.

Cake Truffles

These delectable diminutive delights somehow just pop into your mouth and disappear. Again and again and again. A secret blend of cake, icing and whatever other delicious flavors I might feel like adding, rolled into spheres, dipped in chocolate and decorated with (in this case) fondant fall leaves kissed with a bit of gold.

Apologies to my cake groupies

I know some of you have been going through withdrawals since I haven't posted a picture in a couple of weeks. I actually made 4 cakes last week, but was so pushed on my timing (for reasons that will be explained below) that I didn't get any pictures. I did a really cool teacher cake, an amazing martini glass cake that was actually a Cosmo since the party colors were hot pink and black, a simple 'just cake' cake, and an amazing artificial knee cake. Plus a few dozen Halloween cookies.

Reasons why you didn't get pics of those cakes:

Right after completing the Baby Boy Baptism cake that you're now bored with looking at, Doug and I were invited on a last-minute trip to Galveston, to go out on a pontoon boat at sunset to see the Dolphins swim and jump and dive and do everything else that they do, along the Intracoastal Waterway. Then we could spend the night at a friend's friend's beach house, and mosey our way back home sometime late Sunday afternoon. I frantically do a load of laundry, Doug packs our bags and a cooler and loads the car, I clean up from cake-baking and lock down the house, and we call eldest daughter to let her know we're leaving, and to come Sunday morning to check on things.

Well ... we nearly lost our lives on that fateful pontoon boat ride. Think Gilligan's Island/Titanic/Poseidon Adventure. I won't go into detail, but suffice it to say our adventure involved the pontoon boat being beached on a sandbar with 3" of water over it at late dusk, right next to the Intracoastal Waterway (where the dolphins were supposed to be swimming); several ocean-going vessels that were NOT pleased with us and our position/strandedness; a dog (one of 3) on the boat who decided it would be huge fun to go for a swim, and leapt off the deck to do so; big cold winds and water and waves; encroaching darkness; multiple males jumping in the water to push us off the stranding sandbar/save the dog; the blessed relief that the boat's motor actually re-started; a freezing 20-minute ride home against big winds and In The Dark; me clutching a teeny little Chihuahua to my bosom the entire time in order to save his life and prevent him from going for a swim; finally returning to the beach house to change into dry clothes, only to discover that Doug had failed to Put Our Suitcase In The Car.

No problem. We were all actually a bit giddy about surviving it all -- but DARN glad the boat's motor didn't shear a pin when we hit that shoal/shell/sand bar. It seems the Intracoastal Waterway had recently been dredged. Just our luck.

Then the next day ... we find out that the little island nearby that we jokingly said we'd just go hang out on and sleep all night if the motor didn't start and the Coast Guard wouldn't come ---- is named Rattlesnake Island. For good reason. Also -- the area we were in is known as Alligator Alley. Also for good reason. And even more than that -- another friend who fishes there frequently said he goes fishing there because he catches BABY SHARKS in those Intracoastal Waterways

We're all fine, of course, but we feel like 15-year-olds rather than 55-year-olds. I may have foreshadowed it a bit while we were frantically packing the car to leave and I said, "Gosh, it feels like a high school road trip!"

My Aunt now insists that Doug and I can't take another weekend trip unless we pass our itinerary by her, first.


So, yeah. I'm trying to catch up from almost losing my life.

Many more cakes to come. Stay tuned.

Bill Cosby Sweaters

Middle daughter is winging her way to Seattle to visit her old college roommate. They are invited to a party Saturday night -- everyone in attendance has to wear a Bill Cosby Sweater. We thought it would be fun for me to make some BCS Cookies to take along.