Moulin Rouge

What better way to celebrate a birthday party with an Argentinian theme?

Cake Balls!

It's what I do with "cake scraps" and a little bit of buttercream. These are composed of chocolate cake, Princess buttercream and a few drops of Rum flavoring. Dipped in semi-sweet chocolate and drizzled with white chocolate. Sounds like a great 5th of July breakfast to me!

The cut glass tray these cake balls are posing upon was my grandmother's.

Happy 4th!

This cake is for a fun and shoe-loving lady who happens to share her birthday with the US of A. The shoe is fondant. The cake is Italian Cream (oh my, I'd forgotten how DELICIOUS that is!) smothered with buttercream icing. Happy Birthday, Janie.

Wedding at the Zoo!

We spent many a hot summer day enjoying the Houston Zoo when our girls were little. Who knew it could be such a beautiful wedding venue, as well? The wedding had already begun when we set up the cake last night, and it was a veritable fairyland of candles, twinkle lights and gossamer tulle. Just gorgeous. This was a great, very fun couple who wanted bright, happy, fun, offbeat and unusual for their wedding cakes.

It has been about 104 degrees every day down here lately, so I was really "sweating" the survival of this stacked and tiered cake in the outdoor heat. Both cakes survived the nervous-making trip on the golf cart trailer from parking lot to reception venue, and my fingers are crossed that nothing slumped or melted by the time they cut the cake later that evening.

The groom's Louisiana Superdome cake is of chocolate, and the bottom two tiers of the topsy-turvy wedding cake are my White Princess Sour Creme. The top layer is carrot cake for the couple to freeze and save for their first anniversary.

Congratulations, y'all!

Aussie Vacation

A fun birthday cake for a lovely young woman turning 31, who is soon to embark on a vacation to Australia. This cake was designed to look like one of Australia's ubiquitous "Kangaroo Crossing" road signs, with a few fantasy fondant wildflowers added for a punch of color. My White Princess Sour Creme cake with buttercream icing, covered in road-sign-yellow fondant. The 'roo and lettering are created with black royal icing.

New House Cake

Another cake for our realtor friend who recently sold a gorgeous historic home to a lucky young couple. The house is a pale minty-sage-y green, and the front doors are a gorgeous raspberry color with fabulous leaded glass windows. The door is fondant, the solder is gray-tinted royal icing, and the glass is untinted piping gel. Makes for a pretty authentic looking leaded glass window, if I do say so myself.

Emily's birthday

Just a simple little cake to be shipped to Chicagoland for middle daughter's birthday. Around the sides it says, "Happy Birthday Erin and Kate's sister." An inside joke from one of my new favorite blogs ... Cake Wrecks. Check out this hilarious blog if you haven't seen it yet.

Selling watches

This cake was crafted for a watch company's roll out of their newest, very impressive watch at a local jewelry store. It's a 3-layer 10" square white princess sour creme cake, filled and iced with buttercream and covered in fondant. I'm hoping it looks like a gift box with one of these grand watches presented on the velvet (fondant) insert inside the box.

High School Graduation

White princess sour creme bottom tier, chocolate top tier. Fondant covering and gumpaste stars in the school colors of black and gold. I love those colors. Far more dramatic than my high school's colors of boring old red and white. (No offense, University of Houston.)

Things That Go

What a great theme for a two year old boy's birthday party, right? So cute. His favorite color is red, and his favorite truck is a cement mixer. Motorcycle, airplane, caboose, helicopter, dump truck and a big ol' tire complete the scene.

Hello Kitty

For my uber cool cyber-friend who somehow manages to teach high school IB Spanish every year in that city north of here (which shall remain nameless). Needless to say, she is a Hello Kitty freak and even decorates her classroom with the charming feline. I've been wanting to make this cake for her forever, and she finally had a birthday so I could do so. It was a shipper, which always makes me nervous, but I hear that Ms. Kitty arrived in fine shape. It's also a surprise, so I hope I'm not spoiling it by posting this picture already. I just couldn't wait another minute.

Our baby turned 21

We don't have "kids" any more. We only have adults. (Does that mean we no longer have to parent???)

Baby Kate's favorite color is green, and her favorite shoe is a Converse. Thus, this cake. Crafting the thing gave me fourteen kinds of fits. It fell apart twice, it made emergency trips into and out of the extra refrigerator all day, and what you are seeing is the third, final, relatively successful incarnation.

And those wiggly things on top are candles. 21 of them. Poor baby had to go to the store and buy them herself, because I was so busy trying to craft her cake all day.

High school graduation

For a wonderful young lady who is headed off to culinary school next fall, with plans to become a pastry chef. Those are hot pink chef clogs on the right, and her beloved black cat on the left.

Hermes Kelly bag

I certainly learn something new with every cake I create. Non-fashionista me, I had no idea what an Hermes "Kelly" bag was before I was tasked with the creation of this cake. Thanks to Google I now know, and it's quite the story. The cake version of this bag is at least three zeroe$ less than the real version, and while you can't carry it around town, you CAN eat it, which is even better! White Princess Sour Creme cake, iced in buttercream and covered with red fondant. Fondant leopard-print scarf with fondant/ gumpaste "Jackie O" sunglasses.

Barnyard Animals

This lucky little guy has a petting zoo coming to his house for his birthday party today. So here's a cute little two-story (marble) cake for him, complete with barn, silo, cow, sheep, pigs and a flying duck. Buttercream icing, fondant accents. What fun!

Sophia's horse cake

This is the third birthday cake I've had the honor of making for this darling little girl. This year, she wanted a "Horse Cake!" So the fondant/gumpaste horse sits atop the colorful garden of a white/chocolate marble cake. All her favorite colors are incorporated via buttercream.

Happy Memorial Day

Thank you, Teachers!

Where would this world be without all you fabulous teachers? Personally, I believe EVERY teacher deserves an adorable and delicious personal cake (plus a bottle of wine or a six-pack) for their end-of-the-year gift. Goodness knows they need both by the end of a tough school year with our kids.

This one goes to a local third grade teacher whose kids are "The Wranglers." Only in Texas, right?

I just love those little boots.

Cute Camo Cake

Can you guess two outstanding characteristics of the birthday boy? If you guessed "big hunter" and "huge Longhorns fan," you are RIGHT. I just love this little cake. White Princess Sour Creme with all buttercream camo and Bevo.

Vino

This is a birthday cake for a young woman who owns a bistro/wine bar. The wine bottle is a hollow sugar bottle, and the box it's sitting in is the cake. A 2-layer, 12 x 6" cake with wood-grained fondant on the sides, and coconut shreds making the excelsior in the wine box. WAY too much fun!

A dad turns 60!

Back in the day, this dad worked for a record company. Just try to guess one of the rock bands he promoted! His daughters' greatest memories are of the concerts they went to courtesy of Dad, so they chose this logo for his cake. He's also a big UT Longhorn fan, thus the tongue tattoo. You can't really tell what that is on the upper right, but it's a pair of "60" sunglasses. I figured he could lick the icing off and wear the glasses during the party.

Pyramid

The 7-year-old birthday girl is a bit more sophisticated in her tastes than many of her peers. She is currently enthralled with all things Ancient Egyptian and requested either a pyramid or sarcophagus for her birthday cake. I thought this golden pyramid would be a bit more dramatic than a sarcophagus, not to mention a new challenge for the cake baker. The palm trees are molded from gum paste. The desert sand is a mixture of graham cracker crumbs, yellow sanding sugar and chocolate sprinkles.

Her name in Heiroglyphics

There's a really cool tool on the web where you can type in your name and have it translated into Hieroglyphics. So I looked up the birthday girl's name and drew it out on a piece of parchment paper (covered with sealing tape) to add to the front of the cake.

R2 D2

Or as the birthday boy said as he raced through the door to pick up his cake today, "Where's my R2 cake!?" I didn't know R2 D2 had a nickname. Silly me. He was over the moon when he saw it, which delights me no end.

White Princess Sour Creme cake with all buttercream. I've done R2's before with fondant for all the little doo-dads on top of his head and down his front, but decided to go with all buttercream this time. It's kind of a tricky cake to cut to begin with (four layers of cake!), so I thought I'd try this version to make it a little easier on the mom in the cut and serve department.

When I told the little guy that R2's legs were made of Rice Krispie treats he made a "yuck" face. First time ever to meet a child who doesn't love RKT's! His older sister promptly claimed them for her own and birthday boy put dibs on the entire top half of the cake for himself. Works for me.

Spiderman lives ...

... to save another day! I did my 3-D stand-up Spiderman cake (see the March 21 entry below) for this sweet little boy turning 5, then mom needed a few more servings, so we did this Spiderman cupcake-cake, captured in a web. Also did 10 cupcakes surrounding Spidey himself, spelling out the birthday boy's name. A combination of Chocolate and White Princess Sour Creme cakes with buttercream icing. I love making these little boys' eyes light up!

Urban Harvest

Hubby is a long-time member of Urban Harvest. Check out their wikipedia entry at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Harvest Today is their Spring Fling potluck. Sadly, the weather is forcing them to celebrate inside rather than outside in the garden. I donated this cake to the potluck and just HAD to put their awesome logo on top. I'm not sure who created that logo but he/she is my HERO! That logo is perfect.

Cookies for an art opening

Four young women are having their senior show today in the art gallery at our High School for Performing and Visual Arts. They requested these cookies for the reception afterward. All pastels, with stripes, polka dots and checks. Sugar cookies with royal icing.

Pink Bow

A cake and cookie favors for 3 young women celebrating their birthdays together in a restaurant tonight. Chocolate cake. Pink fondant bow. Pink and white cookies decorated with royal icing.

Cowboy Hat

I forgot to post this the other day! Forgive the background -- I only got a picture of it as it was going out the door inside its cake box. This was a chocolate-chocolate chip/white princess sour creme marble cake. The brim is gumpaste. The hat band is brown grosgrain ribbon. I dusted the whole thing with cocoa powder to give it that "aged cowboy hat" look.

New House Cake

A realtor friend of ours orders a celebratory cake every time a client closes on a new house. These are very fun to do, as I get to take elements from the new house and yard to incorporate into cake-and-frosting form. Those pebbles embedded into the front entryway are candy pebbles. I LOVE those things.

In this particular case, the new homeowner proposed to his girlfriend just weeks before he closed on the new house, so this is a double celebration cake. Thus, the mailbox at the front door with both their names on it.

Happy Easter!

A White Princess Sour Creme cake with buttercream icing, jelly beans, M&Ms and malted milk bird eggs. Decorated gumpaste easter eggs standing tall in the grass.

Ballerina Birthday

Gumpaste ballet shoes on top of a White Princess Sour Creme cake with buttercream icing and ruffles, and fondant roses.

XBox 360

Created for a certain son-in-law who is (you guessed it) an Xbox fanatic. That's his all-time favorite game on top of the box (in fondant form), and I thought adding the blood spatters to the cake would be a great complement to the electric green on the box itself. Chocolate cake with buttercream icing, then fondant on top. The controller is made entirely of fondant. It should give him enough sugar to snack on for at least a month.

The birthday boy pronounced it "Best. Cake. Ever." Pretty good for a mother-in-law, eh?

Blazer Cake

The birthday boy is well known for his extensive collection of signature blazers. This cake is fashioned after one of his favorites. White princess sour creme cake with fresh-strawberry filling. And where you have a blazer cake, you must have ...

Blazer Cookies

Imaginary, confectionary versions of the honoree's famous blazer collection. Favors for the party-goers.

Cupcakes!

Those of you who know me personally know that I don't typically "do" cupcakes, much less cupcake trees. Well ... I got sweet-talked into doing this one (no pun intended) and I'm really rather taken with it.

Colors/design were taken from the fairy-princess birthday party invitation. I hope little Emily loves it.

Spiderman!

His chest and shoulders are marble cake, his head is a Styrofoam wig head. Everything is slathered in red buttercream, then detailed with black buttercream. What a perfect birthday cake for any little boy who's into superheroes. And I LOVE making this cake. Looking for more little boys (or big ones) who want a Spidey cake for their birthday ...

Bridal Shower Cookie Favors

These will be bagged and tied with white satin ribbons ... a take-home treat for the shower guests.

Happy Anniversary

Remember that great husband from the "New Baby Boy" cake a few pictures below? Well, he did it again. He managed to secretly order a cake for their 6th wedding anniversary, and surprised his bride with it last night.

This is a chocolate cake with buttercream icing, and a red gumpaste bow painted with pearl luster dust. (I was going with the OU colors.)

Zoo Party

The Houston Zoo is a really cool place for kids' birthday parties. This two-year-old is celebrating his birthday there today. His favorite animals are monkeys and lions. I added a hippo, a turtle and an elephant. Chocolate cake!