Happy Birthday Gail!

My coworker Gail made me this great apron complete with my blog name. Isn't it great? I think its cute and it gets quite a bit of use in my kitchen. You should visit her blog at www.gailsneedlesnthread.blogspot.com, she makes lots of great bags and embroiders lots of cute kids outfits.

Of course when Gail's husband contacted me about making her a birthday cake I jumped on the opportunity. Gail is a big gardener so I made a cake to fit that theme. I didn't make the pot, I actually found it at Michael's and it was so cute that I couldn't pass it up. I figure after Gail and Bill enjoy the cake, Gail can use the pot to plant some seedlings. I hope Gail enjoys the cake as much as I do. Happy Birthday Gail!

It's Harley time again.....

It's that time of year again and my co-worker, Gail, asked me to make a birthday cake for her husband. This year we decided to try and make the cake look like a motorcycle jacket, complete with patches. It was actually pretty easy to make. The hardest part was making the Harley logo, which I made the same way that I had before. Thanks to the new Ace of Cakes fondant at Michael's I didn't have to make fondant this time. I have to say, if you're looking to buy fondant that tastes good, this is the fondant to buy. It's easy to work with, goes a long way, and tastes pretty good. All in all, I think the cake turned out well. I got rave reviews from "Ole Bill," which is all I ever ask for...

Merry Christmas!

I was able to go home for Christmas and see my entire family for the first time in 5 years. Needless to say I was very excited and decided to celebrate with a cake. My neices and nephew helped make some of the characters and overall I think the project turned out pretty well. Merry Christmas everyone!

Chocolate Overload...

I was asked by another co-worker to make her groom's cake. At first, she wasn't too excited about me using fondant to decorate the cake, but after I gave her a taste of my homemade fondant, she approved my plan. The design was pretty simple, all she wanted was replica of a Hershey's bar with a bite out of it. (Apparently, the groom has a huge sweet tooth for chocolate.) However, as my husband can attest, printing out the letters to make templates was a painstaking process. I think I'm going to need to take a class on how to use the latest version of Word because it is nothing like using the Word program I had in high school or college. Anyway, after much trial and error I was able to make templates for the letters. I was able to acheieve such a great silver color by first coloring the fondant black, cutting out the letters and then brushing them with silver luster dust. Jen even had a great idea to personlize the cake. Under the Net Wt. area I put the wedding date, 10-23-10 and the (60y). The (60y) was an inside joke between the couple. Apparantly, after Brian proposed, Jen told him that she just asked for 60 good years together and she'd be happy. I hope they have many more years than that together....

Congratulations Jennifer and Brian! I wish you a lifetime of happiness. It was a honor to sing in your wedding and make the cake. Have a great honeymoon! I'll be looking forward to hearing about it when you get back!

A fellow DMB fan....

After a long break, I decided to suck it up and go get my hair colored and cut at the salon. While I was there, I showed my stylist some of my cakes and she couldn't help but show Andy's DMB cake to another stylist at the salon who is a HUGE Dave fan. The fellow DMB fan loved it and asked me to make her a birthday cake so I couldn't help but say "yes." I think it actually turned out better than my first one...

I guess I'll have to come up with a new design for next year, but for now....Happy Birthday Carolyn! I hope you enjoyed the cake, your birthday, and that you were able to get your "Jimi Thing" on!

Rock Climbing Cake

So word has spread about my new "Cake Business" and I had my first order from a referred customer. I was asked to make a rock climbing cake for a little boy's 7th birthday party and I couldn't resist doing it. In fact, I picked my design from the first search result I found on google. I did take some creative liberties with the coloring of the "rock" itself and tried to give it some more dimension by painting it. All in all, I think it turned out well and my client (I can't believe I can say that I had a client!) was happy. Hopefully, I'll be her new "cake lady!"

The Official Fire Helmet

Well, it was a crazy week with my own Wedding Anniversary (Happy 2 years honey!) and finishing up my groom's cake for Heather and Joe's wedding, but it all turned out perfectly. I was able to enjoy a nice dinner out with my husband and I still finished the cake. I think the final project turned out pretty well, don't you? I'm so glad that I got this picture of Joe and Heather as they entered the reception. I think it was pretty obvious that Joe was both surprised and happy with his cake. I was a little sad when we cut into it, but I had nothing but good reviews. I declare it another cake success....

Tie Dye Birthdays

A co-worker of mine wanted separate birthday cakes for her twin girls. We decided to go with matching colors but different designs. I made one with zebra stripes and the other with polka dots. Each cake then had their own initial as a topper. I dont have pictures to post, but the cakes were also tie dyed inside. In the words of the girls, "they were really cool!"

Heather's Bridal Shower

I recently had the pleasure of co-hosting a Bridal Shower for my friend, Heather. It was one of the few times that I could exploit her feminine side and make a very girly cake for the occasion. Overall, the cake was pretty simple but I love how it turned out. I even added a little extra sparkle to the flowers by adding luster dust and pearls. Cute huh?

Sex & The City

The same woman that I had made the Snoopy cake for wanted another cake for her other daughters birthday. She told me that she was a very "girly-girl" and liked shopping and clothes. I immediately thought of something "Sex & The City" related, which in turn made me think of shoes since that was something the Carrie always obsessed over. I searched the internet for "shoe cakes" and found one that was a simple round cake with a shoe on top. I liked that idea and based my design off of that. I made the shoe a week ahead of time out of gum paste. I even found a stencil template online! The day before the cake was due I made my round cakes, filled and iced them and then proceeded to decorate them. I decided to go with a pink cake because that is the girliest color there is and added the zebra print for some sophistication. I had some extra edible luster pearls that I added to the shoe and to the cake until I was happy with the final look. All in all it was definitely a girly cake and my friend and her daughter loved it. Yay for another success to add to the blog!

The Fire Helmet

I have to say that this is my favorite cake that I've made to date. This was actually just a practice for a future cake that I'll be making for a friends wedding. In fact, its a replica of her fiances fire helmet. I can't take all the credit for the design or figuring out how to make it/put it together. I got a lot of instruction from another blog...DD Pies Slice...She had made a replica of her husbands fire helmet and listed explicit directions on how she made it and put it together. It took me over 6 weeks to get all the pieces and cake out together, but I was very excited with the finished product. My friend who ordered the cake was truly excited about it as well and that was all that mattered to me. Now I have a little over 6 weeks to get started on making the real cake for the wedding and hopefully everything will go as smoothly the next time around too.

Happy Fourth!

I had some free time around Independence Day and I wanted to make a fun cake for a party that my husband, Andy, and I were going to. I browsed the internet for ideas and eventually decided to make an Uncle Sam hat cake. To start out I made my stars out of gum paste and let them dry a week ahead of time. Then the day before, I baked three eight inch round cakes. I cut one it half and used it as the base or brim of the hat. Then I piled the rest on top of one another with chocolate ganache filling inbetween. Once the cake was filled and stacked, I let it sit in the fridge and set. After a few hours in the fridge, I shaped the hat part. It was something I did freehand so it wasn't perfect but I thought it turned out pretty well. The rest of decorating was easy, I just iced it, covered with fondant and decorated as you can see. I got the wire pieces that I put the stars on from Michaels. They're in the new "Ace of Cakes" section of the baking items. In the end the cake turned out well and everyone liked it.

Gravestone Cake

This was a cake a did for another birthday. It was a pretty simple cake that I made using a half sheet cake pan. Once the cake was baked, I made a stencil of the gravestone outline and cut the cake. Then I frosted it and covered it with the fondant. I didn't do much decorating as I thought it would look better with minimal design. Overall I thought it turned out well and the friend I made it for loved it.

Starry Night

Ahhh...after a long awaited and MUCH needed break from the baking/decorating world, I finally made another cake! Honestly, I was getting pretty bored on my days off and one can only spend so much time at the gym and clean the house so many times before there's nothing left to do. So, here's my attempt at painting Van Gogh's "Starry Night" on a cake. I think next time I'd rather make the design out of icing rather than paint it on with food coloring, but its not too bad for my first try, right???

Getting older....

So one of my coworkers wanted a "funny" cake to give her husband for his 40th birthday and I thought, why not a coffin cake? And here it is.... I think it was the easiest cake I've ever made and I was very happy with the results. Hopefully, I'll get to make another one of these soon! PS--the little card on top says, "We mourn the passing of your youth!"

Andy's Birthday

My husband and are I HUGE Dave Matthews Band fans. In fact, we danced to one of their songs at our wedding. So when it came time to make my husband's birthday cake the theme was easy to choose. I made the firedancer out of yellow tinted gum paste and let it dry over a couple of days, then I painted it and the blue background with food coloring. I tried using petal dust at first, but I couldn't get the colors to mix and be as vibrant as I wanted. All in all, I was quite pleased with the final outcome and so was my hubby. Happy B-Day Andy!!!!

Healthy Hearts Reunion

So I was asked to make some cakes for my hospitals Healthy Hearts Reunion. At first I was really excited about the idea, but once I got into the baking and creating...I was not excited. It was more of a tired and frustrated attitude. Anyway, twelve hours and lots of butter, flour, eggs, and powedered sugar later, I had four 12x18 cakes done. I assembled and decorated on site, which didn't take long, but after this weekend I am definitely taking a break from baking for awhile. And...personally I think I really need to work on my icing skills. Michael's cake decorating class....here I come!

Kaitlyn's Birthday Party

Ahh little girl's birthday parties.... Can anything be more fun than to make than a 5 year-old girl's birthday cake??? I think not. The pictures are proof enough...

Nurse's Cake

This is the cake I made for Nurse's Week for the PICU. I don't think its my best work, but its not too bad considering I made it the morning after working three nights in a row....

Happy Nurses Week to all the nurses out there in the blogosphere. You rock!

Japanese Cherry Blossom

This was actually my first attempt at making flowers... I used my friends birthday as an excuse to make a cake and to be my guiney pig at flower making. Altogether, it was a pretty easy cake to put together. First, I made the flowers and colored them with food coloring, then I made the branch out of rolled fondant and placed the flowers all around it. My friend liked the cake and so did everyone at work, so it was another successful experiement, but I still think I need to work on my coloring skills....