Pretty in Pink!

Georgia's birthday party was a "Pretty in Pink" theme and so I was just a bit pleased to be able to make her cake, there's so little pink in my world!  Georgia's mom let me know how much she (mom) likes stripes and that neither she nor Georgia are overly excited about frilly, fru-fru (how on earth is that spelled?) things.  Cute and simple was the aim and so stripes using three shades of pink, a simple pink fondant "1" and a cute little flower to finish it off were all that was needed!  The bottom tier of the cake was chocolate with strawberry filling, while the top was vanilla buttermilk with strawberry filling.  Georgia's mom wanted to incorporate pink into the cake and this was a tasty way to do that!  I was also asked to make a smash cake, which was quite fun!  I made a 4" vanilla buttermilk, also with strawberry filling, that coordinated with the larger cake.  Just enough to give the birthday girl a taste and also to make the traditional first birthday cake mess!!!  Happy Birthday Georgia!

"Sweet 16th" Book!

I was asked to make a cake as a surprise for a 16 year old who happens to love reading!  What better than a book?  This is a small vanilla buttermilk cake made of a 9x13, cut in half and stacked, with vanilla buttercream filling.  The cake was covered in fondant with all gold accents brushed on.  Happy to hear Michaela didn't want to cut into it, but glad she did!!!  

Wedding Calla Lillies!

It was a pleasure to make this cake and cupcake display for a happy young couple celebrating their "I do's"!!  The couple requested 150 mini cupcakes with a small cake to top off the display.  Purple with white calla lillies was the request.  I was provided with a swatch of fabric from the bridesmaids' dresses and matched the fondant and buttercream to that.  It took quite a bit of colour gel to get a match as it was such a deep, lovely purple, but I got it!  The cake and cupcakes were vanilla buttermilk and the cupcakes were topped with a swirl of vanilla buttercream, while the cake was also covered in buttercream as well as fondant.  I used silver cupcake liners and matching ribbon around the cake board and finished the cake off with a cute little fondant trim.  I managed to find an incredibly easy way to make the gumpaste calla lillies using paper cones.  I couldn't believe how difficult it was to find those paper cone cups anywhere, so I resorted to making them myself.  Thankfully, one of my boys recently requested that I make him an elf hat out of felt like Buddy in the movie Elf wears (those of you who know me, feel free to take a guess at who that might have been)!  Anyway, it was good practice for making the cones for the flowers.  I'm looking forward to making these again sometime soon, maybe in other amazing colours!  I was so happy to receive a sweet email from the bride a few days after the wedding, letting me know that it was just what she had pictured and she was quite happy with how everything turned out!  It does my heart good when people are happy with their cake, especially when it's a happy bride!!!



Happy 103rd Grandma!!!

It's hard to know what to get your amazing and beautiful Grandmother when she turns 103, so I stuck with the old standby, cake!  My incredible cousin planned a lovely afternoon tea for Grandma and most of her girls!  I was asked to make the cake and I couldn't wait to make another teapot!  Along with the fact that it was an afternoon tea, Grandma is a real "tea granny", so it seemed quite fitting!    Grandma likes her tea with lemon and anything lemon flavoured is always a winner with her!  This cake was five layers of lemon cake with vanilla buttercream and lemon curd alternated between the layers.  The "103" teabag tag is my favourite little detail on this one!  The cake was covered in buttercream with all accents made of either fondant or gumpaste.  I think the blue, silver and white has a classy look, perfect for Grandma, one of my favourite people in the world! 

Grandma with one of her youngest great great grandchildren,
adorable Kaydan!

It was a very nice afternoon spent with many wonderful women, all celebrating the birth of a truly remarkable woman!  Here's to all your birthday wishes coming true Grandma, a.k.a. G.G.!!!

xoxoxo   



Captain America!

7 year old Will's mom asked me to make him a Captain America Cake, as he's quite the fan!  So much so that he has the C.A. shield which apparently gets quite a bit of use!  It worked out perfectly that the top of the cake was made to look like the shield.  The trickiest part of this cake was getting the buttercream such a dark blue, but it had to be just right!  Thankfully I have three of my own little men and there was enough Avenger's material around the house to get a colour match!  This cake was chocolate with cookies and cream filling.  It was covered in buttercream with all accents made of fondant.  I was happy to receive a report the following day about a happy birthday boy who was very pleased with his cake...always the goal!!!! 

Handyman's Birthday!

 Once again, given free reign on this...a birthday cake for a true handyman's 75th birthday!  The only request was that the cake be sugar free as the birthday boy is diabetic.  I made an executive decision and made the small 6" tier on the top sugar free, and made the bottom 9" tier "full" of sugar, which worked out just fine!

 The cake is completely edible with a coat of buttercream covering it and all accents made of fondant.  I cut strips of yellow fondant and hand painted them to give them the look of a measuring tape.  I typically like to finish cakes by covering the cake board in fondant and wrapping it with ribbon.  For this one I wanted to give the illusion of hardwood, so I used brown fondant, lightly cut into it in strips and painted on some brown to give it the wood grain look.

The hammer featured the guest of honour's name, as if it was his own hammer resting on top of this cake!  I then sprinkled some graham crumbs on top to look like sawdust.  That was the finishing touch!  I was very happy with this cake and was glad to hear that Albert was too!

The Keg!

 I was asked to make a keg for a surprise 40th birthday party!  I decided that I didn't want a wimpy little cake, I wanted a cake with girth!  I used 6 layers of 10" rounds stacked.  I had to use cake boards and wooden dowels between every two layers for support.  I was so thankful that it held up, it was a lot of cake!

 1/3 of the cake was cookies and cream with chocolate buttercream filling, 1/3 was cookies and cream with vanilla buttermilk filling and the remaining 1/3 was chocolate with raspberry filling.  The customer requested that buttercream be used to finish the cake, rather than fondant.  The labels are fondant, the ring around the top is gumpaste and the rest of the cake is finished off in buttercream.  I was happy with the way this turned out!

All of the labels are hand painted and brushed with silver to give the keg a bit more of a rustic look!  

Giant Cookie II

These jumbo cookies are fun to make and I happen to love this colour combination, which consists of the birthday girl's favourite colours!

Two of my Favourites!

 Mini chocolate mint cupcakes with mint buttercream, topped with a little curl from a Rheo Thompson mint smoothy...yum!

Mini coconut cupcakes and coconut buttercream topped with a sprinkling of toasted coconut...again, yum!



Giant Cupcake II

My sister-in-law requested this for a semi-regular gathering she has with a group of long time friends.  She gave me free reign and so I decided on a red, black and white colour scheme.  You just can't go wrong with a giant cupcake!!!

Tinkerbell!!!

 When I was asked to make a Tinkerbell cake for a lovely friend's beautiful daughter, I was so excited and bursting with ideas!  Peter Pan was the first movie I ever saw at the theatre way back when, so anything associated with it holds a special place for me!  This was actually a three tier, as the flower that Tink is sitting in is a jumbo cupcake!  The cake is iced in buttercream and all accents are fondant.  As I've commented before, I like to be a "purist"  in my cake making and to have everything edible.  On occasion, however, it's necessary to bend the rules a little for the sake of the cake!  I tossed around the idea of making a little Tink out of fondant or gumpaste but really didn't think I would do her justice.  I found this Tink candle which worked perfectly to top off the cake!!! 

It doesn't really show in these pictures but I covered the cake in a light dusting of "Pixie dust" (edible glitter).  That was the finishing touch!!! 

Hydrangea Cupcakes for a Special Retirement!!

 I recently had the honour of helping to plan and organize a retirement party for a very special friend and colleague.  It was decided that the party would be classy and elegant but not overdone.  Black linens, silver serving dishes and hints of soft green were used to create the atmosphere we were going for.  Hydrangeas were a theme of the party and cupcakes that went along with the theme were chosen as the sweet!  I really like how each cupcake is so unique!  The party was a success and the guest of honour was thrilled, which was all that mattered in the end!

Montreal Canadiens

I know some will love it, others not so much...sorry to the latter group, it's just a cake (did I just say that?)!!!!

Clothesline for Twins!!

This sweet little number was made for wonderful friends who recently welcomed twins into their life!  They were blessed with a boy and a girl, both as cute as a button! 

I decided on a clothesline with pink and blue baby clothes, blankets, socks and bibs hanging from it, it just seemed adorable!  The blue onsie with the bird is my favourite part of this one! The cake is half chocolate with cookies and cream filling and half vanilla buttermilk cake with raspberry filling.  It's covered in buttercream with fondant accents and funky fondant lettering making up the greeting on the top.  Once again, I loved making this one and was happy to be celebrating with the lovely little family! xoxoxo

Frills for Mom!

This year marked a milestone birthday for my Mom and so it was celebrated with one of her favourite things...chocolate!  A chocolate buffet was featured at her party and this cake was featured on the buffet table!  Surprisingly, this cake is not all chocolate!  The bottom tier is chocolate with chocolate buttercream filling, while the top is lemon with raspberry filling.  I've been wanting to try this frill technique for awhile and thought Mom's birthday party would be as good a time as any to experiment!  Since the colour theme of the party was pink and black, it made sense to do the cake in graduated shades of pink.  It was topped with a simple black flower!

The chocolate buffet!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!
xo

 

M.I.C.K.E.Y...M.O.U.S.E.!!!

 This was another cake which I was completely honoured to make!  A very special little fellow was celebrating his very first birthday and Mickey Mouse was the winner for choice of cake!!!  I found a clip art image of Mickey and used it as a stencil to hand cut the image out of fondant for the cake.

 I then added fondant letters with the birthday greeting, a fondant #1 and black and red fondant ball trim to finish it off!  The cake was half cookies and cream and half chocolate!

Joshua's Mommy and Daddy - thanks for giving me the honour of making his first birthday cake!

xoxoxo



Luau!!!

Wow, it's been far too long since I've posted anything; life's been a bit on the crazy side but it's time to bring this blog up to date!  This cake was made back in June for 10 year old Laura's Luau themed birthday party.  It was a fun little one to make, with it's vibrantly coloured flowers and cute little flip flops!  What a great way to kick off summer!!!

Wedding Sampler

This is a simple tasting sampler for a September wedding.  The bottom is chocolate with raspberry filling, the middle is vanilla buttermilk with toasted pecan and coconut filling and the top is a lemon with vanilla buttercream filling.  It looks like those are the flavours they'll be going for when they say "I do" in September!

Whimsical Cat!

I was happy to work with a favourite customer again to make this fun little cake for her daughter's 6th birthday!  I was asked to make a pink kitty with white polka dots.  Thought this was fun style but I couldn't believe the trouble I had with getting the head correct. It originally started out as a cake carved into the head but ended up as a large ball of fondant stuck very carefully onto the body!  I was happy to hear that the brother of the birthday girl is crazy about fondant and would have no trouble partaking in the fondant cat head!

A Birthday Girl's Favourite Things!

This was a fun cake to make and was one of those ones I love where I'm given several ideas about what the person of honour likes and I am given free reign to be creative!  This was made for the 80th birthday of a former nurse who loves to travel the world, enjoys a good cup of tea, a good book and, most importantly, the company of her family!

This cake was huge and was completely edible, from the buckles on the suitcase to the teacup sitting on top of the books.  Actually, the teacup was palatable but I wouldn't recommend eating it, as it was made from gum paste, rather than fondant, so that it would hold it's shape.  I managed to get the teacup quite thin so that it resembled china and I finished it off my painting gold around the rim, handle and base and a purple "80" on the front.  I was happy to hear that the guest of honour kept the teacup as a memento of her birthday celebration!

Vibrant Ladybugs!

What can I say, I love these!!!  I love polka dots, this green colour, and I've been wanting to incorporate lady bugs into something, so here it is!  These are mini cupcakes that I made to use up a little extra cake batter I had.  Once again, I was just playing around but wanted to make something that would really pop and thought a nice vibrant green topped with a little something red would work.  Rather than doing the typical flower (not that I have a problem with that, I happen to love making little flowers), I decided on these!  Love love love!!!

Patch Treasurechest for Charlie!

 I've always wanted to do a pirate themed birthday party for one of my boys, but they've always been interested in something else!  I've put it out there again this year for the twins, who will be 5 next month, but I'd mentioned robots at one point and they're all over that like white on rice!  I am looking forward to that too and am already thinking of all the fun robot themed fun you could include in a birthday party...maybe the pirates will happen next year!!!  You can imagine I was happy to be asked to make a cake to go with a little man's pirate themed 3rd birthday party!  More specifically, it was themed around a Lalaloopsy Pirate doll, called Patch Treasurechest!  Charlie's only request was that the cake include a treasure chest and gold coins!  Well, it seemed like the only thing to do was a giant treasure chest with little Patch sitting propped against it!  Of course his little parrot friend had to be included and sat perched on top of the treasure chest.  This cake was huge and as I was making it, I was aware that it was far more than required for the party.  I thought it would look like a wimpy little treasure chest if I made it any smaller and you can't have a wimpy pirate cake!  The cake itself was vanilla buttermilk with vanilla buttercream filling.  I used a chocolate fondant to cover the treasure chest and then "carved" into in with one of my fondant tools to give the wooden look.  A bit of brown colour gel brushed on finished the look I was going for.  Strips of fondant that had been coloured golden yellow were added for the trim and then brushed with gold shimmer dust.  Patch was made completely out of fondant.  I tried to keep him realistic and made an enormous head.  Wow, was that thing ever tricky to hold up!  I got a bit carried away with the details and used small amounts of black and white fondant to make a little skull and crossbones on his shirt, as well as his little Chuck Taylor's.  Charlie got his wish and heaps of "gold" coins overflowed from the chest!  A little brown sugar for sand and a treasure map wishing the birthday boy a happy day, finished it off!  Phew, this was quite the project, but well worth it, especially seeing pictures of Charlie biting into Patch's head the second he was allowed at his cake!  The "carnage" photo of Patch afterwards had me laughing every time I looked at it!  So glad Charlie liked it and that he had a very happy day!!!  

Super Cookie!!!

I was recently asked to make a large cookie to mark a special day for a special family!  Using a 9" cake pan, I made my standard chocolate chip cookie dough and pressed it into the bottom of the pan.  I wasn't quite sure how long to bake it but it looked done, so out it came.  Using purple icing I piped onto the top of the cookie and made a few fondant flowers out of orange, pink and purple and finished it off with a touch of pink shimmer!  The special little one it was made for is apparently quite the cookie monster and was so excited to open it and find her favourite colours on a giant chocolate chip cookie!  I didn't know those were her favourite colours but do I ever love it when that happens!!!  Heard the cookie didn't last long!!!

More Play Time!!!

Using an extra 9" square cake, I decided to cut it into four and stack them to make a cute, but slender cake!  Using strawberry buttercream filling between the layers of chocolate cake gave it some additional height!  I then took some leftover icing and used one of my favourite techniques to create this incredibly simple, but pretty little number!

Budding Artist!

When asked to make this cake, I was told that the the birthday girl is very interested in art and, in fact, her birthday party was art themed.  Due to unexpected schedule changes with the customer, I didn't know I would be making this cake until two days prior to the party...yikes!  Thankfully I work well under pressure and with little sleep!  Picasso was mentioned as a possible feature of the cake but it definitely had to include something art related.  I decided that what the cake needed was an actual Picasso painting, so I set out to hand paint a portion of Picasso's Le Reve (The Dream).  

Using a multitude of colour gels, I went to work and was pleased with the way it turned out! I finished it off with a gold fondant frame and propped it on top of the cake. The next step was the painter's pallet.  Using fondant I coloured brown, I added some extra brown and pulled it through to give it more of a wood grain look.  The paint brush was the finishing touch and sitting it in front of the cake seemed like the perfect spot!  I'd originally thought of covering the cake in white buttercream, to give more of an impression of a blank canvas. It came to mind that this was meant for an 8 year old's party and that a splash of colour might be nice.  I decided to bring out the very faint mauve in the painting and then use a darker purple for the trim, writing and flowers.  It took far longer than I had hoped, particularly after getting it in my head that I was going to replicate a portion of a Picasso painting!  I was glad I stuck with it and hope that Ahrielle had a wonderful birthday!


My own pallet used in the making of this cake!