TMNT

This Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cake was recently made for a birthday boy who is all about the pizza eating, sewer dwelling fellas!  I had a vision for the topper and was happy it turned out as planned!  The pizza slices were a last minute addition but added the finishing touch (and made me hungry for pizza)!  

Sweet 16th Princess (and the frog) Cake!

 So once again, I'm a little behind in posting anything on my blog!  I'm also on Facebook, which has been a wee bit less neglected than this site!  So that means that I will be doing quite a bit of catching up over the next little while.  There's a lot to put up but I hope you will see something to make you smile...and to make you hungry for cake!
I had a lot of fun creating this cute little number for a special Sweet 16th!  I was thrilled to discover that when she was little, the birthday girl used to love looking for frogs when she would go visit her grandparents!  I saw the frog holding the candle idea on Pinterest and couldn't resist!  So glad he ended up a part of this special creation!

Vegan '55 Chevy!

 When I was asked to make a vegan wedding cake, having never made a vegan cake of any sort, I thought I'd take on the challenge!!!  When I was asked by the bride-to-be to make a vegan '55 Chevy birthday cake for the groom-to-be as a test run, I thought why not?  Wow, to say this was the most time consuming test run ever, is an understatement!!! To say I was happy with the outcome is also an understatement!  This vegan carrot cake, which is amazingly delicious, was filled with vegan cream cheese icing and covered in fondant, which also happens to be vegan.  I realize that it is a 1955 Chevy, but the licence plate says 1960.  That's not a mistake, it's just my usual finishing touch, where I put the year the birthday person was born on the licence plate!  With this project under my belt, I was ready to take on the wedding cake challenge... watch for that post coming soon!!!

Dance themed Silhouettes!

When Jaime was getting ready to celebrate her 6th birthday, her mother contacted me requesting a dance themed cake featuring silhouettes.  Jaime is into all kinds of dance and her favourite colour is purple!  I have made other cakes with silhouettes and decided to use those featuring various forms of dance around the perimeter of the cake.  The cake is covered in buttercream with all accents made of fondant.  A top hat, which was actually a miniature cake, ballet slippers and #6 were placed on the top of the cake! 

Plain old Cute!

 I love the simplicity of this cheery little number!  I was given almost complete free reign on this one-the only details I was given ahead of time was that the birthday girl does not like blue and it was to be simple but classy.  I decided to go with a sunny yellow and a large white ruffled flower as the focal point.  Black accents were incorporated in the centre of the flower and the fondant bands wrapped around the base of each tier.  Two black fondant buttons added a cute and subtle little detail!

Snowflake Bridal Shower

This pretty little number was created for a November bridal shower with a "blingy" snowflake theme.  The request was for the cake to be simple but classy, which I think was achieved!  The cake consisted of two flavour combinations; vanilla buttermilk with raspberry filling and chocolate with peppermint filling.  The peppermint filling was made by mixing finely chopped candy canes and peppermint flavouring into my buttercream.  It was a nice variation and tied in well with the whole snowflake/winter theme!

The cake was covered in white fondant and all snowflakes were made with white fondant and covered in a mixture of white sparkling sugar and silver pearlized sugar...so pretty!  A band of fondant with "congratulations" written in silver colour was wrapped around the centre of the cake.  Fondant balls brushed with pearl dust were placed around the base of each tier, while two delicate snowflakes were placed on the top as the finishing touch!

Castle fit for a Princess!

I was happy to be asked to make Malia's birthday cake again this year!  I had made a barnyard themed cake for her second birthday and this year was to be a princess themed party!  I was asked to make a castle cake complete with shimmer, tulle and anything else that screamed "birthday party for a little princess"!  The cake itself consisted of a square bottom tier topped with a round tier.  The turrets were made of paper towel rolls covered in fondant and topped with fondant covered ice cream cones.  They were held together and attached to the cake using royal icing, which holds much better than buttercream or fondant would.  I added pink shimmer to the tops of the turrets and wrapped a piece of tulle around the cake board to finish it off.  Once again, I prefer the cakes to be completely edible but the birthday girls' mommy asked that I include her collection of princesses around the cake, which added the finishing touch!  It was Malia's birthday after all and if that's what she wanted, that's what she was getting!!!

Angel Wing and Clouds

I wasn't sure where to begin when I was asked to make a 50th birthday cake for a woman who is really into angels.  Her sister requested the cake and admittedly advised that her sister is very different than she is and so she had nothing else to suggest. I didn't want the cake to look tacky or too childlike but mature and classy.  The other challenge was that the cake had to withstand a car ride to Montreal for a party three days later.  I decided to go with a single tier covered in fondant to withstand the trip and maintain as much freshness as possible.  Using white fondant I formed a single angel wing and tinged the tips with gold.  The clouds were an interesting technique I found online that actually worked!  I acheived the look I was going for and was thrilled to receive a report afterwards that the cake made it to Montreal, was fresh and made the birthday girl cry!!!  That's what I like to hear!!!

1st Birthday Puppy!

Adorable little Macklin turned one in October and his mommy asked me to design a cake for his party that would incorporate a couple of his favourite things; his stuffed puppy and his blanket.  She'd liked the teddy bear baby shower cakes I've done before so I went with that idea but incorporating a puppy instead.  As with the teddy bears, the puppy is made out of cake and completely edible.  He sits on a blanket made out of fondant.  The cake is covered in buttercream with fondant accents.  I used the black from the puppy's eyes as an accent colour for the rest of the cake.  I really enjoyed creating this one and was happy to hear that Macklin really partied it up on his big day!!!

Cupcakes for an Artist!

I was asked to make cupcakes for a painter who loves yellow roses and this is what I came up with.  I piped a soft green buttercream on the tops and then used fondant leaves in the same shade of green, soft pink flowers and yellow roses, also made out of fondant and finished off with a fondant paintbrush tucked among the flowers.  I was very happy with how these turned out and was glad to hear that the birthday girl was as well!!!

Hot Pink and Black Cupcakes

This was a fun little cupcake order!  I was given free reign with the only requirements being to use hot pink and black for a 30th birthday party.  I always love to use these damask liners and flowers are always a favourite of mine, so I decided on a two-layered flower with pink shimmer and a black butterfly with pink glitter!  So girly, love it!!!

Maple Leafs Cupcakes

I thought I'd have a little fun with this order for Maple Leafs/hockey themed cupcakes and came up with these semi-toothless grins!  The rest of the cupcakes featured the Maple Leafs Logo and pucks with crossed sticks piped on.  It's too bad the young Leafs fan that these were made for is not getting to enjoy watching them play these days, but at least he had some cupcakes to remind him of his favourite team...not quite the same I'm sure!

It's a Jungle Out There!

It was nice to make a square slab to mix things up a little!  This carrot cake with cream cheese icing was covered in buttercream and fondant accents were used to make the jungle animals and other accents.  Some polka dots and a few fondant leaves around the base are the finishing touch!

Storybook Baby Shower!

 To say that this cake was an honour to make is an understatement!  This cake was made to welcome the arrival of a little miracle who's parents have been waiting for her for a very long time!  The theme of the shower was storybook and I was very impressed by the way the whole shower was tied to that theme!  I decided on a cake that looked like a storybook, right down to the gold edged pages and ribbon book mark down the centre of the "book"!

The colour theme of the shower was brown and pink, one of my favourites for a baby shower for a little girl! The brown fondant edge of the cake was made to look like a cover, while a brown strip of fondant was used as a book mark down the centre of the cake.  The edges of the pages were painted with gold colouring and pink and brown accents and a gold crown were used on the pages.  A little pink bassinette with a brown bow was featured on one page, while the story of Karsyn's arrival was hand written with

brown colour on the first page.  This cake is half chocolate and half vanilla buttermilk with buttercream filling and covered in fondant.  It truly is a storybook ending and a dream come true!  Welcome to the world Karsyn!!!



"90 Years Young"

 It was a privilege to make this cake for a 90 year old who seems to be very young at heart!  I was given several ideas to work with regarding interests of the birthday girl, who is very active and vibrant!  I was also shown a photo of her, which I believed must have been from a few years back, and was in awe in discovering that it was taken very recently!  I tried to incorporate as much as I could in the design, to reflect the amazingly rich life that this incredible woman leads, but had to keep it to only a few of her interests!  She recently painted her bedroom lilac, she loves the theatre, jazz music and driving around in her convertible, to name a few, but these were the ones I went with!

 I decided to use a soft lilac, white and black as the featured colours of the cake.  I started out with a bottom tier featuring a harlequin pattern.  This always reminds me of the theatre and adds a nice contrast to other patterns used on the cake.  The middle tier consisted of a bar of music flowing from a saxophone silhouette.  The music wrapped around the circumference of the cake.  It was quite the time consuming process as each line and music note is made of single thin strips of fondant.  I'm so glad it worked out after all that!

To top off the cake, I added a third tier incorporating a convertible, to honour the guest of honour's love for her own, and a simple fondant flower!  I typically would not add a toy to a cake, as I like for all parts of the cake to be edible, however, I decided that I would not do justice to a convertible  made of fondant or gumpaste considering how much other detail I had planned for the cake.  Also, this would allow the birthday girl to have a souvenir of her party to keep, and play with if she so desires!

Order from Mexico, ole!

 I was thrilled to receive a request for a cake all the way from Mexico!  Thankfully I didn't have to get it there as the customer was ordering it for a party right here in Ontario!  The request was for the rosette cake I have done before but with bright colours!  I LOVE the colours on this cake and the way it turned out!  I was originally not going to use the pink as I thought it would be too busy, but it added the right contrast to make the cake pop!  It is such a happy looking cake, if a cake could be happy! 
Fit for a fiesta!!!

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