Baby G

My best friend of 22 years had her first child in June 2014. To celebrate her pending arrival, she held a co-ed baby shower. She hates the color pink and went with a teal and purple theme, so pretty. The cake matched her nursery with an elephant, giraffe, and hippo cut out of fondant. The cupcakes were a cookies & cream flavor and an orange creamcicle flavor. Very tasty!

After her birth, we celebrated her baptism with all of the family and friends in her life. I had the honor of making her baptism cake, which she wanted to be religious but not gaudy. I went with a simple classy cross design, that matched the personality of the party. Very successful. I love that baby girl so much!

Random Yumminess

My family reunion has been held in West Virginia since they started having them, who knows how many years ago. Well most of the family still alive now lives in Maryland, and making it out to West Virginia just isn't possible for most, so they decided to move it to MD for the first time this year. My grandmother, who wasn't doing so well, health wise, was super excited to be able to go this year to see her brother and other family members. My family got some really bad news and my grandmother died the morning of the reunion, so this cake means a lot to me. All of the green circles were my grandmothers brothers and sisters (and one for her). The tree is made of rice crispy treats covered in modeling chocolate, and the branches/leaves is popcorn coated in green white chocolate. The cake was a huge hit on such a sad day.

I started a new job last year and had to do a lot of training. I wanted to celebrate the end of training with everyone so I brought in these pretty mini-cupcakes, just because :)

4th of July is always fun, and it was only fitting that there were cupcakes available that matched the excitement!

As stated earlier, I started a new job this year, and come March it was time to celebrate our career's, and licenses, and our sometimes not appreciated work as Social Workers. I made the cake to match the theme of Social Work Month for 2014, All People Matter.

Just a simple Thank You cake for my mother-in-law to take to her work to show her appreciation for her staff!

Very Happy Birthday!

A lot of people like to have cakes that celebrates their hobbies and interests, and this year was no exception. This first cake was for a loyal fan celebrating Baltimore's two sports teams, the Ravens and the Orioles. Hand cut/painted logo's out of fondant attached to the fitting ball.

The same family also had a birthday party for their daughter who loves to run. She has a specific pair of tennis shoes that she loves and wanted a cake to match. This was a last minute cake so I didn't have as much time to spend on the shoes, but I think for having 2 days it turned out pretty darn good!

A halloween birthday was celebrated with a walking dead theme. Cake wouldn't be complete without some gooey edible blood. Of course vampires love it, it's extra sweet! 

Pretty Pretty Princess

One of my good friends nieces' turned 1 last year and she had to celebrate in style! She is a little princess and needed a cake fitting of her royalty. The cake was two tiered, accented with a fondant top and gum paste bow/tiara. She was entitled to her very own cake that she did not have to share. It matched her beauty and was topped with a sparkly tiara. Needless to say with all that icing, she needed a beauty bath!

Curious George

One of my friends' nephew's turned 2 this past year and he really was into Curious George. I didn't even know kids knew who he was still so that alone was pretty exciting! The top cake was a small birthday night cake for the family to celebrate with at dinner. The bottom cake was for his birthday party with his friends. The decorations (George/train, and the signs) were bought online, and everything else is out of buttercream. The train tracks were made of modeling chocolate. 

Baby Shower Bonanza!

Lots of babies were celebrated this year which means lots of cakes! The first cake is for an expected mother of a baby boy for a work baby shower. They wanted something cute but simple and I thought the quilt design fit it perfectly.

A popular design for baby showers is the baby butt design. This is the only one I have ever made but I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out! The cake is covered in buttercream and the baby portion is covered in fondant. 

One of my coworkers had her 3rd child this past year, and she didn't know the gender (even though everyone pretty much guessed correctly!). I wanted to just make something simple but very tasty! This was a version of a snickers cake (yum yum). Chocolate cake with caramel filled chocolate chips baked in, soaked with a caramel syrup, and iced with a cream cheese icing. It was so good! The caramel hardened up in the refrigerator causing the crunchy and chewy parts that mimicked a snickers bar perfectly. 

My cousin had her baby girl and wanted a cake to match the theme of her nursery. The zebra print was cut out of fondant, and the cheetah print was hand painted by me :)

Another coworker of mine is currently pregnant and I had the pleasure of making her gender reveal cake! She also did the reveal with balloons first so the cake was the confirmation that the party store got the balloons correct. This cake was super fun (and hard keeping the secret from all of my coworkers!). The party was in October and the pumpkin/fall theme went perfectly. The cake was filled with colored m&m's and when cut they flowed out of the cake. IT'S A.....

GIRL!!!!!

Cupcake Dress Boutique

A very popular design has been the cupcake dress silhouette. I love making cupcakes because you can really play with flavors, fillings, designs, and accents. I secured the cupcakes in the dress outline by using a little piece of packing tape under each cupcake, and I used a 1M Wilton tip to get the rose swirl.

The first one I ever made was for a bridal shower. They wanted the dress to be romantic and classy. The bride really enjoyed pearls and was going to wear them with her actual dress so I used a brooch and a string of pearls to accent the "waist" area.

This next cupcake dress was for a Frozen themed birthday party. I think the only thing more popular than cupcake cakes was the Frozen theme this year, but surprisingly this was my only Frozen cake. I accented it with a tiara, rhinestone belt, blue/teal jeweled brooch, a wand, and frozen jewelry. The birthday girl really loved her cake!

I also made a pretty in pink princess dress for a pretty girls 1st birthday party. The cake was a spice cake with a cream cheese icing (see previous blog for recipe). The cake was accented with a tiara, pearls, brooch, and magic wand. 

The birthday girl got her own special smash cake, fit with a tiara :)

Birthday Cakes

Since my last update (which was way toooooo long ago), I have been super busy with my career and my baking. 

One of the birthday cakes I made in 2014 was a cake for a fan of the band Dash Berlin. They wanted a cake that mimicked the look of one of their albums, with a few custom ideas. Turned out pretty good!

Another friend of mine needed a last minute birthday cake for her husband who plays guitar in a rock band. She knew she wanted a guitar with flames and had some ideas for inspiration. The cake was a half sheet cut to resemble a guitar and covered in buttercream. There are fondant accents.

The next cake was for a family that I've made many cakes for (that are on this blog too!) Her daughter's second birthday was with a theme of a tv show, Sheriff Callie's Wild West so her cake had to match! I covered the cake in marshmallow fondant and used royal icing to get the design on the bandana. The rode embellishment on the boarder of the cakes is buttercream.

Hectic weekend!

So I was given the chance to take a cake class from Charm City Cakes, which most people know from the Food Network's Ace of Cakes. This was a Christmas gift to me, and I learned how to make a peony. The price included a round, fondant covered 8 in cake, and the materials. I created the peony to top the cake. Pretty decent job if I say so myself!

Birthday cake with a soccer theme. I created the soccer ball using a cake ball technique. yummy!

Happy Holidays 2013!

I always like to experiment with new recipes, especially around the holidays. My friend wanted to make gingerbread cookies to announce her pregnancy to her coworkers. Bad weather prohibited me from staying and helping, however, I decided to try to make gingerbread cupcakes for a holiday party. The cake itself was very dense, but absolutely delicious, and this is coming from someone who isn't that crazy about gingerbread! I topped it off with a cinnamon cream cheese. Complex flavors for this amazing new cupcake recipe.

Baby Declan!

One of my favorite cakes of last year. A baby shower for my cousin's first son. 

Yellow is the color of the season!

Having made so many cakes for my mother-in-law to take into work, I wanted to do something a little different on Halloween. I found an idea on pinterest for a cheesecake that looked like..go figure..actual cheese! To top it off I made chocolate covered strawberry mice and sprinkled some granola to top. I didn't get to try it but I know it was a hit!

A last minute Minion birthday cake for a small, immediate family 21st birthday dinner.

So long, Farewell...

A Dr's office was having a farewell party to celebrate an office manager leaving and moving to another office. At the same time, they wanted to thank a pharmacy representative for luncheons and all the work been done. Needless to say this office ate well that week!

Jungle Shower

I made a baby shower cake for my cousin's second son with a jungle theme. The cake is covered in marshmallow fondant and has gum paste sculpted jungle animals and bananas. The sides have some fondant trees but that is not viewable from this perspective.

Sweet Randomness!

Many cakes that I make are for friends, work, just because events. These cakes are made for various reasons but all were enjoyed the same ways :)

Homemade cake version of an oreo (let's just say delicious)

Alcohol Free Pina Colada mini cupcakes. These didn't get to be enjoyed by many before the tray spilled all over the floor (eeks!) but the few that tasted said they were tasty :)

Probably one of the most interesting cakes I've ever made. A toilet cake with edible..umm..poop. At least it tasted good, and received a lot of laughs!

Uno Birthday cake accented with fondant dots.

Baby shower cake for a baby boy if you couldn't guess :)

Halloween Birthday Bash

My cousin's children both celebrate their birthdays around Halloween. Last year she had a Dr. Seuss theme party (cake below). This year she had a Halloween theme party with tons more kids!

Jack Skeleton cupcakes

Halloween family cake (filled with gummy worms).

Dr. Seuss cake, hand piped royal icing characters hand drawn with edible markers.

Flower Power

Grandmothers 82nd birthday party. (This was conjoint with my graduation party).

Lilly Pulitzer themed birthday cake.

Bridal Shower hand painted, royal icing flowers.

Sunflower mini cupcake bouquet.

Graduation Celebrations!

Birthday and MSW Graduation for a dear friend! (Sparkler candles on the cake!) 

Dual Graduation party: MSW and MS. DSM 5 out of rice krispy treats, 

graduating turtle out of gum paste and hand painted.

My cousin graduated from high school this year (I feel so old!). He isn't a cake person but LOVES ice cream (hence the licking to claim ownership over the entire ice cream cake!). I knew I had to compete with the Carvel cakes so I made the crunchy bits and it was amazing! The mortarboard is actual cake covered with fondant. Both turned out great.