The Celebration of Heddy and Steve

When Tawna first approached me with a cake request for Heddy and Steve's engagement party, she used the word "celebrate" about half a dozen times.

It was very clear about how she felt of their pending nuptials.

It was definitely time to celebrate.

This cake design was inspired by one of Colette Peters' cakes.
I'd love to take one of her classes someday.

The butterflies were made from melted chocolate,

which can be made ahead of time.

Instructions on how to make these butterflies

can be found in the Hello Cupcake book.

Heddy is always a good reason to celebrate,

but when you add Steve into the mix?... you have one helluva CELEBRATION!

Congratulations, Heddy and Steve!

Vanilla cake with whipped dark chocolate ganache filling.

Marshamallow fondant decorations and chocolate butterflies.

The words were polished with Luster Dust.

Aw Heck, Let Them Eat Crayons!

 It's the last day of school!
Eat those crayons!

I've had this cake on my "to-do-list" for awhile, so finally I had to make one when I found this awesome tutorial on cakecentral.com.

 The cake is from two 9x13 cakes, stacked, then carved into shape.

I used Joy Kids Cones for the crayon tips.  They were covered with marshmallow fondant then "glued" to the cake with candy melts.

 I adore this cake because it makes me happy.

But then again, I never met a cake that didn't make me smile.

Happy, happy, happy!

Vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream.

Everything is EDIBLE!
LET THEM EAT CRAYONS!

Thank you Teachers for another wonderful year!

Tinkerbell for Kaitlin

We recently made a trip out to Disneyland with Kaitlin and her family.  This was our first trip with the kiddos and it was not terrible.  It was actually pleasant.  As parents of toddlers know, it could've easily gone the other way...... way, way, way to the other side.

Tinkerbell is SASSY!  Did you know this?  At least the character at Disneyland was.  I loved it!  Because after waiting in line for 45 minutes, not knowing whether we were in line for a ride or not, I was surprised to find a sassy Tinkerbell.  She was fun and entertaining.  Kaitlin was starstruck.  For Rocco... not so much.  He was more interested in whether Terence's wings had superhero powers or not.

 The design of the cake was inspired by Tinkerbell's Pixie Hollow at Disneyland.  And why the heck not, I was waiting for what seemed like hours for a meet-n-greet, to soak in all the Pixie Hollow decor.

Happy 5th Birthday, Kaitlin!

Vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream and fresh strawberries filling.

Cake sizes are 8-6-4 rounds.

Cake covered with marshmallow fondant and decorated with fondant flowers/butterflies.  Tinkerbell was a candle.

Pops for Teachers Nancy and Betty

Happy Birthday, Teachers Nancy & Betty!

I can't begin to tell you how much I

appreciate all the teachers at my son's preschool.

They enrich MY life by simply taking

such good care of OUR children.

Thank you.

Need a pop gift box of your own?

Here are the items you'll need:

Homemade cakepops

Pretty satin ribbon

Textured sash (leftover from my wedding invitations) 

or construction paper

Wilton's Pop Gift Box

All of these items can be purchased from your local arts and crafts store.

Isabella's 1st Pooh Celebration

It's been quite sometime since my last posting in January.  

February passed on by without a cupid cake posting.  Shucks!

And no lucky charms cake for St. Patty's day either.  Dang!

But, I finally got a chance to make Pooh and now I feel much better.

Isabella celebrated her first birthday today!

My son saw this cake and was a little bit confused.

He wanted to know why Winnie the Pooh was making such a mess

and whether he was going to clean up.  Rocco was very concerned about the mess.

Hmmm, maybe I'm going a little too far with having Rocco be so "neat" and "clean."  Isn't it his given right to make a mess and have fun as a 3-year old?  Oiy, but, picturing him play with a barrel full of "hunny"..... yeah, not so much.

Izzy, Bella, Bel, Ella, El, ISABELLA!

I love all the beautiful iterations of her name.

Rocco asked if he could eat Winnie's head.  I said he can ask for an arm after Isabella blows out her candle.  He also bargained for one bee and a ladybug in exchange for his well behavior at the party.

He got all three.

Vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream and fresh strawberries.  All decorations, including Pooh, bumble bees and ladybugs were made of marshmallow fondant.  "Hunny" was made from tinted piping gel.

Happy 1st Birthday, Isabella!

Rocco's Toy Story 3

"Ooooo, Rocco is three!"

Rocco woke up this morning at 6AM, screaming

"Yeah, it's my birthday party! Let's go right now everyone.

I'm ready to Pump-It-Up"

He's into Toy Story, in a big way.  He has seen all three movies and can tell you which story goes with which movie.  He's crazy about all of the characters, especially the Space Alien.  Here you see Mr. and Mrs. Potato Heads.  Last night, at 11 PM, my tired mind and body were thinking that maybe they didn't need shoes and arms.... I actually convinced myself that they were better off.  That's still up for debate.

I just love T-Rex.  The reptile skin effect was achieved from using Duff Goldman's Cobblestone Texture Tiles.

Hamm is another one of my favorites.

Buzz Lightyear was absolutely the most difficult to do.

I just couldn't figure out how to do his clear space helmet.

Woody was actually one of the easiest characters to make...

I was pleasantly surprised.

This cake took me a good, solid 10 hrs to make.  With the exception of the Space Alien candle, all decorations were made of marshmallow fondant.  I took all day (and night) Saturday for this cake, which forced hubby to play single parent again.  He's the best.

The best thing about making this cake was Rocco's reaction when he first saw it, "WOW.  It's AMAZING.  Can I touch it?"

With the cake AND cakepops, I think the children really had their share of Toy Story for one day.

Chocolate cake with whipped chocolate ganache.  Vanilla cakepops.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Rocco!

A Weekend of Cakepops

OOOOO, CAKEPOPS!

"Nirvana is coming, the mystic portal awaits."

I can't think of a better way to start off the year.

This weekend was all about the cakepops.

I started preparing for my son's birthday party.  He's having a Toy Story themed party and these will be the party favors!

I used mini chocolate morsels and chocolate covered sunflower seeds to help accentuate those adorable alien features.  Easy-peasy.  However, the pre-made eyeballs by Wilton just my life a little easier.  I used to make all my sugar eyeballs from fondant or royal icing!!!!!  I found these at my local arts and crafts store.

Push the EASY button, done.

 I also made these baseball cakepops for Chase's 3rd birthday!

 Chase is going to make some waves with his athletic talents some day.  He's the only 3-year old that can hit a baseball pitched to him.  Yes, pitched.  He even swings like a real ball player!!!!  WTF!
Both parents played ball, so I guess that explains it.
As for me, I had to look up what the stitching looked like on a baseball.  After the candy melt dried, I used a red edible pen to draw in the stitch.  I have to say, these are probably one of my favorites.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Chase!

Holiday Cupcakes

Happy Holidays!

Chocolate cupcakes with whipped chocolate ganache icing.

The decorations were made from marshmallow fondant with

sprinkles and edible luster dust for the shimmer.

All edible.

Cupcakes were made for my department's white elephant gift exchange potluck.  I brought a gift card for the exchange and ended up with two Christmas tree ornaments and a soft Mr. Potato Head doll.  My son absolutely loved it!

Holiday Cookies

Martha Stewart's sugar cookies with royal icing.

Joshy's Pumped Safari

I try to make sure that every cake project that I take on is different and one that I haven't done before.  I was stumped on the design for Joshy's cake after I found out it was a safari theme... a theme I've done before.  Luckily, Debbie gave me total design control... so, I decided to make a Horton look-a-like cake.

The cake design was actually inspired by the adorable foam animal party hats Debbie had bought for the party.

The body, head and feet were carved from two 8-inch rounds and 6-inch round cake.  The party hat and trunk were made from Rice Krispy Treats.  The elephant cake sits on top of a 12-inch square cake.  All of the decorations were made of marshmallow fondant, including the ladybug.  I thought the ladybug on the elephant's back was so cute... got the idea from my son's elephant figurine.  

A fun time was had by all, especially my son, at Pump-it-Up for Joshy's 3rd birthday party.

Vanilla cake with fresh strawberries and vanilla buttercream.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Joshy!