Sweet 16th Elegance

I was thrilled to receive a cake request from an old childhood friend this week, I was even more excited that she wanted a classy but simple sequin cake for her beautiful daughters Sweet 16th birthday party which was a bit of a surprise for the birthday girl!

I loved the colors once it was all put together. I've always loved the pale pinks with gold!

I finished it off by cutting a simple 16 out of gold glitter cardstock for the top. I'm a sucker for simple but elegant touches, and who am I kidding- who doesn't love a little glitter...or alot!

The perfect sweet cake for a perfect Sweet 16!

Simple Island Elegance

There is something so classic and beautiful about a cake covered in orchids isn't there? I loved the idea of a simple and classic cake for the pre wedding celebrations for the daughter of my friend. Her wedding was to be in Hawaii, but her mom wanted to do something special for her daughter before they all left for trip. 

 Forgive my kitchen background! There wasn't a chance to photograph it. I love white buttercream cakes with traditional purple orchids, just like the traditional island cakes. It's such an understated but classic look. The cake itself was a french vanilla cake with raspberry filling, to tie it all in i added a touch of clear raspberry oil to the almond buttercream, and can I just tell you how wonderful my kitchen smelled when it was all mixing up? MMMMMMMM

African Serengeti 40th Birthday Cake

I have planned this cake for a  few years. My husband spent 2 years in southern Africa in his twenty's serving a religious mission and doing much service work. He has always loved Africa and I've always wanted to give him an African cake. The opportunity came in the perfect way- his surprise 40th birthday party! I had a hard time coming up with a theme for the party, even after a year of trying to plan it, since he is a man of many loves!  Finally, after much though, I decided to theme the party around all his favorite things! What better way to represent Africa than the cake?!

 He loved, and speaks fondly of the many different Safaris he was able to travel on. He loved the animals and the scenery and the beauty of the colors. So for the cake, I decided to spotlight exactly those things!  I couldn't pick a favorite animal pattern, so I chose the cheetah and zebra.

 Photos of the African savannah always show the gorgeous red and orange sunsets, so I decided to highlight the sunsets and put the animals and trees in silhouette against the colors!

I wanted a simple but rustic way to separate the tiers so I simply tied some raffia around the bottom two tiers and loved how vibrant the colors turned out! One of my favorite cakes, I'd have to say!

Happy 40th to my wonderful hubby! Here are some pics from his fun Favorite Things party!

Musically Sweet Violin Cake

This cake was a challenge I was excited to take on! A cake was requested for the 20th anniversary celebration of a violin music studio, and she requested something classic but with a bit of a wow factor and also to include an edible violin on top.

It was fun to brainstorm ideas with her, and we came up with a simple top, highlighting the 3 dimensional violin to go on top, with a few red chocolate flowers to give the cake a pop of color.

For the bottom tier we went with classic white frosting rosettes. I thought it would be a nice element to give the cake some dimension with the mix of fondant and buttercream, plus I decided to airbrush a bit of gold luster dust to give it some shimmer- who doesn't love a little bling!

My favorite was the middle tier, which we decided to wrap in a type of sheet music. To accomplish this, I printed music sheets onto wafer rice paper and shredded it into bits. The process of "gluing" it on allowed for the paper to shrink up a little on the edges, giving it an aged and worn look. It was finished off with a touch of the gold luster dust  to match the bottom, giving the bottom two tiers more of an antique finish and spotlighting the violin on the top- fresh white- tier. I loved how the middle "aged" sheet music tier turned out!

 The violin was a new project for me, but I have done a handful of wood finishes so that part was fun as always. The struggle once I had the violin pieced together, was what to use for the strings. Sadly, everything edible was either too heavy, or would degrade (in the event of spun sugar) in the fridge which, due to a previously schedule trip, was where the cake would have to stay for 3 days before the event. I ended up using a heavy black thread, which suited it fine. I may have used a dark metal thread if I were to do it over again!

 
In the end, this was a fun cake to work on and I was more than thrilled to see it come together! Of course, the true verdict is in the clients face, and I was thrilled to see her slightly speechless when she picked it up!! Congrats to the Ruth Godfrey Violin and Viola Studios for a wonderful 20 years!

Rock and Roll Drum Cake

Who doesn't like to rock? This kid loves all things rock music and loves playing his drums! So I was excited to build him a rock and roll drum cake, inspired by a picture given to me from his mom.

 The drums were especially fun to create, since I got to break in my new hot wire tool. Have you tried these? They are super fun, and cut through Styrofoam like melted butter!! I could have created a whole band of instruments! Possibilities are endless! They should definitely make a fun toy like this for fondant!!! But until then, I'll settle for a bag full of foam!

Shopkins Birthday Cake

I was excited and a little confused to receive the request for a shopkins cake! I hadn't really heard of them! My daughter had received a few from friends off and on but I really didn't know what they were all about. After seeing how much the birthday girl loved them, I was happy to create one for her from a picture she had seen and loved! It was a very happy colorful cake, and fun for summer!

Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck Cake

 Well, I've never thought about them together on a cake before, but here it is! I've done my fair share of Minnie Mouse cakes with the occasional request for Minnie and Mickey. But I wasn't quite sure how to mix Minnie and Donald on a cake when I received this request from a group I am a proud member of called Icing Smiles. It's a great organization that provides cakes families and children with critical illnesses. It has been rewarding to participate when I've been able to.  

 This sweet cake was for little Capri's 3rd birthday. It was her first birthday to be able to celebrate, since her first 2 were spent in the ICU

Capri's favorite things are Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck. I loved the idea of doing a cake around the character's outfits, since that is what they recognize anyway, right?

 and in the end, the colors ended up working really well together!!

 Who doesn't love Donald's little hat!?

I was so excited that Capri recognized it right away and it was so sweet to hear her say "quack quack" in response when she first saw it! Success! It was a joy to create this cake for little Capri and her family. I hope her birthday is as magical as the characters it's based on!



Baby Elephant and Balloon Party

I knew when I bought those cute little elephant cookie cutters last summer, that one day out of the blue I would need them! And, viola! One day- was this weekend! Yippee! It was fun to put together this cute little set of items for the little man's Baby Elephant and Red Balloon 1st birthday party

 Started with baby elephant sugar cookies,

 and added some red ballon sugar cookie pops~

 all wrapped up to go!

what a fun pop of color in those gumballs!

and finished off with the sweet baby elephant smash cake! I love the colors with the blue, gray and pop of red to color it up! What a sweet little theme for a baby's first birthday!

 



Cuddly Teddy Bear 1st Birthday

This little guy wanted a cuddly teddy bear 1st birthday, and so cuddly teddy bear is just what he got!

Don't forget the teddy bear cupcakes for the party!

 So cute and fun! What a great use of chocolate!

Vintage Pooh Corner Baby's 1st Birthday

I was sooo excited to be asked to do the dessert table for this old fashioned Winnie the Pooh birthday party! I have always wanted to have a reason to do a bee cake or a Pooh party, so YAY!

 Who doesn't love a cute beehive cake! This cake was a honey French vanilla cake with a lemon and honey buttercream glaze, topped with royal icing bees EVERYWHERE! I made my bees with royal icing and my food writer edible markers mixed with Americolor black gel paste for a little shine.

 I loved how golden the cake came out of the mold. A mold which I, by the way-LOVE! I have used it many times and it is much easier to use than other beehive molds I've used in the past.

 Can you even have a honey beehive cake without honey cupcakes? These beauties were a lemon vanilla cupcake with a honey cream cheese frosting. I may or may not have eaten all of the remaining frosting from the bowl and my daughter may have licked it clean.

 these beautiful chocolate cupcakes with a marshmallow whipped frosting were done at the clients request and torched to resemble a beehive. I loved the texture and depth they gave to the whole ensemble of desserts with the lightly toasted color, and really- does anything smell better than chocolate and toasted marshmallow?

 When having a Pooh party- Tigger tails are a must! I always love seeing these at Disneyland, and had fun singing the "wonderful thing about tiggers" as I dipped and drizzled chocolate everywhere!

What a beautiful party set up!