I've got a LITTLE CUPCAKE IN THE OVEN...

...and the timer is set for June 30th, 2011.

Yup, I'm pregnant.

So...unfortunately for my customers, this means that not only will I be accepting a fewer amount of orders in the coming months but I will NOT BE ACCEPTING ANY ORDERS in the months of JUNE and JULY.

I apologize for the inconvenience this may cause, but I think it's best for both ME and YOU that I am not baking/decorating cakes while 9 months pregnant or with a newborn in my arms.

I already have orders booked through March and I seem to be filling up quicker these days, so to be safe you should contact me the moment you are thinking about an order to ensure I can save the date for you. The more pregnant I get, the less likely I will be taking back to back orders.

Thanks Everyone!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year...I have a feeling 2011 is going to be AWESOME!

I Love Lucy Carrot Cake

I love my dog, Milli.
She celebrates her first birthday this Saturday so I was happy to hear that someone else loves their dog just as much as me.

My most recent order was for an I Love Lucy cake that I made previously for my mother, a fanatic of the show.

The customer's dog is named Lucy and he wanted a cake to celebrate the day with his friends and family.

He requested carrot cake with no nuts and cream cheese frosting....YUM.


I used a smaller template to carve two layers of cake to about 10" wide, then filled, stacked and covered the cake in the cream cheese frosting.


Once the frosting was chilled I covered the cake in red fondant and piped on I Love Lucy and a simple border.


Happy Birthday Lucy!

Circus Cake & Cupcakes for a 1st Birthday!

A few months ago, a friend of a friend (the best kind of referrals) contacted me about a cake and cupcakes for her son's first birthday.

The whole party was to be a Circus theme and she wanted an extra special cake to take center stage at the dessert table.

She had originally planned to order a custom made circus theme topper for the cake, but just a couple weeks before the party a mix-up caused that to not happen.

We collaborated a few ideas and she sent me this great sketch of what she was looking for: (Sovanna, I hope you don't mind - it really is a great drawing!)


Both cakes are white with fresh raspberry filling then covered in raspberry swiss meringue buttercream.



You may have noticed that I always trim the outside edges of my cakes which a lot of bakers don't do because it's messier and makes the cake harder to frost. Personally, I can't imagine biting into a yummy cake then feeling the crunch of a hardened or crispy edge. I'd rather spend the extra time to crumb coat then re-frost the cake so that every bite is soft and delicious. Sometimes, I say bad things under my breath while staying committed to this task but in the end I think it's always worth it knowing the customer will never have a bad bite!

I covered the bottom tier in white fondant and added red stripes.
I covered the top tier in blue fondant and added yellow diamonds, green dots and red letters to spell the Birthday Boy's name, Jackson.
After stacking the cakes (note: this was my first tiered cake), I lined both tiers with gumballs to match the colors of the cake.


I used marshmallows and yellow jelly beans to make the popcorn.
(I went to 3 different stores looking for the multi-colored marshmallows so that I could use the yellow and whites but they were nowhere to be found :(
Funny how I go to the store last night for some sugar and see a whole bunch of them...actually, not funny.


I rolled up a piece of paper and added red ribbon for the cotton candy handle.

Once on-site, I added the toppers and stuck in a few of the rainbow swirl lollipops which were provided by the customer...and the cake was complete!



The cupcakes are Red Velvet, Chocolate and White all with vanilla buttercream frosting. They were kept simple, so that the cake was the main attraction on the dessert table.


Special Thanks to my delivery/set-up assistant who was incredibly hung-over but still came to help me...I love you Amiable!!!

Butterfly Cake

This order was my opportunity to make it up to my good friend Charlotte, after the whole ice cream cake disaster.

Her youngest daughter wanted a Butterfly cake for her birthday and girl has classy taste! She requested a Chocolate, Caramel and Coconut combination...YUM.

I found THIS picture online and used it as my inspiration!

I baked two 9x13 devils food cakes then used a template to carve 8 wing shapes, 2 pieces for each wing.


I filled each wing with milk chocolate ganache, a drizzle of caramel and shredded coconut.



I stacked all the pieces for 4 complete wings and covered them all in caramel swiss meringue buttercream, one of my favorites.

After picking out the orange sprinkles (because my cake had no orange on it) I lined the wings and sprinkled the cake.


Last, I piped the five sections of color onto the wings and added the swirled lollipop for the Butterfly body.


Voila! A Butterfly Cake!