"Brave" Birthday Cake

I had a request for a "Brave" themed Birthday Cake for a 5 Year Old.

Here's the extent of my knowledge on this brand new movie:

So, I did my best.

The cake is Chocolate with Oreo Cookies n' Cream Filling, covered with Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream and Homemade Marshmallow Fondant.

The cake is supposed to look like her dress, did you get that? I hope so.
Then there's the Bow & Arrow on top.

Happy Birthday Ariel!

Lung Transplantiversary Cake & Cupcakes

My dear friend Heidi (aka Heidihoe), who is also a talented baker asked me to make a very special cake for her.

(Photo from Heidi's wedding a couple years ago)

Heidi has lived with Cystic Fibrosis all her life.
I can remember her struggles in High School...IVs, medications, breathing machines, hospital stays...
She is one of the strongest people I know and I am so glad that she is in my life.

Heidi is celebrating something BIG...HUGE...AMAZING...her double lung transplant.
It has been 5 years since she was given the gift of life and I was honored to be a part of the celebration.

Heidi asked me to make a Lung Cake.
Love it.

Each lung was a different flavor.
One being Chocolate Cake with Oreo Cookies n' Cream Filling and the other Vanilla Cake with Fresh Strawberry Filling.

Both lungs were covered in Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream.
The trachea, veins and stethascope were made with homemade Marshmallow Fondant.

I had my doubts about fitting "Transplantiversary" on a lung...but it fit!

As her guest list for this special occasion grew, so did the need for some more sweets so I also made cupcakes - a dozen each to match the two flavors of the cake.

Congratulations to Heidi, her husband, her family, her friends and all those who are blessed to know her.

P.S. Check out Heidi's website to see HER cake creations: http://yummyjoycakes.com/

My Cousin's Wedding

My cousin Sean got married!

He and his new bride asked me almost a year ago if I would be their wedding baker.
Yes!

Their wedding was a week after Ethan's 1st Birthday party, so these past few weeks I have been a busy little baker!

Back in May, I met with Sean and Cheryl for a tasting.
I whipped up different variations of the 3 flavors they liked most.
All winners.

The wedding colors were purple and sage.
The bride and groom requested a small cutting cake for them and cupcakes for the guests.
Cheryl wanted flower themed cupcakes, any and all kinds made with buttercream - no fondant.

There were 3 delicious flavors:

The cutting cake was Chocolate Mint

Here's the cake table:

The Bride & Groom cutting their cake:

Congratulations Sean & Cheryl!!!

Ethan's Little Monster 1st Birthday

I can't believe my little guy is a year old.
He has blessed our lives every single day and we are so excited to see him grow.

Of course, I had to go big for his 1st Birthday Party.

I decided on a Little Monsters theme.

I had to spend the entire month of June crafting, cutting, taping, ribbon-ing, glueing, streaming...all his decorations because I knew the week of the party I would be consumed with baking.

All my hard work paid off.
The party was so much fun.
Family and Friends from all over attended and Ethan loved every second of it.

Originally I wanted to do rainbow cake and cupcakes but I soon came to my senses and decided to serve the same flavors that I was making for the order due the day before.

So I just decorated them differently to match the theme.

Ethan didn't smash into his Smash Cake...he ate it neatly with two fingers.

I think he just wanted to get back to all those toys...

I also made some giant M&M cookies for the favors.
Basically, they were awesome and I am lucky that I didn't make too many extras.

Happy Birthday to my son, Ethan James.
Mommy and Daddy love you sooooo much!

Fiesta 1st Birthday

I took this order knowing it was for a party the same day as my son's 1st Birthday Party.
I. Am. Crazy.

The theme was Fiesta!

There were 4 flavors of cupcakes:
Banana Cake with Caramel Filling and Cream Cheese Frosting
Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Chocolate Cupcakes with Oreo Bottom and Cookies n' Cream Frosting
Yellow "Hostess" Cupcakes with Ganache

The Lemon and Banana Cupcakes were both decorated with a donkey pinata piped on with different colored Buttercream.

The Oreo and "Hostess" cupcakes were left with their natural looks.

Then, there's the smash cake for the Birthday Girl.

I used my giant cupcake pan to bake a Yellow cake, fill it with Ganache in between the top and base then cover it with Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream and pretty fondant flowers.

This was my first time covering a giant cupcake base with fondant...it took a couple tries but I finally got it. It's definitely not as easy as it looks.

Happy 1st Birthday Adele!