Your Happy Baker

Emiley's 1st Birthday

2012-02-05T13:22:00.000-08:00

My youngest niece, Emiley turned on on February 1st and I had the honor of making her birthday cakes.

My brother Tony has the biggest sweet tooth in our family, so he requested I use the "real" buttercream on the cakes...meaning the super sweet powdered sugar kind.

I tend to stay away from that buttercream on cakes just because most people prefer a lighter buttercream but I had been looking for an opportunity to try this recipe from i am baker.

White Cake:

Two pretty shades of purple Buttercream:

I attempted to do this, as beautifully done by i am baker....but it didn't work out.
So I did this instead:

For the sheet cake, I took my best shot at this - also done beautifully by i am baker.
It wasn't a total fail but it could have been better.

Here's the BIRTHDAY GIRL...smashing away:

As for the sheet cake...it was still a success.

Scones with my Mama

2012-01-25T13:52:00.000-08:00

These bring back childhood memories.
We called them scones but they are basically just donuts.

My Mom would make these sometimes...and they were always eaten so fast that if you weren't there when they were made, you were out of luck until next time.

They are super easy.

Get some of these:

Let them rise.

Make yourself a sugar and cinnamon blend...or even just sugar if you'd like.

Fry up those bad boys.

Then roll the around in the sugar and cinnamon.

Until they look super awesome like this:

Devour them as they are or get yourself some of this cinnamon butter and have an amazing time!

A VERY SPECIAL Baby Shower!

2012-01-25T13:34:00.000-08:00

My dear friend Charlotte is having a baby girl next month and I was so excited to bake her something sweet for her shower.

I did the cupcakes for her son's shower way back when...and my skills have definitley improved since then.

Charlotte requested chocolate cupcakes with strawberries.

She wanted purple and lilac colors with a little bit of pink so I frosted the cupcakes with a pink and purple swirled rose.

Then I made a bunch of these with chocolate and sprinkles to sit on top of the pretty roses.

I also offered to make Cake Pop favors.

Here are the final products...all pretty and on display at the shower:

Stay tuned for something similar for ANOTHER baby girl next month!
I love babies!

Mini Oreo Cheesecakes

2012-01-09T11:49:00.000-08:00

Dear Martha Stewart,

You're recipes are going to make me fat.

You'd think that would stop me from using them for no reason other than to have a dessert to eat after dinner...but, no.

This recipe has been on my baking to-do list ever since I bought the Martha Stewart's Cupcake Book....like 2 years ago.

Oreos, check.

Cheesecake filling and more Oreos, check.

30 filled cupcakes liners ready to bake, check.

Finished product!

So freakin' delicious...

UNO Themed 1st Birthday Cupcakes!

2012-01-09T11:33:00.000-08:00

How cute is that theme? If it wasn't a friend of mine who thought of it, I'd steal it.

A friend from High School asked if I could make some cupcakes for her daughter's first birthday party and the theme was the UNO card game.

She asked for the Rainbow Cupcakes seen here and here since the four UNO colors make for a great rainbow cupcake...RED, YELLOW, GREEN and BLUE.

I incorporated the BLACK from the card game by using black cupcake liners.

I made one big batch of Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream and split it up four ways to get each color.

I made three different toppers...1 Cards, Wild Cards and UNO Cards.

All the toppers were made with homemade Marshmallow Fondant except the Black.

This was my inspiration picture that I had to look at a million times....like my cupcake oven mitten? Target.

I was pretty pleased with the finished product.

After a night in the refrigerator, there was a bit of sweating from the Black fondant which gave it a slight shiny look which I wasn't thrilled about.

Here are the cupcakes on display at the party:

Happy Birthday Morgan!

What the Customer wants, the Customer gets!

2012-01-09T10:35:00.000-08:00

This Customer wanted a special cake for a co-worker who was leaving after more than 15 years of working as a Vet-Tech at a Shelter.

When she said I probably didn't want to make a cake of a dog on the operating table because it was too weird....I thought "Are you kidding me? That's exactly why I want to do it!"

So I did.

My kitchen was literally a Doggy Crime Scene for a day!

The tools and colors were made to match what is actually used at the Shelter.

And there you have it...a dog laying on the operating table ready to get fixed!

Marble Cake with Chocolate Ganache filling and Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream with Marshmallow Fondant Accents

Butterfinger & Salted Caramel Cupcakes!!!

2012-01-09T10:08:00.000-08:00

YUMMY!

Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Milk Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream and Crushed Buttercream Candy Bar Crumb Topping

You know you like my "Bite Me" liners...a gift from a friend.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Filling and Salted Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream topped with Salted Caramel Drizzles and Candied Caramel Swirly Thingies

This was the first time I made my own Caramel...and it was fantastic!

Yo Gabba Gabba!

2011-12-03T19:31:00.000-08:00

This show must be a hit with the little ones...looks kinda scary to me.

A little man was turning 2 and his mama wanted a cool cake for his party.

She requested chocolate cake with strawberries.
I love strawberries.

I covered the cake generously with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream.

Then covered it with homemade marshmallow fondant.
I made all of the characters with fondant too.

No faces.

Faces.

I totally underestimated the amount of time it would take me to make these guys...but I was pleased with the result and feel much more confident going into the next cake with fondant characters.

I love the stereo.

Happy 2nd Birthday Jackson!!!

Cupcakes will never be enough...but THANK YOU

2011-11-29T14:00:00.000-08:00

In September, my father was forced into early retirement due to a below-the-knee amputation on his right leg.

For as long as I can remember, my father has battled multiple health problems and always fought through them to provide for his family.

Now, it is time for his to focus on himself and getting healthy so he and my mother can enjoy their retirement together.

My father's last employer was a HUGE part of making this sudden and difficult transition for my parents, as easy as possible. They were compassionate, understanding and helpful in allowing my father to recover without worrying about all the small details surrounding a sudden disability and retirement.

To say THANKS, I wanted to bake them something sweet and delicious.

Two of my most popular cupcakes are the Vanilla Caramel and the Oreo Cookies n' Cream so I made them both.

I wanted to try these out too:

I went with my father last month to pick up his things and I was overwhelmed by the amount of co-workers happy to see my father and see him healthy. One after another came out of their offices to give their best wishes to my father. He was truly loved and appreciated and I know that he will be missed.

So, THANK YOU to everyone at Herrick Steel in Stockton, Ca.

THANK YOU for providing my father with his best job, best bosses, best co-workers and for taking such good care of him Monday through Friday for so many years.

Halloween Birthday Cake

2011-10-23T19:06:00.000-07:00

A friend from High School asked me to make her twin boys a Halloween themed cake for their 1st Birthday.
She sent me a few pictures...wanted the top tier from one cake, bottom tier from another and the topper from another but she also gave me creative go ahead...

She requested marble cake with chocolate buttercream.

This was my first time making marble cake...and it was fun. See:

I filled and frosted both tiers with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream.

Then....I decided I was going to make my own fondant from scratch.
I used Wilton's marshmallow fondant recipe.
My tip: SIFT YOUR POWDERED SUGAR or you will have lumpy fondant.
I also only used between 6-7 cups of powdered sugar, not 8.
I made my fondant and used it the same day without any problems.

I am very grateful it worked out well, because I didn't have a back-up plan.
I will probably be making my own fondant from now on.
I feel cool.

I used Rice Krispy Treats to shape two witch hats, two headstones and a ghost body.
I gave each treat a thin coating of the buttercream just to smooth it out a little bit.

After that...I covered everything in fondant and got to decorating.

Happy Birthday Jett and Chase!!!

Freddy Krueger Birthday Cake

2011-10-23T18:49:00.000-07:00

Remember this cake?
Well, this birthday boy wanted another spooky cake for his party and this time he wanted Freddy Krueger's famous glove.

The cake is Red Velvet, filled and frosted with Cream Cheese Buttercream - must be his favorite.

I carved out a collar and made the cake look like Freddy's sweater by covering it with red and black fondant.

I used Rice Krispy Treats to shape a hand, then covered it with some fondant and gumpaste.
I brushed the whole thing with a little bit of silver to give it a metal look.

Then, I literally took a knife a cut the claw marks going down the cake.

Once everything was in it's place, I used some whisked Raspberry Jam and food coloring for the blood and made a mess.

Happy Birthday Gage!!!

Junior Huskies Cheerleading

2011-10-03T15:17:00.000-07:00

My niece Hailey is a cheerleader...and a damn good one if I do say so myself!
Here she is shaking her hips!

She asked me if I would make her team cupcakes the next time they were in my area for a game, and of course I said yes!

She was very specific about what she wanted...footballs and pom poms.
Well, she got the footballs.

I decided that I just wouldn't be happy with fondant pom poms, so I opted not to make them unless they were going to look good and be satisfactory to Hailey...she would definitely let me know if they weren't.

Hailey cheers for the Fremont Junior Huskies and their colors are Orange, Black and White.

I had made orange, white and black buttercream and hoped to make them really cool looking by blending them together for a swirl effect...but it didn't work out so great.

So...after piping this color combo on a dozen cupcakes, I scraped it off and made a new clean batch of white buttercream.

Here's Ethan hanging out with me while I pipe on the new buttercream.
I love him, he's so cute.

A dozen cupcakes got the white buttercream, some orange and black sprinkles and fondant toppers.

The other dozen cupcakes got green buttercream grass and chocolate fondant football toppers.

The girls ate them all up and all said "THANK YOU, ERIN" in unison up to the bleachers where I was sitting...and taking pictures.

I asked my niece to step aside so I could get a photo of her alone, and she posed like this.
I love her.

Thank You For Making Us Dinner After We Had A Baby Cupcakes!

2011-09-14T12:05:00.000-07:00

The week before our son was born, I got a call from the Relief Society president at our local church.
She wanted to know what kind of meals we would like delivered to us the first week home from the hospital. My mother had taken it upon herself to let the church know we were new to the area and having a baby.

I was raised in a large Mormon family and knew that this is exactly the kind of thing members of the church love to do, even for people they don't even know.

We are blessed.

So....after taking 11 weeks to finally write out Thank You cards, I decided cupcakes would sweeten things up and make up for my procrastination.

I decided on simple Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream, not knowing about allergies or any preferences - Vanilla is usually a safe bet.

I wanted them to be pretty and floral...so I made a bunch of flowers with Vanilla Fondant.

I piped the Buttercream three different ways, just for fun.

I package the cupcakes in 6 packs, tied them with some matching ribbon and placed the Thank You cards on top.

THANK YOU!!!

Housewarming....Cake!

2011-08-13T11:16:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back, my buddy CharLOTT sent me this link to a pink lemonade cake recipe by Paula Deen and said it sounded super yummy.

So, I promised her when she moved into her new house (closer to me) I would bake it for her as a housewarming gift!

Pink lemonade cake/cupcakes has been on my list of things I want to bake for a long time, so I jumped at the opportunity to finally cross it off the list.

I followed the cake recipe exactly, only adding a bit of pink food coloring to make the cake really pop.

I used my usual swiss meringue buttercream recipe instead of the one listed, just because it's my favorite.
I did use about 7-8 tablespoons of the frozen pink lemonade concentrate though.
I left the buttercream white because I thought it would look pretty with the pink cake when you sliced it.

I wanted to make this a rose cake, inspired by i am baker.
Check her out...she is simply amazing.
You'll probably never read my blog again after seeing her stuff, she's that talented.

I went with smaller roses, just to be different.

Not bad, eh?

Happy Housewarming CharLOTT!

Babies like Cupcakes too!

2011-08-09T11:19:00.000-07:00

I was asked by one of my regular customers if I could squeeze in an order of cupcakes for a Baby Shower on the 6th, the same day as the wedding I was working on all week.

I told her I could do it if she was willing to meet me on the way to my delivery in Oakland on Friday.
She agreed : )
I've got great customers.

She requested 4 dozen cupcakes: Vanilla, Chocolate, Red Velvet and Vanilla Strawberry Cheesecake

She wanted White, Pink and Brown buttercreams with White and Pink heart toppers.

She wanted the guests to be able to identify which cupcakes were what so I matched up the buttercreams with the cupcakes:

Red Velvet with Vanilla Buttercream, Chocolate with Chocolate Buttercream:

Vanilla Strawberry Cheesecake with Strawberry Buttercream, Vanilla with Vanilla Buttercream:

The Vanilla Strawberry Cheesecake cupcakes are becoming one of my favorites to bake...because those are leftovers that I always keep for myself!

I diced up some fresh strawberries and mixed them with a couple tablespoons of glaze then scooped a spoonful out of the center of the cupcakes and put a nice dollop of the strawberries and glaze into each cupcake.

Here's what it looks like when you bit into it....Mmmmmmmm!

I meant to get a picture of the awesome 24 count cupcake containers I found at Edwards Cake & Candy Supplies aka My New Favorite Store....but I forgot, so here's a shot of all the cupcakes together in the carrier without the top : )

Wedding Week

2011-08-09T11:02:00.000-07:00

This past week has been INSANE.

Remember this post? Well, the wedding came and went...and I am still alive.

I was hired to bake a Groom's cake, a 5 tier wedding cake (mostly non-edible, partially edible) and four sheet cakes.

The Groom's cake was to be served at the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding.
Originally, the Bride and Groom wanted a Sharks themed Stanley Cup cake but this was when the season looked promising for the Sharks.

Well, we all know how that went....so the cake was changed to the Shark Tank.

The cake is white with fresh raspberry filling and LOTS of raspberry swiss meringue buttercream.

A few days prior I had made the nets and shark head out of gumpaste to ensure they were completely dry.

I covered the cake in white vanilla fondant and added the red and blue hockey rink accents.
I decided the cake needed something more to say that it was the Shark Tank so I added the water waves and shark fins around the base of the cake.

I delivered the cake to the rehearsal dinner at Jack London Square in Oakland.
It was great to see the Bride and Groom the day before their big day and also see my fourth sister, Rachel who flew in from Hawaii for the event.

Once the delivery was done, I headed back home to wrap things up with the wedding cakes.

I covered 4 styrofoam tiers in fondant and wrapped them with ribbon:

I baked, filled, frosted and covered 4 sheet cakes in fondant:

Each sheet cake was devils food chocolate cake with chocolate ganache.

I also made the top tier for the display cake for the bride and groom to cut and eat at the reception.

The morning of the wedding, I cut the sheet cakes so they were ready to serve.
I offered this service because I worried the catering staff may not take the time to clean the knife when it got covered in chocolate and that the white fondant would get smudged.

On the way to Oakland, I picked up my friend Amy Steinert who would be handling the flowers for the cake.

All the flowers were placed on the cake on site to ensure complete freshness.

Amy added pearls to the center of each flower which gave them such an elegant touch.

It was so much fun working with her on an order and I hope that we can do it again and again.

Amy arranges flowers for all occasions....holidays, parties, weddings...everything.

Remember, she did the flower centerpieces for our Baby Shower.

Give her a call if you have something coming up!

Congratulations to Tracilyn and Daniel Tegge!!!

Happy 25th Birthday Amiable!

2011-07-29T10:07:00.000-07:00

My little sister, Amy or Amiable as you might know her by, has been visiting all week.
She and her boyfriend moved to Utah in February when her job relocated and they made the drive to California to celebrate the big 25 all week long.

I asked Amiable what kind of cake or cupcakes she wanted and told her that I'd make whatever she wants.
Well, I lied.

She asked for Vanilla Chocolate Chip Cheesecake cupcakes with Ganache and Vanilla Buttercream.
She got Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cheesecake cupcakes with Ganache and Vanilla Buttercream.

In my excitement of her arrival, I made a chocolate batter before realizing that's not what she wanted.
Lucky for me, she loves chocolate and didn't make me start over. =)

After I dipped the top of each cooled cupcake in ganache, I piped on some simple flowers and a birthday message.

Don't judge me by my flowers...I had never attempted to make these kind and I definitely need some practice.

There was a cupcake that said "Amiable" and I meant to get a picture of Amiable holding her Amiable cupcake...but she ate it too fast =)

So here's a picture of her holding Ethan instead!

Happy Birthday Amiable...I love you!

I wouldn't bake a cake for just anyone a week after having a baby...

2011-07-13T10:48:00.000-07:00

When Ethan's Godparents asked if I was up to making their duaghters birthday cake for her party on the 4th of July, I told them that as long as I wasn't in the hospital I'd do it.

Well, I wasn't in the hospital....so I did it.

Ariel turned 4 and wanted a confetti cake with vanilla frosting and a Scooby Doo theme.

I went with the colors of the show...lime green and orange with a little bit of pink and purple.

Ethan hung out on the counter with me supervising.

Her mother purchased the character figurines and Mystery Machine toy for the cake, making my job super simple.

Ariel was a happy girl...and I was happy to have been able to make her cake.

Ethan James Watson

2011-07-13T10:36:00.000-07:00

My son, Ethan James Watson was born on June 26th, 2011 at 9:22 am weighing 7 lbs 14 oz and measuring 19 1/2 inches long.

He is the love of my life and I am enjoying every moment of being his mother.

Thank you all for continuing to follow my blog during my hiatus, please don't go anywhere...orders are already on the books in August.

XOXO

Crisp Cherry Cobbler

2011-06-06T13:16:00.000-07:00

We have a beautiful cherry tree in our backyard...and last weekend, my boyfriend and I spent 30 minutes picking cherries of the lowest branches.

We picked a lot...but barely made a dent, so we will be picking more this weekend.

I actually don't care for fresh cherries but I LOVE cherry pie and cherry cobbler, so that was my plan for these cherries...but 4 gallon size bags of cherries would've made a whole lotta cobbler! So, I gave 3 bags to family and saved the last one for baking.

I found this recipe online and decided it sounded the yummiest and easiest.
I'm quite pregnant these days and didn't want something too involved because it's getting harder and harder to be on my feet for very long.

I made a couple changes to the recipe...using probably 5 cups of pitted cherries and all butter, no shortening.

The cherries were pretty easy to pit, I basically just smashed them open with my fingers and ripped out the seeds because they cherries didn't need to look pretty for the cobbler.

I mixed up the cherries with the sugar and flour...

Then mixed together the crisp topping and sprinkled chunks over the whole tray....

Then baked!

I am supposed to be staying away from sweets...but come on...I had to try it...twice.

Great recipe, I will definitely be making this again and again.

There's Always Next Year...

2011-06-06T12:56:00.000-07:00

I'm getting better and better at saying that as each season comes to an end for the Sharks without a Stanley Cup win.

My niece Hailey turned 8 last week and she wanted Sharks cupcakes to take to school.
When my brother asked if I could make them a few weeks ago, I asked if she will still want them if they don't win.

His response? Yes, she is a die hard fan.

Is there any other kind in my family? Nope.

The birthday girl wanted white chocolate cupcakes, just like I made last time.
I didn't have anymore of the jersey picks, so I had to think of something equally as cool for toppers - I didn't want to just make all fins.

So, I decided I'd make hockey pucks too - some with NHL written on them, some with SHARKS and some with the number 8.

She only wanted 30 for her class, but my batch produced some extras so for the sake of even packaging - I gave her 36 and spelled out her name on the six extra cupcakes.

All the toppers were made with vanilla fondant and the writing is done with white chocolate.

The cupcakes are white cake with white/teal swirled white chocolate buttercream and a some black sugar sprinkles.

All I know is...my niece is super cool and now all her classmates know too.

Whoopie Pie Wedding 05/15/2011

2011-05-24T18:47:00.000-07:00

I've seen them before...

I've collected recipes for them...

I've wanted to make them...
and now I finally have!

My buddy Brittany got married on the 15th and she wanted Whoopie Pies on all the tables as centerpieces.

She requested two different flavors:

Vanilla/Orange Creamsicle with Cream Cheese Filling

and

Chocolate with Banana Buttercream Filling

She wanted all the pies drizzled with chocolate as well.

And...she wanted two special Bride & Groom whoopie pies for their table.

Brittany is one of those dream customers...who provides you with a Whoopie Pie recipe book and cookie cutters...and a Baby Gift :)

Whoopie pies are a yummy treat somewhere in between a cookie and a cake sandwich.

Not hard and chewy but also not too soft and crumbly...right in the middle.

The recipes are very similar to those of cakes, except with less wet ingredients which allow you to roll the batter into balls and bake them like cookies. At least that's how I did it, I am sure there are other recipes that call for different techniques.

Then I baked....and baked....and baked.

The order called for 175 whoopie pies and it took some time.

Once all the pies were baked and cooled, it was time to add the whoopie!

I layed the pies on trays, piped the fillings and sandwiched them together before placing them in their boxes.

Once all the whoopie had been added, it was time for chocolate.

I used white melting chocolate on all the pies but colored half of the batch yellow to match the banana filling in the Chocolate pies. I was able to drizzle all the pies while they were in the boxes, saving me time on having to move them and rebox them.

Then came the Bride & Groom whoopie pies.

These guys were much larger compared to the ones for the guest's tables.

The Bride got an ivory sweetheart strapless wedding gown with a double strand pearl necklace and a bird cage veil.

The Groom got an ivory shirt, tie and vest underneath a black tuxedo with a ivory cowboy hat.

Each table had two platters with 7 Whoopie Pies each, 12 tables total.

Each pie had a white lace doilie to protect the guests from any messiness in case the chocolate drizzles got too soft...plus it looked pretty :)

Congratulations Brittany & Greg....may your life be full of WHOOPIE! ; )

Our Baby Shower

2011-05-09T08:51:00.000-07:00

Saturday we had our Baby Shower!

We decided on a very casual joint shower...with lots of friends and family. I am the 6th of 7 children in my family so my family is rather large. I have 2 siblings who live in Utah and a sister who lives in Washington with her family, every one of them made the trip for our Shower...because my family is amazing.

The shower had a Blue and Yellow color scheme with a Yellow Rubber Ducky theme.

My bestie, Amy made beautiful flower arrangements for the tables.

My brother, made the best fruit kabobs known to man.

Practically all of my friends and family brought some kind of food, snack or dessert. It was amazing to see everyone come together and work so hard out of so much love to make this day extra special for us.

Of course, I had to bake something sweet for the event...even though it was my own Shower.

I wanted to revisit a recipe I used about a year ago which seemed to be a hit. I made some black bottom cupcakes for a First Communion party and they were delicious.

But, I wanted to do these ones a bit differently.
I decided on two different versions... Vanilla Strawberry Cheesecake and Chocolate Caramel Brownie Cheesecake!

YUMMY!

So...First, I baked up a small batch of brownies and then cut them into small squares once they had cooled.

I set those aside and had my sister, Amiable step back into her assistant shoes for the night and chop up some strawberries really small with a spoon full of glaze.

Once I had the cake batters and the cheesecake batter ready to go, it went a little something like this:

Spoon full of cake batter and a few brownie bits

Spoon full of cheesecake batter

Spoon full of cake batter

I did this same process with the Vanilla Strawberry cupcakes, except without the brownies.

Once the cupcakes were cooled and ready to be topped and frosted, it went a little something like this:

A bit of frosting to serve as a wall between the topping and the cupcake

A ring of frosting and a yummy filling (These ones got strawberries and glaze, the others got a spoon full of caramel sauce, sorry I forgot to snap a picture of that)

Then more frosting and some pretty sprinkles!

I had painted my round cupcake tower the day before and wrapped the edges with yellow ribbon.

The morning of the Shower, my niece helped me top each cupcake with a little yellow ducky.

Here they are...ready to be devoured...and they were =)

I didn't even get to eat one!
It's okay...I'm supposed to be staying away from sweets anyways!

It was a wonderful day.

Relocation of Services

2011-04-25T12:39:00.000-07:00

As of Saturday, April 23rd...I am a resident of the San Joaquin County.

I will continue to take orders from all over the Bay Area but keep in mind that those of smaller size will require a delivery fee.

I am preparing for my last month of orders before my baby break...so stay tuned!

As a reminder, I am not accepting any orders in the months of June and July due to the birth of my son.

I will begin accepting new orders in August and already have a few special events in the works.

Thanks for reading!

We Love Priti Bridal Shower

2011-04-19T10:27:00.000-07:00

A customer was throwing an I Love Lucy themed Bridal Shower and requested the I Love Lucy cake for the event, except she wanted it to read: We Love Priti...in honor of the Bride-to-Be!

It is a carrot cake with no nuts, filled and frosted with cream cheese buttercream.

I covered the cake with red buttercream fondant and used a template for the wording. I used the closest font I could find to match the one used for the actual logo.

I poked small holes through the paper onto the fondant, like you do when carving a pumpkin and I used the dotted outline as a guide to pipe on the wording.

And done.

Wedding Cake Tasting

2011-04-12T15:12:00.001-07:00

My first order after the birth of my son is in August, for a friend's wedding...and it's a big one!

There will be a 5-tier Wedding Cake...non-edible except for the top tier, 4 Sheet Cakes to serve the 200+ guests and a Stanley Cup Groom's Cake.

So....I had 3 samples to show the bride and groom:

1. Devil's Food Chocolate Cake filled and frosted with Chocolate Ganache and covered in White Fondant (Wedding Sheet Cake)

The tasting cake was given a couple different borders around the bottom as options for the sheet cakes since they will not have ribbon like the non-edible wedding cake.

I also brought small samples of Chocolate Buttercream for tasting in case the bride and groom felt the Ganache alone was too rich.

2. White Cake filled with fresh Raspberry Preserves, frosted with Raspberry Buttercream and covered in Silver painted Fondant (Stanley Cup Groom's Cake)

I decorated this tasting cake with some black and teal fondant, just for fun.

3. Non-edible top tier dummy cake covered in White Fondant and wrapped with 2 ribbon options, a pearl white and a white shear overlay.

After tasting the cakes and making no changes to what they had originally ordered, we went over all the specifics....and the bride and groom decided to go with 5 tiers instead of 4.

Here's what their cake looks like....NAKED!

Stay tuned to see what it looks like all dressed up and beautiful in August.

San Jose Sharks Cupcakes

2011-04-12T10:12:00.000-07:00

I made these cupcakes last year during playoffs and when my brother asked me to make him some for a party this year...I figured I might as well make it an annual tradition!

The cupcakes are white cake topped with white chocolate buttercream.

I filled the piping bag with 1/2 white buttercream and 1/2 teal buttercream for a swirl effect.

I made black shark fins out of fondant and used some jersey cupcake picks I bought a long time ago from my local cake store.

Sometimes...I think I am a photographer so I stage my photos, humor me.

Thursday is the first playoff game for the Sharks vs. the Kings...and I will be cheering them on!

GO SHARKS!

Little Brown Bag Birthday Cake

2011-04-04T10:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, try to follow me here...

Rachel, my fourth sister who I made the Hawaiian Cake for is married to Dustin who has a sister named Corrin who is celebrating her birthday today!

Rachel wanted to surprise Corrin with a small personal cake, something near and dear to her heart....the Bloomingdale's Little Brown Bag!

Rachel was able to give me an actual bag to work off of and Corrin was able to think I was a weirdo who collects bags for some reason.

The cake is Red Velvet with Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

I covered it in colored Vanilla Fondant with 3 separate pieces: one covering both sides and the top then two pieces for each face of the bag.

Last week was pretty hot and this made it impossible for me to wrap the handles in matching fondant to match the cake, so I opted to use paper-wrapped wire just like on the real bag.

I rolled and cut several thick strips of white fondant and placed them one by one on top of the cake to look like tissue paper.

I used a mixture of chocolate/vanilla fondant to duplicate the writing on the bag.

Once that was done, I decided some pearl sprinkles would add a nice finishing touch to the tissue paper.

Rachel also asked for a dozen cupcakes...Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting so I used the same sprinkles on them.

I wanted to make mini Little Brown Bag cupcakes with handles and all...but the cake was just to delicate to stick the wire handles inside. Bummer.

Rachel loved the cake...and so did the Birthday Girl...that's all that matters!

Happy Birthday Corrin!

Solis Wedding 03/18/2011

2011-03-21T09:48:00.000-07:00

My co-worker got married on Friday!

His new bride asked me to bake them some yummy cupcakes and small top tier cake for the occasion.

The colors were Horizon Blue with White and Silver accents.
Her cake topper was the silver double hearts as well as this design being accented on many other wedding items and decor.

She requested a square cake tower with a square cake on top.
She asked for blue cupcake liners, white frosting and blue flower garnishes. Originally we were going to use silver dragees for the center of the flowers but after a bit of research I learned they are not exactly considered edible or approved by the FDA - so we opted for a dab of buttercream instead just to be safe.

I decorated the cupcake tower by painting it white, lining it with matching blue ribbon and a thin string of silver pearls. I crafted some bows with the extra ribbon (totally not at work) and pinned them to each corner of the cupcake tower with small silver double heart.

The cupcakes are Devils Food cake with chocolate chunks.

They were frosted with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream and topped with small blue flowers made with vanilla fondant.

The top tier cake was two layers of the same cake, filled and frosted with the same buttercream. It was accented with a combination of the same small blue flowers and two other larger sizes.

I was so pleased to see that my blue ribbon on the tower matched the decorative cloth on the cake table perfectly and that the small double hearts sprinkled on the table were the same exact ones I used.

The cupcakes traveled perfectly, although in my rush to set-up I bumped 4 or 5 of them. The wedding started at 6:00 so I left my house for Brentwood at 3:00 but with the awful weather and traffic, it took me 2 1/2 hours to get there.
I was able to get everything set up and looking beautiful just in time :)

Congratulations to Jimmy and Brianna Solis!!!

Oakland Athletics Cake & Cupcakes

2011-03-15T09:49:00.000-07:00

My brother's girlfriend, Julie asked me to make a special cake for her Mom's birthday...something delicious and fondant free.

Her Mom is a chocolate fan...and an Oakland A's fan.

Sports and Chocolate...smart lady.

The cake is chocolate fudge.

The filling is chocolate mousse with caramel.

The frosting is caramel swiss meringue buttercream.

I know my writing is a little off center...bummer.

At 6 months pregnant....It took everything in me not to cut a slice of this cake for myself.

I also made a dozen baseball cupcakes, some that spelled out the Birthday Girl's name.

Again, my writing is not awesome...I should have flattened the top of the buttercream first, lesson learned.

Happy Birthday Cheryl!

Yo Gabba Gabba.....Who? Yo Gabba Gabba!!!

2011-03-14T10:13:00.000-07:00

The coolest ONE YEAR OLD I know had a birthday this weekend...and it was a big deal.

Charlotte, you know her...she orders stuff from me all the time because she is awesome - well, her son Jaxon turned ONE on Saturday and people gathered to celebrate.

Not only people came....Brobee and Foofa were there too!
Who? Brobee and Foofa!
Come on...Don't you know them?

If you have no clue who or what Yo Gabba Gabba is....then google it, like I did when Charlotte told me that was the party theme.

Meet....Yo Gabba Gabba:

Jaxon loves them!

Charlotte wanted to do cupcakes because there would be lots of children at the party. Since there were multiple characters in multiple colors...it was only fitting to make the cupcakes rainbow.

I mixed up the white cake batter and separated it into 4 containters....

Colored them Red, Yellow, Green and Blue...

Then spooned each color into a cupcake liner one at a time.

I thought this was an artistic picture for some reason.
You know you like it.

While the cupcakes were baking, I cut strings of ribbon for each character, curled them with scissors and wrapped them around the cupcakes after they had cooled.

The vanilla buttercream was colored to match each character and it's cupcake liner.

I made eyes out of vanilla fondant and added one additional characteristic for each cupcake.

That's a lot of eyeballs, yo.

Charlotte wanted a smash cake just for Jaxon.
His favorite character is Brobee, the green monster guy.
So I used my giant cupcake pan again and repeated the whole rainbow batter process.

See...Rainbow.

I used Wilton's grass tip to pipe on two shades of green colored buttercream all over the giant cupcake and I used vanilla fondant to make all the facial features.

Cute cupcake stands bring it all together.

Here's my beautiful niece Hailey with her cupcake:

Here's what the cupcakes looked like inside:

And here's the Birthday Boy enjoying his smash cake:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAXON!

Microphone Cake for Suprise 25th Birthday Party

2011-03-08T10:01:00.000-08:00

One of my regular customers was planning a surprise party at Dave & Busters for her boyfriend's 25th birthday and she wanted a special cake for her musician man.

She sent me this picture and asked me to recreate with cake:

The cake is chocolate...

filled with vanilla buttercream...

carved and shaped...

then covered in more vanilla buttercream.

I colored two batches of vanilla fondant, a light gray and a dark gray and covered the entire cake. I used royal icing to add the lines on the microphone top, which is probably the only part of this cake I am not crazy about...just because it didn't come out as clean as I wanted.

I painted almost the entire cake in silver using silver pearl dust and vodka.

GS1986 is the birthday boy's initials and birth year.

I added Happy 25th to the cake board using black vanilla fondant and brushed them with a diluted mixture of the silver pearl dust and paint, just because.

Happy 25th Birthday!

Happily Ever After.....Divorce!

2011-02-28T10:27:00.001-08:00

Sometimes, your divorce is the best day of your life...case in point with my most recent cake order.

My ever faithful friend Charlotte who has order numerous cakes from me, asked if I'd be interested in making a Divorce Cake for her friend who was throwing a Birthday/Divorce party.

Ummmm....yes, please!

She sent me this picture and requested I do something just like it because she loved the whole chopped off head deal with all the blood :)

I wish I knew who made this cake so I could give them credit for the inspiration it gave me to do my version of the cake, but I couldn't find a link to the direct source of the picture :(

Since the party was being hosted at a night club, Charlotte requested it be on the smaller side - not knowing how many people would stop dancing to eat some cake. She also wanted Red Velvet, to go along with the whole bloody theme.

I made six 9" round cakes, 3 layers for each tier.
I filled and frosted both tiers with chocolate ganache instead of the traditional cream cheese because I knew this cake needed to hold it's shape and sit out for a few hours, something cream cheese isn't ideal for.

I covered both tiers in white fondant and used royal icing to pipe on some not to pretty decorations...definitely need more practice in that department.

I rolled lots of round fondant balls and then dusted them with pearl dust for a pretty shine which I used to line both tiers of the cake.

I used seedless raspberry jam whisked with red and a drop of blue food coloring until I got a runny bloody texture...raspberry goes well with red velvet and chocolate.

I purchased some inexpensive Bride and Groom toppers from my favorite local place, The Cake Works because they carry a massive amount of Wedding supplies on top of all the cake supplies they have. I needed toppers that were separate and not connected as well as not insanely expensive or fancy since I was going to do some decapitating.

I brought my little Groom to work and asked one of our guys to kindly chop his head off. Done.

Then I shaved down the Bride's bouquet and painted the excess green paint white to match her dress. I took small bits of red fondant and glued them to both the headless Groom's body and his head then used a thumb tack to give it some fleshy texture.

Then...I glued his head to the bride so it appeared as though she was holding that in her hand instead of the bouquet. Love it.

Since this cake was coming from my house going to Charlotte's house, then to the club for the party...I knew that just placing these toppers on the cake wasn't going to work. So I used wooden skewers as long picks to go through the entire top tier serving as good support for all the traveling.

Once the Bride and headless Groom were in place on top of the cake...it was time for the fun part...blood, blood and then some more blood.

And my work is complete!

Here are some photos from the party:

That's my buddy Charlotte, she is super awesome.

This is the newly single Birthday Girl, Trina with her cake and toppers :)

See...I told you it was Red Velvet :)

1st Birthday Cake

2011-02-22T10:09:00.000-08:00

Finally an opportunity to use my giant cupcake silicone baking pan! I bought it online months and months ago and haven't used it yet. I wanted the Wilton one, of course...but it cost almost $40.00 and this bad boy was $6.95.

I also bought a giant doughnut pan....so someone order a doughnut cake please!

Anyways...I was sent a picture of cake and asked if I could do something like it.
It was for a little girl's 1st Birthday.

The customer requested chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream.

The bottom tier was two layers, covered in buttercream fondant.

The bows and curls are a mixture of fondant and gumpaste, colored and positioned for their shape which took a day to dry.

The #1 is also a mixture of fondant and gumpaste, to ensure it would hold up and not flop over.
I made two numbers exactly the same and placed a wooden skewer between the layers which will serve as a pick that will go into the top of the giant cupcake.

The giant cupcake was placed in the center on top of the bottom tier.
It was covered in strips of alternating pink and purple pieces of fondant with star piping in between the pieces - which is my one regret. I wish I would have left the small gaps of white fondant showing, rather than piping in between.

I piped the vanilla buttercream is small roses on top of the cupcake for a realistic cupcake look.

The bows and curls were added on both sides of the cupcake and stayed in place without much work.

EMILY, the fondant balls lining the cake and most of the dots on the bottom tier were touched up with a bit of pearl dust.

EMILY and the #1 were dotted with some white decorating icing.

and done!

This cake had some traveling to do, so I had to make sure it was boxed correctly for safe travel.
Of course the #1 topper had to come off and the cake had to go into a box sideways.
I cut off two of the box flaps and left two which would only close half way, which works well so that you can keep an eye on the cake.

I am currently hating the new light bulb that went into my kitchen light...it gives all my cakes a yellow tint. Me no likey.

I will be taking care of that this week.

Valentine's Day Cookies...40 Dozen of them!

2011-02-14T10:14:00.000-08:00

I got a last minute call from a customer a couple weeks before Valentine's Day asking if I could make 39 DOZEN cookies for some preschoolers...the baker who had the order was going out of business.

My schedule was and is already pretty tight until the baby arrives, but I couldn't turn down an order for preschoolers!

The customer requested heart shaped sugar cookies with icing and sprinkles, nice and simple - nothing fancy.

Thank goodness...because with that many cookies, who knows how long it would have taken me!

I prepared all the dough and had it chill for a day in the refrigerator.
I had to multiply my recipe by 10!
I managed to fit all the dough in these two containers....which I proceeded to drop on my foot when pulling them out of the refrigerator for this picture.

I decided to use two different cookie cutters for the order, one basic heart and one with a ridged edge.

I baked 1/2 the cookies on Friday and the other 1/2 on Saturday.

Half way through baking on Saturday, lost in my routine of pulling one sheet from the oven and popping in a new sheet to bake - I picked up a hot sheet with my bare hand, burning all 5 of my fingers.

Needless to say, I took a break - not only because I was clearly in need of one, but because it's kinda hard to roll cookies dough, cut cookies and bake them with one hand.

Sunday was all about decorating.

I used red and white royal icing and an assortment of different sprinkles and color combinations.

The icing had to set for about an hour before I could stack and box the cookies, so it made for a long day since I was only allowed to do so many cookies at once.

I used every inch of counter space and appreciated the breaks in between each batch.

I boxed the cookies up, 10 dozen to each box.
I rounded up to 40 dozen, just because.

I delivered the cookies this morning to the Preschool.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

CASINO Cake

2011-02-07T10:12:00.000-08:00

This weekend was my friend's 31st Birthday party.
His wife asked me to make him a cake...with a Casino (the movie) theme because he loves that movie.

We threw around some ideas that would ensure the whole mafia tones came through without putting machine guns on the cake but also the Casino theme without it looking like a poker cake.

The cake itself was white cake with vanilla buttercream and fresh banana filling.

I kept the cake covered in just buttercream and no fondant, for a more traditional look and because I think it just tastes better.

The black pinstripe tie, cigar, dice and poker chips were all made with fondant.
I tried to incorporate the number 31 wherever I could, can you tell?

His wife came up with the verbiage...ain't it cute?

I am still working on my hand-piping writing skills...bear with me.

I used gold sparkle piping gel to write CASINO on the front side of the cake, like the movie title...kinda...except crooked.

I was also asked to make a small chocolate cake for a nephew who was also celebrating his birthday at the party.

It is devil's food cake with chocolate buttercream and ganache, topped with some chocolate squiggly thingies.

Here are some lovely cell phone pictures from the party for ya:

3 Tier Hawaiian Themed Going Away Cake for my 4th Sister, Rachel. UPDATED WITH MORE PHOTOS

2011-01-18T10:40:00.000-08:00

I have known Rachel since the moment she was born and we have spent our entire childhood growing up together. We lived next door to each other for years and my mother baby-sat her 5 days a week until she was in High School. She has been at every birthday party, holiday, graduation and even served as a bridesmaid at my wedding. To say that she is like a sister to me is an understatement...because for me, she is a member of my family and she always has been.

She is my 4th sister.

Rachel was married in March of 2010 to a super awesome guy, Dustin.
Dustin is a marine and has been serving our country since their wedding and Rachel is set to start her married life next month with Dustin...in HAWAII.

She asked me months ago, October I think if I would make her a fabulous cake for her Going Away Party...Done!

She wanted a sunset themed cake with palm trees and little beach chair toppers...Done!

I drew up this sketch for her (don't judge me, I only had highlighters at work) and she gave me her stamp of approval. She wasn't crazy about the flower so I omitted it from the cake plan. This would be my very first 3 tier cake...and I wanted it to be great.

Please oh Please be great!

I broke down the process into 10 steps:

Step 1: I ordered these adorable mini Adirondack Beach Chairs online, painted them and wrote the lovebird's names on them.

Step 2: I used a mixture of black fondant (1/4) and gumpaste (3/4) for the palm trees. I wanted to get them as dark as I could, which is why I added the bit of black fondant. I needed them to be 100% dry to stand straight and hold form so I made them 3 days in advance. Carving them took some time and patience. The morning of the party, I put a light coating of black frosting over the palm trees and them covered them in black sand sprinkles.

Step 3: Bake a whole lotta cakes! Rachel requested Vanilla cake for the bottom and largest tier, Chocolate cake for the middle tier and Red Velvet for the top tier.

Step 4: Strawberries....mmmmmm....Strawberries. My sister, Amiable came over to help me dice 4 baskets of Strawberries and then mix them with a small amount of strawberry glaze. All the cakes had this as it's filling.

Step 5: Stack 'em up. The Vanilla and Chocolate tiers were frosted with Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream and the Red Velvet was frosted with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Step 6: Once all the tiers had chilled and set in the refrigerator and I took a break for some Taco Bell, I covered each one in white Buttercream Fondant then let them chill a bit more.

Step 7: Time to paint. I pulled out my sketch and grabbed several different colors of food gel coloring. One color at a time, I added vodka to create a water-color paint consistency and painted the fondant with a regular paint brush to make sure I had the cool stroke marks to blend the colors. The dark pink was a challenge and I wasn't able to achieve the color I was looking for so that the purple blended better, but it looked decent.

Step 8: My boyfriend doesn't let me use his tools, including his sheer cutter thingy...whatever. So he cut all my dowels for me so that I could stack the cake. Once it was stacked, I used black frosting (pre-made) around the bottom of each tier. I smeared it with my finger to get in between the tiers and a bit on each tier so that my sprinkles would cover up everything. This was the last of my work at home, the rest would be done on site since I live in San Jose and the party was in Oakland. I didn't want to take any chances with the Palm Trees breaking during the drive....silly me to think it would be that simple.

Step 9: The morning of the party when I frosted and sprinkled the Palm Trees, one broke. Super bummer. I tried not to cry and told myself I could fix it once I got there. The drive went fine, no crazy bumps or breakages. I put the broken palm tree back together and attached the other....only for it to fall off 30 seconds later and break. So now I have 2 broken palm trees and a bunch of guests watching me, cool. I managed to piece the other back together as well, but the whole standing effect was no longer happening as I had to lay the trees right up against the cake so they wouldn't fall again. Sigh...

Note: I will be watermarking all my pictures from this point forward and someday when I have A LOT of time on my hands, I will watermark all my previous pictures.

Step 10: The easiest part of all....I placed the two beach chairs on top of the cake.

I bought this cake stand at the flea market for $6 months ago...and it finally got to show it's face.

Cutting this cake was an adventure, I'll have to do some research on how to do that better...but by the end of the party only a couple pieces of cake remained.

I will always remember making this cake...not just because it was my first 3 tier cake, but because it was for someone very special.

I will miss my 4th sister, Rachel...lots and lots...but I am so excited for her to start her life as a wife! (Hey, that rhymed!)

Aloha!

Coming Up...

2011-01-14T10:20:00.000-08:00

In the next couple months I have some really cool orders going on...be sure to come back and check them out!

3 Tier Hawaiian Sunset Cake (this weekend)

Divorce Cake (February)

2 Tier Cupcake Theme Baby Girl's 1st Birthday Cake (February)

Microphone Birthday Cake (March)

Oakland Athletics Birthday Cake (March)

Baby Boy's 1st Birthday Cake...theme TBD (March)

I Love Lucy Bridal Shower Cake (April)

I've also got some Weddings coming up...very exciting!

Thanks to all you who follow my little blog, you make me feel famous =)

Sara's Baby Shower

2011-01-10T12:42:00.000-08:00

My brother's Baby Mama is due on January 30th!
I am so excited to meet my new niece, Emily.

My sister and I threw Sara a Baby Shower this weekend and it went a little something like this...

The few nights before, I had lots to do:

1. Go grocery shopping with my sister for all the food.
2. Bake & Frost 2 dozen Strawberry Cupcakes
3. Bake & Decorate 50 sugar cookies then package in favor bags
4. Roll, Dip and Bouquet 3 Cake Pop Prizes
5. Cut up all the fruit and veggies
6. Wash, Dip and Decorate Strawberries

Thankfully, I had already organized the games and decorations...

Here's what actually happened:

1. Went grocery shopping with my sister for all the food
2. Baked & Frosted (the morning of) 2 dozen Strawberry Cupcakes
3. Bake & Decorate 50 sugar cookies a totally different (easier) way than originally planned and forget to take any pictures
4. Roll & Dip first batch of cake pops, only for them to crack and fall on the floor causing me to have a melt down and throw them all away
5. Cut up all the fruit and veggies
6. Washed, dipped and decorated strawberries the morning of

Note to self: When hormonal and tired...don't take on more than you can handle.

It's totally my fault, I should have handed some of this off to my sister who was already a huge help...but I have issues with asking for help sometimes.
Shame on me.

Even though I didn't have the time or strength to pipe on cute buttons and Emily's name on the favors and the cake pop bouquets were a total bust...it worked out.

I drizzled pink and purple white chocolate on the cookies and packaged them two to a bag.

Unfortunately, in my tired and delusional state - I didn't get any pictures of the finished product. Boo :(

I decided to do something special for my niece Hailey who is going to be a BIG SISTER soon...I wanted her to also feel special and included so I made her her own cookie favor that spelled her name =)

In the morning I went to Lucky and picked up some fresh chocolate chip cookies, brownie bites and Hershey kisses then Amiable assembled bags in the buckets for the prizes.

I had purchased this glass drink dispenser set months ago at Bed Bath & Beyond for $20...I had no use for it at the time but couldn't pass up a deal like that and I'm glad I didn't because they are super awesome and were a perfect fit for Sara's shower.

The colors for the shower were pink and purple...if you can't tell already.

We served pink lemonade, grape juice, bottled water, mini ham and turkey sandwiches, potato salad, macaroni salad, white chocolate covered strawberries, grapes, watermelon, pineapple, carrots, celery, broccoli, veggie dip and of course, cupcakes.

We played only a few simple games...no one likes long drawn out Baby Showers with a million games, right? I don't.

There was the diaper raffle...everyone was asked to bring a pack of diapers for a chance to win a prize and Sara drew the winning raffle number.

There was the "Guess how many safety pins" game...which Hailey was happy to help with so she could give the guests hints as to how far or close they were to the correct answer.

Then there was my favorite....the "Name that Poop" game!
We melted 8 different candy bars into 8 diapers, passed them around and had the guests guess the candy bar...by any means necessary!

After the games, Sara opened all her gifts and favors were passed out.

It was a very nice day...and it makes me very excited for my own Baby Shower in May!

Star Wars the Force Unleashed 2 Birthday Cake

2011-01-10T12:33:00.001-08:00

When a friend of mine told me her son wanted a Star Wars the Force Unleashed 2 cake for his 9th Birthday, I relied on Google to tell me what the heck that meant. I thought it was a movie, but no - it's a video game!

I googled and printed the following pictures for inspiration:

The Birthday Boy requested 1/2 French Vanilla 1/2 Milk Chocolate Cake with my super yummy Oreo Cookies n' Cream filling.

I did just that, then covered it in Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream and Green/Blue marbeled fondant.

I added squares around the bottom of the cake just for some extra texture.

I made two red light sabers out of fondant and placed one on each side of the cake.

Then I placed a 9 in the center of the cake and piped lots of "Force" electro thingies coming out of it and all over the cake.

Happy!! Birthday Devin!

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

2010-12-20T12:18:00.001-08:00

...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

2010-12-16T10:41:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-12-13T10:31:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-07T09:53:00.000-08:00

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!

King Cake...with a Twist

2010-11-30T10:41:00.000-08:00

This cake is a just as yummy but different version of my classic King Cake.

The cake is 2 layers white chocolate and 2 layers dark chocolate with alternating layers of fresh raspberry filling and dark chocolate ganache.

The cake is covered in chocolate swiss meringue buttercream rather than the usual raspberry buttercream because this particular cake was for a husband's birthday and his wife thought the pink frosting wasn't a good fit! :)

I poured dark chocolate ganache over the top of the cake and used melted white chocolate to pipe Happy Birthday Jon!, which by the way was the first time I piped directly onto a cake...Thank You Very Much!

Then I lined the bottom of the cake and corners with dark chocolate shavings and fresh raspberries filled with dark chocolate ganache.

I wanted to keep this cake...and eat it all by myself...in one sitting....but I didn't.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-30T09:58:00.001-08:00

This being my first Thanksgiving without my family, my boyfriend and I were invited to a friend's house for dinner.

They made dinner and I made dessert :)

THIS picture was my inspiration and I looked at it every five seconds during the whole process. The only thing I wanted to do different was the feathers.

The cake is pumpkin spice with cream cheese frosting...super delicious. I ate many of the carved pieces...because I can.

I stacked four 9" round cakes on top of each other and then carved until I achieved the shape I was looking for. Once I got that done I gave it a light crumb coat and covered the body in chocolate fondant that I mixed with a little bit of white fondant to lighten the brown color.

The feathers were made of colored white fondant and I used the back of a knife to add some markings and then attached 3 feathers each to wooden skewers and let them dry so they would stand straight.

The head is made out of all chocolate fondant with a wood skewer through the body for support.

Although a small challenge to cut and serve, the cake was a great way to end the evening.

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Cupcakes

2010-11-23T14:49:00.000-08:00

For the first time in my life, I will not be spending Thanksgiving with my family :(

My parents are flying out of town to spend the holiday with my sister and her family. The rest of us are going in various directions, spending the holiday with our friends or family of our significant others.

To fill a little bit of that family void, I decided to make cupcakes for my brothers and sisters and deliver them before the holiday.

There was something extra special about these cupcakes and my family knows what that is...

I saw these....and had to make them, they are just too cool!
The cupcakes are pumpkin spice with cream cheese frosting.
I made an additional two dozen of these bad boys for a new customer who really wanted to impress his girlfriend's family at Thanksgiving dinner...how can I say no to that?!

I made the pumpkin pie slice toppers out of fondant, piece by piece. The step by step directions were great, I did not have any trouble.

I also saw these a long time ago and have been waiting for November to get here so I could make them!

The cupcakes are chocolate fudge with vanilla buttercream.
The trees are made from melted chocolate and fall leaf sprinkles.

Both of these cupcakes were a lot of fun to make...especially for my family :) Happy Thanksgiving!

Strawberry Cake Balls

2010-11-23T14:09:00.000-08:00

An old high school friend of my sister's got in touch with me and asked if I could make her some cake balls.....and ship them to TEXAS!

She asked for strawberry cake covered in milk chocolate and drizzled in strawberry coating.

Mmmmmmmmmmm....

This gave me the chance to whip out my Cake Pops book by Bakerella, my birthday present from my super awesome boyfriend :)

I mixed strawberry frosting with the crumbled strawberry cake and rolled the balls.

I dipped them in milk chocolate and then drizzled them with pink strawberry coating.

I made a couple cake pop samples for her as well.

I packaged them as best as I could anticipating a rough journey to Texas...and I was right.

Best thing about cake balls though...they taste great no matter what they look like!

Sometimes you win, Sometimes you Lose...and Sometimes you make an Ice Cream Cake!

2010-11-19T08:59:00.001-08:00

When one of my besties asked me if I could make an ice cream cake for her daughter, here's what I told her:

I've never made one before, I'd love to try, so if you feel comfortable taking a chance with me I'd love to give it a shot.

She was brave...and took the chance...and I let her down :(

She asked for a half chocolate, half white cake with chocolate ice cream and a Nick Jr. Backyardigans theme. Her daughter's favorite character is the penguin.

My plan: Two layers of each cake on top and bottom with the chocolate ice cream in the middle. Okay, done.

Penguin character topper made with fondant. Okay, done.

Piped stars of the show's six colors to match the logo background. Okay, done....kinda.

About half way through this process the ice cream started to melt and seep through the sides of the cake, even though I was doing one section at a time and putting the cake in the freezer to keep it as frozen as possible in between each section.

I also struggled with the magenta colored buttercream...it didn't happen and the closest I could get was a dull purple :(

After finishing the cake and putting in back in the freezer with my super sad face, I went to bed really bummed...this was the first time I was unhappy with one of my cakes and there was nothing I could do about it now.

Good thing my friend Charlotte is super awesome....she is still going to be my friend and she is still going to order more cakes from me.

Whew...I'm lucky.

Birthday Cake for AC Label Employees

2010-11-05T09:10:00.000-07:00

If you follow my blog, you know a couple things about AC Label:
My sister works there and they get to eat lots of my sweets when I have leftovers. Her co-workers are some of my biggest fans and I am always happy when one of them places an order.

There have been several birthdays at the office in recent weeks, and one very nice employee wanted to treat each one to a very special cake.

AC Label makes labels...shocking!
Their company colors are black, blue and white.
It was requested that there is some kind of label theme as well as individual cakes or cupcakes for each of the employees celebrating a birthday.

My sister was kind enough to send me some information about how they run the labels on the press machines which clicked right in with the idea I had in my head.

The cake is my most popular...which I have officially named The King Cake after Julie King who pretty much invented it when she placed this order.

Dark chocolate and white chocolate cake with fresh raspberry and dark chocolate ganache filling, covered in raspberry swiss meringue buttercream and fondant.

I covered the main cake in blue fondant and draped two white pieces of fondant across the top. I used a small cardboard roll on one side to look like a roll of labels and used the stitch roller thingy to mark where the labels tear off on both rolls.

I used a texture tile on black fondant and cut out a bunch of square "labels" and used melted white chocolate to add the HAPPY BIRTHDAY script and names.
The leftover labels were added to the front and the back of the cake, lining the base - just for fun.

Originally my plan was to make small individual cakes, frosted and covered in fondant with the name labels on top...but after about 2 weeks straight of baking my patience was running a bit low and after one failed attempt, I threw in the towel. It was not my best moment in the kitchen and I'm grateful only my dog witnessed my frustration at these innocent little cakes, but with time running out I opted to make cupcakes.

Each cupcake is dark chocolate, filled with the dark chocolate ganache and fresh raspberry then covered in the raspberry buttercream and covered in blue fondant to match the cake. I tried to make white bows to wrap around the cupcake, but once again...my lack of patience got the best of me and I decided to use these cupcake wraps that I bought a very long time ago and seemed to match the cake perfectly.

Spooky Halloween Cupcakes

2010-11-01T12:28:00.000-07:00

I originally had these cupcakes planned for a Halloween party.
The party got canceled...but not the cupcakes.
Besides, I couldn't let these super awesome Martha Stewart cupcake liners go to waste.
No way, Jose.

I'd been browsing online to see what kind of Halloween cupcakes are out there, and there are a lot! So, I settled on four that I thought were really cool and not too complicated.

I made two different cupcakes:

Red Velvet with Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream

and Super Chocolate Chunk with Ganache

("super" meaning I put hecka chopped chocolate in the batter)

I used the Red Velvet cupcakes to make Mummies and Brains!

That's a lot of eyeballs, dude.

I used the Super Chocolate Chunk cupcakes to make Spiders and Webs!

That's 96 spider legs right there!

I drew the spider webs on a piece of paper then put it under a sheet of wax paper and piped the webs with melted white chocolate. Drawing the webs was harder then actually making them. Kinda sad.

Sometimes I think I am a photographer so please find humor in my staging!
I had purchased some Halloween decorations for the above mentioned canceled party and didn't want them to go to waste.

Lego Man Cake

2010-11-01T11:44:00.000-07:00

A friend of a friend asked if I could make a Lego Man cake for her son's birthday, she had the mold already but was nervous to try and make the cake herself.

White cake with chocolate frosting, covered in fondant.
She told me the silicone cake mold was small and that she was making cupcakes for the kids.
Could she make it any easier for me? I think not.

Once I got my hands on the mold...I was surprised at how small it really was!

This was my first experience with a silicone cake mold and it was interesting to say the least. The instructions say you don't need to use baking spray...but I did after the first cake stuck to the silicone and fell apart.

Since the mold was so small, this made the cake extra fragile.

Once I got the Lego Man cooled and out of the mold, ideas started running wild in my head...
What if I chopped off his hands and made them out of fondant?
What if I made him standing up rather than laying down like a dead Lego Man?
What if I put him on top or next to a Lego piece?

So...I chopped him into pieces and got started.
Children, avert your eyes.

The birthday boy wanted black pants and a blue shirt, so I decided on a red lego for back support.

The six round pieces are individual cake pieces frosted and covered in fondant before being attached the the Lego block.

I didn't dare try and make this Lego Man stand up head to toe, so I opted for him sitting against the Lego. I used a wooden dowel through the head and body for support.

I cut off the top neck and top round piece on the head and used fondant instead after a complete head redo.

The hands curved well over a spatula handle overnight but didn't want to stay attached to the arm, hence the random red ball under each hand.

Overall, this cake kinda drove me crazy but in the end the birthday boy was pleased and so was I.

Coming Up...

2010-10-25T11:15:00.001-07:00

November is a busy month for me...but I am so excited!

10/29: Lego Man Cake

10/31: Halloween Cupcakes

11/02: Strawberry Cake

11/04: Fall Cupcakes

11/12: Wedding Anniversary Cookies & Cake Re-make

11/18: Backyardigans Ice Cream Cake

11/25: Thanksgiving Cupcakes

I Love Lucy cake because I Love My Mom!

2010-10-25T10:34:00.000-07:00

My mother is a I Love Lucy fanatic, always has been.
She has collected I Love Lucy items my whole life and has a whole room devoted to the show. We call it the I Love Lucy room...shocker, huh?

My mother celebrated her 63rd Birthday on the 20th and since I couldn't make it out to Stockton to see her during the week, the family celebrated yesterday.

I wanted to make her something special...and I couldn't go wrong with I Love Lucy.

When I asked my Dad what kind of cake she'd like, he told me white cake with caramel something. First, I planned to make my popular caramel banana cake but then I realized I had a packet of Cheesecake Mousse mix that I'd been waiting for an opportunity to use...and this was my opportunity!

I printed the show logo and used it to carve the same heart shape for the cake. I wanted it to be as much like the real thing as possible...I was dealing with a fanatic here!

Then I piped the cheesecake mousse into the center and doused it with caramel sauce!

This cake was super easy to frost...which came as a surprise.
I covered the cake in vanilla swiss meringue buttercream.

Then, I covered it in red fondant.

I placed the logo on top of the fondant covered cake and went over the "I Love Lucy" with a pen as a guide, because I have made it no secret that my free hand writing is not the best. I opted to pipe dots...well because that's easier to not screw-up.

I asked my boyfriend to take some "action shots" of me decorating the cake since I rarely have any because I'm usually the one taking the photos.

Apparently, this is an "action shot." Silly, boyfriend.

My sister and I also got my Mom a collector's bottle of I Love Lucy wine for her birthday, to go with the cake :)

She loved them both.

Happy Birthday Ma Mere!!!

Friday the 13th Jason Voorhees Birthday Cake

2010-10-19T10:08:00.000-07:00

When I got an email from Sunshine, a new customer - requesting a bloody Friday the 13th cake with the Jason Voorhees mask for her son's birthday...I was all over it!

She had great ideas for the cake and sent me this picture as inspiration:

She wanted red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and filling, black fondant and lots of blood! Now that's my kind of cake!

The first task at hand was figuring out how to make the mask.
I decided to try out a 50/50 mixture of buttercream fondant and gum paste. Gum paste generally doesn't taste very good, but mixed with the buttercream flavored fondant it could have been eaten and taste not so bad.

I used a simple template I found online to shape the mask and coordinate where the holes went. Although the holes could have been smaller, I didn't have any smaller tools to make it match the template.

I set the mask over a roll of paper towels with a small ball of gum paste under the nose for shape and let it dry for 3 days to ensure the curve was firm enough to hold up once it was placed on the cake.

The night before, I used brown gel paste food coloring and some vodka to brush some color onto the mask with a paint brush, then used a paper towel to rub it in and remove excess paint for a stained/dirty look.

When I originally planned out this cake, I had decided to use a plastic knife because I was concerned about the strength required to hold up the mask...but then I realized that was a cop-out and that a real baker would make the knife themselves. So I did.

I used a wooden skewer throughout and folded gum paste around it for the blade, I needed it to dry hard and hold it's shape. Once it was dry, I painted it with silver pearl dust mixed with vodka. I left a couple inches of the skewer exposed so that I could pierce the cake without making a huge gash in the fondant. The morning of the delivery I added black fondant for the handle.

For the blood, I used a strawberry jelly. I whisked and whisked and whisked until it was a liquid consistency then added a generous amount of red food coloring and few drops of blue for the most realistic look I could get.

Now, the fun part... I placed the mask in the center of the cake, put the knife through the eye hole and went crazy with the blood!

When Sunshine told me "the more blood, the better" I took it seriously.

I really wanted to write Happy Birthday Gage with my finger in blood but because of the black fondant it would not have been thick enough to read clearly, so I piped it on with the blood instead.

I was very pleased with this cake and it was one of my best deliveries yet, Sunshine and her friends made me feel like a ROCKSTAR snapping tons of pictures! They loved the cake and that's the best part of this job!

Baseball Cap Cake

2010-10-19T09:12:00.000-07:00

When my best friend from High School called to tell me she'd be in town for her nephew's 2nd birthday and she wanted me to make the cake...I was soooo excited!

Her nephew has a fascination with hats of all kinds and also baseball. It didn't take me long to decide on a baseball cap cake.

I was supposed to make a Raiders helmet cake later this month but that order was canceled, so this cake was set to fulfill my excitement of doing a domed hat/helmet cake :)

Kid friendly flavors were needed for this cake so I suggested the Oreo cookies n' cream recipe that has become very popular...because it's awesome and who doesn't like Oreos?

The cake is 1/2 chocolate and 1/2 white with Oreo cookies n' cream filling and vanilla swiss meringue buttercream.

I used my soccer ball cake pan for the top of the cap, carved it to the size I wanted it and added some indentations to appear as creases in the hat.

I covered the cap in blue buttercream fondant, attached a bill and added some green accents.

When I was done....I was pleased but I felt something was missing. I considered making a baseball out of fondant or chocolate...then decided cupcakes are more my style!

I made a small batch of white cupcakes with matching blue and green liners, frosted them with the vanilla swiss meringue buttercream and used red decorating gel to add the stitching.

I added two cupcakes because the little guy was turning 2.

Not only was this a fun cake to make...but I got to see my best friend too!

Some REALLY YUMMY Cupcakes!

2010-09-21T10:04:00.000-07:00

My sister, being the super awesome co-worker/employee that she is at AC Label...wanted to bring some cupcakes to work.

Normally, AC Label is on the receiving end of practice baked goods or leftovers from orders but this order was just for them.

She wanted variety and deliciousness...Done!

Chocolate Oreo Cupcakes with Cookies n' Cream Frosting (so good, I saved the leftover and will eat it with a spoon later) topped with Oreo Cookie Crumbs

Each cupcake has an Oreo Cookie bottom :)

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Chip Cupcakes with Creamy Peanut Butter Buttercream (my sister's personal favorite) topped with Chopped Chocolate and Peanut Butter Chips

Vanilla Caramel Cupcakes with Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream (my personal favorite) and a Caramel Drizzle

Three variety packs made their way to AC Label this morning!

Chocolate Ice Cream Cone Cake Pops

2010-09-17T09:42:00.000-07:00

Remember these?
Well, I've been itching to make more but in a different flavor and design. Bakerella, being the super cake pop genius that she is - has soooo many ideas to choose from.

Feel free to buy me her new book that just came out, I haven't gotten it yet.
Thanks :)

Anyways, I decided on CHOCOLATE...because I love it!
I baked a 9x13 devils food cake then smooshed it all together with some chocolate frosting.

I rolled a tray of large balls for the cones and a tray of small balls for the pops.

I had to trim down the sugar cones, which was harder than I thought it would be but it worked out okay since the chocolate drizzled over my jagged edges.

I like the idea of using some strawberry flavored melting chocolate with the chocolate cake, then I figured I might as well do regular chocolate and white chocolate too for the whole ice cream effect.

I wanted to make a 3 scoop cone but totally forgot, bummer.

I had a tough time dipping the regular cake pops in the strawberry melting chocolate because it was a little thicker than the others, but I managed to create a few decent ones.

My next cake pop adventure will be these, I already bought the candies which were on sale :)

Mini Doughnuts....I guess.

2010-09-07T11:33:00.000-07:00

I bought this mini doughnut maker about a year ago and last night I decided I was going to use it.

It was a hot weekend and I didn't want to deal with using hot oil and frying doughnuts so I researched some cake recipes that could be baked.

I found two, a plain recipe and also a chocolate recipe.

This thing works great, each batch only took about 3-4 minutes to bake and the shapes came out perfectly. (I used a piping bag to fill each ring evenly and avoid a huge mess)

The taste...not horrible but also not was I was hoping for.
They are lacking the right texture and could have been sweeter.

Maybe some glaze and sprinkles will help?

Or maybe just some more sugar?

They look pretty at least.

Lakers & Leftovers

2010-08-30T12:59:00.000-07:00

I received an order for a LARGE Lakers jersey cake for a surprise birthday party this weekend. The customer wanted my (now famous) dark & white chocolate cake filled with dark chocolate ganache and fresh raspberry filling, covered in raspberry swiss meringue buttercream. She asked that the cake serve at least 40 people and have her daughter's name and age on the jersey.

I baked four 11x15 cakes, 2 of each and then put it all together.
I decided to alternate the cakes so it wasn't too boring when they cut into it and I spread the ganache directly over the raspberry filling.

Oh fondant...I am still learning how to make you do what I want.
Although I think I did a decent job covering this huge cake, getting the side panels on and managing to fit such a long name...It could have been better.

Note: For whatever reason, my camera did not like the purple fondant. I took many pictures in different lighting and they all came out blue.

I currently have three letter cut-out sizes: small, medium and large. I used the medium ones because the small are REALLY small but the mediums were still a bit too large. I do not have the skills or confidence yet to cut my own letters by hand, I still need some more practice.

In the future I will try some new techniques that will decrease/eliminate the powdered sugar that gets left on the fondant when you roll it out, that's something I wish I would have researched before this cake.

I saved some scraps from the cakes I made this week and decided when I was done with all my orders I would use my leftover cake scraps, fillings, buttercream and chocolate shavings to make myself and my lucky sister some small mini cakes.

I mean, I can't just let good stuff go to waste!

I used a cookie cutter to cut out some small square and circle shaped cakes.

I filled the squares with leftover apple filling and covered them in vanilla buttercream then added some sprinkles and a blob of apple filling just for fun.

I filled the circles with leftover raspberry filling and covered them in raspberry buttercream and decorated them with chocolate shavings.

It was late, I was tired and I just wanted to get these things done...so please forgive my frosting job - I was just going to eat them and didn't care if the corners were straight or level, as you can see.

I often don't get to eat my own cakes unless I'm lucky enough to be invited to whatever party they are going to...so this was a special treat and made the perfect midnight snack.

Guitar Cake

2010-08-27T09:43:00.001-07:00

When my brother asked me if I could make a guitar cake for our cousin's birthday today, I didn't hesitate because I knew Wilton made a guitar cake pan.

When he sent me this picture, that plan went out the door.

My cousin's guitar is WAY COOLER than Wilton's cake pan.

After requesting a full picture of the guitar, I knew that this cake would need to be covered in fondant.

Oh fondant...how you stress me out.

I wanted to make this cake as realistic as possible, not toy looking.
So, I printed the picture in large scale (thank you, work printer) and used it to create a cardboard template of the cake.

After filling the base of the guitar with apple (YUM) I assembled the cake and slathered vanilla buttercream all over it and let it chill in the fridge while I made up all the small pieces with gray gumpaste painted with silver pearl dust.

I used vanilla flavored fondant to cover the cake in white, brown and black.

Following tips I read online on how to paint fondant to look like wood, I mixed some brown icing color and a little bit of vodka for a soupy water paint consistency then starting painting the white portion of the guitar and decided to give the brown neck some too!

Then I attached the silver accents, some with toothpicks and the others with just a little bit of water.

I attempted to add strings of floss...many times...but it just wasn't in the stars. Hopefully, my cousin will forgive me.

Happy Birthday John!

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes

2010-08-24T09:46:00.000-07:00

My co-worker brought me this giant zucchini from his garden and asked me if I could use it.

At first I was thinking...zucchini?
Um no, I've never even touched one before.

Then I thought, this could be a great opportunity for me to try something new and different. Different is what I am all about :)

So I brought this bad boy home and did some research on zucchini recipes...zucchini bread? chocolate zucchini bread? zucchini brownies?

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes! Duh!

I also found this to be a great time to try a Chocolate Cream Cheese Buttercream recipe that I've had for a while.

Having never touched a zucchini before, I learned that they have seeds...and that if you are not paying attention these seeds will mess up your shredding process. Don't worry...I picked out all the pieces and scooped out the remaining seeds before continuing to shred :) See...no seeds:

I also got to use all spice for the first time...strong stuff.

These cupcakes were made solely to prove to my co-workers that yummy cupcakes can come from a giant zucchini...they have their doubts.

I also sent some with my sister for her co-workers who were particularly excited about this recipe.

Even though I am on a diet (I know, a baker on a diet...I'm crazy) I had myself a cupcake for dessert...and it was YUMMY!

Happy Birthday Chocolate Lover!

2010-08-24T09:17:00.001-07:00

I had an order for a remake of this cake for a birthday.

Dark Chocolate and White Chocolate Cake
Dark Chocolate Ganache and Raspberry Fillings
Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Dark Chocolate Ganache Filled Raspberries
Dark Chocolate & White Chocolate Swirls

That's a lot of chocolate!
This cake went to the same office full of chocolate lovers as the Chanel Hand Bag cake :)

I decided to cover the top of the cake with ganache and write Happy Birthday in white chocolate...please bear with me as I continue to work on my handwriting skills.

Coming up later this week: Another recreation of this recipe for a Lakers Jersey cake and a Vanilla Apple Guitar cake.

Your Happy Baker

Emiley's 1st Birthday

Scones with my Mama

A VERY SPECIAL Baby Shower!

Mini Oreo Cheesecakes

UNO Themed 1st Birthday Cupcakes!

What the Customer wants, the Customer gets!

Butterfinger & Salted Caramel Cupcakes!!!

Yo Gabba Gabba!

Cupcakes will never be enough...but THANK YOU

Halloween Birthday Cake

Freddy Krueger Birthday Cake

Junior Huskies Cheerleading

Thank You For Making Us Dinner After We Had A Baby Cupcakes!

Housewarming....Cake!

Babies like Cupcakes too!

Wedding Week

Happy 25th Birthday Amiable!

I wouldn't bake a cake for just anyone a week after having a baby...

Ethan James Watson

Crisp Cherry Cobbler

There's Always Next Year...

Whoopie Pie Wedding 05/15/2011

Our Baby Shower

Relocation of Services

We Love Priti Bridal Shower

Wedding Cake Tasting

San Jose Sharks Cupcakes

Little Brown Bag Birthday Cake

Solis Wedding 03/18/2011

Oakland Athletics Cake & Cupcakes

Yo Gabba Gabba.....Who? Yo Gabba Gabba!!!

Microphone Cake for Suprise 25th Birthday Party

Happily Ever After.....Divorce!

1st Birthday Cake

Valentine's Day Cookies...40 Dozen of them!

CASINO Cake

3 Tier Hawaiian Themed Going Away Cake for my 4th Sister, Rachel. *UPDATED WITH MORE PHOTOS*

Coming Up...

Sara's Baby Shower

Star Wars the Force Unleashed 2 Birthday Cake

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

I Love Lucy Carrot Cake

Circus Cake & Cupcakes for a 1st Birthday!

Butterfly Cake

King Cake...with a Twist

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Cupcakes

Strawberry Cake Balls

Sometimes you win, Sometimes you Lose...and Sometimes you make an Ice Cream Cake!

Birthday Cake for AC Label Employees

Spooky Halloween Cupcakes

Lego Man Cake

Coming Up...

I Love Lucy cake because I Love My Mom!

Friday the 13th Jason Voorhees Birthday Cake

Baseball Cap Cake

Some REALLY YUMMY Cupcakes!

Chocolate Ice Cream Cone Cake Pops

Mini Doughnuts....I guess.

Lakers & Leftovers

Guitar Cake

Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes

Happy Birthday Chocolate Lover!

3 Tier Hawaiian Themed Going Away Cake for my 4th Sister, Rachel. UPDATED WITH MORE PHOTOS