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

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

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

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

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.