Nursing School Graduation

I know quite a few nurses-  some family, some friends, and some just the sweet people who were there for me when I had my kids.  These people deal with a lot of things most of us couldn't even imagine facing at work.  So if someone graduates nursing school with the heart to help others in that way, I say they well deserve a cake to recognize their efforts!  Heck, cupcakes too.  They've earned it.

For this nursing school graduate, I made a scrubs shirt cake decked out with a stethoscope, name tag (with he graduates name on it), scissors, and pen.  The cake was vanilla with buttercream icing.  There were both chocolate and vanilla cupcakes as well.  Each cupcake had a little handmade chocolate topper on it - either a band-aid or a stethoscope with heart.  A great way to say congratulations and a pre-thank you for the hard work ahead.

Apple Bridal Shower

It's always fun when I'm presented with a new concept.  This person was ordering a bridal shower cake for her sister.  The theme of the wedding (and the shower) was green apples.  I had never heard of this before, but was very interested in the idea.  The colors were navy blue and obviously apple green.  Never thought I would be asked to make a giant apple cake, but you just never know what to expect!

The leaf and stem were made out of melting chocolate, so completely edible.  And of course, there were cupcakes to go along with the cake that I forgot again to photograph.

Minnie Mouse 1st Birthday

My niece turned 1 year old today, and her mom threw her the most awesome birthday party to celebrate!  Everything was pink, black, and white.  There was tons of pink candy on all the tables and the kids were even given Mickey and Minnie ears to wear.  A party this cute and coordinated calls for a cake to match.

The cake was vanilla with cream cheese icing.  I ran into a bit of a pickle with the mouse head.  See, I don't work with fondant, and I have learned from experience that black buttercream icing may only be used in minimal amounts for piping.  Never cover a cake with it - it tastes bitter and leaves people with stained mouths which is not flattering.  So, solution - I iced this in white, then covered the entire thing with black sprinkles.  I loved the extra sparkle it provided.  Though I will admit, I think there was still a stain risk.  So I warned those in charge and we opted to serve the bottom tier first, and the top only if necessary.  Black is still my nemesis.

Oh, and because each 1st birthday requires a special birthday boy/girl piece of cake, I made a mouse on the side, just for her.  Ears on both cakes were made of sugar cookies!  There were also chocolate cupcakes to boot, but you'll just have to imagine them in your mind.

Tinkerbell Cupcake Cake

This was my first-ever cupcake cake.  They've received a bad rap by some, but understandably they can be done rather poorly.  This one was easier because it didn't require any particular shape.  And honestly, cupcakes are so much more convenient with little kids.  Teach the lesson of patience another time and give the kids their cake - pronto.

Camaro Groom's Cake

Remember that 3-tiered bridal shower cake I did a couple posts back?  Check it out here.  Well that sweet bride was married a couple weeks ago and as a surprise to her husband requested a groom's cake be made.  She wanted the Chevy Camaro symbol.  I love requests like this - the type that, when made, force me to Google the request because I have no idea what it is.  I am not, nor will I ever be, a car person.  But I think I still pulled this one off pretty well.

What I especially loved about this cake was the classic chocolatey-ness of it all.  Four layers of chocolate cake, with a chocolate buttercream and chocolate cookie crumb filling between each layer.  Whoa.

Dance Party

My friend's daughter turned 3 and for it requested a dance party.  Technically, she requested a Lady Gaga party, but my friend decided probably better just to call it a dance party.  I felt better about taking my two little boys to a dance party.  :)

As a surprise, I snagged a photo of Noa rocking out an awesome dance move of some sort and made her into a cake topper.  She is surrounded by sugar cookie stars as well to further accentuate her birthday stardom.  She ate it up - pun intended.

Bridal Shower Elegance

I can feel the summer wedding season is upon us because I have a number of bridal shower cake requests coming in.  Here's the first!  

The color scheme matches the colors for the wedding.  The cake flavors were your classic chocolate and vanilla with buttercream icing.  The letters in the middle are the couple's monogram.  Here is the funny conversation between my husband and me that ensued with those letters:

Me: (after making the middle letter) Honey, what letter is that?

Him:  G

Me:  Crap...

(10 minutes later...)

Me: Honey, what letter is that?

Him: C

Me:  (sigh of relief) Thank you

Him:  What letter should I be telling you?

Always good to have someone around who knows nothing about the project.  Otherwise, I would have been marrying this girl to some guy with a different last name initial than her fiance!  Never a good thing.

Baby Boy Shower

The women in my church have been on a baby boy streak. Within one year, we have welcomed 5 baby boys and only 2 baby girls into the world. Well, here comes baby boy six!

I am so very excited for these two people to become parents!  I wanted to make sure their baby shower cake was extra special, so I did a little investigative work to find out what would most be enjoyed by the mommy-to-be.  The top tier was made with her in mind - chocolate cake with peanut butter icing filling.  Since I know not everyone is a chocolate/peanut butter fan, I made something completely different for the bottom tier - vanilla cake with buttercream and raspberry filling.

Thomas the Tank Engine Rolling Along...

First cake project of 2012 is complete!  Woohoo!  I was pretty excited to get back into the swing of things.  This Thomas-themed cake was for a little boy's 2nd birthday.  His mom occasionally posts pictures and videos of this little boy on Facebook and let me tell you he is one cute kid.  Crazy cute.  So I was pretty stoked to make something for him because I imagine he is the type of kid who will genuinely love it.

A vanilla cake with buttercream icing and fresh strawberries in between.  And for the chocolate lovers, a side of chocolate cupcakes to boot.

My Baby Turned 1!

Remember when I did a wrap-up of 2011 and officially rang in 2012 and put 2011 behind us all?  Yea about that...forgive me for a minute as I jump back again.  You see, just a couple weeks before we rang in the new year, we had another celebration - My baby turned 1 year old!  I take birthdays rather seriously, so when I realized I left the picture out in my year-end review, I couldn't just let it go.  Without further adieu, Levi's Winter ONEderland.

That's a chocolate snowman with accompanying vanilla cupcakes.  Buttercream "snow" top them off.  Ugh - apologies for the blurry photo.  Said one year old loves to play with the camera and leave smudges on the lense.  But that's ok, his cuteness makes up for it:

The boy had no remorse for tearing the snowman's head to pieces.  The true sign of a delicious cake.

A 2011 Wrap Up

Needless to say, it seems I more than fell behind in posting my cakes in 2011.  It became all too easy to post the pictures on Facebook and neglect the site.  But not everyone is on Facebook, so I am going to be as intentional as I can at getting back here with the pictures from this point forward.

So, let's do a quick review of what was skipped in 2011:

A remodel of the peanut butter chocolate cake I had made a couple years back.  Vanilla cake this time, peanut butter icing, Flyer's dark chocolate peanut butter ganache.  If you're familiar with TastyKakes, that hail from Philly, just think KandyKake.

Largest cake ever.  It's a shame this is just being thrown into the mix and not being given it's own post.  Because this cake was massive.  It's an exact replica (to the best of my ability) of a C-17, which a friend of mine flies in the US Air Force.  Topping out at 3ft long, the wing span was equal in width.  It consisted of 3 flavors of cake - chocolate, vanilla, and coconut marble, all covered in buttercream icing.  The wings were made of sugar cookie and the engines of ice cream cones.  It barely survived the heat of the 105 degree July day.

Rose cupcakes for my cousin's 15th birthday.  She loves the hot pink/black combo, so these were nestled in cute black polka dotted liners then finalized with black sprinkles.  And chocolate - of course.

We held a baby shower for my sister-in-law in August with a beach theme.  The windsurfing board on the left was created with my brother in mind.  I iced the logo of the windsurfing board he owns onto the cake.

Happy 1st birthday to my nephew, Logan, in August!  My sister received the sports-loving gene in my family (as I did not).  The baseball cake was a perfect fit, also memorializing Logan's daddy, Mike, who certainly would have been found playing wiffle ball that day with his little boy.  We missed him, and I hoped to do this cake well for him, too.

My sweet niece was Christened this year as well.  A simple chocolate cake topped cupcakes that were French toast flavored with maple cream cheese icing to go right along with the brunch we enjoyed.  Mini roses were a cute and dainty fit.

A request for the previous block cake I made.  The color scheme for this one was entirely different - bright "boyish" colors for the birthday boy's 1st birthday.  The teddy bear on the side was a special piece for the guest of honor - entirely made of cake!

A Year of the Rabbit themed baby shower for a precious little baby girl.  

A repeat request for the Flyer's cake with the same KandyKake flavors.  This cake was ordered by a dear friend of mine who is serving in the Marines.  I delivered it to his brother the morning of his birthday.  Since my friend could not be there to see his brother receive the cake, he asked me to have RAY IS AWESOME iced all along the bottom border of the cake.  No questioning who the cake was from!

A baby boy shower.  The centerpiece cake was small, but stood nearly 4 1/2 inches high!  The cake topper was a sugar cookie for the mommy to enjoy.

Hope you enjoyed my year-end round up!  Expect regular updates now, hopefully throughout all of 2012!