Deb's Baby Shower #2

Because baby #2 was a boy, my sister needed a second baby shower!!! Little did we know when we planned it that baby #2 would have been born four days before the shower. Mr. Tyler Cole decided to pop six weeks early and throw off everyone's plans. We still had a shower though!!!

Deb was released from the hospital about thirty minutes before her shower started. She went straight from the hospital to the shower and we all thought she was nuts. Anyways, here is a display of everything I made. I only had about three hours to make everything (between work and going to the hospital) so this is what was whipped up:

Wacky Cake cupcakes with "Duke" blue frosting . . .

"Crack" cookies: My sister came up with this one. Basically they are Toll-House chocolate chip cookies with chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and nuts of your choosing . . 

Cinnamon fudge: Yes, it sounds kind of weird, but it is absolutely delicious. I dipped the tops in cinnamon sugar for a sparkly effect . . .

Chocolate macaroons with a mint ganache in the center . . . 

And this was how the dining room table looked . . .  Not too bad for only three hours!!!

Minnie Mouse

Apparently little kids these days love Mickey and Minnie Mouse. This cake was for the 1st birthday of my neighbor's daughter.

One tier of the cake was chocolate filled with strawberries and raspberries. While the other tier was a vanilla cake filled with blueberries and blackberries. I covered the entire cake in vanilla buttercream and fondant. It was a definite hit!

Joey's Lego Cakes

Joey requested a Lego cake for his birthday . . .

Originally I was going to make one cake with multiple colored Legos, stacked on top of each other like the typical tower kids build with them, but I couldn't decide how I wanted the tower to look, so I made four individual Legos instead. Apparently this was the best decision I made because all of the kids wanted a specific color piece of cake. 

Speaking of cake, the flavor was red velvet; Joey's favorite, of course. I topped the cakes with vanilla buttercream and then fondant. I used marshmallows to create the traditional Lego shape.

Spiderman

My downstairs neighbor's little boy loves Spiderman. When it was time for his sister's 1st birthday, his mom wanted to do something special for him as well. I asked the little boy what kind of cake he wanted and he shouted, "SPIDERMAN!!!" I got out the black and blue food coloring and created this:

I believe the cake was a wacky cake (which you can probably tell from my previous posts is my favorite chocolate cake) with vanilla buttercream and layered with blackberries and raspberries.

 

When I walked down the steps to deliver the cake, (I must say that was definitely the easiest delivery I have ever made) the little boy was so excited. He immediately ran and got his Spiderman action figure, which he then shoved directly into the cake :) 

Mini Cupcakes

Mini cupcakes are not only adorable, but are just as tasty as normal sized cupcakes. Even better, is the fact that you can get away with eating more than one!!!

These are wacky cake mini cupcakes with chocolate wing-it icing (one of my favorites) and some green sprinkles. I found the cupcake liners at Michaels, on the clearance rack, and were perfect for the holidays. 

Katie Turns Two!!!

This adorable cake was made for Katie for her 2nd birthday. Katie loves Mickey Mouse and red velvet cake, so why not put the two together . . . 

The cake was a moist red velvet cake with pink cream cheese frosting. You have to put cream cheese frosting on a red velvet cake or it isn't a red velvet cake. I used one half of Wilton's Sports Ball Pan Set to make Mickey's hat and then covered the cakes in fondant. Mickey's ears were completely made of fondant and were strong enough to stand up with just a few toothpicks holding them in place.

Max's Soccer Ball

This cake was a lot of fun to make. It isn't often that I get to make a spherical shaped cake. Max's mom and I work together almost every day and for Max's 3rd birthday he wanted a soccer ball cake. So here it is:

It was a yellow cake with chocolate chips folded into the batter. Vanilla butter cream was dyed green for the grass, while fondant pentagons and hexagons covered the ball. I've never had so much fun piping icing on a cake before.

Monkey's Galore

These cakes and cupcakes were for Jaxson's 1st Birthday. The theme of his birthday party was monkeys, so monkey cakes and cupcakes were a must. 

The smaller blue cake was Jaxson's own cake to devour, while the larger green cake and cupcakes were for all of the guests. The cakes and cupcakes were yellow cake with brightly colored vanilla buttercream frosting. I used fondant to create all the monkeys and thanks to Jaxson's mom, Kellee, I discovered that chocolate fondant does exist. And let me tell you, it smells wonderful!!!

Miss Madison's 1st Birthday

My beautiful niece, Miss Madison, turned one in September and on her 1st birthday she needed to have a cake that was as beautiful as her. So here it is . . . 

Each tier was a different flavor because I couldn't decide on just one. The bottom tier was a chocolate cake layered with vanilla buttercream and mini chocolate chips. The middle tier was a yellow cake with layers of fudge frosting and raspberry jam. And the top tier, which was entirely for Miss Madison to devour, was red velvet with pink cream cheese frosting. Of course I made it so Miss Madison's portion was the messiest!!!

I used fondant for all the decorations, including all of the flowers. The monogram letter I actually found at A.C. Moore and thought it would be the perfect topper for the cake. 

With the leftover batter from each of the tiers I made cupcakes too. And because three types of cake weren't enough, I made a batch of pumpkin spice cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting too. This is how it looked when it was all set up . . .

Miss Madison had a wonderful time at her party and thoroughly enjoyed the top tier of the cake. She daintily pulled of each fondant flower and polka dot, eating one at a time. I guess she knew that her Aunt Rachel spent a lot of time on them!!!

Isn't she a cutie???

Easter 2011

As usual, my family and I would go over to Dr. Fuller's house for Easter. Here are pictures of all the treats I made last year. 

Here is a strawberry shortcake. I have never been a big fan of strawberry shortcakes, but everyone seems to love them and always want me to make them. 

This next cake was for Jane's birthday. It was a whipped cream cake with a raspberry buttercream filling. I used fondant for the decorations and had lots of fun cutting out flowers!!!

Below, is the infamous berry trifle. Years ago, I threw together a trifle with pound cake, creme anglaise, fresh berries, and whipped cream; it has been a Easter staple ever since.

Next is a carrot cake. Once I stumbled upon this recipe, no other carrot cake can compare. I have made it for years and it turns out wonderfully every time.

And last, but not least, is the cheesecake. A cheesecake must be made for all holidays otherwise Grandma Theresa will yell at me. And it has to be a plain cheesecake. I made the mistake of making a gingerbread cheesecake once for Christmas. I never heard the end of it. Grandma wants her cheesecake and it better be the plain, traditional one. Don't ever forget it!!!

One More Valentine's Day Creation

Here was another Valentine's Day cake I made this past year. This one was for a school project. We had to make a celebration cake. I chose to make a cake that celebrated Valentine's Day.

Unfortunately the food color we had at school was really old and didn't color fondant too well so I wound up with a dull colored cake. The design was still cute though! And although you can't see from the picture, I used lace doilies to give texture to the fondant hearts and little candy hearts with cute sayings on them. If only the colors had been more vibrant!!!

Valentines Day Creations

While I was still in school, I made some cakes, cupcakes, and cookies for a local bakery. The bakery was very small and the owner let me have free reign with the items I made. The items were made in my little 400 square foot apartment and then hand carried to the bakery, by myself, which was about four blocks away. Let's just say that I got pretty good at balancing cake boxes :)

This first cake was a rich devil's food cake filled with a nutella mousse and topped with ganache. Nutella is one of my favorite foods (yes, I eat it straight out of the jar with a spoon) and I try to incorporate it into as many cakes and cookies as possible. The chocolatey-hazelnut flavor is so yummy. If you've never had it, you need to go buy a jar immediately!!!

These heart-shaped cookies were made out of a sugar cookie dough and then just drizzled with some pink powdered sugar icing. My apartment smelled so good the day I made these. There is nothing better than the smell of sugar cookies in the oven.

This heart cake was another devil's food cake. It was covered in ganache and heart-shaped sprinkles.

These were wacky cake cupcakes with pink vanilla buttercream piped on top. I make these all the time!!!!

This pink cake was another wacky cake with pink vanilla buttercream. I believe I filled the layers with raspberry jam too. 

This white cake was an Italian cream cake with cream cheese icing. Although it is hard to see from the picture, I piped three hearts on the left side and sprinkled them with some red jimmies. 

I love stocking up on cake decorating supplies around Valentines Day. Everything is super cute and can be used for more than just one holiday. I usually stock up on cupcake liners and sprinkles, since they sell the most adorable ones this time of year :)