Luck of the Irish

I'm not Irish, but I do consider myself very lucky to work with Caryn.  She contacted me to make TWO cakes in March. The first was for her Irish husband on St. Patrick's Day.  Poor Bob ... everyone always forgets that he's Irish, since the rest of the family is Italian.  So, they make sure to celebrate his heritage on St. Patrick's Day.

I emailed Caryn a few ideas, and she chose my favorite option.  I was SO EXCITED!!!!  It was a shamrock with a rainbow & pot of gold.

Here's how it turned out:

A close up of the rainbow & coins

Caryn said everyone oohed & awed over the cake, and that it was delicious.  It was a Vanilla Bean Cake with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting.  

Third Time's a Charm

I really thought it would be WAY easier to keep up with this blogging thing, especially because it's new and exciting.  It's just not always easy to find the time to download my pictures, edit my pictures,  and write a blog post.  Oh well ... I'll keep working on it getting things posted right away.

The good news is that I've been very busy since my last post.

I'll start with the cake I did after Tanya's 2nd airplane cake.  It was ... another airplane cake.  Yep ... I made a version of the same cake 3 weeks in a row.  This time it was for one of Hope's friends, Kathy.  Kathy's husband is a recreational pilot, and she wanted the exact same concept as Tanya's cake.

It turned out pretty well.

I really hope they enjoyed it!

Thrice as Nice

My friend Hope is going to be an auntie very soon!  She asked me to design not one, but three cakes for Baby Audrey's shower.  Each cake is based on the invitation design.  Here's what I had to work with:

FABULOUS, right?  

We decided to copy the I (stars), R (flowers), and L (stripes).  We'll also tie in the pink & white polka dotted B in a couple places.  She also chose some amazing cake flavors - Strawberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, Almond Cake (tinted pink) with White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (tinted a darker pink), and Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cake with Fresh Raspberry Filling and Poured Chocolate Ganache Frosting.

These cakes turned out better than I could have imagined.  Well ... just don't look at the "stars" one too closely ... I had a fondant mishap at 5:00 am, and didn't have time to start over.

 

Hope was really pleased with the cakes.  Here are some pictures from the shower:

The shower looked fabulous.  I hope a good time was had by all!  Thanks for letting me be part of your special day.

BEST COMPLIMENT EVER!!!!!!

So, I woke up on Thursday, with every intention of dropping my son off at school, picking up the rest of the groceries for my TWO big orders this weekend, and getting my butt to kickboxing before picking my son up at 1:00.  Well, the universe was against me that day ... I forgot to pack my son's lunch, my printer ran out of ink, and I couldn't find some much needed ingredients.  UGH!!!!!  I just wanted to go to kickboxing ... was that really too much to ask?

Somewhere in all that mess, I got a phone call ... from Tanya (the pilot).  She said she LOVED the cake I made for her last weekend and wanted me to make an exact replica for her actual birthday.  WHAT!?  Of course I said yes!!!  Who cares that I already have two other orders that I've obsessed over for at least a week.  It was the BEST COMPLIMENT I've ever received about my cakes.  Having someone so pleased with their surprise cake that they wanted another one!

I was also happy because I had an opportunity to fix the "mistakes" from the last cake.  Seriously ... don't make me point them out to you.  Don't pretend you didn't cringe at that bright blue airplane.

I'm so glad I got to redo this cake ... and meet Tanya!!!  She was so sweet and appreciative!  I hope it tasted as good the 2nd time around.  I think it looked much better.

Out of This World

Do you know why I LOVE it when Theresa calls?  Because she's going to ask me to do a cake.  Not just any cake ... a spectacular cake.  Of course, she starts by saying, "I just need a small 8-inch round cake for my sister-in-law's birthday."  Followed by, "She's a pilot, she flies all over the world, and she loves chocolate.  Did I mention she's a pilot?"  (blah, blah, blah ... more stuff about her SIL, but I was only partly listening because my mind was already coming up with an idea.)  Then, she finishes with, "Can I get this by tomorrow afternoon?"

SURE!!!!!!!  Luckily, I didn't have any other orders that weekend, so I was able to squeeze her in.

So, my idea was an 8-inch round Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cake (seriously people, if you haven't tried this, you HAVE TO!!) with a chocolate mousse filling and a ganache frosting.  But I can't just hand Theresa a basic 8-inch chocolate cake.  OH NO ... not when her SIL is a pilot!!!  I decided to put a half circle cake on top of the 8-inch and draw the world with colored White Chocolate Buttercream.  I also thought there needed to be a fondant plane up in the sky.

Here's how it turned out:

Word on Facebook is that Tanya loved the cake ... I sure hope so!!!  Happy Birthday Tanya!

Red Hot Valentine's Day Party

My friends Jenny & Scott hosted a Red Hot Valentine's Day party.  What better dessert than Red Hot Red Velvet Whoopie Pies?  THESE are my new favorite things EVER.  The red velvet is nice and tangy and the Marshmallow Cream Cheese Frosting is delightful.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these!

I have NO idea why I didn't get pictures of these little gems before I gave them to Jen.  So, I'll fill in with a cute picture of all the girls at the party.

What a fun night!