Babies Galore!

A lot of my friends & family have had babies in the past year and I've really enjoyed watching them grow up - even if it's only through reading their blogs! I decided to make 2 cakes in honor of 2 of the babies - Lorelei and Ian. I've finished Lorelei's:


It's a really girly cake with daisies, play make-up and a purse. I have all intentions of making Ian's still. This one will obviously be more boy-themed. I plan to make a little hard hat, some blueprints, and a bunch of play tools. All boys like to build things right??? However, Ian's is still on the drawing board because life has gotten so crazy lately!

I just finished 4 weeks of teaching cake decorating classes at Michael's. My very first Course 1 group of 11 students had a 100% retention rate, except for the woman who had lots of family emergencies come up so she's retaking it in October. I can't wait to see how many stick around for Course 2 next month! It's been a lot of fun teaching this month and I don't think anyone knows that I've only been decorating since April or that this is the first class I've taught! The last session of Course 4 is also tonight and I have 5 students (100% retention also) in it. Next month, I'll teach Courses 1 and 2. Fun!

I've also had 2 friends ask me to make cakes for various occasions. The first was the purse cake. Next weekend, my labmate wants a pool-themed cake for his sister's birthday. I'll post those pictures as soon as the cake is complete.

I'm going to Phoenix on Thursday for 5 days for an Obesity Society Annual Meeting. Ironic isn't it? My life revolves around cakes and obesity research!

Camille

If you look at the websites of some cake bakers, they often give names to their wedding cakes...like Melanie or Michael! Well, I like the idea so I've named mine so far! The first one I made was the one with the swans on top that I took to the convention - that's Abby. The second one is the one with blue roses - Betsy! And here is Camille. Don't ask me where I got that name, it just popped in my head one day. I like to name the cakes the first thing that comes to mind...like it's meant to be! So, meet Camille! She's kind of a summer-y cake and the blue circles remind me a bit of the tiles on the bottom of a pool.

Scraps!

Over the last few months, Nani has become increasingly messy when she eats her breakfast and dinner. She has formed the habit of carrying a huge mouthful of food to various spots in the house, dropping all the food, and then eating each piece separately. The bad part about this is that she's not careful to pick up all the pieces that she's dropped. So, by the end of the week, we're constantly stepping on little crumbs of dog food - even though I sweep the floors like twice a week! Well, we finally decided we'd had enough of that so we're teaching Nani that when we say "Scraps!" she is supposed to pick up her crumbs! She's a very stubborn dog so sometimes she looks at her scraps and looks back at us like "No way, crazy. I'm saving those for later!" We KNOW that she understands what she's supposed to do - after all, she knows all her toys by name (Squeaker, Ghost, Rope, Hippo, Piggie (RIP), Dot (RIP), Puppy, Bone, Roo (RIP), Ball)! Anyway, here's a picture I took of her last weekend on Adam's lap. As soon as anyone pulls out a camera, she stops what she's doing to pose. No kidding! In fact, I was taking pictures of Lorelei one afternoon and Nani started making all kinds of noises because she was jealous that she was not the camera star! Phew, how did we get such a crazy dog?!

Happy Birthday, Shelby and Nicole!

Shelby and Nicole wanted to celebrate their birthdays together and they requested that their significant others order a cake from me for the party. The guys decided to keep it a secret, and chose a cake in the shape of a purse! At first I was intimidated by the whole idea of a sculpted, 3-D cake, but once I started thinking about it, it didn't seem so bad! So, I found a picture of an Louis Vuitton purse online and decided to replicate it:





To make it a bit more interesting, I also made them cell phones (Nicole got a Chocolate and Shelby got an iphone) a set of keys (Nicole's went to a Bentley and her keychain was a Java City Espresso Shot cup because she loves coffee and her guinea pigs love to chew on those cups; Shelby "drives" a Ferrari and her keychain was a sushi replica because she's a foodie), and a credit card with their sig. other's name on it (as if they went shopping with their credit cards).

The cake was a yellow cake with raspberry cream filling and was covered in marshmallow fondant (more tasty than fondant you purchase already made). I also made each of the girls a sugar plaque with roses that was completely edible (although it probably wouldn't taste that great).





Here is Ben cutting the cake: He ripped off the handles and cut right down the zipper! The girls were hoping the purse was full of money....keep dreaming! haha!


Thank you so much to Matt, Ben, Shelby, and Nicole for challenging me with this request! This cake will definitely go down in the books! Thanks, guys!

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday everyone! We're only 5 days away from the weekend - the countdown begins (again)! To cheer you up on such a depressing day, here's a very cheery cake. Let's just pretend it says "Happy Monday!"
People have asked about the Halloween Cookie Bouquet class. It will be on October 18th 1-3:30. The class registration fee (which must be paid at the time you sign up) is $20. Then, since the instructors will be making your cookies, you'll pay $10 to the instructors the day of the class. You'll also have a small supply list to pick up when you sign up for the class, but these supplies won't be exhausted when you take the class so you can always make more bouquets at home. So, basically you can take the class for about $30 plus supplies and take home this terrific bouquet! :) I'm really excited about the class so I hope some of you take it with me!

Class Plug: If anyone needs a stress-reliever or a new hobby or whatever, consider taking the Wilton classes at Michaels! Of course, please try to take it when I'm teaching course 1 (we rotate). I'll be teaching Course 1 in October and then not again until after the new year. The classes are a lot of fun and way worth it! You'll be impressed with what you can do with a cake/cupcakes/cookies after you take the classes! :) Each course is 4 weeks long and meets for 2 hours/week - Course 1 meets 6:30-8:30 Mondays.

Halloween Cookie Bouquet

We're going to offer a Halloween Cookie Bouquet class at Michaels on October 18th. Here's a picture of a bouquet I made to go on display at Michaels. It's going to be a super fun 2-hour class so if you're local, sign up! Cyndi and I will be teaching it (I think).

Babies!

So a lot of my friends/family have had babies in the past year...I thought I'd share a couple of pictures with you guys!

My best friend, Amy, had a cutie patootie in March 2008 - Ian! We rarely get to see Ian because he lives in south Florida so I keep up with him by reading his blog very regularly!

Then, Elise had Lorelei the weekend before Mother's day! This picture was actually taken right before her first tailgate. A baby Gator for sure!

And, here's a great picture of my cousin April's baby, Mitchell. We call this the "5 Generations" picture. From left to right: my Grandma Mitchell, April, Mitchell, Grannie, and Aunt Shirley.


And last, but certainly not least is OUR baby!! Here's one of my favorite pictures of her and Adam. This was the day we got her. We'd gone to get her at the pound, then went to PetSmart to get all her goodies, then to Nature Pets to get some special treats, and finally home. She was absolutely pooped after so many activities! This was her very first time in the yard. For those who knew her back then, you know she was so timid and scared of everything. But look at this picture! She looks so happy and at home! She must have known she could trust us. :) Our little cutie...

Bachelorette Party!

One of my labmates got married this summer so a few of her girlfriends threw her a Bachelorette/Engagement Party! Here's the cake I made for the party. The Chinese symbols you see on the heel of the shoe mean "marriage." It's a Chinese custom to hang these all over the houses of the relatives of the bride and groom. Congratulations Jack and JJ!

Wilton Course 4

Finally, the last Wilton course! Keep in mind that by the end of this class, I've been taking Wilton courses for 16 weeks total (each course is 4 weeks long)! Just imagine how much money I've spent on cake supplies! Geesh! Anyway, in this course you learn to work with gum paste and do a little more with fondant. Gum paste is basically the same thing as fondant, but it's stronger and dries more quickly. A lot of edible flowers and figurines are made of gum paste. The swans on the cake I brought to the convention were made of gum paste, actually!

The only cake we made in this class was a "wedding cake." For this cake, we had to pre-make a bunch of fondant roses and then decorate the cake in the last class. This cake was huge - the bottom tier is 12 inches wide and the top is 6 inches wide! It was so heavy! The cake was supposed to be Red Velvet but I ran out of red food coloring so it came out more like a reddish-brown velvet! haha! Oh well!

Wilton Course 3

In the 3rd Wilton course, they introduce you to working with fondant! Fondant is the stuff that you typically see on wedding cakes to give it such a perfectly smooth finish. Most people don't like the taste of Fondant, but it looks so elegant that most brides want it anyway. Now, there are actually 2 companies that have really good-tasting fondant. The first is Satin Ice and the other one is Fondariffic. Fondariffic has incredibly tasting fondant! They have melon, lemon, buttercream, etc flavors and they are amazing!!! Of course, all that "incredibleness" comes with a price tag! Haha!
Anyway, in the 3rd course, you make one cake called the "Package Cake." And here it is!