Minnie Mouse 1st Birthday Cake

I love this Minnie Mouse-themed first birthday cake. The soft pink buttercream makes it the perfect cake for a sweet little girl.


The cake was iced in buttercream and decorated with fondant polka dots & daisies. The bow and ears topper was created out of gum paste.



Happy 1st Birthday, Khamari!

Leopard & Zebra Print Birthday Cake

I've got some cake catching up to do so I promise to post 1 cake each day this week! And, stay tuned for another sneak peak on Facebook! This one may actually accompany a PRIZE!!!

Here's a cake I made while still working at Ms Debbie's Sugar Art in Newberry. It was designed by the birthday girl herself. She wanted Tiffany blue zebra print, leopard print, a glitzy topper, the word "Diva" on there somewhere, some purple quilted pattern, and a beauty queen-like sash across the front. Wow, that's a lot! Luckily, it all come together in one cohesive design.


Now, that's what I call a custom, personalized cake!

Garbage Truck Cake & Cookies

Last week, I had the privilege of making a cake and cookie favors for a very cute little boy's birthday.

Apparently, West is really into garbage trucks! He gets excited when they come to pick up his family's trash or recycling. In fact, the week of his birthday, they even let him help dump the recycling in the truck! How cool is that?!

So when his Mom contacted me to order his birthday cake, they (of course) wanted a garbage truck. We designed the cake based on photos of cakes she liked as well as photos of their local garbage truck. There were a few specific requests though. West wanted to make sure the cake had a front-end lift for garbage pick-up, not the traditional back loader, since that's what their local truck has. And he also preferred 3 wheels rather than 2. In addition, they wanted a yellow caution light on the top of the cake near the back, a number 4 somewhere on it, and "Happy 4th Birthday West!"



And you see that awesome logo "West Waste"? West's father made that logo, resembling their local trash pick-up company, to coordinate with West's Halloween costume last year. So the logo was a MUST on the cake!


The wheels were made of Rice Krispies Treats covered in fondant, but everything else you see is CAKE! The cake was covered with green or white buttercream and the decorations were done with fondant. And the cake flavor? Vanilla cake with Bavarian cream filling - yum!

West's Mom also ordered some garbage truck cookie favors for each of the party attendees. They were mini versions of the cake and were personalized with each person's name.


Look, it's like a momma truck and a baby truck!


Happy Birthday, West!

Princess Birthday Cake

Last weekend, I made my first cake in Tampa! It was only supposed to feed 25 people, but I hadn't touched a cake in weeks so I went a little overboard. I made it 2-tier, and it probably should have fed about 60 people. But, from what I'm told, there wasn't much cake leftover after the party so I guess they didn't mind!

The cake was for my mother-in-law's boss, Debi, who owns a clothing boutique called the Princess Boutique. They told me they wanted the cake decorated in shades of pink, topped with the Princess tiara, and to somehow incorporate high-heeled shoes.



So there you have it! I decided that using black silhouettes of the stilettos would look the most chic and help to contrast the "little girl" feel that the pinks & tiara were portraying. And I used the new Fabric Fondant & Gum Paste Mold from Wilton that I picked up a couple of weeks ago at the Wilton Food Blogger Workshop (stay tuned to see more of what I'm making with my loot).

But Debi wasn't the only one celebrating a princess' birthday last week! Our puppy Nani turned 4! In dog years, we're the same age now!


Taylor and my mother-in-law brought Nani some goodies, including this adorable ice cream cone cookie for puppies!


Nani was eager to please. Sit! Shake! Lay down!


Then she carried the cookie around the house for a bit...


...and finally settled down and smiled (or snarled?) for the camera.

Happy birthday, Debi & Nani!

Farm-Themed Birthday Cake

It's been quiet on the blog lately. There are a lot of exciting things going on in my life! I'll share some "sneak peeks" with you in a minute, but first let's talk CAKE! Here's a cute cake we just made for a 2nd birthday party.


They wanted it farm animal-themed so I made fondant cows and pigs and stuck them to the sides of the cake.


We also decorated with corn stalks, white fences, a farm tractor, and a huge #2 topper.


So, what's so exciting that it can possibly keep me from updating this blog regularly? Well, it involves moving, opening, birthing, and caking!

My family just relocated to Tampa so I can open my own custom cake shop. The cake shop is already in the works and I'm sure you'll read more about it on this blog. Be sure to stay tuned for the official unveiling of my new logo and website!

And, as you know already, I'm now 25 weeks pregnant with our first child! It's an exciting process and I'm loving every minute of it. Forgive me if setting up my baby girl's nursery occupies more of my time than it should. Some call it nesting...I think I'm just overly excited to welcome her to our family!

Last, but certainly not least, I'm gearing up to attend the Wilton Food Blogger Workshop in Chicago later this week! 27 food bloggers are going to be there, and I think if we find time to sleep, we'll be lucky. They're showing us the test kitchen, we're having cake decorating competitions (I'm game!), we're going to the annual Sidewalk Sale, etc, etc, etc. I'll definitely blog the whole adventure when I get home. There are so many things I'm looking forward to in this trip, but I'm definitely dying to meet the peeps behind Cake Spy and Cupcakes Take the Cake who will also be there! Woohoo! Wilton HQ, here I come!

A Casino-Themed Birthday Cake

Here's a fun cake we made for a man's 30th birthday party!


They wanted the cake to be casino-themed so we made a roulette wheel out of Rice Krispies Treats for the topper. The cards and poker chips were made of gum paste and we "glued" them to the cake to make the cake come to life.

They didn't want the cake to specifically say "Happy 30th Birthday!" so we subtly hinted at this birthday milestone. Can you find it? *HINT: You can see it in the picture below if you look very closely.*


ANSWER: The roulette ball came to rest on #30!

Ladybug 1st Birthday Cake

Here's a sweet little cake we made for Maddie's first birthday.


The cake was iced in light green buttercream and was decorated with buttercream grass and white gum paste daisies. And the ladybug topper was made of Rice Krispies Treats and covered with fondant.

Debbie gave me artistic freedom on the ladybug so instead of going juvenile with the face, I went a little more adult. I tried to make her look like a sweet little lady - one Maddie might see in one of her storybooks.

Happy Birthday, Maddie!

Orange & Blue Gift Cake

I'm behind on editing my cake photos again so I'm down to slim pickings for posting...but I like this cake so I don't feel like you're getting gypped!


It's just a simple square cake covered with blue fondant, topped with a fabulous orange gum paste bow, and decorated with white polka dots.


What better way to say "happy birthday" than with a cake that looks as good as the gift pile! And it tastes SOOOO much better.

Nerf Dart Birthday Cake

I love a colorful, fun cake! And we're always making cakes for girls in bright colors like pink, purple, lime green, yellow, etc. Last week, we had a change of pace...a bright, fun cake for a BOY!

The birthday boy's mom brought in a picture of a cake she wanted replicated so here's our version:


It's for a Nerf-themed party! So fun and SO boy, right?!


The cake was iced in bright yellow buttercream. The darts were made of orange & black fondant. And the Nerf logo and targets were made of fondant.


*Remember, today's the last day to enter the giveaway by Hedgepiggle's Etsy shop!!!

Pillow Cake for a First Birthday Party!

Maybe you should sit down before I show you this cake. The order was placed only TWO weeks ago by a woman for her granddaughter's first birthday party. Big deal, right?

Well, the party was for 120 people! And she wanted a 3-tier pillow cake. Actually, she specifically wanted this cake from Elegant Cheesecakes, but we changed it a little to incorporate her colors and "feel" for the party. The party colors were dusty rose, ivory, and pink! And the party had sort of a girly vintage feel to it.


The cakes were carved, covered in fondant, and decorated with fondant accents.


The pillows were topped with a gum paste princess crown, which was wrapped around the smash cake! See it peeping from behind the crown in the picture below? At the party, they were able to lift the crown and smash cake and set it in front of the birthday girl.


I knew this would be a fun delivery. I love it when the rooms are at least partially set up so I can see how the cake fits into the rest of the party.


I'm proud to say we perfectly matched the party colors! Yay!


Just look at this room!


Again, there's the girly vintage feel...an elegant, mature centerpiece with a pink & silver crown sticking out of it!


And how many 1st birthday parties have you been to where there is a favor bar. What's the favor? GOLDFISH! Yup, each party attendee took home a new pet!

Hollywood Sweet 16 Birthday Cake

Ok, I decorated this cake for Ms. Debbie's Sugar Art back in June, but I've been saving it. I wanted to show it to you right before the Oscar Awards or something like that. But, did you know that's in March?! I just can't wait anymore!

So here is a huge cake we made for a Hollywood-themed Sweet 16 birthday party. The party was held at the Hippodrome Theater in Gainesville so the setting was perfect!

For the cake, they requested large film reels topped with a director's clapboard:


Around each of the film reels, we attached edible photos of the birthday girl from the first 16 years of her life. Her mom gave us school photos, prom photos, dance photos, simple everyday photos, etc. They were great!


The clapboard was made of cardboard and completely covered with fondant. Then, I hand-piped the letters using yellow royal icing.


I love this cake. It would have been better to wait until the Oscars, right? Hm, Oh well. I'm just not that patient...

Cake Overload!

I'm trying really hard to get caught up with all my cake posts! Right now, I'm still posting cakes that are sometimes weeks old. I'd like to get to the point where I'm posting cakes no later than 1 week after they are created. It's more fun that way!

So, in an effort to catch up even more, here are a few fun cakes I haven't posted yet.


This cake was iced in lime green and hot pink buttercream for a Sweet 16 birthday party. The cake was topped with gum paste numbers and decorated with fondant polka dots and buttercream scrolls.


Here's a sheet cake covered in fondant and decorated with fondant polka dots in 3 shades of pink. The cake celebrated 2 events for Brittany - her graduation and her birthday!


And this was a cake iced in green buttercream and decorated with fondant stripes and polka dots.

Red & Black Zebra Cake

We made this birthday cake for a young girl celebrating her 31st birthday. She'd spent her 30th birthday taking care of sick family members so she really wanted to go big this year!

She came in, sat down with Debbie, and picked out her own cake. She really liked the Pink & Black Zebra Cake we'd made for a 1st birthday party, and she wanted it to look elegant, mature, and glamorous.


Her party colors were red and black so we changed all the pink to red:


We topped the cake with red ribbon roses and pulled the zebra print pattern all the way over the top of the cake, rather than stopping at the top edge.


And we gave her a giant red bow on the second tier.


Isn't it funny how just a couple of simple changes can take a fun 1st birthday cake and make it into a mature, elegant 31st birthday cake?!

Pink & Brown Cowgirl Cake

This week, one of my favorite cakes was one we created for a 4-year-old's birthday. I actually used to work with her Mommy when I was still at the University of Florida so it was fun to create a cake for someone I know.

The bottom tier was iced in pink buttercream. The paisley pattern was hand-piped with white and black buttercream, and the rope border was made out of chocolate fondant.

The top tier was iced in white buttercream. The stars, "leather" tassles, and rope garland were all made out of fondant.

And the boot on top was hand-crafted out of gum paste and fondant!

Happy Birthday, Gracie!