Anniversary Cake

I made my sister's wedding cake last October.  This year, on their exact anniversary, she and her sweet husband were sealed in the Oakland, CA LDS Temple. I was helping decorate a small reception afterward and also handling food in the kitchen, so this cake was literally put together in less than 10 minutes.  But honestly, even a 'quick and dirty' frosting job looks delicious when you have a white cake with raspberry filling and lemon curd Italian Meringue Buttercream.  The gorgeous blue cake plate was a wedding present they received just the day before the sealing and went perfectly with her blue and pink color scheme!

Hope

I had the privilege to meet a girl that was staying in my area to recover from depression.  She was so sweet and had the best attitude, I was thoroughly impressed.  We had the opportunity to spend some time together.  By the time she was ready to go, it was time to celebrate! She asked me to help her get a cake (as it was a bit of a tradition that the people leaving get a cake to celebrate with everyone on their floor).  I said, how about we MAKE a cake!  So I made the cake to save time and together we picked colors and decided how to decorate.  I piped dots and she smoothed them down.  And she did the darling topper, "Hope," which was the name for her group. The story behind it makes this one of my favorite cakes.  Life can throw us some pretty difficult trials, BUT thanks to our Savior Jesus Christ, there is always Hope.

Pokemon's Pikachu

My son was introduced to Pokemon last year, and it was all down hill from there.  Unlike Beyblades, which I didn't care for and made him stop watching, I can tolerate Pokemon and have decided to roll with it.  He has been asking for a Pikachu piggy bank he saw at walmart for many months and we decided to get that as his main gift.  This year was a family party year, so I didn't need a huge cake.  This is a six inch and four inch cake.  And I didn't start baking it until almost midnight, so fondant decorations went out the window. Star pipping is as good as it gets for 2am, folks.  Luckily, I didn't hear any complaints.

CTR Cupcakes

A friend's son turned 8 recently.  That is the age of accountability, the age at which a child can understand the difference between right and wrong.  And for that reason, it is the earlist age at which a child can get baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  My friend wanted cupcakes and bought these cute circle toppers to go on them. She wanted the convenience of cupcakes but still wanted her son to be able to blow out his candle at the reception afterward.  So I made a cupcake 'cake' as well.  Her son is one of the sweetest boys I know, and this was so fun to do for them.

O Ye That EMBARK

I had big plans for this cake.  Unfortunately, having to make a new head last minute put a damper on the extras.  This was for New Beginnings, an evening program for the young women at church.  I just love those girls!  The theme for the year is "O YE THAT EMBARK" based on the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants, “Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day” (D&C 4:2).  So of course we had to have a sailor girl with her luggage, all ready to embark on a journey of service!

Organic White Cake with Raspberry Frosting

There are definitely a few things that are different with organic ingredients. The birthday girl gave me several tips and hints beforehand, which was very helpful.  Honestly, it's been so long, I'm not sure what flavor the cake was. I think the cake itself was a white cake, but I wouldn't bet my life on it.  But the frosting is a different story.  I remember that perfectly. I used one of my favorite frosting recipes and wasn't sure how it would work out with the organic substitutes.  I like putting strawberry in the frosting but this time I used organic raspberries.  I have to say it was SO good!

Organic Chocolate Cake

We have some good friends at church. The husband planned a surprise birthday party for his sweet wife.  They are a 100% organic family.  He told his wife I was making the cake just for their family but for a few days after the real party was going to take place.  That way I could talk to her about what she wanted, get the recipes and so he could give me most of the ingredients.  (Man, is organic expensive!!!!!!)  It was all very yummy!  Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.

Ganache - Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup -Triple Chocolate - Cake

My husband's birthday cake rounded out the cake trio.  The title just about says it all. There was so. much. cake.  It was a good thing we had so many family and friends there to celebrate with us. I know it's a lot of pictures of the same thing, but it looked so good I couldn't help myself. #SorryNotSorry

White Ruffle Cake

Since I had already made a smash cake for the baby before we left,  I thought I would just stick with the same design.  I kept it quick and simple, a white buttercream ruffle cake. 

Welcome Home

We spent the holidays with my husband's family.  His niece happened to come home from her mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the same day we flew in.  It also happened to be my husband and baby's birthdays.  I knew she'd be having a home coming that Sunday and thought since family would be gathered it would be a good time to celebrate all three.  My mother-in-law was gracious enough to let me take over her kitchen while I made some simple, but delicious cakes.  His niece requested 'something chocolate.'  She got a chocolate cake with a rich fudgy (think brownie batter) chocolate frosting. I hope she enjoyed a small treat upon her honorable return.

A Bling-y 17

One of the cute girls I had the privilege to work with in the young women's program about four years ago (man time flies!) at church asked me to make her birthday cake.  She wanted white & blue, a quilting design and diamonds.  It was a rainy couple of days and the humidity was at 100%.  My bow would NOT dry, I was so sad because the ribbon loops got all messed up when I finally had to attach it to the cake. The diamonds were edible sugar jewels.  Humidity also sure does a number on sugar work, but I thought they still turned out pretty well.