20 Cakes!

My friend Shona was in charge of her church's Christmas party this year and decided to enlist my help with the centerpieces. She had 20 tables set up and wanted a simple Christmas cake to sit in the center of each. I agreed thinking it would be a ton of work but vastly underestimated how many tons. I did every inch of work by myself from mixing all the cake batter (10 double batches of vanilla), to kneading the fondant and washing all the dishes. I ran my dishwasher twice a day for several days! In the end the cakes turned out beautiful and the party looked perfect.

Halloween Cake

I love it when I get asked to do a cake for Halloween. I did this one for my friend Kate's costume party. I found a picture of another Halloween themed cake with a spooky tree that looked amazing so I took a crack at it. The tree is hand painted (with food coloring) onto the fondant- which turned out to be a ton easier than I anticipated. I finished off the decorations with fallen leaves, a black cat & bat and a mini pumpkin on top (rice krispies covered with fondant). The flavors included an apple spice cake with cinnamon buttercream. Happy Halloween Kate!

Train Cake

This was a cake I did for a friend of a friend. Cassie, the mom, lives in California but was coming to Utah to celebrate her little boy's 2nd birthday. She had seen some cakes I did for other people and decided to give me a call. The theme was trains so we decided on a 3 car train filled with candy. She suggested we fill it with old fashioned candies like you'd find in a soda shop. Such a great idea. She wanted to keep the cake flavor simple, which I try to avoid :) I did a cinnamon vanilla cake with a cinnamon brown sugar frosting. Super yum. The entire cake was a blast to put together I'm so glad for the opportunity. Happy Birthday Beckham!

Teddy Bear Cake

I did this cake for one of my favorite neighbors. Her adorable little girl was turning 1 and they wanted a special cake to celebrate. The only criteria I had was that it needed to look girly. I did a striped/polka dot combo with pinks, purple, lime green and light brown. I did a teddy bear on top with a number 1 on her belly. The cake was vanilla with a deathly delicious brown sugar Swiss meringue. I hope everyone enjoyed it!!

Rosette Cake

This is a cake I did on referral from another wedding cake. I've seen this design a few different times and love how the rosette's give it a modern feel. The bride, Rachel, wanted it tinted gold with red flowers and pearl white beads every other tier. Flavors included key lime cake with coconut cream filling, raspberry swirl with chocolate ganache and chocolate with raspberry cream filling. I had to deliver it all put together, twenty minutes away, with both of my kids. So stressful. Fortunately there were no disasters. Congratulations Rachel and Steve!

Water Fight Cake

This is the 2nd of 2 cakes for my friend Emily. Her boys are less than a year apart (yikes!) so each year she gets to plan two parties back to back. This year she decided to have me help out with the cakes. Ethan is an adorable 8 yr old boy who requested a "water fight cake with a hand sticking out shooting a real water gun." It sounded like a fun challenge so I set about figuring out how to best execute it. I've found that the most challenging aspect of doing a cake for little boys is that they really want it simple (basic flavors, no bling and NO fondant). After a couple days of thinking it through-this is what I came up with. I hope you love it Ethan!

Jungle Cake

I did this jungle themed cake for my little dude's first birthday. We invited over a few family members and had a fun little party to celebrate. The cake was chocolate with an oreo cream filling and vanilla buttercream frosting. Yum. Fortunately, the guest of honor was well behaved all night and we had a great time with our loved ones. Happy Birthday Liam!

Daisy Cake

I recently received a call from a friend of my sister who requested a 10th wedding anniversary cake. She wanted a reinterpretation of the cake she had at her reception. She told me her colors and that she loves daisy's then reluctantly asked for it to be heart shaped. She explained that her aunt, who is quite persuasive, did her original cake and insisted that only one shape said romance. I was happy to oblige, however, if I become known as the heart shaped cake lady I just might scream.

Her cake flavors were gluten free orange almond poppy seed cake with cream cheese filling, chocolate peanut butter cake with raspberry buttercream (Yum) and apple spice cake with cream cheese icing. Here's to another 50+ years!

Justin Bieber Cake

My friend Alaina is probably my best customer. I have done more cakes for her than anyone else. So, I was super happy when she asked me to do her daughter's 6th birthday cake. I've done a few Hannah Montana cakes for her in the past but this year she wanted Justin Bieber. Alaina said Harmony loves the color blue, peace signs and especially Mr. Bieber. I decided to get a teen magazine for inspiration and was so glad I did. I ended up stealing a bunch of phrases that my aged brain would not have come up with on its own. I even covered the board with a Bieber poster I found in the magazine. Harmony was speechless when I dropped it off but her mom later said she and her besties squealed with joy. Awesome. I can't wait for the next Justin Bieber cake!

Princess Cake

My little girl turned 5 this July and for the second year in a row she insisted on having a princess party. My husband tried convincing her to do a superhero theme which she considered for a whole second before dismissing. After showing her a few ideas she decided on this fancy little number. I did the second and third tiers as dummy (styrofoam) cakes so we wouldn't have tons left over. The bottom tier was a chocolate cake saturated with caramel sauce, filled with chocolate mousse and iced in chocolate buttercream. Mmmmm. After the party was over and my kids were napping I had some special alone time with the cake and a fork. Can't wait for next year!

Kathryn's Wedding

One of my favorite childhood friends was married this June. She comes from a family of 12 kids (no adoptions, only 1 set of twins. Seriously) all of whom are some of the best people I know. Since they're all spread throughout the country, weddings are about the only time everyone gets to see each other at once. I was super excited when I found out Kathryn was having her reception a quick 30 minutes from my house and told her I'd love to do her wedding cake. She choose something a little less traditional, which I love. I did the bottom tier in white with navy blue stripes, the middle in white with an apple green damask pattern and the top white with navy blue polka dots. Each tier was a key lime cake with coconut pastry cream and key lime buttercream.

For the grooms cake she mentioned that her fiance loved Star Wars-especially R2D2. I found an awesome picture and tried to follow it as closely as possible. I couldn't see the back so I improvised hoping no one would notice. Unfortunately though, my daughter later reported two 8 yr olds pointed out my many inaccuracies. I should've known not to mess with something so sacred :) It was a beautiful wedding and I was so happy to get to catch up with my old friends. Congratulations Kathryn and Marty!

Doctor Cake

This is a cake I did for my father-in-law's 60th birthday. He's been in practice as a general surgeon for almost 30 years so I wanted to do something along those lines. My husband kept pushing for a human torso sliced open but I thought that might gross people out. I decided to do a doctors jacket with a button down shirt and tie underneath. I had fun with the little details like a stethoscope around the neck and the little pen in the pocket. The cake looked great and Eric loved it. However, all night long people kept saying they've never seen him wear a tie to work (haha).

Damask Wedding Cake

We moved into our house almost two years ago and have found during that time how fortunate we are to have such wonderful neighbors. One family in particular has helped us countless times with arduous tasks like turning the sprinklers off in a snowstorm, repairing gushing pipes, fixing our toilet and babysitting about every other weekend. In spite of all this they still seem to like us. Needless to say when they had a son getting married I jumped at the opportunity to do his cake. His cute bride Phebe wanted a Damask pattern to match the invitations. I made the cake big enough to feed well over 200 people and give the family leftovers. The flavors were marble with chocolate mousse filling, chocolate with oreo cream filling and vanilla with raspberry cream filling. At the wedding I was lucky enough to get a good sized piece of the marble and it was Delicious! It was a lot of fun even though I believe my husband pulled a muscle carrying the monstrosity in for me. Totally worth it.

Bonnie's 60th Birthday

A few weeks ago my cousin Carly asked me to help her out with a top secret mission. She and her siblings were throwing their mom a surprise birthday party and needed a show stopper cake. I love her mom and was super happy for the opportunity but knew that it would come with challenges. Bonnie lives in St George (a 4 hr drive) so Carly would be responsible for the delivery and setup- huge disaster potential. She picked out a beautiful 3 tiered spring themed cake with flowers, butterfly's and bright and subtle colors complimenting each other. I made some adjustments to the original design to assure everything was 'glued' on securely. I also stuck several skewers in to keep it from sliding or drooping. Each tier had different flavors and fillings: the bottom was chocolate with mousse filling, the middle tier was vanilla with oreo cream filling and the top was lemon with a raspberry cream curd. Carly said it traveled fine and that everyone fought over which flavor was the yummiest (yes!).

Cinco De Mayo Cake

Every year I think about having a Cinco de Mayo party but never quite get it together in time. Our family celebrations usually involve wearing bright colors and getting fish tacos at Rubio's. Well this year my neighborhood threw a huge bash and I volunteered to do the cake. I made a Yummy tres leches cake topped with whipped cream and cinnamon. Since we were planning on so many people I decided to make a bunch of sheet cakes to serve to the crowd and decorate a Styrofoam cake just for a dessert table centerpiece. Fortunately we had plenty leftover so I had several days sneaking into the fridge with a fork.

200 Cupcakes

A cute group of ladies at a Southern Baptist church decided to throw a formal luncheon Mother's Day weekend. The affair for little girls and their mommy's took place in Layton, UT (about 40 min from where I live). The ladies wanted 200 cupcakes in 4 varieties fit for queens and princesses. I made key lime with Swiss meringue lime frosting, vanilla with raspberry meringue frosting, pink velvet with cream cheese frosting and coconut with coconut meringue frosting. I used every inch of my car and 9 large cookie sheets to transport them all. Once there, I was so distracted with the setup that I forgot to take a picture before I left. Dang! You'll just have to take my word that it was a beautiful spread with a cupcake at each place setting. I hope everyone had a great time celebrating their moms!

Golden Wedding Cake

A few months ago Paige (my husband's co-worker) asked me to do her wedding cake. She showed me a picture and requested, if at all possible, I make it gold. I said I could and set out trying to figure out how. I first attempted just gold food coloring but it turned out yellow. Next I tried luster dust (edible glitter) but it was too expensive and time consuming. Then I luckily found a gold spray. I tried it out on a different cake and it worked great. Hallelujah! I tinted the fondant slightly with the food coloring then sprayed it gold. It looked so beautiful. I loved how it came together with the white roses and piping. A few days before the wedding she also asked me to do a surprise groom's cake for her fiance. I did a simple football with the New England Patriots logo on the side. I planned on having it on a different table on the other side of the room but when he saw it the groom was so excited he insisted it be displayed front and center. :) Happy honeymoon Paige and Tyler!

30th Birthday Cake

My sister-in-law decided to throw a surprise birthday party for her husband's 30th and asked me to do the cake. Jake is a huge sports fan so I really wanted to do a three tiered football themed cake. However, Kris bought these cute neon candles and wanted something elegant to compliment them. After several attempts to convince her of my vision I decided to give in. In the end she was right and it was the perfect cake for Jake. Thanks for letting me help Kris. Love you guys!

Candy Cake

About a year ago I ran into a friend I hadn't seen in a while. She had just given birth to a beautiful little girl a month earlier and decided to name her Gwen after our daughter. She said she had liked the name ever since hearing it (over 4 years ago) and hoped we didn't mind that they used it. I, of course, was flattered. A year later baby Gwen is having her first birthday and her mom asked me to do a cake for her. She requested carrot cake and left the rest in my hands. I decided to frost it in an orange cream cheese icing and decorate it in a candy theme. I made bright colored lollipops, gumdrop blossoms and added some jelly beans instead of piping around the bottom. I think it impressed her older brother the most. He kept asking if he could take 'OONNEE tiny lick'. Thanks Annie!!

Butterfly Cookies

My cousin Amy gave birth to a cute little boy a few months ago and invited us to her baby blessing on Sunday. I decided at the last minute to throw some cookies together. I topped the sugar cookies with color flow icing because I love the glossy finish. I wanted to spend several more hours on jazzy details but, alas, I ran out of time. I always love getting together with the extended families over great food. Congratulations Amy, Tyler and Brody!

Bus Cake

I had the chance to do a cake for my friend Becca's little guy this weekend. He was turning 2 and completely in love with buses. I decided to do a 'small town' scene complete with a dirt road, old style school bus and a dilapidated mailbox. You can't quite see in the picture but the Rome figurine is wearing a backpack with a book on buses sticking out of a pocket. The cake inside is chocolate with chocolate mousse. I've learned to not cover cakes for kids with fondant (they won't eat it) so I just frosted it in a yummy lemon buttercream. I had so much fun pouring over all the details of this cake. Thanks Becca!

Tinkerbell Cake

My sister asked me to do a cake for a friend in her neighborhood. Her little girl Tanith was turning 3 and adores Tinkerbell. We decided to do this pale pink cake in hot pink and white daisy's. Inside is a white cake with raspberry, lemon mousse. I also did cupcakes with coordinating daisy's to hand out at the party. It was such a blast to put together. Thanks Sis!

Spring Boutique

Today I got to have a girls afternoon out. My good friend Elena threw a Spring Boutique and asked me to do some cookies and cupcakes for it. I made two kinds of cupcakes: a raspberry swirl with raspberry/almond filling and chocolate buttercream, and a key lime cupcake with coconut creme filling and white chocolate frosting. I love chocolate but the key lime cupcakes were Awesome! I also made these Easter egg and butterfly cookies with praline royal icing. It was a blast. Thanks girls!

Serenity's 7th Birthday

This weekend I had the opportunity to do a fourth cake for my friend Alaina. Her little girl turned seven and needed a fabulous cake to showcase at the party. She wanted to represent her daughter Serenity's new love of singing while still having lots of "girly" elements. I did a five-inch pink strawberry shortcake decked out with a microphone, iPod, shopping bag and lots lots more. I hope you girls had a great time and enjoyed the cake!