Minnie Mouse 3rd Birthday Cake with Zebra Print

21st Birthday Cupcakes with Margarita Glass Topper

Suggested Price $51

(Includes $16/dozen, $ .25 each for gumpaste decorations and straws,

12 filled cupcakes with lime curd,

$10 for Margarita Glass, decorations and 3 included cupcakes)

Birthday Cakes & Chocolate Carmel Apple - Magic Theme, Mickey Theme and 1st Birthday

Star Wars Lego Cookies, Cupcakes and Cake Push-Ups

WWE Wrestling Ring - - Souvenir Cake - - Snickers Cake

My 5-year-old nephew asked for a WWE Wrestling Ring cake for his birthday.  That's all he wanted it to be was a wrestling ring!  And for it to be CHOCOLATE!  - - Well, I experimented and made a SNICKERS Cake.

Here's the results:

Layer 1:  Chocolate WASC Cake

Layer 2:  Snickers Ganache Buttercream

Layer 3:  Caramel

Layer 4:  Shortbread Cookie

Layer 5:  Snickers Ganache Buttercream

Layer 6:  Chocolate WASC Cake

Frosted with Chocolate Buttercream

Covered with MMF

Ropes:  Pull-n-Peel Twizzlers

Posts:  Pretzel Rods covered with fondant

On top - Souvenir Tile:

Tile covered with vinyl and the WWE Logo made using Cricut and SCAL

WWE Logo was found on www.dafont.com

I have to share Gavin's response when I texted him a picture:  "Mom, that looks just like a wrestling ring.  Was it hard for her?"  (What a sweetie!)

Justin Bieber Cake with Souvenir Cake Topper

My niece is celebrating her 7th birthday this weekend.  We will have to miss the party due to being in Grand Rapids, Michigan for a graduation.  However, I still made her cake and will deliver it tomorrow.

Her request - Justin Bieber, Purple and Black to match the napkins.  Well, I haven't seen the napkins but Paige told me that purple is Justin Bieber's color.  Okay. . .

Here's a 3 layer, 10 inch tier - Vanilla Blend (she'll be surprised when they cut it as it is white and purple on the inside too).  The cake topper is actually a tile I made using Oracal vinyl.  She'll be able to keep it as a souvenir!  I thought she would like that - PLUS - I had no other idea how to get Justin Bieber on the cake.  I placed the tile on a gumpaste plaque so not to have the tile directly touching the cake.

This cake also used Buttercream flavored Marshmallow Fondant (my first time using this recipe).  I also used black and silver lustre dust.

Celebrating with my Principal - Her 40th Birthday!

The principal of my school is turning 40 tomorrow; however, she took the day off to go to the Vera Bradley sale in Fort Wayne.  So, we celebrated a day early.

I passed out 40 gift bags to staff as well as other administrators in the school corporation.  We decorated around the school and several contributed to a "trail mix" snack. 

I ended up making:

• Oreo Truffles
• Cake Balls shaped like cupcakes
• Pretzel Logs (similar to Twix Bars)
• Snickerdoodles and Chocolate Chip Cookies (thanks to Pillsbury)

Thought I would share:

(They had already started devouring them by the time I got there with the camera!)

Logan's 11th Birthday Giant Cookie Cake

Logan turned 11 last week.  Honestly, I can't believe my baby boy is 11 already!  I love planning and hosting parties, but this year, we went without parties.  The kids decided they were fine with going out with the grandparents and having some friends over.  Actually, Paige won't have her friends over until April when the Harry Potter dvd comes out.

Logan has been in the mood for "Cookie Cakes".  Last year I made him a "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" cookie cake.  This year we went more with height rather than decorations.  We made him a Giant Chocolate Chip/M&M Cookie Cake (found at The Open Pantry blog).

6 - 8" cookies
(Supposed to make 7 but I didn't have enough batter)

2 Cookies frosted with Chocolate Sour Cream frosting

Layers of Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting and Marshmallow Frosting

Happy 11th Birthday Logan

The Recipe (not Gluten-Free)


Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake


4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 t. baking soda
1 1/2 t. salt
6 T. butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 t. pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs + 2 egg yolks
3/4 cup heavy cream
3 cups semisweet or milk chocolate chips (I used 2 cups M&M's and 1 cup milk chocolate chips)


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.  Put butter and sugars into mixing bowl; mix on medium until fluffy.  Mix in vanilla, eggs and yolks.  Reduce speed to low.  Add flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the cream.  Stir in chocolate chips or M&M's.


For each of the 7 layers, drop 1 level cup batter onto center of a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Spread batter with wet hands or a spoon into an 8 inch circle.  Bake until edges are pale golden brown, about 8 minutes.  Remove from oven.  Use offset spatula to reshape circle.  Return to oven and bake until edges are golden brown, 8-10 minutes.  Transfer to wire rack and let cool.  Can be store airtight up to 1 day.


My Tips:

• Use Mini M&M's or chocolate chips.  I used regular candies and large chips which made spreading on the parchment paper very difficult.
• Use the wet hand method to spread the batter - - MUCH easier than using the back of a spoon or an offset spatula.
• I used Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting and Marshmallow Frosting.  I have posted these under "Frosting"

Happy 40th Birthday - - to a friend

A friend of mine at school celebrated her 40th Birthday last week.  It snuck up on us, plus we were out for ice that day.  SO. . .we were all asked to bring in a card and something "silly".  WELL. . .I'm not very creative with silly things so I decided to bring something "Yummy".

I made cake balls using the tops leftover from the bridal shower cake and then mixed the crumbs with leftover buttercream frosting.  I put some chocolate in miniature cupcake papers and dropped the cake ball in the center of chocolate.  I let that set and then dipped the cake ball in white chocolate and decorated with sprinkles.

VIOLA!!  Miniature Cupcakes. . .

I then found a SVG file for a Cupcake and made a decorative label for the top of the plastic container.

Here's the final product:

Olivia (the Piglet) Cake for 3 year old Kailyn (Tri-Level Cake)

This weekend I made an Olivia the piglet cake for Kailyn.  Her mom said she wanted some stripes on it plus the plush Olivia doll that she was going to provide.

Here's the results:

Chocolate Cake for Kailyn

 Buttercream Frosting with Fondant Accents

 Plush pig provided by Kailyn's mom

I hope Kailyn enjoyed her cake - - it was fun to make!

Harley Davidson Party - Lance's 39.5 Surprise Birthday Party

Yesterday, the kids and I threw a party for my husband's 39 1/2 Birthday.  I know - - a bit odd!  But, he would expect me to throw him a 40th birthday party PLUS I bought him a Harley Davidson motorcycle and I couldn't keep that a secret for 6 MORE MONTHS!

Here's the banner I made: 

Vinyl Window Roller Shade

Outdoor Vinyl

Letters cut using my Cricut and SCAL

Lance just figured out he now owns a Harley!

Red Velvet Cake w/ Buttercream Frosting

White Cake w/ Buttercream Frosting

Covered with Chocolate MFF Fondant (Homemade)

Harley Tires and Leather Jacket

Fondant Harley Hog and Fondant Flames

Cricut used to cut paper letters on cake

Cricut used to cut outdoor vinyl for cake boards

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Giant Cookie

Today we are celebrating Logan's 10th Birthday with his friends.  He wanted a giant cookie with the theme "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" as part of the festivities is to go see the movie that recently came out in theatres.

Greg plaque made from gumpaste; red and yellow all buttercream.

Logan's Invitation

Logan's having a Diary of the Wimpy Kid birthday party for his 10th birthday. . .of course, there's nothing out on the market with this theme so I developed this in Publisher.