Sunny Days

My nephew, David, recently celebrated his 1st birthday! I used it as an opportunity to try out making some cake pops since they are apparently sweeping the nation right now :) I have made them before but just with sprinkles. These ones were Sesame Street characters and although challenging, were really fun to make!!

Last Graduation at Mullen

These cupcakes were for a couple of students who graduated from Mullen High School a few weeks ago. The two girls wanted their colleges of choice represented so I came up with some basic designs that could be replicated in the appropriate colors. I loved making the logos for each school and the little graduation hats. There were a hundred cupcakes but so much fun!

CU Graduation

This graduate wanted the true black and gold colors of any CU grad of course! We put Ralphie on the top of the graduation hat. Lots learned yet again...I need to tweak my icing recipe. It seems too watery and unstable...no worries, I have a feeling it's the shortening. :) First time putting a cake "together" on site...turned out pretty well given the circumstances. Still need to work on my "finish icing" and those darn square cakes - they will be my undoing I'm sure!!! Good experience nonetheless!

Baking Experiments

So I haven't had a lot of pictures of "decorating" in the last few months. We have had house guests and little space but I did spend my spring break experimenting with some baking. I'm trying to explore the other side of the cake world! So far I have made cheesecakes, pies, and these yummy little things: chocolate-almond banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and a dusting of almond on top! Delicious!

What Princess Wants, Princess Gets!

For my niece's 5th birthday she requested...

1. Confetti cake...not my favorite but who can argue with a 5 year old princess??!!

2. Rainbow icing...not a nice blend of various shades of pink. I think the exact quote was, "Rainbow colors but not the ugly colors. No brown or black or gray".

3. Princess cupcake holders with the little toothpicks and everything.

Gotta love kid birthday parties!!

Girl's Day Out!

I recently had a girls only party and decided to try out these cheesecake pops. LOVED them. I made the cheesecake from scratch and it turned out perfectly! I rolled it into little balls and then dipped them in candy coating. I will have to try dipping them quicker next time for a thinner shell but they were yummy! I put little ribbons on the end of the pops for a little decoration.

Happy 2nd Birthday Charlie!

For my niece, Charlie, I made JUMBO cupcakes filled with some chocolate and a whipped icing on top. For the cherries we just bought sour cherries from the grocery store. Red vines made the perfect straw! They were a big hit but I would definitely recommend sharing one!

Charlotte's Birthday Cake

This year my friend's daughter had her first birthday. I really wanted to make her a beautiful cake AND practice my icing skills. Unfortunately, I had to learn another lesson the hard way. I didn't put the cake in the refrigerator over night and I think that I left it in the car too long before delivery. The cake ended up bubbling out on the front side OF COURSE! It just couldn't bubble on the back could it?! Anyways, better luck next time!

Merry Christmas!

Some cupcakes for the hubby's work party :)

Faculty Luncheon

I made 90 of these cupcakes for the faculty a week ago. I used the opportunity to try some new things like a dark chocolate filling and a lemon filling. The coconut was delicious and so cute to use on the cupcakes!! Sorry the photos aren't of better quality...not such great lighting at my house.

David's Scrapbook Welcoming

Sorry for the delay! These were some cupcakes I made for my sister-in-law's baby shower. They were simple cupcakes but mostly I wanted to practice making some flowers from gumpaste. There are lots of lessons here but good practice. I can't wait to make them again soon!

Birthday of Independence!

This was a birthday cake for a friend of mine's daughter who was turning 1! After struggling with the fondant for some reason - I managed to pull it together. It turned out cute! I hope everyone enjoyed it!

Baby Shower

Cupcakes with Flowers

Birthday!

This cake was for my sister's birthday. I saw the idea in the book "Confetti Cakes". It was originally square and tiered but I made it smaller for our crowd. I liked the colors - super easy to do and looked really nice!

Tink Cake #2

This cake was for a little girl's birthday party. Lots of lessons learned here!!

1. The husband is AMAZING!! when I ran out of cake AGAIN and had to make another batch at 11:30 at night because one of the layers broke he ran out and got the ingredients I needed while I suffered a little panic attack. ;)

2. Read the directions for stacking cakes. Who knew that you could hammer in the dowel through all three layers?

3. Plan for accidents. I am notorious for NOT doing this. I think Matt's favorite phrase is going to be "I told you so" very soon...

Graduation

Happy Birthday Sissy!!

For Kristine's birthday we went to Canvas and Cocktails! I made this cake for the party.

What I do when I should be grading...

First attempt at a basketweave. I liked it! Also made my first set of daisies with royal icing...still trying to figure out the best way to use that stuff without creating a layer of cement on top of my counter. :)

Cream Cheese Icing with Orange Zest

Made these for school friends because I had some left over cream cheese icing with an orange zest that was so yummy I couldn't waste it!