Happy Birthday to Me!

This 6" square white and pink swirl cake is elegantly adorned with three snow encrusted trees. I love snow and we certainly haven't had enough this year so I decided to make myself at winter wonderland themed cake. It was scrumptious and all of my party guests loved it!

Christmas Minis

Christmas Cookie Madness!

Christmas cookies are so festive this time of year! I had a friend over a couple of nights ago and we baked and decorated all evening while we watched Christmas in Connecticut. It was a great evening and we had these yummy cookies when we were done!

Apple Spice and Everything Nice!

Inspired by the season and the fact that the weather is finally cooling down, these Apple Spice Cupcakes will be perfect for a ladies gathering tonight. The caramel buttercream frosting adds sweet to compliment the spice of the cakes.

Engagement Cake

This lovely two-tier engagement cake featured a large silver ribbon bow and petite lavender flowers with pearl centers. The lower layer was dark chocolate fudge with chocolate filling and the top layer was lemon cake with vanilla pudding filling. It was quite a hit with the newly engaged couple as well as the party guests.

Pecan Pie Cake

To get into the fall spirit I made this Pecan Pie Cake with a friend last night. Each of the three layers was lined with half pecan nuts and then the layers filled with Pecan Pie filling. Lightly browned pastry oak and maple leaves accent the cake and lend a cheerful feel.

Orange Creamsicle Cupcakes

In my quest to try new cupcake flavors, I made these orange creamsicle cupcakes that got rave reviews at the dinner I took them to. I started with a white cake mix and added orange juice concentrate to give it a powerful orange flavor. I filled the cakes with whipped cream and then topped them with cream cheese frosting and orange slice candies to garnish. These cool cakes were the perfect dessert for a hot July day!

Chocolate Raspberry & Cream Cupcakes

Chocolate Chip Goodness

This bakers dozen of chocolate chip cakes were a hit at the girl's sushi night I attended recently. I made white cake batter and folded in mini chocolate chips. Once the cupcakes were cool I filled them with chocolate pudding filling and then piped on light chocolate frosting. I added white chocolate swirl decorations and some sprinkles.

Berry Birthday Cake

Happy birthday Sara! This 4-layer chocolate cake filled with chocolate pudding and raspberry fillings was frosted with buttercream icing and then topped with chocolate ganache and fresh fruit. I made white chocolate leaves and sprinkled the 6" round with some edible pearls and clear glitter.

Summer Berry Cakes

These chocolate and vanilla cupcakes turned out just the way I had envisioned. Why not have a tasty cupcake and enjoy a cherry on top too!

Eclectic Cupcakes

Last Friday I wanted to experiment with some decoration styles so I whipped up a batch of Milk Chocolate cupcakes. To top them I made my classic buttercream icing but added some almond flavoring because this is my personal favorite.For the first style I tried sprinkling the cake with cocoa powder, a simple touch. Next I added some shredded coconut to give a furry white-on-white look.
For this elegant cake I used the large star tip to make stars rather than a swirl and then sprinkled with pink luster dust and white edible pearls.
For this final version, I used a minimal amount of frosting and some multi-colored jimmies to add a playful touch.

Wedding Gifts

Wedding season has officially begun:-) This bride is a friend who has been great to work with and chose a cake that I have made in the past just with a different color scheme. As with any cake endeavor, the cake batter mixing, baking and frosting making take the majority of the time required for the project. I couldn't do it without my trusty KitchenAid.
What a lot of sugar! Once I got all the cake layers baked I started making frosting. This large tub was one of two I used to frost the main cake and two sheet cakes.The wedding reception was a Friday night so starting Friday morning I got everything out and started to assemble. The 12" gift went together quickly and then I topped it with the 8" square rotated to give it the 'gift' feel. Once I get the whole cake frosted with the base layer I always breathe a sigh of relief. No matter what the project, I always feel like I can relax and let the creative juices flow. The mechanics of the cake can be put aside and I can let my decorating skills take over.

This cake needed to have a gold element so I decided to use plastic beads applied to the edge of the ribbon icing. It was a challenge to get the beads to lay flat but I really like how they define the ribbon and make the cake pop. For the 8" top gift I used Cornelli Lace, a technique that always adds an elegant feel and gets lots of comments. The 12" cake features polka-dots to add a little whimsy to the cake. Now it is ready for transport across town and to get its topper and flowers!

In addition to the gift cake, the bride also needed two 1/2 sheet cakes to have enough to serve approx 150 guests. As in the past I drop off the cake a couple of hours before the reception and then the florist comes to finish off the flowers. So I had to wait until the reception to see it finished! I love how it turned out with the fresh flowers and the 'M' on top. Congratulations Annie and Pete!

Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes

Over the weekend I was browsing on-line and found a cupcake shop in Denver that I will have to visit. I was looking at all of their different flavors and got inspired to try a new combination myself. So I created these Lemon cakes with Blueberry Buttercream frosting. The whole berries give the frosting a great texture and color and go great with the light lemon flavor of the little cakes.

Chocolate Raspberry Torte

Easter was just over a week ago and while I was home in Kansas I tried a new recipe for a dessert cake. I found a great chocolate cake recipe and then used a raspberry cream cheese filling and a chocolate whip topping frosting. I baked the sheet cake the night before and then cut and assembled it right before Easter dinner. Eaten chilled with fresh raspberries it was quite a hit!

Chocolate Chip Cheese Cake

One of my co-workers celebrated her birthday last month so I asked her beforehand what type of cake she would like. She said she likes any kind of cake and also likes cheese cake. I am always looking for a chance to bake a new flavor of cheese cake so I took her up on it! First I looked for inspiration pictures for the presentation and then I looked at recipes. I combined a chocolate chip filling recipe with a favorite brownie recipe for the crust. I topped it with a chocolate glaze and arranged fresh strawberries and chocolate curly-cues that I had made the night before. It turned out looking great and tasting good too!

Pumpkin Cake Roll

I have always wanted to try making a cake roll. They look so difficult and the whole rolling up in a towel thing has always scarred me. But I finally decided to try one. So I found a recipe for a pumpkin cake roll with cream cheese filling and it wasn't really that hard! It just took some time to cool and assemble but was worth the fuss.