Bodhi Bear is 1

"Woodland first birthday" is the theme for Bodhi, a darling lil man who calls my friend Nicole, Mom.  Bodhi's smash cake is the cupcake with a  bear topper I made from fondant. The silhouette trees are gumpaste and the cake is covered in buttercream bark.

Bodhi's cupcakes were a cinnamon roll inspired cake with a minimal sugar buttercream.

LESLIE & ERIC~SIMPLY MEANT TO BE

This was a first for me- black piping on white cake- it was a bit stressful because there is no room for error. I made the pattern from an inspiration piece and added brushed embroidered black flowers for texture and elegance. The cake is pumpkin spice with a baked pumpkin cheesecake filling for the top and bottom tier. The middle tier was cookies and cream filled with fudge ganache.  I made the purple flowers and rose leaves from fondant and gumpaste.

The groom had some input in this cake design he just wanted it to be square. I believe the main reason I got this order was because I agreed to make the filling pumpkin cheesecake, which is his favorite dessert.

Side note: During the tasting the bride revealed she doesn't eat cake, but she tasted all the flavors and actually said she enjoyed it.  I was thrilled to win her over.

DIANNA BIRTHDAY MUMS

 This cake was ordered by my co-worker Anna for her friend, Dianna for a special birthday. She gave me mostly creative license said to make the flowers pretty, Fall and plenty of red. The cake is spice cake with a vanilla buttercream filling. I used my new Russian piping tips to create these flowers and I think they turned out very nice. I love making flowers buttercream, royal and fondant.

ROME LIGHTYEAR

Cutest boy ever!!

"TO INFINITY AND BEYOND
Rome didn't know a lot of words but he managed this sentence all day long! He wanted a peanut butter chocolate cake. I made the moon from a half ball pan and the layer cake is chocolate and peanut butter filling. We made sugar cookies of his name and Avi decorated them for him. We stayed at a Suite in Pismo Beach so the kids could swim and play on the grounds.  It
was so much fun!

PJ Masketeer: Robby

Owlette, Catboy and Gecko.

Catboy to the rescue!

This cake was super fun to make. PJ Masks is a cartoon that this lil guy watches faithfully. It makes for a very colorful cake and decorations. PJ Masks is about kids who turn into super heroes and run through the city protecting and saving others. Hence; the city-scape and the moon.

Robby's favorite flavors are strawberry and vanilla. I made a fresh strawberry cake with strawberry vanilla cheesecake filling. The bright yellow is vanilla buttercream. His decor is made from marshmallow fondant and I told him he could eat it after his birthday and he did. Mom even saved the other masks for him to eat later.

Jedi Logan's BB-8 {Last of 3}

For my Not-so-Nerdy Friends:

BB-8, sometimes spelled Beebee-Ate, was a BB unit astromech droid who operated approximately thirty years after the Battle of Endor. It had a dome head, similar to that of R2 series astromech droids, with the bulk of its body made up of a ball on which the droid's head rolled. BB-8 was mostly white, with some silver and orange on its body, as well as a black photoreceptor. The droid belonged to Resistance pilot Poe Dameron, whom he accompanied during his flights on his T-70 X-wing fighter.

Okay enough of the geek explanation now onto the cake. It's my version of BB-8 (as per online inspiration). It is a domed chocolate cake covered in vanilla BC. What else can I say except I hand cut all the decor and the sand (graham cracker crumbs) is on top of the base made of fudge cake and also vanilla BC.  I hope Logan will enjoy his surprise cake too.

Annie's Zoo {2 of 3}

This little cutie was a creation made from Annie's vision. She wanted a zoo cake with a hippo, elephant, giraffe and monkey.  Sunday she asked to change it to a zebra cake but most of the decor was done so I had to keep on track due to making 2 other cakes as well.

She wanted a confetti cake and since I make all my cakes from scratch it was fun to seek a good recipe with Jimmies in it. Turned out delicious.  The outside was frosted in a new American buttercream (BC) recipe that turned out dynamite it'll be my new go to vanilla BC.  The cake has the animals safely in their habitats with Pirouline spiral cookies.  The sand is graham cracker crumbs and everything is edible on the cake.

Dream Big Hailey {1 of 3}

This cake is the first one of the three I made this week for my friend Sheryl for each of her grandkids: Hailey, Annie & Logan. 

Dream Big Hailey

The cake flavor she chose is a marble cake with fudge ganache, milk chocolate ganache and white chocolate ganache in a ombre-ish pattern on the sides. The cake was also dirty iced underneath the ganache with Chocolate Malted Buttercream.

This cake was  a surprise cake for the recipient and the grandmother, Sheryl said she wanted to be surprised too. I was commissioned to make a cake for my friend's 14 year old grand daughter and all she said was she likes pastels and wears Birkenstocks. Wow that was a challenge, so I decided to start searching for the latest trends in "Boho" designs. I decided on this dream catcher with sugar paste feathers dusted to look like watercolor. The cactus flower on top is a pretty coral color with a few more feathers to highlight the design. The cactus flower was labor intensive and took about 90 mins to completely make it, of course not including the 2 days drying time.  The 25 feathers I made took 1 day drying time, but I cut them from a leaf cutter and sliced the plumes with an exacto, only took about an hour or so.  The catcher was piped with chocolate ganache and the border was the turquoise buttercream. 

If You're a Tree

You're Not Old if You're a Tree

Fun cake to make! I received a note from my frequent flyer, Sheryl, on Monday morning asking if I can make a cake for her husband for this Friday. "Of course I Can", and I did. She gave me carte blanche and said make whatever design you want.  I thought about one of my favorite sayings regarding seniors and I knew Eddie had a great sense of humor, so I made him into a tree.

The cake is 4 tiers of chocolate cake and I made a new filling which is actual chocolate chip cookie dough without eggs. The frosting is a melt-in-your-mouth fudge silk buttercream that I piped into ropes of bark. Then I touched the bark up with lines from a cake tester tool. The eyes, mouth, note, leaves and sign are all fondant. And it is propped onto a slab of real wood. I made sure his mouth and eyes showed Eddie's sweet smile!

Baby Sid on Board

 This darling baby shower cake is for my niece, Danelle and her husband, Duke's couple's shower with family.  It was awesome to be able to celebrate the coming event because they just moved back here from Hawaii.  We haven't been able to celebrate this new family because they are a Coast Guard family and have been in Hawaii since they have been married and had their first son. It is such a blessing to have them back home.  Okay it's a cake blog let me blog on.

The cake is red velvet with cheesecake filling and raspberry compote, the top tier shared the same filling but the cake was white velvet. Of course the theme was chosen by Gramma as a surfer theme since Dad is an avid surfer. The cream cheese buttercream was colored with teal and sky blue and I created the ombre effect by simply piping the icing on with a huge icing tip. Sky blue on bottom, then teal in the center and white on top. I then smoothed the sides with a cake blade to the design I liked. Very easy but an effective design. All the decor was made by hand by Cara (daughter), Sandy (sister) & I.  The baby butt is a dome mini cake covered in fondant and the legs are RKT covered in fondant. My granddaughter Avi made a coral flower and I used it in the middle of his Hawaiian blankie.

Twiggy Wedding

I love these natural beauties.

My daughter-in-law, Kristi gave her co-worker, Chauncie my business card. When I received the call for an order for this wedding cake by Chauncie and her husband, Aaron, the couple requested a tasting. I gave them 5 choices and brought it all to the house. The unique and coolest part of this story is that Chauncie and Aaron decided their 5 kids will get to pick the flavors. Chauncie let them all taste each flavor and comment on which were their favorites. S'Mores cake was on top, cookies and cream in the middle tier and peanut butter & fudge marble for the bottom.

The bride & groom decided on the vanilla buttercream frosting overall and Chauncie liked the idea of putting twigs & burlap ribbon on it for a natural touch.

Baby Ellee-Shower

Everything on the cake was handmade except for the pink ribbon on the middle tier.  I love the colors and of course Ellie was fun to make as well. The cakes were white velvet with creamy lemon mousse and fresh lemon curd filling; hence the blowout in the second tier (I guess I was a little too generous with the mousse).  The bottom tier is a kids favorite, cookies & cream cake with cookies &cream filling.  All in all a darling cake which was delicious.

*Side note: Delivering cakes is the most stressful part of the cake.  Even though you drive in a subzero SUV, on the smoothest part of the roads, take speed bumps like its a mountain terrain and turn corners as if your own grandma was in the car; its still cake. Cake is fragile and no matter what the circumstances are, so you will always need to carry a repair kit.

Lil McHolley Had a Farm....

Smash Cake for Holley

      E-I-E-I-Ooohh

I think she likes it; she was so gentle.

Photos by Brooke Bell-Turner

Holley's Lil barn smash cake was a vanilla cake with a lightly sweetened whipped cream frosting to avoid any sugar rush for the baby. She was a little timid eating it and she leaned over, then licked it. I have never scene a one year old do that, I don't think she wanted to get messy, at least not at first. I made the "one" out of swirled fondant and piped whipped rosettes on top. It sits on a fondant cow hide to tie in with the theme.                                                                             

The guests' cupcakes were also vanilla with a strawberry cheesecake filling and vanilla buttercream.  I figure-piped farm animals and wrapped a few cupcakes in grass. My son made me barnboard stands for special occasions and this was the perfect time to use them.

Kyle & Cory Crescendo Cake

This cake was commissioned by my sister's teaching colleague Cory. Her husband is an entrepreneur and they are the owners of Crescendo: Limoncello, Arancello & Limecello.  All Three products are incorporated into three tiers of this cake.

Crescendo

Happy 60th Anniversary Mom & Dad

 

Happy 60th Anniversary Mom & Dad. They both love simple flavors. This cake was vanilla with a lemon curd/lemon mousse filling. The frosting was a vanilla buttercream.  

I bought the edible picture from FairymomsEdibles on Etsy.

Roses are Red Diva Cake

This cake was made for an acquaintance recommended by her friend. The cake is chocolate, red velvet and vanilla buttercream.  All the roses were handmade and the scroll work on the sides is all done in buttercream.

The bride referred to her husband-to-be as "the Diva" and he wanted things to be perfect. When I delivered the cake he was still decorating in his white tuxedo and making arrangements with flowers and the carpet.   It was so sweet to see how much he cared about the wedding details for his bride! She's got a keeper.  Congratulations!