Regular Ol' Cakes

This blog has been neglected.  Absolutely neglected!  I've been having too much fun baking, enjoying warmer weather, and taking a little mini-vacation with my sweet, sweet husband. 

Here's what I've been doing lately:

The most amazing carrot cake ever.  I crave this stuff every time I make it (because I don't get to enjoy it myself!).  Seriously, I got this recipe from an old-school recipe book and this is the best carrot cake I've ever eaten.  The husband was very upset that I did not make one for him too so there may be another carrot cake in the oven soon.

A coconut cake that is just too pretty on its own. 

Can I be honest?  I'm not a big fan of coconut cake.  Seriously.  I'm not a big fan of any coconut dessert.  And I love sweets!  But this is one DELICIOUS coconut cake. 

Lemon-glazed pound cake!  Scrum-diddely-um-ptious.  I wish there was smell-o-vision on this blog because the smell of this cake baking and the amazing aroma of the lemon-glaze melting on the fresh-out-of-the-oven cake...OMG. 

So, I promise not to neglect this blog as much in the future.  I'm working on several amazing cake projects that I can't wait to post here. 

You want a hint of what's coming up?  I'm getting LOST (he he).  Check back soon for some oh-so-fun decorated cakes!

Sugar Poppy

I was asked to make a birthday cake for a very special lady.  The requests were that it be Mrs. Mary Moon's pound cake recipe (yum!), blue (like the ones I've made before), and that it have a flower on it.  So, naturally, I chose to try out a new flower/technique.  A red poppy!  Fun!  

The poppy is entirely edible (except for the stamens) and even had some poppy seeds.

As I was making this poppy, I just kept thinking "what an amazing flower".  What an amazing flower that God made and I get to recreate with sugar.  What an awesome God. 

And as I was baking the cake, I kept thinking "man, that smells good".... alas, it wasn't for me...

Happy Birthday, Mrs. K.  You are truly a blessing.

Also, anyone else thinking about Poppy from Seinfeld?  Nope?  Just me?  Darn.

A Photo Contest?

So I'm entering one of my photos into a contest.  Yep, a contest.  With my crappy old digital camera.  But, hey, it's a fun way to promote other bloggers and really, truly great photographers out there.  Plus, I'm a HUGE fan of the guest judge this week.  Who is it?  Well, you'll just have to go to the blog to find out.  The theme this week is "I heart dessert" and I definitely, definitely do.  Check it out (http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/) !  So, what's the photo?....

My sugar coral (which so many have said looks like a wave/water splash and that makes me happy too) and fondant pearls from the Beach Anniversary Cake.  Happy Tuesday to all of you!

Easter Cake

When you think about Easter, what do you think of? 

I think about the greatest gift of all, Jesus.  I also think about Spring time... flowers, baby animals, bunnies (and, of course, the Easter bunny).  So, when I got an order for an Easter cake, I started thinking about all these things. 

Then, when I started working on the cake, the little fondant creations I was making started taking on a personality of their own. 

This little guy was busting out of his shell.

And this little guy already made it out into the world.

The "Easter bunny" and his buddies. Can you tell he has pink earlobes?

Oh, you wanted to see the entire cake too?  Well, here you go...

Happy Easter to my neighbors!  I hope you enjoy it. 

And a Happy Easter to all of you.

Skull Cake

How to make a cake look "manly"?  Hmm... I've seen some cakes shaped like meat and meatloaf but that's pretty gross.  Then again, I guess so is a skull on a cake....

But this hand-molded deer skull was made of chocolate (and some spices for coloring) and entirely edible. 

The cake itself was "chocolate brownie" cake (a little bit of chewy on the outside and very moist on the inside) and buttercream frosted with fondant overlay. 

The "rocks" are made out of fondant too. 

And, yep, you guessed it.  This cake is my new favorite one... for now. 

Hope you liked it, K and the "crew."

Yummy!

Purse Cake

This was for my beautiful mother-in-law for her birthday! She has some purses any woman would covet so I thought this was only appropriate.

The cake is red velvet with fondant overlay and edible silver dust on the "zipper."

I learned a lot from this cake about working with cream cheese icing and fondant overlay. (It's tricky!)

Happy Birthday to my sweet Mother-in-law! Thank you for all that you have done and do for your kiddos and me. I love you!

Flower Cupcakes

My favorite flower is the ranunculus.

I personally think it's a very under-appreciated flower. It's so gorgeous with all of it's delicate little petals. And, OK, maybe it reminds of this happy day oh so many years ago...



I had to have ranunculus in my wedding bouquet. (I love ranunculus so much that when I met with a florist who told me she didn't like ranunculus and wanted to put calla lilies in my bouqet instead, I knew we wouldn't be working together. I was a pretty easy-going bride too. I'm not knocking calla lilies; they're just not my kind of flower...)

You could say ranunculus make me jump for joy...

So, when I got an order for flower cupcakes (and they left the flower type up to me), I immediately thought about ranunculus flowers. I've been practicing my technique today. What do you think?...

I'm gonna go practice some more until I'm happy with them. I hope you are all having a great Wednesday.
By the way, our wedding photographer can be found here. He's amazing.