Daisy Flower Pot Cake

Where to begin?  You know how sometimes you have a bad day at work?  And, sometimes, your co-workers do too and you can commiserate together?  Well, I had a bad day at work and I have no co-workers so please feel free to comment below if this has ever happened to any of you bakers out there....

I had my first ever cake disaster today.  I hope that I will never have to type the words "cake disaster" ever, ever again.  Ugh, what a BAD day. 

I've been working on this daisy flower pot cake for days...

                                                         (before the disaster)

perfecting the edible flowers, baking the cake and shaping it like a flower pot, crumbling oreos for the filling.... Sooooo, when I got it all put together late last night for delivery early this morning, I was quite happy to be done with it.  And when I woke up this morning and checked on it (cakes settle, you know), it was still looking good.  Actually, it looked good through photos and looked good when I put it in the car and.... looked good until I backed out of the parking space.  Ugh.  I was going like 5 MPH and the pot started to come apart!!!  I didn't even have a chance to hit a bump!!!!  So, I went back in and fixed it....

I had only about 6 miles to go for delivery so I was hopeful.  Then I made a VERY, VERY slow turn.... and this darn cake fell over... it fell over twice on my way to the delivery!!!  PANIC MODE.  I pulled over twice and fixed it best I could.  I had extra edible flowers, just in case.  It looked OK until I got it to the delivery spot and it just started tipping... just sort of...sagging....  I delivered it with near tears in my eyes.  I feel terrible still.  Thankfully, the person it was meant for was not there and I didn't have to take any payment for it... didn't want it!!!  So, K, I'm so very sorry.  Here's some pictures of what the cake for your girlfriend should have looked like and actually looked like this morning, before delivery.  Ugh.

Entirely edible fondant and modeling chocolate flower

I knew there was a reason I'd never seen a cake like this before... too much weight in the flowers + a cake shaped like a cone= no structural integrity.  Next time.... next time?  I will know better.  Now I must go try to get rid of this terrible headache. 

Please, bakers out there, share your disaster stories in the comments below.  I need some encouragement. 

*** Update:  Got a call from the person who ordered the cake... the cake was put in real flower pot for support.  Wish I'd thought of that but I guess panic does crazy things to my ability to use logic.  I'm so glad you liked it, K.  I hope she does too.  And, by the way, that is one of the sweetest ideas ever (no pun intended).

Dr. Seuss cakes

"We looked! Then we saw him

Step in on the mat!
We looked! And we saw him!
The Cat in the Hat!"

How cute is this baby shower theme?  Dr. Seuss!  I was so excited to make this cake and these cupcakes.  Dr. Seuss wrote some of the best books ever (I won't say best children's books because everyone can enjoy them) and I have a feeling this lucky baby is going to be read his amazing books over and over.   

Here's the baby shower cake table set up with the Green Eggs and Ham and Thing 1 and Thing 2 yellow cake cupcakes and the Cat in the Hat chocolate cake! 

Welcome Baby Carter!  There's a whole lot of wonderful people waiting to meet you! 
Oh, The Places You'll Go!

"Look at me!

Look at me!

Look at me NOW!
It is fun to have fun
But you have to know how."
~Dr. Seuss

UGA Cake

First, let me say "GOoooOOOooo Dawgs, Sic 'em!!!"  OK, now that I have that out of the way...

I'm a proud Georgia Bulldawg (yes, d-a-w-g).  I bleed Red & Black.  There is hallowed ground between those hedges.  I cried when UGA VI ('my UGA') died.  I could go on and on....

I loved the years I spent at that school and the relationships that were formed.  I love Athens. Graduation day was one of the happiest (and yet saddest) days of my life.  (Good thing I got to hang around Athens a few more years 'cause I was lucky enough to land a job nearby.)  Soooo, when I was asked to do a UGA cake?  Sheer happiness.

I was asked to "just do something simple" and include the UGA "G" but, um, I don't really do simple well.  So I had to add Dawg collar spikes.

And, since the birthday man was a UGA fan, a football helmet too...

The cake itself was chocolate with buttercream (no fondant overlay) and fondant decorations.  Everything was edible and was sheer joy to make.

Happy Birthday Toby and Go Dawgs!

Ladybugs: Oh So Sweet Cake

I know I've said over and over that each time I make a cake, it becomes my new 'favorite' one.  But, um, I have a new favorite...

I got to make this cake for an ADORABLE little girl who was turning one!  I have to give her parents all the credit for picking out quite possibly the cutest party supplies ever.  They used these party supplies and, when they sent me the info, I could barely wait to get started on this cake.  So cute!

The cake itself was red velvet on the top tier and yellow on the bottom tier.  I had so much fun making the little ladybugs and their little 'trails' on the cake sides. 

And, of course, there's this pink ladybug on the top. 

I know, too, that I've said I love my 'job' and you might be sick of reading it but I really, really LOVE what I do.  I love that I get to see old friends I haven't seen in a long time (but we won't think about how long it's been, mmmmk?  I don't want to know that I've nearly doubled in age... ugh) and meet their beautiful families.  I feel so blessed.

Speaking of favorites, I now have a new favorite cake category: baby's first cakes. 

I just wish I'd taken a photo of the smash cake for this one.  I guess you'll just have to trust me that it was cute.

Happy Birthday Ella!

Airplane Cake

I'm so honored when I get any cake request.  I've always loved making cakes and I really feel so blessed to be doing this on a daily basis. 

So, when I get to make a child's first birthday cake?  What.an.honor. 

I got to make this cake for a baby boy's first birthday.  His parents are pilots (lucky kid! I think there might be lots of exciting travel in his future) so it was only appropriate that it include a plane...

And I was FINALLY able to do a technique that I've been waiting to do for so long.  I made sugar clouds! 

SO FUN. 

And, what first birthday party is complete without a smash cake?

Happy Birthday Connor!

LOST cake

Unless you've been hiding under a rock, you know that ABC's much-loved series LOST has ended.  I think there was as much pomp and circumstance for this finale as there is for Super Bowl games.  Seriously, if you watched it, you know that even the commercials were LOST-themed.  Craziness. 

So, I was so very, very excited to get an order for a LOST finale party cake a few weeks ago.  I literally started coming up with ideas for this cake as soon as it was mentioned.  I quickly realized I was very much lost (ha ha) regarding LOST after not watching it for awhile.  But, hey, did you know that there is even a LOST-themed wikipedia?  AND IT WAS ON LOCK-DOWN from public editing so no one would spoil the show's ending.  Seriously.  I COULD NOT BELIEVE the amount of information on the internet published by the show's viewers!  And oh, the theories spinning around!  Geez. 

After a whole lot of planning and days of work (on the decorations. The cake itself was fresh!), here's the cake....

I tried to be as accurate as possible with the shape of the LOST island and the placement of all of the decorations according to where each incident happened/area was on the actual show. 

The cake order included three requests: the plane crash, the black smoke that kills people, and the recurring mysterious numbers from the show. Can you find them all?

I hid the numbers on the back of the DHARMA vans as "license plates."

The ruins of the four-toed statue and the tail-end crash site for the plane.

Everything was edible!

I had a whole lot of fun making this cake but was very glad to deliver it and get it out of my sight but only because, being a bit of a "cake perfectionist", I could have kept working on it for days and I would have still found things I wanted to fix. 

After years of digging in the dirt, traveling way too much, and always trying to make clients happy in an unhappy "business world" (more on that later, if you're interested), I LOVE what I get to do and feel so incredibly blessed.  I can't explain how good it feels to see someone smile when they see their cake.  Here's hoping I keep producing smiles. 

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!