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.

Dog Cake

It's a dog's life.

I think each time I make a cake, it becomes my *favorite one.* Again, I had too much fun making this cake. There is something to be said for pursuing your dream and how it makes every aspect of your life better...

Anyways, back to the cake. This birthday cake was for a dog lover. The wife of the birthday boy contacted me and wanted to surprise her husband with a cake that looked like his beloved dog. I should have scanned the photo she brought me but, of course, I didn't think about it at the time. Anyway, you'll just have to trust me that this looks like their dog.

(Yes, this dog "enjoys his food")

Fido on his favorite blue banket. Happy Birthday, Mr. C.! Hope she surprised you and I hope you liked it.

"My Sweet Valentine" Cuppycakes

I must apologize. This post is about two weeks late and I know when I follow blogs I want them to be updated and with lots of photos so here goes...

I made these cupcakes for one of the sweetest valentine gestures I've ever heard. A Dad of an 11-year-old girl contacted me and wanted cupcakes for his daughter for Valentine's Day "before she gets too old to get them from us." Awww.

He told me his daughter's favorite colors were red and purple and he sent me a photo of the cutest girl in her white and purple polka-dot dress. This girl had the most beautiful head of dark auburn hair. I immediately asked him if I could make his daughter into a cartoon character for the cupcake topper and he happily agreed. And so these cupcakes were born....

The Mom emailed to thank me afterward and said her daughter immediately knew it was her on the cupcake and was so excited... to be able to bite her own head off. "It tastes just like tootsie rolls!" Too funny. Happy Belated Valentine's Day to all of you. You are dearly appreciated by me.

Yes, I can do that.

A lot of people have asked me lately if I just make “regular ol’ cakes.” Yes, yes I do. Then I get the questions… “How do they taste? Are they any good?” The answer is absolutely “Yes!”
How can I say that so confidently? Arrogance, you say? Nope. I know they’re good because another bakery in town is making a pretty penny off some of the same recipes I use. Wait, what?

Did I steal the recipes from another bakery? Nope.

Did I buy them from that bakery? Nope.

You see, I am very blessed. I’ve always had a love of baking and then I ended up marrying a devilishly handsome man whose grandma was a “famous” local baker. She was the original “Marietta Cake Lady.” Her recipes have been published in the AJC and by the yummy local bakery that now uses them on a daily basis. Mrs. Mary Moon may have given her recipes away way back when she retired but, guess what? I have a copy of them too. And they are delicious. So, yes, yes I can do that. I make regular ol’ cakes too. I just happen to love decorating cakes.

“Regular Ol’ Cakes” (AKA non-fondant decorated cakes) I make include Vanilla Pound Cake, Lemon-Iced Vanilla Pound Cake, Hummingbird Cake, Carrot Cake, German Chocolate Cake, Red Velvet Cake, Italian Crème Cake, and Coconut Cake, to name a few. And I can tell you confidently that they are delicious. (Of course, I have my own recipes too and everyone who has tried them thinks they're yummy.)

There may be a new “Marietta Cake Lady” but you can call me The Cake Gal.

A Hummingbird Cake

If you're my family member, guess what you're gonna get for your birthday from me? Yep, a cake... But, my main problem with these cakes is I don't have an "order." I don't usually have any decoration requests... I have free rein!!! Scary.

Today is my beautiful Mom's birthday! WHAT TO MAKE FOR THE WOMAN WHO INSPIRED ME??? (tap my fingers, rack my brain...)

Well, she's an avid and amazing gardener (among many other talents)... (I start coming up with ideas)... Then, she requested hummingbird feeders for her birthday. Ah ha, a clue. An idea for how to decorate her cake. Other than that, I knew she wanted a "vanilla" cake. And so, this cake was born...

A vanilla cake with buttercream grass, fondant fence, and gumpaste flowers. And, oh yea, the modeling chocolate hummingbird. He was fun to make!

I don't know if you can tell but the hummingbird has "feathers." I learned alot about hummingbirds making this cake. This guy is a male ruby-throated hummingbird and he's entirely edible (except for his support wire, of course).

Happy Birthday, Momma! I love you!