Rock Climbing Birthday

A cake made special for a 10 year old who had a Rockin' Birthday party.

Croquet Tournament Cake

Back by popular demand the 2010 Ivywild Invitational!

Iron Man

My Nephew turned 4 and LOVES Iron Man! I made him a Chocolate Fudge cake and decorated the outside with an Iron Man theme and a little Comic Book flair. I attempted to make cupcakes with the Repulsor light on top but they had to be explained to understand so I think they were a big disaster. The cake on the other hand was a success!

Cupcake Crazy

I was cupcake crazy last month!

Strawberry Poke Cupcakes with whipped cream/cream cheese frosting. 

These are really fun to make and you can use your favorite jello flavor and color to make.

Mums in a pretty assortment of colors made for a Baby Shower. I found candy coated chocolate sunflower seeds for the middle of each flower. I thought they were just perfect.

What fun creating cupcakes with a carnival theme. Chocolate fudge cupcakes topped with caramel corn and yellow cupcakes with swirled frosting topped with cotton candy.

I received a second order for puppy cupcakes. This time they were for a puppy shower. The shower was for a Giant Black Schnauzer named, Shayla. Here she is as a cupcake...

Cupcakes are my all time favorite thing to make! So keep the orders coming!! I love it!

Puppy Cupcakes

Here are some cute little doggies that were donated to a fundraiser for Paw Pals Assistance Dogs.

The Dalmation

The Sheepdog

The Dachsund

If you would like to learn more about this organization visit;

www.paw-pals.org

MSC: Strawberry Cupcakes

Okay so I take back what I said earlier about the snubbing, I am now officially a member of the Martha Stewart Cupcake Club. They now have an open membership, if anyone wants to join just send in your email and viola you're a member. Piece of cake! Now my little club of one is not so pathetic anymore! I will be baking amongst lots of other bloggers out there, creating cupcakes from good ol' Martha. Hopefully I can keep up. June's cupcake was chosen by Sherry from Sherry Starts Cooking.  

Strawberry Cupcakes

Chopped strawberries were baked right in. Swiss Strawberry Meringue Buttercream topped them with a fresh strawberry slice on top. A perfect cupcake for summer time! I made 50+ of these sweet treats for a Birthday party. I hope they are a hit!

Martha Monthly

I have a rhubarb plant that produced lots and lots of rhubarb. Probably for the simple fact that I remembered to water it this year!! I am now on Month 2 in my adventure to bake a cupcake a month from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes Book. I, of course chose......... Rhubarb Cupcakes with Whipped Cream.

They were delightful. They reminded me of a muffin and had me wishing for a cup of Starbucks to go with.

Graduation Time!

Moving up..Moving on... 

I was lucky enough to make a High School graduation cake and cupcakes AND my daughter's preschool graduation cake! 

The topper cake was marble cake with vanilla butter cream. Then...the cupcakes... there were lots of them! We had Peanut Butter Cup, Butterfinger, Oreo, chocolate chip, vanilla & chocolate. 

I am so proud of my little girl and was very honored to be asked to make the graduation cake for her Preschool Class. 

"Ms. Rachel Rules!"

I also made individual cupcakes for each of the graduates with their name written on fondant that I had made to look like lined paper. I wish I had taken a better picture, but here is my favorite graduate with her cupcake!!

Monkey Jumping on the Bed!

This was made for a Baby Shower. The top cake was banana cream pie cake layered with banana slices and vanilla buttercream. Candy bananas topped the chocolate fudge cupcakes.

Martha Martha Martha!

First of all...I have been wanting to make a Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcake. I've had ideas of my own but went searching for a yummy peanut butter frosting recipe. Martha to the rescue, not only did she have a peanut butter frosting recipe she had the whole sha-bang. Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes on page 56 in the Martha Stewart's Cupcakes Book. 

Now this brings me to another idea. Some time ago I applied for a spot in a baking club that is dedicated to this very book. The Martha Stewart's Cupcakes Club (MSC) is a blog that chooses one cupcake a month out of the book and all the members bake it, decorate it and blog about it. Well....either I was snubbed OR the waiting list really is that long. Sooooo, what the hell, I am creating my own baking club and so far it has one member...ME. Each month I may or may not choose a cupcake out of this book and I may or may not blog about it. I like my rules better anyway!

Presenting the first cupcake made from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes...

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes

MUST be eaten with a tall glass of ice cold milk. The icing is to die for. AH MY GAH! Seriously, thinking it would go great on chocolate cupcakes even better. The cake was a little more dense then I usually like but it truly tasted just like a pb&j. I used homemade raspberry preserves and squirted it into the middle of each cupcake using what I like to call the "twinkie tip" or for you go-by-the-book people Wilton tip #230. I topped them all with the frosting and drizzled a little more preserves on top. My husband and neighbor were very happy!

It's a.........

One of my best friends is expecting a baby! She through a party to find out and share with friends and family what she was having. It was even a surprise to the proud parents. I was given a sealed envelope from the ultra sound tech. Enclosed was a sonogram picture. I was so very honored to be given this exclusive info and the job to make a cake! Now, will the inside of the cake be pink or blue????

It's a GIRL!!!!!!!

Congratulations!!

How to make a Taco Cake

I was asked to make a Taco Cake for a 11 year old boy's Birthday party. Nervous about it at first, but realized I could make this fun to make and fun to eat! It was easy after I figured out what to use for all the ingredients. For the taco shell I rolled out snicker-doodle cookie dough really thin in the shape of a tortilla. I baked it until it was golden brown, let it cool for a few minutes then rolled half of it over to cool in the shape of a taco shell.

I made two taco shells and stuffed them both with rounded cake cut in half. I frosted the cake with chocolate frosting before I inserted them in the shells.

Then using crushed Ferraro dark chocolate balls I layered the bottom part of the cake to look like taco meat. I added chocolate sprinkles to fill in the gaps. Then lettuce was strips of green Fruit roll-up, cheese was made from cut ups Starbursts and tomatos were cut in half twizzler tidbits.

Put it all together and viola, you have a Taco Cake! I bet all the boys loved eating sweet tasting tacos!

Teapot Cake

Happy 1st Birthday to my niece, Mary! For her tea party birthday, a teapot cake was only appropriate.

 And of course a smash cake in the shape of a teacup!

Sweet Sixteen Cupcakes

Key Lime Pie

Thanks to my Mom's trip to The Florida Keys and St. Patrick's Day I made Key Lime Pie. 

It's topped with sugared limes and whipped cream. 

I actually have never had Key Lime Pie before so I wasn't sure what to expect.  First of all a tiny slice is all you need and boy is is tart! Brooklynn's scrunched up face after her first bite was priceless!

Our own cake wreck...

Some cakes are special because of how they were made...with LOVE!

 

Bird Cake

This cake was made for a little girl's First birthday. McKenzie had a great party with lots of friends and family. I had the pleasure of making her very first Birthday cake. It was chocolate cake with Oreo cookie filling and vanilla cake with pudding filling.
I have to say the vanilla was my fave. The combination of the cake with the vanilla pudding was delish and very moist.

Here is the Birthday girl enjoying her smash cake. Happy Birthday McKenzie!!

Mardi Gras

The Famous King Cake! I chose to make this for Fat Tuesday to celebrate the end of the Mardi Gras season. I have never actually had one before only heard about this traditional dessert served at parties that are usually held once a week during the Mardi Gras Carnival season in New Orleans. A little plastic baby is baked inside and whoever gets the piece with the baby has to provide the King Cake for the next party.

It's more of a bread than a cake. King Cakes are a cinnamon sprinkled dough in the shape of a circle. It's then topped with a lemon flavored icing and sprinkled with purple, green and yellow colored sugars. The Mardi Gras colors each represent something different. Purple represents justice, green is faith and gold represents power. I filled mine with a cream cheese filling and yum I am glad I did! It's delicious! I enjoyed a slice with a cup of coffee and loved every bite!

         

Yummy Valentine Treats

Love is in the air and so are delicious scents coming from the kitchen. 

Chocolate dipped heart shaped rice crispy treats were made for Brooklynn's Preschool teacher.

 

For a little afternoon Valentine surprise I made these delicate and oh so delicious puff pastry delights. Yumm-O!

My kids and husband most definitely approved! Come on over everyone we have plenty leftover!