Our Cakes Throughout the Years: Bridal Shower Cake

I decorated this cake for one of my mom's co-worker's bridal shower at work. The cake is covered in vanilla-flavored pink buttercream. I created a swirled pattern on the top of the cake just to do something different than a typical sheet cake design. I handcarved a silhouette of a bride and painted her with edible pearl paint. I also made tiny roses to go in her bouquet, and one for her hair. I handmade fondant roses to adorn the corners of the cake. I also got inspired by a pink ruffle cake design to make a ruffle pattern on the sides of the cake.

Our Cakes Throughout the Years: Mother's Day Cake

I am the proud mom of an almost 3-year old boy, and decided to make a cake to celebrate Mother's Day. I hosted a BBQ for our parents and had some rosemary-thyme smoked pork ribs off of our own BBQ smoker (we're actually BBQ competitors and card carrying members of the Kansas City Barbeque Society).

The dessert I made was the cake shown above. It is a Guinness and Chocolate cake with a strawberry-rosewater coulis filling and also a vanilla sea salt frosting. The cake is covered in dark chocolate fondant and I piped the flower (I got inspired by a new flower which was planted in my garden) and scrolls with buttercream.

Our Cakes Throughout the Years: 1st Holy Communion Cake

This cake was made for my cousin's son for his 1st Holy Communion. I wanted to make him a special gift in honor of the occasion. The cake is a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting. The Bible cake is covered in a dark chocolate fondant, and white fondant (for the pages of the book). I handcarved the cross and chalice and painted them with edible paint.

My mom made red velvet cupcakes for the party as well. The cupcakes are frosted with a fluffy cream cheese frosting. They are adorned with chocolate fondant doves.

Our Cakes Throughout the Years: Easter Cupcakes

These were two cupcakes I made for our family Easter celebration. The top cupcake is my ode to Peeps cupcake. The vanilla cupcake is filled and topped with a marshmallow buttercream and topped with a marshmallow peep. The second cupcake is my ode to Cadbury Creme eggs. The chocolate cupcake is filled with a Cadbury Creme recipe I found online. I topped the cupcake with a chocolate frosting and drizzled the creme on top.

Our Cakes Throughout the Years: Christian-themed Baby Shower

This cake was created for a Christian-themed baby shower. The vanilla cake with pink frosting is covered in fondant. The decorations are also created out of fondant, with piping done in buttercream frosting. The Christian theme is interpreted on the cake with a clothes line between trees with angel wings, a halo, baby booties, and dress hanging from the line. I also found a quote from the Bible which refers to being born. I painted the cross, tree leaves, angel wings, and dress with edible glitter. This cake was such a joy to make! :o)

Our Cakes Throughout the Years: Lemon Chardonnay Cupcake with Blueberry Goat Cheese Filling

I was playing around again in my "test kitchen" and created a Lemon Chardonnay cupcake with a blueberry and goat cheese filling. The frosting on top is a chardonnay buttercream I created. I really enjoyed the cupcake but found the lemon to be a bit too overpowering over the chardonnay. Next time, I would definitely lighten up the amount of lemon added to the cake. I wanted the chardonnay to be the star. I created a chardonnay buttercream to balance out the lemon flavor. The buttercream almost had a meringue type of texture. The frosting was so light and airy. I loved it! The filling is a goat cheese base frosting with fresh blueberries mixed into the frosting. The blueberries are a great pairing with the lemon flavor of the cake.

Our Cakes Throughout the Years: The Commitments

"The Commitments" Cake
I finally wanted to make a cake just for myself, so I decided to create a cake based off of my favorite movie, "The Commitments". I am flying to Dublin next week to see the cast perform as a band in a charity concert at the O2 Arena, so I celebrated my trip by making a cake.

The cake is a Guinness & Chocolate flavored cake with a Vanilla Sea Salt Buttercream Frosting. I normally do not like any sort of chocolate cake (yes, a cake decorator that doesn't like chocolate..go figure). This Guinness and Chocolate cake though is PHENOMENAL!!!!! I got the recipe off of King Arthur Flour's website. Normally, I like creating my own cakes, but I read great reviews for KAF's Chocolate Stout Cake and knew I couldn't go wrong.

The cake itself is decorated to look like one of the black suits the members of the band wear for their performances. I also included notable props from the movie onto the cake: "Heroin(e) Kills" banner (yes, the extra "e" in heroine is supposed to be there LOL), the ad recruiting bandmates, and the Mr. Chippy van they travel in to their gigs. On the sides of the cake I wrote memorable quotes from the movie.

I loved working on this cake. It was, in a way, my dream cake. I'm so glad I did the cake, and get to enjoy eating it!! Now, it's off to Dublin to see "the World's Hardest Working Band". Sláinte!