Cake in the Hat?

Reena needed a small but fun cake for Sawyer's second birthday. She wanted to do a themed birthday cake and was thinking the Cat in the Hat would be fun. We came up with this design together and I actually think the real cake came out better than the sketch! The whole cake was Truffled Chocolate Cake (chocolate cake layered with chocolate cream filling and mini chocolate chips along with chocolate buttercream) and it was covered in homemade marshmallow fondant. The bow and the #2 at the top were also MMF so that Sawyer could really eat the whole thing.

To make the top cake, I layered stripes of white and red fondant over each other to make it look like fabric. Then, I used black food coloring and a paintbrush to paint on the infamous black lines from the book. When I delivered the cake, Reena loved it! It was just such a cute, whimsical cake :)

Brown & Burgundy Wedding Cake

Elise was getting married and wanted a brown, burgundy, and white wedding cake to match her decor. She wanted something elegant but still fun at the same time. The top tier was Brownie Lovers (chocolate cake layered with actual brownies and chocolate ganache), the middle tier was English Toffee Cake (sweet yellow cake layered with chocolate buttercream and toffee chunks) and the bottom tier was Spices & Cake (spice cake layered with cheesecake filling and buttercream).

The whole cake was covered in marshmallow fondant and the bow on the top was also MMF. The floral pattern was stenciled on using a designer stencil and buttercream. I've recently had many people ask how I do stenciling on a cake. It's been a learning process and I have to say, I've learned a lot in making mistakes first. The first time I did a stencil, it worked beautiful so I thought to myself, "Yay! That's so easy!" Then I went through a rough patch where I would stencil, it wouldn't come out to my liking. For example, if the cake is white and I'm using brown buttercream to stencil, the brown can bleed or get smudged and unfortunately, it's not like I can just "erase" the errors. Essentially, I had to take the fondant off, recover the whole cake, and try the stencil again. With this technique, it's quite noticeable when there's an error and on my cakes, that's not okay for me. On this cake, I took my time to make sure my buttercream job was perfect, then made sure my fondant job was good to go before attempting the stencil. If the buttercream or fondant aren't done correctly, the stenciling will just not work right. I really think that's half the battle (G.I. Joe... knowing is half the battle.... :)

Anyway, when I went to deliver the cake, they had this amazing cake table set up under a gazebo with a great table and lighting. I thought it was such a beautiful set up and the bride and groom were there taking pictures (they looked beautiful). Thank you both for allowing me to make such a fun cake! Congratulations!

Small Road of Life Birthday Cake

Jennifer wanted a special birthday cake for her dad this year. She was actually at a surprise retirement party for Dr. Edna Rogers a while back and loved the idea of doing a road of life cake. Because this cake wasn't too big, we wanted to put different milestones and special personalized details of his life onto the cake. Bob served a mission in Germany, "collects" and rescues cats, vacations in Palm Springs, loves his cabin, enjoys photography, and is a member of a Duck club (not shooting but rather watching ducks).

The cake was covered in homemade marshmallow fondant and I used a number of techniques for the decorations. The ducks were hand cut out of white fondant and then I painted on the green and brown colors. The cats were also a combination of fondant shapes and hand-painting to get the right details on the cats. For the Palm Springs post card, I first cut the postcard. I added a layer of gray-ish colored mountains made of fondant and then painted a blue sky behind it. I added lettering on top of the colors and mountain as well as palm trees and coconuts cut from fondant. Although you can't see all of the details here, I had a lot of fun making each piece to personalize the cake even further.

The top tier was Mom's Apple Pie Cake ( Moist apple spice cake with baked apples layered with cheesecake cream filling) and the bottom tier was After Dinner Mint Cake (Minty chocolate cake layered with mint chocolate ganache and mini-chocolate chips). I love making this type of design because it really doesn't mean much to the passer by but those that attended the party and who know Bob really enjoy seeing all of the details of his life. Jennifer and her family loved the cake (YAY!) and Bob's 80th birthday bash was a hit!

Quilted Shimmer Cake

Sylvia wanted a simple and elegant cake for Krystal's birthday. She wanted to incorporate gold and shimmer into the cake with a quilted design. This woman knew exactly what she wanted and I love that! I added a bow to give it a little more detail and then added edible pearls for the corners of the diamonds.

The cake was Lemonberry (lemon cake layered with raspberry cream filling and buttercream) and then it was covered in homemade marshmallow fondant with a MMF bow as well. I sprayed the cake with edible pearl shimmer and then the bow and sign with edible gold shimmer. I actually don't use a quilting mat or a diamond cutter to make the pattern but instead, I measure the circumference of the cake and then use a needle to poke the spots where the lines should meet. Then I take a straightedge and carefully press it into the side of the soft fondant. The hard part about this method is that if I miss it by even a fraction of an inch, I have to take it off and start again. On the other hand, this way, I'm able to adjust the size of the diamonds to fit each cake. Ah, so much fun! :)

Mini Grasshopper Cakes

Kari needed two cakes for her friends' birthdays. One of her inside jokes is little grasshoppers so we went with this idea and made mini-cakes for them. This first one is a female grasshopper (can't you tell? She has pouty pink lips and eye shadow) made out of fondant on top of Vanilla Latte Cake (vanilla cake layered with coffee flavored buttercream). The blades of grass and bow are also marshmallow fondant and then I placed silver dragees on the cake for a little extra touch.

As you can see, these are pretty small cakes. They were around 4 inches in diameter, which is pretty small to work with when covering a cake in buttercream and fondant. This cake has a little boy grasshopper (why I had to make a girl and a boy grasshopper is beyond me. She said grasshoppers, I assigned them a sex). In any case, this one has a hershey kiss made out of fondant along with a puddle of chocolate underneath the grasshopper. Again, the mini-cake is covered in home made marshmallow fondant. This cake was a chocolate cake layered with chocolate chips and chocolate buttercream. YUM!

I later heard that the second cake never made it to Kari's friend because when she unveiled the first cake to her friend, they ended up eating both cakes together :) haha. Happy to do it!

Happy Bunny Send Off

Karen wanted to give Martin a proper send off since he was leaving his position at the University of Utah and wanted to play off of his happy bunniness (not a word, I know). We went back and forth on designs and it proved challenging to incorporate bunnies into a cake for someone who's not turning 6 years old. In an effort to keep it more mature, I went with the school colors and a rather simple design so that you can focus on the happy little bunnies.

The bunnies were hand cut from circles and stripes and were surprising more easy to make than I anticipated. Circle for the head, circle for the body, strips for the hands, feet and ears. Okay, it's not THAT easy but you get the idea.

Because Martin likes things that are simple, Karen decided on Yellow cake with chocolate buttercream for the top tier, After Dinner Mint cake for the middle tier (chocolate cake layered with mint chocolate ganache), and 24-Carrot Cake for the bottom tier (carrot cake layered with cream cheese frosting).

Salt Cake City Logo Cake

I made this cake as a display for an upcoming convention to match my logo. The whole cake is covered in homemade marshmallow fondant. There's not much else to say about the cake. Oh, I know, I can explain how to make fondant candles. Roll out fondant so that it tapers near the bottom. Stick a piece of spaghetti noodle through it so that it peaks out of the top just a bit and sticks out the bottom about two inches. Then, with a piece of yellow fondant, shape a ball and then pinch a tip from the ball so that it resembles a flame. Place that onto the tip of the spaghetti noodle (I like to put a dab of water where the fondant touches fondant, this will help it glue faster). Now, if you lay it down flat to dry, there will be a flat surface on your candle. Instead stick the remaining exposed spaghetti into a piece of styrofoam so it stands tall. Now, get caking!

Religion in Cake Form

First an explanation. Sarah was taking a Religion and Conflict class and for her final project, she wanted something unique. What's more unique that religion in cake form? :) I was so happy to see her idea. She sketched out the idea she had in mind and explained it above. This was my interpretation of her interpretation of religion.
The book was made out of rice krispies covered in marshmallow fondant. The column was mostly styrofoam but I added the lined detail by layering marshmallow fondant "tubes" onto the styrofoam before covering the whole thing in more marshmallow fondant. Lastly, I made the Southern Butter Pecan Cake (butter pecan cake layered with caramel, chopped pecans, and cream cheese frosting) for the base and covered it in MMF. I painted on edible shimmery silver & gold to make it look like a galaxy and accented it with tiny dragees (fancy mini-jawbreaker type things).
It was a little tricky to assemble because I delivered to school so she could take it to her class. The book was a little heavier than the expected so the whole drive, I was afraid it would tip over. Don't worry, I drove a dowel straight through the whole cake to make sure it wouldn't. I still get nervous though :)

So I got it to my office where Sarah was coming to meet me. I had just got out of teaching and I had my students in my office asking for help with their homework when she came to get the cake. It was a strange moment with my students seeing the cake and thinking, "Wait, I thought she was a teacher." haha.

In the end, Sarah loved it AND I have to mention that she earned an A in the class. I like to think it was because of the cake but it's probably because she's a brilliant student. :)

Star Wars Cake & Cupcakes

Will was having a birthday party and his mom, Holly, wanted a Star Wars themed cupcake set for him. Rather than doing people-like pictures, I decided to do a more cartoony-version of the main characters and here were the results. They were all topped with marshmallow fondant accents and each of them were hand-cut. So much fun! She ordered three flavors, White Chip (sweet yellow cake with white chocolate chips baked in and topped with buttercream), Chocolatey Chocolate (chocolate cupcakes with mini chips topped with chocolate buttercream), and Cookies & Cake (vanilla cake with Oreos baked in and topped with Oreo buttercream). Yum!

A few weeks later, I made my bonus son a Star Wars themed cake and thought I'd put them here together since they matched. He's completely obsessed with Star Wars although he can't watch them all yet. The cakes were covered in homemade marshmallow fondant and all of the designs and accents were also marshmallow fondant. Although I don't remember which flavors I made for his birthday, the kids ate it all up pretty fast at the party :) The characters were the real prize though because before we even sang Happy Birthday, each kid called a character. Hyrum got the light sabers. They were pretty energetic by the end of the pool party!

I have to thank Lucas Films for allowing me to recreate these images for this cake and cupcakes. Most of the time, when I email a company for permission, I never hear back from them. Thank you so much!

A Joke in Cake Form

What do you get when you cross a brown chicken and a brown cow? Brown chicken brown cow! (Picture someone saying it like "bow-chicka-bow-wow") In any case, that's the joke that Abbi wanted to share with her boyfriend for his birthday cake. I guess her boyfriend had never had a birthday cake (how sad, right?) and so she wanted to surprise him with this cake with one of their favorite inside jokes. We decided that it would be cute to have little hearts around the cake symbolizing the love between the chicken and the cow (although I'm not sure if they actually get together in the end of that joke).

Abbi chose coffee flavored cake layered with chocolate buttercream and caramel while the other flavor was Lemonberry (lemon cake layered with raspberry filling). The whole cake was covered in homemade marshmallow fondant and I cut the animals out by hand. Abbi was so happy when she saw the cake. I'm so glad she loved it and I hope her boyfriend did too :)

Alice's Toy Story Cake

Laura wanted a fun birthday cake for her daughter, Alice. She was turning three and really loves Toy Story so we created this cake inspired by the movies. The cake was Ruby Red Velvet cake layered with cream cheese frosting and covered in homemade marshmallow fondant. The decorations were hand cut because I wanted the get the look just right and the clouds are not normal looking clouds. This cake was so simple and yet really fun to put together. Enjoy!

2006 Mustang Shelby GT 500 (that's a mouthful!)

Jodie threw a surprise birthday party for her husband and wanted the cake to look like his baby.... his car :) At first I was a little scared because the cake needed to look exact. Ralph loves his 2006 Mustang Shelby GT 500 and if it wasn't exact, he would notice. Here's what I did...

The cake was Brownie Lovers (chocolate cake layered with actual brownies and chocolate ganache) and it was covered in homemade marshmallow fondant. First, I went to the store and bought a small toy replica of the exact car. I had plenty of pictures that Jodie secretly took of the car but I thought a more 3-D replica would help. I started by layering the cake and brownies into a rectangle. I covered it in ganache and then let the ganache harden up a bit before starting the carving process. I carved, stepped back, carved some more, stepped back some more, and carved again. To get the dimensions just right, it took several hours of carving, frosting, and carving to get it right. Once I had that down, I added dimension on the cake like the spoiler and bumpers by rolling MMF and "gluing" them onto the cake with a little ganache. The idea here was to place fondant over these grooves so that they stuck out even further than the cake itself but could stand on their own. Then, I covered the cake in four separate pieces of marshmallow fondant (the front, the back, and the sides). Because this cake was so huge, I thought it best to cover it in pieces so that I could pay more attention to the grooves of each side rather than rushing through covering it quickly. I wanted the cake to shine like a real car so I painted the whole cake with edible red food coloring a few times until it shined. Ah, that was so much fun.

I cut out the windows and inserted black pieces of fondant to mimic tinted (yes, REALLY tinted) windows. I ran white stripes down the center of the cake (which was trickier than it looks because I wanted them to look just right). The wheels were made of rice crispies covered in MMF. I painted the rims with edible silver and waited until they dried before placing them on the cake. I added the rear view mirrors, and tiny details like the headlights, back lights, logos, and license plate. Wow, when I write it out like that, it sounds so easy! :)

When the cake was complete, it was so huge that I couldn't fit it into either of my fridges! To give you an idea, one of the guests of the party insisted on taking a picture of me with my cake (I rarely ever do this but here it is... me and Ralph's cake!).

Since it was a surprise party, I didn't get a chance to meet Jodie or Ralph but Jodie later wrote me this email:

Well, all I can think of to say is WOW. That cake was SOOO incredible! It got photographed more than Ralph did! You are truly amazing.....what was even more amazing was that it was unbelievably delicious! I actually think it was the best cake I ever had! Ralph had a seriously hard time making that first cut into it---in fact he tried his key fob first! I just can't thank you enough--you didn't have any cards left there by the end of the party! I was telling everyone how wonderful you were to work with--I soo appreciated your willingess to dive into the challenge, and it was just as amazing as I knew it would be. It was the hit of the party--there were lots of car guys there that were completely enamored!

Thank you, thank you, thank you again--the care and detail that you put into that work of art was so appreciated. I can't wait to take one of your classes!

Thank you so much, Jodie! I was so thrilled to have such a challenge and it was awesome working with you as well!

Gaming System Cake... Nerd Alert :)

Corrinne needed a cake for the new Gaming department at the University of Utah and originally wanted it to be small. As we worked on the design, the cake got bigger and bigger going from just an Xbox to 6 different gaming systems. I wanted to go old school with a Nintendo and Super Nintendo and Corrinne wanted to represent the new generation of gaming like the Wii and DS. The "compromise" if we want to call it that, was that we do all 6 systems with four different flavors. (I must admit that I encouraged the growth of the design even more than she did :) I was so happy that she loved it in the end!)

Each of the cakes were covered in homemade marshmallow fondant with MMF accents. Because of the weight of the cake, I had to assemble it onsite so we wheeled in each tier and I stacked one on top of the other while a group of graduate gaming students watched. I don't even know where to begin so let's take it one step at a time.

The cakes were Banana Cream Pie Cake (banana flavored cake layered with banana cream filling and fresh banana slices), Mom's Apple Pie Cake (spice cake with baked apples layered with cheesecake cream filling and buttercream), Rainbow Bright Cake (vanilla cake dyed different colors to match the design of the cake layered with sprinkles and buttercream), and Mocha Java Cake (chocolate cake layered with caramel cream filling and coffee buttercream).

The bottom tier was an NES with the labels from the new Department of Film & Media Arts and Master Games Studio. The next "tier" up was an XBox and I have to admit that late into the night I realized that I had made the XBox upside down and couldn't do anything about it. I was nearly panicked because this was a cake for gamers. My man-friend and even Corrinne herself said "I'm sure no one will even notice!" Ugh, I still had lots of dissonance about it. So sad for me! Next up was a PS2 followed by a Wii. Next up was a Super Nintendo complete with the grooves and plug-ins and finally a DS on top. I made two DS's, one in Ute red and one that was blue. For those of you who don't know, BYU's colors are blue and the University of Utah's colors are red so there's a big rivalry. Unfortunately, the blue one was better looking (according to me) so I had to top the cake with the blue one. What can I say? For me, cake trumps colors.

Oh, this cake was SO much fun! I LOVED making each cake as perfect as I could (with the exception of that tiny little upside down cake... ugh!) and it really took me back to being a kid with all the gaming systems. All of us nerds out there can probably appreciate the combination of old school and new school gaming systems. Thank you, Corrinne, for being so open to having what was going to be a small cake turn out to be a show stopper. Good luck with your new position and know that we miss you already!

Fuchsia & Black Wedding Cake

Kirsten & Jason were such a fun couple! When they told me they want a black and fuchsia wedding cake, I thought "Yeah, I'm in!" Then, they came to a tasting that was really just a great time (it was like I was hanging out with friends while getting a sugar high). We ended on this design which I loved and then they said they wanted to add a special detail at the top. They wanted me to cut a hole in the top in order to put a small flashlight so that they could shine a light through a crystal topper. It was a first for me but I loved the end product.

The whole cake is covered in homemade marshmallow fondant. The top tier was sprayed with edible pearl shimmer after I imprinted the diamond pattern. The black dots are actually edible dragees (basically like tiny little jawbreakers). The middle tier was a custom made ribbon with a jeweled broach and a special monogram that they brought to me. I thought it gave the cake a really elegant look. Lastly, the bottom pattern was stenciled on with a designer stencil and fuchsia buttercream.

The cakes they ordered were Brownie Lovers (chocolate cake layered with actual brownies and chocolate ganache), Spices & Cake (spice cake layered with cheesecake cream filling and buttercream), and Banana Cream Pie Cake (banana flavored cake layered with banana cream filling and fresh bananas).

They came back later to get the flashlight and said that the cake was a huge hit. I was so glad to hear that because we really worked hard to get the perfect cake for this beautiful couple. Thank you, Kirsten & Jason, for being awesome clients to work with on this awesome wedding cake!

Last Minute Steeler's Wedding Cake

Courtney wanted to order a last minute wedding cake for a couple going through a rough time. She had seen a few wedding cakes on my website that she loved and wanted to throw the cake a "Steeler's" feel to it since the couple love the Steeler's. We decided to do a square wedding cake with gold and black stripes to keep it simple but modern.

The top and bottom cakes were 24-Carrot Cake (traditional carrot cake layered with creamy cream cheese frosting) and the middle tier was Deutschland Chocolate cake (chocolate cake layered with coconut, pecans, and chocolate buttercream). Because it was so last minute, she wanted to keep it very simple without anything other than a nice nod to the Steeler's. I hope they loved it! :)

Air Jordan Shoe & Basketball Cake

Jenae wanted a really unique for her girlfriend's birthday. When we first talked and she said that she wanted Kristina's favorite shoe in cake form, I remember thinking "wow, how am I going to do this!" There is a specific pair of Jordans that Kristina really loves and so we decided to make that cake along with a Chicago-Bulls-esque jersey and a half basketball. The shoe was a strawberry cake layered with buttercream and the basketball was hand-shaped from vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream.

The shoe and basketball were covered in homemade marshmallow fondant while the jersey itself was marshmallow fondant. In order to make this cake look perfect, I printed out a ton of versions of the shoe from all different angles (I raided my brother's closet to see if he had these but he had several other Jordans.... not this one!). The real shoe has a lot of stitching, grooves, and tiny details and I wanted to make sure that I got all of those elements onto this cake. I spent a few hours shaping, cutting, and sculpting the cake until it fit the right shape (I have to thank Paul for this because he's also a huge Jordan fan and made sure that the shoe looked perfect). Then, I covered it in a nice layer of buttercream. Once the buttercream set up in the fridge, I covered it in homemade marshmallow fondant (it's quite a challenge to cover this shape in one piece of fondant and takes a lot of patience).

Now that it was covered, I had to work fast to get the right grooves and stitches into the cake. I used a pattern tracing wheel found in the fabric department of any store to make the "stitched" look. I had to trace the pattern while the fondant was still soft so that it left an indent into the side of the cake (because that's how the shoe looks). I set a large groove down the shoe to make the lip and then used more marshmallow fondant to mimic shoe laces. After I was happy with the grooves, I painted the red and black coloring on with food coloring. Although you can't see all of the details here, I was so proud with the finished product of the shoe. It really looked identical to the real shoe :)

The basketball was much easier to execute but not as easy as it looks! In order to make it look real, I imprinted a texture into the fondant so that it looked and felt like a real basketball. The biggest challenge with the ball was to get it to look perfectly round. There are pans that make balls easily but I wanted this cake to be larger than those pans so hand sculpting was the only way to go.

Lastly, the jersey was made of marshmallow fondant. I rolled it out, cut it into the right shape, added the name, number, and borders around the side. SO much fun! I have to say that I wish I kept this cake for myself because in the end, it was such a labor of love! Happy Birthday, Kristina!

Janna was having a black and pink themed wedding here in Salt Lake but was planning it from Germany. She had seen several cakes with a dragon and castle and loved the idea for her wedding cake. We really wanted it to be a statement wedding cake so the bottom cake was a heart shaped cake nearly 15 inches wide with an 8-inch middle tier and a 6-inch top tier. The dragon and castle were both made out of rice krispies covered in marshmallow fondant. To give the cake a little more of a delicate touch, we added a small pink border around each tier with a tiny pink bow to match.

Because the bride was in Germany, she sent two "representatives" in her place for a cake tasting. Julie, the bridesmaid and her husband, had such a tough job of eating cake and deciding cake flavors :) haha. It was so much fun to hear them talk about the cake and what THEY wanted on it, even though it wasn't their wedding cake. Julie's husband wanted me to add a small Denver Bronco's logo on the cake and tried really hard to convince me of doing that but alas, I refrained from putting his suggestion onto the cake.

In any case, the flavors were Strawberry Cheesecake cake (strawberry cake layered with cheesecake cream filling and buttercream), and Rainbow Bright Cake (vanilla cake dyed to match the colors of the wedding layered with buttercream and rainbow sprinkles).

The castle had tiny little details that I loved including the little swags and windows. You can't see it much here but even the castle door had detail work and a tiny little door handle.
The dragon, also made of rice krispies and marshmallow fondant, was very tricky to make. Because his neck was so long, I had to shape him and then place him around a fake cake to allow him to firm up. Then, his "wings" had to be dried and hardened at an angle so that they could be placed into the dragon so that they looked realistic... or as realistic as a dragon can look. :)

On the day of the wedding, I finally had an opportunity to meet Janna for the first time. She loved the cake and it matched the decor of the wedding site really nicely with bright pink and dark black balloons. It was quite the challenge to make but in the end, very unique cake.

Two-Sided Grim Reaper Birthday

Shona threw Sue an awesome surprise birthday party and had such great ideas about the birthday cake. Shona wanted a half-paradise, and half-grave birthday cake with the grim reaper on top. She even wanted the grim reaper to have Bermuda shorts on under his robe. I thought the whole idea was hilarious and so I was in from the start!

After a lovely cake tasting with Shona, her son and daughter, they decided on Emerald City Cake (light pistachio flavored cake layered with pistachio cream filling, chopped pistachio nuts, and buttercream), Coconut Cream Pie Cake (coconut cake layered with coconut cream filling, coconut flakes, and buttercream), and White Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cake (strawberry cake layered with white chocolate ganache). They were so much fun to plan with surprise birthday cake with and loved each new addition to the main cake idea. They were really shooting for a completely unique and fun cake and I think we achieved that together.

This first picture shows the cake with the stark contrasts between the two sides.

This second picture is the graveside shot. First, the marshmallow fondant was marbleized to give it an eerie feel to it. Then, I painted creepy trees and bats onto the cake. I added 3-D gravestones, each with a different names or phrase and some broken fencing.

This side is the tropical ocean side complete with a half-rainbow, birds & clouds, palm trees and flowers, and finally fish and coral at the bottom. This colorful side was so much fun because it really allowed me to keep adding and adding details until my little heart was content. Ah, it finally was :)

Lastly, I wanted to show you an up close shot of the grim reaper, made of fondant. He has little flip flops, flowers on his shorts, and a sickle to boot. This guy was tricky because I had to get his robe to look like it was flowing while still being made of fondant. His sickle also had to stand straight but stay in his hands. It took some messing around but I finally got him to come together.

The night of the delivery, it was pouring down rain. I was so nervous about getting this sucker into the restaurant because it was so heavy and detailed. Luckily, we got it into the room and into place before the birthday girl arrived. I later heard that she absolutely loved the cake and I know Shona did as well. Thank you so much for trusting me with this crazy vision!! :)

Mod Cake & Cupcakes

Sarah was having a sex-reveal party for her future baby and wanted a modern cake and cupcakes to match. We decided early on that Sarah isn't much of a "pink ducks" and "baby blue rattle" type of mother and since it was her shower, we wanted the theme to match her personality. In our discussions of the party, she mentioned that this baby was her "VERY.LAST.ONE" which I thought was hilarious. I suggested that we integrate those words into the cake because it was too funny to let slide. You can hardly see it in this picture but the cake topper (made of marshmallow fondant) says "VERY LAST ONE" on it.

The cake was covered in marshmallow fondant and the cupcake toppers were also MMF. We went with yellow, orange, brown, red, and white as the color scheme because this was during the fall. The cupcakes are Chocolate Dipped Cherry Pie Cake (chocolate cake with baked cherries) topped with cream cheese frosting while the main cake was White Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Cake (strawberry cake layered with white chocolate ganache).

Because this was a sex reveal party, Sarah had her doctor call me immediately after her ultrasound and told me the sex of their future baby. It was pretty crazy that I was the second person to know :) Anyway, I dyed the cream cheese frosting and the white chocolate ganache blue so that when they cut into the main cake and when the guests bit into their cupcakes, they saw bright blue all at the same time finding out that they were having another boy. Sarah later wrote and told me that the sex reveal was a huge hit and they are thrilled to have another boy. Congratulations, Nathan and Sarah! Very. Last. One, right? If not, I'll be here for another sex-reveal cake. haha

Polka Dots & Mouse Ears

Jill wanted a fun and bright cake for Oakley's second birthday. She had seen a cake I made a while back with a similar pink, black, and white color scheme with polka dots and wanted something like that. This cake was so much fun because I love the colors and the design. The little bows and ears just make it so cute for a birthday party. The bottom tier was Brownie Lovers (chocolate cake layered with brownies and chocolate ganache) while the top tier cakes were Rainbow Bright (sweet vanilla cake dyed to match the theme of the birthday layered with buttercream and sprinkles). The whole cake was covered in homemade marshmallow fondant and accented with MMF decorations including the bow and ears.

I have to say that it was pretty tedious to place each of those dots one by one on the borders and to make sure that they are spaced equally. Yes, I'm the type of person that needs there to be equal spacing between the dots :) In the end, this was a fun and bubbly cake for Oakley's 2nd birthday. Yay!