Brooke is One!

For a sweet little girl who is having a cookie and milk party today to celebrate her first birthday!

Happy Birthday Brooke!

Icing Smiles!

Icing Smiles is a WONDERFUL organization that was started by Tracy Quisenberry as a nonprofit organization that provides custom celebration cakes and other treats to families impacted by critical illness of a child. Icing Smiles understand that the simple things, like a birthday cake, are luxuries to a family battling illness. Their goal is to create a custom cake for the ill child or their sibling that will provide a temporary escape from worry and create a positive memory during a difficult time.

I first discovered this organization in it's beginning stages through Pink Cake Box, a bakery in New Jersey. I immediate signed up to help! I thought wow, what a difference a cake can be to a young child battling an illness or a sibling who wants some sort of normalcy against all the choas that might be their life right now.

When I got the "Call to Action" for a cake, I jumped right on it and said YES! Within a week I was contacted again to do another and again I said YES! (normally a baker does not do two in one weekend) but I was thrilled and willing to help!

The first cake is for a sibling whose younger sister has had some health issues since she was a baby. He was turning 7 and wanted a spider cake...not spider man, a cake with a spider on top. Now I must first tell you I fear spiders, I am scared to death of them, only since having kids have I had to come to terms with them. But still, big or small, they still scare me! Well, when I looked up ideas for this, I couldn't even look at them online, but I mustered up and managed to finalize a design after talking with the mom and here is what I created.

And everytime I passed by (after making this) I shuddered...scary...those eyes!

But the young boy was shocked, seeing his expression was priceless, all he could say was "AWESOME", and "Way cool", and "Can I eat the spider?" And yes, he could, the spider was made with rice krispie treats covered in fondant. However due to traveling with the cake I went to pipe cleaners for the legs, but he was still pretty cool!

Then, my next family was for a young boy who was turning 6, he has had health issues since he was a young boy. All he loves to play with is firetrucks! So mom was going to have a firetruck come to the party and I was asked to create a 3D firetruck. But we needed it to feed a few more people so added in a big sheet cake too!

The number 6 on the truck was for his age, and the date 8-10 is his birthday which is on the backside of the truck.

Happy Birthday!

For a family who I've been able to help with providing several sweets and surprises for, I was asked to create a special birthday cake as a surprise. I was thrilled to do this cake b/c I got use some of my new cake toys from Convention!!

I used Nicholas Lodge's new number set to make her 29.

And I used my new knowledge of how to make roses, thanks to Glenda Galvez...still needs improvement, but I liked how they turned out!

Happy Birthday Danielle!

BINGO!

For the same family who I created the Panda cake for, they were going to celebrate her birthday by doing a service project. This year they were going to go to a nursing home and help call BINGO. Having worked in a nursing home myself for a year and a half, I knew this would be a HIT with them. So I took pride in making this cake remembering my residents who I worked with not so long ago!

Happy Birthday Lyle!

And since the birthday loves her pandas I including a small 3D Panda too!

Panda Face

For a sweet girl turning 7, her mom had me create a personal cake for the family to share on her birthday. She LOVES Pandas so I create a Panda face on her cake!

ABC...

I love making baby shower cakes! And after convention I have a ton of neat baby shower cake toys, I mean tools, to use! I was asked by a friend to make her son's baby shower cake. Her first grandchild, a little boy!! The mom to be wanted to have building blocks on her cake. So to keep things simple I made three building blocks with rice krispies and decorated and dusted each.

Double Trees

I was asked by a former teacher of my husband's from high school to create a special dessert to honor her son and new daughter in law. They were married earlier this year out west and now she wanted to have a smaller celebration for close family and friends who were not able to make the long trip. Instead of a tiered "wedding cake" feel we decided on cupcake bites. Cupcake bites are my version of cake mixed with buttercream and dipped in chocolate twice. The neat part is they look like minature cupcakes! After making close to 100 here I stuck them on a tree form and filled in the "holes" with flowers.

Ta Da!

I also made, not pictured, about 3lbs of chocolate covered strawberries, dipped in white and semi sweet chocolate, YUM!

It's a BOY!

I was contacted by a friend of a friend who asked me to create a one of a kind, unique and a first for me, kind of cake! She and her husband are pregnant with their second child and initially they weren't going to find out what they were having but plans changed and instead of finding out at the doctors office, they decided to have a baby revealing cake party. The ultrasound tech, their 3 year old daughter and myself were the only ones last week who knew what they were having. What a honor!! I was going to color the cake either pink or blue based on the results...well...

It's a BOY!

So here is the final product!

I got to use my new cake toys from convention to make a baby cradle on the cake.

And here is the reactions they got when they cut into the cake!

Both mom and dad cut into the cake....

such anticipation...

Chloe was SOOO excited!!

It's a BOY!!

CONGRATULATIONS!

Woof, Woof...

Now here is a first, I made this cake not for the dog who was turning one, but for the family who was celebrating the fact that the dog was turning one!

I LOVE how it turned out! Cute, huh?

Cole is turning 2!

For friend who lives right down the street from me, here is a basketball theme cake I did for her son who was turning 2!

Thank You...

For a friend who was hosting a Thank You social for her volunteers at her church.

Gone Fishin'

What a few busy weeks I've had,

but here you go...a few updates on the cakes I've done...

This beautiful cake I did for a friend who actually works with my mother in law! Her husband was turning 40 and she wanted to have a special birthday cake to honor him and his interests - fishing,

and as a centerpiece at his birthdy party.

Fishing pole and string!

Can't go fishing without an adult beverage an a cooler with bait.

You can see the little fish I put in his bucket already!

Happy Birthday!