an a-DORA-ble idea!

Have I mentioned how much I love a themed party? well if I haven't... let me just say this--- I love a themed party!

My friend's daughter is turning two, and two of the daughter's most favorite things (in her short 2 years of existing, that is) are Dora the Explorer and cake pops. Imagine my delight when the mom asked me to come up with something for her Dora-themed birthday party this weekend.

My kids were never HUGE Dora fans, but I can definitely admit to having seen my fair share of episodes, as well as knowing the proper thing to say to a particularly klepto-prone fox named Swiper. So--- what Dora-based creation could I do in the form of a cake pop so as to seal my fate as the birthday girl's favorite baker? Visions of Dora heads and miniature purple monkeys began to dance in my mind. HOWEVER... this was supposed to be 'family fun week' in my house. A week full of family activities and togetherness to celebrate my husband actually having some time off of work! I decided to scrap the more labor-intensive ideas and go with something a little easier to recreate.... I decided on a centerpiece full of explorer stars.


RIGHT??? I know!! super cute! and fun!!! and while a *little* tricky with their shape... not so bad when using a star-shaped cookie cutter. And lets face it... having two buckets full of Explorer Stars is a TEENY bit more plausible (and personally decided a little less creepy) than having two centerpieces full of dora-heads on sticks. Seriously-- think about it. definitely better with the stars..... see?

So that, ladies and gents.... is that. 50 star-shaped cake pops artfully placed in two centerpieces later, and we have a nice theme-related addition to a Dora party. Oh, and a happy birthday girl. That's really the most important part!

So here's to Sienna! Happy 2nd birthday to an aDORAble girl! (get it? aDORAble? hahahahah)

Feeding an Army

This past weekend, I got the chance to challenge myself in a whole new way. I was tasked with sculpting a TANK CAKE to serve about 40 people.

(insert nervous laugh here)

Now most of you know I went to an aeronautical university. Now, I may know my way around a plane (or at least I USED to... not sure what all I actually remember from those engineering days gone by!) but a TANK? I was nervous I may have bitten off more than I could chew.

Luckily, after a little research, I found that the shape of a tank wasn't TOO extreme, and I psyched myself up into believing I could do it. Of course... knowing I had a star wars project to work on, which is TOTALLY in my comfort zone.. eased my worried mind.

The target client was a 5 year old boy, and the cake of choice was chocolate, with a cookies and cream filling.

The cake itself had a rectangular base of 11x15 inches. with two layers approximately 2 inches high each, the filling, and the rice crispy/fondant covered shaped turret on top.... well... you can imagine the tank was a beast.


By far, this cake was the largest I've made to date, as well as the heaviest. I used approximately 6 pounds of fondant, and probably pulled a muscle trying to color it. It was certainly a good workout!


This was also the first time I used color-mist, to give the camo-effect. I like the final effects, but will concede that it's not for every cake. also? next time I need to wear a mask or lay down a tarp... that green mist got EVERYWHERE.

All in all, I think the cake turned out great. I credit The Cake Store with being my inspiration... there were a lot of tanks out there, but I loved their design; especially how there was chocolate 'mud' under the cake. Happy 5th birthday, Marco!

A Sith Fifth

When a good friend and neighbor asks you to make a cake for their turning-five year old, it's just a no-brainer. when that 5 year old is one of your child's best friends, there is no doubt that the cake has to be GOOD.

However, when that very same cake happens to have a star wars theme, a topic that is literally eaten and breathed in your house... such that you are forced to act in character most days before your feet even hit the floor in the morning... well.. you'd best believe the cake better go big or go home. like to a different galaxy, if it doesn't measure up to the critical judgement of your own house of padawans.

I was ready, though. I had successfully created a Star Wars themed cake for another boy, and like I said.. every day in this house is like my very own Jedi-training camp. Of course, I did retain some hesitation, because I had also signed up to create a tank cake for the very same day... but I was up for the challenge.

My target client was a 5 year old boy, and he wanted something to focus on Darth Vader, and the 'Blue Storm Trooper.' No-- not the blue CLONE Trooper we all love and adore as Captain Rex... he wanted a blue STORM Trooper. (Totally different helmet, dude!) I was gonna work the Sith for this Fifth.

The mom gave me free reign to do what I do, but requested that there be 2 dozen cupcakes to serve to party-goers, as well as a small centerpiece cake for candle blowing etc. Vanilla cupcakes, vanilla buttercream, and the cake was to be chocolate with cookies and cream filling. Easy peasy.

After creating my own Darth Vader and Storm Trooper cookie cutters, it was simple to create my 2 dozen fondant cupcake toppers.

I created a larger, 2.5-D replica of Darth's helmet to use on top of the cake. (yes, I did write 2.5-D... it wasn't totally three dimensional, but it was more than the flat fondant toppers. you can thank me later for introducing you to 2.5-D) From that point, it all just kind of came together. (with a little use of the force, that is!)

The end result was a 3-tiered, 8-inch round cake, covered in black fondant. a little light-saber red fondant trim here and there, some painstakingly tedious hand-cut lettering and 5 more blue storm trooper guys (get it.. FIVE stormtroopers? cause he was turning FIVE?) oh, and a fondant cape and a light-stick for a light saber... and you get the following.

My live-in advisory board gave me high-fives and deemed the cake to be "AWESOME"... so with confidence I brought everything to the party for set up.

Once all the cupcakes were in place on their towers flanking the cake, I MIGHT have started humming the Imperial March... but I won't admit to anything else like breathing like Darth himself. Cause you know... THAT would be weird.

In the end, Jacob seemed to like the cake, and his crew of pals also got a kick taking a bite out of the Dark Side.

Happy birthday, Jacob!!! May the force be with you always!!

Blooming Cupcakes

When it comes to birthdays, I love a good cupcake. However, if I'm being honest.. I get a little bored of just arranging them on a platter when presenting them to the birthday boy or girl. Sure for a party, they look nice when arranged on a cupcake tower.... but this spring I wanted to do something a little different.

Recently, I was able to put my creative juices to work when I was asked to make some cupcakes for a teacher in my daughter's school. I was told she likes blues, greens, butterflies and chocolate. After trolling the internet for inspiration, I decided to do a blooming flowerpot of cupcakes, and finished with some fake leaves and butterflies.

For the first 15 minutes after assembly, I think the bouquet looked amazing. But then... the weight of the buttercream started to prove too great for the angle in which some of the cupcakes were attached, and started to slide off the cupcake bases. Overall, I'd rate this project GOOD.... but not awesome.

When I delivered the bouquet to the school, another teacher saw the cupcakes and contacted me to see if I could do something for her daughter's birthday that weekend. She was having a shabby chic theme, and thought it would be great to have a cupcake centerpiece. not being able to resist the chance to improve upon the last concept, I eagerly agreed and set about thinking of a way to make it better... and less heavy.

What I came up with was essentially a topiary structure (all pale pinks, greens and ivory... totally shabby chic!) which hosted MINI cupcakes instead of the full sized buttercream beasts I used last time.

I absolutely loved the way this came out, and at the center of a long table, it looked completely darling next top the lace napkins and china place settings. As seen from the picture below, the mini cakes were able to defy gravity much better than their heavier counterparts.

My only regret is that the icing roses got a bit hard... especially the thinner edges of the rose 'petals'. At least the cupcakes were soft! Next time I do a centerpiece like this, I will be sure to find a hybrid solution. perhaps just a single dome structure, but use the minis instead of the regular sized cupcakes. I think the lighter weight and removing the need to defy gravity will allow me to use a softer buttercream that won't dry out so fast... OR slide off.

Dr. Seuss Week

In order to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday, my daughter's school hosted "Dr. Seuss Week", in which they had a chance to partake in something Seuss-related each day.

Wednesday seemed like a great day to bring in a Stepford-version tribute to the famous author, so after some arranging with her teacher, I created a platter of Green Eggs and Ham. The ham is, of course, not really ham. I molded some rice crispies treats and covered with a fantastic shade of green, then used my edible black marker to cartoonize it even more. Fondant must have been created with Seuss in mind.... looks like it came right out of the book.. including the fancy fork! The Ham was flanked by some basic butter cookies, including a handful of gluten free cookies for a child who had allergy concerns.




of course I couldn't stop there, and had to add another thing or two. Or, Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes, to be more precise. Behold some chocolate cupcakes, topped with a very blue buttercream, garnished with blue cotton candy "hair".



together they made for a fun presentation, and the kids (all kindergartners, by the way) truly enjoyed celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday with a little party.



Once at the school and all set up, I also added 2 more final gluten-free cookies to my cupcake towers. While I did not make gluten free cupcakes for Thing 1 and Thing 2, I did create two decorated cookies in their names.


So here's to Dr. Seuss, and all of the wonderful ways he's sparked our imaginations over the years! Happy birthday!

Building a Cake

As a kid, I grew up with Star Wars. I also grew up with Legos. The fact that kids today have Star Wars LEGOS is just awesome times two.

I was tasked to create a Star Wars Lego cake for a boy turning six. this boy is a HUGE Star Wars fan, and I'm not ashamed to say was instantly smitten with my daughter, who could retell every movie and Clone Wars episode as if she really lived through it all. I figured this would be a huge asset in about 20 years if she chooses to try to land herself a tech nerd as a boyfriend... but apparently knowing Star Wars also has power with the boys ages 5-7.

At any rate, this was an exciting theme for me to be assigned, and I went about drafting up plans for something fun for the birthday boy. First off was re-creating the Star Wars logo in fondant, as well as a layered 2-D Death Star.



Some cakes just tend to come together quicker than others, and this one was as smooth as it gets. With the primary colors as a palette, I was able to piece together a lego-like cake in no time. well... that's not totally true. cutting out all of those tiny dots to make the bricks look like real legos was pretty time consuming.


side view--- just a little light saber action on the right, and the Death Star on the left.


Couldn't forget the back of the cake--- another Star Wars logo.



Overall, Davis and his friends were pleased with the Lego-riffic cake. It was an 8-inch square 3-tiered vanilla cake with chocolate ganache buttercream filling. As this was my first Star Wars Cake... I was happy to use my forces for the good of the galaxy. (or something like that...)


Here's to Davis! Happy 6th Birthday!!!

Birthday and Beyond!

My kids never really got into the whole Toy Story hype, but with the newest installment out, they've definitely become a bit more interested in the characters. I mean... they're pretty much everywhere right now!

A friend of the family has a little boy turning 4 this year, and he is into the Buzz character. The mom asked me to come up with a cookie for him to bring to his preschool to share with friends... so how could I resist?

I got to work baking piping and flooding, and came up with an army of miniature Jay Lenos and Ben Franklins. I mean Buzz Lightyears.


Clearly my cookies are done by hand.. cause each Buzz was just a wee bit different from his other dozen brothers. Nonetheless... once they were put in their favor bags and wrapped with a ribbon and tag, I think they turned out kind of cute.

for his actual family party, the mom asked me to supplement the cake she ordered (NOT from me... waaaaah!) with some cake pops that the kids can take home as favors. Keeping in the whole Toy Story theme, I decided to do a mix of outer-space purple and little aliens. About 50 cake pops later, I came up with two centerpieces like the one below.

It was a fun project, and I was happy to get the chance to mix it up by doing both cookies AND cake pops. The tough part was figuring out which little alien to eat first. (can't you picture the little dude below saying "choose me! choose me!" no??? oh. nevermind, then.)

At any rate-- here's to AJ! happy fourth birthday!!! hope your day is filled with happiness that takes you to infinity and beyond!

Dynamic Duo

So there are these two boys in Massachusetts that I love. like, they are the bee's knees. of course, this COULD have something to do with how much I adore their mom.... but even on their own, these boys are pretty awesome.

so NATURALLY, when my friend Susie said the boys were going to have a joint birthday celebration with a batman theme.... I couldn't resist. I mean, if *I* couldn't be there, at least my cookies could.. right?

Each boy got their own personalized centerpiece cookie with a birthday message. Since Liam's older, I decided he should get Batman, and his little brother sidekick could rock the Bat-signal. (wasn't about to attempt Robin)

In addition to the centerpiece cookie, I made a couple of dozen bat signal cookies to put in favor bags.

And after creating my own batman cookie cutter....a couple dozen Batman-heads....

When all was said and done, each guest got a favor bag with a Batman and Bat signal cookie, tied with a nice ribbon and personalized tag. I even made a few cookies that were dairy and egg free for one of their friends.

Here's to MY favorite Dynamic Duo, Liam and Seamus! Happy birthday, Boys!

Truckloads of Fun

So this week I took on a project for a little man that's very near and dear to my heart. My very good friend's little boy (and quite possibly my future son in law) is having his 4th birthday party this weekend.

The theme?

Monster Trucks.

Short on time and even shorter on 'monster truck' cookie cutters... I opted for a plain circle in which I could pipe monster trucks on.


little did I know what I was getting in to.

Undeterred, I did some research, printed out a few clip art images, did a few practice sketches in pencil, then dove in.



Some of the first ones weren't exactly the best, but eventually I caught my groove and came up with an acceptable design.


Final count was two dozen, and the birthday boy should receive them tomorrow.... with plenty of time to spare for his party on Saturday.


Final pictures.... here's to a "monster" good party....

Lessons learned? I still need to figure out my shrink-wrap methods. the backs of the cookies looked lump and bumpy, which is PROBABLY because I used too much shrink wrap.

also? if I ever get to a point where I'm charging people for cookies, I have to be mindful of the design and amount of effort each takes. This particular project was done out of love, so it could have been 100x more intricate and I wouldn't give it a second thought... but in terms of something that could be a paying job... I'll need to consider the amount of skill and time certain designs require. I'd be curious to compare my 'speed' to get cookies such as these done now, and let's say.. in another year from now.