Happy first birthday Alex and Olive!

Alex and Olive had their big first birthday on 12-12-13.  I didn't get a lot of good photos of this one since I was trying to beat the snowstorm that is supposed to dump 8.5inches on us today.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of their individual smash cakes.  Oh well.
The cake a layer of white almond sour cream cake and a layer of chocolate fudge cake.   Animals are handmade from gumpaste, the ark is rice crispy treats covered in fondant.

Halloween Brain Cake

Fondant covered cake with decorator's edible blood.  Who knew Hershey's syrup and some food coloring could make edible blood!?!

Happy Birthday Finnley!

Finnley just turned 4 and loves the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  I remember these guys from when I was young, though I had to watch a few episodes to remind myself of some of the details....like that they LOVE pizza.  Here is Finn's cake - the turtles live under the city, so they're coming out of a manhole, with the cityscape on a tier and a base of pizza of course.  Fondant pizza. 
All the details and the turtles are hand crafted from fondant.

Elmo in the park party!

Charlie loves Elmo and he loves being at the park.  What better way to celebrate turning 4 than with his two favorite things - Elmo and a park.  Throw in some friends and family, a yummy Elmo cake, ice cream, and a beautiful day and the only thing that could make this party any better would be if Elmo himself showed up!  Yep - we had that covered too!  Happy 4th birthday my sweet and amazing boy!

Party hat and favor bags filled with treats and fun little goodies.  I made both to match the Elmo theme:

Elmo, Elmo, Elmo!

The Elmo is RKT covered in fondant. 

Elmo (Bryan from Spark of the Party) was absolutely fantastic and so animated!  He was so much fun for the children, climbing on the playscape, playing with the kids, looking at gifts, swinging the kiddies around.  I highly recommend Bryan for anyone looking for a character rental in CT.  This was truly one of the best days of Charlie's life so far,  in large part due to an awesome Elmo coming to his party!

 

Jack's first birthday polka dot chevron stripe cake!

It's been a whole year of happy delights, pat-a-cake days, and snug-a-hug nights since you and your sweet little peekaboo face made the world a more wonderful, giggle-filled place! Happy Birthday Jack!! xoxox

Here is little Jack's cake:

The bottom tier is carrot cake with white chocolate coconut cream cheese buttercream. Middle tier is one layer of dark chocolate fudge and one layer of almond with vanilla buttercream.  Top tier is dark chocolate fudge with orange buttercream.
Yum!!

 

The little guy wasn't sure what to think of it. He did eventually dig in and then promptly fell asleep afterwards.

Jack's smash cake with the party cake.  Surprisingly, nobody noticed that the smash cake was backwards in this pic.  Opps!

Noah's Ark

This cake was for a Jewish Naming Ceremony for two beautiful little boys, hence the Mazel Tov wording.  I made the animals by hand from gumpaste. The cake is a chocolate fudge cake with vanilla buttercream and covered in fondant.  The top part of the ark(the second tier) is RKT covered in fondant.  So happy with how this turned out!  I think it might be my favorite cake creation yet!
Here are the pics - enjoy!

Sprinkle cake with bunting

My 3 yr old little guy had his first tap dancing recital this weekend.  He and the other preschool age tappers danced to a song about ice cream.  We celebrated his big show afterwards with a sprinkle cake.

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 and this post wouldn't be complete without a picture of my little guy tapping!  This is from the dress rehearsal:

Elmo and Cookie Monster Cupcakes (and 'how to' info)

I needed to make something for an MS fundraiser and my almost 4yr old suggested we incorporate Elmo and Cookie Monster into whatever we made.  So, Elmo and Cookie Monster cupcakes!

These were incredibly easy and are perfect for a toddler baking project! 

If you want to re-create them, here is what you'll need:

Cupcakes

Food coloring - blue and red and black and orange

Chocolate chip cookies

Wilton white candy melts

Frost some cupcakes with red frosting and some with blue frosting.  Add the wilton candy melts for the eyes, add some black eyeballs, orange nose and black mouth for elmo.  Break a cookie in half and use that for the mouth for cookie monster. That's it!!  Done!

the Butt Cake

Not sure what to say about this one, other than it is a butt cake.  The idea for this cake actually started out as a joke - a hilarious birthday cake for a friend of my hubby's.  When I mentioned that I could really do a butt cake, it was a joke no more.  For anyone who wants to re-create, message me on Facebook (sweet celebrations) and I'll provide you with 'how to' info. 

Here it is in all it's naked glory:

Garden Cake

This was a surprise 60th bday cake for a guy who loves Hawaiian shirts, is a U of Miami fan (hat), loves to read, is an avid gardener, is a world traveler (book-"Europe"), studies brain mapping (book title) and just planted a Sequoia tree from seed (the little seedling and sign in the garden says Sequoia). Phew! Got all that incorporated.

12x12 carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.  YUM! 

 

Tiffany Blue Bling Cake!

Just a few pictures of the cake I put together for my own birthday!   Each tier is covered with fondant.  The bottom tier has buttercream stenciling, middle tier has fondant ruffles and satin ribbon, top tier is fondant with buttercream dots.

The bottom tier is a dummy.  Believe it or not, dummy tiers are harder to work with (for me at least) because they are so light and slide around.  I suppose that could be avoided by adhering it to a cake board, but that wasn't possible with this stand.

Here are the pics.  When we take it apart I'll take some pics to show the inner supports.  Planning to put a stacking tutorial up on my facebook page soon (SweetCelebrations).

Ravens Nation!

Typically, I'm not a football fan.  However, my hubby's cousin Chris is on the stunt team for the Ravens and after something like 7 years cheering for them, they're going to the Super Bowl!  So, I'm REALLY hoping the Ravens win.  Hubby and I have a Super Bowl party tonight and I made this cake to bring. 

Let's Go Ravens!!

This cake is 4 layers, two are an almond sour cream  flavor and two are a chocolate fudge flavor.  It is filled with my signature cookie cream filling (which tastes like Oreos).  I iced it with vanilla buttercream and covered in fondant.  All the details are made from fondant.  The grass is buttercream.  The face mask is gumpaste. 

This is my second carved cake ever and I think it turned out..well...AWESOME.  I owe some of the success to all the other cakers who have shared how-to pics, so to pay it forward, I'm posting pics of the process and instructions on my facebook page later (sweetcelebrations).

Take a look:

rib-bit rib-bit Froggy Birthday Cake

Happy 2nd Birthday Megan!!  Froggy Birthday cake.  Vanilla sprinkle cake with vanilla buttercream, covered in vanilla fondant.  Froggy and decorations are fondant, as well.  The whole thing is edible.

Nemo Under the Sea Cake

This was such a fun cake! Nemo and all the sea things are made from fondant. Almond cake with chocolate buttercream filling, covered in fondant.

 

 

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