Believe in the magic of Christmas!

Last weekend, I got to do another Polar Express cake, this time for a little boy named Luka who was turning 5.  Since I had been planning Jeremiah's Polar Express party for so many weeks, I had Polar Express on the brain!  This was a fun cake to make-- a sheet cake carved to the shape of the ticket with "BELIEVE" punched on it, a big old Christmas tree similar to the one at the North Pole, and a 3-D model of the train.  Also included are the hot chocolate mug and the sleigh bell.
Dawn and Luka were very happy with it, which makes me happy too!  Happy Birthday!

Chocolate cake, vanilla buttercream.  Tree is an ice cream cone piped in royal icing and train is rice krispies treats covered in fondant.

All Aboard the Polar Express

This post is so not about cake, I just wanted to share my sweet little boy's 3rd birthday party.  It was BIG FUN!
Jeremiah loves trains, and he loves the "Polarbear Express" book and movie.  As his birthday is just a week before Christmas, all the pieces fit for a Polar Express themed bash.

We had all our family and friends over, most of whom only came once I PROMISED to have the UGA/LSU SEC final game in the background. :-)  I think everyone had a ball, and I am so grateful for those who love our family so much!


Not a nutritious bite in sight!  Hot chocolate, cookies, cupcakes, Coke... what more do you need?

Santa greeted the guests as they arrived...

 

Our living room got all of our Christmas trees crammed in there with about 10,000 twinkle lights.  Winter wonderland!!

 

All the little elves rode the train round and round and round our cul-de-sac

  

Birthday boy and his sleigh bell cake!  Can't believe he's 3!

  

Favors were ornaments with sleigh bells inside.  The outside has a quote from the last line of the book, "The bell still rings for me..."

We had such an amazing day!  Love my boys!

Marvelous Maureen

Last year, I made an 80s cake for Maureen's birthday.  I can't believe it was already time for her birthday this year!
Her cake this go round showed off some of her favorite things-- singing, music, shoes, purses, and monograms.  Also thrown in there was a passing reference to "Phineas and Ferb," one of her favorite shows. It's never too late for a happy childhood!
I love making cakes for Maureen.  She is a fun gal and I can't wait til next year!

An I Love Lucy Baby Shower

I grew up watching I Love Lucy.  My mom, whose nickname was Lucy, absolutely adored the program, and I have to admit that as I got older I appreciated the simple humor from a time when sleeping in double bed was scandalous.
I did this cake a few weeks ago for a baby shower for a dear family friend's first grandbaby.  They were planning on a 50s themed shower, and this Lucy-inspired cake was a perfect fit!
Congratulations, Brent and Rhiannon!!

Super Henry!!!

This weekend, I had the pleasure of making a cake for Henry.  He is a very special little boy who has a very rare disease, and every birthday is a special one for his family.  On top of it all, this is the first year that, due to former diet restrictions, can eat cake!  Hooray!!!!!!  I certainly hope my cake lived up to the occasion!

Happiest of birthdays, Henry.  And MANY MANY MORE!

Marvelous Minnie

Last weekend, I got to deliver this Minnie Mouse cake for Hope's 3rd birthday.  I did her Elmo cake last year, and I can't believe it is already time for another one!
Her mommy, Sarah, is a party planning queen. When I dropped this cake off, Hope was sashaying around in the cutest boutique Minnie dress, and the scene was all set for a superfun time. I know this cake fit in right in the center of it all, and I hope they had a blast!
Happy birthday Hope!

October Catchup

It would appear that I haven't posted in more than a month!  That's not to say that it's from lack of cakes, because that is NOT the case!  Instead, I have just been too worn out at the end of the day to post updates.  Why, you may ask?
I am happy to announce that during this time, I found out that I am expecting our second child. Babycakes, as s/he is currently known, will make an appearance in late May of 2012. We are so very excited!

I am mostly excited to be coming out of the first trimester, and feeling some return of energy!  Here are some snapshots of some cakes I have done in the last few weeks--

A pretty baby shower cake based on the baby's bedding (there were coordinating cupcakes as well)

And a fun makeup party for two glamorous little girls...

And a Millenium Falcon cake for Brode's 5th birthday--

So glad to be back in the land of the living, and excited to show you more cakes soon!

Gary and Stephanie

This weekend, I had the pleasure of delivering a wedding cake for a delightful couple.  We met several weeks ago for a consultation, and I just loved them from the start.  The invitation they gave me to use for inspiration had one of my favorite things I have ever seen:  it said "Dinner and dancing to follow (forever)"
It made my heart glad!
We had a great consultation, and Stephanie knew just what she wanted.  A "rosette" cake (these are quite the rage these days!), but done in a yellow ombré effect.  Almost every ombré cake I have ever seen is dark on the bottom and fades to light at the top, but Stephanie wanted to flip that.  I love how it came out!
The wedding was held at the Barn at Price Mountain Farm in Pendergrass.  It was such a gorgeous, peaceful setting and the weather was beautiful.  I hope Gary and Stephanie had an absolutely perfect day!  I was glad to be part of it!


Top and bottom tiers are red velvet with cream cheese filling.  Middle tier is chocolate with buttercream filling.  Outside is all "outdoor" buttercream, which is stablized to hold up to the heat.

A Few of Her Favorite Things

Last weekend, I delivered a cake for Jeanne.  She is now an Official Loulu's VIP-- this was her fifth (I think??) cake order, which I LOVE.  She always ends her emails to me with  "Well, you said you like a challenge!", and with her I have made some superfun cakes!
This one was to be for her mother, who was turning 70.  It needed to make it to North Carolina, so nothing too fancy, but she wanted to include her mother's favorite things:  Auburn, coffee, shih tzus, the stock market, her grandchildren, Fox News, yellow roses, and her husband.  Got all that?
I have done a cake similar in idea before (click HERE), so I knew it was possible.  I sent her a sketch, and off we went!  I love how it came out! 

On top is a shih tzu holding the Wall Street Journal, sitting in a bed of yellow roses.  Surrounding are the names of the grandkids. Off to the sides are a TV tuned to Fox News, an Auburn coffee mug, and a heart with her initials and her husband's.  Such fun and so personalized! I hope they enjoyed celebrating her special day.

Sour cream pound cake, cookies-n-cream filling.  All buttercream, with fondant topper, TV, and coffee mug. *sorry for the stinky pictures, I had to use my phone!*

Little Giraffe

Last weekend, I made this cake for a baby shower thrown by Carolann.  (a three-peater!  Love repeat customers!) She sent me a picture of the decor inspiration and asked me to reproduce it on a cake. 
LOVE LOVE LOVE how it came out, but I am a complete sucker for anything animal print.  I think we all know that about me by now!  I did feel a bit like I was tiling a bathroom with all those giraffe squares, but it was worth it!
I hope Carolann and her girls had a great day celebrating baby Daniel's soon-to-be arrival!

Cream cheese pound cake, blueberry filling, buttercream with fondant accents.

*deep breath...* Go Vols!!

You know how hard it is for me, a born and raised Georgia girl, to support ANYTHING orange.  Still, I can support any SEC team when need be, and that's what this cake called for!

Casey contacted me to do a cake for her husband's birthday.  He's a Tennessee fan.  She bought him tickets to the UT/LSU game this year, and wanted a cake to tie in with that.  I sent her some ideas, and we arrived at this.  It's the Tennessee "Power T" logo, done in the signature checkerboards of the Neyland Stadium endzones.

When I delivered the cake Saturday morning, I was all bedecked in my red and black for the journey to Athens for game day.  Let's just say this orange cake didn't exactly match my outfit, but I think it came out cute nonetheless. Casey was happy, and I hope her husband was, too! :-)

Happy Birthday!!  (and Go Dawgs!)

Chocolate cake, done all in buttercream.

Running Man

Last week, I got to make a birthday cake for my Uncle Greg.  He's one of my top 3 favorite uncles.... out of 3. :-)  Within the last few years, we've seen Uncle Greg make a TREMENDOUS change in his life.  He started running, and before we knew it, he was completing 5ks, half marathons, and the Disney marathon this January.  It has been so impressive to see him meet these challenges, and to keep pushing onward.  A large group of friends and family will be running the next Disney half marathon (in 3 weeks!  Yikes!) with him-- by that I mean waving goodbye to his back at the start line and staggering up to the finish line an hour after he finishes.  Still, I look forward to spending that time together!
For his birthday cake, I decided to try a shoebox cake.  He's family, and therefore he's a guinea pig.  I also attempted to sculpt a running shoe out of rice krispies treats.  It was a learning experience, but Uncle Greg was happy with it and that's what matters!
Happy Birthday, Uncle Greg!  Love you!


Cream cheese pound cake, raspberry and lemon filling.  Top of box is foam, shoe is rice krispies treats.  Buttercream with fondant accents.

Pool Party

 
Yesterday I delivered this cake for Cate, who just built a very beautiful pool in her backyard.  It was her husband and nephew's birthday, and they wanted to celebrate with a day at the pool.  Cate sent me a picture of her pool and I created a teeny-tiny, stylized version with her husband, Doug, and nephew, Danny, enjoying the water.  I think it turned out great!
Though the weather yesterday wasn't exactly conducive to a pool party, I hope they enjoyed their time together.  Happy Birthday!!!

Here's the pool.....

And here's the cake!  Chocolate cake, buttercream frosting, fondant accents.  Hot tub is a cupcake turned upside down.  Pine tree is an ice cream cone!

A Grand Cake for Grandma

This weekend I got to deliver a very large cake for a very great lady.  My very dear friend Catherine, and her husband Justin, were celebrating the 90th birthday of his grandmother.  She is probably the spunkiest 90 year old you'll ever know!  She lives in a very beautiful house on Lake Burton, and she, like so many others, suffered some damage in the awful tornado this spring.  This party was a fabulous opportunity to put that behind and celebrate her life.
This cake needed to feed 100, so it was massive.  I certainly didn't want Catherine hauling it up to the mountains by herself (it can be stressful!), so I volunteered to deliver it.  Works out well, because Grandma's house is about 20 minutes from my family's house on Lake Rabun.  Sister came with me, and we were able to swing by and say hello to our family while we were in the area.
This delivery was a bit tricky-- 72 miles with a huge cake in my lap, ending on 3 miles of the windiest, bumpiest gravel road you've ever seen. Still, we made it, with much laughter along the way.  Best delivery assistant ever!!

Top tier is orange pound cake with buttercream filling.  Middle tier is 4 layers of chocolate with fudge filling.  Bottom tier is sour cream pound cake with alternating raspberry and lemon filling.  Buttercream with fondant accents.

Happy "Bird"-day, Emma Jean!!

This weekend, we celebrated the 8th (!!!!!!) birthday of my niece, Emma Jean.  I am not entirely sure how this happened.  Just the other day, we were snuggling watching football in her UGA onesie I brought from Athens.

Just on Saturday, we were having a ball at her birthday party.

MUST. NOT. BURST. INTO. TEARS.

The party was such fun!  Emma has been planning this party and accompanying cake for AGES, and she was pleased as punch with the results.  The food table is pictured above.  I was so happy with how her cake turned out--

 (Vanilla cake, vanilla frosting, rice krispies characters covered in fondant, gum paste "8")

And Pig Cake Pops for favors...

And a water slide, and a bouncy house, and a ball pit, and water balloon pigs to knock off the swingset with slingshots!

And, because I love them and they're mine, my sweet hubs and JB with his sling shot.  Everybody had a blast!!

Thirty, Not Flirty!

This is a cake I did this weekend for Jesse's surprise 30th birthday party.  Man cake-- so tricky!  His wife, Angel, sent me some ideas of cakes that she liked in tones of silver, gray, and black, and asked to add in some blue as well.  I think the color combo worked out GREAT!
The entire time I was making it, I kept forcing my husband to come in so I could say, "Does this still look like a man cake?  Is the silver sparkle too much??"  His response, and another reason why I love him, "That's not silver sparkle!  That's STEEL!" We'll go with that!

Bottom tier is sour cream pound cake with alternating raspberry mousse and fresh raspberries.  Top tier is chocolate cake with mocha filling.

Happy birthday Jesse!

Guess Whooooooooo

This is the second baby shower cake from this weekend... done for a shower themed around the Pottery Barn Hailey bedding.  SO. STINKING. CUTE!

Carolyn sent me a picture of the invitation and we looked at some photos of the bedding.  Looking around cake sites for owl cakes (there were so many!  Owls are huge right now!), I saw one similar to this and thought it was precious.  Carolyn agreed, and away we went.  I hope everyone enjoyed it and had a wonderful time showering the mommy-to-be with lots of love!

Cream cheese pound cake, buttercream filling and frosting, fondant accents.  Owls, bow, and flowers are gumpaste.

Baby Blue

It was a busy weekend around here!  I had two deliveries Saturday, both of them baby showers.

This cake was done for Jessica, who had seen a previous design for a baby girl shower cake and wanted it slightly modified.  It's simple and clean.  She was having a relatively small party of 20, but wanted the look of a 2 tier cake.  I did a 6 inch round and an 8 inch round, which can feed up to 30.  Nothing wrong with a little leftover cake!!

Cream cheese pound cake, cream cheese filling, buttercream frosting.

Sixty and Sassy!

I spent the majority of this week on a cruise to the Bahamas.  It was so very lovely.  It was my first cruise, it allowed me to spend time with 8 of my favorite people, and it helped me overcome my not-so-love affair with the ocean.  (Love the beach, hate the water.  Something about the Caribbean makes it all okay, though!)

I am back to the land of the living, which means I am back to cakes!  This is one I did right before I left.

Cacey contacted me, after seeing a 30th birthday zebra print and pink cake I had done, to see if I could make something similar, but bigger, for her mother-in-law's birthday.  I am NEVER one to turn down a zebra print cake, and I say the bigger the better!  Cacey wanted to add in some splashes of aqua, which I think worked perfectly.  When I dropped off the cake (on the most GORGEOUS family property), it looked like they were set to have a ball.  I hope everyone, especially the birthday "girl", enjoyed it!

Bottom tier is chocolate with chocolate filling.  Middle is pound cake with cookies and cream filling.  Top is chocolate with white chocolate mousse filling.  Buttercream with fondant accents.  I slightly tapered the sides for a tiny bit of the "mad hatter" look.

Check Mates!!

I delivered this groom's cake last weekend for Cindy, a teacher friend whose daughter was getting married in Decatur.  She told me that the groom loves three things-- chess, his wife-to-be, and their dog Bodie.  Cindy had the cute idea of making a chess board, but replacing the king and queen with the bride and groom.  Bodie was to take the place of one of the pawns.
I LOVE how this came out!  I hand sculpted all the chess pieces of fondant, which was slightly interesting given that my knowledge of chess is minimal! This cake was a monster (16x16x4... you do the math.  I think it weighed 50 pounds!), but it was so much fun to make. 
Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Dye!!

Chocolate cake, cookies and cream filling.  Buttercream frosting with fondant squares and chess pieces.