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!

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!

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!!

Sweetpea Beauty

This is a special cake for a special little girl!  Avery, the daughter of one of my very dear friends Catherine, turned three last week.  She requested a Veggie Tales cake, and Catherine filled me in that the "Sweetpea Beauty" movie was one of her favorites.  Having never seen said movie, I was momentarily stumped.  Hooray, Google images!  With that help, I was able to sculpt Sweetpea and Larry the Princely Cucumber as a topper.  Lil' Miss Avery wanted "chocolate and purple," and here we go!
Once we arrived at the party, Catherine added some more Veggie Tales figures to the cake, and it was adorable.  I was pleased to see that my hand sculpted Sweetpea and Larry fit right in with the others!
Happy Birthday Avery!  We love you!

Chocolate cake, buttercream filling and frosting, fondant figurines.

Lil' All Star

I was excited to re-visit this cake... it is one of the first ones you will find on this blog, way back in September 2010.  I LOVED this cake when I made it the first time, and I was happy to make it again!
Stephanie was throwing her baby boy Owen a Braves themed first birthday party, and this cake fit right in!  The first time, I used all fondant to cover the cake. This time, I wanted to try to achieve the same look with buttercream.  I did a few design adjustments, but overall the look is pretty close to the original.
I hope little Owen enjoyed it!  I saw pictures of him enjoying (and destroying!) his smash cake... Happy First Birthday!!!

Top tier chocolate, bottom tier cream cheese pound cake.  Buttercream filling and frosting, fondant accents.
Smash cake is chocolate, also!

To Infinity, and Beyond!

SO HAPPY to be "back in business" these days!  My back is 1000% better, and Hubs and I had a fun little weekend getaway for a friend's wedding (and a way-out-of-the-way-but-so-fun trip to Harry Potter World at Universal Studios.  I died!)
This is the most recent cake I made-- for sweet little Collier.  He turned four, such a big boy, and has been asking me for months for a Buzz Lightyear cake.  His mommy, Jill, said, "You know you can just make a sheet cake."
HA!  This little boy's birthday has been the inspiration for a 3D tractor cake, a 3D crane cake, and I knew he needed a 3D Buzz cake!  I looked around for some ideas, and finally went my own way and did an upside down tiered cake for more of a "stylized Buzz" feel. :-)
Seeing his little face when I walked in with his cake just melted my heart.  Happy Birthday, Collier! Can't wait to see what you dream up next year!

This picture just makes my heart melt!  I LOVE WHAT I DO!

Head is rice krispies treats, arms and legs are fondant.
Sour cream cake with buttercream filling, buttercream frosting with fondant accents.

Whale of a Good Time!!

Saturday, we all ventured to my dear friend Ali's house for her little boy Cooper's first birthday bash.
It was a gigantic party full of gigantic splish splashy fun.  Love that sweet family and love that little boy!  He is blessed, indeed, to have so many who love him and who came to celebrate his life.
The theme was all about whales, and Ali asked me to do cupcakes and a smash cake.  The cupcakes had various toppers-- whale spouts, "C"s, and 1s.  The smash cake was a whale, which I think came out absolutely adorable.  It was such a fun day and I am glad I got to contribute in some small way.
Happy Birthday, SuperCoop!  We love you!

Pretty Pretty Princess

Over the weekend, I created a princess cake for Mariya's daughter's 3rd birthday.  I busted out Mom's old Wilton Wondermold pan, and took a trip down memory lane.  (Click HERE to read that story!)  I did go out and buy a new doll insert, as the one with my pan is so very dear to my heart.  She's got to be a genuine antique by now, and I hope she gets to see many more family birthdays.  I was just excited to know that I could actually find a new doll insert these days!
Mariya requested a princess dress cake, and her only requirement was PINK!  This design is actually a throwback to one that I had Mom make for me.  I chuckled to myself so many times while I was creating this cake.  Miss her every day!!

When I dropped off the cake for Imaan's party, Mariya was thrilled.  Imaan was too busy bouncing in the backyard (Who can blame her? I would have been out there if I could!), so I didn't see her reaction, but her mommy assured me she would love it.  I hope this princess cake made her birthday as magical as all my princess cakes made mine when I was a little girl.

Happy birthday, Imaan!!

Sonic the Hedgehog

Busy weekend here at Loulu's!  This is the first of three deliveries for this weekend... a Sonic the Hedgehog cake for Chases' 7th birthday.
I thought this was the cutest idea for a cake-- a big old slice of cake missing that the sneaky Sonic gobbled up.  This was my first experience attempting to sculpt a Sonic the Hedgehog (or any character, really) out of fondant, but I am pleased with how he came out.  I used to LOVE to play the Sonic game on Sega (do these crazy kids today even know what Sega is??) and this cake brought back so many memories.
I hope it helped make some new memories for Chase on his special day!  Happy Birthday!

Chocolate cake, fudge filling, buttercream with fondant accents.

Jackson's Big Day

This morning I delivered a cake for Jackson's first birthday party.  His mommy, Kenna, and I met earlier this week to discuss the design, and we arrived at this.
Jackson is his mommy's little monkey, so that was the starting point.  Kenna quite smartly decided to combine his first birthday party with his baby dedication service, done by her father, so she wanted to incorporate the cross.   It's a mixture of several different ideas, but I just love it!
Everyone will have twice the reason to celebrate sweet Jackson's life (and his cheeks.  My goodness he has the sweetest cheeks I  have ever seen!) today.  Happy birthday!!

Bottom tier is chocolate cake with cookies and cream filling.  Top tier is sour cream pound cake with fresh strawberry filling.  Buttercream frosting with fondant accents.

Georgia Girl

This whirlwind of a weekend continues-- this morning I dropped off a cake for Ansley's 8th birthday.  Her mom, Wendy, asked me to incorporate Ansley's 3 favorite things-- UGA, cheerleading, and basketball.  Y'all know I am always ready for a Georgia cake! As I was working on it last night, while watching the game, I was so hoping the combination of Bulldogs and basketball on this cake would somehow help propel the Dawgs to a tournament victory.  Alas-- we lost by 3!
The pompoms on this cake took a bit of figuring-- every time I made them they were just unidentifiable.  Finally, I called on some techniques from sewing, of all things, and arrived at this.  I think they're cute!

I love this cake, and I love it when girls are into sports.  This was such a shift from most pink, flowery, girly cakes, and I had a ball on it. I hope Ansley enjoys it!  Happy 8th Birthday!

Marble cake, cookies and cream filling, buttercream frosting with fondant accents.  Gumpaste number topper.  Had to put it on a HUGE board because it was so heavy.

Funky Monkey

This was the third cake I delivered today (WHEW!), and it was for a very special little girl named Madeleine. Madeleine's family is very dear to me, and I can't believe she is already celebrating her first birthday!
Laura, Madeleine's grandmommy, asked me to incorporate some of the monkey designs being used at the party.  We also simply had to include some shamrocks, because this sweet baby was born on St. Patrick's Day.  Having never made shamrocks before, I'm pleased with how these came out!

I hope Madeleine the Monkey and her sweet family have a wonderful celebration of her life tomorrow.  Happy birthday!!

Sour cream pound cake, almond buttercream frosting and filling, fondant accents.
*apologies for the lighting... ugh!*

Baby Giraffe

This was a BUSY weekend, but I love it!
I delivered a cake today for Elijah, who will be celebrating his first birthday tomorrow.  His mommy, Angel, sent me a picture of the plates and some ideas of cakes she liked, and we mixed it all together to come up with this wild creation!  LOVE the giraffe print tier.  I am an animal print kind of girl, so this cake was right up my alley.  I hope Elijah and his family have a wonderful time celebrating his special day!

Bottom tier-- sour cream pound cake with alternating raspberry mousse and fresh raspberries.  Top tier- chocolate cake with chocolate hazelnut filling.  Buttercream frosting, fondant accents.  Number topper is gumpaste.

Scooby Dooby Doo

Yesterday, I got to deliver a cake for Bo's Scooby Doo birthday party.  Bo was involved in the racecar cake a few weeks ago-- he was the brother who had crashed off course!  I was happy to make him the superstar this time.  He chose a cake design that we tweaked a bit, and he asked that the scary bats on the base be changed to Batman logos.  I think it came out precious!
When I dropped off the cake-- Bo's mommy, Jeanne, had the beginnings of what looked like an absolute blast... I hope this 3-D Mystery Machine cake helped round it all out.  It was an adventure to create, and I am now more familiar with the external structure of a cartoon minivan than I ever thought possible.  Love it!
Happy Birthday, Bo!!

Vanilla/chocolate marble cake, fudge filling, buttercream frosting, fondant accents.

Ironman

Today was Ty's 5th birthday, and he needed an IronMan cake to celebrate!  Ty's grandmommy, Beth, is one of the best and most amazing teachers I have ever had the pleasure of working with.  The most laughable moment of my teaching career was when they made ME her "mentor" during her first year at our school (she had been an elementary school teacher prior).  She brought so much experience, fresh perspective, and dedication to our school that it was downright nutty for me to be in the "teaching a teacher" role.  Anyone who passes through Beth's classroom, adult or child, should realize how lucky they are.
I felt lucky to help her family celebrate Ty's big day today, and I hope they all enjoyed his IronMan cake.  Happy birthday, Ty!

Sour cream pound cake, vanilla buttercream.  Hand carved and hand piped IronMan mask.

"We gon' riiiiide..... The Dinosaur Train!"

Any mom of a child under 8 can probably sing that little theme song with me.  It is a staple program over here!

I was excited to do this cake for Sabrina, a high school friend of my sister's.  It was her little Preston's 5th birthday, and due to unforeseen circumstances, their cake plans didn't pan out.  She contacted me last week to see if I could step in, and I am so glad I was able to help!  She had some designs already chosen, so I pulled elements of each and came up with this.  Hubs says it's one of his favorites, and one of mine too, I think!
 I loved delivering it this morning-- one of my favorite things about doing cakes is getting to see little "clients" and their reactions.  Priceless!

Tiny and Buddy (the dinos) are piped buttercream, and I am pleased with how they came out.  Train, birthday banner, palm trees, and topper are fondant.  Sour cream pound cake with vanilla buttercream.