Laundry Day

The monthly birthday parties at the DWC haven't had themes for a few months now. It's made it a little hard to come up with a design for the cakes. I don't want to do just generic flowers, balloons, etc.

The ladies play games during the party. It's usually BINGO. The prizes have had themes, so I've taken inspiration from the prizes for the cakes. This month the prizes were laundry items.



The washer is way bigger than the person, but that's ok because it's a cake!

The Candy Shop

I've been wanting to make a gumball machine cake for-ev-er! I finally had the chance to for this month's DWC birthday party. The theme is candy shop... perfect!

The only problem was that I made the cake a week early. :/ My mom told me the party was this week. She was wrong. So I'll have to re-create this cake next week. I'll just look at it as practice makes perfect. haha

The Roaring Twenties

Last month the theme for the DWC's birthday party was the Roaring Twenties. If it weren't for the DWC I wouldn't get to make all these cool cakes. I love all their unique birthday themes!

I didn't get a picture of it, but the sides of the cake have black fringe like on the dresses of flapper girls.

Camp Out

The theme for this month's DWC birthday party was camping. I don't even know how the coordinators come up with some of these themes, but I enjoy it! It gives me a chance to branch out and make new types of cakes. I loves it.

A tent, a campfire with a roasting marshmallow and a river. What more could you want in a camping scene?

A Safari Adventure

The theme for the May birthday party at the DWC was Safari. I was really looking forward to this theme, because the cake possibilities were endless! But I ended up having eight cakes that week, so I didn't get to go as crazy as I wanted. The cake still turned out adorable!

Here are two of the animal toppers:


I put palm trees around the sides of the cakes, but do those grow in safari areas? I don't think so. haha Oops! My mom made the tiger-striped cupcakes.

Heaven is a Cake on Earth

In case you're wondering, yes, yes, I am listening to Belinda Carlisle's "Heaven is a Place on Earth" as I type this...

This month's theme for the DWC birthday party was "heavenly." I had my camera with me at the party, so I was able to take pictures of the decorations.

The tables were decorated with strings of lights under white tablecloths, white tulle, gold star confetti, candles, white flowers and angels made of paper plates.


Here's a close up of the paper plate angels.


Cotton fluff with stars on the ceiling lights.


The dessert table. Always my favorite table!


I decorated the cake with a white cloud border, yellow fondant stars and angel and "Happy Birthday" cloud toppers. Here are a couple close-ups.

B-I-N-G-O

The theme for this month's DWC birthday party is Bingo. I didn't attend the party prep meeting when the committee decided on the themes for 2010. I wish I had! But I have to say, the committee came up with some pretty snazzy themes. Bingo = fun!

I kept the cake simple. A Bingo board with some red markers. It only needs one more to win!



I can't wait to play Bingo with the ladies of the DWC tomorrow!

Dance to a Sweet Tune

My mom and I recently started volunteering at the Downtown Women's Center (www.dwcweb.org). DWC is a "nonprofit organization that provides 40,000 meals, 47 permanent supportive housing apartments, and a wide array of health, education and other supportive services to more than 2,000 homeless and very low-income women each year."

The center has a committee called the Birthday Guild. The Guild organizes monthly themed birthday parties for the women living at the center. I LOVE celebrating birthdays. And, of course, my cake making would come in handy for this. My mom is the same way and she's my assistant when I need help with cakes.

The theme for this month's party is dance. Each table has a different dance theme. We're in charge of decorating the salsa table. We also volunteered to make a cake for each table. It's only six cakes and with the help of my mom, we finished those bad boys in record time!

Ballet:

The slippers were a lot harder to make than I expected. It's my least favorite of the bunch, but I'm sure the women will like it.

Ballroom:

I couldn't think of a design for this cake, but then I came across this image on a cake. It's perfect for ballroom.

Country:

Can't go wrong with a cowboy boot!

Hip Hop:

A vinyl record.

Jazz:

A sparkly top hat. It was a little difficult getting the glitter on the sides. My step dad created some sort of slingshot to do it.

Salsa:

A pair of maracas! This is my favorite one.

The birthday party is today! I'm excited for the ladies to see the cakes.