It's All Downhill from Here

My sis helped plan one of friend's bridal shower. Planning with the other bridesmaids was a little difficult at times, but when it came to the cake, she knew who to go to. Me! The couple loves to snowboard, so I thought a cake with that theme would be perfect.



I really love the scarf. She's a total snowboarding babe! haha

Fiesta Adventure!

The lovely Courtney (@clearasmud) asked me to make a birthday cake for her niece Vanessa. The first theme was Abby Cadabby, but Courtney's mother said Vanessa is more into Dora the Explorer these days. So I browsed the internet for some ideas and found a cute design.

I started with some green on the top and blue on the sides.


I added some clouds, grass and a yellow star.


Then I placed the fondant/gum pieces I made and Dora playset on top.


And some matching cupcakes, of course.

The Great DWC State Fair

State Fair was this month's theme for the Downtown Women's Center birthday party. I LOVE going to the fair, so I was really excited about this theme. The decorations included red and white gingham table cloths, ferris wheel center pieces, blue ribbons and corn husks. There was even a game table with a ball toss, pin the tail on the donkey and guess how many jelly beans are in the jar. It was all too cute!

I got this cake idea from www.pinkcakebox.com. I lovelovelove their cakes. Here's how mine turned out:

My favorite parts are the little cherry pies and the blue ribbon.

A Chop Off the Old Block

The fourth season of Dexter starts today! I CAN'T wait. So to celebrate, I made some Dexter themed cupcakes.

Butcher knives, syringes, Dexter logos and red splatter...oh my!


Here's a closer look:

A Trip Around the World

My sister (Maria) LOVES to travel. She's always on the hunt for good travel deals and planning her next trip. So it was only fitting that her bridal shower be travel themed!

We decorated my grandparents' house with vintage travel posters. We had food from different countries. We even thought of some travel-themed games. And I made the cake, of course. What better way to send Maria off to her married life than with a suitcase cake!?

First, I made these little "stickers" to go on the suitcase. Each one represents something. The British flag because Maria studied abroad in London. It's her favorite place to visit. The Las Vegas and San Francisco stickers because Maria and Paul have gone on many trips there. Ireland because Paul is Irish. The Volkswagen logo because Paul LOVES Beetles. Maria had a Beetle, too. And a yellow M&M because he's Maria's favorite.


For the cake, I covered a 13" x 9" cake with chocolate frosting and added some fondant buckle straps and handle to make it look like a suitcase. Here it is all finished:


Maria loved it and the bridal shower was a hit!

Look Out! Here Comes the Spider-Man!

I've never advertised Free Cakes For Kids on Craigslist. I thought about it, but I wasn't sure if the families I was trying to reach use Craigslist. I should have posted an ad anyways. It wouldn't have hurt. And now I'm definitely kicking myself because someone from the organization posted a general ad two weeks ago and I ended up getting two orders because of it! It was awesome. I'll post on Craigslist from now on. Lesson learned.

Here's an email I got for one of the orders. She typed it in all caps. Sorry!

HELLO, I SAW AN ADD ON CRAISLIST, AND I IMMEDIATLY THOUGHT OF A FRIEND OF MINE, SHE HAS A LITTLE BOY WHO WILL BE TURNING 2 ON SEPTEMBER 15, SHE IS A SINGLE MOTHER WHO IS JUST STRUGGLING TO GET AHEAD. SHE IS CURRENTLY GOING TO SCHOOL TO BECOME A MEDICAL ASSISTANT THROUGH A COUNTY PAID PROGRAM, AND SHE DOES NOT HAVE A STEADY PLACE TO LIVE SO SHE HAS TO LEAVE HER SON WITH HIS GRANDPARENTS AT NIGHT SO HE HAS A PLACE TO SLEEP AND BE SAFE. SHE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO GIVE HIM A BIRTHDAY THIS YEAR AND I WONDERED IF THIS ORGANIZATION WOULD HELP WITH A CAKE, AS I TRY TO GIVE HIM A SMALL PARTY WITH A PRESENT OR TWO. HE LOVES SPIDERMAN AND LIGHTING MC QUEEN AND ALL TRUCKS!! HE IS ABSOLUTLY THE SWEETEST CHILD, AND NOT BEING WITH HIS MOTHER ALL THE TIME IS TAKING ITS TOLL ON HIM, SO I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE HIS BIRTHDAY AS SPECIAL AS POSSIBLE WITH THE HELP OF FREE CAKES FOR KIDS. CAN YOU PLEASE HELP??

Awwwww! Obviously I said yes! How could I not!?

She decided to go with a Spider-Man cake. I love making superhero cakes.

I started off with a red cake board and a chocolate cake.


I covered the sides with blue frosting.


Red on top.


Covered it with a black web.


Topped it off with a Spider-Man candle, red shell border and a happy birthday greeting.


I'm delivering this cake tomorrow. I've also got a couple little presents for the birthday boy. I'm so excited!

Hurts and Tastes So Good

The season finale of True Blood is tonight! Of course, I had to make themed cupcakes! I wanted to have a variety so I used logos (Merlotte's, Fangtasia and Tru Blood) from the show. I also used some memorable quotes. If you can't read them because the picture is too small, here's what they say:

"Smite me, mother f*cker"
"V...one drop, that's all you need."
"Sookie is MINE"
"Who ordered the hamburger with AIDS?" (my favorite!)

I HAD to make an "I (heart) Eric" cupcake too. And I made a couple with dripping blood.



30 minutes until the finale. I've got my Eric tee on and cupcakes in hand. I'm ready to visit Bon Temps!

The Gift that Gave Too Much

I went to a murder mystery birthday party last night. It was for Mike's aunt. I probably wouldn't have gone if she hadn't asked me to make the cake. I'm not an actress and I've never played Clue. Not my cup of tea, but I actually ended up having fun! I didn't participate in the murder mystery though. I just sipped on my mojito and chatted with Mike's family.

Mike's aunt had a specific idea for her cake, which was fine with me! She likes gift box cakes. The colors of her party were green and blue. And she really likes stripes. So this is what she got...


Exactly what she wanted! lol These cakes took for-ev-er to make. I don't know why though. I didn't have much fun either. Total bummer. But they turned out alright and Mike's aunt loved them. So all the sweat and tears were worth it.

Can't You See I'm Addicted?

Ska is pretty much the best thing that's ever happened to me. Give me a horn solo and an upbeat rhythm any day! It's hard for me to put into words how much I love this music. I wrote a blog once about ska that was posted on Hot Topic's site. If I was at work right now, I'd just repost that. But since I'm not, I'll use some lyrics from a Spring Heeled Jack tune to try to express my love.

When things are going down and you wanna pick it up
Why don't you try and do what I do
The way I know to get you out of a slump is
To listen to music that puts a smile on your face
I won't let you be down so you better start jumping
Cause you're making me ill
Well no one says when they grow up
They wanna be an addict well, I wouldn't have it another way

When things are going down and you wanna pick it up
Why don't you try and do what I do
I know some days you get dealt a bad hand
So listen to music that puts a smile on your face
I won't let you be down so you better start jumping
Cause you're making me ill
Well no one says when they grow up
They wanna be an addict well, I wouldn't have it another way

While you're passing through my way give me a little S-K-A
On my tongue and in my veins, I wouldn't have it another way

Can't you see I'm addicted?

I don't know why I haven't made a ska-themed cake yet. I've just been too busy making cakes for everyone else. It's about time I make a cake for myself! haha

My mom has a cake pan that makes a checkered pattern. Totally perfect for this cake. So I stoleborrowed it. I followed the directions and it doesn't seem like this would make a checkered pattern, but as you'll see in a bit, it does!


I decided to use this picture as my design for the cake.


I covered the cake with white frosting. Not the best icing job, but I wasn't in a cake mood at the time and I was almost out of frosting.


Since I wasn't in a cake mood, I decided to take a break and decorate the cake when I was cheerful. A day later...


A ska cake is not a ska cake without a checkered pattern.


And in case you still didn't know what kind of cake it was.


It's even checkered on the inside. <3


We do the ska, yeah we ska, yeah we ska...Ska is all we need.

Ghosts...Don't...Die!

One of my most memorable Christmases was the year Maria and I got our Nintendo. We spent all morning playing it on our tiny TV in the living room. That was also the year we had a frog in our Christmas tree. So as we were playing, we'd hear the frog ribbit. We'd get freaked out, but it didn't stop up from playing. It was then that I fell in love with the Super Mario Bros. series.

I came across a Boo cake last week and I decided I had to make my own. Yoshi is my favorite character, but I've already make a cake of him. Check it out!



As for the Boo cake, I used Wilton's 3D sports ball pan and added a crumb coat:


Then I covered it in white fondant. Not my smoothest cover job, but that's alright.


I made his face and hands out of fondant and stuck them on the cake. Here he is:


The only ghost I don't fear!

Thunder, Thunder, Thunder, Thundercats!

I don't have any cake orders until the middle of September. Instead of taking a mini vacation from baking, I decided to use this free time to make cakes for fun! I asked my Twitter peeps if anyone had any theme requests and one person sent me one. This Thundercats cake is for ItsMeHelly.

Here's the stencil I drew of the Thundercats logo:


The logo on red fondant:


Black frosted cake with a black dot border:


Thundercats, Ho!