Happy Anniversary!

I was asked to make a very special Anniversary cake (yes, I'm very behind on my posting) but I am finally getting around to putting my pictures up for everyone to see!  Believe it or not, this is the last cake I have done & it was over a month ago.  I have been super busy concentrating on the holidays for the last month.  

 

I really enjoyed making this cake for several reasons.... it is so enjoyable making cakes and goodies for people who I love.  Mark & Teresa were like another set of parents to me when I was growing up.  I spent many, many hours at their house and I will admit...most of the time spent there was harmless but us girls did cause a little trouble from time to time! 

And then....it is great after the cake is delivered & the party is over to get so many wonderful compliments on the cake.  

This cake was a red velvet with buttercream frosting.  Red velvet seems to be a favorite lately with my family and friends. 

So, again to Mark & Teresa, Happy 30th Anniversary....what an accomplishment!

Happily Ever After!

This post is mostly going to be about the pictures.  Today I completed my very first wedding cake.  It wasn't just any wedding cake though, it was a cake for my Dad's wedding!  I am so happy that my Dad has found love and even more so happy that I love the lady that he married.  She is a special person and truly makes my Dad happy....that's all that matters to me!  So....this post celebrates a perfect day.......perfect wedding.....and hoping for a perfect life together!  Love you guys!

Catching Up On A Few Events...

 

It's been such a long time since I've updated my blog so I'm adding several pictures all at once!  My adorable little nephew Auggie was baptized earlier this month.  I put together this cake for everyone to enjoy after the baptism.  His mom & dad had all of the family to their house to enjoy lunch after the baptism.  

 ---French Vanilla Cake with Vanilla Frosting--- 

This cake was accompanied by 50 cupcakes for a baby shower.  The colors for the shower were pink & brown.  This was the first time I used ribbon to decorate a cake.  It turned out well I thought!  

---French Vanilla Cake with Strawberry Cream Filling and Vanilla Frosting---

This last picture is just a picture of some cute little "fall" looking cupcakes.  I'm becoming a big fan of cupcake decorating anymore.  They are so cute and easy to make!  I am having fun also with the cute little cups you can find to bake them in.  It's actually becoming an obsession of mine!  Every time I am in Michaels, Hobby Lobby or ANYWHERE that has baking supplies I am on the hunt for cups to bake cupcakes in! SO many cute designs out there! 

---Chocolate with Vanilla Frosting and French Vanilla Cupcakes, Strawberry Filling and Vanilla Frosting---

My First Baking Contest

This weekend I entered into my very first baking contest.  As you have probably already seen on Facebook... I won "Grand Champion Cake".  I was pretty excited.  Let me start from the beginning...

Friday evening when I checked my email I realized I had an email from that morning from a lady from my community, with the details on the baking contest which was Saturday morning at the Atlanta Fall Festival.  Friday I had emailed Joyce and explained how much I had going on this weekend and that it just wasn't going to fit in.  She also had a lot going on but was going to take her items in the morning and drop them off as well.  So I decided that there really wasn't any excuse for not participating.  I had all of the rules (thanks to her) and just needed to go and get my ingredients.

After supper Friday (at about 6:30pm) I decided to head to Lincoln to get my supplies for baking two different items for the baking contest.  Let's just say that the whole baking event started off terribly because I forgot two ingredients.  But what does any good cook do? I improvised.  I managed to scrounge enough ingredients from my cupboards to make a home-made chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting and home-made banana cupcakes with caramel buttercream frosting, still my favorite frosting by the way!

I finished baking by around 9:30pm and got up at 7:00am on Saturday to make icing and "throw together" my creations.  All entries had to be in Atlanta by 10:30am.  I managed to make three different flavors of icing, decorate cakes, shower and have myself ready to walk out the door by 9:30am.  (amazing if you know me well)

Off to Atlanta I went!  I tend not to think that I live in the middle of nowhere, Illinois because I have been in places in Illinois that are even more in the middle of nowhere than I live.  The whole drive to Atlanta (if you can imagine) I was slightly worried about my cake or cupcakes shifting in the car and getting messed up.  Out of nowhere there was a chicken in the road! Yes, a chicken.  Can you imagine? Pulling up to drop off this cake and having to explain that it got messed up on the drive over because I hit a chicken.  Don't worry, I swerved around the chicken who did start to come into the road and missed him!

Anyways, the cake and cupcakes made it safe and sound.  I won 1st in the chocolate cake division, 3rd in the "childrens cupcake" division for my banana cupcakes (don't ask because I have no idea) and then Grand Champion overall cake from the event! Very exciting.

The items that were brought to the baking contest were auctioned at the end of the night and the proceeds went to the Atlanta Fall Festival as their fundraiser as I understand.

 

Oh... apparently I know why the chicken crossed the road.  He was eating! (maybe it was a "she" I really don't know my farm animals that well)

Pizza Cakes

Austin loved them of course!

"Pizza Party"

My nephew, Austin, turned 7 on Tuesday.  It's shocking to me that he can be 7 already!  I'm young enough to vividly remember being 7 years old myself but on the other hand...I feel so old! How can he possibly be that old already??

Last year I made Austin the coolest "hamburger cake" with sugar cookie "french fries".  I went as far as pressing sugar crystals into the sugar cookie dough to resemble salt and made red icing for the pile of ketchup on the side. This was probably one of the most fun cakes I have made so far.  His party was at McDonald's in the PlayPlace and you should have seen the kids plastered to the windows as I got the cake out of the car.  I even had the manager of McDonald's ask me to take pictures of the cake.  They were quite impressed.

We are having a birthday party for my little buddy on Saturday and this year Austin would like a "PIZZA CAKE"!! Once again I get to test my creative side and make a cake that looks like a pizza.  Hopefully, once again, taking the crown for the COOLEST AUNT "B" EVER!

Pictures coming soon!

Great Cake & Great Compliments

I delivered a cake today to Christian Village for a young lady who turned 85! What a special birthday to celebrate!! Sharon asked me to make a cake so that the residents at Christian Village could help her to celebrate her special day.

I really appreciate the recent cake orders from Sharon and also the wonderful compliments that she pays me for my cakes.  I love having wonderful customers to bake for!  Thanks again Sharon!

Fun Cupcakes

These adorable cupcakes were a blast to make! A friend of mine has a daughter that turned 15 & these cuties were made for her.  We made the wrappers together and then I baked and iced the cupcakes to match the designs and colors. Each one was a little different. Hopefully I will have more pictures of the finished product soon!

A bunch of the cupcakes without wrappers.  Just adorable!!!

 

 

Mini's

Cute little mini cupcakes I threw together on Sunday evening
to take to work for "treat day" on Monday. 
Fun & super easy to make!

  

Cupcakes, Cupcakes, Cupcakes!!!

It seems as though cupcakes seem to be the latest craze in my baking world.  Over the last week I've made three different batches of cupcakes.  Here is a picture of my first order...

Lemon with Lemon Buttercream Frosting, Chocolate with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting, Vanilla with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting & French Vanilla Cupcakes w/ Strawberry Cream Frosting and Vanilla Frosting.

My Faves!

Pictures of my favorite creations so far...

  

Some of My Past Creations

This was certainly a fun cake to make.  I free-handed the logo from a picture.  It's been so long ago that I don't remember what flavor this cake was but it was cute!

The next was a cake that I made for a couple who was celebrating their 70th Wedding Anniversary.  The Mason City Nursing Home had a cake for the couple to celebrate their special day! What an amazing celebration it must have been!  Hopefully one day I will be there... that seems so far away!

 

Golf Cake

This was another cake I did for a birthday.  The birthday boy liked to play golf as a hobby.  It was a fun cake to make.  Rumor has it that the cake was "yummy" too!

This was a chocolate, double layer cake with vanilla frosting.

Cupcakes!!!

As much as I love to decorate cakes, I think my favorite is to bake and decorate cupcakes. They are so cute & so fun!  These were made for a friend for a party she was throwing.  Starting with the closest toward the back flavors are...

• French Vanilla Cupcake with a Strawberry Cream filling and a Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

• Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

• Chocolate Cupcake with Caramel Buttercream Frosting, a Caramel drizzle and topped with a few chopped nuts (my fave!)

• French Vanilla Cupcake with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Yummy!

My New Blogspot!

It's official! I decided I needed to get myself an official blog page to post my cake pictures and updates on all of my baking adventures.  I hope you subscribe to my new blog & enjoy the updates as I continue on this adventure of baking!