Monkey Business

This past weekend, I had the pleasure to make a fun themed cake for a sweet little girl. At least I think it was a fun theme. Her mom, Stephanie contacted me and asked if I could make a cake with monkeys on it. Thinking a monkey theme cake would be fun to do, of course I said yes. Also fun, was Stephanie wanted to use the colors of pink and brown together. I love pink and brown together.

I had seen a similar version of this monkey on flickr and instantly fell in love with it. I thought the face was so sweet and you can't help but smile at her.

And because I loved the face so much, I made some for the side of the cake too. Extra smiles all around.

Along with the monkey faces, I covered the cake with pink flowers.

I hope Carleigh enjoyed her party! I was told she loved her cake.

Go Fish

This week, I had a different kind of request for a cake. My husband's cousin Lynn needed a cake for a 30 year old. Now this might not seem strange to you, but you see I don't get a lot of orders for adults. In fact this might be only my second one since I started this blog. Lynn was going to a birthday party for a friend, and when she asked the hostess what she could bring, they said cake. So, after a phone call to me, I got working on what the cake would look like. Lynn told me that the birthday boy was very into hunting and fishing. In my head, I figured that shouldn't be a problem...wrong. Since I'm so use to making cakes for kids, I never question if the figures I put on the cakes look too cartoonish. However, since I was making something for someone over the age of five, I didn't want it to look childish. And of course all the ideas popping into my head where just that. Then I came to the happy conclusion to try and make as realistic looking a fish as I could. It was fun to do, plus I got to use my metallic edible dust to give the fish some piazza.





Pretty happy with my large mouth bass here.

To add a little fun to the corners I made some cattails and pebbles.

I loved getting to use my metallic dust and the way the fish shimmered.

Even the worm and the hook got to shine.

Peanut-5, Honey-39

This past weekend, I had the pleasure to make cakes for two very special people in my life. My oldest daughter Samantha, aka Peanut, turned the big five and my hubby Jeff, aka Honey, turned 39. On Saturday, we had a birthday party for Samantha, and I went with the theme of cupcakes.







First, I made the favors. I had seen on one of the blogs I read, these "cupcakes" made with candy, and thought they would be perfect. Now of course I found these "cupcakes" a week and half before her party, and I wasn't sure if I could get them in time. After thinking about it some more, I decided I could easily make my own "cupcakes". So off to the store to buy some Jelly beans and chocolate truffles for the cherry on top. I was pretty happy with how they turned out and the kids all seem to really like them.

The colors I had put on the invitations were pink, purple and green, so I just continued that to the cake.

Samantha likes polka dots. I figured it would be fun to cover the side of the cake with big dots with a cupcake here and there.

Here is the final outcome. Samantha was very pleased with it, although at one point she did tell me it was missing something. That something turned out to be Minnie Mouse, whom sadly did not make a appearance on the cake.

The next morning, while my hubby was sleeping (a perk of having a birthday fall on the weekend), I made up a cake for his birthday. I then hide the cake and surprised him with it for dinner. Both cakes where chocolate cake with a wonderful raspberry filling and chocolate frosting.

Happy Birthday Peanut and Honey! I love you both!

C is for Cookie

We love cookies here at my house. So easy to make and so yummy to eat. Now I live by the rule, if it's not chocolate, why bother. The other day I decided to make some Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies. The recipe I used was right on the back of the Nestle Chocolate Chip bag. Now you may be thinking, the only thing I have seen on the back is therecipe for Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies, and you are right. That's the recipe I used. You see, I learned a trick in culinary school where you can basically turn any regular cookie recipe into a chocolate cookie recipe by substituting some cocoa. Rule of thumb is to replace 1/4-1/3 of the flour with cocoa. Very simple and with great results. Here is the recipe for the cookies pictured below. I halved the original recipe because at the time I just wanted a small batch. So the measurements listed below are for a small batch.



Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies



3/4 c flour

1/4 c plus 2 Tbsp cocoa (I use a mix of natural and Dutched process cocoa)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1/3 c sugar

1/3 c brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1 1/2 c chocolate chips



Preheat oven to 375.



Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.

Beat the butter, brown sugar, sugar and vanilla in a large mixing bowl until creamy. Add egg. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.



Scoop out cookie dough onto ungreased cookie sheet and bake 9 to 11 minutes. Cool and enjoy!

Moooo...Cow!

That is what my youngest, Riley, said when he saw the latest cake I got to make. Moooo...cow!One of the moms from my playgroup asked me to make a cake for her daughter, who was turning two this past weekend. She didn't have a theme for the party, but did tell me that her daughter was into farm animals. The only thing she asked for is that it be a yellow cake with strawberry filling. So after doing some browsing on flickr for some inspiration, I got to working on some adorable (at least in my opinion) farm animals made out of fondant.

I made three cows , 2 ducks and 2 pigs to sit on top of the cake. The spots and hooves on the cows were hand painted, as were the eyes for all the animals.

I thought it would be cute to decorate the sides of the cake with a bandanna print.

Along with the animals, I also made a cake with candle, party hat and blanket out of fondant. All things necessary for the animals to throw their own little birthday party on top of the cake.

I have to say I really had fun making this cake and I was really happy with how it turned out.