Fancy for Kenzie

Hard to believe (at least for me), but my baby girl is turning four today. Yep Mackenzie, my middle child, is now the big 4. We had her birthday this past weekend and went with a Fancy Nancy theme. And even though I really didn't need a big cake for the event, I made a two tiered cake anyway just to get the right look.

The bottom layer was made to look like a tutu. I tried about 3 different ways of creating the ruffle until settling on taking individual circles and half circles and placing them on the side of the cake. Then, I put the flowers, brushed with some pearl disco dust, on for a finishing touch

The top layer I iced with a vanilla buttercream (I was really happy with how smooth I got it). Then I hand painted on the cow spots with black gel food coloring.

The tiara was simply made with hearts and circles of marshmallow fondant. I used the sugar pearls to give it a little extra bling.

To really finish off the cake I used some tall pink candles I had leftover from my own birthday cake. I also put a large gummy butterfly to give one more pop of color. As you can see from the background, the birthday girl couldn't wait for her cake.

Happy Birthday Miss Mackenzie...I love you!

A Sweet Game

This past weekend I had the pleasure of making a birthday cake and smash cakes for three very cute kiddos. My good friends Aimee, Stephanie and Kara had a joint birthday party for their newly turned 2 year olds. After much thought, they came up with a Candyland theme and asked if I could make a cake like the game board.

This was my interpertation of the Candyland game. I based my design more on the original Candyland game instead of the new updated versions. The cake was marble, with a raspberry filling and a vanilla buttercream.

I was very proud of myself with the making of the playing cards. They were made with white chocolate and then I made them "double" to represent the kids' 2nd birthday. Also due to a big brother's peanut allergy, I made the peanuts out of caramels.

For the smash cakes, I decorated each one with a different candy and a fondant gingerbread man playing piece.

A sweet cake for three very sweet birthday kids. I'll play this version of Candyland anytime.

Where the Wild Things Are

I meant to post this entry last week, I swear. Then before I knew it, it was the next week. Then I meant to have it all typed up on Monday so I could post it on the very busy Tuesday I had scheduled, but that didn't happen. And well, Tuesday, let's just forget that idea. So anyway, here I am on Wednesday posting. Back in December, my friend Jess asked if I could make some cupcakes, smash cake and cake pops for her little monster who was turning one. She was going with a monster theme for Vincent's big day. So always up for a challenge I said yes and happily started decorating based on the napkin she was using at the party.

For the cake pops, I made three different flavors and then decorated them to resemble monsters (and so people would be able to know which flavor was which). There was orange cake pops dipped in white chocolate, chocolate cake pops (with the green eyes) and almond joy cake pops, one of Jess' favorites.

The colors in the napkin were fun and bright. Oranges, greens, blues and purples. I made this guy up with a little bit of each monster.

For the cupcakes, I went with the four monsters on the napkin. I used the colors and then tried to decorate the cupcake as close as possible to the design using Skittles, fondant, marshmallows and white chocolate.

Here's my collection of monsters all together.