Gentlemen, start your engines

Earlier this month, my little guy turned 5. Hard to believe that he is 5, but sadly I must accept this fact. For this year's party, he requested a Hot Wheels theme. At first I had no idea what the cake was going to look like. Last year's cake was a Cars theme, and I didn't want to repeat that. After thinking about it awhile, I still had no idea what the cake was going to look like. Some cakes are just like that, I don't get a clear vision of them until I'm actually making them. Thankfully I finally got my act together and was able to make his cake.

Happy 5th Birthday to my little man!

All in the family

My lastest cake tasting was for my brother inlaw Dan and future sister inlaw Melanie. I am looking forward to this cake because of the honor they have bestowed on me to make their special cake.

We had quite the group at this tasting with my inlaws, sister inlaw and Melanie's parents joining the happy couple.

The group got to taste the cake flavors of chocolate, almond, red velvet, lemon poppyseed and vanilla along with buttercream flavors of almond, coffee, vanilla, caramel and chocolate fudge and raspberry fillings.  The bride and groom choose wisely and we came up with a cake design that I can't wait to create.

Set, shoot, score!!!!

And here is the second cake for the brothers. This one is for the youngest brother, Roberto. Mom said he liked hockey and other sports, but I decided to stick with the hockey theme.

Because I did periodic element table tiles for his brother's cake, I choose to use hockey jersey for this one.

A hockey puck border, hockey sticks and stars graced the side of the cake to complete the theme.

The team name on the top of the puck was created to represent their family.

Blinded me with science

Back in May, I was asked to make cakes for two brothers. This post is about the oldest brother's cake, Silverio. His Mom told me that he is into science and his favorite color is green. Here is his cake...

I was happy to find that there were elements with the symbol of H, B and S to make the top.

Can't have a science cake without some molecules and periodic table tiles.

And of course you need a beaker containing some sparkling chemical.

The Doc is in

If you don't watch Disney, you may not recognize who this cake represents. Thankfully my kids do, and they instantly told me who the cake was. If my kids know what I was going for with a cake, I assumed I did a good job, and that always makes me happy. My neighbor Melissa asked me to make a cake for her daughter's 5th birthday. Madelyn is a big fan of the Disney show Doc McStuffins. I know a little about this show, thanks to my kids, and I was worried I wouldn't be able to recreate the characters in fondant well enough to do justice. So I went a slightly different route to represent the main character of Doc McStuffins.

If you have seen the show, you knows she wears a striped purple shirt, a pink skirt and her doctor's coat. Also she has a magical stethoscope, that brings her stuff animals and toys to life.  This cake was fun to create, and came out exactly how I envisioned it, which also always makes me happy.  Happy 5th birthday Madelyn!

It's a brownie, no it's a cookie, no wait...

it's a brookster! Don't worry, I haven't gone off the deep end (yet). This is a real thing created by William-Sonoma. They sell the mix and pan to create the yummy combo of brownie and chocolate chip cookie. I don't have a William-Sonoma store real close by, and didn't feel like paying shipping on something I could create with things I have at home, so I went looking for recipes online. To make a brookster you need a brownie recipe (can be from a box) and a chocolate chip cookie recipe (I used Nestlé's). You will also need a cupcake pan and a little time. First, make you cookie dough and refrigerate for at least a hour. Next, mix up you brownies and scoop them into a prepared cupcake pan. You'll want to fill the pans up only half way, leaving room for the cookie dough. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. While this is chilling, use a scoop to measure out the cookie dough. Roll into a ball, and then flatten into a disk. Place the disc on top of the brownie mix. Bake in a 350 oven for 20 minutes. Let cool, and then enjoy.

Next time I make these, I might even try topping them with some ice cream and hot fudge sauce to make a sundae, and really blow the old diet!

I like big butts and I can not lie

What I meant is I like big bunny butt cupcakes. I just couldn't resist getting that song stuck in every one's head. Sorry lol. For Easter this year I was going to make a cake I have seen on Pinterest, which was the backside of the Easter bunny. While in the baking aisle of my food store, I decided I should make a cupcake version of the cake instead. So below is exactly how I did it. It was pretty simple, just took a butt load (excuse the pun) of time.

I made vanilla cupcakes and frosted them with some strawberry icing.

Then I covered the icing with shredded coconut to give the illusion of bunny fur.

I made the feet and tail out of marshmallow fondant and attached them to the cupcake with a little bit of icing.

And there you have it.  A bunch of bunny butts.  Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, I know we did.