Frog Class Cake

Mabry volunteered me to make a cake for her Mother's Day Out end of year party. She was in the frog class so we thought a frog cake might be fun. I used Rice Krispie treats to make the head and then sculpted chocolate cake for the body. The kids screamed when they saw it!

The cake was served with lily pad sugar cookies:

I love my cut out cookie recipe. It is so easy, so good, and it makes a ton of cookies. They are shortbread like in texture with a great buttery flavor. Justin and Mabry like to eat them plain, un-iced. In fact, Justin refers to them as "the devil's cookies"! They are the type of sweet you can eat a ton of because they aren't overly sweet and rich...very dangerous.

The recipe came with a copper cookie cutter I ordered online and I am very grateful to have it. I have tried many others; but this is my favorite so far. Hope you enjoy it to!

Big Batch Sugar Cookies

2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 t vanilla
6 cups flour
1 t baking powder
1 t salt

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients and add to butter mixture. Stir to combine. Chill in large pancake shapes wrapped in parchment paper for 1 hour or overnight. Preheat oven to 350. Cover baking sheet with parchment. On surface dusted with powdered sugar, roll and cut dough into shapes. Bake for 8-10 minutes until just beginning to brown around edges.

Notes: I usually chill or freeze the cut out cookies on the baking sheets until they are nice and cold prior to baking. This helps the shapes stay cleaner and minimizes spreading.

When I decorate cookies, I usually pipe a border with royal icing and use a glaze made of powdered sugar and half and half or milk to fill in the border.




Shower Cakes and Petits Fours


One shower---two cakes. The first part of the couples shower was a "pamper party". So I made this cutesy sleeping baby cake. Once the sun went down the party shifted to.....


Michael Jackson karaoke shower!!!


I also delivered 80 pink velvet with buttercream filling petits fours for a garden themed shower. Ever wonder what 80 petits fours look like? Wonder no more:


Thank you Rosie and Leslie. You were both such fun to work with. I loved collaborating with you Leslie on your shower cakes. Congratulations Mama and Grandma! :)

Mabry's a Graduate!

Mabry graduated from her Mother's Day Out program and I got to make the cake for this very special event! Mabry just loves MDO and so do I. We are so sad that this is her last week. The graduation was so neat. The kids sang songs, walked down the aisle of the church to Pomp and Circumstance, received Bibles and diplomas, and best of all.....got to toss there caps at the end (this was huge for Mabry). It was an unforgettable event in her little life. In fact we have reenacted the ceremony several times since in our living room!

The cake was inspired by the logo of the school: a rainbow with the words "a great place to begin." Each class has an animal name (Mabry is a frog). So I sculpted fondant animals to represent each class.

And now presenting the MDO class of 2010:


Lovely Laura's Wedding Cake

I was blessed to be able to make a wedding cake for sweet Laura a couple of weekends ago. It was such a neat collaborative process that we went through together to come up with a unique and beautiful cake. Initially I was worried that I wouldn't be able to come up with something that she would love because she was so open and easy going about what she wanted in a cake. After she emailed me pictures of three very different cakes that she liked I was even more concerned. Once we talked and I learned which elements she liked from each cake: crimped fondant, gold ribbon, white anemones with black centers, the vision started to take shape.

Once I saw the cake in the room, I new our design was meant to be. The Crystal Room at the Sheraton Gunther is bathed in gold with a beautiful black foliage print carpeting. It was perfection!

Thank you Laura for trusting me with your cake and for being such a joy to work with! I pray you and David will enjoy a happy and blessed marriage.


The reception site...bathed in gold.

See the carpeting was black...perfect! (Note my assistants hard at work on the left)


Anemone close up.

Antique Rose Cake


After having such fun making gumpaste anemones last week, I decided to try one of my favorite flowers, a pink peony. I think it turned out more like a garden rose, which I also love. I decorated the cake with some left over ribbon from the wedding cake I did the weekend before and some royal icing piping. The leaf of the flower was rubbed with bronze luster dust which I also brushed along the edges of the petals for a sort of antique look.

It's my party and I'll have 3 cakes if I want to...

I was so lucky this year to have 3 cakes for my birthday! On the left a moist almond cake with whipped cream, almond paste, crushed Heath bar, and Brach's nut goodie filling by Lacy. In the center (by me and compliments of left overs from Laura's wedding cake fillings from the weekend before) a vanilla butter cake with passion fruit curd, blackberry preserves, and buttercream fillings. Finally on the right prepared and decorated by Chef Mabry: peanut butter cake with peanut butter cream and dark chocolate ganache with salted peanuts.

Thanks to my 3 cakes I have 3 extra pounds! Unfortunately Lacy has left; so now I'm the only one eating them. Next year only one cake!

Thank you Lacy and Mabry. I love you so much!


Cake completely decorated by Mabry. I just gave her the fondant and she made the flowers all by herself. I was so proud. I think she definitely has a future in the cake biz!


Mabry putting the finishing touches on her masterpiece.






Alvin, Simon, Theodore....and Shamu???

This was Quin's request for his 3rd birthday cake. It took me a while to figure out how to incorporate the 4 characters on to one cake; but, anything for sweet Quin.



Quin and Lacy at the party. Oops! Looks like Shamu had a little accident (thanks Uncle Justin)!

Zach and Mabe having fun at Chuck's.


Yum! Whale tail.