Life

Spring is somewhat sprung here in the Eifel. The Kid declared it Sprinter (not quite spring, not quite winter) since it is still pretty cold in the mornings and evenings, but is tshirt weather much of the rest of day.

Today the rain came, but not enough to stop a morning romp in the back yard.

Another sign that spring is on it's way are the lovely strawberries avaliable in the shops. I bought 3 packs, and there were only 2 that I had to toss. I love when that happens, it's like an extra little bonus.

With all of those sweet strawberries around, of course I had to make chocolate dipped strawberries for a dinner I'm going to tonight. I love making these, because they are fast and easy, and I'll actually eat some, ok, lots. I rarely eat my own cakes anymore, by the time I've spent 8-10 hours on a cake I've lost the desire to actually eat any. These strawberries though, I'll eat all night long!

And of course, some white chocolate dipped ones for Lenae because she is high maintenance special.

I'm going on a little bit of a cake break for the next few weeks. The Husband is returning from his extended "camping trip", and so some family time is in order.

If you need a cake, please check my calendar for my avaliability. If I'm not avaliable for your event, please email me anyway, I have a couple of other baker/decorators who I might be able to refer you to. And, if your theme is totally awesome, I might not be able to resist, and just have to make your cake regardless.

Hugs and Cupcakes,

Kim

Baby cakes

I'll be the first to admit that these kinds of cakes are not my strong point. Straight lines and super smooth edges, notsomuch, which is why I rarely do wedding cakes. Too much perfection required. Though I'd do a zombie wedding cake in a second!

Anyway, this was for a baby shower.

We went back and forth over what to do for the topper, and finally settled on this Anne Geddes style sleeping baby dressed in flowers. I thought that this was the best part of the cake. Well, that and my pretty awesome piping (ifIdosaysomyself).

I think it might be physically impossible for me to ever properly center a cake tier.

ARRRRRR!!!

Pirates again! But different.

I had alot of fun with this cake, as you can see.

What was most thankful for were all the provided pirates, and pirate gear. Making actual pirates out of gumpaste was not something I was looking for. She even provided me with some treasure chests and skeleton parts! And HELLO! not a smooth surface to be seen! Textured buttercream, another one of my favorite things!
It's hard to find a Lego guy who is not smiling. Though when I dropped it off, the birthday boy said that it looked like he was screaming, so I guess it worked out in the end.

And then, my favorite bit of inspiration! Dueling cephalopod and crustacean!! Though I think I got a little carried away with the size of that crab.

Hope it was ARRRsome Joey!

Rock Hero

My inability to play video games is pretty epic, it is one of the areas of Geek that I get a big fat F in. I generally end up mashing the buttons and survive out of pure luck. I have Crosswords on my DS for goodness sake!

So I had a request for a guitar cake. Guitar Hero??? Rock Band???

I guess it came out pretty sweet in the end.

Something I though about as I was driving the cake to drop it off, was that I should have added the cord to the end of the guitar. I could have then used the cord to write out the recipients name, since it's not on the cake anywhere.

Next time!

Twilight....AGAIN!

I know that the last time I said never again....

What? You've never seen a hypocrite before?

This is by far the largest cake I have ever made, each tier is made up of three layers. I did dowel it through the first and second tiers, but it still listed a little to the right, which really bummed me out.

For those of you suffering from OCTD*.

The apple.

The Rook.

Those flowers (my favorite part).

And the ribbon twining around it all.

I really don't get it. I guess I'm more of a Sonja Blue kind of fangirl.

*Obsessive Compulsive Twilight Disorder

Beef, It's What's For Dinner

Yummy!

The "beef" is made from chocolate cake, the carrots, mashed potatoes, and peas all have white cake underneath.

The funny thing is that we had pot roast cooking in the crock pot while I was making this cake. Inspiration!

Happy Anniversary

I just noticed that I did not write anything to go along with the pictures of this cake! DURRR....that's what 18 cakes in a month will do to you.

Anyway, Judi and John were celebrating their 24th wedding anniversary. Their daugter who lives in the states, emailed me to ask if I would do a surprise anniversary cake for them. Absolutely.

She wanted a snow theme, since she was born during a heavy snowstorm, and the last time they were all together they were snowed in for several days.

So this is what I came up with.
To make the snowpeople not so slumpy, I used a 50/50 mix of fondant and gumpaste, and they had structual wires inside to help them sit up a little better as well.


This is the first time I've used Royal Icing as a decoration. I usually use it as a glaze on lemon poundcake. I piped these snowflakes onto wax paper and let them dry overnight, then stuck them all over the cake. They turned out really well. I love the 3-D effect they add.

This is a white chocolate cake with white chocolate buttercream frosting.

Judi almost ruined it all by ordering a cake for John's birthday. But luckily she wanted it for the weekend before, and was going to share it with a bunch of people at a dinner.

Once all the details were figured out, Lenae and I snuck over to their house with an ill gotten key and delivered the cake, some flowers and balloons.

One day I hope The Kid will plan something like that for me.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Today was Dr. Seuss's brithday, and the kids at school celebrated by wearing green, and having green eggs and ham for lunch.

The Kid and I came up with this fun outfit for her to wear.

She was a Star Bellied Sneech! With two on hars!

Here is the back.

The t-shirt was made using a freezer paper stencil. My favorite way to make a custom one of a kind t-shirt. The t-shirt was 1.99 Euro from Kik, and I already had the paper and paint.

Her green hair clips are made using this Betz White pattern. I used polyester felt bought at the craft store. The felt cost about $.50, and I already had the hair clip backs.

She already had those pants, which matched perfectly, so total cost of a cool outfit to celebrate Dr. Seuss, about $4.50!

Go...Whoever...!

I have this labled in my files as a Chargers Helmet. Apparently its not.

Like I've said before, not really the kind of football I like.


Anyway...

A Bronco's helmet against a pink background.

To me this could have been one of two things. Either it was a cake for a lady, or it was a gag cake for someone who likes the Broncos from someone who thinks they're a bunch of Nancy Girls.

Turns out it was the first one, a cake for a lady. The other option would have been pretty funny though.

Whew!

DUDES!

18 cakes in February!

18!!!