Independence Day

I make an American flag cake every year, and this year I wanted to make the full 13 stripes.  I really went back and forth about doing white cake and red cake layers, or just red cake layers with white frosting in between.  I finally decided on just red cake and white frosting because I am baking in a toaster oven after all.  I sent it in to Jeff's work, and they ate half, and we'll eat the other half.  The cake was Sweetapolita's Rainbow Doodle Cake base, just dyed red and blue, and the frosting is Kara's SMBC.  I had big plans for the outside decorations, but when I finished stacking it at midnight, I decided to just put a rustic spin on it instead :)  Next year will be all 13 layers of cake, white and red cake, and some fancy decorations around the outside.  Next year I won't have a 3 month old to entertain, so I'll have more time, yeah right.

Elli turns 2!!

Two weeks after the arrival of our newest child, our (now) middle child turned 2!!!

Elli, she's sweet, sassy, independent, loving, beautiful, amazing... I could go on.  This child is going to change the world, and I can't wait to see the big things she will accomplish.


She's really loving Sofia the 1st these days.  She used to say "Feesa" because she couldn't say Sofia, but she just started saying it correctly.  She's really growing up, tear...

Her cake this year was a simple, 6" chocolate cake with vanilla SMBC.  I did M&M's as a surprise inside, because that's her favorite candy.  The outside was decorated in purple ruffles inspired by Sofia's signature dress.

My favorite picture

Dressed in her Sofia outfit she got for her birthday

Big brother helped blow out the candle

M&M's, her favorite.

Herndon, party of 2

I was so honored to make a wedding cake for my sisters wedding. She had a rustic wedding in a beautiful barn. Although she served cupcakes as the main dessert, I still think the cake was the star of the dessert show.

The bottom tier of the cake was 4 layers of vanilla pound cake with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream filling.  This was the best batch of SMB I've ever made. I'm not sure if it was the Kerrygold, or all the extra love, but it was gooooood! I think I scraped about 10 vanilla beans for this tier.  The middle tier was chocolate cake with chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream. I hid a pink heart as a surprise for the bride and groom. The top was a dummy. I crumbcoated with vanilla SMB and covered in Richs Bettercreme with an up and down pattern for a rustic look.  I wrapped backed burlap and lace (the same lace from the tables) on the top and bottom tiers, and backed burlap around the middle tier.  The flowers on the cake were actually from gifts at her bridal shower that happened to match perfectly. 

I torted, filled, assembled and frosted all at the venue which was 3 hours from home. I baked and wrapped everything at home, and transported it. 

Finished product. 

Surprise inside.