Adele's baby shower

This was supposed to be a 2 tier cake, but one of the cakes didn't turn out, so I turned it into a double barrel.  It was only 7" so it wasn't super high, but plenty of cake for the small shower.  The top tier was vanilla with raspberry filling, the bottom was chocolate with caramel.  I love the ombre teal, the shower was teal and grey.  So cute!  The topper was a milk chocolate mustache.  I had to drive it myself to the party, I was so nervous!

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.

Jack's 4th Birthday

Octonauts!

Barnacles, Kwazi, Peso... doot doot doot do doot.....

Octonauts is currently one of Jack's favorite shows.  He likes to pretend to be Barnacles, a polar bear and captain of the crew.  He shouts "I'm Barnacles" and waits for you to respond with another name of a crew member.  Recently he's been crossing pretend worlds and he will be Barnacles and want me to be Sofia, or a care bear...

So naturally, for his birthday, we had an octonauts cake.  With a newborn, and PopPop, Uncle Nick, and Ingrid in town, I didn't get to work on it as much as I wanted.

It's 2 tiers, each with 4 layers.  The top tier was vanilla cake with strawberry filling and the bottom was chocolate, all covered in SMBC.  The GUP-A, and undersea decor were made from modeling chocolate, and the action figures were plastic toys that go to his new Octopod.  I let Jack help, I'm really trying to get over my perfectionism, and allow him to help me do things.  It's not the way I would have arranged things, but I want him to remember the times we baked and decorated together, not me telling him what to do, or making him watch.  I really do have a hard time striking a balance between perfectionism and quality time with my kids.  They always want to help, and usually make things harder, take longer, and more messy, but it's all about the memories, right?

Jeff's Birthday

Jeff, oh Jeff.  He gives me free reign on his birthday cake design to try something Ive been wanting to do.  I love watching different decorating techniques, and the kids usually want something specific, and I can only send in so many cakes to his work, they already hate me.  So Jeff allows me to practice something I've been dying to try on his cake.  He's not a big cake lover anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter to him.

This year, I wanted to try the newest thing I've been seeing a lot of lately, succulents.  I love succulents, I have a pot with several out on my patio.  So I decided to go for it.  Plus it's kind of masculine looking, I didn't want to give him a ruffled, rose birthday cake, not that he would mind.  

So I did a 6" chocolate (his fav) with vanilla bean SMBC, just a rustic pattern on the outside and topped it with buttercream succulents.  I piped most of the succulents earlier and froze them, then arranged them on top.  Then I filled in with other succulents, and put the finishing touches on.  This actually ended up being one of my favorites to date.

He was pleased too :)

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.

Live every week like its shark week.

Although I never actually watch shark week, I still seem to get excited about it for some reason. This year, I decided to make a shark week cake because I'd been wanting to do a horizontal ruffle ombré, and what better way to show it off than waves in the sea.

I baked two 8" rounds using my favorite "Fluffy Vanilla Cake" from Sweetapolita. I also tried something new, we'll see how it worked out...After brainstorming with Jeff about wanting a thick layer of strawberry compote, he suggested instead of a buttercream dam, that I use a ring of cake. I had an extra layer of vanilla in the freezer from last week, so I cut the middle out, and filled it with compote. I'm going for an "oozy" layer effect, and I think using a cake layer instead of a dam will allow that to happen. I whipped up some silky smooth Swiss meringue buttercream from Sweetapolita, colored it, and piped using a Wilton 104 for the ruffles. This was my first time using my fancy new turn table and it was AMAZING. I also made some white chocolate shark fins that I put around the top of the cake. Hopefully the guys at Jeff's work will enjoy it. 

"So here's some advice I wish I would have got when I was your age... Live every week, like it's shark week."

~Tracy Jordan, 30Rock. 

Before adding "whitecaps" and fins. 

Finished project. I'll add a pic of the inside when they cut it tomorrow. 

Here's the inside :) 

Jacks 3rd birthday

Jack really wanted a "Cars" cake for his 3rd birthday in the shape of a 3.  So of course, that's what he got.  The cars were real toys, so he got to enjoy playing with them.  The cake is a checkered board chocolate and vanilla, with SMBC for the frosting, and crushed oreos for the road.