Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

I know these are a little late in coming, but they could be used for Halloween or Thanksgiving.

So Happy Thanksgiving!

Hey, now I am really early!
And Yes, I am an optimist!


Actually, I made these cute "Thanksgiving" cupcakes with a great group of young girls from church. I am a teacher for the 12-13 year old girls on Sundays and on Wednesday nights we meet and learn crafts, cooking, do service projects and all sorts of other fun stuff. It is really fun working with my group of girls. They have been wanting to learn how to work with Fondant, so I thought these cupcakes would be a great place to start. They did a wonderful job too, I just wish I had remembered my camera, so I could show you all of their cute pumpkin patches.
So, I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sarah turned 3!!!

Saturday was a wonderful day! My daughter Sarah, turned 3! She had decided for her birthday that she wanted a Candy Land and Queen Frostine Party. So, of course I went completely overboard and threw the most extravagant Candy Land party I could come up with.

Candy Land!

We set up the backyard to look like Candy Land, with a multi-colored path winding around the yard.

Sarah and friends chill'n in Gumdrop Pass

On the way through the path, the kids passed each of the characters from Candy Land, played a small game and received a piece of candy. The kids were thrilled! At the end of the path, they arrived at Candy Castle!

Playing games in Candy Land!

Sarah's Cake was a huge hit! It is the biggest cake I have made so far, and it was really fun to put together. She decided she wanted vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. She is definitely my kid, because that is my favorite too. After Sarah blew out the candles, I took the top tier (Queen Frostine) and put it on Sarah's plate. I wish we could have gotten a picture of the look on her face, because she has never had a bigger smile on her face, then when she realized she got to eat Queen Frostine all by herself.

Sarah making a wish

The cutest part of the night was watching her try to figure out how to eat Queen Frostine. She thought about using her fork, but decided against it, then she picked it up like corn on the cob and started munching. It was very cute!



Sarah loved all of the gifts, and had so much fun with all of her friends! Thanks to everyone who made her day so special! We love you all!

Good Night...Sleep Tight!

I had so much fun making this Slumber Party Cake! The blanket matches the Birthday girl's blanket on her bed.

It was so fun to deliver this cake and watch as the girls at the party decide who was who. Then they all turned to me and asked, "Do we get to eat our own heads?" Because I knew this question was coming, I made all of the heads out of fondant, so that they could "eat their own heads". I think it is so funny that whenever I make figures of people, that is always the first question they ask. I can imagine a psychologist my love to delve deeper into why we all find it amuzing to eat sugary depictions of ourselves, but for me, I find it quite funny.

So Happy Birthday Valerie! I hope your Slumber Party was a BLAST!!!

My Grandmother

I have been thinking a lot about my Grandmother recently. She past away two years ago at the age of 89. I know I have talked a lot about her on my blog but my fabulous aunt has been kind enough to give my copies of my grandmothers cakes. My Grandma, has been the person who has most inspired my to decorate cakes. She loved the sugar arts, although I don't think it was called Sugar Art in her day, it was just plain, cake decorating.

I remember as a young girl, going with my grandma to a wonderous place called C. Kay Cummings Candies, in Salt Lake City, Utah. She worked for Kay Cummings out of her home and made beautiful tiny icing decorations. She would make thousands of them, then package them up and off we would go to the chocolate shop.

Once, when I was older she took me on a tour of the quaint beautiful little chocolate factory. I was in awe as I watched the workers laying our shiny thin layers of chocolate onto long tables, then adding another thin layer of green mint chocolate, then yet another layer of shiny beautiful chocolate. My mouth would water as I watched them cut the Trafalgar squares and place them in boxes. I loved that place, it smelled heavenly. I wanted to stay there forever.

C.Kay Cummings is still there, on 33rd South and 20th East. On the way home after the funeral services for Grandma, I went to Cummings with my mom, brothers and sisters. The teenage cashier probably thought we were crazy as we broused the shop talking about the momories we had of grandma making this candy or that candy. It was a great way to end a day of rememberance and love for our grandma.

These are her wedding cakes. She was famous for her Carrot Cake and Spice Cake. I loved going to her house on days she had baked. She would save the cake tops and use the extra frosting to frost the thin top layers and stack them on top of each other. One of the 1st questions out most visitors mouths was "Hi, Grandma, got any cake tops?" Still now the cake tops are my favorite part of the cake.

https://www.finecandies.com/index.php

Go Celtics!!!

So I must admit, I am not much of a basketball fan, but I have learned a lot about the Boston Celtics this week. This cake was for a very cute...I mean, very cool 10 year old boy, who loves the Celtics. His favorite player is Paul Pierce, so as I am very new at making gumpaste figures, the man on the cake hardly resembles Paul Pierce.

Although I think our cool birthday boy has a little more of a resemblance to his figure, except for the fact that he would be extremely tall for his age if he actually came to Paul Pierce's shoulder.....What I am trying nicely to say is...Gumpaste figures are not my forte'. I am trying hard and I hopefully will get better, but they are really hard to do. I am certainly No Michelangelo, with clay, paint or sugar. Although, it would be fun to see what Michelangelo could make of a lump of gumpaste. Hummmmm.... I love random thoughts...

Olivia's Cake

Today we celebrated Olivia's birthday! She is our really good friend and she is turning 8 this weekend. Last week I had so much fun going over to her house and sitting down with her and her mom to design her perfect cake. Olivia designed the whole cake. She picked the shape of the purse, the polka dots and all of the colors. She knew exactly what she wanted and it was so much fun to make her dream cake come true.

We love you Olivia or Wiva as my daughter would say

Happy Birthday!

The shoe is made out of gumpaste. The cake is a chocolate fudge cake with chocolate buttercream icing, and covered in vanilla fondant. The "tissue paper" is gumpaste also.

Enjoy!

Sleeping Beauty and Friends

Sleeping Beauty is one of my very favorite Disney movies. Even as a young child I loved Sleeping Beauty and my favorite part was when she dances with the owl dressed up in the princes boots and cape. So when I was asked to do a Sleeping Beauty cake I instantly thought of the owl! I made this cake for a darling little 4 year old girl who looks just like Sleeping Beauty!

Happy Birthday Abby!

Sleeping Beauty is a doll and her dress is a delicious 4 layer yellow cake with pink buttercream icing.

All of the forest creatures and the tree stump are made of fondant.

Enjoy, and have a wonderful day!

Congratulations Katie!!!

I just love engagements! Everyone has great stories about getting engaged. No matter how embellished or delicately the question is asked, it's a story that is cherished forever by the married couple. It's the beginning of a whole new chapter, and one of the most memorable moments in life! So here is a cupcake that celebrates that most important question.

Will you marry me?

My inspiration for these cupcakes is my amazing friend and next door neighbor Kim and her newly engaged sister Katie. I found a picture of these lovely cupcakes at http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/ . The ring is plastic, but will eventually be edible and the wrapper is handmade.

Have a Delicious Day!

Cupcakes on the Brain

I have had cupcakes on my mind lately and have been thinking about how to spruce them up a bit. I must admit that cupcakes haven't really been my favorite form of cake, in fact I would have much rather spent the time decorating a large cake, then on lots of little cakes doing the same thing over and over again.

I see a cake as a large blank canvas with incredible potential. A cupcake is like taking that large canvas and cutting it into small pieces, your potential is minimized.

Although I have found that decorating cupcakes with fondant brings a completely different feel to the cupcake and opens it up to great potential. So I started with a simple design and found that cupcakes can be enjoyable after all. So I tip my hat to the cupcake, and to all you cupcake lovers out there.

I hope you have a fabulous, yummy day!

Pink, Pink and more Pink

Happy Birthday Angie!

Sunday night we celebrated my friend Angie's birthday, and had a great time. Even though just as I was serving the pulled pork sandwiches that had been cooking for about 10 hours and the homemade boneless buffalo wings, I realized I had completely forgotten the Corn on the cob. So we ate corn chips and called it good on the veggies.

For dessert she allowed me to experiment. I haven't ever put real ribbon on a cake, but I think they are so beautiful. So I tried it. The ribbon turned out pretty good, but the fondant was rebelling. It wouldn't listen to me at all. I tried being gentle and loving and then it turned nasty, but that fondant wouldn't budge. It wanted to bubble and there was nothing I could do about it. In the end, the fondant won because I knew Angie would still love me even if her cake was a little plump around the middle.

I hope you all have a Delicious Day!