"I miss my jeans!"

Emily's Country Music Birthday Cake



It is always hard to make the first cut!

 I had so much fun making this jeans cake for my niece Emily who is expecting her first baby in June.  I was told she enjoys listening to country music lately and that her favorite colors are pink, green and blue.  A picture of this cake immediately popped into my head.  I vividly remembered how I felt around my seventh month of pregnancy....I really missed my jeans.  Emily told me she actually loves her cute and comfortable maternity jeans but I think she liked the cake anyway. 

This cake was very rich and really needed the yummy ice cream Julia brought to go with it.  It was chocolate with raspberry filling and a chocolate buttercream frosting (enriched with chocolate ganache) under the homemade fondant.  My friend Robin came over to 'help' me with the fondant and ended up doing just fine on her own!  One of these days I will get it right all by myself.  I was able to use the pink gumpaste carnation that I learned to make in my new Wilton class.  We had a wonderful girls night eating, chatting, and celebrating.  Happy Birthday Emily!

Beautiful Bling

Beautiful Bling Birthday cake for my sister Amy!

Happy Birthday Sis!

Inspiration for this cake design came from the softly styled, beautiful paintings that my sister Amy and her husband collect in their home.  I also wanted to make a cake that would honor her generous heart and sense of style so I chose to make fully-blossomed white chocolate roses and a bit of bling.  Since Amy is hard to please when it comes to cake, I had a challenge on my hands.  I felt that my experimental cake recipe paired a sweet, subtle flavor with a moister, lighter texture than my other banana pound cake.  My first attempt at chocolate ganache was a test of patience but sooo yummy, especially with cheesecake mousse filling.

I couldn't have completed the cake jewelry without my Dad's handy touch with the wire, it was pretty stubborn.  Finally, with help from Amy's daughters as well as my own, we blinged out the cake with pink dragonfly pendants, pink swirled chocolate shavings, and shiny sugar crystals to represent a girl's best friend...diamonds.  Happy Birthday Beautiful Girl!  I love you, Amy! 

Mom chose the dragonfly pendants which were gifted to Amy and her two

 daughters to wear as necklaces...after we licked off the chocolate ganache of course! 



Finally!



Buttercream Rose Garden Wilton Class Final Cake
Happy Half-Birthday Janae!



Bragging rights go to Kimi for sewing my apron!



Finally, my daughter Janae can stop telling people she didn't get a birthday cake!  This is her replacement cake for the year she complains to her friends about.  I decided to dedicate my final cake for my Wilton Cake Decorating class to her as a half-birthday cake.  She helped me design it by choosing the funfetti cake flavor, buttercream colors, and suggesting the gold dust on the white roses.  The idea for a pistachio pudding mousse filling was all me and pretty as spring with the purple frosting.  My very first Wilton rose, and my personal best is in the center.  A classy class certificate and my new AMAZING apron make it official now: I have joined the ranks of happy home cake decorators everywhere!