Hannah and Isabella's First Birthday

February 5th was  a special day for two little ladies I know. Joe's nieces turned 1! Happy Birthday Hannah and Isabella!! I had the honor of making their cake and both of their smash cakes.

 

So here are the cakes. I found this design on Flickr and absolutely loved it for these little ladies. I added the butterflies since their theme was butterflies and flowers.

 Hannah is on the left and Isabella is on the right, that is their daddy in the middle. We had turned the lights out and were singing them happy birthday and this is the scared/surprised look on their faces.

 Their special cakes were healthy blueberry banana with oats and whole wheat. They were pretty tasty.

 Hannah ended up with cake all over. She was throwing it in the air and getting it all over her and her hair.

This is Isabella examining her cake before it was destroyed.

Bridal Shower Cake

I was asked to make a bridal shower cake for my friend Kelly's best friend. The wedding colors are yellow and brown and the flowers were hydrangeas. The wedding invite features yellow flowers on a branch so that was incorporated in the cake.

The cake itself was a moist yellow cake ( new recipe) with vanilla butter cream. The cake was covered in fondant and all the decorations were fondant or gumpate.

I delivered the cake to a beautiful venue, the Norge Ski Club in Fox River Grove.

Ashley's College Graduation Cake

My best friend Ashley graduated from College in May. She went to be a Special Education Teacher and has already found a job. I am so proud of her!! She had a big bash at her place so I asked to make the cake as her present. The bottom tier is chocolate with oreo cream cheese frosting and the top is white with white frosting. It is decorated in fondant and the figurine of her is gumpaste.

The cake design is based on a baby shower design by Pink Cake Box.



Seeing Double?

About a month ago I went to my mom's for the hometown festival. While we were there we ran into her good friend. Of course my mom had to rave about my cakes. I had to get my phone out and show her them. She saw the one from Chloe's Birthday and asked if I could make it for her daughter's 16th birthday. Of course I can!
Here is the pretty little lady. She turned out better than the first time proving that practice does make perfect! I wish I would have redone the bow but oh well. I will next time. My boyfriend Joe even helped me out with all those polka dots! This was my first time using the letter cutter outer thingies. They were annoying at first but I got the hang of it now?

Ashley's Birthday Cake

My best friend since I was 5, Ashley, is celebrating her 25th birthday this week. I headed back home this past weekend so I decided I would make her a cake and bring it to her a bit early. I wanted to make something very special for her and had a ton of ideas running through my mind. I went to the Pink Cake box website as I do everyday and saw this cake. The top tier caught my eye and I thought that it was something she would really like. I did my cousin's cake this weekend too so I needed something pretty simple so I could finish both.

I made the cake Friday night. I asked Ashley her favorite flavor and like many she said chocolate but she also said she liked any kind so I decided to mix it up a bit. I made her a White Almond Sour Cream cake with buttercream frosting. She is one person who I knew that would appreciate a cake with a less than normal name. I handed it off to her and she loved it and texted me later that night to tell me it was delicious! :)

The Evolution of Cake

After my first cake I gained a lot of confidence. My grandma's birthday was nearing so I decided I would make her a cake and bring it to the Easter celebration ( her birthday was Easter weekend). I wanted to make a cake that looked like a present so I did just that. I made a square cake, chocolate of course, and covered it in purple fondant. I found out quickly that square cakes were not as easy to cover as circle ones, but it didn't turn out half bad. I watched YouTube videos about how to make a bow and fell in love with Edna's tutorials. I followed her instructions and ended up with a beautiful bow. I brought the cake to the get together and after lunch I placed it in front on my grandma. She looked at it for a second and then asked, "Can I open it?" Hehe

I watched the Alice in Wonderland movie when it was out in theaters and the whole time I was watching I was thinking how the cat would look good as a cake. So I got out my colored pencils and paper and drew up the cat and how I thought he would look on a cake. I planned this baby out for few weeks and finally executed it. It was long, hard struggle for me. It took me 6 days total to finish but I did it. I took the cake to work but warned them that is was probably stale, so I brought in a fresh blue "velvet" cake just in case. He turned out pretty sharp, I was quite impressed with him. I got a little creative with him which again boosted my confidence.
Soon after the Cheshire Cat was complete, I wanted to make a cake for mother's day. I had this little design in my head so I went through with it. This was my first stacked cake and I had to real idea what I was doing. I watched videos but they didn't help much. I drove it unstacked to my mom's and stacked it there. It was crooked but no one cared.

Then the biggie came in. I have been posting all my pictures on Facebook thus far and my friend Sarah saw them. She asked if I could make a baby shower for her brother's girlfriend who was having a little boy. I agreed and she gave complete control. I went through a lot of different designs but ended up with this one. It was suppose to be brown too but I forgot why I didn't use brown. Oh well, it took be a long time and I was up late. The fondant tore and looked bad, but I used stars and circles to cover up the ugly parts. I had also made cupcakes. Green velvet cupcakes! They turned out pretty cute. The ducks are not mine, she added them there I guess.

At work, we had a luncheon and we were asked to bring in a dessert. I made a chocolate cake with Oreo cream cheese frosting and pink lemonade cupcakes. I didn't much care for the taste of the cupcakes but they looked cute, and that is all that matters right?


My friend that I play World of Warcraft with, Thogoth/Ben, came up to Chicago for a family wedding so we decided to meet up. He knew about me making cakes so he requested that I make him one. The faction we play on is Horde, so I made a Horde symbol on the cake. It was very simple. I leared not to use an exacto blade on my fondant mat though. I am constantly reminded of this now because there is a Horde symbol cut out on my $40 fondant mat! Hehe

This cake was a low point for me. By this point, my confidence in my fondant skills was lacking. I wanted to make a cake for my grandpa's and my own birthday. He loves John Deere so that is why I went with greed and yellow. I covered the cake in butter cream and added fondant accents. This was my 2nd attempt at a loop bow, I still am very unhappy with it.


And then came my favorite. I decided to order foam cakes so I could practice and this was my first practice cake. I covered the foams in fondant. My fondant skills were still lacking here but foam is more forgiving than butter cream. This is the first time I used store bought fondant as well. I was making my own fondant but it was very inconsistent and stressful so I researched fondants and decided to try Satin Ice in a vanilla flavor. I was making my own issues with the fondant. I was kneading it too much and when I went to roll it out and set it on the cake it would just rip. I later found out that this was my problem and have since fixed it! I have also mastered the art of making fantasy flowers. I was taking tin foil and bowling it into a coffee mug and placing circles of fondant into it to make the flowers.


My friend from highschool had seen my cakes on Facebook and asked me if I could make her god daughter a cake for her Quinceañera. I was freaking out at first cause she said she needed 4 cakes and I had never made that many. She later added another cake so I was freaking out a little more. The theme was Cinderella so she requested pink and blue. So I made white cakes with colored accents. The carriage stand was at the venue and the cakes were places on it there. I prepared for this order for a long time and was a nervous wreck the whole time but when the time cake to make them I calmed down. I made the fondant perfectly and everything else ran very smoothly. This order gave me my confidence back in fondant and since then I have had no issues.


After the dummy cake, I made a few other cakes here and there, but none were as amazing as Bob, Sponge Bob that is. My mom has been promoting my cakes to her friends and co-workers. Her bowling partner's, Dan and Mary, have a granddaughter Brianna who birthday was this month. Mary asked if I could make her a Sponge Bob cake. I was so excited, this was my calling. I looked up Sponge Bob, and grew increasingly excited when the date drew closer. The night before, I was working fondant magic and created this little guy who immediately stole my heart.

A week after Bob, my mom was coming to the convention center across from my work for a nursing conference. Her friend Laura, also a nurse, was going as well, and it just happened to be her birthday. So I told my mom I would make her a cake. My mom slyly asked her her favorite flavor. So I made a chocolate/chocolate 6 inch cake for her. I drove it over after work. They were getting in their car and my mom saw me and was like " Oh look who it is!" Laura saw me, " Oh hi Katie." I handed a shoe box and told her to open it and there was her beautiful cake. She was sooo excited. She talked about it all car ride home I guess.