Monday, July 22, 2013

Princess Alicia

Ali celebrated her third birthday this weekend; just days after she became a big sister!!    This wonderful princess deserved a very special cake!!!  

The bottom tier of the cake is a chocolate cake with Oreos, fudge and buttercream fillings.  The top tier is a yellow cake with raspberry buttercream frosting.  I was told that she was having a princess themed party and that Princess Alicia wanted a pink cake.  I could do that!  Pink it was.  Lots of pink.  And purple.  And I threw in a little yellow/orange and green, just to liven it up a little.  




I hope that Princess Ali had a wonderful birthday celebration!  We were so happy we got to congratulate the big sister and celebrate with her.

Monday, July 15, 2013

Olivia Plays Soccer

I was SUPER excited to do this cake for little Abie - who's not so little anymore!  I did a cake for her 2nd birthday AND her 3rd and now her 4th!!!  She wanted an Olivia cake, and I've been told that she is a fan of Olivia the soccer player!  Luckily for me, Olivia plays soccer and there's proof of it online.  

If you don't know, Olivia is a little pig who has the tendency to wear EVERYONE out.  She's a cute character and I believe she's a star of many books and even cartoons.  My Josie gets a kick out of her.  

So here's an Olivia cake for big-girl Abie, who also plays soccer.  




I'm actually super proud of the shirt which I made out of strips of colored gumpaste.  All of Olivia is made out of gum paste.  I used edible food marker and some edible luster dust for the shading.


Here's Abie enjoying her cake.  Happy Birthday!!!!  





Monday, July 8, 2013

Erwin's Birthday



Back in college, I worked as a camp counselor at a camp in Hartland, WI called Camp Whitcomb/Mason.  It's affiliated with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee.  I still can't believe it was something that I did and I even went back for a second year because I loved it so much.  The kids were great.  Challenging?  Absolutely.  But they were great.  The rest of the staff was a hoot!  I've honestly made some wonderful life-long friends and that place will always have a special place in my heart.  The beauty in that land...gosh, there are no words.  

Anyway, it's there that I met Erwin.  Well, her real name is Erin, but her camp name was Erwin.  She chose that name because a priest at a church she went to when she was a kid called her Erwin and the name just stuck.  I was Walleye.  Don't ask.

Anyway, Erwin was an interesting character when I first met her.  She immediately had friends and made herself at home with the camp staff.  She'd sometimes give me a hard time and I'd laugh it off and ignore it the best I could.  You know, I'd have a sunburn on my shoulders and she'd come over and smack them.  Or, I'd be standing talking to a fellow counselor and she'd come up behind me and knock my knees out and cause me to collapse.  She was a real jokester, that Erwin.  She'd have all of the kids seated at her table with her at mealtime show me their half-eaten food in their mouths.  Awesome.  

Well, I was done being the "victim" and started writing her "wrong-doings" down and sharing them with the rest of the camp staff.  And then things got fun.  Or should I say, funny.  We still laugh about the ridiculousness of Erwin's teasing.  One of my favorite "Erwinism" was from a night where we had a camp-out in Thompson Woods.  Waaaaa-aaaaay out the middle of a forest.  We literally had tents put together with band-aids because no one wanted to walk aaaaaalllllll of the way back to get the necessary items.  Anyway, this was a night where the campers were crabby, it was hot and we were being eaten alive by mosquitos.  Erwin and I happened to be the last two awake and I was on fire duty, trying desperately to get the fire to go out.  The only light in the middle of the forest was coming from the red coals that I was actively poking.  And then Erwin whispers to me, "Walleye, that's what you'll be doing in hell."  I nearly died from laughter.  

Anyway, it was because of Erwin that I laughed as much as I did at camp.  And all of these years later, I consider her one of my dearest friends.  


Here's Erwin and Walleye.  


One of my favorites of Erwin.  Did she fall asleep and someone wrote on her forehead?  I don't remember.  



Soooooooo, when Erin's husband emailed me requesting that I make a cake for Erin's birthday, I was super excited to do this!  She was evidently very specific about the kind of cake she wanted and I was super excited to oblige because it sounded delicious.

I made a lemon poppyseed cake with homemade strawberry curd, sliced strawberries and cream cheese filling and frosting.  The scraps tasted amazing.  I decorated it with a fun piping technique I found on Pinterest.



Here's a picture taken by Erin's sister of the inside of the cake.  Mmmmmmm!


Happiest of birthdays to you, Dear Erin!  Here's to many, many more!