It's Ah-Mario Cake!

My nephew, Connor, has become quite the Nintendo expert.  He plays incredibly well and often beats ME.  Yes.  You read that right.  Those of you who know me personally, know that I am one of the biggest Mario fans there is.  I also pride myself on my awesome Nintendo skills.  But, when I play against my nephew, he often beats me.  I couldn't be more proud.

So, his sixth birthday party was last weekend and I was absolutely thrilled to make a Mario cake for him.

The mushroom was made out of rice cereal treats and covered with fondant.

I made a special order for these cute little Mario characters.  They were imported from Japan!

Of course Mario is on top!

A picture of the inside of the cake.  

Connor - I can't believe you're already SIX YEARS OLD!!  I wish you a fantastic year!

Love,
Auntie Ann

(Here's my thank you card.  These are the BEST!!)

Max & Ruby. Ruby & Max.

Joan ordered a Max & Ruby cake for her granddaughter, Belen's, 2nd birthday celebration.  I absolutely ADORE Max & Ruby and honestly couldn't wait to do this cake!  If you're unfamiliar, they are a brother and sister bunny cartoon that's found on Nick Jr.  Just cute fun.  

Joan requested a confetti cake and I got to surprise her with the cupcake flavor.  I chose chocolate for those.  Max and Ruby are made out of gum paste/fondant and I used edible food markers for the detail work.  

The cupcakes are filled and frosted with buttercream and topped with sprinkles.  What kid doesn't love sprinkles, right?

I hope that Belen had a GREAT party!  I sure had fun doing her cake!!  

New York, New York!!!!

The day had finally arrived.  My godson, Tanner, had finally graduated from high school.  I held him when he was just a few days old, and now he is moving on with the rest of his life.  His very exciting future.  Following his dreams.  Taking chances.  Meeting new people.  Seeing exciting new things.  Exploring new places.  He's got the world ahead of him.  

For Tanner, life could not be more exciting.  He's heading to NYC for school and will be studying photography.  I couldn't be more proud of him or happy for him.  He's got so many wonderful friends and a truly supportive family.  His charismatic personality will take him far.  Just you wait!!  

He asked me to do his graduation cake...like a year ago.  This cake had to be something.  He sent over some pictures for inspiration and I loved the ones that included a city skyline.  That had to be on his cake.  For sure.  But I was having trouble coming up with the cake topper.  I was talking it over with my husband who happened to be travelling at the time.  I was saying, "Gosh, I wish I had something for the top of Tanner's cake.  Something that's totally New York.  Wait a minute...where are you?"  [Hubby's been travelling a lot these last few weeks....]  Danny responds, "I'm IN New York city.  What are you looking for?"  And the rest is history.  Danny found some great little NYC souvenirs.  I LOVE the plate he picked out for the topper.  

Anyway, here's Tanner's cake.  The bottom tier was his graduation tier.  Class of 2013 and a bunch of graduate silhouettes.  The middle and top tiers were devoted to NYC.  Rightfully so.  

Here's the cake at the party.  

As for cake flavors, the top tier was Tanner's favorite.  Banana cake with banana cream filling. 

The middle tier was vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream.  

 The bottom tier was chocolate cake with buttercream, Oreos and chocolate fudge filling.  (MY favorite.)

Mmmmmm....cake!

Tanner was super excited about the new Canon camera he received.  I don't think that it left his side for the whole rest of the day.  I can't wait to see the pictures he takes with this treasure!  He's certainly hooked up well for school, that's for sure!

 My little Josie came with me to help Tanner celebrate.  I think she was dressed appropriately, don't you?

Congratulations, Tanner!  I wish you fun times, amazing adventures, and tons of inspiration!  I can't wait to see what happens next!

Love,

Ann ;)

XOXO

They Call Him Moose

Can I just say that I love doing cakes for Kristie?  I get a fun message like this from her,

"Christian is nicknamed "moose", so I thought it would be fun to use that as our theme. I then thought maybe using Rocky and Bullwinkle would be fun. So that's as much definition that I'm providing. Beyond that I want you to go crazy! As for flavors, I'm not sure if this is possible, but some sort of play on Moose tracks ice cream flavor would be fun."

And here were the plates that they were having at Christian's party.  She thought going with blue and green on the cake would be a good fit.  

So first, coming up with a Moose Tracks flavor cake was a fun one for me.  I love Moose Tracks ice cream and had to incorporate vanilla, fudge and peanut butter cups into a cake.  Challenge accepted.  I opted for a vanilla cake as the base, so the layers were as follows:  Cake, buttercream with chopped peanut butter cups, cake, chocolate fudge, cake, buttercream with chopped peanut butter cups, cake.  I frosted the outside with more buttercream.  I'm salivating as I type this.

Now, going with "Moose" or "Bullwinkle" was a fun prospect as well.  I made the Bullwinkle topper out of gum paste and fondant and added the stars and ball border with more fondant.  I know that Christian's big sister, Clare, would surely be a fan of those!

I think this one turned out cute!  The colors could not have been more festive.   I hope that Christian had a great birthday celebration!  I can't wait to hear about the flavor of the cake.  I hope everything worked well together!  

Happy Birthday, Christian!

Baby Cakes

I've done this cake before.  But not for Christine, a wonderful gal I went to high school with.  I was SUPER excited to help her out with a baby shower she was helping to plan at her work.  The mother-to-be requested a confetti cake and that's what both of these were.  Confetti cake with vanilla buttercream filling.

I wish I meant to do it, but I love how the cake round under the head looks like a baby bonnet.  A happy accident!

I hope that the baby shower was a success!  Thanks, Christine, for thinking of me for your event!

Claire Bear, Claire Bear...What do you see?

This is my 200th post!!  TWO HUNDRED!!!!!  Woo hoo!

Okay, now on to the fun stuff.  ;)

Cathy ordered a cake and cake pops for her daughter's first birthday celebration.  She's from out-of-state, but they were going to be celebrating this special occasion with family and friends in town.  I love it when it works out like that!

Cathy wanted an Eric Carle themed birthday for Claire.  And she thought a "Brown Bear, Brown Bear what do you see?" would be a fun theme because they call their little Claire, "Claire Bear."  How CUTE?!!!

So, for the cake pops she wanted a fun selection of "Eric Carle colors".  Yeah.  I had fun with these!  Aren't they beautiful?!!  Half of them are yellow cake and the other half are chocolate.  Mmmmm!!!!

And for Claire's cake, it was a yellow cake with the most delicious boiled buttercream.   Not too sweet, but smooth as butter - perfect for a first birthday taste!  

The side of the cake has some fun colorful fondant circles and the words "Claire Bear, Claire Bear."    The cake board has the words, "What do you see?"

The brown bear was made out of fondant and gum paste.  I swirled in some fun colors to give him the "Eric Carle" look.

Super fun and super happy.  The perfect cake and cake pops for such a special occasion!  Happy FIRST  Birthday, Claire Bear!!!!