Cake Mama's Birthday Treat

My birthday was on Friday and my family surprised me with a little birthday get-together on Saturday night. What a fun party.   Josie decorated cupcakes for the occasion and I think she did a brilliant job!

She's so proud!

Maren was absolutely mesmerized with the candles.

I made a wonderful wish...but I won't tell you what it was!

Josey's Classic Winnie the Pooh Cake

Josey was turning one and needed a "Classic Winnie the Pooh" cake to celebrate!  I've not done a Winnie the Pooh cake before and was very excited to get the opportunity!  Josey's mom, Lindsey, had just two requests.  She wanted the cake to say "Happy 1st Birthday, Josey" and it needed to have at least one "Classic Pooh" character on it.  That sounded like a plan!

And here's Pooh with a butterfly.  :)

The cake is a chocolate-flecked cake with buttercream filling and frosting.  This Pooh was made out of gum paste and I used some watered-down food coloring to "paint" him.

I added Piglet running around the bottom of the cake with a balloon.  He was just too cute to pass up.

What a milestone!!

Here's Josey on her special day!  Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!!  Blessings to you and your family!

Cake Mama's Mama

My mom celebrated her birthday this last weekend, but was going to be out of town visiting her mom and sister.  I wanted to make sure she had SOMETHING fun to share and celebrate her birthday with them, and then I planned to have my whole family over for a proper party the following week.  

So, here are the cupcakes I whipped up for her on her actual birthday.  I love how these turned out!  It's like a bouquet of flowers.  But yummier!

And just last night, we had a birthday party for her and this is the cake I made for that occasion.  I think it's appropriately themed for Fall, don't you think?  I found a similar cake on Wilton.com and was totally inspired!

To make the "pumpkin" on top, you just need to roll out an orange gum paste/fondant mix and cut into fourteen 1/4 inch strips.  I put a little stitching in each of the strips.

Connect the loops with a little gum glue and lay them out on a parchment-lined sheet tray for at least 48 hours.

To assemble, place a dowel in the cake and have it stick out on top for the stalk.  Cover the dowel with green fondant to make the "handle".  Place the pumpkin circles around the fondant.  I found that I had to use some additional buttercream to get some of them to stick where I wanted them to stick.  And voila!  Pumpkin cake!  (This cake is actually a chocolate-flecked cake.  My mom's new favorite.)

We celebrated her birthday with a meal of Julia Child's Beouff Bourguignon and mashed potatoes, and the most delicious Apple, Walnut and Blue Cheese Salad with Pomegranate Dressing.  YUM!

We finished off the meal with this delicious (if I do say so myself) cake.

Happy Birthday, Mom!  You're so fun to celebrate!