Happy Birthday, Dear Laura!

Yesterday was Laura's birthday and we celebrated it right.  A group of us met at a local hot spot and we ate well, drank well and celebrated with cupcakes.

Laura was not expecting us to sing "Happy Birthday" at the top of our lungs and NONE of us were expecting the entire establishment to join in the song.  

After cupcakes, a quick game of  Cards Against Humanity wrapped up the fun celebration.

Happiest of Birthdays to you, Laura!

Happy Birthday, Dear Robin!

I've always done something different for my friend Robin's birthday.  A few years ago, I did the mosaic cake.  Last year it was a hummingbird cake.  This year, I thought I'd change it up for her and give her an assortment of cupcakes for her birthday.  I practiced a few new cupcake topping techniques in the process.  I love how they turned out!

Happy Birthday, dear friend!  I hope you have a wonderful day!  Free of worry.  Free of stress.  Plenty of love and plenty of bliss!

Love,

Ann 

World Traveler Desmond

My nephew, Desmond, will be turning one in a few days and his parents hosted a fabulous birthday party for him this weekend.  The theme of Des' party was "World Traveler".  Has he traveled the world?  No.  But his parents lived in Scotland for several years and they traveled all over Europe in their time there.  Desmond will become very familiar with their travels, so how could he not become a world traveler himself?!  I wonder where he'll venture to first?  Hmmm....

Anyway, for his cake, his mom (my sister-in-law, Lisa) decided on a chocolate cake with chocolate ganache filling.  I swirled in some homemade caramel for good measure (this combination is one of my favorites!) and stacked another chocolate cake on top. 

The mini-cake on top was Des' smash cake.  It's a yellow cake with buttercream filling.   I drew an arrow and wrote "N" on the top of the cake.  This was to be his compass. 

I drew a map of the world on top of the cake.  The color scheme, light chocolate, was chosen so that it looked antique-like.  I added a little more cocoa to the mix and made the borders.

Lisa really wanted a suitcase on his cake, so I made a small little suitcase out of rice krispie treats and covered it in buttercream and blue fondant.  I added some additional fondant "stickers" and "leather" straps and marked it with a "D" for Desmond. 

I also made some yellow cupcakes with vanilla buttercream filling and some "light" chocolate frosting on top.  These cupcakes were topped with "D's" and "1's" to signify Des' first name inital and his age.  But if you go one step further (and I'm stretching it here...), we could call that his airplane seat number.  You with me?   First class for Des!

Here's the cake at its location.  There was a little sign next to the cake that said, "Cake Mama - USA." 

I think I got the colors right - look at how closely they match the goodie bag suitcase!  I love it when things work out like that!

And here's my adorable nephew getting his face full of cake!  You go Des!

I'm so happy that I got to be a part of your special day, Desmond!  Happy Birthday to you and best wishes for the coming year!  I can't wait to be a part of your many adventures!