Red Velvet Heaven

Heaven.

That is all.

Cake Pop with Jimm[ies]

So here's my brother, Jimmy.

And here's the cake my mom made for his 4th birthday.  (See where I get my cake decorating skills?)

And here's me and Jimmy on his birthday.  I was clearly confused by the whole event.  Or, I may have been confused about what was on my tray.  [Seriously, what IS that?]

But he was my brother and I trusted him.   

But I couldn't give him a smile. 

So on his birthday this year, I made him cake in the form of pops.  

And I sprinkled them with Jimmies.

 And they made him smile.  

Bake Sale Success

This last weekend, my daughter's American Heritage Girls Troop hosted a bake sale to raise funds for Camping and other fun items.  I am the Troop Coordinator for this delightful group of girls and was so excited to organize and help coordinate this bake sale.  We had a WONDERFUL turn-out and exceeded our goal by over 100%.  So I thought I'd put together a list of the things that went really well for us, in case you plan to host one yourself some day!

Step 1:  Advertise - we advertised in our church bulletin because the members of our parish would be our prime customers.  I am absolutely humbled by their enormously generous hearts and they showed up this weekend and totally supported "their" girls!  

Step 2:  Recruit!  In our ad, we requested additional bakers.  And, each AHG family was required to bake 3 homemade batches of baked goods.  We had a sign-up sheet on our website and people signed up to bring pies, mini-pies, brownies, bars, cookies, breads, snacks and other individually wrapped items. 

3.  Theme - We lucked out in that it was the weekend before Valentine's Day.  We themed our tables accordingly.  It was also great timing in that it was the weekend after the Super Bowl and the week before Lent (many people give up sweets before Easter!!).  

4.  Variety - HUGE.  We had something for everyone, as you can see below!  

5.  Packaging - we packaged things to SELL.  These cookies are packaged with a paper plate cut and then taped back together.  Found this website on Pinterest.  In addition, cake pops were readily accessible and snack bags filled with caramel corn or baked pretzels went pretty quickly too.   We tried to use the AHG logo whenever possible too.  Branding was incredibly important to us, because we are a new Troop and new to our Parish.

6.  We didn't price one item.  We simply asked for donations.  Not only was it easier for our girls who were so polite and SO THANKFUL, but it was easier for everyone.  Our customers knew what they wanted to spend and picked their items accordingly.  And they were MORE THAN generous.  

Our girls are SO grateful for the generosity of our community.  We wouldn't be here without them.  

I wish you luck on your bake sale!  

Not Triplets

Angela requested a cake for her daughter, and two other children in her family who were all celebrating birthdays around the same time.  Elliana and Madison are both gymnasts and Tyler is a soccer player.  She requested that I incorporate something about each of them into the cake.  

Challenge accepted.

I opted to do Pink and Green for the coloring of this cake so that it wouldn't look like a baby shower cake.  Many of them are pink and blue.  Pink and green seemed more lively and ready to take on the 6 and 8 year-olds that would be celebrating their special day.

I also liked the idea of using silhouettes to represent each of the special birthday kids.  

This cake was vanilla cake with raspberry puree, vanilla buttercream and raspberry buttercream filling, topped with more vanilla buttercream and fondant.  All decor items are done in fondant and/or gum paste.

I hope that Tyler had a Happy 6th Birthday and I hope that both Madison and Elliana had a fantastic 8th Birthday celebration!  

A Spa Party

Elliana was have a SPA party at Snips & Giggles in town.  What a FUN party idea!  Last year, you may remember the totally rainbow unicorny cake I did for Elliana's 7th birthday?   Well, this had to be right up there with color and fun.   Her mom, Angela, suggested that I keep the colors similar to those from Snips & Giggles, which are teal, pink and green with polka dots.  I was game!  That was a fun color combination and I really love the way it turned out.  

Elliana's cake was vanilla cake with raspberry puree, vanilla buttercream and raspberry buttercream filling, topped with more vanilla buttercream.  All decor items are done in fondant and/or gum paste.

I hope that Elliana and her lucky friends had a wonderful SPA party and got to relax and get all beautified!  Happy 8th Birthday, Sweetie!

A Different Ombre for Chelsie

Chelsie knew what she wanted for her birthday.  And fortunately for her, I had the time!  Her request: A chocolate-flecked cake filled with one type of vanilla buttercream and topped with a boiled vanilla bean buttercream.  She really didn't care how it was decorated, so I got out my Wilton tips again and played some more.  Another Ombre cake for Chelsie in a similar color-scheme as her last birthday cake, but a different design.

If you look closely enough, you can see the flecks of vanilla bean!

Chelsie, I hope you had a wonderful birthday celebration!  I'm happy I got to be a part of it!

A Cake For a Sister

Erin requested a cake for her Great-Aunt's birthday celebration.  This wonderful woman happens to be a Dominican Nun.  I was so honored to make a cake for such a special lady!

Per usual (with most cakes Erin orders), I was given full reign to do what I wanted, so I tested out a new piping technique for the sides of the cake.  This is ruffling is done with Tip 104.  I started on the bottom of the cake and worked my way to the top of the cake in a zig-zag motion to make the rows. I've seen this all over Pinterest, but decided to try it out myself and I love the way it looks!  

The cake is a chocolate cake with creamy vanilla buttercream.  I topped it with fondant flowers in the shape of a cross.

Here's Sister enjoying her cake.  How sweet is she?

I hope she had a wonderful birthday celebration!!