Tanner's 18!!!

So, late last month, my godson turned 18.  EIGHTEEN!!!!  I still remember holding him for the first time.   And decorating pumpkins when he was about 3 or so (as seen below).  I simply cannot believe how fast time flies and what an amazing young man he's become.  

Tanner's mom, Kim, and I went to grade school and Jr. High together.  We've known each other MOST of our lives.  When I moved from my hometown right before high school, Kim did an amazing job of keeping the lines of communication open between us.  We continued our friendship and visited each other throughout those years.    We kept in contact through college and still see each other pretty regularly to this day.  To be a part of her life and to play such a humbling role in Tanner's life has been a real honor.  

(Tanner (posing with his cake) and I are giving the 'ol stink-eye to Kim who's having a hard time using my camera.  The cake is REALLY heavy...)

What a handsome young man!

As graduation approaches, Tanner is planning his college days.  He plans to go into photography and has a really impressive "eye" for it.  His photography is really something!

I was absolutely honored to do this cake for him.  He asked for a pretty simple design.  White buttercream with confetti going down one side.  I used candy-covered chocolate chips, because - YUM!

The top tier is Tanner's favorite; banana cake with banana cream filling.  The bottom tier is a real crowd pleaser; chocolate cake, chocolate fudge and Oreo buttercream filling.  When I said the cake was heavy, I wasn't kidding!!

I had such a wonderful time at Tanner's party, meeting his friends and seeing/visiting with his family.  I even got to see a few more of my grade-school friends as well.  It's always nice to catch up!

To Tanner - I wish you the very best year yet.  SO many adventures are right in front of you.  The sky's the limit, Buddy!  I can't wait to see what you do next!

Love,
Ann
XOXO

Have you HERD the MOOS?

You know when you have this great idea in your head and then when you see it in true form it makes you laugh hysterically?  Well, that's what happened with these cow cake pops.  I had this idea in my head and these turned out more silly than I even anticipated.  Carrie requested 10 of these little cows as a birthday party favor for her son's class. 

I had milk chocolate and white chocolate ready to melt.  The candy eyes really give these little cows a bit of whimsy, don't you think?  (LOL!)  The cake pops themselves where made out of chocolate cake. 

I hope that Carrie's son has a great birthday this weekend! 

Hello Kitty/Abby!

My long-time friend, Kim (seriously, we've been friends since we were SIX!!!) asked me to do a cake for her daughter, Abby's 12th birthday.  Abby is really into Hello Kitty these days and wanted a Hello Kitty cake.  I had SO.MUCH.FUN with this one!

The cake itself is a chocolate cake with buttercream filling and frosting.  The decoration is made up of fondant and gum paste.  

The very best part of this cake was the delivery.  Kim lives about 90 minutes away from me, but we decided to meet half-way and have lunch.  Such fun to meet up with good friends like that!!

Here's Abby's cake with the party decorations.  Would you believe that I hadn't seen them?  It was by luck that the colors worked out as perfectly as they did!  Maybe that, or Kim and I are telepathic.  Wouldn't surprise me!

And here's the birthday girl, Abby with her cake!

 SO happy to be a part of your birthday, Abby!  I hope you had a great day and a great party!

Looney Tunes Pussyfoot Cake

Kim requested a cake for her sister's birthday.  She said that every year, she gets her sister something with Pussyfoot, the Looney Tunes character, on it.  This year, she wanted that something to be a cake.  I was happy to oblige!

 I made Pussyfoot out of a gum paste/fondant mix and added some cute little flowers.  The cake is a chocolate cake with buttercream filling and frosting.

I hope that she had a fantastic birthday celebration with her sister!  This was such a fun cake to do!

Gingerbread Houses 2012

I taught my Gingerbread decorating class again this year and had just as much fun as I had last year.  I saw some familiar faces and some new ones to the class.  We spent the first 30 minutes of the class assembling the pre-bakes gingerbread houses (we used Wilton kits) and learning a few piping techniques such as stars, dots, icicles, zig-zags and wavy lines.  The kits only come with tip 5 and the tree (which you'll see pictured below) came with a star tip.  You really don't need more than that to decorate your gingerbread items.   

 These two were cousins.  Looks like they were having a pretty good time!

 Decorating gingerbread men and women too!!

He was SO proud of his gingerbread man!

 Here is pride too!

My mom and daughter attended the class as well.  It was so fun to have them there.  This is the first time Josie was able to see her mommy teach a class.  It was exciting for the both of us!  And my mom did a GREAT job helping Josie with her house.

 These five had a great time!  Look at the village they created!

 Complete with a beautifully decorated Christmas tree!

 Here's my house that I made.  Mine went to my mom...per tradition.  ;)

 Here is Josie with her completed work of art.

 Evelyn's turned out beautifully as well!

And today, I got to spend some time with my nephew who got to decorate a gingerbread house with his Auntie.

Here he is with his completed work.  And now...to play video games!

SUPER fun!  I love traditions and I hope to carry these on for years to come!  Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Christmas Cookie Class

It's always fun to come up with new ideas for classes at Ben Franklin.  One that I thought would go over well would be a Christmas cookie decorating class.  I had 5 ladies join me for some instruction on taking their usual Christmas cut-outs to the next level.  After an hour of instruction, they had the rest of the class period to decorate away.  And here's what they came up with.

I thought they turned out wonderfully!  They will most certainly be the stars of their cookie trays!  Thanks, ladies for making such a fun class! Merry Christmas!

Sheila's Leopard Print Bow Cake

Erin asked me to do a cake for her mom's birthday.  Sheila always likes carrot cake, and I have to admit that mine is absolutely delicious!  Cream cheese frosting is delightfully creamy on top and you have a little slice of heaven at your fingertips.  

Anyway, you may recall that I previously did a cake for her where I covered the cake in a leopard print fondant.  I wanted to carry on that theme and instead did a leopard print bow.  Never seen one of these before.  

To make the bow, I created the fondant/gum paste base color; kind of like a tan/beige.  I cut all of my pieces and formed them and let them dry overnight.  Then I hand-painted the leopard print on each one of the bow loops and on the ribbon on the cake.  I used an orange and black, diluted with vanilla extract.  

I love the way it turned out!  And Sheila, I hope you had a VERY happy birthday!!!