Fort Cake

I had this cake I wanted to make and no one to make it for. Our good friend and old roommate was in town and we were invited to her sister's house for dinner and a visit. I was taking dessert and decided to make this cake since the house we were going to has 3 cute little guys (age 7, 3, and 1). We were on our way out the door when I remembered to take a picture, so here it is the Fort Cake...

Cupcake Wars

Have you seen Cupcake Wars? It is a show on the Food Network where contestants compete in a cupcake competition resulting in the winner having their cupcake featured on display and winning a cash prize. This show was part of my inspiration to have a Cupcake war among friends. I also remember my mother in law telling me about a cupcake party she had and I wished I could have attended.

So some girlfriends and I had a cupcake war night. We watched the show, had a cupcake exchange, and got the opportunity to sample various types of cupcakes that people brought. YUMMY!

*hostess cupcakes *angel food w/strawberries *chocolate chunk w/mango *snickerdoodle *strawberry lemonade * whiskey and beer *coconut with buttercream

I made the whiskey and beer cupcakes. I got the idea from the wife of a friend of mine - I really have only met Anna once but I have a feeling we would get along really well. Here you can find the original recipe. Let me just say I wasn't sure about these cupcakes. In theory I liked the idea but wasn't sure if the flavors would be too strong or if they would withstand the challenge of baking at 9800 ft. I loved them. There is guiness beer in the cake batter, a chocolate whiskey filling, and a Bailey's frosting. You should definitely try them.

The Pirate Life

This is my friend Steven (one of my former students). I had the privilege of making him a pirate cake for his pirate themed birthday party. I have to say I had more fun making this cake than almost any other I have made.

Happy Birthday Steven!!

Dog Cake

One of last weekend's projects.

My Kids 1st Birthday Cakes

Okay, so Jack's birthday was in May and I kind of posted a picture of his cake. But, I wanted to really document both my kids cakes in this post. I already love making cakes and have a little side-business selling them...BUT, I really LOVED making the cakes for my own kiddos. I did my best to try and personalize them as much as possible.

Jack and Hannah have a jungle safari themed room - elephants, giraffes, etc. When Jack was born he ended up with a lot of giraffe stuff - clothing, toys, blankets, etc. Last Halloween we thought it very fitting he dress up as a giraffe. We also took his monthly pictures on a giraffe. Therefore, Jack had a giraffe cake.

Hannah was a little harder to come up with a theme. At first, we thought a lion because she does this cute little roar. However, as her personality has continued to emerge (although this is hard to miss if you have ever met her) we decided a butterfly cake was the most fitting for her as she is a true social butterfly. She likes everyone! So a butterfly cake it was.
Pics still to follow of her b-day celebration.

Princess Party

A little shout out to one of my favorite 6 year olds, Lucy. She recently had a very lovely Princess Party to celebrate her birthday. I got to work on her cake, which was modeled after the picture below.

Lucy, wishing you a wonderful next year.

Autumn Cake

Two-layer spice cake with Maple Buttercream icing. Filling is Apple Butter and Maple Butter icing. Chopped walnuts around the sides. Tree is melted chocolate chips and leaves are dried fruit and almonds. Yum!

Sports Cake

Happy 15th Birthday to Steven!!
I made his sports themed birthday cake. He loves sports, especially basketball. The cake is chocolate cake, vanilla ice cream, and chocolate frosting.

BBQ's, Baking, and Baptism

BBQ:

Friday night: Dillon BBQ. Highest BBQ challenge in North America. Yum!! Chicken legs, brisket, spicy sausage, beer, diet coke, funnel cake, lots of people, good music & fun with friends. Also celebrated our friend Tanya who entered in the salsa competition. She can now say she makes award winning salsa...way to go Tanya!
Saturday night: Texas BBQ - again, tasty food and friends! And some of that award winning salsa!

Baking:
Made a cake for a bake sale to support missions in Honduras. Spice cake with vanilla buttercream icing. Gave me a great idea to try an apple filling in the middle next time I make spice cake.

Also made an ice cream cake for my friend Tracy's birthday. Chocolate cake, cookies n cream ice cream, hot fudge in the middle, and chocolate buttercream icing. Celebrated with Tracy and friends by eating lots of cake and playing a little Rock Band.

Baptism:
We were honored to attend Emma's baptism today. Emma was adopted from Ethiopia into a wonderful family here in Breckenridge in May. She is almost two years old and is just the cutest thing. It was very touching for us to be able to interact with their family and to see how loved she is by her brothers and parents. It also made Mark and I even more excited to hopefully get a referral soon for our little girl.