The Show Cake

I got this wild idea to make a cake for the "That Takes the Cake" cake show here in Austin last weekend. My idea was pretty ambitious...every one of the 14, yes 14, gumpaste characters was hand-cut, drawn and painted with edible paints. The landscape elements of the cake are buttercream, and I brushed the buttercream with a wet paint brush to achieve the perfect texture, and some of the buttercream elements were also painted with food color after they were applied. Graham cracker crumbs make up the sand on the bottom, and the water is buttercream also.

 

I didn't win any awards at the show for this cake, but I am extremely proud of it, nevertheless. I probably have 100 hours in this cake. It was a huge undertaking! I think it is so much fun, though, and it makes me smile every time I look at it. It is made from cake dummies, not real cake, so it is still sitting in my dining room. I can't bear to get rid of it, though I don't know what to do with it! :) I guess I'll keep it until I start next year's cake...an even more grand idea than this year's cake! It's going to be cool!

My nine year old son, Andrew, made a cake for the show this year too, and he did it all by himself, including baking the cake. This was his first ever attempt at cake decorating, and I'm glad he's so interested in it. You never know, he may be a pastry chef someday! I love how he made the little buttercream baseball players. He won "best baseball cake", so someone in our household came home a winner! He was so excited, and I'm so proud. :)

 

Valentine Party Cookies

Both of my kids wanted cookies for their Valentines this year. It was a challenge to get them all done in addition to my other orders, but I aim to please...SO...Andrew requested conversation hearts and Matthew didn't really care. I came up with the "Valentine, you are out of this world" idea because I really wanted to use my new rocket and UFO cookie cutters. I love, love, love the way the UFO turned out with the little Valentine alien. I am going to put very cute Valentine bag toppers on the individually bagged cookies, but my printer went kaput, so I had to send them to a printer to be picked up later today. Lots of work, but I enjoy it and it makes my boys happy. Andrew told me that it was pretty cool that I am the "cookie lady". He used to think I was cool because I was a lawyer with a pretty cool job. I'll settle for cool cookie lady and time with my boys any day. :)

Gamer Valentine Gift Box

I had a special request for a Valentine gift box for a video game loving guy. This one was really fun to do! The recipient works with computers as well, so I had to incorporate a little bit of that too, with some subtle Valentine's Day touches. He'll receive his gift box on Valentine's Day. I hope he enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it!

Valentine's Day Cookie Gift Boxes

Cookie gift boxes are the perfect gift for your sweetheart this Valentine's Day...way more exciting than a store-bought box of candy! Gift boxes come in traditional, "owl always love you", "bee mine", "love bugs", and "frogs and kisses". Each box is packaged in a gift box with a cute coordinating ribbon and sticker. They can be customized too. I've got an order for a Valentine's Day box for a video game loving guy. Should be cute! I will post pictures when I get that one done. In the meantime, if you haven't thought about a gift for that someone in your life this Valentine's Day, call or email me to order yours. It's less than a week away!

Home Depot Tool Cookies

My husband works for Home Depot, so I had to make him a couple of sets of tool cookies to take to his bosses in Atlanta. It was cookie-palooza around here this weekend, so I was only able to grab a quick snapshot of the cookies with my phone before we headed out to a birthday party and then a Super Bowl party. Sorry about the poor quality of the picture, but I thought these were too cute not to share. It was a good weekend. All orders got done, and the Mythbusters birthday cake made it to the party in one piece. I was stressing about the delivery! Everyone at the party seemed to like it too, so that was a bonus!

Mythbusters Cake

I got the opportunity to do a birthday cake for an awesome kid who wanted a Mythbusters cake. I was really excited to do this cake because it allowed me some creative freedom to "think outside the box". His mom told me that his favorite thing is when the Mythbusters make coffee creamer explode, so I had to include some flames! The sides of the cake are supposed to mimic the Mythbusters logo background, which looks like a blueprint with white scribbles on it. I hope he likes it. Happy birthday Gregory!