Thursday, November 6, 2008

Jingle Bell Rock















It's my favorite time of the year! The air is crisp and family is at the forefront my mind. I have so many wonderful memories associated with the fall and winter and each year I look forward to pulling out my James Taylor, October Road album and going down memory lane to each song.










Last year I came up with a few of my favorite holiday flavors for cakes to share with friends and family. I have added to my selection this year but will be bringing back the originals. Here is a sneak peak at the 2008 Ice This Holiday Favorites! Seasons Greetings and Happy Eatings!










Peppermint Patty: This delightful combination of chocolate cake, dark chocolate peppermint filling and light pink peppermint frosting is sure to put you on the naughty list!

Merry Mayflower: Perfect pumpkin pie spice cake layered in cinnamon laced white chocolate ganache and surrounded in brown sugar buttercream– no need for turkey and trimmings!

Rock the Halls: Yummy Southern Red Velvet laced with white chocolate ganache and surrounded in cream cheese buttercream– this will get any party started!

Winter Wonderland: Fresh coconut cake filled with dark chocolate ganache, surrounded in creamy coconut buttercream and topped with toasted coconut– It’s a beautiful site!

Pep Rally

For anyone that knows me, it is no secret that sports are not my spiritual gift. Yes, I happen to have a child named after a baseball field but that was my husbands doing that Isomehow agreed to! It is funny to me how much I have learned about sports since I started doing cakes. I had never heard of people like "Bear" or thought twice about the UK cat until I had to reproduce such images out of sugar! Here are a few pictures of my ESPN collection.





















Favorites

Here are some of my favorites that I have done over the past year. Enjoy!

This was done for an engagement party. The "diamond" was a hand carved pineapple hard candy sitting in a sugar box!
I did this cake for a woman who was expecting twins later in life. She deserved a BIG celebration!

This is the cake that started it all. I did this cake for my friend Julius. It was a Ratatouille cake that included buttercream pasta, chocolate covered rice crispy "meatballs", white chocolate ganache "marinara" and shaved "Parmesan" chocolate!


I did this Radio Flyercake for my dear friend Laura. This wagon was chocolate cake with gooey caramel buttercream! The birthday boy Owen went straight for the bumble bees!



This was by first experience with sugar flowers! I really didn't know what I was getting in to when I planned this cake but I quickly found out that sugar flowers are a lot of work! It turned out great and the bride loved it which is really all that matters!



Best Of


What an exciting past month this has been for me! My good friend, Carrington Fox contacted me in late September and asked if I was still doing cakes as she wanted to put my name in for Best Of. I told her yes but then didn't give it a second thought. A week later the art director of the Nashville Scene contacted me and said they wanted me to come in for a photo shoot with a cake related to their theme this year since I had won my category of Best Of for Kids Birthday-Cakes. I was blown away!! Of corse he called while I was just about to serve my eight, three year olds morning snack! I laughed and asked what the qualifications were to win and explained that I am a teacher by day and baker by night.
A week later I went in with my Matisse themed cake. Needless to say, they really liked it, and I am sure the chocolate peanutbutter cupcakes I took with me for the staff didn't hurt either. I believe the people at the Scene were expecting a sheet cake of some sort with maybe some piping but when I arrived I quickly explained that I don't really do those kind of cakes. A week later I picked up my copy of the paper and was quickly scanning to find my 1x1'' picture. When I arrived at page 96 and discovered that they had donated a whole page to me I started screaming in my car! I got on the phone and called everyone I knew. I recieved my certificate and was contemplating purchaing a banner to hang over my front door! A dear friend of mine posted a very sweet comment online about my write-up and to my surprise they posted his comment and another large picture of my cake in Scene the following week!

It is amazing how God has blessed me with talents that were beyond my imagination! He has placed amazing people in my life and I am so glad I have been able to share a bit of my heart and kitchen with all of them! Thank you Carrington for believing in me and thanks to my many friends and family who have supported me on this wild journey! I hope to outgrow my kitchen soon and set up a sugar shop in the near future.


Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Confection Frenzy!

Well, I am just now catching my breath after what as been the busiest week to date for me with baking. This past week I had seven different orders ranging from a dummy cake for an auction to a 3D red wagon filled with cake shaped creations. I feel as though I need to get a power hose to spray down every inch of my house from the nice layer of sugar, flour and whatever else Wrigley threw around. It is funny because in all of this time I have been doing cakes and working in front of my son he has always come to the table to join me and watch me work. I have been working with Fondant as a medium for cakes since the beginning and until two weeks ago he had no idea that it was really not play dough. While I was busy working on a shower cake I gave Wrigs a small piece of fondant to roll and play with to help distract him for a moment so I could work in peace. Next thing I know he put the fondant to his mouth, took one nice lick...and it was then that he knew his life would never be the same. I use a really nice high quality fondant for my cakes that doesn't taste like hard cardboard covering it so when Wrigley realized what it was he was playing with he immediately was trying to sit on the table and grab every piece he could find! After working on one cake for four hours I finally had to throw in the towel because it was hard to get much done with him grabbing everything in site from the fondant to the exacto knife...anything to get my eyes to look away so he could have another small taste of heaven. I am now going to have to start planning out my cake work time a bit better to try to keep little fingers away!! But, with all of this is was a fun and challenging past week. I hope that there will be many more like that to come!

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Please try to talk

I must say that as a first time mom I am going through a period of amazement. I thought that this feeling would slowly go away after the first few months of my baby coming into the world. I remember seeing him for the first time and thinking that nothing could ever amaze me that much. But then were was the sitting up, crawling, walking and now we are on to talking. I am really amazed everyday. It is so awesome to hear him say things that he likes or doesn't like, to know I can say one word to him and it light up his face. I love to hear his sweet voice respond to me when I sing, cook, clean up, bake, whatever. Yesterday morning I finished a large wedding cake and was in the cleaning up process as Wrigs woke. I heard his footsteps rounding the corner and as soon as he did his eyes lit up and he said "cake" followed by an "oh wow!". I love to know that he is putting thoughts together and connecting things in his mind. It is nice to know that some of the work I do as a mom is paying off. I am ready for my little chatterbox to speak up!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

The Time Has Arrived

I don't know what is in the air in the blogging world but in the past two weeks I have received emails from four friends announcing their blogs to the world. Maybe there is something wrong with me but for the longest time I have stood firm against the peer pressure to ramble to the world about my daily nothings....until now. I can't take it any longer, I must join in and become one of you. Why not, it's not like I have nothing else to do. Who wouldn't like to read about my son having his first encounter with a chocolate rabbit or about an edible creation I am drafting in my head? Why is it that we enjoy putting together just the right words about our daily lives so that thousands of faceless friends can read? It is a mystery to me. But, if I can gain some sense of normalcy about my hectic life by sharing my stories and dreams with you then it will well be worth it. I will try to keep this blog simply business, but since my business is surrounded by an almost two year old who will do just about anything to get just one taste of my buttercream then you might find me talking about my personal life as well. I promise, if you could be here to see how fast he can sign the words "more" and "please" after I pull a fresh cake out of the oven then you would write about it too! Until next time, happy baking!