Gallery

I don't really have a story to tell today, I just thought I would share some photos of a few of my favorite creations to give you an idea of what I do!

Enjoy!

Where it all began. 

This was the first "specialty cake" I made for my husband's birthday three years ago.

 A couple of cakes for the sports enthusiast in your life.

  

 This cake was for a garden theemed bridal shower.  The hostess used a garden hose for the cake stand!  Such a cute and creative idea!

Angry Birds!

 Some girly cakes that I just LOVE!

I made this sock monkey out of modeling chocolate and dipped his hands, feet, tail and snout in white chocolate.  An experiment that turned out great!

I absolutely LOVE doing wedding cakes (actually I love everthing about weddings) and these are some of my favorites.  The tropical flower cakes were for two lucky brides who got married in Hawaii (no I didn't get to go there to make the cakes) and then had a reception for family and friends when they returned.

And lets not forget the groom.  This cake came together beautifully with the table decorations and this neat bird dog figure on top.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar cupcakes and smash cake.

These are perfect for a summer party and they are acutally margarita cupcakes (made with lime and tequilla) with a lime tequilla glaze and fresh whipped cream icing infused with tripple sec and lime.  I topped them with Sour Punch Straws and Sour Punch Watermelon candies and a rim of clear sprinkles.

Back to school cupcakes for a group of teachers.

Finally, (you may have to be an Arkansan to appreciate this) in honor of football season kicking off this weekend, an Arkansas Razorback Cake!  Woo Pig Sooie!

That's all for now!  I have some exciting events/projects coming up over the next couple of months that I look forward to sharing! 

Chocolate and Beer

Hello!  This is my first blog post and rather than go into a long story about my life and how I got to be here I'll just give you the bullet points.  I love my life, my husband, my family and my friends. I love designer clothes and shoes, even though I can't afford them. I love to bake but I hardly ever eat dessert. I love to crank up my iPod and go for a long run. NYC is one of my happy places...the other is Colorado. I hate summer and always count down the days till the first freeze. I don't function well without Dr Pepper in the afternoon. I rarely brush my hair. I drink beer...the darker, the better. I'm a Razorback football fan. I miss my friends and family whenever they are not with me.  I love the smell of fresh brewed tea, onions sauteing in butter, and red wine.

This weekend, I added the smell of real butter simmering in Guinness to my list. 

You see, while I do have a grownup job to take care of all those pesky necessities like health insurance and my mortgage...I moon-lite as a cake baker.  Some good friends of ours (my husband and myself) are getting married this fall and I was flattered when they asked me to make their wedding cakes.  (I LOVE weddings and wish I could have a full blown wedding event with a different theme every year on our anniversary but Husband vetoed that plan)  I think it is important to incorporate personal touches whenever possible and the groom in this case is a lover of beer.  I immediately started searching for the perfect chocolate/beer cake recipe and I found it at the Smitten Kitchen blog. 

You start by simmering real butter in a cup of Guinness beer which smells heavenly.  I was not able to get my cocoa and beer/butter mixture smooth.  The liquid kept separating from the cocoa (but I was using regular Hershey's baking cocoa so a better quality might work better) and the end result was a little dryer than I had hoped so I might add a little more sour cream.  I topped this cake with a self adapted Bailey's Irish Cream buttercream icing rather than the coffee ganache listed on this site.

Irish Cream Buttercream:

2 sticks unsalted butter
4 cups confectioners sugar
4 tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream Liquor
1 teaspoon vanilla.

I creamed the butter and added the sugar and Bailey's one portion at a time, beating it until mixed after each addition.  Then I added the vanilla at the end and whipped it until desired consistency.

Even though I thought the cake was a bit dry (and this could have been due to slightly over baking or the aforementioned beer/butter/cocoa debacle) our friends thought it was wonderful and selected it to be the flavor for their grooms cake.  The beer was not overwhelmingly present in the flavor of the cake but the chocolate and Bailey's tasted great together!

I look forward to sharing photos of the finished cakes in September!