Sporty Cake

A very confused mother approached me a few weeks ago, with no clue as to what kind of birthday cake to get for her 18-year-old son. After much brainstorming and many rejected suggestions, I was at a loss for the first time! I asked about everything from hobbies to color schemes, and got nada. Guys are always tougher, I guess... I finally found out that he's actually quite the sporty guy and plays both basketball and soccer. Birthday boy's brother came up with this design, and thank goodness for him, it all worked out in the end!

Go Bananas!

This is the perfect cake for me to blog about today. I just came back from an amazing week in the sun, and I'm fighting some terrible winter blues! This was a cake I made right before leaving on my trip for an adorable little birthday girl who loves monkeys and bananas. Put 'em together, and you've got this super cute combination! 

Lately, I've been asked to make the inside of the cake as fun as the outside. Whether it's rainbow or obmre, it's super fun to cut into a cake to find a surprise. This time, I was asked to make something I had never done before - checkerboard! I had no idea how it was going to turn out until right up to the cutting, so that made me super nervous. In the end, it looked better than I hoped! 

Double Rainbow

A few weeks ago, I got to make a cake for a very colourful birthday. I love working with this party mama, her parties are always perfect to the tee! From her own baked goods, to some amazing prints by JustME designs, and of course, at the centre of it all, my cakes! I love her amazing sweet table setups! Last year, I created a very frilly, sparkly Barbie cake for the little one's birthday. This year, she took a 180 turn and did something completely different. She asked for a very clean, modern, rainbow/art themed cake. After a whole lot of back and forth between designs, we both agreed on a very cute design.

While last year, the cake's centre was a pink gradient, this year, I was asked to make rainbow layers of cake. Lots of baking involved, and it makes for a very tall cake, but what an amazing effect!

The outside of the cake included crayons, flowing rainbow paint, paint splatters, and a paint palette. She decided to include a paper banner on top, provided by JustME and she did such an amazing job bringing it all together. I absolutely love this cake!

Bundle of Sweet Joy

Last week, my best friend and amazing cake apprentice came over to work on a friend's baby shower cake. I love working with this girl! She's got quite a bit of talent, and she's already proved herself during my insane wedding cake week ;)

Together, we came up with a design to match their jungle themed baby room. There were quite a few things that are kind of been-there-done-that, and we were absolutely set on staying away from them... Blue, baby bums, and blocks, just to name a few. So we got to work, designing a cutesy jungle-themed baby shower cake. The cake flavour is my latest favourite, it's chocolate cake with a fresh raspberry buttercream.  I made these in cupcake form for the cupcake challenge, and they were such a hit! It is beyond yummy! 

For the outside of the cake, we decided to go with a beautiful shade of green, and she made all sorts of tiny, detailed baby animals to go around the sides of the cakes. 

And while she slaved away on those adorable animals, I got to work on the cake, and this super cute baby elephant! We make quite the awesome team! 

She's even decided to give you a little insider's scoop on her experience in making this cake!

The amateur's perspective:

Fondant looks absolutely stunning, but it's no piece of cake. Imagine that playdogh stuff you used to play with as a kid. Well, instead of it drying up after an hour because you forgot to close the lid, image it drying up in 10 minutes because you forgot you left a piece outside to work with in "JUST A BIT". It's one of the most challenging materials I've ever worked with (and for all those OT's out there, yes... more annoying than thermoplastic D:)

That being said, I couldn't have made these figurines without Chef Periwinkle close by my side, validating every little move I made. From sticking on eyeballs to spotting the giraffe, it had to been done Periwinkle style, elegant with perfection. 

What has this experience taught me? I have a huge appreciation for what this girl does. She loves her work and her passion effortlessly  transpires through. She's a sugarsweet genius :)