We have some close friends whose son is allergic to gluten, dairy and a few other foods. He has never had a fancy birthday cake and he never gets to eat the cake at the birthday parties he attends due to his allergies. They asked me to make his birthday cake this year and I was like “yeah, no problem.” No problem, that is, until I was actually making it. I thought it would be smooth sailing, just like making any other cake, but I found that the GF cake is so much different than the cakes I typically work with.

They requested a vanilla cake with strawberry frosting and strawberry jam (delicious combo, by the way!). The GF cake is a little more dense than my non-GF vanilla cake and the frosting/jam didn’t absorb too well into it. On the top tier, it was oozing out the side a little bit (but thankfully, the oozing was occurring in the back and not the front). Anyway, I also had a ton of anxiety thinking people wouldn’t like it because it’s a much different texture than what they’re used to if they don’t eat GF baked goods often. I had issues with the fondant bubbling a little on the bottom tier. I was just a mess!

And for all of my stressing, the cake was a HUGE hit. The birthday boy and his family were so, so appreciative. The kids all ate it and liked it. My kid, in fact, ate her ENTIRE piece, which she never, ever does. She’s a frosting-licker, not a cake eater. Since it all went so well this year, I just may have it in me to try it again next year.

And for all that went wrong, at least this one didn’t fall apart!

I was hired to make a Princess-themed cake for a little girl’s birthday party today. I’ve had this idea in my mind for a long time to make a princess tiara out of gum paste to sit atop the cake. Well, I finally had the opportunity to try out my idea and it worked great! I’ve posted a step-by-step tutorial here if you want to try making your own tiara cake topper.

This pink princess cake is vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream, the birthday princess’ favorite.  It is also nut-free.

I was a busy bee on Saturday baking and setting up this cupcake display.  A friend from Emma’s former playgroup asked me to donate to her daughter’s preschool auction.  I thought a dessert donation would be more fun than a gift certificate, even though it means more work for me.  The theme was Mardi Gras and it was a really fun project for me to work on.

Here are some photos:

I was really excited to use my new cupcake tower.  I had bought it back in November for a holiday party in December, but one of the stems broke and I couldn’t use it then.  The person who made it was kind enough to send me a replacement piece in time for me to use it for this event.

In total, I think I made around 300 mini cupcakes.  The flavors were: chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream, chocolate cake with cookies & cream buttercream, butter pecan cake with whiskey buttercream and chocolate ganache, and chocolate cake with mocha kahlua buttercream.  Some of the cupcakes are topped with a gum paste round that I stenciled a fleur-de-lys on using a powdered food coloring.  On top of the cake stand is a cake dummy covered in white fondant.  I made the mask out of gum paste and it is completely edible.  I’m really happy with how this turned out and I hope the auction-goers enjoyed them.

I had a client contact me about making her a Little Mermaid themed cake.  I only had a week to put this together and even though I’m not taking on many last-minute rush requests, this person was a repeat customer, is vegan!, and the project sounded super fun.  With only a week, though, I did not have time to hand make an Ariel cake topper and, truthfully, I’m not sure how realistic I could actually make her being that the request is so specific (i.e. Ariel as opposed to a mermaid).  This should explain why there is a fork (aka dinglehopper) laying in the sand.

The birthday girl happened to have several Little Mermaid character figurines that I was able to use as a cake topper.  At that point, though, the cake was all boxed up for transport and I was unable to get any photos of the finished product.  Here are a few photos that I was able to take before boxing everything up.  The cake was chocolate with chocolate buttercream.  The cupcakes were chocolate and lemon.  AND, I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve been enjoying the leftover lemons for breakfast the last few mornings. 

My resolution is to pay more attention to this blog.  That means, more regular updates and I’ll finally get to the things that I’ve been meaning to get to (maintenance/appearance wise).  Did you notice the new banner at the top?  Isn’t it nice?!  I’ve gotten to a few things, but I’ve got a long list that I still need to tackle.

In the meantime, enjoy these photos of a cake that I made for a New Year’s bash/birthday party.  I know that feathers aren’t vegan, but I’ve got a stash of crafty supplies around here that includes some feathers.  Sorry.

I was asked to make cupcakes for the Redwood City Mother’s Club holiday party.  I ended up making 175 cupcakes.  Unfortunately, most of my photos turned out blurry.    It wasn’t my day.  I had bought a very nice, sturdy, professional looking wooden stand to use as my display.  I had assembled it days beforehand since I knew I was going to be in a time crunch that morning.  When I went to pick up the stand, the screw hole that holds the bottom tier on was completely stripped and the whole thing came apart.  There was no saving it and I’m asking the maker to send me a replacement part which he hopefully will at no cost to me (or there will be hell to pay!!!!!!!!!). 

On the bright side, all of the cupcakes made it to the event without injury and there was a nice big table waiting for me to lay them all out on.  Flavors:  apple spice cake with maple frosting, pumpkin spice cake with “cream cheese” frosting and vanilla cake with vanilla frosting.

Today is my Nana’s birthday (Friday the 13th!).  To celebrate, Emma and I drove to Sacramento yesterday to have a family dinner.  We drove back this afternoon.  Quick trip, but nice to see the family and to celebrate Nana’s birthday.  Her favorite color is green, which is not the best color for covering cakes IMO.  Green makes me think of mold or rotten stuff.  I decided to cover the cake in a sage green fondant and top it with some fresh red roses and freesia.  I would have attempted to make gum paste roses, but this trip was a last minute decision and I just didn’t have the time.  I liked the addition of the fresh flowers, though.

Wondering what flowers are safe to use on cakes?  Here’s a list of flowers that are considered safe for decoration purposes and ones that are toxic.

These are happy Farm Sanctuary animals, btw. 

I was asked to make cupcakes for a little boy’s 2nd birthday with a farm/barnyard theme.  I made pigs, sheep, cows, and horses:

I love Halloween.  It’s my favorite holiday.  Here are some pics of things that I’ve made this Halloween, as well as some pics of my butterfly fairy.  My edible “blood” recipe is also included below.

Creepy Halloween Cupcakes:

Edible “Blood” Recipe:

Corn Syrup

Red Food Coloring (use the gel food coloring available at cake and craft stores.  The liquid stuff from the grocery store will thin it out too much).

Cocoa Powder
Combine the corn syrup and the food coloring until it is the color that you want it.  Add cocoa powder, a little at a time until the desired opaque-ness and consistency is reached.

Cupcakes for the Halloween Party at Emma’s school:

My Pumpkin (Jack & Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas):

My beautiful Butterfly Fairy:

A scorpio themed birthday cake:

And a cupcake topped with some edible dice:

Another Under The Sea themed birthday party, this time for twin girls.  One girl requested a mermaid, the other a dolphin:

The birthday girls each had a jumbo cupcake.  The rest of the cupcakes were all regular size and topped with corals, fish, shells, and other sea creatures.

These were two of my favorites.  Using a super fancy technique (not really), I affixed “sand” to the gum paste round that topped the cupcake.