Inspiring words cupcakes

I leave you with these cupcakes of inspiration for the end of this week!  I hope you all have a great weekend! 

Baby Shower Cupcakes + Baby Bottle Cookie Favors

I did a version of these baby shower cupcakes, originally for a close friend's baby shower (Shown below in hot pink). I've done a couple variations for both boy and girls, since. Each time I like to add a fun new detail like a ruffly bib, a different kind of pacifier or baby booties. They are so fun and the sky is the limit when it come to cute fondant cupcake toppers!

This customer also order baby bottle cookies as favors to go with the cupcakes picture above. I have more recently dove into the world of decorated cookies, per the request of so many clients. I was always hesitant before, not because I didn't like to decorate them, but I never had an amazing sugar cookie recipe or a royal icing that was tried and true. I can happily say I do have an amazing sugar cookie recipe, that is a little like a shortbread cookie with vanilla and hints of almond. SO GOOD! And the royal icing has been  trial and error and I have found one that can pipe shells or flood cookies very effectively! Yay. So if you find yourself needing some decorated cookies for an event, let me know! I really love doing them now and can't wait to try more in the future!

Beach Cakes all Winter Long!

I think I did more beach themed cakes this winter than ever before. Not that I minded. It was a long and cold one and making waves, sand, beach balls and sea shells was a little reprieve to the snow blowing outside.

The first cake was an ode to childhood at the beach. Pails of sand, sandcastles, hovering seagulls, sunscreen and flip-flops. Truly one of my favorites. The second cake pictured was for the adult beach lover. Aqua ombre waves of buttercream on the side and hand painted seashells and sand on top! A very serene cake.
The third cake is for a girl who loves the beach, loves dolphins and lighthouses. It took me to a scene from a North Caroline beach. One I hope to visit someday.

So we'll see what the summer holds. Will I do any beach cakes? Or are they most needed/ requested in the winter in memeory of a warmer, sunnier and sandier time.

Minecraft, Superhero and Spiderman Lego Cakes

This is a post for all those little birthday boys, whose cake dreams came true!

When I use to work in a grocery store, decorating some 15-20 cakes a day, I did mostly flowers and balloons on cakes. There was an occasional drawn and airbrushed picture or wedding cake, but balloons and flowers dominated my day. Now that I do custom cakes, I hardly get the opportunity to repeat my work, which is why I love being out on my own. The variety, the thrill of a challenge and the never ending ideas my clients bring me! It really is the best. So when I  get orders for a minecraft cake, a superhero and lego cake I get the opportunity to try new designs, dive into a world that I've never even heard of and create things I never thought possible.

My cake dreams come true too, every time I pick up a spatula, pipe some buttercream or sculpt a piece of fondant!

Rainbow Trout Cake

Here's a rainbow trout shaped cake I did for an older gentleman's birthday! He is an avid fisherman, so his family surprised him with this fun fish cake. 

It's been a while since I did a fish cake. A LONG while. I think I was 13 when I made a fish cake for a family friend who LOVED fishing. He teased me constantly and called me "little shark". So as a surprise I made him a fish cake one year. Probably the first cake I ever made and decorated, come to think of it. Store bought icing and candy decorations... This one turned out to be a little more classy and it was a great trip down memory lane. Bring on the fish cakes, they are loads of fun.

Recent Wedding Cakes + Favors

I'm massively behind in sharing my cakes here on this blog. One of the reasons being the number of cakes I'm doing per weekend has increased! Great news, I know, but it has kept me busier than I'm use to. I'm hoping to do a bit of catching up in the next couple of weeks, so look for many cake related posts! The above ^^ wedding cake + cupcakes was for a wedding I did this past summer. Rustic iced two tiered cake vanilla pound cake with buttercream frosting and fresh flowers . The cupcakes were chocolate pb cup, lemon blueberry, coconut lime, and cookies and cream. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding that I had the privilege of seeing being set up at a local home!

This next wedding cake was also this past summer! Ruffles + lace! A vintage themed wedding at a quaint old schoolhouse in Skippack!

xoxo cookie favors in blush, champagne and ivory for a bridal shower.

And lastly hand dipped and decorated oreo bride and groom pairs as wedding favors!

Liam is 2.5 years old

 This is about a month late, but here goes! A little life update on this two and a half year old!

• Liam would rather shovel snow then go sledding! We snapped that top picture on his first and only run down the hill. 
• Since my last update I gave Liam his first haircut! See the picture below. I kept most of the curls!
• He made his first snowman
• He has been potty trained for 2 weeks now! woohoo!
• Liam got to go to his first museum! An airplane museum in Maryland with our friends Ben and Nacy! He had a great time.
• He's been saying a ton of new phrases, which usually make us laugh or are generally surprised he's picked up something
• He can catch a ball ( most of the time)
• Liam loves playing train, truck or tractor! Anything with wheels has his attention. 
• He loves books and we are enjoying reading new ones almost every day!
• He got to go paint at the mudshack pretty recently and had the best time! He painted an ice cream bowl, since he loves ice cream so much!
• He's pretty tall for his age and easily gets mistaken for a 3 or 4 year old.
• He's also pretty independent and likes going new places!
• He loves music and for us to sing songs
• He sleeps without his crib rail now.
• His bossy 2 year old streak is in full gear
• Sharing is a struggle!
• He has started saying "I love you" more and sometimes even unsolicited! 
• I feel like he's accomplishing new things on a daily basis, that I can't begin to remember them all!

 Liam's funny sayings:

Liam says to the neighbor dogs across the street. "Stop barking dogs!" I say that's ok Liam, they are allowed to bark, then he says " Have a nice day doggies"!

Liam as he is about to get wiped off after dinner " oh, you found me"!

When he doesn't want to be watched "Mommy, you go do the dishes"or " Mommy you go do your work" or wants to stay at Nana's longer, "Mommy you go bake a cake" He likes to "give me jobs" to do, to get what he wants. ha!

Ocean inspired cake

Here's another cake to conjure up some memories of the warm summer air, ocean mist and sand between your toes. I did some blue ombre waves around the outside, then topped it off with sanding sugar and hand painted fondant seashells! This is one of my favorite summer cakes, I think I've done to date.

zinnia + dahlia piped cupcakes

Here we are in January. The cold barren month that it is in PA. This post was screaming out to me  with it's bright colors and summer flowers, to be shared in a time when there is just snow, and even worse when there is just brown. These flowers are hand piped butter-cream flowers.  Free form that ended up looking very much like  dahlias or zinnias with their numerous grouping of petals. Some of my favorite flowers really! I hope these bring your heart some cheer in these frozen months to come!

Baby Shower Cake Roundup

I think 2014 might have been the year of the baby shower cake for me! Exciting times in my friends and customers lives! I thought it would be fun to do a cake round up like I did for little ones cakes a while ago. So if you are planning a baby shower for a loved one, coworker, or even yourself,  I hope these help inspire you!

 For more inspiration check out my website or pinterest!