Rubber Duck Baby Shower Cake

My dear friend Jenna will be welcoming her third child this Spring, and I was happy to host a baby shower for her this weekend.  She has decided to keep the gender a secret from everyone but her and her husband.  At first, I was feeling a little lost and afraid that it would be hard to decorate a shower with out gender identity...until I realized how much fun it can be to not be limited by pink or blue.  

Before I had decided on a cake design, I felt that rubber duckies would be a fun theme.  So I found this adorable cake on Pinterest by Sweet Grace Cake Designs and thought that "Waddle It Be?" would be the perfect way to tie in the gender mystery.  After playing around with words and designs, I am so very happy with the end product:

This cake is two 12 inch layers.  White cake with vanilla buttercream filling and icing.  Yellow ducks on sides are fondant.

Pink Party Cake

I purchased the Cake Decorating Beginner's Guide from Wilton and it was probably the best $4 investment you can make if you are curious about decorating cakes and want to give the basics a try.  I had been loving the photo of a pretty little pink cake at the end of the book that used billowing swirls and combed edges.   For Christmas this year, my husband gave me lots of new decorating tools and some new pans in sizes I didn't have, so I was dying to try them out and this seemed like a perfect first project to use them.



The cake is two 8" diameter layers, decorated with vanilla buttercream.  I gave it to my In-Laws for their Wedding Anniversary.

Blue Birthday Cake with White Flowers

This cake is for my Mother in Law's Birthday. I experimented with a few techniques to get more practice.  I've discovered that I have a distinctive writing style that is coming naturally to me when writing on cakes, and I love the way it looks.  I found that instead of trying to force a fancy cursive that always ends up uneven and sloppy, this style of lettering is coming easy and turns out looking great.  My MIL loved the cake, and everyone said it tasted great.

Hot Air Balloon Birthday Cake

So it's already been over a month, but the Birthday cake was a hit.  I decided on a bubbles & balloons theme for the party.  It was simple and fun.  The weather was great and all the kids played in the yards while the adults sat on the patio and chatted.  We had 2 bubble machines going, and the kids loved playing in the bubbles.  A really fun and exhausting day!
To tie-in with the theme, I designed a 11x15 sheet cake.  The cake had 3 layers of white cake with buttercream filling and icing.  I used the Viva paper -towel method to smooth out the icing before decorating. 
I used Wilton's spray coloring in blue on the top of the cake to make the sky.  The clouds and writing were piped on with leftover buttercream.  The balloon is cereal treats.  I pressed the mixture in a pyrex bowl before it cooled, removed it from the bowl and formed it into a balloon shape.  I then iced it and wrapped in the fondant.  The basket is cereal treats with brown tinted butter cream piped on using a basket weave.  Ropes to the balloon basket are fruit roll-ups twisted into strips.

This cake was a big job- I spread the work over 3 days.  But it was perfect for the event and very yummy!

Number 2

My little girl is turning two in March, and ideas have been swarming my head on how to celebrate her birthday.  My sensabilities urge me to remain restrained, after all I don't want to create a future Brithday Girl-Zilla.  But the doting mommy in me wants to shower her with a magic and lots of special attention on her special day.
I have decided to go with a Bubbles & Balloons theme.  No cartoon characters or Disney princesses (not while I can help it at least), just simple fun for the kids.
I am really excited about creating a fun cake for this theme.  I think we'll go with a 9x13 layer cake with a 3-D hot air balloon on top.  I'm still planning the details out at this stage, but I will be sure to share the final outcome here.