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My friend works for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and this week is the week they take tons of kids with MD to camp up in the White Mountains of Arizona. My friend wanted to do something special for the two remarkable women putting this special program together, so I helped her make some special cookies for them. The theme of the MDA camp this year is "Boot Camp," which is why we went with the camo cookies.
My daugther's 2nd birthday was this weekend, and since her nickname means "butterfly" in Cornish, we had a butterfly themed party. I've done this cake before (design by Peggy Porschen), but I couldn't resist doing it again for the party, this time in yellows.
Pink and yellow flower cookies for my daughter's 2nd birthday party yesterday. Her nickname is Tykki-dyw (means butterfly in Cornish), so we did a Tykki-Dyw is Turning Two butterfly themed party. Flowers and butterflies everywhere!
Pink and yellow butterfly cookies for my daughter's 2nd birthday party yesterday. Her nickname is Tykki-dyw (means butterfly in Cornish), so we did a Tykki-Dyw is Turning Two butterfly themed party.
Cake balls I made to look like miniature Good Humor Drumsticks (you know, the classic ice cream treat) for an April Fool's day party with a Neapolitan Ice Cream theme.
Ice cream cone sugar cookies I made for an April Fool's Day party with a Neapolitan ice cream theme and inspiration.
Golden Snitch cake pops (cake balls) made to go on the dessert table along with the Harry Potter cakes I made. The wings are made out of gumpaste, the cake ball is dipped in butterscotch melts (right base color, and the birthday girl's favorite), and sprayed with gold luster dust spray. Tricky little things, but I love how they turned out in the end!
My friend's daughter just turned 11 and had a Harry Potter birthday party. Her mom Paulette is already great at making cakes, but for fun, we decided to collaborate and have a cake play-date for the moms (while our daughters happily played). Those book cakes are way harder than they look--kudos to those who have uploaded far better versions than mine! We decided to split the cake into two separate cakes because of the size of the dessert table. The golden snitch is a cake ball with gumpaste wings.
I'm helping a friend throw a Harry Potter birthday party for her 11 year old daughter this weekend, and we made these cookies together. All royal icing, with accents of disco dust and food coloring marker.
My friend's daughter is turning four today, and desperately wanted a Rapunzel cake. She requested strawberry and chocolate cake, so the tower is made out of strawberry cake (4" diameter rounds), and the hill is made of chocolate (a 12" and 10" round stacked and carved). Fondant covered with gumpaste accents. I made the green fondant a little too dry and it cracked, but luckily, my busy designs cover up a lot of sins and distract from those still visible. ;-)
It may be 78 degrees here today in Phoenix, but it's still January, and my daughter's friend wanted to have an ice-skating themed party. What fun I had making these little gumpaste toppers! Strawberry cupcakes, American buttercream, and gumpaste decorations. I added the scarves at the last minute to help keep the skates upright, but I love how they look.
My friend in Iowa is planning a robot themed birthday party for her little boy, and asked if I might be able to make some cupcake toppers for her. I based these little guys loosely on the fabulous prints she bought for Jack's room and will be using as decor for the party.
My daughter's friend is turning seven today, and I made these cupcakes for her birthday party. Vanilla cupcakes, vanilla icing, a little bit of luster spray on the icing to make it a little more snowy looking, and a gumpaste penguin on top. I love how these little guys turned out!
I made this gingerbread house for the dessert table at the Sugar Plum Fairy/Nutcracker ballet party I created for my daughter's best friend's 7th birthday. I have to give credit for the icing design on the roof almost entirely to my remarkable mother, who came up with the concept and a very similar design. I just loved it so much, and knew it would look perfect for this party! What Land of Sweets is complete without a gingerbread house? Many more pictures of this party and tutorials are appearing on my blog at tradewindtiaras.blogspot.com .
I made these ballet shoe cookies as a part of the dessert table I created for my daughter's best friend's birthday party (Sugar Plum Fairy/Nutcracker Ballet themed). I even made the cookie cutter myself! (First time trying that--very fun, easier than I'd imagined!). I have many more pictures of the entire party (which I styled and ran) on my blog at tradewindtiaras.blogspot.com. I'll be doing a tutorial on many things, including the cookie cutters, there.
I made these Lavender and White snowflakes for my daughter's best friend's birthday party, which I had the great joy of styling. It was a Sugar Plum Fairy (Nutcracker ballet) birthday party, and every detail was so much fun! These cupcakes (I made the wrappers, too) were the centerpiece of the dessert table, which also included Russian (dancer) teacakes, pointe shoe sugar cookies (I also made the cutter), real sugar plums, a gingerbread house, IMBC filled krumkake, Swedish rosettes, royal icing trees, and chocolates in shapes like mice (one with a tiny gumpaste Mouse King crown, so cute!). Many more pictures on my blog at tradewindtiaras.blogspot.com
My daughter had a Cornish fairies birthday party yesterday for her 7th birthday. This is the woodland fairy cake I came up with for the dessert table. I had so much fun with this party!
I made these fall leaf cookies to go on the dessert table at my daughter's Cornish Fairies party yesterday. They looked alright with the flooded royal icing, but once I added the disco dust, WOW!
Key Lime cupcakes for my dear friend's birthday. IMBC and gumpaste flowers.
Another birthday cake for our sweet next door neighbor, this one for her 13th birthday. She loved the cake I made last year for another girl on the culdesac, and asked for a version of it in her favorite colors.
My best friend's brother is getting married tomorrow, and I happily made the cake for the event. They requested something with a cherry blossom theme, and as I researched, the pictures I liked best featured painted-on branches, rather than gumpaste ones. The bride and groom wanted to help out, and came over and made all the gumpaste flowers last weekend.
My neighbor and friend is turning 40 this week, and her husband is throwing her a surprise birthday party tomorrow. Her favorite color is red, and I've always loved the fabric-inspired flowers from one of Colette Peter's cakes. I used those two points as inspiration and riffed from there. I love being given free reign on design!
This cake (featured on the cover of Martha Stewart Weddings about six years ago) is the cake that inspired me to start cake decorating. I made it on a whim, and was so proud of myself. Looking back at pictures now, WOW, it was awful! I was very excited to have a chance to re-do this cake and redeem myself for my daughter's first birthday party. You can hardly tell it fell over flat on its side that morning!
My friend Jill is getting together with a few of her dearest girlfriends for an annual girls' weekend. It also happens to be her birthday in a few days, so I made this wine bottle cake to celebrate her birthday and for everyone to enjoy this weekend. It was my first attempt at a carved cake, and I'm pretty happy with the results. Fondant covered board, cake wine bottle covered in fondant, gumpaste hand-painted label and gumpaste grapes.
My father-in-law got re-married this past weekend, and asked me to make the wedding cake. The bride's dress was a beautiful aqua blue and she carried white flowers, and let me have free reign on the design. I always love that! There were about 500 tiny white gumpaste blossoms on the cake, each duster ever so lightly in the center with teal luster dust and a tiny bit of yellow. All of Bob's kids and their families had a hand in helping to make the gumpaste blossoms, truly making it a family effort.
My daughter's friend Sofia turned six today, and asked me to make the cake. She told me she loves yellow and let me have free reign--just the way I like it! She loved the cake so much she wouldn't let anyone cut into it and eat it at the party. ;-)
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