Happy 6th Birthday Lauren

My neice Lauren turned 6 in June and she asked me if I could make her a Rose cake, and maybe some cupcakes with a rose on them too. My sister explained to her that Auntie might have some trouble finding just the right Rose to make into a cake for her (Phew! Thanks Cori!) but I did promise her that I would look around and see what I could find and then show her the pictures and whichever one she liked best would be the one I'd make. I told her my idea for the cupcakes and she loved them, so since her favourite colour is purple I found the perfect gingham cupcake liners and selected Lavender and Purple Roses as decoration for the cupcakes. So the cupcakes were sorted and all set for her Tea Party she was having with her friends from school and the neighborhood.

My next challenge was the cake, once we found a cake and decided on the colour scheme it was off to the races I went!

Here's the finished product and a close up of a flower design that were all over it. My neice loved it!

Happy Birthday Lauren, Auntie loves you xo

Happy 1st Birthday Samantha!

My neice celebrated her 1st birthday recently and I had the honour of making her first birthday cake. My sister had seen on Pinterest a "Little Miss Sunshine" themed party and loved the idea for her little Angel. Cori has the most beautiful 4 kids, I'm biased but that's OK, and her youngest Angel has the most infectious smile so the LittleMiss Sunshine theme idea was perfect! Cori found a picture of the cutest cake and asked me to replicate it, it turned out beautifully!

I decided to make a special Smash Cake for her and some cupcakes for Angel's cousins, since we come from a large family we wanted to make sure there was enough for everyone!

There wasn't a scrap of cake or cupcake leftover so I'd say it was a hit!  Happy Birthday Samantha~Auntie loves you xo

Happy 8th Birthday Wyatt

Wyatt was undecided what kind of cake he'd like for his 8th birthday so I did some searching around for ideas. When I found a blog complete with instructions on how to make these funny little guys I knew I'd found it! Wyatt loves watching "Despicable Me", he watches it as many times as he can. He's got some of the lingo down pat & quite a few quotes from the movie down too. We recently went to the show together and saw a 3D trailer for Despicable Me 2 which he just can't wait for! He loved the whole thing and proceeded to sing the "Barbra Ann" song from the trailer over & over.

I got some krispie treats from the store and followed the directions on the blog to create my minions. I've seen many different ways of making them, from covering them in fondant (as I did) to using half of a Twinkie. I just used 2 krispie treats pressed firmly together, dirty iced them and covered them in fondant. I'll let the wonderful lady at A Spoonful of Sugah take you the rest of the way  should you want to make some yourselves http://aspoonfulofsugah.blogspot.ca/2010/08/how-to-make-minion.html

After I made up the 2 minions I placed them on the cake and wrote the words to their version of Barbra Ann around the sides of the cake. Wyatt loved it, and insisted I take pictures of it so you can see it too.

Happy Birthday 8th Wyatt xo

My Parents Birthday

My sister & I decided to have some family over to celebrate our Parents 70th birthday this year, our Mom's is in the summer & Dad's is in the fall. We had it in the summer because our parents are lucky enough not to have to spend the winter here in the cold temperatures of Canada-they head for the sunny southwest of Arizona!

Before I began working with Fondant I had heard rumors that one could make it themselves, and after buying my first few tubs of the stuff I knew why-holy smokes it can be expensive! It seems even more expensive when you realize you can make enough to cover a 2 layer cake for less than $10, less than $5 if you get the stuff on sale and since it is basically sugar & marshmallows I am buying them in bulk these days!! So I did some research on You Tube and online and found a great recipe for fondant and I was off~Wow is it easy...sticky but easy!

My sister and I decided on the flavour of the cake & filling and I thought that since we come from a large family I'd better make a big one. I decided on a layered square cake with just 2 squares; I thought that was the best option since I was still not overly comfortable working with Fondant, why make it more complicated than it needed to be? I only used 3 colours and make some simple designs & coloured balls for decoration. My sister added the candles & it is done! Our parents & family loved it, and their 6 grandchildren gathered around to help them blow out their candles.

Happy Birthday Mom & Dad, you are the best!

Happy 11th Birthday Keegan

Keegan's Hockey hero is Sidney Crosby and for the months leading up to his birthday I have been trying to figure out what kind of cake to make him & how to incorporate Crosby into it. I stumbled upon some pictures of a cake that looks like the back of a jersey~and "ta da" I had found it!

I tried my best to make it a surprise for him, he knew what I was planning to do and (of course) approved of it. He saw the cake covered in black fondant and saw me working on the sleeves but thats all, I waited until he went to school to finish it off. Next time I make it I am going to attach the sleeves before I leave it for any length of time since it was too firm to drape just right. Still looked great though but I'm curious to see how it will change when I do the sleeves different next time. I know it probably won't be long--I'm sure Wyatt will have me doing up Jarome Iginla's or Roberto Luongo's jersey for his birthday :)

When he came home from school he came over to see the finished product and he was so happy with it, just fills my heart when I can do something that makes them that happy! When the family came over for dinner that night they were all impressed with the cake, and the more I looked at it the more I liked it; I almost hated to cut into it!!

Happy Birthday my son, you make me so proud everyday xoxoxo

Goodbye to Hockey for the summer

Our boys are Sports nuts! They both play Hockey in the winter for our local House League and Soccer in the summer for the local teams. Out of the 12 months in the calendar year, we have about 1 month "free" with no sports activity. Although this year the Stanley Cup Finals are still being played so they are getting their Hockey "fix" that way.

Our boys have only been playing hockey for 2 years now and both years they each have been blessed with absolutely incredible Coaches! I could never find the words to ever tell each of them how great they have been to both of our boys. It takes such a dedicated man to do the kind of extra work that is needed to coach a bunch of enthusiastic youngsters on skates!

The boys asked me to bake a cake for the kids on their team, but when I found out that both of their final games were at 7 & 8 am...I didn't think that cake for breakfast was such a great idea so we went with cupcakes instead. Wyatt's team was the Green Eagles and Keegan's was the Killer Bees so I found some coloured sugar and made up some vanilla cupcakes and let the sugar be the decoration. I left the arena that last morning with an empty tray so I think they were a success!

Wyatt's Canadian Pride

Our youngest turned 7 this past September and with all the cakes he was watching me make everyone else, who can blame him for wanting in on the action too. We spent some time figuring out what his vision for his birthday cake was going to be and it was surprisingly a Canadian Flag! He loved it so much, who am I to try and understand why he wanted it-he just did! It sure would make an awesome cake for Team Canada game or for Canada Day too!

We took off to a local Glow in the Dark mini putt place and with a bunch of 7 & 8 year olds we decended on them. The boys had a great time and the kids said the cake tasted great and the Mom's thought it looked so good and was a great idea. What else can I ask for??

August Birthdays

August in my family is a very busy one, and I have found a few other families that have months in their calendar year that are just as crazy! In the month of August, there is 1 Anniversary and 4 Birthdays. So ever since I was a teenager my Mom, my sister & I have always just had one big family celebration. We have a big family dinner together, my Dad cooks ~the poor guy, and we make up the menu! Each year we all switch around what part of the meal we pick, to keep it fair. Two years ago my sister & her husband blessed our family with a new daughter and added another birthday to the group so in a few years we'll add her to our celebration as well. We want to be sure that she has her own spotlight for a while before she shares it with us.

So since I have been making cakes and getting more adventerous with decorating them I volunteered to make our cake for our big party this year. I spent a few days trying to figure out some things that tied us all together besides being Mother & child. The three of us love to sew, cook, bake, travel and we love the West Coast.

When I was younger my Dad was transferred to Vancouver, British Columbia. We lived there for just under 3 years before we were transferred away to Montreal, Quebec. Over the years we have gone back for a visit and maintained contact with close friends we made while living there. My sister & her husband were lucky enough to go back to Alberta to live for a few years also.

I got a plan together for our cake, I bounced some ideas off of Ryan and set to work. I found some images that reminded me of our time in BC and had them printed off onto Fondant sheets and used them to create a quilt. I thought it would be easier to make the cake look like a bed with the finished quilt over it than to try and make a quilter's frame, since it will look more like a finished product to me that way.

I also wanted to add some letters to the cake as well. I have 2 reasons for wanting the Airport Codes on the cake, one because we love to travel, and two because my husband Ryan is an Aircraft Engineer, and my sister's husband Ian, is an Air Canada Pilot. So I thought it would be fun to add in the Airport Codes for some of the airports in the West as well. I cut out the letters in Fondant and attached them to the cake board.

Our boys love to help me in the kitchen so they helped me fill it, dirty ice it, make the "pillows", and cut out some of the letters. They are so proud of their hard work and tell everyone they see that they helped and what they did!

I love the finished product & so did everyone else!

Dora Birthday Cake

Well, there was no avoiding it anymore! My sister, Cori, asked me to make a Birthday cake for her girls who were turning 4 & 2 and absolutely adore Dora the Explorer. Cori found a picture of a cake she wanted and asked me to make some changes which I was happy to do. After looking at the cake I realized there is no way that I could do this cake properly with only buttercream, I had to try Fondant again.

I've tried Fondant 2 times before and had no success. I was sincerely hoping that the third time would work. I figured if it all went pear shaped that I could always get an ice-cream cake. I did lots of research both at the library & online and I think I finally figured it out. I must have been rolling out the Fondant too thin. Everytime I used it in the past it either cracked like crazy or simply broke apart into these little pieces. I kept visualizing the guys from "Cake Boss" and Duff Goldman from Charm City Cakes and I couldn't understand what I was missing. Then I read in a book that the Fondant had to be at least 1/8-1/4" thick and I knew that had to be where I was going wrong!

So I figured out how much Fondant I would need and all the colours and off I went to the Bulk Barn and then to Michaels. I had some stuff already but I found the coolest Fondant roller with a spacer to let me know when I was at the right thickness. So off I went & it worked! I couldnt' believe it, I showed Ryan & I seriously coudn't stop smiling! I know it seems so silly but it was something that I had been struggling with for so long and I finally mastered it, it was all simply too thin~who knew??

Once I got the red all over both layers, there was a tiny bit of small cracks appearing which I started to get concerned about. Ryan ran downstairs and "googled" it and then told me that all I had to do was rub a tiny bit of shortning in the crack & surrounding area & voila!! When it came time to decorate it was so fun, I added stripes, stars, and then I added some balls of Fondant and it was done. I was so excited that it was done & so proud of myself at the same time, I persevered and I succeeded.

My sister & her girls loved the cake & that is the best kind of payment anyone could ever ask for.

Keegan's 10th Birthday

It's a special day when you turn "double digits" I remember when I turned 10 we were living in Vancouver BC and I got my first 10-speed bike. My days in Vancouver were magical, some of the best memories of my childhood were there. Vancouver is and will always be home for me, even if I wasn't born there. Anyway, Keegan turned 10 this year; who knows where the time has gone! I've turned into one of "those" Moms forever remembering what he looked like when he was born, when he was 1 or 2 or his first day of Kindergarten etc, etc, etc~poor kid!! And to put salt on my wounds Keegan thought it was absolutely hilarious to rub it in! He started about 3-6 months before his birthday, and of course I had to make it extra dramatic for him! There was lots of laughs when it was happening, but when he'd stop I would find myself just looking at him & wondering where did the time go??

So this year he wanted to have a party with his friends, we couldn't figure out what to do-no Chuck E Cheese, no movie, no party at home, no to some of the other ideas we had. Then I remembered years ago when we were living in Cambridge I rented a Group Camping Area at our local park, so I called Darlington Provincial Park. Sure enough we could rent a site for the entire day for very little money. So we were off & running! Keegan decided on the games we'd play & the food we'd serve; all I had to do was figure out a cake.

Last year I made him a "skateboard" cake. I made it in the rough shape of a board and put all kinds of logos on it. He loved it, and I think it turned out kinda neat. It could of been better if I did a few things differently, but you know what they say about hindsight & all.

So this year with being outside and the challenges of our early summer weather in May, I was a bit concerned about keeping the cake cool enough. I suggested Cupcakes to him and he loved it. He picked out Vanilla cake with Vanilla icing, his favorites. I just used some coloured liners and some fun sprinkles & done! He loved them & so did his friends, that's all I ever wanted!

Happy Birthday Keegan!! Love you, Mom xo

My Grandmother's 91st Birthday

In early April my beatiful Grandma turned 91 years young. My Mom asked me to make a cake for her, which I was honoured to do. Mom selected a Vanilla cake with Lemon filling. I will admit to being slightly intimidated by the thought of making this cake. I knew that whatever I made, even if it was a complete disaster my wonderful Grandma would eat every bite and brag about it to everyone. But still, it had to be perfect!

I was still a bit unsettled after trying to make Alyssa's cake and it not turning out the way I had wished it would, I wanted to challenge myself, but I also didn't want to pull out my hair over it either! I did some thinking and looking around and I found a "how to" on making a cake in the shape of a purse. They filled me with enough confidence I just had to do it! It was, easier than I thought it would be. I got some floral wire and some jewelery beads and I was all set. I made the cake in a round cake pan, filled it, cut it in half, stood it on end, iced it & done~except for the decorating. I made a quilted design on the surface of the purse to help the look, and drew the Channel logo on the bottom to complete it.

Happy Birthday Grandma, I only wish I could find the words to tell you how much you mean to me. I love you always. xoxo

Happy 1st Birthday Alyssa

In August of this year my niece turned 1, and as seems to be the tradition with my Sister she asked me to make up the kid's cakes which of course I'm always thrilled to do! She asked for Vanilla cake with Strawberry filling, I thought that it would be no problem to find a fantastic recipe for Strawberry filling--geez little did I know how difficult it would turn out to be! My first stop was a fantastic website I've found dedicated to cakes, decorating them, recipes for them, tips and suggestions from other bakers. I found no recipe for Strawberry filling, not even Raspberry. I figured if I could find a Raspberry or other "berry" filling I'd just swap it out; nope! So I checked other places online, checked the library--nothing!

After many years of watching me make cakes & sweets up for people Ryan has seen me up until all hours of the night covered in icing or flour kicking myself in the butt for not starting this project sooner and saving myself the panic. He delicately suggested that since the cake was "due" on Sunday how about if I started it on Thursday? That way I could bake it Thursday & decorate it on Friday and still have 1 more day in case a catastrophe happens. Which I thought was a great idea & I'm sure I looked at him like he'd just discovered the wheel or something! I took his suggestion to heart and sure enough it turns out I needed it!

When I imagined doing this cake for Alyssa I wanted to try Fondant. The Italian men on Cake Boss make it look so easy, I thought I'd give it a try. I'm not a complete novice in the kitchen, I do know how to decorate cakes, not to the extent that Buddy Valastro does, but I figured that with some research & some time on my hands I might just figure it out. I got all the stuff, read all kinds of tips & instructions and excitedly got to work. Sadly it didn't work out. I was disappointed but OK with doing up a Buttercream icing. I had also wanted to make up some Building Blocks to decorate the top of the cake, I was going to cover them in Fondant as well, they didn't make it either.

Our 2 boys have also watched me make up cakes & sweets for people and our oldest is very curious about the whole process. He asked me if he could help me, I decided to make up a little cake just for Alyssa to have & eat all on her own and Keegan could help me with that one. Well of course whatever the big brother wants to do the little brother does as well! And when Alyssa's cake was all done they were very proudly telling everyone that they made & decorated this cake just for Alyssa!

So the end result of the cake turned out to be great, I think! It finished off being a Vanilla cake with Strawberry flavored Buttercream icing in the middle, covered in white icing with lots of pretty pink flowers decorating the sides & the top of the cake. It wasn't exactly what I had pictured her cake to be, but I think it looks pretty good!

Fisherman Cake

I was asked to make a 3rd birthday cake for a young man who loves fishing as much as his Dad, almost immediately I pictured this cake. I was hoping and praying that I would be able to pull it off! I've become a big fan of "Cake Boss" on TLC and I figured if those crazy Italian men could do it why not me??

I got the cake made up and I was so excited about it, it turned out just as I wanted it to! Then when I had it done, I hoped Dane would be OK that the man in the boat was a bit older than he is, but I figured it would be OK because at the end of the day.....it's a fisherman cake!!

Happy Birthday Dane!!

Meta Centre

In September I was lucky to begin working for a fantastic company. They are an organization that supports young & mature adults with Developmental Handicaps. This is the field that I went to College for a few years ago, and since moving back into the Region of Durham I have not been able to find a job. I was working as a school bus driver for a large company, and it was a great job that suited me well for the place I was in at the time.

A good friend of mine that I had lost touch with since graduating college and had recently regained contact with, thanks to Facebook, had told me that her employer was hiring. So I put my name in and the rest they say, is history.

The company I work for is called "meta centre". We have some openings for young adults who have or will be graduating from High School, and would like to continue their skill development or perhaps find employment in the community. Anyway, we recently held an Open House to let the schools in the area know where we are, and what we offer. Since my Supervisor knew of my passion for all things "sweet" she asked me to bake a cake for the party. We felt it would be best to keep it simple for the event, to avoid any allergy conflicts. The one thing we didn't consider was anyone who was a Diabetic, but they were great sports about it and just didn't eat too much of the icing! The cake was a simple white cake with white buttercream icing both in the middle and on the top. I wrote our name and logo in our colours on the cake as well. It got rave reviews, from our staff, visitors, and clients. I look forward to making many more in the future!

Cookies, Cookies, Cookies!

I saw some lovely women on a cooking show a few weeks ago and they inspired me! They make up cookies in all shapes and sizes, with lots of extra touches which make each cookie unique and special to the buyer.

My nephew's Birthday party was coming up soon so I asked my sister if I could make up some cookies for the loot bags, which she very quickly said yes to! I was so excited I rushed off to the store and got all the stuff I needed and got busy. I had so much fun making them up, each cookie was something new I could decorate it to whatever style I wanted. I used nice bright colours for the icing and got some adorable sprinkles and decorations to make them special.

Just before Easter my friend asked me if I could make her up some Easter cookies for her to give away to her family. I got out my pastel icing colours and set down to work. I wrapped each cookie in a clear plastic Easter themed bag and they were perfect.

My Best friend asked me to make up her Birthday cake this year. She has the pleasure of sharing her birthday with her youngest daughter, they also share a love of all things Disney! So there really was no other cake that could possibly be made for the two of them, but Tinkerbell! She asked for a Banana Cake, since that was their favorite. I had made plenty of Banana Breads over the years, but I have never made up a Banana Cake. I got out my recipe books, went to the Library and searched the net and found a good recipe that I wanted to use. Since I had never made the recipe before I made it up into Cupcakes, which were fantastic, so I knew it would work out wonderfully as a cake.

I went to my local store and picked out the cake pan I'd need and got started. Once I got ready to ice it, I have to admit that I was nervous about it. Her eyes are such a huge part of the cake, and I wanted to get it just right-and perfect. I think I got it just right judging by the expression on the Birthday Girls face when they saw it!

My Nephew's Baptism Cake

I recently had the honour of making my newest Nephew's Baptism cake. My sister-in-law asked me to make it Chocolate with Orange Buttercream filling. It was delicious!! This is the second Baptism cake I've had the honour of making, and I look forward to many, many more.

Little Sweets

As I've said before I am so lucky to have an extended family that is large. My Mom is one of 5 and over the years my cousins and I have spent many, many good times together. My maternal Grandma has 5 children, 19 grandchildren (including their spouces), and 9 great-great grandchildren with one more on the way! Needless to say we're a big, loud, happy, funny, family. When my cousins and I were smaller it was much easier to get together for anything, now that most of us are married and soon all of us will be there are so many more schedules to consider. What we do each year in the summer is all collect at my Uncle's house, and have our own Reunion. We spend most of the day swimming in his pool, eating, drinking and having a fantastic time catching up on each other's news. Since there are so many of us we all contribute to the family dinner, and each year we take turns on what we bring....this year it was my turn for sweet stuff! So I grabbed the opportunity to make up a bunch of squares so I could take pictures of them to show you. In the picture above there are from top to bottom; Chocolate Crinkle Cookies, Chocolate Confetti, Toffee Peanut Squares, and Chocolate Crinkle Cookies again.

In this picture there are from top to bottom; Lemon Squares and Chocolate Cream Cheese Brownies.

All the squares were such a big hit that I didn't bring many home with me!! One of my cousins has a peanut allergy so that is why I placed some of the squares on one tray and some more on another to ensure that he could at least have some dessert.

Baby's 1st Birthday

One year ago in June my sister gave birth to a beautiful little girl. It is so hard to believe that our sweet Lauren is 1 already. My sister, Corina asked me to make up some cupcakes for her first Birthday party. I wanted to do something light but also something that I've never done before. I've done the vanilla, chocolate, orange, and carrot type cupcakes. I happened across this recipe for Lemon Cream Cupcakes that sounded just too good to resist!! I ran it past Corina to see what she thought, and off we went!

Normally I wouldn't dare make a new recipe for someone that I've never tried before, but since the recipe made up 30 or so, I thought I'd give myself enough time to make a new batch just incase something disastrous happened. I really shouldn't have worried, they were fantastic!!! The cupcakes themselves were so moist, and had just a hint of lemon. But the best part as always is the icing...it was so perfect, just enough sweetness but not too much and the lemon was just right! My husband Ryan & our boys couldn't stop eating them :)

I decided to go for pretty sprinkles on the icing. I was thinking of making little faces to put ontop of each one, but after some consideration I realized that Lauren would really not mind if I didn't do up a face for each one...maybe with her next birthday!

When the big day arrived we were blessed with a day that started out great, not too hot, just enough wind to keep it comfortable at the Lake. Well, then the skies opened up!! My Dad grabbed the tarp from his trunk and he and my Uncle managed to string it up and presto, we had a roof!! We all ran under the tarp and I huddled under an umbrella and BBQ'd along with my brother-in-law Ian. Despite the rain it was so much fun!!! When the moment arrived for Lauren to eat her cupcake, I was so nervous. I wanted her to be happy with what I'd made especially for her, didn't have to wait too long...she started to "Yum" virtually right away and didn't stop until she'd eaten the whole cupcake.

My Son's 7th Birthday

Our oldest son turned 7 at the end of April, we can't believe how much time has flown by. Seems like just yesterday we were bringing this little baby boy home. I'm not sure if you would consider a 9lb baby "little" but we sure did! LOL On that day our lives changed so much, he has and continues to give us many laughs, joy, pride all of those emotions all you Parents will understand.

So when he asked me to make him his birthday cakes I was so thrilled! My husband and I come from wonderful families, and our son has made some fabulous friends at school this year! So on the closest weekend we could arrange we threw a party for his friends on the Saturday afternoon, for 13 children no less; and then on the next day we had both of the families over for a huge party! And of course just one cake wouldn't do...he had to have 2 different cakes. Since I couldn't figure out a way to make one cake work....I got busy in the kitchen :)

He was so excited to go to the store and pick out a cake pan for each of his cakes. He already had a good idea of what he wanted before he walked in the door, and it didn't change when we got in there. He picked out a Sponge Bob Square Pants cake for his "friend" party and a "Superman" cake for the family party. I thought it would be great fun and I couldn't help getting just as excited as he was about the cakes. He helped me pick out the cakes & the fillings for each one. I'm not sure who was more proud of the cakes, he, my wonderful husband or me. He almost brought me to tears when he proudly told all of his friends that "My Mom made this cake".