It's Been AWHILE!!!

Well what can I say...life has been busy! I think I use that as my excuse all the time! lol. Not sure how else to explain myself. It's not that I haven't made cakes, I've made MANY!! I really need to get my butt in gear and post all of them. I am very proud of my accomplishments this summer with over ten weddings and numerous birthday and theme cakes, oh and some new adult cakes. I've learned new techniques and tried new tools. It's great to look back and reflect on where I started with cakes, not even having it in mind that I would ever create this many cakes in my life! It all started with my son's 1st birthday cake just under 2 years ago and now I have created over 100 cakes...I should count them one day! :D

I will post a few now and then when I get the chance, which hopefully will be soon, I will post the rest. Thanks for stopping by and checking out my cake creations!! :)

Some of 200 Canada Day Cupcakes made in red velvet and french vanilla for Tartan (an oil company to donate to the Canada Day Celebration up in Conklin.

The picture of this cake is unfinished!  The groom forgot the flowers and I could not make it there the next day to put on the flowers.  The flowers were suppose to be turquoise gerbera daisies, which would've looked awesome on this cake!!  But, the next day the flowers were forgotten about again and they improvised with some small white daisies out of the bride's flower bed.  They did not get a picture of the cake, so this is all I have.  A little disappointing, but whatever.  Anyways...the rubber boot and moccasin I thought were such a cute idea.  I molded these out of fondant.  The rubber boot was to symbolize the groom being from the East Coast and the moccasin to symbolize the bride being of Metis status. 

Unisex Baby Shower Cake.  The client designed the cake.  I have never had such detailed instructions before.  She was very thorough!  I love her ideas though!!

"thanks for the wonderful cake, it was yummy and everyone liked the design. Good job."

Seashell Cupcake Wedding.   Chocolate, Butter Yellow and Carrot Cupcakes with a Carrot Cutting Cake.   I absolutely love the cake topper.  It is so pretty!! :)

Not my design, but I found it on google and really loved it!  Not sure who to give credit to.  The whole cake was french vanilla and I really enjoyed making this one!

I made this Power Rangers cake the day after we got back from holidays.  To be honest, I actually forgot all about this cake and I had to really rush it.  IT was for a friend, which I am glad!  She still loved it and the birthday boy got a giggle out of it!

"Totally loved the cake!"

I LOVE Littlest Pet Shop!!  I wish they were around when I was 5!!  I made all the cupcake pics out of cardstock and dressed them up with a couple of flowers at the bottom.  A great idea for a kids birthday cake.  The kids can enjoy the cuppies and later on the family can have the cake.

"Zoey so loved her cake!!!! Thanks so much! "

My first experience with a square wedding cake.   I finally got my pans in just in time for this one.  It was a pleasure to make a cake for a friend I hadn't seen or talked to in probably 8 years.   Turns out she doesn't even live that far away either!  I had a chuckle when I saw the cake topper she picked out.  It reminds me of when we were in England together just over 10 years ago.  Fun Times...  The pedestals were a heirloom passed down from a few generations and I am glad we could fit them into the design she wanted.   I had never used pedestals before, so I was a bit iffy, but they make the cake look amazing!!

Well, thanks for being patient with me.  I will post some more later on.  Thanks!!

My Weekend!

It was so beautiful outside this past weekend.  With +30 Celsius weather and trips to the park, the kids and I loved it!  Ryan was up in Conklin working, so I was soloing the entire time.  On top of making a new flower bed, hauling dirt, playing with the kids, cleaning house, I had five cake orders!!  Today I am still exhausted, I just want to sleep for an extra few hours everyday, but Aidan's been waking up at 5:30-6:00am.  WHY???  I hope that changes, and quick!  Anyways here are the pictures from last weekend.

So this is my first wedding cake for 2010.  I absolutely love it!!  A few firsts on this.  I only did quilting once before on a birthday cake which didn't turn out, this turned out perfect.  I didn't get a chance to make it to the city, so I made my own quilting tool.  I used a piece of thick card stock cut to kinda resemble a ruler with a diagonal end, a tool to poke the points into the fondant and a roller tool.  It worked, which still amazes me, probably took much longer than it should have, but I did what needed to be done!  I also made the calla lilies for the first time.  They actually weren't as bad as I thought they'd be.  Again, didn't have the right tools, so I made my own cones from printer paper and didn't have a ball roller, so I used a rounded lid. 

"Thank you so much for the beautiful cake Andrea. I absolutely loved it and it tasted great too. Thanks."

Well, one out of nine wedding cakes done.  Super excited for the next one coming up in June!!  Stay tuned!

My neighbour wanted her little guy's favorite teddy bear, I mean stuffed donkey to be replicated out of cake.  This was a challenge for me.  At first I didn't even know where to start.  I was so exhausted the night before, I woke up in the morning and made this before the party.  I think he turned out pretty cute!

"Thanks Andrea! You did an amazing job on the cake. When Wyatt saw it, he smiled and said "donkey" so thanks again! The cupcakes were delicious! :)"

A few of 36 cupcakes I made for triplets.  E, A and C are the first letter of their names.  I got the idea for the three cupcakes out of the Hello Cupcake book. 

"The cupcakes were awesome. Can't wait for the cake. "

I'm not really sure what kind of cake this was, the little girl's mom came to me with a a picture of the cake she wanted, but only wanted a one layer cake.  I changed it up a bit and made the mask, fan, bow, #5, name flower and hangy things out of gumpaste.  I've really enjoyed working with gumpaste, it's alot of fun and I can do alot more with it than fondant.  Anyways, back to the cake...  She also told her mom she wanted diamonds on the cupcakes.  I came by these diamond rings at a dollar store, I could only get 16 though, so I changed up the other cupcakes a bit.  I think the rings look pretty cute on the cupcakes.

Horse cake.  Not my design, I saw a picture on google somewheres'.  My daughter loved this cake, she has become very fond of horses, maybe I'll have to make her one next January.

And here are some pics of the kids enjoying the nice weather. 

Yummy Watermelon!

Alyvia, Aidan and cousin, Teila on the tire swing.

Alyvia checking out her butterflies she caught.

Austin and Alyvia looking for butterflies.

Aidan and Austin on the top of monkey bars.  Yes, my little 2 year old can climb anything!!

A Beautiful Photo!

I really wanted to post these pictures of one of my wedding cakes I made last year.  It was professionally photographed by a friend of mine and wonderful photographer!!!  Chantelle does such beautiful work and you can check her out at http://mflphotographybychantelle.blogspot.com/  or on her facebook page . 

~

Cakes, Cakes and More Cakes...

Things around home since August have been overwhelming! Austin started grade 3 and turned 8, which is still hard to believe! It feels like I was in high school not that long ago. Alyvia started kindergarten, which didn't pan out very well, she only lasted 3 weeks and Ryan and I pulled her out. She was crying and said she missed mommy and home. I couldn't bear watching her first experience with school be so upsetting. She fill return next September. Aidan turned 2, 2!!!...still can't believe my last little child is no longer a baby. *tear* The kids are growing, which means I'm getting older...I will celebrate my 27th birthday in February.

The cake orders have been coming along great! I did a total of 37 cakes from August until now. I've tried some new recipes, some which were great and some which flopped. I learnt a few new techniques and got some new tools. I really love meeting new people and trying to make a cake that will compliment their likes and/or personalities. I will be posting a few at a time, since I'd be here all day if I posted all 37! I hope you like!

A quick cake I made for friends of ours...I was leaving to Saskatchewan for holidays and had a few last minute orders. I am not fully satisfied with this cake, as I wished I had more time to learn how to make better flowers. One day...

This was another cake I made just before I left on holidays. I dropped it off in LLB as I was passing through heading to Cold Lake. Monster Jam was for these two little boys, I love their names!

When I got back from holidays, I had a wedding the next weekend. Now, I was very nervous for this cake because I'd never done anything quite so difficult yet. I dealt with the bride all via facebook, which probably wasn't the best to do, but I just didn't have time and neither did she to meet up. I actually never even met her until 4 months after her wedding! Crazy! She was one very trusting and wonderful bride. I am really happy with the finished product!! This is one of my favorite wedding cakes!

The next weekend I had a busy one. I had two weddings and one birthday. The first one I will post later, as the pics didn't load properly. But this was the second. It was for two people who I've known for years. They wanted a chocolate wrapped cake. I was scared I couldn't deliver! I did a lot of research and a trial to see how it was even possible to wrap an iced cake in white chocolate. This cake caused me tears at midnight the day before the wedding... my husband was working up in Conklin and I was home alone with three little kidlets sleeping. I just wanted someone to vent to about my troubles. I did use facebook as a venting place and cursed about how much I hate chocolate, even though it is one of my favorite things! In the end it all worked out, there are a few mistakes, as in everything, this was a learning process and new technique. The fresh blueberries really complimented the white chocolate.

Here is the birthday cake I did that same weekend. Now looking back and writing about this, I wonder how I managed to not go loopy! The little girl loves animals and I wanted to create something that was cute, age appropriate and fun. I think the outcome turned out wonderful!

My oldest son's birthday was the last weekend in August. Austin turned 8 years old!! He designed his own cake, just told me what to do and where he wanted everything. We had his party out at the lake because the weather was so beautiful and who wants to sit inside?? The kids went swimming and we roasted hot dogs...it was a great day. The cake however was a different story. I didn't take a picture at home like I usually do, I thought I'd just take one a the lake once we got there. IT was +35 degrees celcius and it was melting the icing...Ryan was backing up the camper and I had to guide. I place the cake on the fire pit grill (not sure why), and continued to guide Ryan. Well, I'm obviously not a very good guide, he ended up hitting the fire grill with the truck sending the cake flying onto the ground. It didn't get dirty, which was lucky, but the whole cake shifted and looked a little messed. All in all, it was still good to eat and everyone loved it, but I learned to take a picture before bringing the cake anywheres.

More to come!