Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

I made these for the cake walk at our church's Fall Carnival - had so much fun working on the toppers :) Pumpkin spice cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese icing and fondant toppers with buttercream details!

Batman Cake

This was the same Batman cake I've done before but slightly altered for someone who prefers more buttercream :) Vanilla buttermilk cake with vanilla buttercream filling and icing. Fondant details.

Another Year Down the Drain Birthday Cake

I have not stopped laughing since I received the request for this cake - still chuckle when I look at the picture :) Vanilla buttermilk cake with vanilla buttercream filling and icing and a very special topper made out of rice krispie treats, coated in buttercream then covered with fondant! The "rolls" of paper were fondant as well. Hope the Birthday guy enjoyed the joke! ;)

Not So Scary Halloween Birthday Cake

Mom requested a design that used Halloween colors and theme, but nothing too scary so this is what I came up with! Chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream filling covered in fondant with all fondant details. The one exception was the topper which was a fondant/gum paste mixture. :)

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

We all know I'm pumpkin crazy (and if you didn't before...well, you do now) so when I found this recipe by blogger Brown Eyed Baker, I've SO been looking forward to trying it out! A breakfast treat for my daughter's teachers proved the perfect opportunity :) A pumpkin muffin filled with all the most wonderful spices, cinnamon cream cheese filling and a cinnamon streusel topping completed this breakfast treat! I will most definitely be making this again and I strongly encourage you to try it out as well! *Note - I did omit the pecans listed in the original recipe as there were nut allergies at school and the streusel was still outrageously delicious! http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2010/10/18/pumpkin-cream-cheese-muffins-pecan-streusel/

Batman Birthday Cake

Fun cake to do for a little Batman fan's 3rd Birthday! Chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream filling covered in fondant - all the accents were fondant as well.

Anniversary Cupcakes

These cupcakes were such a fun project to work on!! Again, one of my favorite tasks - matching to the decor! Vanilla bean cupcakes with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream all decorated to match the decor for the party. There were even two special cupcakes for the couple of honor - Hello Kitty topper for her, since she loves Hello Kitty and a Georgia "G" topper for him since he's a huge Bulldog fan!

Pokemon Cupcakes

Gotta tell ya, this is one game/cartoon/movement that you have to wonder - is it EVER going to end?! I mean, really - Pokemon have been around ever since my Nephews were little - and no, I'm not going to say how long ago that was, but trust me it was quite a while ago! Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting for a Pokemon fan's Birthday! All the Pokemon and the Pokeballs were hand made/cut using fondant or a fondant/gum paste mixture. Some of the details I hand painted using icing colors mixed with lemon flavoring. Really enjoyed working on these and figured I did a pretty good job when I got the nod of approval from my kids!

Mother-Daughter Bonding over Zombie Cupcakes

Yes, you read that title correctly! :) This isn't your "traditional" mother-daughter bonding experience perhaps, but that's okay! As a Mom who loves to bake, decorate and loves zombie tv I suppose I'm not your traditional Mom lol! Last night was the season premiere of one of my favorite series, The Walking Dead and to celebrate I thought it would be fun to make some zombie cupcakes (and sure, it's pretty appropriate given the time of year as well!) My little girl wanted to help, so we made it a team effort! She picked the flavor - chocolate cupcakes, of course (girl after my own heart!!) and we stuck with vanilla buttercream for the icing since I'd need to color it for the decorations I had planned. Taylor really enjoyed helping me on these - measuring out ingredients, sifting the flour - she was in Heaven! Maybe I've got a right hand-in the making! :) I decided to decorate half the cupcakes with my grass tip with zombie hands I purchased from Bake It Pretty, the other half as brains 'cause well...zombies love braaaaiiiins! As I'm coloring the icing for my brains I have to laugh at myself deliberating over whether "peach" or "light copper" would be more appropriate for brain color - never ran into that one before! Loved how these turned out and had so much fun making these with my little helper!

Dora Princess Castle Cake

Such a fun, girlie cake to work on! A Dora the Explorer Princess castle cake for a little girl turning 5 :) Bottom tier was chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream filling, top tier was vanilla funfetti cake with vanilla buttercream filling all covered in fondant. The castle towers were gum paste and all other accents were fondant, with the exception of Dora and Boots who were picked up at a toy store!

Cat in the Hat Cake

Wow, was this ever a challenge! Here is my 2nd (and FINAL) entry for the 2011 NC State Fair for Decorated Cakes - my attempt at replicating a design by Andrea's Sweet Cakes. I've always admired the extreme perfection of Andrea's cake boards - if you know her work, not only are her cakes to the letter - but her boards are always perfectly coordinated - just gorgeous!! This year with my two State Fair entries was really my first attempt at covering cake boards with anything close to that type of precision, so a fun learning experience there to be sure! There are definitely parts of this cake I'd like to have improved upon, but overall I was quite pleased with how my first effort of this type of cake turned out. I think I had the most fun with the hand painted details - and this really surprised me as this was the part that terrified me the most! :)

Angry Birds Birthday Cake

Well, it finally happened. My baby turned 10 years old! Can't believe he's that old already - trying to grow up so fast!(If they only knew, right?!) As my Dad would say, he's now officially a ten-ager (insert appropriate dad-joke groan here). This year my buddy requested an Angry Birds cake as that's his FAVORITE game on my phone whenever he gets hold of it :) He wanted a vanilla cake with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream as well, so that's exactly what he got! I hand formed the birds using a fondant/gum paste mixture and since those doggone pigs get on my nerves, I didn't feel they deserved to be 3-D, so I just put them on the side of the cake :) He was pretty excited and we all enjoyed the yummy cake (and tried not to dwell on how quickly the years are flying by!!) Happy Birthday to my Buddy!

Thomas the Tank Engine Birthday Cake

Loved replicating this Pink Cake Box design for a special little guy's Birthday! Bottom tier was chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream filling, top tier was vanilla buttermilk cake with vanilla buttercream filling both covered with fondant. Thomas was hand formed using a fondant/gum paste mixture as were the other two trains. All other details on the cake were made using fondant. Hope this made the little engineer's day! :)

Tigger Birthday Cake

Such a fun little cake to work on! Cake for a Tigger fan's Birthday :) Fresh strawberry cake with strawberry swiss meringue buttercream filling covered in green fondant. Tigger was hand formed with a gum paste/fondant mixture and I then hand painted his signature stripes! Also added a few fondant presents for him and "Tigger" in orange fondant letters which I also gave a painted stripe as well!