BIG Chocolate Birthday Cake

Was this a LOT of cake for a Birthday? You betcha. BUT, this was a very special Birthday - my Dad's 75th. Made even MORE special because earlier this year, after the scare of a pretty massive stroke...we weren't sure we'd get to celebrate this day with him. Blessings on top of blessings on Top of Blessings to be able to spend this momentous day with my sweet Daddy! I asked him what flavor he wanted for his cake and he smiled and replied "Chocolate!" so I wanted to deliver in a big way :) Chocolate cake, with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream and chocolate ganache drizzle, accented with some chocolate cake crumbles. I think he was happy and we felt like WE were the ones receiving the present - of more days with Him! <3 p="">

Spring Floral Cupcakes

I finally took the plunge and ordered Russian piping tips - I so enjoyed trying them out on these cupcakes!

Gold Wedding Cupcakes

So here I am, yet again - posting work I did long ago (back in December to be exact!) This was a lovely, lovely wedding I provided cupcakes and a cutting cake for, held at The King's Daughters Inn in Durham, NC. Everything was decorated so beautifully and they were truly a joy to work with. The cupcake flavors were red velvet with vanilla swiss meringue and vanilla bean with vanilla swiss meringue. We accented some of the cupcakes with glittering gold heart picks and others simply with gold sprinkles. I hand made a golden gum paste topper for the couples' small cutting cake at the top of the stand.

2014 North Carolina State Fair Competition Cake

I always struggle SO much with deciding on a design to attempt for my State Fair cake - I like to use my competition cake as a way of pushing myself and trying new things and I just always have so many techniques or things on my "cake decorating bucket list" that it's just so hard to choose! Thankfully this idea wasn't too hard to settle on! I've slowly been working my way through learning various sugar flowers and thought it would be fun to really create a lot of them to go on a cake - certainly more than I've ever attempted to make & place before! I also wanted to attempt some wood grain and can't even begin to say how excited I am with the outcome there - most folks don't realize the bottom tier is fondant as well until I tell them, so taking that as a good sign. It's hard to see in my photos, but I also made one of the white tiers slightly different - when kneading my fondant, I mixed in some pumpkin pie spice to give it little "flecks" that almost resemble linen! My family will be visiting the Fair on Monday, so we'll see if my attempts garnered a ribbon then :)

"Preppy" Floral Striped Birthday Cake

This fun little cake was designed based on the Birthday girl's party invitation - it featured the same bold stripes and colorful flowers that adorn the cake - I just fell in love with them! This was a vanilla cake with lemon swiss meringue filling, covered in fondant with fondant details.

Gardenia Anniversary Cake

Simple little cake for a couple's 15th Wedding Anniversary! They requested purple and gardenias be incorporated and this is what I came up with. I was pretty happy with my first attempt at a gum paste gardenia! :)

Tiffany's Themed Smash Cake

I don't normally post pictures of "just" a smash cake...but I just loved this one SO much, I had to share! :) This was a vanilla buttermilk cake with vanilla buttercream frosting and fondant details for a Tiffany's themed 1st Birthday photo shoot! Oh, I cannot wait to see those pictures!! :)

Gold Rose Petal 50th Anniversary

This was a request for a special couple's 50th wedding anniversary - vanilla buttermilk cake with vanilla buttercream filling and frosting and golden fondant rose petals :)

Autumn Themed Birthday

I really do have fun with most any baking/decorating project I work on...but as Fall happens to be my absolute favorite season...I truly had a wonderful time decorating this Fall/Autumn themed Birthday cake for a special lady's 60th! Rich, chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream filling, covered in fondant with all hand formed fondant details.

Chocolate Overload Cake

Wow, chocoholics rejoiced when this cake came about! I was asked to create a birthday cake for a Dad who loves chocolate - well, that's right up my alley! I decided to pair chocolate truffle cake with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream filling and frosting, dark chocolate ganache drizzle and dark chocolate sprinkles...there, that should do it! :)

Country Chic Birthday Cake

I love when I'm allowed to "just go with it" ;) Such was the case with this Birthday cake - flavors were vanilla buttermilk with vanilla buttercream filling and chocolate truffle cake with mocha buttercream filling and a layer of crunchy chocolate pearls too - mmm! I had always thought these colors would be lovely together and had such fun putting this lovely little cake together :)

2012 NC State Fair Entry - Brown Hydrangea Wedding Cake

So, I had the most difficult time deciding what I wanted to attempt for this year's State Fair entry!! I had so many ideas rumbling around in my head! When I finally decided to attempt hydrangeas using Petalsweet's wonderful three-part tutorial (and they thankfully turned out decently enough!) my mind was made up. I covered my styrofoam layers with dark brown chocolate fondant (which was a workout!!), then placed two hydrangea bunches on alternating sides of my cake and edged each tier with a brown ribbon. It might've been simple, but I was so pleased with how it came out and very happy to have learned something new along the way! :) I was also beyond thrilled to learn I had won a 3rd place ribbon for my simple little cake!

Ivory Buttercream Rosette Cake with Black Bow

This was just a simple little vanilla buttermilk cake with vanilla buttercream rosettes and a black fondant bow I made for a friend :)

50th Wedding Anniversary Cake

Working on this cake took me back - it's been a while since I've done the basketweave pattern, loved it though and thought the design turned out so nicely! :) 50th wedding anniversary cake made for a special couple! Almond pound cake with vanilla buttercream filling and icing covering the cake. The flowers were all royal icing, I also added a little gold shimmer dust to the roses which I thought looked so pretty!

Day at the Beach Anniversary Cake

I really enjoyed planning this cake! The couple this cake was for were actually married at the beach and they have the sweetest little cottage they sneak away to as much as possible so I thought, what better way to celebrate 40 years than with a little piece of the beach? The cake was butter yellow, vanilla buttercream filling and icing and crushed graham cracker "sand". The chairs, fence and shells were all gum paste - I added a little touch of shimmer by painting the shells with white shimmer dust. You can almost feel the ocean breeze...