A Side of Cake

Saturday, March 22, 2014

More Ruffles

You can eat carrot cake...or you can eat carrot cake in the form of a princess dress.

Either way, it's quite delicious, but this way is more fun...especially if you're a little lady and it's your birthday.

My favorite part of this cake is obviously the ruffles. Mom wanted ombré ruffles--so pretty!

Saturday, March 15, 2014

March Madness

Just because I haven't posted in the past week, doesn't mean I haven't been busy. In fact, I'm so busy that I haven't been posting! Ha!

This morning, I woke up and started to decorate a cake I was really excited about--a baby shower cake for TWINS! This is now one of my favorite cakes I've made. What a cute baby shower idea!

Chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream

This skating cake may look familiar--I made it back in December, and this little lady loved it so much, she wanted it...except in pink!

Funfetti cake with cream cheese frosting

Meanwhile, some people don't need a special occasion to have a cake. She's my kind of girl.

Chocolate cake, chocolate buttercream with chocolate ganache

Getting the right maroon for this cake was tricky, but I think I ended up with something pretty close to Magi school colors for a Magician hockey player.

Chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream

Remember the little Auburn fan? He needed cupcakes for another family celebration...and he wanted to share the love with his uncle, who is a Steelers fan.

Chocolate chip cupcakes with vanilla buttercream

These are the same cupcakes, except with a cookie dough frosting. Ohmygosh. So good.

Another hockey star had a birthday--and his mom had it transported across the state for his birthday! Fun!

Chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream

Last, but not least...my nephew's rocket ship cake. This was his request for his 3rd birthday. He also requested a raspberry cake. The cake wasn't raspberry, but the filling was. It didn't hold up very well in a very humid Splashdown water park, but it tasted great...and he loved it, so that's all I care about!

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

A Decadent Birthday Cake

I love decorating cute little kids' cakes...but every once in a while, it's fun to make something a little bit more grown up. I've been eyeing this recipe from Sweetapolita for a while now...and yesterday, I got the chance to make it. She used pink food coloring to enhance the swiss meringue, but the cake was for a grown man, so I thought I'd lay off the pretty pink.

It's a dark chocolate layer cake with a strawberry swiss meringue frosting and a chocolate ganache topping.

It's the first time I've made a swiss meringue frosting, and if you've never tried it, you need to. It's sweet, but not too sweet, and buttery. It's heavenly. I'll be making this for the next family birthday.

One more thing...Sweetapolita made the cake in three 6-inch pans...I opted for two 8-inch pans and four layers. This was an easy cake to make, but the swiss meringue was a bit tricky. It was definitely worth the work in the end!

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Cake Pops...Little Drops of Heaven

The birthday fun continues for the little Auburn fan...who just happens to be a leap year baby. Yesterday, I made these football cake pops for him to share with his class.

Have you ever tried a cake pop? They're incredible. Bakerella has some really cute ideas for cake pops and cake balls if you want to try them out for a special occasion.

I like them more than cake, but they are very labor intensive. This flavor is funfetti with buttercream. Nom, nom, nom, nom...

The result is a very cute treat for kids--and some leftovers for us!

Thursday, February 27, 2014

A Mouse and a Turtle

I'm often asked how I have time to make cakes.

The answer: I don't.

Last night, I went to bed at 2:30...which is not exactly ideal, but I need a creative outlet in my life, and making cakes provides that outlet.

I've been waiting a long time to make a Minnie Mouse cake, and last night I did it! I love this cake. I really want to eat it, but I can't.

My mother-in-law SAVED ME last night! I started two cakes (which were due at 7:15 a.m. today) at 9:00 last night, only to find out I was OUT OF SUGAR. Seriously?!? Perry was on his way home from Williston, but I needed to start the cakes immediately.

Thankfully, she lives a block away, and had a full package of sugar to share with me. Whew.

This is the result of that sugar...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were big when I was a kid...they're everywhere again! Did you have a favorite Turtle? Mine was Donatello...because he had a purple headband. I'm a girl.

Two cakes in one night...lots of fun, but I'm not gonna lie: I need an extra shot of espresso this morning.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

A Look Back

It's a quiet Sunday afternoon around here, so I thought I would take the time to bring you up to speed on the different cakes I've created over the past six months or so. Nearly all of these have been on my personal Facebook page, but for those of you who haven't seen my cakes, here are a bunch of them.

A wedding cake! My first ever wedding cake was for a couple getting married in the spur of the moment. Everyone needs a wedding cake, even if there isn't a big ol' wedding.

A John Deere fanatic got his green cake.

The skinniest cake addict I know wanted a cake when she got home from her vacation to Hawaii. Next time, she can bring me along with her and I'll be her personal baker while on vacation. :)

A simple pink ruffle cake ended up looking very fancy...and perfect for a one year old's birthday party.

I made three heart-shaped cakes for Valentine's Day. I think the little pearls made them extra special.

I made this X-Box controller cake for an AWESOME family on Friday. I really don't like fondant--it's tough to work with, but it was necessary for this type of a cake. You won't hear me swear very often, if ever, unless you catch me covering a cake in fondant. Clear the kids from the room.

This was the first time I ever worked with fondant. A zebra cake for my sweet little niece, Harper. It was buttercream underneath with black fondant stripes.

A "Little Miss" themed birthday party for sisters. She used Purely Posh Paperie & Events as a decorator for this party and it looked amazing!

Purple People Eater birthday theme from the same mom a year before. Fun!!

A Hawaiian-themed cake.

Jennie, the cake addict, will find any reason to order a cake! :) This was in honor of her new horse.

This was my mom's birthday cake last June. I tried a new frosting technique that I think is very pretty.

A "Fancy Nancy" cake for my fancy little girly girl niece, Stella.

My dad's birthday cake. You can't go wrong with chocolate/chocolate cake!

Dax loves bulldozers.

An elaborate fondant-covered cake for my sweet little niece, Meredith. This is the one time the fondant agreed with me.

Jennie has Highland cattle at her farm. They are so cute! They love Highland cattle so much, they wanted it on a birthday cake. Awesome.

Perry's birthday cake. His wish was to keep it all for himself. Sorry, Perry.

A simple birthday cake. I've forgotten what those are like.

Another partially fondant covered cake. They take forever! This one was topped with cotton candy.

A smash cake made to look like a cupcake for the same little one year old.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I really love how this one turned out. So bright and cheery!

Natalie's birthday cake! We had a cotton candy theme for her birthday. Cotton candy is one of the few things she can eat just like everyone else.

Coordinating "7" sugar cookies for the big day.

Funfetti cake!

Animal figurines were added to this simple cake.

This may be my favorite cake I've ever made. I love everything about it...it's so bright and cheery.

Calvin's birthday cake. I took the easy route and got a sugar sheet to top the cake. Calvin loved it.

Angry Birds, anyone?

A Periwinkle birthday theme for my niece. Periwinkle is a fairy friend of Tinkerbell. Just cupcakes and sugar cookies for this birthday party. Simple, but beautiful!