No Cartoon Characters Allowed

It has occurred to me that when I make non-themed or speciality cakes, I rarely take a picture of the completed product. But I bake cakes that aren't covered in large pink bows or buttercream icing all the time. These are just a few of the cakes I've made lately. And I have a whole list of new recipes I want to try. I'll be sure to start taking pictures of all the cakes I bake.

• A stacked Applesauce Cake with Whipped Cinnamon Icing


• Spice Cake with Caramel Icing


• Coconut Cake with a Meringue Icing (Huge hit at Easter)


• A Chocolate Lover's Dream Cake with Whipped Icing, mixed with mini chocolate chips. (I've made this twice for my co-workers.)


• Sponge Cake with Chocolate Icing


• Root Beer Cake


• Chocolate Dump Cake with Fudge Cream Cheese Frosting


• Carrot Cake


• Sour Cream Pound Cake


• Chocolate and Caramel Cake (No Icing or Frosting needed.)


• Basic Vanilla Cake


• Mini Apple Pies (they are similar to pizza rolls, but made from apple pie instead.)


• Regular Apple Pies (my favorite)


• Oreo Cheesecake

I love to try new recipes, so if there is something you want made and you don't see it on the list, don't worry. I can do it: cakes, pies, cupcakes, whatever you want.

A Favorite of Mine

In a previous post, I showed a picture of a cake I made for a baby shower. This cake was made with the same design pattern, but I kept everything in one color scheme. It is one of my favorite cakes of all time.

Custom Cakes

I guess every cake is really a custom cake, but these two posed some of the biggest challenges for me. I'm really happy about the elephant cake. I think if I had to make the cruise ship again, I would have used fondant and rice krispie treats for the steamers.

This cake was for my grandmother's 90th birthday. She has always loved elephants and we surprised her with a backstage tour of the Zoo for her birthday.

This cake was for my friend Sarah Moore's 40th birthday. Lucky Sarah got a cruise from her husband for her birthday. This cake was HUGE so it could serve everyone at the party. I quadrupled all the cake ingredients in order to have enough batter. But it was worth it. I hope. Sarah would have to be the real judge there.

There's more to life than cake?

Cakes are definitely my favorite thing to bake/make, but I've done other projects as well, including cupcakes, breads, pretzels (those were AWFUL), and Peep bouquets.

My mom was having surgery and didn't want flowers, but she loves Peeps, so this is what was waiting for her at home.

Until I figure out a new method of securing the Peeps, this is not edible. Or you could eat it, but you'd probably have trouble digesting the hot glue and hair spray (to keep the sugar on the Peeps.) It is also very hard to make this when Peeps aren't in season.

Sometimes you just want simple. . .

I made this cake for my father-in-law's birthday in February of 2011. It was another vanilla cake, but a different recipe. The icing was a whipped buttercream. This best thing about this cake is that when you cut into it, there was a heart shaped ring in the middle of the cake, filled with more frosting. It would be perfect for Valentine's Day! And you can choose the frosting filling.






Somewhere there has to be a picture of the inside.

Baby Shower Cakes

Here are two examples of cakes I made for baby showers. Although, obviously the second cake could be used for just about any occasion. Both are vanilla cakes. (It's a favorite. I make a killer vanilla cake.)

This was for Kristy Smoots. Or I guess it was really for Nathaniel. . . .although he has yet to enjoy any of my cakes. Next year, buddy. Next year.

This was one of my very first cakes. In fact, I think it was the first cake I made for someone else that was going to be displayed and seen by a lot of people who didn't know me and weren't obligated to be nice.

My brother-in-law took all of the scraps from that cake and made his own, which was mainly icing. He took it to his school the next day and as luck would have it, it was the secretary's birthday. I'm sure that was a cake she would never forget.

Kid Cakes

Here are three cakes that I have made for children's birthday parties.

This is a cake for a 4 year old, based off of the book Pinkalicious.



And this was a cake for my wonderful nephew Jadon on his 3rd birthday. He's already been giving me orders for his next birthday.



And here was the cake I made for my other wonderful nephew Reece for his first birthday. Reece doesn't have as many requests as Jadon. If it's something he can eat, he's happy.

I think this is one of my favorite cakes. It was one of the first ones I ever made on my own (actually, before I end took a class.) I think it is simple and sweet and I love the giant cupcake look. But that's just me and I'm totally bias.

Where It All Began

This cake was my final project in my cake decorating class in 2010. I know that the color combinations and sheer abundance of decorations is a bit (a lot) much. But we had to use a certain amount of colors and demonstrate technique, so that is what I did.

Although my cake decorating skills have improved since then (I hope) I think the majority of people really enjoy the actual cake part of my cakes. This was a simple vanilla cake.

Here are some close up shots of the roses. . .which are my dad's favorite.