Paula's Good Bye Children's Book Cake

Our dear Children's Librarian, Paula, was recently promoted to another library in our system.  Our library was so sad to see her go. She does amazing storytimes for children and the community has really loved her services.  I learned a lot from her as well. 

 

In order to honor all that she has done, the staff put together a nice little going away party.  I made the cake.  I decided to make a cake appropriate for a Children's Librarian.  I had many children's book covers printed on edible image paper and molded some famous children's books characters out of fondant to give the cake more life. I included books and characters from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, The Giving Tree, Eloise, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Cat in the Hat, and Rainbow Fish. 

 

She really enjoyed her cake and I was happy to do something nice before she left our library. 

 

Thanks for everything Paula and Congratuations!!

 

 

 

Jean and Dan's 40th Anniversary

My dear friend Christine, asked me to make a little something special for her parent's 40th wedding anniversary.  I have known the Williams' for quite a few years and nothing would make me happier than doing something nice to celebrate their very special celebration.  She planned a surprise party for them and it was so fun to see their faces when she opened the door to her home.   They were genuinely surprised! 

 

For their party I made a 10" chocolate fondant cake.  We decided to go with the ruby anniversary theme and make the colors read and white.   I also made chocolate cake pops to match.  I wanted to try a new design. Something different from other cakes I have made in the past and I knew I wanted to use flowers. This is what I came up with.  I received so many compliments that my head barely fit through the door when I left!  It was such a great day and I was so happy to be a part of it. 

 



Happy 40th Anniversary, Jean and Dan!

 

The entire spread.

 Their cute wedding picture.

 

 

Christine making sure they are coming.

 

 

Surprise!!!

 

 

They were both super surprised!

 

 

 

Congratulations on your amazing celebration of 40 years!

Audrey's 1st Birthday!





Little Audrey turned 1 this week!  I can't believe it.  I feel like just yesterday I saw her little hands and feet and now she is walking and smiling and being so cute and fun. Her momma, Lupe asked me to make Minnie Mouse themed cupcakes and a little smash cake for her. I thought they came out pretty cute and everyone at the party seemed to liked them too. For the cupcakes, I made chocolate and banana flavored and the smash cake was also chocolate.

 

Happy 1st Birthday little, Audrey!!

 

 





Lupe's 30th Birthday

 My dear friend, Lupe, turned 30! Her wonderful husband, Danny, ordered her birthday cake from me and he said she wanted a Mexican themed cake. I decided to fully load it with Mexican-ness. This included Dia De Los Muerto skulls, a papel picado banner, white chocolate framed images of Frida Kahlo, Loteria cards, Mexican flowers, and Mexican ceramic tiles.   The cake itself was red velvet with cream cheese frosting.  I loved the colors on this cake and how pretty and feminine it was.  I was happy that Lupe liked it too.

Happy 30th Lupe!!

 

Ehren and Vanessa's Wedding

Back in August, my dear friends, Ehren and Vanessa got married at the Villa Del Sol in Fullerton, CA.  The ceremony and reception were beautiful and the burlap and lace theme was very cute  and perfect for the venue.  I had a great time watching these two get hitched and I was honored that they asked me to make their wedding cake.

For the cake, I made four tiers that went along with the burlap and lace theme.  Each layer was a different flavor.  There was a red velvet layer, vanilla and strawberries, and vanilla with chocolate ganache and bavarian cream. I added fresh flowers provided by their florist and initial toppers that they provided for me as well. You can see more pictures here on their photographer's blog (Nancy Orozco Photography).

My Wedding!

So this is a few months late (as always) but I have been busy baking.  I got married to my wonderful man, Javier in June.  We had gotten engaged in Italy a year and a half ago and had been planning our wedding since.  We decided to get married at the Los Angeles Arboretum in Arcadia, CA and then have the reception at our home.  We spent months fixing up our backyard, planting new grass, flowers, etc. Looking back, I cannot believe we pulled all of that off. I am adding our wedding to my baking blog because I made our wedding cake.  Yes, I know, I am crazy, but it was really the only time the week before that I was relaxed and calm and I had no mishaps which was great!  (and very lucky).

For the cake, I made four tiers. The layers were: Chocolate, red velvet, vanilla with strawberries, and banana. I decided to use fondant so that it would be super white. Our wedding colors were turquoise and yellow and I used those colors as the theme for the cake. I made gum paste yellow roses, white bud flowers, and turquoise trim for each layer. I was so happy with how it turned out.   I was even more happy with how beautiful the cake looked in pictures by our photographer Shannon Lee Images.  You can see other photos from our big day here.

Nevaeh's 2nd Birthday

My friend, Helen, asked me to make a Dora the Explorer themed cake spread for little, Nevaeh.  I made a two tiered cake, small smash cake, cake pops, and sugar cookies. I was really happy with how everything came out and I think little Nevaeh was happy too!