Our good friend, Jesse, just graduated from UCR with his PhD in Mechanical Engineering. He has been in school the entire time I have known him and the entire time Javier has known him! For over 12 years, Jesse has been at UCR for his Bachelor's, Master's, and his PhD. Now that he is done, we are all so proud of his amazing accomplishment. I can barely stand going to school right now for my Master's but to think he finished with never taking a break is just outstanding to me.
This past weekend Jesse's wife, Helen, held a big party to celebrate Jesse's PhD. It looked great! Everything was blue and gold, even down to the shirts she had printed for the occasion. It was really well done and fun. I made a cake for Jesse. I wanted this cake to represent all the things that Jesse took part in during his time at UCR. He was a part of so many organizations, projects, clubs, studied abroad, it was just so much to take into account and make into a cake, so I tried to take little elements of his education and make them into cake. I also decided to focus mostly on his traveling since that was a bit easier to come up with symbols to make out of fondant. I also had my first experience sculpting a figure out of fondant since I wanted to make a mini-Jesse. I was happy that it came out well and even looked a little like him. One other element besides fondant that I added to the cake was frame made out of chocolate that help edible images of Jesse. Everyone seemed to like those a lot and the kids were the first to devour them. The cake itself was also a learning experience since every level had a flavor and frosting I had never made before. The bottom layer was a lemon cake with raspberry buttercream. The middle layer was a banana cake with chocolate ganache, whipped cream, and fresh banana filling. The top layer was a carrot cake and cream cheese frosting. All of them came out well, (I tried to taste them all at the party but did not want look too gluttonous having three pieces of cake!). The cake was a hit and everyone was very proud of Jesse. It was a great night to celebrate!
Congratulations Dr. Jesse Lozano!!!!!!
Front View
Rear View
Jesse's close-up.
And even closer . . .
All of us and little Alize.
All the little ones wanted that cake!!
Jesse at his graduation.
Getting hooded.
EVERYONE came to the graduation. That was pretty special.
Javier's picture of the cupcakes on my new vintage cake stand.
Belen, the little cutie pie.
The adorable cupcake stand with Belen :)
Is your heart swooning yet?
How about now? Cupcakes and babies make a good combination of cuteness.
The happy family! (Cute headband btw, Lili!)
Awwwww!!!! So pretty!! 
