Happy birthday Grandpa!

It's been a while since I've posted anything, but I'm really excited to post this. My mom planned an awesome book themed birthday party for my grandpa this year. I got assigned to "cater" the dessert. I found so many great ideas online that I drew inspiration from for his cake/cupcakes. My mom gave me a list of his favorite books to include on the cake. It took hours the day before the party to finish everything but I was so happy with how everything turned out. Definitely worth the work to see his reaction to the surprise.

Winter Wonderland...

This cake was so much fun! I had to stop myself from going overboard. I thought the sugar crystals for "snow" was a nice touch.

Isn't he cute? I just love my little snowman.

Happy Birthday Viking John!

Today is my dad's birthday. My dad loves vikings. Loves them. He is very proud of his viking heritage. So of course, he needed a viking cake. This cake was another one that turned out very differently than I'd planned, but he was happy with it. I love making my dad happy. :) So...success!

New Tradition.

What a wonderful, full, beautiful day today has been. The best part about Thanksgiving for me isn't the meal, but getting to spend time with my family. One thing I love about my family is that we are all about our traditions-especially on holidays. This year my mom and I started a new tradition. After the extended family had gone home and things quieted down, we decorated a gingerbread house together. Actually, it was my moms first time EVER decorating a gingerbread house. (Crazy, right???) We had so much fun and we're pretty proud of our little house. Can't wait to do it again next year!

I know it's not a cake, but I just wanted to share because we had so much fun making it. (And because it's cute!!)

I especially love the little garden in the back yard. :)

      

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you had a wonderful day with your families, enjoying all of your blessings.

To Everything There is a Season...

I was so excited to have the opportunity to decorate a cake for a youth group etiquette dinner this week. I wanted to do something kind of fall themed, so I decided to make fondant leaves. I've never had so much fun! It was like playing with play dough! The process of rolling out the leaves, shaping them, distressing them; it was therapeutic! I was pretty happy with how it turned out. 

                     Happy fall everyone :)

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

I have been having fun experimenting with cupcakes lately, so some of my neighbors and family got a yummy surprise. :) These are dark chocolate raspberry cupcakes with raspberry frosting. I topped it with a little ganache drizzle (love that stuff!!) and a fresh raspberry.

                                                               

Vanilla Orange Cupcakes

These are some super yummy cupcakes I made for fun yesterday. I wanted to try this easy recipe I found for candied oranges (Thank you Martha Stewart), and I thought they'd be delicious on some vanilla orange cupcakes. I loved them!!

  Even Sam really liked these...and he's a tough critic. :)