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Thanks and happy baking!

Learning To Fly Cakes and Pastries: Baby Boy Shower Tower

Learning To Fly Cakes and Pastries: Baby Boy Shower Tower: "Connie asked for a cupcake tower with 2 dozen cupcakes for the soon-to-be mother of a little boy. She even gave me a piece of the fabric sh..."

Momma's 80th Birthday Party

Momma with her cake.

Ok...first of all, Mom's birthday is not until November 30, so technically she is NOT 80 yet.  However, the daughters she and Daddy reared and the children the daughters reared and the children of the children the daughters reared are from the South.  The South where the threat of a snowflake is reason enough to cancel school and the appearance of a snowflake is followed by sheer panic as evidenced by the masses herding to the grocery stores for bread and milk!  The South where 3 inches of snow can shut down an entire city for as many days and an ice storm can cripple civilization beyond belief.  The South where more than 3 days with temperatures below freezing is enough to warrant the season to be declared one of the worst winters ever.  So the very thought of driving to Kansas City at the end of November was horrific.  November is WINTER.  Kansas City is the MidWest.  November + MidWest = Cold, Snow, and/or Ice!  So Mom got her 80th birthday in October, on a beautiful, sunny, autumn day.

We had planned the celebration in the basement of a church, but when God saw fit to give us the beautiful weather we moved it to a shelter house on Longview Lake.  Fried chicken, ham, potato salad, baked beans, and chips!  Life doesn't get much better than that!

It was a wonderful celebration with all four of Mom's children, most of her grandchildren and great-granchildren there to share their love with her.  There was a lot of chatter, laughter, running, playing....Mom even went down a slide!  She and Daddy sat in lawn chairs and watch the kids play.  It was a special day for ALL of us.

Thanks, Momma, for all you have done for this entire family.  Love you so much.

Momma and Daddy -- now over 60 years of marriage!

Connor-man's Birthday Cake!

Connor, my soon-to-be 6 year old grandson, knew exactly what he wanted on his birthday cake, and Mamaw went to work!  He wanted a mom, a dad, a Connor, an "A" for Alabama, his name, a Mustang, a monster truck, and a motorcycle.  Well, the monster truck and motorcycle turned out to be thorns in Mamaw's decorating side, so Connor decided 3 cars on a race track would do.

Here are some pictures.  I can't wait to get pictures of Connor with his cake!

Baby Shower Tower

Goodies for a Baby Boy's Baby shower!! A cupcake topper cake with matching cupcakes for the cupcake tower to celebrate the soon arrival!

Joshua's Birthday Cake

Joshua, my soon-to-be 8 year old grandson wanted a Mario cake, but there was a catch! He wanted to make the decorations for it.  And so he did.  He worked on about 4 different occasions, getting things just right.  We had a great time planning and completing the cake.

                                  

                                        

I think he did a great job! What do you think?

You want WHAT on your hubby's cake???

The "victim"

About a month before the event, Alice called me to order a birthday cake for her husband.  I asked her about decor.."Doesn't really matter.  We just like your almond-butter cake!"  And time passed.  About a week before the birthday, I texted her and asked again about decor.  This time, "Doesn't matter...something manly."  I had no idea what THAT meant...football? golf?  autumn???  Then she texted me the following, "A dead possum!"  WHAT???

As it turned out, hubby had recently killed a possum with a b-b gun, and that turned out to be the theme of the cake!  YIKES....But it was fun and here it is!

  

For Kristi: Alabama Fan and the Love of Bo's Life!

Happy Birthday and Roll Tide! There is no bigger Alabama fan than Kristi!  She is a crimson and white, houndstooth wearing forever fan of Bama!  So what better cake for her than this!

Above all, Kristi is the mother of Hayden and Connor, 2 of my wonderful grandsons, and the love of my Bo's life.  What a precious blessing she is to our family!  

Happy Birthday, Kristi! 

Jessica's "Fashion Statement"

Jessica is a up-and-coming fashion and textile creator.  She is one talented young lady, so when her mom got ready to order a birthday cake for her, she knew exactly the theme: FASHION......with gold shoes, a leather purse, and lots and lots of jewelry.   It was great fun and frustration to make as I had never tried some of the "accessories" before, but I did it and all was completely edible.

Ready to celebrate!

 Jessica and I agree -- it certainly makes a "FASHION STATEMENT"!  Happy birthday, Jessica.  I know you will go far as you pursue your career in design.

My afternoon with Hayden

After Hayden's first football game, he came home with me to chill a while!  We ate lunch, played on the computer a bit, and then I remembered that I had a small cake in the freezer!  Hayden had a fun time learning to work my KitchenAid mixer while he made delicious frosting and then decorating his cake.  He did a great job, and it was such fun having time with just Hayden and MaMaw.  He is growing up so fast....but growing up into such a fine young man.  Love you with all my heart, Hayden.  Thanks for spending time with me today!

Are you ready for some football?

Everybody in and around the Tuscaloosa area is starting the process of getting ready for football season.  In Alabama country, fall IS football, and after last season, it is going to be MORE than a little crazy in Tuscaloosa as the Tide Rolls in!  

I found a baking stencil that is going to be just perfect for UA's home game tailgating!  Think houndstooth icing on a celebration cake or cookie cake would add to the hype of game day on the quad.

These pics are my first try....a little rough around the edges, but I see potential!

  

Abby's 8th Birthday: A Gymnast's Delight!

Sweet Abby is the 8-year old daughter of two of my favorite students, Kim and Brady!  Kim contacted me about Abby's gymnastics-themed party, and I was excited to try my hand at creating a figure for the topper.  Abby was in on every stage of the planning.  I sent Kim and Abby pictures of cakes to look at.  From those, Abby decided on the colors she wanted. 

We decided that a gymnast doing a handstand would be perfect! WRONG! After about 4 tries of getting the balance just right, I called them, "Can we do a balance beam?"  Abby and Kim thought the balance would be fine and would be in line with the theme. This topper is what I came up with and Abby seemed perfectly delighted with it.      

The cake was butter-almond, which is becoming the most requested flavor, with almond buttercream and marshmallow fondant.  

I think it is amazing how closely the colors of the plates match the cake!  I know Abby and her friends had a great time celebrating Saturday afternoon!

Jamaica, Grandma, Sweet Rolls, and Me

I spent the afternoon baking sweet rolls for some very precious people from my church.  They, along with their fearless leaders, spent the last week of their summer break from college on a mission trip to Jamaica, where they taught Bible school and ministered to the needs of the people there.  What a picture of Jesus they must have painted for the children there.  As I baked this afternoon, I thought of my Grandma Clark.  I thought of her for many reasons....first, I was using her recipes although I'm quite sure not with the skills she had; secondly, because she, like the young people of my church, loved Jesus with all of her heart.  She LIVED Jesus every day.  Did she go on mission trips or teach Sunday School? No, but as a small child, I watched her open her little Bible every morning and read and pray.  I watched her as I grew, and those habits never changed.  In a lot of ways, I feel like I'm a lot like Grandma Clark.  She liked baking as do I, although I came to it later in my life than did she.  We are both pretty transparent. Grandma was Grandma -- what you saw was what you got...and I am SO like that as well.  I'm not very good at pretending anything.  Also, she could burp any man under the table....fortunately, that characteristic skipped a generation.  Talk to my daughter, Kim, about that talent!  I'm not as dedicated to Christ as I feel she was, but I'm working on that.  How I miss Grandma, and how I enjoyed thinking about her this afternoon as I baked for my friend, Beckey, and her Sunday School Class!

Grandma's Cinnamon Rolls

Cheese Danish

From the napkin to the cake!

I was asked to make a sheet cake for a wedding shower.  Lisa decided on butter almond cake, but when asked about the decor of the cake, Lisa said, "I'll give you a napkin and you just take it from there."  So this is what I came up with....

This is the napkin I was given.......

and here's the cake!

Happy, Happy 30th!!!

OK, so Ms. Kerri has a 'birth-month' rather than a birthday, like most people.Her celebration started 31 days ago and has been working up to a feverish crescendo, culminating in a birthday bash at Los Tarascos with her many, many friends! She wanted a special birthday cake for a special birthday--her 30th! Thanks to her hubby, Michael, and good friend, Karri, we finally decided on a very special cake for this milestone! Here's hoping she LOVES it!

Mother's Day Cake

Three layer, chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, surrounded by Peppridge Farm's Pirouette Cookies!  This was a Mother's Day cake for my daughter, Kim, a self-proclaimed chocoholic!

Small Wedding Cakes for Great Friends!

My dear friend, Kim, called to ask me to make her a small wedding cake for an after wedding dinner.  My first instinct was, NO, I can't do a wedding cake! But she talked me into it, and she and Curt had a beautiful wedding and a lovely dinner party of sorts afterward.  The cake was "wedding white" with buttercream and cornelli lace in royal icing.  I was a wreck, but the cake was a success!  Congrats to Kim and Curt! Blessings to you both!

About a month after Kim's wedding, another former co-worker, Karri, called and asked me to make a cake for her wedding celebration.  This time, however, Ms. Alice, her 12-year old daughter, was in charge of the plans for the cake.  And what did Ms. Alice want?  FONDANT!!!  I made gumpaste calla lilies and leaves, with fondant pearls to enhance the cake.  Both Alice and Karri were happy with the results!  Blessings to Karri and Danny as they begin their life together!

Paige's Big Four-Ooohhh!

Carman called and said her sister Paige was turning 40!  She needed a VERY special cake for the big event! If you know my friend, Carman, you know that making decisions about flavor, design, colors, -- everything was a CHORE!! But finally, decisions were made; Paige would want something simple but fun and NOTHING tacky!  So we went with Key Lime Cake, with the actual cake colored "electric" green and black and green decor on a white fondant! The picture doesn't show the "electric-ness" of the green, but it was a FUN color!  Here's how it turned out!

Just for fun!

Ok...so I had a down weekend.  No cake orders due.  No cake orders to even work on.  I suppose I COULD have cleaned house...or I COULD have used the paint I bought over a year ago for my bedroom and bathroom...or I COULD have cleaned around the house.  But NOOOOOO.....this is what I did.  Just for fun.  The fencing consists of Pepperidge Farms Pirrouette Cookies, the sand is cinnamon/sugar, the tree a jumbo pretzel, and the blue water is gel frosting.

A Daughter's Passion

A mom contacted me about creating a birthday cake for her daughter who has participated in mission trips to Mexico on several occasions.  It was not difficult to choose flavors -- one tier would be Butter Almond and the other would be Chocolate Chili Pepper! But the design was a dilemma!  Her mom and I looked and looked and looked at pictures on the web, searching for just the right cake. FINALLY, we combined a couple of the cakes and came up with this design.

KT, the birthday girl!!

One-year-old's Birthday!

Suzi contacted me and wanted a very special cake for a very special boy!  She emailed me the invitation and I went to work!  From the pictures she shared, a good time was had by all!

Shower Cakes

After several cupcake towers, I was asked to bake a couple of shower cakes. I experimented with buttercream frosting, cornelli lace with royal icing, and making objects with gumpaste.

More Cupcakes

Baby Showers seem to be the best venue for cupcakes! Sweet filled cupcakes with a baby sleeping on the tower topper cake just seems to work for these special times.