Baked out..

White Almond cake with Raspberry filling and cream cheese butter cream frosting.....2 dozen for an order and the rest....for my kids

Strawberry cake with NO FILLING!...boys are weird :) I put pureed strawberries into the cake to make it taste even better....I thought it would have been so great with a cream cheese filling and fresh sliced strawberries, but alas he requested NO FILLING...and it was his birthday!

Wedding cake cookies...each with it unique design for a bridal shower favor. They looked pretty bagged and tied with a "plum" ribbon...yes I had to search 3 stores to find the right "plum" ribbon!

This weekend I have made and decorated..2 dozen cookies, 2 dozen cupcakes, a cake...2 kinds of brownies, rolls, cake ball truffles, homemade ice cream....Okay so all of it was not necessarily a must...(brownies :) (wink) (ice cream) But enough to make me tired of looking at my kitchen, and tired of doing dishes...speaking of, I just bought the most fabulous set of nesting glass bowls at Costco...25 bowls all different sizes...so cute..and they were only $20.00 bargain....but I digress....

I have made an executive decision to put cake decorating on hold for a while...I will still do cupcakes and decorated sugar cookies if someone asks...but cakes..no not now. My life is crazy busy, with 4 kiddo's all with their own schedules...Olivia's being the most demanding :) and teaching fitness classes, and the 4th graders harder than conceivable homework...and on and on I have decided that it is just not my season for doing cakes anymore...I do love it and will continue at some other time...but for now it just does not feel right anymore. That being said I will continue with this blog..... with the intent to post recipes and "creations" as was my intention all along. The blog sort of morphed into just my cakes...and I am excited to start posting more recipes and other creations again.

The recipes being featured will not all be sugary delights...yes, believe it or not I have evolved my taste buds a bit... and even went without a grain of sugar for more than 3 months this summer! I totally believe in moderation in all good things and will try to post some of my crazy healthy creations...as well as the most decadent treats imaginable...which brings me to these delights..MAKE THIS! (homemade ice cream to come next!)

Quinoa Salad

1 1/2 cup quinoa -uncooked

2 1/2 cups water

6 Tb orange juice

2 Tbs. fresh lime juice

1 Tbs. balsamic vinegar

1/4 tsp. sea salt

1 clove garlic

2 ears fresh corn on cob (cut)

1/2 c scallion sliced

1/2 c red peppers diced

2 Tbs diced red onion finely chopped

1 avocado diced

1 tomato diced

Bring water to boil, add quinoa and return to boil. Add salt and reduce heat, simmer 18 minutes. Take of heat, fluff with fork, place in bowl and let cool in refrigerator. While cooling saute onion garlic and corn until caramelized, set aside. Mix juices, vinegar and salt together. When Quinoa is cooled add dressing and all other vegetables. SO HEALTHY AND SO YUMMY!

Loved, Loved, Loved this cake

Okay it is rare that I get to do a cake that has a sophisticated flare to it... Usually it has everything to do with kiddos and fun, but this weekend I was asked to do a cake in a black and white theme for a birthday. First off I love black and white..so that made it a fav right from the beginning. The cake itself was Butter Yellow Cake with a Whipped Chocolate Ganache Filling. I covered the cake in butter cream and then did all of the detail work in chocolate fondant. I made the flowers all out of fondant, and then painted them with luster dust. The bow is also out of fondant. I wanted the back of the cake to be as pretty as the front so there is a flower on both sides. I loved the little pearls and wanted to put them randomly on the sides of the cake at the end of the paisleys...however my little critics (daughters) said, "mom, it looks good how it is...less is more.. just stop!" so I left them off...if it were my cake I would have put them on. I really hope she liked the cake as much as I did.

I always think that someday I am going to make all the "sophisticated, sassy cakes" that I have in my head , just to play around...I would love to just experiment with trying the new techniques, or ideas that I have floating around in my head.....it was fun to be able to do this one:)

Little Einsteins

This week I was able to experiment with some Little Einstein Rocket Ship cookies. I had no idea what I was going to do to fit the theme. I decided on the rocket ship and then had to hand cut out each shape and decorate free hand..... I really, really LOVE to do sugar cookies! I forget how much I love to create. Sometime cakes can stress me out because cake and butter cream can be so unpredictable...some times its perfectly smooth and sometimes it turns out a crumby mess...but with cookies its never about the stress for me just about the creating part...I LOVE it!

Hello Kitty

Happy Birthday to a special little girl who had so many things in common with my sweet little Olivia...for starters her name was Olivia!...she was 7 weeks premature and ended up being from my neighborhood! I really hope she had a wonderful 4th Birthday. The cake was done in a 9 inch base with a 4 inch cake stacked on top. The flavors were Chocolate Fudge with a Chocolate cream cheese mousse filling...can you say YUM. I really REALLY wanted a piece of this cake. I am not sure if its because I do not eat sugar very often anymore, or if it was just a very yummy combination but the smell, and sights of this cake had me dreaming of cake last night. The cake was frosted in butter cream and the details were all made of fondant...yes even the Hello Kitty.

Penguin Party

Yeah for something new! I am always so excited when I get a request for something totally new that I haven't tried before. This weekend was just that...a Penguin Party Cake. A sweet little girl was turning 3 years old and loves penguins. The cake was Chocolate Fudge with a Cookies and Cream filling. The "glacier" was made out of rice krispie treats and covered in fondant that I hand painted with pearl luster dust. The penguins were all sculpted in fondant. I also made all of the glass candy to look like ice. The glass candy was a fun way to work with sugar, I think I will start to work with sugar in more ways, I really like the dimension it gives the cakes. I would love to try the hand blown bubbles I have seen them do on the Food Network....

Life's a Beach Baby!

Really another beach cake? Yes! But everyone has been a little different. This was for one of daughter #1's great friends. She was having her party at a water park with a beach theme...or so was the plan :) (it rained cats and dogs all day long...) They had a great time despite and hopefully enjoyed the cake. This cake was chosen by the girl..and I was happy to try something new. The cake was Strawberry Cake with a Vanilla Cream Cheese filling along with Strawberry glaze. I also made her Strawberry Cake Ball Truffles dipped in Milk Chocolate and drizzled with white chocolate. My kids are now all calling for Strawberry cakes for their next birthday...they devoured any extra cake scraps and the truffles.

Happy Birthday Farm

Happy first birthday Maddie! This was so fun to make. I was so happy to make this cake for a little girl I know turning one. She loves farm animals and so it fit. I did the barn in pink...and made the little "smash" cake to match. The best part was seeing the pictures of her smashing and eating the cake! The cake itself was chocolate fudge with a cream cheese chocolate filling and a drizzle of caramel. I was much happier with all of the animals this time around.