Oink! It's a Pig Birthday Cake!

Today is Laura's birthday, and she wanted a pig cake to celebrate. So, that's precisely what she received - plus a few miniature fondant pig friends! Cake was chocolate with vanilla buttercream filling, enrobed with perfectly pig pink fondant. I simply absolutely adore this cake - I loved giving these guys some personality in their facial expressions!

Happy, happy birthday, Laura!

Monkey Baby Shower Cake

My friend Amy's sister is having a baby in April, and I was delighted to be able to make her baby shower cake!  The design was based off of the invitation that Amy created for the shower - how cute are those monkeys??  Both tiers were chocolate - top tier was filled with cappuccino cream, and the bottom tier was filled with vanilla buttercream and fresh strawberries.

Congratulations, Sandy and Brian!  The happiest wishes for the new bundle of joy that will soon enter your lives.

Nicole's Baby Shower

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of creating this adorable baby animal cake for Nicole's baby shower.  Nicole and Jon have a baby girl due to arrive in April -  seems like just yesterday that I was making their wedding cake!

The top tier was chocolate, bottom tier was white velvet, and both tiers were filled with vanilla buttercream.  My husband helped out with quite a bit of the fondant work - I feel very lucky to have such a detail oriented, artistic guy, who actually enjoys making cakes!

Congratulations, Nicole and Jon!  The happiest wishes for the new bundle of joy that will soon enter your lives.

Catherine & Karl's Wedding - Pro Pics!

Back in September, my friends Catherine and Karl tied the knot, and this week, Catherine shared some of the professional pictures of the cake and cake cutting with me.  Sarah Culver, you are extremely talented!  How absolutely gorgeous are these pictures?!

I think they liked the cake, huh?  Head on over to http://sarahculver.com to take a look at more of Sarah's amazing work!

Jenni & Romain's Wedding Cake

This post is LONG overdue!  This past April, my dear friend Jenni married the love of her life, Romain, in Ohio.  Since Jenni and I met in cake decorating class several years ago, it only seemed logical that I make the wedding cake for this very special occasion.  So, my husband and I packed up a suitcase full of cake-making supplies, and hopped on a plane to Ohio!

Jeff and I took over Jenni's parents' kitchen for several days (thanks again to them, for the space, farm fresh eggs, and the company!), and on Jenni and Romain's big day, we delivered a gorgeous damask cake, adorned with fresh spider mums, to a beautiful train museum - the perfect location for their travel themed reception. Guests chose from 4 different flavor combinations - chocolate cake with chocolate ganache,  chocolate cake with cappuccino cream filling, white velvet cake with raspberry filling, or white velvet cake with fresh strawberries.  It's a bit rare for me to be able to have an actual slice of a cake made for an event - I think Jeff and I *may* have had the chance to sample a sliver of all of the flavors :)

You'll also notice some perfect French macarons in the photo above - Jenni, who is a pastry chef (in Paris, I must add!) somehow found the time to make macarons and buckeyes for the reception while trying to get everything finalized for the wedding.  Definitely a fun way to bring the French and American together through sweets.

And how did the cake taste? I think the above photo sums it up nicely!  Congratulations, Jenni & Romain - we can't wait to visit you in Paris!

Catherine & Karl's Wedding

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted!  Sorry y'all!  I'm going to do my best to keep the sweets coming with a bit more frequency :)  I have some cakes to share from the past year; I'll be posting those soon!

Catherine, one of my dearest friends from college, married the love of her life, Karl, yesterday!  The ceremony was held at the gorgeous Pemaquid Point Lighthouse in Pemaquid, ME, followed by an amazing reception at their house.  Great fun was had by all!

I was thrilled to be able to make Cat and Karl's wedding cake!  All three tiers were chocolate cake, filled with chocolate ganache and fresh raspberries.  The cake was enrobed with ivory fondant, and decorated with cascading gum paste hydrangeas.  I had a lot of fun creating this beauty, and particularly enjoyed making the hydrangeas.

Best wishes to Cat and Karl - I know that you'll have a life filled with happiness!

Stars & Stripes Graduation Cake

This weekend, I had the pleasure of creating a gorgeous Stars & Stripes themed cake for a big graduation party for a brother and sister. Eric and Lauren graduated from college and high school respectively, and had a pretty fabulous party!

The top two tiers were lemon cake with lemon cream filling, the third tier chocolate cake with cappuccino cream filling, and the bottom tier coordinated perfectly with the party theme - red, white and blue velvet with vanilla cream filling (I can't wait to see a picture of a slice of the red, white, and blue cake!).  This is the biggest cake I've made yet - yes, I've made other 4-tier cakes, but this is the first one that's all cake.  I really enjoyed creating this cake - everything went super smoothly, and I couldn't be happier with the final result. 

Congratulations Lauren & Eric!  Best wishes to both of you in the next chapters of your lives!

Danielle's Birthday

More bubbles and lace (I'm in love with my new lace molds!) for my friend Danielle's birthday party!  Both tiers were chocolate cake; the top was filled with chocolate ganache and cappuccino cream filling, and the bottom filled with chocolate ganache and raspberry preserves.

The gorgeous birthday girl with our friend Mike - and cake!

Danielle - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!  Hoping that the year ahead is the best ever! xo

Ivory and Lavender Bridal Shower Cake

I made this gorgeous ivory and lavender cake for a bridal shower this past weekend.  The top tier was lemon cake filled with lemon curd; the bottom tier was chocolate fudge cake filled with chocolate ganache and raspberry jam.

I think one of the challenges when starting large(r) projects is estimating how much you'll need in terms of ingredients - as well as time.  It doesn't matter what industry you are in - it all comes down to resources and time!  Just to give you an idea of what goes into a cake like this ... 6" and 9" square cakes, 3.5 quarts of buttercream, an entire recipe of chocolate ganache that uses 1lb of chocolate, a pint of lemon curd, just over a cup of raspberry jam, and about 7lbs of fondant, between covering both cakes and the embellishments.  And yes - a lot of time as well.  Whew!

Laura and Jay - wishing you a beautiful wedding day and a lifetime of happiness together!

Kim's Graduation

I am SO proud of my little sister, Kim.  You all first heard about her almost 2 years ago, when she married her amazing husband, Brian.  Well, Kim has been a pretty busy bee over the past few years.  Yesterday, she graduated from her accelerated pharmacy school program as a Doctor of Pharmacy, and is now entering the Airforce as pharmacist and a captain!

Kim being promoted to *Captain*!

As part of her graduation gift, of course I had to make a cake.  I wanted to make something pretty and whimsical (and I also wanted to try out my new lace mold!).  The cake was chocolate fudge filled with chocolate ganache and fresh raspberries.  It was a super rainy day in Boston yesterday; I was very happy to have a few minutes to take some pictures outside.  Yes, my parents' backyard really is that green - spring is wonderful!
 

Kim - CONGRATULATIONS!!!  We are so incredibly proud of you, and we can't wait to see where your next adventure takes you!  I know that the next few years are filled with many unknowns, but I know that you can rise above any challenges that life throws your way.

Happy Birthday (Angry Birds style!)

Today is Matthew's 5th birthday - and him and all of his friends will be celebrating with a pretty awesome Angry Bird's themed cake!

The cake itself is chocolate with chocolate ganache filling, covered with dark chocolate fondant.  All of the angry birds, pigs, slingshot and other props are made from gumpaste and fondant.

Happy Birthday Matthew - I hope your day is awesome!!!

Pinwheel Party Preview

I love this whimsical cake!  Pink pinwheels adorn a simple cake covered with white fondant.  This cake would be the perfect addition to any party or celebration.

Chocolate cupcakes in a pinwheel wrapper

Smore's pops!

French macarons with lemon marscarpone filling

More pictures to come soon - thanks so much for stopping by!

Ice Cream Sundae Cupcakes

Inspired by a friend at work, I made these super cute ice cream sundae cupcakes. Chocolate cupcakes covered with fondant, with chocolate ganache "fudge", vanilla buttercream "whipped cream", and a perfect fondant cherry on top!

Spring, please get here soon!

Pretty pink vanilla bean macarons

Thankfully, spring is on the way! Today ended up pretty chilly, but things are looking promising for the week ahead.  Just a few pastels and brights to share with you today, to remind all of us who have been cold for several months that we've all almost made it through another winter.

Strawberries & cream bridal shower cake,
with a dinner plate dahlia from my garden!

Bright, happy, and a little bit sparkly -
gerber daisies on top of white velvet cupcakes