Eruptasaurus!

That's what do you get when you combine the love of dinosaurs with the awesomeness of a volcano!  This cake is so rad, it needs a video.

One of my favorite little boys has a serious love for dinosaurs.  Like crazy love.  Like annoyingly corrects all of us adults when we mispronounce dexamicrosaurasomethingorother.  And he's only 4.  I was praising Jesus a few months ago when suddenly he concluded that he in fact did not need a pterodactyl (check me on that Gus) cake, but instead wanted a volcano.  Of course we could not totally ignore the dinosaurs, and after realizing others are capitalizing on dino crazed kids, I hooked him up with some dinosaur cookies.  Which he promptly declared he wanted, but not because he wanted to eat them, because he didn't want anyone else to eat them.  Happy Birthday little dude.

When is a purse, not just a purse?

When it's cake filled of course!

The thought of this makes me incredibly happy.  Can you imagine a world where you no longer have to keep snacks in your purse for your kids or when hunger strikes?  Hmmmm, I'm hungry, I'll just take a bite out of my bag.  And you get a burst of tangy, chocolatey, cream cheesey red velvet cake.  AHHHH, bliss!  It would definitely give me a different opinion on carrying a diaper bag, that's for sure!

I made this cake for my lovely daycare owner, for a going away/birthday party for her very girly niece.  She told me they used a food coloring pen and all signed their names on the bag, which I thought was incredibly sweet!

Princess Party for my Princesses!

When your daughters turn 2 and 4, within 3 weeks of each other, the smart thing to do is to combine the party and make it a royal princess bash x 2!

Well, until you realize that means royal princess cakes x 2.  In the middle of summer.  With no air conditioning.  And a refrigerator full of food for a family of 4.  And you're almost 7 months pregnant.

With all the cards stacked against me, I was bound and determined to make my unique little princesses, unique not-so-little cakes.  And I think I did it!  Sure I was force feeding everyone food they didn't want, just because I needed the fridge space, and sure the oven made my house feel like a sauna, and yes my feet felt like giant sausages at the end of every day, but for my little babies I would do it all over again.

Happy Birthday to me dear, sweet, precious little princesses.  We love you oh so much!

When in Doubt, Spout it Out!!!

OMG you guys.

I found a picture of a whalespout cake not but 2 weeks ago, and had been dying to do one, so when I got the call for a sea creature cake, I nearly peed my pants.  A little back story here:

Anyone remember back in the 80s and 90s when the whalespout hairstyle was all the rage?  You know, the ponytail planted firmly on top of your head, so as to 'spout' your hair?  Back in my good old days of TV production, we had a saying in the office, 'when in doubt, spout it out.'  It seemed that spouting your hair in any given situation, made the day more manageable.  We became so enthralled by the spout, that we began to celebrate on a weekly basis - Whalespout Wednesday.  We managed to find several shirts and even a skirt (thank you Target!) with whalespouts!  This tradition moved from production office to production office, and even now that I'm not in production anymore, still lives on!

SOOOOO - imagine my excitement to make the whalespout cake!  I was doubly excited because it's not very often that a 3 year old girl asks for something other than a princess cake.  Also, she loves lemon cake, and I have a lemon cake recipe that I LOVE!  So this cake was all around super awesome for me to make.  My kids were pretty impressed too!

And, I swear, I'm not insane.

I'm gonna be on TV!!

Ok, well, my cake will be on TV.  And maybe not even TV, more likely straight to DVD.

A friend of ours was the production designer on a kids show and they needed a cake so he called little old me!  I was so happy - so excited - so unbelievably terrified.  I know the expectations of this guy, and of TV production in general, and so I wasn't sure I was up to par.  I mean, come on, I live in Los Angeles, the city of creativity and endless talent.  But after seeing the cake and then getting this screen shot from my husband, I felt pretty darn good about myself!

And actually, this isn't the first cake I've made for him.  I made 6 huge cupcakes several months back for a Russian 'Ikea' commercial, but being the silly girl that I am, I forgot to take pictures!  When I get the footage, I will definitely post that.

Honestly, this is the first time I've looked at one of my cakes and thought, that's a real cake.  Not some cutesy-mom-made creation, but the real deal.  So, snaps for Rebecca!!!

Oh, and as a side note, my daughters' birthdays are coming up, and my soon to be 4 year old was so in love with this cake, that she declared she wanted this cake - with eyeballs.  Yep, eyeballs.  I love that child for so many reasons.

The Very Hungry One Year Old!

Have you ever had one of those 'DOH!' moments?  You know the kind where you work your butt off shaping a caterpillar out of cake and then have multiple people ask, 'are those donuts?'  DOH!!! (palm to forehead)

In the story of the Very Hungry Caterpillar, we meet a teeny tiny caterpillar that won't stop eating, and eventually turns into a beautiful butterfly.  I had the joy of making a cake this weekend for one of my favorite one year olds and my daughters' honorary 'little sister'.
Now, to look at Mattie, you would think she is younger than a year old because of her sweet baby face and tiny body.  But don't let all that miniatureness fool you.  Girlfriend can eat.  And eat.  And eat.  She has a special smacking sound she does with her mouth and that means - feed me!  Every time her tiny little hand picks up (or shall I say forcefully grabs) a handful of cheerios, I almost feel compelled to make the NOM NOM NOM sound effect.  But much like our caterpillar in the story, she is on her way to becoming a very beautiful butterfly!  And we're all so excited to watch her grow!

Holy Hiatus!

I never meant to take this much time off from blogging - not to mention BAKING!

But alas, there have been some developments in my life recently that leave me feeling like hugging a toilet bowl rather than my mixer.  There were minor attempts at baking.  I made my friend chocolate chip cookie cupcakes for her birthday, so that was pretty awesome, and I managed Valentine's cookies for my daughters' school and daycare, but that's about it.  I'm feeling very sad about this, like part of me is not alive and well right now.  So let's take a look back at a bakier time in my life.

Oh, now look at this.  My darling daughter, who I thought was such a big girl in this picture.  Little did I know that I would look back on this face like she was just a baby.  Ok, this isn't helping.  Not to mention, what you can't see in this picture is me literally 2 weeks away from giving birth, and sweating like a pig in 115 degree heat.  So let's move on from this before I run away crying.

Ok, now this I like.  Pink and princess.  Two things that are all too familiar to me these days.  Only bad memory from making this cake is that Starbursts are surprising difficult to roll out.  I even nuked them for a second to soften them, and still my arms hurt for days.  (Note to self: I need to find a better process for that.)

 

Mini Cakes!!  How could you not love a mini cake?  I made 12 of these for my dear friend J's babyshower.  Chocolate, vanilla with strawberries, red velvet and lemon!  

Ok, now I feel much better!

I feel like I'm slowly coming out of the fog and will be back in my kitchen very soon.  Otherwise, this baking blog is going to get B-O-R-I-N-G, if the writer doesn't actually start baking again.  Fingers crossed! 

D-D-D-D-DORA!

So I'm feeling a little sentimental today, and I don't know why.  No, that's not true, I totally know why. It doesn't help matters that Rylee has been so stinking cute these past couple of days, and every time I look at her, I don't see a little baby anymore.  I see a big girl.
But there's one thing that is still my little baby about her, and that is her love of Dora!  For her 3rd birthday, she wanted a Dora party.  So we made Map invitations and delivered them to all our friends, we got a Dora pinata that was size of Rylee, we had quesadillas and chips and salsa, Rylee wore her Dora backpack and Dora hair ties, and most importantly, we had a Dora cake.
When I set out to make this cake, I thought about making Dora, but then realized a Dora head on a platter would be a little too disturbing, except for all of us parents who giggled in delight as our toddlers beat the crap out of the Dora pinata (especially my husband who had to step in and really smack her around to get the candy out).  But Backpack seemed like a good option!  My little Rylee thought so too! And just so she could be represented, we got a Dora candle.
My daughter's birthday isn't for another 5 months, and she is already throwing ideas out there for her party and cake.  My life is going to be full of creating my daughters' fantasies out of buttercream, and I couldn't be happier about that!

I'm jumping on this Thomas bandwagon.

No, I will not be running to the store and stocking up on overpriced trains.  I have been blessed with 2 daughters (so far) and while we should buy stock in princesses and glitter, there is not a train in sight at our house.

But, it has been brought to my attention that there is a whole legion of parents who are willing encourage the obsession of their Thomas-crazed kids.  So I would be crazy to not pimp out these trains made of sugary goodness.  Now if I were really smart, I would take a cue from the manufacturer and not only make one size cake, but several different sizes, like cupcakes!  So not only would the kids want a big cake, but individual cupcakes as well!  Hee hee hee!

The latest obsessor, er I mean little boy, has a deep love for Gordon.  His mom tells me that he has taken up being called Gordon at home!  I think his birth name is darling and completely acceptable, however, he thinks he's more of a Gordon.  So, Gordon it is:

Now before all of you Thomas enthusiasts start yelling at me for the incorrect number (and yes, I was already corrected by Gus' mom) the number 3 is not a typo!  Gordon is in fact number 4, but being that this was for a 3rd birthday, I thought having a 4 on the cake would be misleading, and 'Gordon's' mom agreed - so please calm down!

Based on my knowledge of preschoolers (it's vast!) I have a feeling I'll be making a lot of trains...

Vegetarian Steak

When this cake was ordered, the only instruction I got was it MUST be red velvet and the birthday boy was a vegetarian.  Because my mind immediately goes to sarcasm and irony in every situation, all I could think of was steak.  Luckily birthday boy has a sense of humor and went with it!

I'm a recovering vegetarian, and rarely do I want to take a bite out of raw steak, but this one was definitely tempting.

Once Upon A Time....

In a land not so far away, there was a little girl named Siena. For her third birthday she wanted nothing more than to be a fairy in her own magical land. Since I only have magical powers in the kitchen, I threw some powder sugar fairy dust in a bowl and viola!

I thought this sweet little white chocolate fairy looked like Siena, so I made this her mushroom palace.

Another chocolate fairy (my daughter likes to think this one is her) is lost in the meringue mushroom cluster!

This cake did not start out well at all. It became one of those moments where I started rethinking offering to make cakes for my friends, because I might end up on cakewrecks. My oven and I were having a domestic dispute, and it got so heated that the gas company almost had to be called. After taking a cooling period (literally let the cakes cool overnight) I came back to it the next day and we worked things out, with the help of some buttercream. I've learned over and over, that much like a glass of wine, there's nothing that a little (or a lot) of frosting can't fix.

Happy Birthday Siena!