#173 Eleanor's Ariel Birthday Cake

October 22nd, 2013
Eleanor's Ariel Birthday Cake

For my daughter's 5th birthday, she requested an "Ariel" birthday - including a cake, of course. ☺ I was so excited when she asked me if I would make her a doll-in-cake cake! This was my second one ever.

The challenge for this? Surprise... I was out of fondant. Buttercream is not the same!

But it ended up okay - and most importantly, my daughter was so excited about it!

This was a vanilla rainbow cake, with vanilla buttercream frosting.

BIRTHDAY BITE

#172 Air Nathan's Birthday - Family Cake

October 4th, 2013
Air Nathan's Birthday - Family Cake

This cake was a cake for a family celebration for a boy who loves the Chicago Bulls. He especially loves Michael Jordan - and asked to be AIR NATHAN on the cake!

This was a cookies & cream cake, filled with whipped cream and topped with vanilla buttercream frosting. Details in fondant.

#171 Air Nathan's Birthday - Party Cake

October 4th, 2013
Air Nathan's Birthday - Party Cake

This cake was a birthday party cake for a boy who loves the Chicago Bulls! He loves the classics (Jordan, Rodman, etc) and this was the birthday cake to sum it up!

This was a cookies & cream cake, filled with whipped cream and topped with vanilla buttercream frosting and fondant.

#170 Eye'm Sorry (Banana Bread)

September 25th, 2013
Eye'm Sorry (Banana Bread)

So our neighbors downstairs (they aren't even directly below us!) suffer my children on a daily basis. I totally mean the literal and biblical translation of 'suffer' - why? You may ask?

They have two cats that like to sit in the window and peep out and meow at my kids. When we walk by in nice weather, the kitties come to the screen door - and my kids are always pressing their faces on the window, and door, of our neighbor's apartment, peering into their home looking for the kitties.

Our neighbors laugh and say it's fine with them... but I am always apologizing for them being such peeping toms.

While on our "get-rid-of-all-the-bananas-and-zucchini-kick," I made a loaf of super delicious banana bread and ...dolled it up to match our habits... as a way of apologizing to our neighbors.

They loved it. It gave them a laugh and they agreed - the recipe was perfection!

#169 Banana Zucchini Explosion

September 25th, 2013
Banana Zucchini Explosion

So my kids and I were talking, because today was my brother's birthday, we decided we needed to bake something. We had a TON of bananas (we're talking 12, people) that needed a new ... "home" - as well as a GIGANTOR zucchini that was given to me by our family gardener extraordinaire. (She grows giant zucchinis every year in her garden!)

After shredding all of the zucchini... and mashing all the bananas....

These are the recipes I made:

Healthy chocolate zucchini muffins
(Top and middle rack)
(We thought these were ok warm, but I made the mistake of using peach yogurt so that's probably why they were gross. They dried out fast too.)

Banana oatmeal cups with chocolate chips
(Middle rack, left)
(We thought these were ok the first day, and super dry/ew after they stopped being warm.)

Super chocolatey 4 ingredient banana bread
(I use the term "bread" very loosely)

Banana chocolate chip zucchini bread
(bottom rack, middle and right)
(This was SO GREAT I wish I had zucchini banana chocolate chip awesome on hand every day.)

Zucchini brownies
(The rainbow monstrosity, front & center)
(These were fantastic! Thumbs up. We approve.)

On top of that, I utilized my crock pot, and made some brown rice to go with it. My day was pretty exhausting!

Next time... I want to make this recipe.

My daughter said we should frost the brownies like a rainbow, so... we did. ☺

Banana bread: the universal stomach hug!

#168 Scones

September 10th, 2013
Scones

Okay, again, not cake. But I did bake it, and they were really easy to make so I needed to share.

(I used this recipe.)

My sister-in-law came out to visit and she made it just in time for breakfast - we were having a late morning, so I whipped together these scones - sans glaze - and they came out so good! I will be making these again!

#167 The Cake is a Lie

August 21st, 2013
The Cake is a Lie

My husband and I are big fans of the game "Portal" (and the second one too) so for his birthday this year, I made him a Portal themed birthday. I delivered his birthday "cake" to his office, dressed as the main character, Chell, from the game. He thought that was great!

The "cake" was a lie, of course. I'd made it out of polymer clay, fake cherries, and caulk. The actual cake was hidden underneath, with the Aperture Technologies logo to boot.

Later at home, we celebrated with a larger cake as a family, and I put the Aperture Technologies logo on that one too. I think my husband really enjoyed blowing out his candles under the blue and orange decorations, and the watchful eye of Wheatley. ☺

I (reluctantly) made these cakes funfetti... with vanilla buttercream frosting.

#166 Summer Berry Cupcakes

August 18th, 2013
Summer Berry Cupcakes

I made these for a family BBQ we went to. They were delicious! They were made of yellow cake, topped with vanilla buttercream, strawberries, cherries, and red raspberry sugar crystals.

#165 Summer Gingerbread Houses

August 5th, 2013
Summer Gingerbread Houses

Sometimes, when you get an idea, you just have to try it out right then. Like making gingerbread houses out of chocolate graham crackers. Hello! We totally have all of those supplies.

I mainly contributed on the structure, and the decorating of the two houses on the right. The left two are done by my precious kitchen helpers. ☺

#164 Flood Relief Bake Sale Cupcakes

July 16th, 2013
Flood Relief Bake Sale Cupcakes

While visiting home, they were dealing with the aftermath of the High River flood that damaged so much of Calgary, as well as many other places in the area. There was a bake sale going on at the church to raise money to help with relief, so my mom and I made some cupcakes to donate.

We made them swimmers, to remind them that water is still good sometimes (or just because they were cute) and rainbows to remind them that there is always an end to the storm.

#163 The "Pie"

July 9th, 2013
The "Pie"

Okay it's not really dessert, but I wanted to take a minute to brag that my husband makes the best homemade pizza in the universe. We were home visiting my parents, and he had made pizza for everyone that night but my "pretty-much-sister-in-law-already" Julie was unable to make it... SO I didn't make the dough, but I did all the toppings for her own, personal, pizza 'pie' ... ☺

#162 Graduation Cake

June 14th, 2013
Graduation Cake

This cake had layers celebrating the past and future for this young grad! He was headed off to BYU soon so it was very fitting to have that top tier all BYU blue! The trunk-like middle layer is a nod toward him earning his Eagle Scout award, and the bottom is in memoriam of his high school.

#161 Beach Cake

June 8th, 2013
Beach Cake

This cake was for a baby shower, and was way fun to make. I made sure to include a sand castle with a moat, because... you know that is the first thing we all do at the beach!

The challenge for this cake was making sure my kids didn't eat it!!! The next day, we had oatmeal for breakfast and I used some leftover blue to make 'waves' on the side of their bowl, and pink for a starfish on their oatmeal beach.

#160 Helper Birthday Cake

June 6th, 2013
Helper Birthday Cake

I helped my friend with this cake - she brought me the supplies and I just carved it and threw it together. I loved how she had stickers and things for everything her son loved, from earning his Eagle Scout award to appreciating guitar.

#159 Sunflower Cake

May 25th, 2013
Sunflower Cake

Don't tell me you didn't see it coming after those cupcakes! I wanted to see what would happen if I maximized the scale of the flower...

This was a yellow cake, injected with raspberry filling and covered in vanilla buttercream.

#158 Sunny Flower Cupcakes

May 23rd, 2013
Sunny Flower Cupcakes

Because summer is fast approaching, and these are just what the doctor ordered!

I made these for a Relief Society activity. They were yellow cake, with a raspberry filling, topped with vanilla buttercream.

#157 The Because I Love You Cake

May 9th, 2013
The "Because I Love You" Cake

Too often, cakes come and go in our house, and my kids always notice when it isn't for them. (Can you blame them?) ☺

So now and then when they really want to try one I've made, I make a second one.

This had a little bit of nerd frosting, but not too much. The cake was chocolate, with a chocolate mousse filling.

In our home, whenever we do cake - any cake - we always light the candles over and over until we've used them up, and sing a song every time - any song! - until we've sillied ourselves out. That's what cake is for, right? ☺

#156 Teacher Appreciation Cake

May 7th, 2013
Teacher Appreciation Cake

For teacher appreciation week, we made a cake for my daughter's preschool teacher. It was her first year ever in school, and we hit the LOTTERY with Miss G! She helped Eleanor to grow so much, so fast - and Eleanor loved her so much.

Eleanor wanted the cake to have 'nerds frosting' - so we did just that. Miss G told me that everyone loved the nerdy frosting :)

#155 Baby Kay's Elmo Birthday Cake

March 24th, 2013
Baby Kay's Elmo Birthday Cake

I made this for my friend's daughter for her second birthday. She is the cutest, sweetest kid! And super spoiled - as she should be!!! She was a long-awaited arrival!!

Kay is totally in love with Elmo, so I wanted to make sure to make her the very best "mo mo" cake I could! The picture of her with the cake? She made that face JUST as I told her "the whole inside of this cake is chocolate!!!"... 100% girl! :)

#154 Ballet Petit Fours

March 15th, 2013
Ballet Petit Fours

This was only my second attempt ever at making petit fours, and I felt betrayed by the recipe I used for the frosting! I will probably re-attempt these in the future... with a much better recipe.

I made these for a friend, who says that they were a big hit! :)

The most time-consuming was putting the little dragees in the middle of each flower, with tweezers... but alas, I do so live for the details.

# 153 Eleanor's Valentine Cake

February 12th, 2013
Eleanor's Valentine Cake

My daughter had the biggest crush on Elder Wagner, an Elder (missionary) who would come teach us and have dinner with us with his companion when we lived in our old apartment.... and he came back to Chicagoland to visit! Eleanor was over the moon.... and it was also appropriately close to Valentine's Day, so I made a cake for the occasion. Lucky Eleanor... Elder Wagner asked her to be his Valentine! :o)

# 152 Valentine Cake

February 12th, 2013
Valentine Cake

I made this cake for some sister missionaries in our ward. It was funfetti cake, with vanilla buttercream.

# 151 Green Lantern Birthday Cake

January 9th, 2013
Green Lantern Birthday Cake

This was my son's 7th birthday cake. He's really into the "Super Friends" (we're talking the old cartoon from the 70's) and one of his favorite characters is the Green Lantern.

His cake was chocolate (he's a chocoholic too ☺) with vanilla buttercream.

And... I know it's not cake, but I also made him an Iron Man pizza!

# 150 Snowflake Monster Cupcakes

December 16th, 2012
Snowflake Monster Cupcakes

Because, why not! Cookies and cream, vanilla buttercream. Rice paper snowflakes.

# 149 Jack Daniels Birthday Cake

December 15th, 2012
Jack Daniels Birthday Cake

This cake was cookies and cream, covered in vanilla buttercream.

# 148 Penguin Cupcakes

November 16th, 2012
Penguin Cupcakes

These fun little birthday cupcakes were for a friend of mine, for her daughter. Rumor has it she likes penguins! Later, I found out she just loved them! I admit, these cute little guys do melt my heart a little.