Ladybug Cake

How cute is this cake!?!?!?!

Michelle and I made this for my daughter Khloe's 1st birthday last weekend.

Let me tell that one wasn't timed so nicely!!-lol

A birthday on the 1st and then getting ready for the 4th was kinda nuts!

We went through alot of Wilton's food dye to get the colors we needed.

I made 2 recipes of One Bowl Chocolate Cake III and used 3 8 inch round cake pans-for the body, and 2 4 inch round ramekins-for the head.

We went with cookies and cream filling-sooo yummy!

Couldn't resist putting this one on;)

The whole party was Ladybug themed-very fun and cute, if I do say so myself!!

Here's a shot of Khloe with her cake:)

This cake was so fun to see come together because of course we were just winging it-we didn't really research how to cut it or have a pattern to go by.

All in all it turned out like a ladybug!:)

Thanks for stopping by!!

Printable for Chocolate Cake

Printable for Fondant

Printable for Filling

Fun-Fetti Grenade Cake Pops

What a Blast these were to make!!

These were a figment of the hubby's imagination for our all boy-little man Kam's birthday.

Funfetti was the cake flavor of choice from the birthday boy:)

Is it weird to have a funfetti grenade?!?!

I think it sums up Kam very well!!

We decided to make a special white one for him.

~

Ingredient List:

funfetti cake mix

frosting

fondant

dipping chocolate

wooden sticks or dowels

First off we made these little caps for the top of the grenade.

We were kinda just winging it with the fondant parts;)

We then made curved levers

These little squares really made the white one look like a real grenade!

Had we had a bit more time we definetly would have made some for the colored ones as well.

Shape them into somewhat the shape you want them to be-although the caps and levers are very forgiving if your shape is off.

Dip the stick in the chocolate first then press into the pop.

Once we dipped the white one we added sprinkles.

add a small drop of the chocolate to the fondant square and place on the side of the grenade.

Voila!!

A "pretty" grenade!!

We didn't dip these ones, just kinda spread the chocolate on so they looked really rustic.

These were a ton of fun and were a hit among all the kids but especially the boys:)

Printable Frosting Recipe

Printable Recipe

Wedding Cake

Our first wedding cake!!

Whew!

Another thing under our belt! :)

Holly and I spent a lot of time planning, practicing and preparing

for this one, because you only get one shot at getting it right.

And we all know the cake is one of the important focal points of any wedding:)

It was a lot of work but very exciting to see it all come together.

The cake is covered with homemade fondant and decorated with a floral

lace pattern.

Very elegant and simple wedding topper!

The bride requested chocolate cake with peanut butter filling.

What a smart girl!!!;)

Suuuuuper delish!!

We also made all of the flowers out

of the fondant!

We tried gum paste flowers but the fondant was way prettier

and more elegant!

Congratulations Nate and Carrie!!

The Fastest Birthday Cake Ever!

Race Car Cake!!!

My son Max requested a race car shaped cake for his 4th birthday,

so Michelle and I... eagerly..hehee decided to give it a go;)

It was a white cake with cheesecake flavoring and strawberry filling.

This is how it went...

We started out with 2-13x9 inch cakes stacked with a layer of filling.

In hindsight I would have used a 4 layer cake;

this allows for more simplified shaping.

We cut off the back first and frosted a spot for the top of the car.

Then we cut off the front and placed it on top.

While we were shaping the cake we were really questioning the end result.

Then we did a base layer of frosting.

Tinted our fondant the requested color:)

Lay it over, smooth it out and cut away the excess.

Detailing the car,

using our mad piping skills, our creative genius and our ever helpful husbands, this race car is ready for the track!!

The end result!

VAROOOM!

We are getting better with our timing though-we only worked on this one 'til 4 am...the Princess cake however took us 'til 5 am;)

The birthday boy was very impressed with his cake and that is all that really matters:)

Princess Cake with Marshmallow Fondant

My niece had her golden birthday, the theme being a Princess Ball at the beginning of October and I was asked to make her a princess cake. So of course I said "oh I can totally do that!" and immediately asked Michelle if she wanted to help:)

It called for us to use fondant-which neither of us has ever worked with let alone made!

Yikes...thankfully while we were in Jo-Ann Fabrics a lady in the aisle advised us NOT to buy, but to make it. She gave us a bunch of tips that really helped us out-Thank You fondant lady from the Jo-Ann Fabrics aisle;)

So here she is!!

She also wanted to have some cupcakes for the other princesses.

So here is a little breakdown of how we made the fondant.

 I'm using "we" rather loosely cuz Michelle basically did that part herself!;)

We got our basic instructions from this blog.

You will need these 4 ingredients:

1 2lb bag powdered sugar

1 large mini marshmallows

shortening

2 to 4 T. water

She says use only name brand of the above ingredients but we made a mistake and all we had left was some store brand powdered sugar. That batch turned out awesome...so I'm not totally convinced of the name brand thing!

First you put down a generous layer of shortening.

Sift 1 2lb bag of powdered sugar into a mound and make a well in it.

Place marshmallows in a large bowl.

Microwave for 2 1/2 to 3 mins-watch it carefully-we had a run over!

Cover your hands well with shortening!

Pour melted marshmallows into the well.

Start folding the powdered sugar.

Folding, folding, folding...

Now its starting to take shape.

Almost there.

Next, roll it out to 1/4 inch thickness.

Roll onto rolling pin in order to make laying it over the cake easier.

Then lay it out evenly over prepared cake.

Smooth it out to the cake's shape, careful not to get wrinkles.

Detail work on our princess cake: Diamond pattern using a ruler for straight edge and sharp knife. At each point we added a edible pearl.

We made large fondant pearls for borders on each tier.

We added some sprinkles and a crown to top off this pretty "little" princess

cake!

The birthday girl requested chocolate and strawberry as the flavors.

Ta DA!

Here is the cake all set up at the ball:)

Printable Recipe

~ {Part Two} ~

Well let's chalk it up to experience:) Since it was their last year in business O'Brady's had a record turn out! It was soo busy and very festive-all the employees dress up sportin' green;)

Below is the stuff I used for decorating the cupcakes: Green flaky sprinkles, gold pearl dust, tiny heart cut-out, letter cut-outs, and fondant. Everything except the letters came from Michaels, the letters I got from Wal*mart. I didn't end up using the gold coins-they just didn't look quite right. Fondant is actually not nearly as hard as I thought it was. I can't wait to use it again:)

I used the tiny hearts to make the shamrocks.

Green velvet cake-so good, and another first for me:)

O'Brady's is on an intersection where the county decided to put in a big 4 lane Hi-way therefore causing O'Brady's to close:(

Some more fondant:)

Green ice cream!!

Some of the window art.

Face painting! They had some awesome face painters:)

As promised O'Brady's Potato Soup

1 lg.can {or 4 small cans} potato soup

5 c. half and half

1-1/2 c. potatoes diced

1 c. chopped onion

1/2 c. chopped bacon or more if ya like;)

salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in a large pot til nice and hot:) The longer you leave it the thicker it gets.

Top with cheddar cheese and more bacon if desired.

Hope y'all had a fun St. Patrick's Day!

Enjoy!

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