Adventures in Cake

Lately I've been spending a lot of time working with cake.  I really like working with cake. It smells yummy, it tastes great and it looks pretty. Cake also makes people happy.  What's not to like?

This cake was for Crystal's birthday (as if I needed to tell you that...).  Chocolate cake, two layers, with buttercream frosting. By the time we got to dinner the heat and humidity had made the frosting a little droopy, but it still tasted great!

This is the first wedding cake that I ever made.  It was for my dear friend Bethany and her wonderful husband Carlos.  There was some drama involved in the process, but overall I think it turned out pretty well.

This beautiful black and white photo was taken by one of Bethany's friends, Hannah.

I can hardly stand the cuteness of this penguin!  I just handed this little cake off to its intended.  She was happy and I hope the mommy-to-be likes it.

There will be more to come!

Well, I guess I have once again failed at posting more regularly...I am still trying to get the hang of this "blog thing"

I decided I wanted to make something cute for our family dinner on Easter, so I went with a good, classic creation. Little peanut butter, butterscotch nests with chocolate eggs. I think they're pretty adorable. :)


During the early spring months I got a little into crocheting. I made a few different things, but one of the neatest looking was this cat toy. My friend Melissa tells me that her cats like it better when it is not hanging on the door.



In June my dad had an Open House at his shop. I made cupcakes for the occasion. The colored pieces on top are mint chocolates. They met rave reviews, but I didn't get a picture of the display...



My cousin's daughter turned two in June and I collaborated with my sister, brother and Grandmother to make the cake. It was fun to make a cake with the three of them and the birthday girl loved the cake. It tasted pretty good, too, if I do say so myself. ;)

I've been away for a while...

I just realized yesterday that I haven't posted to the blog in about a year...I guess I might not be cut out for blogging. Anyway, I have been making a few things since I last posted. Here are a few of the those things:

I made this business card holder when I visited my sister in Fayetteville, NC. There is the cutest pottery painting shop in their historic downtown.

Emily made a ring holder.

Emily's friend Katie made a soap pump as a present for her mom. Emily made other things at this shop during her stay in NC. She's a talented painter!

I decided I would dress up for Halloween in 2009. I didn't know what I wanted to "be", but I knew I didn't want to wear one of the "I'm not wearing anything" costumes. I ran across one of my vintage patterns and an apron that my grandmother had made and my costume was decided. I was a 1950's housewife. All I needed was a fresh-baked something to take out with us...

Anne Marie had most of her costume already, but she wanted a headpiece to go with it. I made the headpiece and veil from a pattern. I think it goes well with her dress!

In January we hosted a shower for Barbara, one of my co-workers. I made the giraffe cake, cupcakes and mints for the shower.

As part of her gift I made a diaper cake. The little koala on top was SO soft! I almost kept him for myself...I have more pictures to post, but I am running out of time. I will try to get back to posting in the next couple days.

Projects Past - Part 2

This table is from my brother's high school graduation last year. It's not a very close picture, but you can sort of see the cakes. My sisters and I made those with my grandmother. They were a hit.

This is my first attempt at a diaper cake. I made this as the centerpiece at my cousin's baby shower/ open house.

Projects Past - Part 1

Since this is going to be a blog about my adventures in the world of crafts, I want to show off some of the things that I've made in the past. I will most likely do this in spurts since most of the things I have made have been given to other people. Whenever I can get around those things and take pictures I will try to add them to "Projects Past".

Thie picture above is my Halloween costume from a few years ago. I decided that I wanted to be Magenta from Rocky Horror Picture Show, so I went to work trying to find pieces to the outfit. I purchased the shirt dress and the wig. I made the "hat" and the apron and I wore boots that I already had. I think it looks pretty good for a costume that cost less than $50. The costume next to me is homemade as well, but you don't want to know what it actually is...

The picture able is of my first attempt at writing in frosting. I had a little bit of trouble with the early part of "Congratulations", but I finally got the hang of it. It isn't the most beautiful cake ever, but my boss loved it at her retirement party. I plan on practicing a lot before the next time I try to do something like this.

This is a quilt that I made for my little sister for her High School graduation. (Or at least that was the plan...) I finally got it to her at the beginning of her junior year of college, but I did get it finished. Since she had so many t-shirts I decided not to use any sashing and just sew the blocks together. This is only the second quilt that I have made, so I don't think it looks too bad.

I made this cake with my mom at Easter time. The little lamb never quite got a face or the rest of his coconut fur. He was eaten before that could happen. Overall, I was just happy that the ears and the head stayed on.

This post just gives an overview of some of the things I have done and hopefully I will be able to share a little more soon.

My latest obsession

Since I have actually finished my Master's project (finally!) I have had a little more time to be creative. One of my co-workers introduced me to a blog, bakerella.blogspot.com, and she was making the cutest things. I decided that I wanted to make my own version of her creations. Since graduation was right around the corner, I decided to run with that theme. I took a couple of the ideas she gave on the blog and made them in to these...

I think that they turned out pretty well for a first attempt. I gave them to the other History grads and they seemed to think they were cute. I tried out a few of the more deformed ones on my RAs and the taste got good reviews, too. All in all, I think the first try was a success. Hopefully my skills will be come more refined with a little more practice.

Be sure to check out http://www.bakerella.blogspot.com/ to see all of the cute ideas that she has. They're adorable!