Nightmare Before Christmas!

When I'm not working, caking, shopping, eating or sleeping, you can PROBABLY find me watching a movie, and most often, a SCARY movie!! I absolutely LOOOOVE scary movies and it's hard finding people who are willing to watch with me! I only have a handful of friends who are brave enough to sit through an entire horror flick.

For months now (pretty much since Halloween!) I've been trying to get together with those select friends for an evening of scary movie watching and it just so happens that it finally came to fruition on Christmas Eve! So I decided to mesh the two holidays together and host a "Nightmare Before Christmas" themed soiree! We would take part in delicious Christmas treats while watching a very scary movie!

Even though it's not a cake per se, I thought I'd share the fun spread I made for my friends!



There was a yummy cheese platter (wasn't out yet when I took this picture!), hors d'oeuvres (still in the oven!), homemade eggnog (chilling in the fridge, but SO good!) and now for the sweet treats:



There were snowmen, Christmas trees, candy canes and snowflakes on top of more yummy red velvet/white choco cream cheese cuppies!



Faux gingerbread people cookies! (Acually just vanilla sugar cookies decorated like gingerbread!)



The most yummiest homemade peppermint bark!

And of course, to throw a little horror into the mix:



Some witch finger sugar cookies lying in cotton candy snow!

Everything was so delicious and my friends got such a kick out of all of my treats!

Unfortunately though, the movie my friend picked was a bit of a bust!

Next time, I'LL pick the movie!

Holiday Cuppies!

Since it's the holiday season, I decided to make some festive cupcakes for my fave sales team at my go-to jewelry store!

Because they sell jewelry, I went all out with the bling!







They absolutely loved their holiday surprise! Not only were they adorable, but they were also DELICIOUS! (Red velvet with white choco cream cheese frosting...YUM!)

Just a small (and yummy) gesture to say thanks and happy holidays! :)

Hello Kitty Cake!

When my friend Meredith asked me to make a cake for her niece's first Birthday, I was so excited! ESPECIALLY when she told me she wanted a Hello Kitty cake! After the fun I had with the Hello Kitty cupcakes, I couldn't wait to get started on what was sure to be a super adorable cake! And it definitely was!

Here it is!





The only instructions I got from Meredith were that she wanted a purple cake with Hello Kitty's precious face on top. Once I covered those bases, I decided to add a little pizzaz by adding a different shade of purple for the bead border, and pink flowers around the side of the cake!

Meredith (and I!) loooved the cake! It couldn't have turned out any better! :)

Bridal Shower Cake

My mom's friend's daughter got engaged this past February and while planning her bridal shower luncheon, they knew that the celebration would not be complete without a fabulous custom cake by Me!

The shower was this past weekend and I had been planning this cake out for a while now so I was so excited to finally get to make it for real!

Here it is!









I absolutely LOVED this cake! As did the bride-to-be and all those who attended the luncheon! The woman serving the cake refused to cut into the dress part, even when people asked for a piece!

What a fun cake, and in the end, a fun week too! :)

Birthday Cake!

This past week was a busy one for me! I've been swamped at work (when I'm not caking or blogging, I actually work full time as a pastry "chef" at a caterer and we're fast approaching a busy season!), I taught that awesome decorating course, I had a cake order and on top of that it was my grandmother's Birthday! And that, of course, means another cake!

A few months ago I got super inspired and sketched out pages and pages of beautiful cake designs. The problem? I've had no time to try them out since being crazy busy at work (not to mention being exhausted!). This was the perfect opportunity to finally bring one of those ideas on paper into fruition!

Here it is!









I had so much fun making the sparkling (and edible!) gem detail for the bow! It turned out perfectly.

If only I had more time (or energy) to try out all my design ideas!

Decorating Crash Course!

Last week, I was asked by a friend of a friend to teach a mini decorating course for a Bachelorette party! What a cute and fun idea!! I just couldn't say no to that!

The bride-to-be requested a very tame and relaxing evening so her friends thought it would be fun to get a quick lesson in decorating cupcakes and cookies!

We all had a blast! I taught them how to make roses, tulips, bows and some other cute decorations and I must say, I was quite impressed with their skills!

Here are some of their beautiful results!









And here was my demo flower and sugar cookie, not quite as beautiful, creative or colourful as my students' creations!



It was definitely a learning experience for all of us - I gave them a lesson in decorating with fondant and gum paste, and they gave me awesome decorating ideas! Who'd have thought you could have so much fun with sugar cookies? :)

What a fun night!!

Beatles Birthday Cake!

Once again, my dad's Birthday rolled around but this time, I knew exactly what I wanted to do for his special cake!

I've already made motorcycle, barbecue and magic themed creations for his Birthdays and Father's Day. This time, I would tackle another one of my dad's interests - The Beatles!

Here was his Yellow Submarine Birthday cake!







He absolutely loved his Beatles cake! Not to mention it was cookies'n'cream cake with cookies'n'cream frosting! YUM!

I'm slowly running out of ideas now that I've made 4 special (cup)cake designs! It's a good thing Birthdays only come once a year! :P

Engagement Sugar Cookies!

I can't even tell you how long I've been waiting for the opportunity to branch out into sugar cookies!!

When my mom's friend's niece got engaged (hard to follow, I know!), she wanted to send something sweet to the newly engaged couple to help celebrate such a special occasion! She wasn't sure what exactly she wanted to send, so that's when I seized the opportunity and suggested sugar cookies! Once she gave me the green light, I went crazy with ideas!

Here's the final product!





I had SO much fun putting these adorable cookies together, especially all of the little details (the best part!)!

My mom's friend absolutely loved them when she saw them, and I'm sure the happy couple did too!

Finally, a time for sugar cookies!! :)

Pretty, Pretty Cuppies!

I was asked to make some cupcakes in honour of TWO 50th Birthdays - a husband and a wife!

Such a special occasion calls for equally special cupcakes!

Here they are!







These batch of beauties became an instant fave of mine! Classy and understated - perfect for any special celebration!

Hello Kitty Cupcakes!

When I was asked to make Hello Kitty cupcakes for a little girl's 5th Birthday, I was both excited and nervous! I can't tell you how long I've been waiting for a Hello Kitty order to come along, but at the same time, her little precious face is so simple, yet so easy to mess up! If her features aren't just right, she will NOT be Hello Kitty anymore!!

Here's my rendition of HK in cupcake form!







Silver lined cupcakes topped with light pink frosting, sprinkled with bright pink sugar and topped with Hello Kitty faces made the perfect sweet treat for a little girls' big day!

I was so happy that the faces turned out well and I was even happier with how adorable these cupcakes looked once they were all put together!

Another cake success! :)

Scrabble Cake and Boxers Cake!

When a Scrabble fanatic sells boxers for a living, THESE are the cakes he receives in honour of his Birthday!





Both cakes were a blast to make, although you can imagine how time consuming the Scrabble cake was!

All in all, there's no better (or funnier!) way to celebrate a boxer-selling-Scrabble-addict's birthday!!

Purple Stripes and Flower Cake!

Lately I've been super busy at work and so I haven't really had time for any cake orders.

With my boyfriend's grandmother's Birthday coming up, I knew I wanted to get back into the swing of things and make something beautiful for their family to enjoy on the special day!

Here it is!





I covered the cake in white fondant and instead of cutting out purple stripes, I indented the stripes onto the actual fondant (with horizontal stripes IN the stripes!), and brushed them with purple powder. I topped the cake off with a beautiful matching purple flower, and finished it with a gold rope and bow!

Everyone loved the cake!! Besides looking good, the cake also tasted good! Chocolate cake with cookies 'n' cream frosting - what's NOT to love??

Neuro Cupcakes: Ante Up!

After the success of the neurology cupcakes I made for my boyfriend and his friends, the word just doesn't stop spreading about these delish little treats!

Another doctor in the hospital asked me to make a dozen cupcakes for her husband, who happens to be a neurosurgeon! So I took the initial neuro cupcakes and upped the ante by adding brains and the surgical necessities - scrubs and a mask!

Here they are!



These adorable and scrumptious cuppies were such a hit! Well really, what's not to love??

...well I guess eating a brain...

70's Stoner Cake!

This next cake was definitely an interesting one...

I was asked to make a marijuana/joint themed cake! At first I was taken aback, but after some thought, I was up for a quirky challenge such as this one!

The result was this hippie-esque cake:







From hints of tie-dye to 70's-inspired happy faces and peace signs, this cake was fit for any ganja queen!

And just to let you know, the decorations on top are NOT telling of the ingredients used to make this cake! (Red Velvet all the way!!)

Baptism Cupcakes!

I made these adorable teddy bear and initial cupcakes for a baby boy's baptism!







The silver teddy bears and gold initials looked great with the dusted blue plaques!

The perfect delicious treat to help celebrate such a special occasion! :)

Workout Cake!

When I was asked to make a workout cake, I knew exactly what to do! Since I made a workout cake last summer, I knew right away what this cake needed to look like!

Here it is!








Everyone, including the birthday boy, looooved the cake!! It was the perfect treat for a special celebration!

Knitting Cupcakes!

After the success of the knitting cake and cupcakes at the yarn store's anniversary party, one of their customers wanted a new set of knitting cuppies to share with her friends at a knitting get together!

Here they are!







The ladies looooved the cupcakes!! Really, what's not to love?!

The perfect addition to any knitting party!