African Cake!

After being asked to make an African themed cake, I immediately had a bunch of different ideas floating around in my head. Before committing to one, I decided to do what I usually do when I'm unsure of which idea I should use for a cake; I Googled!

There were so many different African themed cakes! Some had animal print, some had animals, others were even in the SHAPE of Africa! With only a few days to get the cake done, it was only logical to scratch the mini-African-animals idea, it would be too much of a meticulous and time consuming job for the amount of time I actually had to work on the cake. So instead, I went the animal print route and here's how it came out!











Every angle of the cake is different so I thought I'd share a few more pictures of the cake than usual!

Instead of going with just one print, I decided to split the cake up into zebra and giraffe prints. Around the cake I put some huts and piped grass to really emphasize the African theme (as opposed to just animals!).

This Africa-inspired cake has quickly become one of my favourites!

Habs Puck Cake!

With my friend Diana's birthday coming up, I knew it had to be hockey themed (of course)! Instead of doing the usual giant Habs logo cake, I thought I'd get more creative and make a Habs hockey puck instead! It was definitely a nice change from the usual!



Though you can't really tell from this picture, I covered the cake board in white fondant and brushed it with some pearl dust to give it a little shimmer, like ice. Instead of making the usual happy birthday tag, I decided to write it out on a wooden hockey stick accompanying the puck, to complete the whole ice hockey theme.

Diana was so surprised! I had told her that I'd make her a special birthday treat for this Saturday instead of for her actual birthday because I inconveniently had an exam today (and her birthday was yesterday)! But I really did have the cake ready for her actual birthday!

Needless to say, she loved it!!!

Finally, NOT a Habs Cake!

When my friend Emily asked me to make her mom's birthday cake, I immediately jumped at the opportunity to make NOT a Habs cake!

Emily sent me a bunch of pictures of adorable and pretty cakes with stripes, polka dots and all that other fun stuff to give me an idea of what she wanted for her mom's cake.

This is what I came up with!



About half an hour after I dropped the cake off at their house, I got a call from the birthday girl herself raving about her cake!

That pretty much made my day! :)

Happy Birthday Lisa!!!

A Special Shoutout!!

So in case you haven't noticed, I will restate that for the past couple of months, my family and friends have truly been amazing when it comes to my cakes! They've been encouraging me, supporting me and motivating me every step of the way and I cannot begin to thank them enough in a way that would truly show them how appreciative I actually am (besides making them specialty cakes, of course!).

The last Habs cake I made was for my friend Diana's father. Not only is her dad a huge Habs fan, but Diana is as well (who are we kidding, we're in Montreal, who ISN'T a huge Habs fan???). Diana is actually suuuuuuch a huge Habs/sports fan that she is currently interning at Team 990 - Montreal's Sports Authority - everything sports in one convenient radio station! Since the Habs cake I made for her dad was pretty huge and only meant to be for 3 people, Diana took the leftovers (she and her family conveniently ate around the Habs logo!) to the station to share it with everyone.

By the time everyone at the station had tasted the cake, I was in the car with my mom on my way home from school chatting away with the radio on in the background when suddenly, I hear my name! It was coming from the radio! It was Diana, on air, talking about me and my cakes!! My mom pulled the car over in excitement and we sat and listened intently to Diana explain how I'm a university student but started "Cakes by Jess" in my spare time. My mom and I were SOOOOO excited that the rest of it is kind of a blur!

Now when I say that my family and friends have truly been supporting me every step of the way, you get a crystal clear picture of just how amazing they've actually been! Thanks to Diana and her faith in my cakes, I got my first 15 minutes (...or more like, 40 seconds) of on-air radio fame!

Thanks soooooooooooo much Diana and Mitch Melnick!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Now THAT deserves a special cake!

Habs, Habs, Habs!

So once again, I was summoned to make yet another Habs cake! For whom, you might ask? A friends dad of course!



After making the 2 previous Habs cakes and experiencing the dozens of logo failures that accompanied each, I am pleased to say that this was the first Habs cake I made that didn't make me want to completely pull my hair out!

Since the Birthday boy and his brother were born a day apart, I was also asked to make a dozen cupcakes for another mini event to help celebrate both birthdays.



Knowing that I couldn't possibly create a dozen mini Habs logos for each individual cupcake, I made two instead, one for each of the Birthday boys, and the rest I simply piped with the Habs colours to keep with the hockey theme.

Everyone loved both the cupcakes and cake! I used an AMAZING chocolate cake recipe given to me by the Birthday boy's wife/my friends mom! It's definitely a recipe that I will be using for a long time!

Thanks Judy! :)

A Cake Fit For A Fashionista

One of my most recent cake requests was definitely the biggest and one of the most challenging requests I've received thus far.

This cake was to be for a fashionista! After looking at a bunch of pictures of the kinds of dresses she was into, I immediately began incorporating elements of each one so that I could come up with her dream dress and turn it into a cake!



After lots of planning, baking, carving, covering and painting, I had a cake that was hand tailored for a true fashionista!

A Sweet Treat For A Talented Friend!

One of my friends is a great artist! Not only does she paint some of the most amazing pieces of art, but she too has been decorating cakes!

Even though she was very against making her birthday a big deal, I knew I still wanted to do SOMETHING to help her celebrate her special day.


I decided to make these cute little cupcakes to finish off her small birthday dinner with some friends!

Sweet and simple, these cupcakes were perfect for the occasion!

Sad Panda :(

Everyone I know has been doing such a great job at showing off my cakey creations that I started getting requests from people I don't even know!

One request that I still don't completely understand was for a panda cake, no wait, a SAD panda cake.

Even though I didn't really understand the reasoning behind a sad panda cake, I went along with it anyway!


The result? A Sad Panda.

Very, Very Ugly

If you've ever seen an Ugly Doll then you know just how cute they are!



Contrary to their name, Ugly Dolls are actually adorable little creatures with plenty of personality! I decided to surprise my friends with these fun little Ugly Doll cupcakes!


Shortly after showcasing the Ugly Doll cupcakes, I got a request for even MORE Ugly Doll cupcakes.

Ugly Dolls - capturing the hearts of millions, one cupcake at a time!

New Years Celebration

A family friend approached me to make a New Years cake to help them celebrate and usher in the new year. I was so excited to make such a festive and celebratory cake! When I asked what they had in mind, however, they pretty much told me they were leaving it up to me.

I had a blank canvas, soooo many options but not a single idea!

After LOTS of brainstorming with my mom, I got started on this New Years cake.


I started with no ideas at all and the end result was a fun and truly celebratory New Years cake!

A Sneaky Surprise For My Biggest Fans!

Since I've started my cake decorating adventure, my parents have been AMAZING! (Not that they weren't amazing before!)

Whether it's driving me around to get supplies or drop off deliveries, or even paying up when necessary, my parents have been there for me and my cakes every step of the way!

With their anniversary fast approaching, I knew I had to do something special for them.

How can I surprise them when I live with them?? It was virtually impossible for me to hide a special cake surprise for their anniversary without them knowing.

Luckily for me, their anniversary fell on a Monday, a day that I don't have school. I woke up to an empty house (both my parents were at work) and I immediately began working on their secret anniversary cupcake surprise!

I worked as fast as I could to not only get the cupcakes finished, but to get the kitchen cleaned up so my parents wouldn't suspect anything! I was so worried that my mom would find a speck of flour or smell fondant in the air and that it would ruin the surprise. Once they were finished, I hid the cupcakes in my room so my mom wouldn't find them while I was at work that evening.

When I got home from work that night, my mom was on the phone, joking to my uncle that she and my dad weren't "special" enough to receive a custom cake by Jess! So far, my plan was working!


Later on when my dad got home from work, I gathered my parents together and made them close their eyes. When they opened their eyes they saw the sneaky anniversary cupcakes I worked so hard to hide! They couldn't believe I snuck those cupcakes past them!

The cupcakes were so delicious, they even made up for me not getting my parents a card!

Spicy Salmon, Anyone?

After the success of my very first (sushi!) cake, I got an order from a friend to make another sushi cake. I was so excited to get started on it! It felt great to recreate the same first cake that made me realize how passionate I truly am, not only about baking, but about decorating specialty cakes.


This time, with a little more experience and expertise under my belt, I got to work!

The result? A Japanese Masterpiece!

From Russia With Love

After having made a few cakes, I knew that I would be in charge of my Grandmother's birthday cake! Again, the trouble began with the question of what kind of cake to make. My mom and I went back and forth between ideas when my mom came up with the perfect cake. You see, my grandmother is from Russia, so what better way to celebrate her Birthday than to bring her back to the Old Country with a cake full of traditional Russian dolls!


I immediately got to work as I just knew that this would be one of the most demanding cakes I had made. With actual wooden Russian dolls as my muse, I began my journey to my Grandmother's homeland.


After days of meticulous sculpting, covering, and painting, I knew that I had a cake that would really blow my Grandmother away. My goal was a truly colourful cake that would bring my Grandmother right back to Russia! She couldn't believe that the dolls were not real!

I was so happy that the dolls passed my Grandmother's professional Russian inspection. If SHE couldn't tell they weren't real, who could?!?!

A Very Special Remembrance Day

My boyfriend is VERY lucky.

It's physically impossible for him to forget our anniversary. Besides my constant nagging and reminding, our anniversary, oddly enough, falls on November 11th, Remembrance Day.

This past Remembrance Day was our four year anniversary so I decided to do something special, something DELICIOUS and something meaningful.


This was the Poppy cake I made him for our anniversary. At first glance, it resembles a poppy. Upon closer inspection, however, you will notice that the poppy is made up of four separate mini heart cakes, each one representing a year that we've been together.

My anniversary poppy cake proved to be a truly yummy way to help celebrate our special day!

Curling Cupcakes!

My mom is really proving to be one of the greatest Cakes by Jess promoters! While at home one night, I got a call from a woman who works with my mom concerning a last minute request for curling cupcakes! Always up for a challenge, I got started right away.



I have to admit, I know absolutely nothing about curling. I'm not even sure what the technical name is for the decorations I made for the cupcakes!

Curling, anyone?

Sports Cakes Galore!

Since I've started this cake decorating journey, my family and friends have been my greatest supporters, motivators and not to mention promoters!

After some of my friends and family started showing around my cake creations, I started getting cake requests! Many of them, so far, have been sports themed!



My mom showed everyone at work the cakes that I had made and before long, one of the volunteers at her work asked if I could make a basketball cake for her daughters birthday. So I did!


Living in Montreal, I knew I'd get requests for hockey cakes and I sure did! This was a cake I made for my friend's dad's birthday. It's only the beginning of my Habs cake orders!


I have lots of friends with lots of sport-enthusiast fathers! This was a cake I made for a friends tennis-loving dad. Their family is proving to be my best set of customers yet! :)


Did I mention everyone here loves the Habs? This is the second Habs cake I made for my friends brother (the one with the tennis-loving dad!). We thought we'd go with a different design than the first Habs cake I made, something with a little more colour!

Though decorating cakes has quickly become my greatest passion, I'm slowly starting to resent the Habs logo, but don't let that stop you from requesting a Habs cake!

Breast Cancer Awareness

Every year in October, my friend's sorority organizes an evening of food prepared by the sisters to raise money for breast cancer. Some of the most amazing women in my life have been affected by breast cancer so I am always sure to help out with this great event and cause. Though sometimes I'm not able to personally attend the event, I subsitute my presence with some food!


This past October, I decided to swap my usual chocolate chip cookies with these breast cancer ribbon cupcakes.

If my baking can be not just a yummy treat, but a way to help bring awareness to breast cancer (or any other important cause), I'm in!

A Very Special Birthday

Right after I finished my very first sushi cake, I couldn't wait to get started on my next creation! With only 2 weeks to my dad's birthday, I knew I had to get to work fast to make him a truly special cake. The only problem I had was deciding on what kind of cake to make for a man with so many interests. From hockey and football to The Beatles and cooking, my dad is a multifaceted individual to say the least! After Googling some of his favourite things, I instantly knew what kind of cake I wanted to - no, HAD to - make my dad; a motorcycle cake, or rather, my-dad-on-a-motorcycle-cake.


Since he was a teenager my dad has always loved motorcycles, and having recently sold his, I knew it was the perfect way to commemorate his love for the open road, and I was up for the challenge!


After hours of sculpting and colouring and covering things in fondant, I had a cake that I KNEW would surprise my dad, a cake that he'd always remember!


He was SHOCKED!


This cake was more than just another picture to add to my portfolio. It was a cake that my whole family and I could be proud of and would remember forever!

Doing What I Love

I’ve always known that I wanted to work with food. Ever since I was young, I’ve loved being in the kitchen; whether eating a family dinner, or baking cookies, when I was in the kitchen, I knew that it was the one room that made a house a home. After realizing this, who wouldn’t want to make a career out of spending their days in the heart of a home?

For as long as I can remember, I’ve found so much joy in baking (and eating!) everything from chocolate chip cookies to cheesecake brownies, from lemon cake and banana bread to chocolate malt cupcakes. I knew that my future career lay with baking. From grandma’s classics to dainty delights, I want my baking to help bring people together, whether just for dessert or a big celebration, and most importantly, I want my baking to help people create memories.

Recently, however, I’ve taken my baking to a different level. Instead of simply baking delicious cakes to help celebrate people’s special days, I decided to try my hand at the art that I ultimately want to make into my profession: cake decorating. What better way to show someone you care than to make their favourite cake decorated as something that means so much to them? It’s something that they will always remember.


This is the first cake that I made and decorated with fondant. It was my boyfriend’s father’s birthday and I wanted to do something different and special. Their family LOVES sushi so I figured a special sushi cake would be the perfect way to celebrate. I snuck the cake into the dining room and ushered the family in. They stood there staring at the cake in confusion; they didn’t understand why there was sushi on the table after they had just finished eating sushi for dinner. Once they realized that it was a cake and not leftovers from dinner, they loved it! With this sushi cake, I started my ever growing portfolio of cakes that I’ve made for the people I care most about.

"Cakes by Jess" is my cake decorating adventure so join me on this delicious journey!