BFF: Tanya's Birthday

There are some friends you know are just for a season. They come, serve a purpose whether good or bad, and then they leave. I've had so many of those come and go in my life. You learn something new through each new friendship you make. Valuable lessons for sure. However I believe there are some friends God has placed in our lives to last a lifetime. This girl is one of them.

This post is dedicated to Tanya. She and I met when we were 15 years old in high school. Grade 9 History to be exact! We connected right away. And throughout the years we've had so many ups and downs, but nothing big enough to separate us. Our friendship has only grown with each new day.

So, I got to thinking what to make as her birthday cake. I already knew it had to be chocolate. This girl is a chocolate nut. Sorry, DARK chocolate nut. Can't give her anything else. So I whipped up my ultra moist chocolate cake and frosted it with my rich creamy chocolate frosting. HEAVEN!

Another first for this cake is the Damask stencil. Ok so I was pacing up and down my kitchen for at least 10 minutes before actually putting this stencil on. I was totally freaking out because, I was putting black on white! One mistake and there will be a stain for sure, and I wasn't about to present her a cake with any stain. Finally I mustered the courage to approach my cake with spatula in one hand, stencil in the other and said "Let's do this."

I think I nearly cried when I saw the finished look.

The damask design is my favourite pattern (hence why it's in my logo). I had to do something unique and special for this girl. Stuck with her for life! So I won't hear the end of it if it sucked lol!

I made the blue dahlia out of gumpaste. Super easy to do! I hope to do a tutorial on that very soon :)

Happy Birthday Tanya. Thanks for being so awesome and putting up with all the lovely nonsense I throw your way. <3

Here we are, she's on the right. Isn't she gorg? Love you girl xoxo

The Royal Purple Musical Themed Birthday Cake

I can say pretty confidently that music is my life. I need music in my life, at all times of the day and during the many different things I do. And it's been this way for as long as I can remember. Maybe this is due to the forced piano lessons my mom would drag me to every week. However through my learning to play the piano, I really began to appreciate music. I listen to music at work everywhere. 

I was so pleased to be able to make this cake for another girl who is just into music as I am. For her, her love was the piano. And really, I just love the beautiful melodies a piano makes. I really enjoyed making this cake for her, I made sure I captured the art of the instrument as best as I could.

Not only was this my first piano inspired cake, it was also my first topsy turvy cake! Was I nervous? Heck yeah! But after watching too many youtube videos and reading all about to construct this cake, I was ready for the challenge. And boy was I ever happy! It turned out great, and it was stable. It met all the check points!

And for her Sweet 16th, I added them as her topper, kinda sorta shaped as musical notes.

Happy Birthday Deborah! 

Happy Birthday Denise!

Happy Birthday to a good friend of mine, Denise! I was honoured to play a small role in celebrating her first year as a non-teen! Yep, the big 2-0! So she ordered cupcakes from me first for a small get together with her girlfriends. Her favourite, red velvet with cream cheese frosting. Seriously, who hasn't marked this cake down as their favourite? And I added a “20” topper to each, all bedazzled! Love the way it turned out.

AND THEN…

Her boyfriend ordered this cake from me, too cute right?? I know! Love when a man orders for his lady. He requested something special for her 20^th, and asked to include 20 flowers to this cake. So this is a different spin on your traditional zebra striped cake, with flowers surrounding her name. It looks quite lovely, and she deserves nothing less. 

Happy Birthday baby girl. I know you’re not such a baby anymore but you’ll always be my baby girl :)

Sara's Bridal Shower!

This day is fast approaching. Honestly, I didn't think this day would come THIS fast! But the days are zooming by and it's happening. My little brother is getting married *tear*.

I couldn't be more happy for him. He is a wonderful man who has his head on straight. He is seriously one of a kind so I know the girl he chose for him would have to be equally as good or better (but I didn't think she'd actually BE better you know)?

I was wrong.

I love Sara. This girl is already part of our family and I couldn't be more happy for the BOTH of them. They truly fit each other like two pieces of a puzzle. They fit perfectly together. Why am I tearing up writing this? Gah! But seriously, isn't she a beauty? This is her on her bridal shower day, after the gifts were opened. Her bridesmaids had the greatest idea of collecting all the tissue paper from the gifts, stringing them together and making a cute skirt for her. She is lovely!

Moving on. I had the honour of making her bridal shower cake. They are simple, but their taste is exquisite. She wanted cherry blossoms but let me have free reign on the actual design (which I love by the way) I'm glad she trusted me! 

After I had finished making this cake, it just didn't seem complete to me. Something was missing and I was trying to figure out what it was. And then it came to me, I added the two blue love birds to the cake, which matched the birds on their wedding invitation. Right away I fell in love! I was really pleased with the way it turned out.

Not only was this an honour, but I have the honour of making their wedding cake this year! Oh I can't wait! So stay tuned for those pictures, I'm sure there will be plenty!

Congratulations Danny & Sara! I love you both so much :)

The Zebra Surprise!

A very cool request was made from one of my customers, and I can't wait to share it with you here! So we all know that zebra print is so in, in fashion, wallpaper, and in cakes! We've seen hundreds of zebra print designs all over the web, and I too have made a few myself. But the cool request about this particular order was, she wanted zebra print INSIDE the cake. WHAT? I know! I was like, that is so totally awesome! After a quick search on achieving that, I excitedly called her back letting her know this can be done! I was so excited to get started :D

The outside of the cake was the black and white zebra print with a beautiful bow to match and some bling. But I knew the real 'wow' factor would be when the guest cut inside the cake. I asked for her to please send me pictures once they do!

However, I know myself. My patience, although tested and true, could not wait that long to see the end result. So what did I do? This...

And I don't regret it one bit! This was a money shot and I'm glad I took it. Look how gorgeous those stripes turned out? So I learned this technique from an online school I'm enrolled in, called MyCakeSchool.com. There are so many helpful tips tricks and tutorials to learn and really improve your cake decorating skills, and clearly, it's top notch advice! I'm really glad I enrolled.

Happy Birthday Sabrina!