Birthdays for All Ages...

Fall brings a full season of birthdays for my family. We celebrated a few birthdays in recent weeks...
A sweet prince themed cake for my one-year-old nephew Evan,

a request for a Barbie cake from my niece Valarie and...

...a slot machine cake for Aunt Delores who celebrated her 80th Birthday. (She loves playing the slots!)

All super fun cakes...stay tuned for more...

Evan's Gift of Hearing

A new day brings new opportunties. Tomorrow is no exception. Tomorrow my nephew Evan will receive the gift of hearing through cochlear implants. He received the actual implants in August and is returning to Iowa City for the external processor and activation. We are so excited for Evan and the opportunities this will bring him.

My sister-in-law wanted to do something special for the doctors who are providing this gift of hearing to Evan. She asked me to create gift box cakes with a special message that says, "Thank you for the gift of hearing." It's utterly amazing what technology & medicine can do. Check out Evan's blog for the latest on his hearing journey.

August Wrap Up...

It's hard to believe that August is coming to a close. This week I completed a couple fun cakes. First off was a princess themed birthday cake for a 1-year-old girl. Even the princess silver tiara that topped the cake was edible!

A client had a great cake idea in mind to surprise her husband who loves to fish. This surprise 40th birthday cake was a delicious catch - chocolate cake with chocolate truffle filling!

Let the Birthday Season Begin...

I must admit...I created my own misery. My kids now have pretty high expectations for their birthday cakes. That's okay though, long gone are the store bought sheet cakes and I get to create something fun and memorable. As the start of a busy birthday season begins, here are the first of many family birthday creations this fall. My daughter Madison's 3rd birthday was a Hello Kitty theme. She was equipped with Hello Kitty cupcakes to share with her friends & teachers at daycare. Madison and my son Lucas had a joint birthday party. A Hello Kitty cake for her and shark theme for him.

Check out my cake gallery to see what else I've created lately!

Not An Ordinary Birthday Cake...

My mother-in-law celebrated her 70th birthday this week. I'm fortunate to have a wonderful mother-in-law, so I wanted to create something memorable for her milestone birthday. She truly enjoys gardening and tending to her always perfect looking flowers. That made the choice easy...a watering can cake!

Round 'em up cowboy...

We celebrated my nephew Blake's 2nd birthday with a cowboy themed cake. This cake was a two tier white almond cake with vanilla buttercream and rasberry filling. The cake was accented with an edible belt buckle, hat and western stars.

One of my early cake creations was Blake's 1st birthday cake last year. It's great to look back at the cakes I've made in the last year and how much I've learned. This year I plan to kick it up a notch and put more focus on wedding cakes...watch out Martha here I come!

Birthdays & Beer....

What birthday guy doesn't enjoy a little beer on their birthday? So I thought why not make an edible cake version too!

This year we celebrated Dave's birthday with a 'barrel of beer' cake. One all ages can enjoy. It was a four layer vanilla cake with three layers of chocolate truffle filling. The 'barrel' was handpainted with food coloring, decorated rock candy ice and sugar beer bottles with custom birthday labels.

The cake caught some eyes when we celebrated Dave's birthday at Buffalo Wild Wings in Ankeny. Thanks to the great gals there & great service, we had so much yummy food we barely had room for cake!

Super Mario!

What kid doesn't like Mario? Especially in a surprise birthday cake! It was a first time and fun challenge in sculpting a large figure jumping out of a cake. The cake was vanilla with vanilla buttercream filling. Check out the cute matching cupcakes in slideshow. Happy Birthday Caden!

Baptism & Birthday Cakes...

This week brought a baptism cake for my nephew Evan. Finally, the Iowa winter weather cooperated! We were so happy to share the much awaited event with Evan and the entire family.


The week also brought a milestone birthday....so I had to make a little surprise cake for my Dad who can seriously fix about anything....Happy Birthday Dad!

It's a Girl...

...themed baby shower. Spring is just around the corner and that means flowers and showers...Baby Showers! This cake was a surprise for the Mom-to-be. The stylish diaper bag was loaded with Mommy must haves like a chocolate bottle, diaper pins and diapers. The cake was white almond with rasberry buttercream filling. Now that's a sweet shower...congrats Sarah!