Apple Basket Cupcakes

I made a cake that looked a little like these last fall. I wanted to turn the cake into little cupcakes that looked like Apple Baskets. I think I was successful!



They are Applesauce Spice flavor with buttercream icing and royal icing apples. I cooked them in parchment paper cups to give it more of a "basket" feel. All you have to do is cut parchment paper into squares and press them down into your cupcake pan. Easy and beautiful! Plus, I ALWAYS have parchment paper on hand, but not always cupcake liners!!!





I decided to box them up and donate these to the Officers' Spouses' Club for the November luncheon as an "opportunity" which is just the Army's way of saying "raffle prize" I hope someone finds them delicious!!!!

Baby Sugar Bees

A good friend requested this specific cake for a baby shower she was hosting. It was chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling, buttercream icing, fondant bees, and royal icing daisies. I'm very happy with how it turned out! I only hope the "Momma to bee" will love it too!!!

Zebra Print Cake

I had a 13 year old girl (the sister of a friend of mine) request a zebra print cake with pink ribbon around the top! This was half vanilla and half chocolate.


I thought the cake looked pretty cool before and after the pink stripe!

Little Mermaid

I had a request from a very special girl for a Little Mermaid Cake. Here's what I made her...

Promotion Cake

I made this cake for Eric's Orthodontist's promotion to full bird Colonel. He asked for the outline of the eagle, but I had to take it to the next level!

Congrats Grad!

I made this cake for a very good friend's son! Lory was the wife of the Commander of the battalion Eric deployed with. She was very instrumental in me getting through the deployment with 2 infants, getting involved in the Officers' Spouses' Club, and seeing what a devoted supportive Army wife is! She asked me to make a cake for her son's high school graduation. I took the mascot from Fayetteville Christian School and turned him into something yummy to eat! I hope she likes it!!!

Bowling for CAKE!

One of the NICU nurses contacted me to make her son an 8th birthday cake with a bowling ball theme. Here's what I ended up with...



Then, I threw in some cupcakes because I've been wanting to try these bowling pin cupcakes. They were VERY easy and delicious

Mickey Mouse

I created a Minnie Mouse about a year ago, and was very excited to have a chance to create her better half! I made this for a 1 year old birthday. Mickey is my signature citrus cake and the balloons are the chocolate allergen free cakes. There's no egg, nuts, or milk in them. My client was concerned with food allergies so, of course, I had a delicious recipe for her!

Feliz Cumpleanos!

A co-worker of Eric's hired me to make her granddaughter a Dora the Explorer cake. I've never made Dora and don't really know much about her since the boys don't watch that show. A little research on the internet, a lot of different colors, and a tedious hand created the following cake. Come on VAMANOS!

A Sweet Tooth

I was hired to make a "Dental Assistant Appreciation Week" cake for the clinic where Eric works. Actually, he has to travel between 2 of the 5 clinics on Ft. Bragg. He was at a different clinic and started talking about my cakes to some of the assistants and hygienists. Next thing you know, he was showing off this website! After he told me this, I decided to make them a cake too...just because!

Here's the extra cake I made for Rhode Dental Clinic

Here's the one I made for Davis Dental Clinic.
Eric told me they all LOVED the cake and that one of the Colonels actually took a picture of it. Now THAT made me feel good!

Avery...take TWO!

This is probably one of my favorite buttercream cakes yet!

Sherry, one of the boys' NICU nurses asked me to make her little princess a cake to tear into for her first birthday pictures. I made it, hot pink and lime green to match Miss Avery's tutu, but poor little princess came down with a tummy bug the day before her photos. So, Sherry popped over late at night to pick up the cake, and we talked about how she could freeze it for 2 weeks until her rescheduled photo session. However, due to cake suicide (because the cake did this to itself) it never did make it to the freezer, and had to either be buried or eaten. Thankfully, it was eaten!

Tomorrow morning, Avery has her THIRD attempt at her first birthday photo shoot. (The first was rescheduled due to road rash up her face from a fall on the concrete!!!!) I packed this cake SO tight in the box that Sherry will have to pull the box apart at its seam to get the cake out. I felt bad that the cake committed suicide that I included 5 little cupcakes that also spell her name. Steven Ashmore is one of THE BEST photographers in town...so I wanted to give him plenty of ways to capture Avery, her hot pink tutu, and her name!

Here's to a FABULOUS photo shoot with a beautiful princess in her tutu and a delicious cake for her to TEAR into!

UPDATE - Would you believe that poor Avery is sick AGAIN? Sherry picked up the cake with the intention to freeze it until her 4TH attempt at having her first birthday pictures taken. I had it all wrapped in a box and ready to freeze. I hope this baby girl can get her pictures done before she either outgrows her picture outfit OR turns 2. HA

PAWS...and eat some cake!

Carolina Pet Care Services, the company we use to baby sit our dogs when traveling, contacted me a few months ago and asked me to make some custom puppy cupcakes for them as well as a birthday sheet cake. I attempted the pupcakes back in January and they turned out great! This weekend was the big fundraiser for FAPS (Fayetteville Animal Protection Society) as well as Shannon's (one of the owners of the company) 40th birthday. I lieu of presents for Shannon, they asked for donations or gifts for FAPS.

I put a lot of time and effort into their pupcakes and sheet cake this week....and it paid off. THEY LOVED IT!!!! I spent a few hours at the fundraiser and enjoyed meeting some of their other dog sitters and even a free lance photographer from the paper who was there to cover the story.

Shannon chose a chocolate cake with mocha mousse filling

Chihuahua, sheep dog, beagle, collie, terrier, bulldog,
chocolate lab, schnauzer, pug, and dalmatian!

The dachshunds didn't fit in the box..they had to ride without the rest of the pack!!!!

Bridal Shower Cake

I made the following cake for a bridal shower. It was yellow cake with raspberry buttercream filling! The bride and guests loved the way it looked and tasted! I love it when my customers are satisfied. Stay tuned because I have A LOT of cake orders coming up!

December Cakes

I had my first "stranger cake" order this month. Meaning, this was the first cake I made that wasn't for a friend. It was for the birthday of a commander's wife here on Ft. Bragg. I heard through the grapevine that she loved the cake. This was a huge challenge for me, but I learned a lot and loved every minute of it!

This last cake was for a 2nd birthday!
It was a nut and egg free cake and all of the kids enjoyed it!

Shoe Box Cake - CAKES FOR A CURE

I was asked to donate a cake for the OSC (Officers' Spouses' Club) on Ft Bragg for their "Cakes for a Cure" Fundraiser. The theme was Girls Night Out, and the colors were pink, of course, and brown. I knew immediately I wanted to make a shoe box and a gum paste shoe. Neither of which, I had done before. Here's the end result...

My friend, Brandy made the gum paste flowers! It was the first ones she's ever done, and I think they turned out FABULOUS! The cake was 100% edible...from the shoe to the tissue paper.
Notice the shoe has the name "Jami" on it. A high school classmate of mine lost her battle with cancer on October 18th. I wasn't able to make it back to Kentucky for her services, so this was my tribute to her. The girl who won the cake read Jami's story that I put with the cake, and was so touched by it that she HAD to have the cake!!

It was the highest grossing cake at the auction, going for $70. That's probably about what I would charge for it anyway...minus the cake board detail and gum paste flowers.

I left the auction with 1 cake order and found another one in my email box the next day. It was a great night.

Tanya Biank, the author of Army Wives, was there to sign her book and be the guest speaker. She was full of grace, intelligence, and poise. It was an honor to meet her, since I'm a huge fan of the show.

Cake Class Update

I've really been enjoying my cake classes. Course II is finishing up on Halloween, and I can't wait to make the final cake to showcase these flowers.

I made the following flowers in the last few classes. Some are made of buttercream, royal icing, or color flow. Royal icing is powdered sugar, egg whites, and water. It dries hard, and is used mostly for decoration and intricate details. Color flow is made of roughly the same ingredients as Royal icing, but it dries with a more "pillowy" effect.



First is the mum...buttercream


Next is the American Beauty Rose using the brush striping technique to tint the edges...buttercream. I'm nowhere near perfecting the rose...I struggle with it a little, but I'm practicing!

Now on to Royal Icing. Apple Blossom and the Daisy


The Primrose and Violet and leaf


Finally, the Color Flow butterflies and birds. Once again, not as perfect as I would like, but I'm learning. Not bad for my first time.


I LOVED LOVED LOVED class last weekend when I learned how to do this. My teacher is awesome, very patient, and knowledgeable. Our final class will teach us the basket weave, daffodil, and how to arrange them on a cake!

A Few Cakes

I've been really busy lately making a lot of really delicious cakes.

This is one I made for a church function.

Applesauce Spice cake with brown sugar cream cheese filling.

This is another one I made for the church function that I entered into a bake-off, but didn't win anything :(

Chocolate cake with mocha mousse filling and a Kahlua chocolate ganache!
It should have won darn it!

These are 2 sheet cakes I made for Eric's boss.

My First 1/2 Sheet Cake

This was my first attempt at a sheet cake. 1/2 sheet cake to be exact. It's half chocolate half vanilla with buttercream filling. I made the logo with royal icing on waxed paper. Once it dried, I peeled it off the paper and placed it on the cake. This cake is for monthly birthday party at Eric's clinic.

Spiderman Cake

This is my latest creation. It's a 12" round yellow cake with strawberry filling, and vanilla fondant. Spiderman himself is also made out of fondant.

Dinosaur Dig Site

I made this cake for the 5th birthday of a friend's little boy. He made the choices from the flavor and color of the cake to the color "dirt" he wanted. This is homemade strawberry cake with buttercream filling with fresh strawberries, iced with BLUE buttercream icing and topped with sugar cookie dinosaur fossils. Graham crackers and blue sprinkles make up the "dirt" and "rocks" on the cake. Enjoy!

Right now, I can make yellow, chocolate, applesauce spice, red velvet, and now strawberry.