2011 - Superman

I was so excited to tell Sweet Knees about our super hero cake! Something else I love about working with Sweet Knees is how precise he has to be. Me - I would just throw things on the cake not taking the time to work things out. He reminds me that preplanning is extremely important! He had so many rulers out to make sure the "S" was perfect and proportioned.

2011 - Who's That Lady?

WOO HOO! Check out that mess, shows we had fun!

When I became a Lunch Lady at the beginning of the school year, I had an image of a cake I wanted to make. There was never really an opportunity to make it. Until Empty Nester decided to hold a birthday party to celebrate all of our birthdays! I jumped on that so fast! What better time to make sweet little.......

....who's that lady?

Say hello to MYRTLE the LUNCH LADY!

Mole and all! Sparkly glasses too!

2011 - Love Birds

This was a super simple cake made for my supervisor. She is a gardener. When I say gardener I mean gardener - if you could see her garden and orchard you would be drooling! She shares the fruits of her labor with us once in awhile, we lurve it so!

2011 - Business Egg

The catering department has been calling upon the powers of me and Precious Pearl for their baking needs! It has been so fun to work alongside her and create these cakes. This was one that I actually made at home with Sweet Knees. It was a faux cake so they allowed it since it was not going to be consumed. They used it for an order from the Business District here in town. They liked it so much they saved it for another order they had later that week.

(the cotton balls did come out - they were support for the bow while it dried!)

2011 - Easter Cuppies

I was asked by the head of our department to make some Easter cupcakes. She wasn't too specific - this is good and bad! I like the freedom this brings but also creates a great anxiety. I never know if people have an idea in their head and if they are going to be disappointed in the idea that comes from my head! She loved them though - hurray! I bought myself a new toy for these - a gorgeous scallop cookie cutter! I cannot wait to use it again!

I don't think I have mentioned that I make my own fondant now! I finally found and perfected a recipe, it tastes so good. And it is so easy to work with. So I molded all the little chicks and flowers from my fondant ant let them dry overnight. Then I added the little details in frosting and placed them atop the vanilla cupcakes. They were so pretty! I almost hated giving them away wishing they would be adorning our simple Easter feast!

2011 - YO HO! YO HO!

Get ready for photo overload! I took more step-by-step pictures for this cake. I am glad I did!

Cake requested for child with a love for pirates! I thought a mini pirate map would be so, so neat! What 5 year old wouldn't - who really can resist a miniature?

Bits and pieces of the cake, matching them up to the islands

Sweet Knees working in the treasure island

Treasure island complete - don't you love those golden coins!

Giant octopus rising from the waters....oooooo scaaaaaary!

Pirate Ship complete

Cannon Island complete

(oops sorry about the double - too lazy to change it!)

Treasure Island complete

Feeding Frenzy complete

Volcano complete

Giant Octopus is home!

Here are a few pictures of the completed cake

I LOVE THIS CAKE SO MUCH!

:: delighted to be linkin up with house of hepworths ::

2011 - Thing 1 & Thing 2

I saw these cuppies on a blog a long time ago and stuck the picture in my cake idea folder. It sat there gathering layers and layers of dust until my supervisor asked me to make a treat for her daughter’s birthday – which just happens to fall on Dr. Seuss’ birthday too! For years they have done themed birthday parties around Dr. Seuss and his zany characters. I was excited to finally create these cute things! Do you know how hard it is to find blue cotton candy? 

2011 - Chalkboard

I am grateful for my Sweet Knee’s artistic talent. He did a lot of sculpting with his dad when he was younger and continues to use this skill on his modeling. I on the other hand have little more than a tsp full of artistic skill. He has been so patient with me as he slowly teaches me sculpting. I have been amazed at what I can create with fondant and am enjoying working with it so much more!

The Chalkboard Cake was made for another local school celebrating the birthday of James Madison, whom the school is named after. The bites and pieces of this cake were a blast to make and see some together. I love the detail. I was actually able to attend the bbq at the school and hand out the cuppies that Precious Pearl and I made. They had the cake on display on the sweets table for the school to view. It was fun seeing the kids reaction to the cake and hear their cute comments. (It made me all warm and fuzzy inside!) The best comment of the afternoon was from a little group of boys who were amazed that I could have made this cake, me a simple lunch lady, and then compared me to The Cake Boss!!  Love it!  

2011 - Valentines Roses

I saw these roses on a blog and knew I had to make them on a cake! I like these roses so much more than the traditional roses. I made this for my LOL's for Valentines Day. This was super quick to make and came out so gorgeous. I am seeing this paper rose method pop up a lot more on the cake blogs that I stalk! 

What do you think….traditional rose or paper rose?? 

2010 - Retirement

I really debated about posting this cake. There are parts about this cake that I love and parts about this cake that I absolutely hate!  Mostly HATE!  I won’t go into a bunch of excuses for what happened, just know it was a very early work day and a very frustrating cake. The grapes I think turned out great, I love the color and I love the look. The vines are horrible, as is my writing. DARN THAT WRITING – WILL I EVER GET IT LOOKING GOOD? It is such a frustration to me. I cannot stand my own handwriting and I feel it transfers over to my cakes. Yes. This is one baddy of a cake!!!  

2010 - Elementary Birthday

I was asked by the schools to make a cake for one of the local elementary schools that was having its birthday - well actually the lady who the school was named after was having a birthday! I was so nervous to make this cake. Cakes for close friends and family is one thing, they have to tell you it is amazing and fabulous because they love you and don't want to hurt your feelings! Making a cake that will be seen by hundreds of people.....eek!

It did not turn out too bad! As many of you know, I am not a huge fan of traditional roses on cakes and avoid them whenever I can. I tried this fantasy flower instead and was quite happy with the results. I need to take a good loooong look at the natural way a vine grows so that is looks better on my cakes. The handwriting? Not too bad!! 

2010 - Still a Good Lei!

For CutNCurls 50th birthday it was decided not to do an Over-the-Hill-Black-Death theme. Instead it was a lua! We drove back up to Happy Valley for the weekend to surprise her! Sweet Knees and I came up with the idea of a beach cake that would have a little headstone that read "Here Lies Tamara Still a Good Lei" - we thought it was funny!

The cake was banana with pineapple frosting - oooooo delectable!

Sweet Knees made some cute tiki torches for the candles – CREATIVE!

SURPRISE! SURPRISE! SURPRISE!

:: happy 50th CutNCurls::

2010 - I'll have a number two please!

These were so fun!

I found out that a few of the ladies I work with had birthdays coming up! CAKE TIME! I asked around about what we did at work for birthdays – my jaw dropped when I found out nothing! NOTHING? NOTHING? This is not right. I asked if it would be okay if I made a special treat to bring in. (health code and all that) I knew exactly what I wanted to make. 

These mini burgers and sugar cookie French fries (no picture of the fries) were so easy and turned out so adorable! Once I got them to work I placed the burgers and fries in one of our smaller food boats – I am still kicking myself for not snapping a picture!

They were just too fun!!

2010 - Carol's Flowers

Pretty simple, basic round cake. Nothing fancy. I made this for my manager at work for her birthday. Chocolate cake with strawberries in the middle – YUM! I wish that fresh flowers were not so expensive, they look so gorgeous on cakes .

( i hate my writing i need to practice and make it better )

2010 - We are the girls of Rock n Roll!

Cake for Little Punzie again!

I know I keep saying it, but she does keep me stretchin' this little talent I have. This year she was obsessed with the Britney the Chipette from the movie The Chipmunk Adventure. This cake was definitely a challenge. I knew that I did not have any kind of talent to make Chipmunks from fondant and I thought they would be easy toys to find but my goodness! I ended up traveling 45 minutes away to an antique store to find them - I know what many of you are thinking, that with my weakness for any antique store how big a sacrifice was it really!!!! And you would be right!!! 

The balloon was just a foam ball covered in a cut up pair of tights topped with ribbons. I was not happy with the color of the basket, too dark I think. And I need to work on making the transition between the tiers smooth so I will not have to add a cheesy border. The clouds were great and the hills turned out pretty nice. She liked it a lot so again, that is all that matters!

2010 - Nerdn' It Up!

Sweet Knees and DoinDailies are total gaming nerds...in a cool way!

One of their gaming buddies was having a birthday on one of their game nights. Sweet Knees explained the "you shot me in the brainpan" line, if I remember right it has something to do with being shot in the helmet during the game. Wanting the grenade to look as real as possible Sweet Knees took the little plastic thing and sanded, painted and accessorized it!! I always have so much fun when I make cakes with him!

2009 - Ariel

Are ya'll tired of under the sea cakes? Me neither!!! Bring 'em on!

This was really fun for me because I had just finished a course on gum paste flowers. Please be gentle with your criticism - I am still helping this baby skill to grow and develop!

Making sea creatures from fondant is sooooo much easier than frosting - see no boobie creatures! There is a cake blog I stalk and the creator makes everything out of frosting, she is absolutely amazing. Absolutely amazing. Can you see the sparkles? I had a lot of fun with the sparkles! While my favorite place to shop for cake supplies is till my local cake supply store, I am glad to see that more and more of the craft stores are carrying a wider variety of cake supplies, as well as better quality products.