Happy Birthday Charlie Brown!

Back in December of 2009 I posted a picture of some Snoopy cupcakes I made for my mom's birthday.  For her birthday this year we took it to the next level  :)  I now have 2 little ones instead of just one so I did a horrible cheat and didn't actually bake the cake.  My sister picked up a blank one from Costco!  My true love isn't baking through, it's actually decorating so it was kind of cool.  I printed out a couple of pictures from Google Images and just copied them onto the cake by piping.

Thomas and Percy Vegan Pumpkin Spice Cake!

And my boy is 3 now!   I scoured Google Images with him at my side for an idea what to do.  He was surprisingly very opinionated about how his cake should look!   I ordered the kit online like I did last year with this Diego cake and got step-by-step instructions.  Each step is so simple and easy.  I love how everything comes together to produce the end result, and I love people thinking it was a store bought cake when they first see it.  As long as they believe me when I tell them it's not!  We made the switch to vegan foods about  a year and a half ago and it has been a journey.  I think my diet and health will forever be a work in progress.  I have great will-power at the store but not so much in other people's homes...  Last year I wasn't ready to try a vegan cake but now that I've been experimenting more with the world of vegan baking I took it on!  I did pumpkin spice like last year too and this year it turned out even better I think (everything tastes better when it's cruelty free)!  I still used store bought frosting in the interest of time and sanity.  This cake took 6 cans of frosting.  As you can see there is a big hole in the middle of the cake that I cut out in the first step so I had leftover cake.  I did attempt to make cake pops but it's nothing I'd take a picture of.  I don't think I'll be making those again though.  Cake mixed together with the frosting is a bit much to bite into when you already have birthday cake right there.  I think one birthday cake is enough sugar for any occasion!

Diego and Dora Safari Cake

My son's 2nd birthday sneaked up on my in no time at all! This year it seemed to be even hotter than ever, probably was, because here we are at the end of October and it's still too hot to enjoy being outside. Needless to say, we are ready to embrace "Fall" or at least look forward to what comes next when hopefully it cools off a bit! So we went with a pumpkin cake, which is one of Lincoln's favorite flavors. I used the same recipe that I used on the pumpkin cupcakes a couple of years back so I knew it was a sure thing. One of his favorite obsessions right now is Diego and Dora so I found this cake decorating kit online that I ordered that included the trees and cars and bridge you see on the cake. The website also had step by step instructions on how to create the look you see above. I wish I could take credit for imagining this, but at least I was able to reproduce it! It was actually really fun and relaxing, just following the steps, using the colors and piping tips it told me to, like painting by number or something. :-)

Pill Bottle Pharmacy Graduation Cake

A friend of mine I went to high school with was graduating from pharmacy school and trusted me to make her graduation cake! I was very honored, and of course put a ton of pressure on myself to make it turn out the best I could for her. This was made with a big sheet cake on the bottom with a bunch of round cakes cut in half and stacked on their side on top if it. It was my first time working with that much fondant and rolling it out, but I think it turned out pretty good! She ordered the rice paper print out for the writing that was very easy to apply and the cake itself was red velvet. I was unable to make it to the graduation party but heard everyone loved it so I'm happy!

Girly Cupcakes

So this is what happens when I wait to long before posting these up here. I remember making these for Sarina's birthday but I don't think I remember what kind they were, or really making them hehe. My poor brain... I think they might have been strawberry!

Dr. Suess Cupcakes

For my son's first birthday we decided to go with a Dr. Suess theme. This was my very first time experimenting with fondant and painting on fondant. I felt like a little kid playing with silly putty, that part was awesome. I made the fondant using a recipe I found online using marshmallows so it was pretty easy to work with. I had a little trouble with the black paint and getting that just right but I learned it was probably because my fondant was a little too greasy in some places. Half of the cupcakes are chocolate and half are carrot cake.

All Wigged Out!

So in my attempt to get out of the house and be around other human beings with teeth, who can speak, and don't crap in their pants, I joined a couple of meetup.com mom groups. The first meetup I went to was for the group "crazy fun moms and families of the southeast valley". I was happily surprised to find out that they are in fact both crazy and fun. I tried to gain acceptance into this new group by bringing cupcakes that matched the theme of their get together, which was "all wigged out". It seemed to work. Either that, or they liked my financial contributions to LeftRightCenter and Bunco, neither of which I won, and if you know me, you know I really really like to win :-) But at least they were games of pure luck, those I don't mind losing AS MUCH because it doesn't say anything about my abilities. Maybe one night they will play Fooseball or Risk or Scrabble and I can show them who not to mess with MUAH HAHAHA. Anyway, these are my wigged out cupcakes. Pretty simple chocolate cake and cream cheese and chocolate frosting. Not much to explain beyond that!