Snoopy

I learned one thing about having three cakes in one weekend (besides being totally exhausted!)  The more cakes you make, the less pictures you take.  My first cake I took pictures through the entire process.  By the time I got to Snoopy, he only got pictures when he was done!

This Snoopy cake was for Taylor, Ryan’s cousin. It was a surprise to her what kind of cake I was making for her. I think she really liked it! It was crooked which just absolutely irritated me, but turned out cute. I think Snoopy was a success!!

 

79 years difference…

The other cake I had a couple fo weeks ago was for Ayden, he was turning 1!  Sesame Street was the theme of his party.  These are the cakes I love to do!  My mom says I do cakes she would never touch or even consider for that matter!  I was excited…

I began to shape my characters….

And I think it turned out adorable, although wait a minute…Why does Elmo look funny??  Something I can’t put my finger on!

It only took me a day to figure it out. I also had to turn around and go back home to fix him before I delivered it to Krista. What was missing????

HIS NOSE!!! Geez, that was frustrating! Glad I figured it out! Happy birthday Ayden, I hope you had as much fun as I did making your cake.

 

80th Birthday Cake

Well, last weekend I was really busy…I had three different cakes to make.  Got it all done (with some help from mom!) and took lots of pictures but I have been soo busy with the Holiday festivities haven’t had time to post pics.  So, I will start with the first cake I made for Katie’s grandma’s 80th birthday.

This is the kind of cake my mom likes to make, traditional.  She likes making roses and decorating cakes with them!!!

I bribed her with dinner to help me and that she did.  She did dishes and mixed up icing colors for me as I decorated.  It made things go much smoother and faster.  Thanks again Momma!!

 

Cookin’ with my Boo…

My pal shutterboo came over for dinner tonight.  I made homemade beef and noodles, but the most important thing on the menu was dessert!  Thanks to Boo I have been looking through many new food blogs.  I came across Bakerella and found a recipe for Bourbon Sweet Potato Cupcakes as I was browsing her site.  I had to make them.  After all us Southern women do love our bourbon, right?  I made the pecans for the top first.

Boy were they delicious.  I ate taste tested about 4 or 5 before Boo got here.  Then off to the cupcakes….

They smelled super yummy delicious when they came out of the oven!  It was all we could do to keep out of them before dinner!  After we devoured our dinner we made the icing and glaze for the cupcakes.  That pan below of brown bubbly goodness is the beginning of the bourbon glaze.  Umm, I believe I am making my mouth water, excuse me while I got eat another….

Here is our finished product!!

Now for the moment of truth…the TASTE TEST!!  Mmmm, I think this is the best part of baking goodies.  So Boo, what’s the verdict?

It’s a winner!!!  Thank you Bakerella for sharing such an amazing recipe!!!  One I am sure to use over and over again.

 

Oh, how I love my KitchenAid…

I love my KitchenAid mixer. I love it even more because my aunt gave it to me when Ryan and I got married, so I did not have to buy it. Although I do love this old mixer I have been wanting a new one. The big daddy mixer…that’s right the Pro 600!! Ryan and I went to the outlet mall in Michigan while I was up visiting and I found this beauty..

Got it for a steal too since it is a refurbished model. I can’t wait to break it in this week! Brooke is coming over tomorrow night to have dinner again. I wonder what supper yummy treats we can whip up??

Don’t worry, I plan to keep the old one as well. It will be super handy to have two mixers when I am making all of these cakes!  Especially all the baking I love to do around the holidays….

Welcome to the family new KitchenAid!!

 

Makin’ cakes like a madwoman!

So, after working 3 in a row this week I then had 2 cakes to make for this weekend.  I drug myself out of bed yesterday afternoon (I work nights, ok) and started baking…

First up…cucakes. These little dudes went with the Scooby cake that is to come

Now for the Scooby cake. It was white cake with raspberry filling.

On to the next cake….

This sucker was a huge sheet cake for 70 people!

It looks like it’s glowing from the lights

It was Kasey’s grandma’s 80th birthday. She told me it was a fall theme but design wise left it up to me. I think it is harder when someone does that. All the pressure of wondering if they will like it! I went with my gut and made something that my grandma would have liked and been proud of (she was the one who tought me everything I know!) Here is how it came out.

I can tell you after all those flowers my hands were about to fall off!! After a long day of baking and decorating it was time to retire the icing bags for the night!

I wish Noah and Joyce a very Happy Birthday. I hope you both enjoy your cakes!

 

Pumpkin Pie Cake

Brooke came over this past week so we could get together, make dinner, chat, eat, you know do all the thing we love! I made dessert before she came over. Little did I know that she didn’t like pumpkin. I think I may have converted her with this one though!

Photo courtesy of Brooke (you are awesome by the way!) Shelly a girl I work with put this recipe in our unit cookbook. It was so good I thought I would share it.

Pumpkin Pie Cake
1 box yellow cake mix (minus 1 cup)
1/2 c. melted margarine
1 egg
1 large can pumpkin (3 cups)
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ginger
2/3 c. evaporated milk
2 eggs
1 c. yellow cake mix
1/4 c. flour
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. softened margarine

In a medium-sized bowl mix together 1 box yellow cake mix (minus 1 cup) with 1/2 cup melted margarine and 1 egg. Press into greased 9X13 pan. Mix together in a large bowl: pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon, ground cloves, salt, ginger, evaporated milk, and 2 eggs. Pour into cake pan over crust mixture. Crumbly topping: reserved cup of yellow cake mix, flour, brown sugar, softened margarine. Mix together until mixture is fine and crumbly. Sprinkle over pie filling. BAke at 350 for 50 minutes and serve with cool whip.

 

Happy Sweet 16!

I work with Jenny and she came to me wanting me to make a cake for her daughters 16th birthday.  She had planned a big surprise party for her, such a great mom!!  She brought me the invitation that was pink and black with polka dots and told me how the plates were the same only with zebra print.  So, I decide to incorporate both into her cake.

The cake was chocolate on the bottom and white on the top with buttercream icing.  I used fondant for some of the designs so I could get the look I wanted.  Here is the finished product the next morning before I dropped it off to her.

Madeline, I hope you enjoyed your cake and your Sweet 16!

 

Buckeyes!

So, I have been wanting some buckeyes since I went to Harvest Homecoming at the beginning of this month (for those of you who aren’t from around here it is a fall festival with food, crafts, etc.)  I decided to make some last night.

 

When I pulled out the camera and Began taking pictures my sister-in-law Ashley started laughing at me!  She doesn’t understand my new obsession with learning how to take pictures.  These looked too yummy not to take pictures of!

They were just what I wanted!  My husband says he will be the judge on how good they are, I think he will try to eat them all!

 

The Blog is Born!

Welcome to the world Splendid Sweets!  This blog was created to share my cakes with family and friends.  I always have people asking for pictures of my cakes and can you do this, or can you do that.  Cakes are something I do for enjoyment.  My Grandma Peyton first taught me how to decorate a cake when I was old enough to hold a bag of icing.

Now, I have just gotten back into it the past couple of years.  My nurse friends keep me busy with all their rugrats kiddos!  I enjoy the creative outlet, but it is not always easy.  There have been the times where a cake is just not turning out the way I planned, but I just keep on decorating.

I plan to share some photos of work I have done over the past couple years to get everyone caught up and then share some of my more recent work.  I feel like I have gotten better.  I try to learn new things and use new tools.  I mostly work with buttercream (because it is pretty much amazing!) but have started using fondant in some of my designs.  Enjoy a few pics of my past works!