Triple Birthday Celebration

If you've done the math right...you'll deduce that Trey had three birthday celebrations this year! Geez. The kid's gonna be sorely disappointed next year when he only has one! Hee hee!

Two friends from school (Grace and Anand) and Trey were all born within a few days of one another - so we decided to do a joint party since all the same kids were being invited anyhow. The party was at Aerial Gymnastics and the kids had a blast!

Since the guests of honor were both girl and boy, we decided on an ocean theme. Each birthday kiddo got a smash cake - my favorite was the shark. The cakes were covered with Satin Ice and the decorations were Satin Ice as well. The cuppies were of course coordinated with flair! There are close ups of the chocolate sea creatures for your viewing pleasure! :) My only regret is that the super-cute jellyfish and turtles blended into the frosting since the colors were too similar.

I also made chocolate sea creature lollipops for the goodie bags (using the Sealife Wilton candy mold)...but of course, taking the photos slipped my mind as we were in a rush to get out the door with three kids, presents, three dozen cuppies and three smash cakes! :(






Some cuppies for the parents...


The smash cakes...





A face like this makes it all worth it!

Spiderman Heads?

Yes...you read right. Just his head.

I made Rice Krispie treat Spiderman heads for Trey to bring in to class to celebrate his birthday. I purposely made them pink since it's his favorite color! :)

The original heads had chocolate webbing on the face as the real Spiderman does...but when I tested one out on Brody, I realized that it was a recipe for a huge mess! Chocolate was EVERYWHERE! So...I nixed the webbing and just assumed that the kids would "get" that it was Spidey.

Bake Sale

We had a bake sale at work - and of course what do I volunteer to bring?! Cupcakes with flair! :)
The sale started at 10am in the morning...so I tried to think of something that would make people happy and efficient. What better than chocolate ladybugs and smiley faces atop espresso spiked cupcakes?

Superheroes!

Trey and Brody had a joint birthday party - I can't believe my Lovies are 2 and 4!
The party was at Oak Meadow Park in Los Gatos - family and close buddies came to help celebrate. Auntie Ann and Uncle Jiro were kind enough to supply the entertainment - The Amazing Michael! I think the entire park came to watch as he juggled his heart out!

The boys requested Spiderman and Batman cakes - so I coordinated the cuppies to have the logos - all in chocolate. YUM! Thanks to Uncle Ray for taking photos - I was so frazzled that day that I forgot to take any of the finished products!







The cakes were switched (my mistake) so Spiderman cake was supposed to be Brody's. Trey blew out the right candles, but to those who didn't know, it looked like he blew out Brody's! Brody was so confused...not understanding why Trey was insisting he blow out the cake in front of Trey! Brody really took the phrase "smash cake" to heart! Here's the cake about 5 seconds after blowing the candles out!

Godzilla!!!

My friend Joanna asked me to do something special for her son's 4th birthday...something I'd never thought to do! Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla smash cakes and cupcakes...SUPER FUN! I used melting chocolate and make mini ones and gigantic ones...they had to be transported over an hour in the blazing heat...I was SO worried they would melt! In hindsight, I probably should have done them in royal icing...but the chocolate was a hit and none of them melted - so no harm done!

Lacee's Bridal Shower

My friend Lynn asked me to do the dessert for her daughter Lacee's bridal shower - what an honor! Lacee is marrying an Indian fellow named Tejas and they are planning two separate ceremonies - an American wedding and an Indian wedding - so I thought I'd incorporate her wedding Mehndi with her Tiffany themed shower. I saw a cake on-line that was perfect for what we were thinking. All I did was change the design around the monogram!






I used the mocha chocolate cupcake/cake recipe with buttercream frosting.

The cake was layered with dark chocolate ganache and buttercream...YUM. I decided against using fondant for the cake because I wanted a really clean square. The Mehndi and the monogram was done in royal icing and for the frosting I tinted using Wilton Teal Gel coloring.


The Tiffany bows were made from marshmallow fondant.


Early this morning I delivered the cake and 48 cupcakes to a very excited and very nervous mother! :) Best wishes Lacee and Tejas!

End of the Year Thank You's

Both Trey and Brody have moved up to a new classroom at school - so I made these as thank you's to their teachers, floaters, and office staff. I saw a woman decorate cupcakes like these on YouTube so I thought I'd give it a bit of a twist. I made some mocha chocolate cupcakes (super moist!) with cream cheese buttercream frosting. The "flowers" were put in individual pots for the office staff and floaters and for the teachers, I put three in a copper colored bucket. The green tissue is supposed to be like the leaves - photos didn't turn out great, but you get the idea. :)