Mocha Madness!

I wanted to try a new twist on chocolate cake for my coffee loving friends.  So I experimented a bit and according to my husband, this is the best tasting cake I've ever made!  And it was SUPER easy to do!

To get the mocha flavor, I used a box of chocolate fudge cake mix and substituted the water for vanilla flavored coffee that I brewed at home.  Before I added the coffee to the other ingredients I made sure it was room temperature.  I wasn't sure if it would work hot or not.  After the cake was baked, I soaked more coffee right on to the cake with a basting brush.  

I also made regular chocolate buttercream and added quite a bit of room temperature coffee right to it.  I cut back a little on the milk and continued adding coffee and powdered sugar and cocoa until the flavor and consistency were perfect.

Easy Bear Cake

 My son just had a camping themed birthday party and I wanted to make a special cake for him.  After searching the internet and Pinterest we decided that a bear cake would be perfect!  Even though this cake looks difficult, it's one of the easiest I've ever done!  You can totally do it too!

I came across an adorable polar bear cake here.  I loved it and decided it would be the cake to use as inspiration for my son's.

Here's what I did...

Construction Cake With a Twist!

If you are looking for a little change in your standard construction cake, here is one I did using the same technique as I used on my other construction cakes...but this time I changed the colors a bit!  Check it out!

Here is the original cake I posted.  And here is a tutorial for a similar cake if you want to know how to do this yourself.

Just changing the colors a bit gave it a totally different feel.  I actually ended up using my cousin's construction vehicles once we got to her house.  They were red and blue and looked adorable.  

King Piggy Cake from Angry Birds!

 My little one loves the Pig King from Angry Birds so he asked me to make him a cake with him as the main focus.  I had no clue how to do this but I stumbled through it and it turned out pretty cute.  Here is what my little one's cake looked like for his super fun Angry Birds party!

Ta-dah!  One homemade (and not perfect) King Piggy cake!  He loved it!  

Here's what I did...

I made a 4 layer cake, alternating yellow and chocolate.  And I put homemade chocolate buttercream in between each layer.  I used wrapping paper to cover my cake board.

Art & Owls Party...Part 2

So the first Art & Owls post showed the set up.  Now here are some action shots from the party!

When the guests arrived they headed to the backyard where they colored a mural.

My Take on a Buttercream Cowgirl Cake

Here's my take on a cowgirl cake made with buttercream.  

I made a 3 layer, 10 inch, bottom cake and frosted it (smooth) in pink buttercream.  Then I piped on black and white paisley designs to look like a bandanna.  I made a separate 3 tier, 6 inch cake and frosted it in white buttercream.  Then I used canned chocolate frosting to make the cow spots.  Before frosting the cakes I added a little homemade simple syrup to each layer to keep it moist.  I also used my candy molds to make pink and white chocolate boots to place around the cake.

  

Cars Cake Tutorial

A lot of people have sent me questions about the construction cake I posted a few months ago.  This weekend I made a similar cake so I figured I'd turn it into a mini tutorial which may help.  

DISCLAIMER!!!!  

I am not a cake decorator.  I'm just a mom who likes to try to make cool cakes for my kiddos and their friends.  My way may not be the RIGHT way but it's the way that works for me.  Hopefully you can take some of the ideas here and tweak them to work for you. 

You can totally make this cake!  It's pretty simple!

This is the tip I used...the "grass tip".

It's a Jungle Out There!

My brother & sister-in-law threw an adorable safari themed party this weekend.  I know it wasn't my party, but it was so cute I had to share it here.  I have no idea what their budget was but I'm certain you can pick and choose some of their ideas to include at your own safari party.  

Here's a brief recap..

Upon arrival kids were able to choose an animal hat and bracelet (so it's already a hit in my kids' eyes).  My mom & I were recruited to paint animal faces on all of the kids.  Next, the kids went on an animal hunt and tried to spot beanie animals hidden in the bushes.  The grand finale was having a lizard man arrive with tons of creatures which the kids were able to hold!  They saw snakes, lizards, tortoises,  tarantulas, and a 40 pound Albino Python!  It was seriously fun!  They served lunch, cake, and opened presents.   Before leaving the kids were allowed to choose one of the hidden animals as a party favor (my kids were thrilled about that).  They also had the most amazing safari candy apples, that my friend Holly made.  You are going to flip when you see the them!  It was a really well thought out, exciting and fun party that my kids loved...and the adults had a great time too.  

I snapped a few shots on my phone...check them out.

This is the cake I made.  I thought it needed some sass for my niece so I added the turquoise.  Hot pink would have been cute too.

Indiana Jones Party

My friend's kiddo had an Indiana Jones birthday party.  I made an Ark of the Covenant cake and my friend made an amazing party table!  Check out her snake sandwich!  Impressive!

The party was SO fun! They had a mummy wrap game, a balance game where kids tried not to fall in the snake pit and kids even got to squish their hands around in "eyeball soup", "snake guts", and "monkey brains" while searching for their prizes.  My friend is one rockin' mom!

Star Wars Cake

As you know my son is having a Star Wars party (...in just 2 days)!  He requested an R2D2 cake, so this is my attempt at it.  This cake was not difficult to make but it was REALLY time consuming.  I broke it up into a couple of days; one for baking, one for assembling, and one for the details.  If I did it again, I'd make two attempts at the details.  My hand was really sore after all of the piping.  

So here's what I did...I made one cake in a glass bowl for the top of his head.   I also made 4 eight inch round cakes.  I stacked the rounds with frosting in between the layers and I added several dowels for support.  Then I placed the head on top.  I did a quick crumb coat and put it back in the fridge.  After about twenty minutes I put a smooth layer of white icing all around the cake.  I did this before I added the legs so I could get it as smooth as possible.  

Next I used store bought Rice Crispy Treats for the legs.  I used 2 on each side for the height.  I rounded the tops and then added little triangles to the bottom to give his legs the right shape.  I attached the legs with frosting and put a layer of frosting on the outside of them too.  Then I put R2 back in the refrigerator until the next day.

Super G is Officially 3! (Part 1)

We survived another birthday party!  Yay!  Super G officially turned 3 and he loved his little party.  I'm showing photos of the decor in this post and will show shots of the activities in another.  I tried to go as cheap as possible but still have it look nice.  Thankfully A Party Studio (www.etsy.com/shop/APartyStudio) made awesome printables for me which made everything look adorable!

We served appetizers and desserts.  The guest book was purchased on Amazon.com.  

We had lots of finger foods and candy.

And we served cotton candy from the dollar store.  Total cost $3 & I could have gotten away with only two packs.

A for Effort???

My husband's friend requested a Storm Trooper cake for his son's party.  His wife found a youtube video showing how one mom made it so I thought I'd give it a try.  Next month my oldest son is having a Star Wars party so this was going to be good practice.  Most of the examples on the internet are made with fondant, which I don't use.  Unfortunately, the cake was WAY harder than it looked and didn't turn out that great.  However, I thought the technique was pretty cool and could be tweaked to make lots of different of cakes.  So, here's how I did it...not my best work, but definitely my best effort.

I made simple syrup for the first time, with equal parts sugar and water that I boiled in a pot.  I added a whole lemon to it as well.  Then I used buttercream frosting and my Kitchen Aid mixing bowl as a mold.

I lined my Kitchen Aid bowl.  Plastic wrap would work but I usually end up annoyed with it so I went with good old wax paper instead.

Pink Dinos

My daughter's friend wanted a pink dinosaur cake for her birthday.  I didn't have much time and I wasn't sure what to do.  I took inspiration from her party invitation and came up with this.  Thankfully the birthday girl liked it!

Rainbow Cake How To...

Rainbow Cake How To...

My original plan was to have the inside of the cake rainbow colored and have it iced in all white.  That's really the only way I've seen it done, and as you know by now, almost all of my ideas are borrowed from somewhere and tweaked to fit my needs.  I was telling my mom my plan and she said she thought the cake would be prettier if I made the outside rainbow colored too.  I didn't want to hear it.  I didn't want to think about how I was going to do it.  And I really didn't want to make 6 different colors of frosting.  But I did...and I'm really happy about it.  It turned out prettier than plain white and everyone was still super surprised when we cut into it!

Here's how I did it.

I made 3 white cakes, splitting each in half to give me 6 layers.  Each half was tinted with Wilton gel food coloring and baked.  Then I froze them.  After the cakes were frozen I sliced about 1/3 off the top so that my cake wouldn't be too tall.  I put them in the freezer until I was ready to frost them another day. Next I put a white buttercream crumb coat on top and in between the layers.  And then I added several dowels to hold my cake together.

I mixed 6 colors of frosting and used disposable piping bags since there were so many colors.  I used Wilton tip 12.  It's just a big open circle.  I squeezed a dollop of frosting and then squished it and swept my tip through it.  I began with the purple and worked my way up the side of the cake.

Rainbows and Unicorns Part 1

We had the big Rainbow, Unicorn party for my daughter's 6th birthday.  It was a success!  It took a lot of prep and hard work but not a lot of money.  Everything was homemade and nothing was difficult to do.  Here are a ton of photos of the decor.  I'll post more showing the actual party in a separate post.

The main table filled with homemade appetizers and desserts.

Fruity Pebble Treats & layered Jello

Oranges filled with Jello & chocolate covered pretzels.

Otter Pop Slushies... the biggest hit of all.

Sparkles & Cats for a Surprise 60th?

My mom's BFF Jann was turning 60 so Jann's husband decided he wanted to throw her a surprise party and he needed help from my mom and me.  I was all set to help.  I was even pretty excited!  My mom and I figured we could come up with a great plan and throw a fabulous party for Jann.  To our surprise  Jann's husband told us there were two things the party had to be themed around...sparkles and cats!  My first reaction was that it can't be done.  Those things just don't go together.  Luckily I contacted Tali from A Party Studio (www.etsy.com/people/APartyStudio) and she made us some amazing printables.  They set the tone for the whole party and it really did turn out to be quite beautiful (even if it was a slightly strange theme to work around).  Check out the photos and see for yourself.

There was a candy buffet for guests.  This was the party favor.

Rock candy is sparkly!

Chocolate Buttercream...Who knew?

My cousin's son was having a construction themed party so it was time to revamp a cake I made for my son at his own digger party a year and a half ago.

The cake was yellow and this was my first attempt at CHOCOLATE buttercream!  Yum!

The chocolate buttercream turned out to be the perfect color for mud.  When I originally made this cake for my son's 3rd birthday I used regular buttercream and added brown food coloring.  I wasn't completely happy with the color.  This is much richer looking and tasting!

The Last of the Cake Files.

 I'm not a baker; just a mom who likes making special things for the people I love. 15 years ago my mom and I took a cake decorating class at our local Michaels store.  It was a fun experience for us and here I am, years later, still using the basics I learned so long ago.  

When my daughter turned two I began my obsession with themed cakes.  I have my own little process that I use when I make a cake.  I Google search cake images, visit party sites and baking sites, and of course I check out the cakes on Coolest Birthday Cakes.com which displays thousands of homemade cakes made by moms just like you and me.  

The process goes like this...I bookmark several cakes and choose elements I want to incorporate into my own creation.  I never copy a cake exactly, but I borrow ideas and mesh things together to come up with something a little different.  Occasionally I have to come up with an idea on my own but I always find something on the internet that I use as a guide to help me with my creative confection.

Here's a peek at some of the buttercream concoctions I've come up with...

Keely's "Purple & Pink Kitty Party".  This one was tough!  Lots of carving and stacking layers to get the 3D look.  I've learned to stick to more basic shapes.  However, I will say, this cake was a big hit with my birthday girl.

My little one, Gage, had a "block party" for his first birthday.  His name fit perfectly on the sides of the cake.  The inside was 4 layers (yellow, chocolate, yellow, chocolate).

Cash really wanted a bulldozer...a bulldozer!!!  I was lucky enough to find a tutorial on-line.  I used two loaf pans for this. Thank goodness for Google!

The bulldozer cake was too small for the whole family so I used the same idea as the "Cars" cake (see last post) and changed it to look like a construction site.  The kids went nuts for the Oreo road.

The Cake Files...

To piggyback off of my last post, here are some cakes that were made after the original owl cake.

My son Cash's first birthday cake.  Hey...I tried and remember, it was made with love.

My daughter Keely's Pinkalicious cake for her 3rd birthday.

An Expression of My Love....

My daughter Keely was in love, (make that obsessed) with owls from the time she learned to walk.  When thinking of a theme for her second birthday party the only logical decision was to have an owl party.  This was back in 2006 and I had never heard of these over the top, crazy expensive, themed parties that are now being thrown.  But I took the owl idea and ran with it.  We had owl pizzas, owl cookies and of course we had to have an owl cake!  

I had never made any kind of cake except your standard 8 inch round...usually with canned frosting.  This was a challenge for me!  

Here it is.  My first attempt at a themed cake!

Even though this certainly is not the most beautiful cake ever made, it was made lovingly from my heart.  The best part of all is it inspired me to want to make more!  This cake started a tradition!  My kids all know that Mommy will do my best to make them an extra special birthday cake, every year, any theme, any color, any flavor.  Their cakes are unique and special (and not quite perfect)...just like them.  Making a special cake is a huge expression of my love.  If I make a cake for you, it's because you are very important to me!