Time for the Olympics!

I LOOOOOVE the Olympics!!! And Cake. We'll get to the cake later, but first, let's talk about those London games!

This year the Olympic-watching is even more exciting me due to this girl (#7), right here!!!

Seriously, Courtnay is my hero. Tom and I woke up super early (6:00am) to watch her play for Team Canada against Russia.

Needless to say, I had a little motivation for my 8 mile run after. I love the Olympics in general, but when you know someone who's actually there and you get to watch them play on TV it is just that much more inspiring. This girl has worked her butt off to get there and we are so proud of her! Gosh, it almost sounds like we're her parents and she's our little girl that has grown up *sniff*

You can bet that Tom and I were watching the Opening Ceremony last night, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. We had a few people over to watch as well, including a friend from Milton who lives in the area! It was so great to see a familiar face. We whipped up some pizza and sangria, then spent the night in front of the TV making predictions about what would happen next in the ceremony.  


Oh! And we ate cake, of course!

A little chocolate deliciousness frosted with some vanilla buttercream!

I tried to add gold dust to the side, you know, to be all glitzy and stuff, but it ended up just looking like I spilled a bunch of brown sugar on it. Oh well, you live and learn!

It is safe to assume that I'll be spending many hours with the TV watching these summer games. I'll be cheering on Team USA in each event except for one. I'll let you take a guess at which one that may be :)

July Anniversary Cake 2

Our friends, Ben and Liz, celebrated their 1 year anniversary yesterday and before I left Vermont, I made sure to make them a vanilla-frosted lemon anniversary cake to enjoy on their special day.

I decorated it the same way that I decorated their wedding cake last year, however, instead of feeding 150 people, it was baked for just the two of them. 

It was missing the fresh fruit that decorated last year's cake, but frozen fruit is never as good as fresh fruit, so it was a sacrifice I decided to make when decorating the cake.

They certainly are a terrific duo and I wish them many more years of happiness together!

One Year Anniversary Cake

Last July I made two wedding cakes for two pairs of dear friends. I'm not sure about you, but I think it would kill me to keep the top of a cake in the freezer for and entire year! For one, I have no self control and I fear that it would be demolished by month three, and second, who wants to eat a cake that has been frozen so long?

When both couples asked me to make their cakes I told them that I would make an anniversary cake for them this year, free of charge, and fresh for their anniversary. However, I did not anticipate moving to DC.

Instead of leaving them cakeless, I decided to bake and deliver their anniversary cakes early.

Last week I delivered Kat and Anthony their lemon anniversary cake. They celebrated their one year anniversary this week!

Congratulations!

Hunting Groom's Cake

Last week, in the midst of packing for our DC move, I was able to escape the boxes by baking and decorating three cakes. One of them in particular was so much fun to create. 

I was asked to make a surprise groom's cake by a high school friend, who got married on Saturday. I love surprises, but it is tough to keep them a secret!

Her request was a to create a vanilla hunting cake. The inside is filled with chocolate buttercream, and the outside is frosted with both chocolate and vanilla.

The bullets, antlers, and leaves were made out of fondant. Cool looking, but definitely not delicious-tasting. 

The tree trunk was fun and easy to create. A swirl on the top for the inner tree, followed by a messy frosting with a knife for the bark.

I looked on a lot of websites to see how to do camouflage frosting. The technique I chose was to pipe the border of each color, fill it in, temporarily freeze it to crust the frosting, then to smooth it flat with wax paper and a fondant smoother. 

The grass, although simple, is probably my favorite part of the cake!

To make the antlers I colored some fondant a light brown then shaped them and let them set. I used a knife to create markings and lines, and then used a paintbrush to dry-brush brown food coloring onto the outside.

Congratulations to Elyse and Ryan!!

Gender Reveal Cake

For weeks I anxiously awaited last Wednesday, the day that I would receive a sealed envelope from Tessa with the gender of her little baby. 

My assignment: to bake a cake that would reveal the gender of her baby once the cake was cut.

Oh. And to keep the gender a secret. From everyone! 

Tessa's request was to make it as natural as possible, without artificial dyes. To do this, she asked that if she was having a girl that the cake be made out of strawberries. If she was having a boy, the cake would be blueberry. 

Tessa added a bunting cake topper that she made herself. I fell in love with it!

It was so much fun to be part of this event and now I'm even more excited to meet the little man when he arrives this fall! Check out Tessa's blogpost for the party, found here.

Cake Order: Berry Birthday

I took on a cake order last week for a vanilla birthday cake with berries. 

It felt so amazing to be working with an icing bag and frosting again. We had been separated for too long!

It's no surprise that the berries had me reminiscing about berry picking in the summer, especially with the insanely warm temperatures that we have had this week. 

Inspiration and a Birthday Cake

The thing I love most about my program (not including the lack of sleep and my new addiction to coffee) is the people. They're some of the most creative, intelligent, caring, and fun people to be around.

They're going to make freakin' awesome teachers. 

This weekend I traveled to Philadelphia for a conference for Noyce Scholars Conference, a.k.a. a future- science and math teachers conference. We were surrounded by inspiration (Michelle Shearer, the 2011 National Teacher of the Year) and more amazing education students. Needless to say, I was excited to get back into the school this morning; I was inspired and ready to tackle my work and my mind was buzzing again with new ideas.

However, my mind started buzzing with something else after lunch: sugar. We had planned a surprise birthday celebration for one our fellow classmates. Since the conference ate up a huge chunk of my weekend I wasn't able to create the 3D-cat-dissection cake that we had originally planned (the woman is going to be a biology teacher!). Instead, I whipped up a fun and bright chocolate cake to reflect this woman's amazing personality.

Having all of us together to celebrate her birthday only made me realize how much the people I'm with mean to me. I'm so thankful to have the chance to learn from each of them this year.

A HOBY Wedding

I'm at that age where everyone is getting married, and there's nothing better than seeing two best friends make a promise to spend their lives together.

This weekend Tom and I headed up to the Sleepy Hollow Inn in Huntington, VT for our friends' wedding. They've been together for 9 years and originally met at Vermont HOBY, a youth leadership conference for sophomores. It was clear how much this couple loved each other at the wedding, and there was no doubt that these two are perfect for each other.

They couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day (except maybe that it be 75 degrees instead of 85!). Tom was asked to read "A Lovely Love Story" during the ceremony, and I was asked to make the cake for them. I was so honored to be able to do so!

The cake was a three tier lemon cake with vanilla buttercream, and topped with Vermont-picked blueberries and raspberries. You really can't get any more delicious than that. I also made a vanilla sheet cake, frosted and decorated the same, that became a delicious midnight snack before we headed up to the bonfire. 

Congratulations Ben and Liz! Wishing you a lifetime of many happy memories!

Wedding on the Lake

This Fourth of July was extra special as Tom and I got to be part of our high school friend's wedding, Kat (who has her own blog here). Tom officiated the marriage and I was Maid of Honor. I mentioned that the wedding was coming up in this post, but didn't mention that I was making her wedding cake and a surprise groom's cake for her now hubby.

The wedding was held in Alburgh, up near the Canadian-Vermont boarder and on the shore of Lake Champlain.

The sun started shining before the wedding, and the rain held off until after dark. It was a lovely wedding, and the bride looked gorgeous!

The wedding cake was a lemon-almond cake with a strawberry buttercream filling and vanilla buttercream frosting. It was topped with fresh Vermont strawberries (some dipped in chocolate) and edible flowers.

The groom's cake was a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream filling, topped with chocolate and vanilla buttercream. The groom was an amazing soccer player in high school and still loves the sport. He was quite surprised when he opened the box to find the cake.

It was a great time and I was so happy to see the couple together. Congrats to them both! Kat and Anthony - I wish you many years of happiness!

Lemon Bridal Shower Cake

Today I helped host a bridal shower for a dear friend of mine, Kat (you can check out her blog here). I've known her since 5th grade and we even visited each other in Spain when we were studying abroad our junior years. This summer she's marrying her high school sweetheart - which is just about the cutest thing ever.

The party was a lot of fun! Who doesn't enjoy making toilet paper wedding dresses, finding out what crazy things other women carry in their purses, and watching the bride shove piece after piece of Bubblelicous into her mouth as she tries to answer questions about her soon-to-be husband (I wish I had brought my camera for this!)

Do you know how difficult it is for women to not cross their legs when they sit or stand? We each had a clothespin and if someone caught you crossing your legs they got to take it from you. The key was to be the one with all the clothespins. I made it maybe half an hour before I fell victim to the habit.

I made the cake for the shower and decided to try a new lemon cake recipe. According to her mom, Kat likes light cakes with berries. Well, the recipe sounded perfect! I have to admit that I was worried about the cake throughout the whole party. This morning it was waaaay too lemony, but by this afternoon the flavor had lessened.  I frosted it with a lemon buttercream and topped it with blueberries and strawberries.

Cake Order: Baby Shower Cake II

Let's just say that I've been insanely busy over the last month. During this time spring finally arrived in Vermont and everything is coming to bloom. Leaves appeared on the trees this week and I even spotted a hot-aired balloon on my way home from work Thursday.

A former co-worker of mine asked me to make a baby shower cake for her this weekend. Well - it wasn't actually for her, but a co-worker of hers that is expecting a boy. She gave me complete freedom on the decorations. I wish I had had the time to make a teddy bear, and elephant, or an owl out of fondant, but I had to stick to piping. 

I really wish I had the opportunity to take a photo of a piece of this cake. It was a three-layered chocolate cake with blue vanilla frosting inside. 

On another note, I may or may not have ordered tickets today to see Bruno Mars at the Champlain Valley Fair this summer. And I may or may not be dragging Tom along with me. Poor guy!

Birthday Recap and a New Cake!

I had a wonderful birthday weekend and am so thankful for the family and friends that made it so. Here's a recap of what happened:

Dinner was delicious, just as expected. And yes, I did get my margarita. Tom surprised me with a sheet of cardstock that had possible logo designs for Dani Cakes, designed by our friend Torrey at New Duds. The hard part now is deciding which one to go with because I'm in love with all of them!

I finally updated my running wardrobe and treated myself to a flashy red, reflective, and rainproof running jacket. I no longer look like I'm stuck in the 90s with my old school white and green UVM warm up jacket. I tested it out on a 20 miler on Saturday and it made me feel like a real runner again!

Speaking of 20 miler - do you know how insanely difficult (and frustrating) it is to run 20 miles in slush and puddles?! I had to keep reminding myself that these puddles will ultimately mean clean sidewalks and faster runs.

Continuing on with the recap....

Saturday night we went out to dinner with Tom's parents and brother. I had a good time and great dinner at Positive Pie 2. They also gave me a new flash for my Nikon. I'll have some fancier photos soon!

And ....drum roll please.........

With the help of Tom and some discounts at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, I finally purchased a KitchenAid Stand Mixer.  I'm actually quite shocked at myself for dishing over the money. I had never used one until I started at my little cupcake but I would hate to go back to a hand-held mixer at this point.

I got to test out the mixer Sunday night when I baked a cake for a friend at work. Yes, I realize I wrote that I wasn't making cakes until after April 18th, however, this was a unique occasion where I had been promising this person a cake for months and she was finally in the area on Monday.

I saw this a little while ago on i am baker and fell in love with it. The inside is a chocolate cake and the frosting is vanilla buttercream sprinkled with white dusting powder to give the roses a shimmery effect. It was the easiest cake that I've made in a long time as it only requires tip 1M and lots of swirls. Oh, and it was pretty delicious too!