Masquerade Themed Cake

A masquerade themed cake for Samantha's Sweet 16! 3 tiers of vanilla cake with chocolate ganache filling. The design was inspired by the birthday invites and colors. Bottom tier has a diamond pattern with gold dots, middle tier has a hand painted "Samantha" using the same font as the invitation and floral designs, and the top tier has hand painted strips. All gold accents are hand painted on. One of the heavier cakes I have made-- feels heavier than Lucciano! I took it up 2 flights of stairs too! Good thing it made it in one piece :) Whew!

Teacher's Pet

This cake was made for the Juan Cabrillo Elementary School annual fundraiser! Last year SC donated a dolphin themed cake. This year, the cake featured a bright red apple to give to your favorite teacher along with a calculator and number 2 pencil. It says "Juan Cabrillo" in blue at the bottom and there happens to be a bookworm tagging along too. It was a chocolate cake, layered with chocolate ganache and a light chocolate buttercream.

Eyeballs Everywhere

An eyeball cake for Marcee! I think this would also be great for Halloween :) She came across an eye cake one day and sent the pic to me. Her birthday happened to be coming up so it just seemed appropriate to make her an eyeball cake with additional eye cupcakes. The cake was marble cake with cream cheese filling, covered with fondant with hand painted details. My favorite picture is the one of it peeking out of the box lol

One of the reasons why I am a huge supporter of Food4Africa is because they are helping children. This is the next generation, that if given a chance to survive, can change their futures and the futures of their communities and eventually their countries. These children did not make any bad choices or follow the wrong path-- they were just born in a different place than where you and I were. If our fates were different, we could be there.

Another humanitarian crisis that I am trying to learn more about and help is the plight of the abducted child soldiers by the LRA in Uganda. This is a war that has gone on for over 20 yrs and so many children have been forced to kill or be killed, seen things 10 and 11 yr olds should never see, and live a life that nobody ever should.

This is a 30 minute documentary that I just watched last night about the LRA, lead by Joseph Konys' abducted child soldiers. http://www.samsonsociety.org/video/the-rescue-of-joseph-konys It breaks my heart to hear their stories. If nobody cares, nothing will ever change. How can we watch this and still not care?

If you have 30 minutes to spare, I hope you take the time to check it out and learn more about this ongoing crisis. Children are being abducted to kill or being killed RIGHT NOW. Please learn more and share this with your friends to raise awareness.

Other resources for information:
War/Dance- documentary you can rent at Blockbusters
http://www.invisiblechildren.com/home.php- the official website

Happy Spring!

Happy Spring everyone! This cake shows a family of birdies sitting in their nest. The nest is made with fondant pieces and threads of sugar. Chocolate branches finish off the cake.

Bridal Shower Cake

A bridal shower cake for Lori. It shows a silhouette of the bride with purple (her favorite color) flowers and sanding sugar jewelry. This cake can be customized for any bride and use elements from their wedding.

This is a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream filling.

Baseball Cake

A baseball cake for Hilary and Mike! Inspired by Mike's love for baseball and the camp he runs, www.KidsofSummer.com. The "S" represents these two Syracuse alumni, and the stethoscope is for Hilary who is a social worker at a hospital (she might not use a stethoscope but she listens to people and helps them everyday!)

This was a chocolate cake layered with chocolate ganache and chocolate buttercream. Everything is edible!