Tag: cake

Kate Spade Inspired Bridal Shower at Greenhouse Winery in Irwin, PA

Kate Spade Inspired Bridal Shower at Greenhouse Winery in Irwin, PA

You know how you can just tell from the start when something is going to be good? That’s how I felt when Barb first contacted me about her daughter’s bridal shower.  It was a Kate Spade themed shower, so that was my first clue.  Bright 

Small, Intimate Wedding Floral Buttercream Cake in Greensburg, PA

Small, Intimate Wedding Floral Buttercream Cake in Greensburg, PA

From the first time that I spoke with Julie, I just knew that I had to make her wedding cake.  I could hear the kindness and happiness in her voice over the phone and there was a warmth about her that drew me to say 

Gender Reveals

Gender Reveals

Oh, pregnancy!

I don’t think I’m out of line to say that pregnancy is full of emotions. Emotions of every kind–excitement, nervousness, panic, joy, love, fear, gratitude, sorrow, and the list goes on and on and on. And if you’re anything like me, I experienced all of that in just the first few hours of discovering that I was pregnant this last time!

One of the most exciting times over the nine months is learning who exactly it is that is joining your family. We have three children and each time we handled the “gender reveal” differently.

With our first child, we wanted to know if it was a boy or girl. He was not only our first child, but he was also the first grandchild on both sides, so everyone was super excited.

Being that our anatomy scan was scheduled for two days before Christmas, we decided to incorporate the holiday into the reveal to our family. After the scan and we had the results, Ryan and I went to the mall and bought two ornaments with the boy name that we chose and wrapped them up as gifts for our families.

Our mothers unwrapped the gifts at the same time while standing in my in-law’s kitchen. They took out the ornaments, saw “Jack” written on them, and knew that they were having a grandson. Hugs ensued all around, ha ha.

2 1/2 years later, when we learned that I was pregnant with our second child, we decided to let this one be a surprise. We chose to not learn the gender at the anatomy scan, and let me tell you, it was so hard not to look! I had my hands over my eyes, but kept peeking through over at Ryan to make sure that he wasn’t “cheating.”

It wasn’t until Wyatt was born that we knew that we had a second son. It was so exciting to announce it to our family and friends who were anxiously awaiting the news!

Fast forward another 2 1/2 years to the anatomy scan for our third child. We decided to learn the gender again, but this time around, we debated keeping it a secret from everyone else. In the end, we decided to tell them in a way that made sense to us–via cake!

I baked a cake and cut out circles from three of the layers, so that as the cake was layered, a cavity was built in the middle of the cake. Before adding the top layer of cake, I filled the cavity with the appropriate color of candy and sprinkles and then closed it off with the top layer of cake, which was whole. I proceeded to decorate the cake like normal, adding a chocolate ganache drip down the cake and piping shades of pink and blue on the top.

When the time came for the reveal, our mothers cut into the cake together.  They pulled out the first slice and blue candy and sprinkles fell out of the middle of the cake.  Jack, who had just started kindergarten a few days prior, understood what the blue meant (we explained what was going to happen) and exclaimed, “It’s blue!”  Wyatt was 2 1/2 and was more excited about all of the candy, haha!

 

So, those are our three gender reveals.  All different and all exciting!

I’ve been honored to participate in a few more gender reveals recently since opening Four Oaks Bakery.  Each time I hold that envelope, I feel excitement.

The first gender reveal was actually a cake and cupcakes with a bows and mustaches theme.  I worked with the soon-to-be aunt to design a similar pinata style cake and incorporate the bow and mustaches.

Blue and Pink Cake

 

She also wanted cupcakes with matching bows and mustaches.  I added sugar pearls, because, why not? 🙂

Blue and Pink Cupcakes

 

This time, pink candy and sprinkles spilled out of the cake and the soon-to-be aunt went right out and bought her niece a new outfit! 🙂  A couple of months later, I was asked to create some cookies to be served at the baby shower to celebrate baby girls impending arrival, so I was very excited to hear that she was born healthy and beautiful soon after that.  I had been sending her good vibes for a while now!

Just a few weeks ago, I was thrilled to be the official “secret keeper” again for some friends who are expecting their second child.  This time, though, the cake wasn’t doing the revealing.  Steph and John wanted to do a silly string reveal (so fun!) and requested a cake to go along with that theme.  The first thing that popped into my head was a white cake with pink and blue candy melts drizzled all over the cake to resemble silly string.  Steph loved the idea, so that’s what we went with! I made her favorite almond cake and chocolate buttercream and filled it with blue buttercream to celebrate their baby boy.  Steph loves the taste and texture of fondant, so I covered the cake in white fondant and then drizzled different shades of blue and pink candy melts across the top and along the sides to give the idea of silly string.  I LOVE how it turned out!

My final duty as “secret keeper” was to take the blue silly string cans and replace the blue caps with green caps.  I set these aside and stapled the pink silly string cans, blue caps, and envelope with the ultrasound picture in a large bag so that they couldn’t peek before the reveal!  I tried my very best to keep a neutral face while talking to Steph when she arrived to pick up her cake and silly string.  I think I just smiled the entire time so that I wouldn’t give anything away with my reactions! I can’t wait to learn of baby boy’s arrival!

I am so happy to be able to be a part of the special events that my clients celebrate.  It is an honor to get to help make those celebrations memorable, and of course, tasty!

Jack’s 6th Birthday

Jack’s 6th Birthday

As you can imagine, birthday cakes are kind of a big deal in our house.  I always let my boys choose their cake, so we start talking about birthday cake themes several months before the actual birthday celebration.  Typically, Jack is my steadfast, predictable child 

Sweet and Simple

Sweet and Simple

 

I just love the look of all of the sweet and simple, single tier cakes that I have been seeing lately.  There’s something that is so innocent and fresh about them.  Don’t even get me started on extended tier and double barrel cakes!

I had to get in on the action.

This one that I created is an extended tier vanilla cake with chocolate ganache filling, iced with vanilla buttercream, and covered in a thin layer of pure white fondant.  I topped it with a large white peony with hints of pink, which I pulled from for the light pink stripe around the top of the cake.

Talk about springtime in a cake! I love this look for a bridal shower or wedding.  This look would simply be sweet perfection on the dessert table at a baby shower.

Birthday Memories

Birthday Memories

Another magical unicorn was seen in our kitchen this week! As parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles, we often see something and think to ourselves, “Gasp! (Insert name of a loved child) would absolutely love that!” That’s exactly what happened with a doting father and my 

It Starts With One

It Starts With One

About two years ago, I saw one of those motivational pictures on Pinterest that said, “If you can’t stop thinking about it, it’s worth going after.”  It didn’t attribute the quote to anyone in particular, so I can just assume that it’s a general piece