Pink Zebra Cake

This was my final cake for the second cake decorating class I took. It was on flowers and design...it definitely wasn't as informative as the first class I took, but we did learn some different flowers... I think the Lily is my favorite! Anyway, we had to use some of the flowers we made in class on our final cake. The flowers were made out of Royal Icing, so they last a looong time...but you probably don't want to eat them because they are extremely hard! I had some hot pink roses, so I decided to make a hot pink zebra cake with the roses on top. I just made a 6 inch cake (because I didn't have any one to give it to and didn't want my husband and I to eat all of a huge cake!....or make it go to waste). It was a chocolate cake with Buttercream frosting. The cake was pretty tasty, we had some friends come over to enjoy the cake with us and play some card games, fun night :)

Longhorn Graduation Cake

I know...I know... It's a TU cake...but it was for a friend's graduation-so I was ok with it...I guess lol. My friend, Kimberly, and I grew up in Bedford together until my family moved to San Antonio in 8th grade. My husband, Dawson, and I just moved to the North Austin area a couple months ago and Kimberly was going to grad school at UT. She just finished up school and had a graduation celebration for friends and family and she asked me to make her cake! What a blessing! Of course, I had to use burnt orange and white (thought about making the center icing maroon so she wouldn't know until she cut into the cake!)...but thought I better not since it's her day and all :) The cake was a chocolate cake with buttercream frosting, her choice. It turned out moist and delicious! All of the decorations are of fondant/gumpaste mixture. I had to create my own "cookie cutter" for the longhorn...I didn't like any of the longhorn cookie cutters at the stores, they were too defined in shape and didn't look like the UT longhorn. I printed one off the computer that I liked and cut it out and traced that onto my fondant...pretty easy! I made the fondant ribbons on the front and back and then wrote on them with the buttercream frosting before I put them on the cake. It was a challenge to make a LONGHORN cake, but I enjoyed the process of it!

Here is the back of the cake..you can see a little more detail of the graudation hat on top :)

I think it turned out pretty well :)

Polka Dot Cake

A new experiment. This was my first ever 10 inch cake. I tried a new white cake recipe. And the first time to do any kind of fondant bow. So all in all, lots of new things! The cake seemed HUGE! I'm not sure if I like the white cake recipe yet or not, may try a few tweeks to it and see what that does. The fondant bow...well I got a little impatient and didn't let the ribbon pieces dry over night so they don't stand up how I wanted them to, but it was still a good learning experience! There was lots of cake and not many of us to eat it!! My parents were in town, so they had some and then my neighbor came over (who has two boys) so I gave her probably half the cake...and still lots left over. I used brown and turquoise, even though the picture makes the brown look like an army green, ha! It was fun to make!

Cupcake Sampling Party

This past week my parents came in town to help me get ready for the cupcake sampling party!

I made samples of:

Carrot cake
Red Velvet cake
Snickerdoodle cake
Chocolate cake
Yellow cake
Strawberry cake

...and lots of yummy icing: vanilla, chocolate fudge, cream cheese, strawberry buttercream, buttercream...

It was fun making them all!

There are lots of pictures of each decorated cupcake, enjoy!

 Cupcake Pops

 Cupcake balls

 Cute snowmen- yellow cake with vanilla icing

 kids cupcakes

 ice cream

 butterfly

 football

 Cars 2- lightning McQueen

 Sheep

 Snickerdoodle & Reeses

 Flowers!

 Zenia

 Snowflakes

 Pearls

 Lily

 Rose

 Santa Hat

 Rudolph

 Holly

 Christmas Tree

 Turkey

 Carrot

 Leaf & Acorn

 Christmas

 Fall

The whole table!

Those were all of the different decorated cupcakes for the party- some got taken home with people and I have a lot left over that I need to find some people to give them to :)





Halloween Cupcakes

 Candy Corn Cupcakes

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Our Monday Night small group decided to have a "Halloween" Party- just an excuse to bring friends and eat yummy food! I decided to make some cupcakes and decorate them with a Halloween theme..well kinda-not the scary Halloween theme. I made yellow cupcakes and decorated half of them as Candy Corn and the other half as Pumpkins. The frosting is just vanilla frosting and colored the various colors for each design. Hopefully there will be a lot of people there so we don't have to bring lots of cupcakes home with us! These were fun and easy to make!



Loui Vuitton cupcakes

My wonderful husband has been doing some marketing for me while he meets with some of his clients too! A lady that he met a couple of days ago called and asked if I could do Loui Vuitton cupcakes. hmmm I didn't even know the logo off hand for Loui Vuitton, but sure...i'll try! ha. She didn't care what flavors but she just wanted 2 dozen of them- she called thursday morning and needed them friday (the same week that i had to make 8 dozen cupcakes, 2 dozen cupcake pops, and a small cake), but it all got done!

The story behind why she wanted the cupcakes was great! Two of her friends were celebrating their 15th anniversary and a bunch of people were going out to celebrate with them. The wife in this couple has wanted a Loui Vuitton purse for the longest time and has never had one. So all of the ladies going out with them that night were going to use their Loui Vuitton purses and kinda "rub it in" to the wife. (the husband did get the wife a Loui Vuitton purse for their anniversary but isn't giving it to her until later that night). So they were making the whole night be a Loui Vuitton themed night, hence the Loui Vuitton cupcakes!

One dozen is a snickerdoodle cupcake with cinnamon buttercream icing and the other dozen is chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese icing. I stuck with the brown theme because they all had the brown loui vuitton purses. I love the bronze cupcake liners! They are my new favorite! I colored the cream cheese frosting to make it a tan color and the cinnamon buttercream is already the tan color. I used fondant to make the circle for the "medallion" and then painted it with pearl dust to make them sparkle. I used some of the cream cheese frosting to write the LV logo on the cupcake. She came to pick them up and loved them! I hope the party went well :)

Lemon Daisy Cake and Cupcakes

My mom came in town for a couple of days to help me bake! I had to do 4 dozen cupcakes and 3 dozen cupcake pops for a rehearsal dinner, 2 dozen cupcakes for another lady and then my friend, Claire, asked me to make a cake and some cupcakes for her Mother in -law's wedding this weekend.

This is the wedding cake and cupcakes...She wanted a lemon cake with a lemon buttercream frosting. This is a 6 inch cake (they wanted a small cake to keep) with a light yellow frosting and white polka dots with 3 fondant daisys painted with pearl dust to make them sparkle!

She wanted 2 dozen cupcakes with the daisy on them as well. Her colors were yellow, cream, and hunter green. The icing is tinted a very light yellow and the daisy on top is the same daisy that was on the cake. I added some green leaves to incorporated the hunter green in the wedding. I think they turned out pretty cute!

"Portal" Cake

My neighbor, who I met while taking cupcakes around to the neighbors, emailed me and asked me if I could do a "Portal" cake. I had no clue what a portal cake was...good thing she explained it and sent a picture with it!

This is a chocolate cake with chocolate fudge icing on the top filled with coconut pecan frosting in the middle (the frosting you use for German Chocolate cake). The white swirls on top are cream cheese icing topped with cherries. The whole cake is topped with chocolate shavings. I just took a hersheys bar and shredded it with a cheese grater.

This was a fun cake to make and it looks just like the picture she sent me!!

Tow Mater Cake

Ok, so I know it has been a while since I have blogged!! It has been a crazy couple of weeks... I started a new bakery business and Dawson and I just took a road trip to South Carolina and back! I have had several orders for cupcakes and cupcake pops and have done many for other events that I have gone to in the last couple of weeks. I had one lady email me and ask me if I could do a "Mater cake" from the Disney movie Cars. I had NO idea if I could do a 3D cake or not...so I did a practice round to see if I could do a tow mater cake for this lady... here is what turned out.

Not too shabby... first try for a 3D cake and on a whim..not much prep or anything. It ends up that the lady can't get the cake, but I still did the practice round and now know that I can do it! Lots of new things, but it's so fun!!

I used fondant for the wheels, teeth, eyes, windows and side mirrors. A reeses is used for the engine...twix and twizlers for the tow part in the back. The cake came out of two 9 x 13 cake pans. I cut two inches off each cake lenghwise and then cut those two pieces in half so there were both about 6 in long- those 4 pieces were used for the cab part of the truck. I would probably do it a little different next time, but it's always a learning process!

Pink Fondant Flower Cupcakes

Yesterday I decided to try to make some marshmallow fondant and then play with it and make flowers. So I came out with the white & pink daisies and stacked them on top of each other and put an edible pearl in the center.  I made 12 of them and just left them on the counter to use them for something...who knew what!

Today, Dawson and I are headed to the AGGIE GAME!! (WHOOP!) We are going to meet up with my sister, so I decided to make some cupcakes and take to her and her roommates. I haven't made yellow cupcakes or vanilla icing yet, so I decided to give it a try!

I used my yellow cake recipe and made cupcakes and then made some homemade vanilla icing and died it pink :) I figured out how to swirl the icing on the cupcakes to make it stand up tall and then placed the premade fondant flower onto the icing and sprinkled the cupcake with clear sprinkles- I think they turned out pretty cute! And there were 2 extras- so Dawson and I got to taste them too :) They tasted great too! I love getting to bake and make fun things!! Thank you Jesus for providing the time for me to do something I love!!

Now I have another cute cupcake I can sell with Kakes N Bakes!!

First Customer!

Kakes N Bakes is up and running! I have had my first customer already and have several others set!! It's been fun so far! The first order I had was from my friend Courtney, she ordered a birthday cake for two girls in her office. It is a yellow cake with chocolate fudge icing- I hope it turns out well!! I got a fun pink box to put it in and then made a Kakes N Bakes label to put on top of the box.

If you have any more ideas of either cute things to make or detailed things that I need to make sure I keep track of (ie. Invoices, how much I spend, etc.) please let me know! I'm excited about this new adventure!

Kakes N Bakes

I enjoy baking cakes, cupcakes, cupcake pops (and much more!) and have made lots these past few months. I have now decided to create a little side "business" and start selling my homemade cakes, cupcakes, and cupcake pops. I was inspired yesterday and sat down, thought of a name, created business cards, made up a price list, and created a blog site for my new company.

Kakes N Bakes

I used my initials "K.B." and thought of Kakes N Bakes. I'm not exactly sure where this will end up, but we will see where the Lord takes it! I am excited to go on this adventure and do something that I love to do!! AND.. I don't have to eat all of the left overs if I sell them all! Perfect! ha.

I created a blog site for Kakes N Bakes so that I could have all of the information in one place and a website to send people to. Check it out... http://www.kakesnbakes.blogspot.com/.

If you know of people around the Austin area that would be interested in a cake, cupcake, or cupcake pop- please let me know!!

We'll Miss You Cake

These last two and a half months have been great to reunite with my best friend growing up, Courtney! We hadn't seen each other and really got to spend time with each other in a long time. My husband and I just moved to the Austin area and Courtney lives around the area too!! However, she just took a new job in the Dallas area and will be moving in just 2 short weeks. Sad day. She had us over for dinner last night, so I made her a "We'll miss you" cake.

It was a Snickerdoodle cake- so tasty (one of my husband's favorites!). I had some extra icing from the roses on the Red Velvet cupcakes, therefore, I decided to decorate Courtney's cake with roses as well. 

We sure will miss her! We have enjoyed getting to see her just about once a week! But those are the friends that you can go a long time without seeing and then pick right back up where you left off :) Can't wait to see where life takes her!

Love you friend!

Football Cake

My neighbor just turned 15 and he is on the freshman football team at school. I have been making all kinds of cakes, but they have all been with flowers and girly stuff...so I had to come up with something that a 15 year old boy would like.... thus the football cake!

I made two 9 inch round cakes and leveled them at the lowest notch on my cake leveler. I did that so that the base wouldn't be too tall and look silly with the football cake on top of it...and so that I could put frosting in the middle of the two layers, who doesn't like lots of chocolate fudge frosting!? And on a chocolate cake!! MMMMM tasty!

I frosted the two layers like I would with a normal cake with chocolate fudge frosting.

Then I made a cake in a 9x9 square cake pan and used this one for the football on top. I carved the shape of a football and cut some off of the top so the football would look proportional to the base of the cake. Make sure that your cake is completely cooled before you start to shape it- or else it will fall apart!

I then placed the football on top of the round cake and frosted the football with the chocolate fudge frosting as well. This took a couple of coats to keep all of the crumbs out of the top coat.

I used vanilla frosting and start tip 18 to make the laces and the ends of the football. I also used star tip 18 and the vanilla frosting to pipe stars around the bottom of the football- just so the football didn't get lost in the base of the cake.

I then used the grass tip and green frosting to make the grass around the bottom of the football.

It was so fun to make and he really enjoyed the cake with all of his friends for his birthday :)

I also used all of the excess cake (since I had to carve the cake and level the round cakes) and made a lot of cupcake pops!! No need to waste any cake, right!?

30th Bday Cake

I had my last cake decorating class (well for the basics..) and we had to decorate a cake while in class. Mine and Dawson's friend, Lauren turned 30 just the day before class- so I decided to make her a birthday cake! It is a Strawberry cake with Strawberry filling and a Strawberry Buttercream frosting- TASTY!!

I just learned how to do roses in class this same day, so these roses on here were my first roses to ever do!

Not too shabby I'd say. The other flowers are drop flowers and then I used edible pearls for the center of the flowers to make it "girly"  :) I tried using a glitter gel to go over the writing, but it was way too thin and did not work very well at all! I'll have to figure out another way to use the glitter gel (completely edible!). Anyway, this was my "final" cake for the cake decorating class. I am still working on making cakes and perfecting the designs. Can't wait for the next classes!

Red Velvet Rose Cupcakes!

It was Labor Day and a BEAUTIFUL day outside...so we decided to grill out and enjoy the wonderful weather! Our neighbors came over and we played some games and just hung out and enjoyed some yummy food :) What a great occasion to bake something!

Red Velvelt Cupcakes with cream cheese icing- the perfect treat! I wanted to practice the roses that I just learned how to make and the cupcakes were the solution to making roses and having places to put them! I didn't have time to make roses for all of the cupcakes, so I just did some and then made some cupcakes with just icing.

Red Velvet Cupcakes or Cake with Cream Cheese icing is to die for! Here is my recipe for the Red Velvet Cupcakes.

Red Velvet Cupcakes
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1-2 Tbsp(s) cocoa
1 pkg choc pudding mix
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp veg oil
1 cup + 1 Tbsp buttermilk
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
1 oz red (gel) food coloring

1. Preheat oven to 350 Degrees (325 if you are making a cake!).
2. Line cupcake pan with paper cupcake cups.
3. Lightly stir eggs in a medium bowl with a wire whisk. Add remaining liquid ingredients and stir together with whisk until blended. Set aside
4. Place all of the dry ingredients in your mixing bowl and stir together completely with another wire whisk.
5. Add wet ingredients slowly to the dry ingredients and mix on medium-high for about a minute or unil completely combined.
6. Spoon into cupcake pan.
7. Bake 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Makes about 28 cupcakes or 2 - 8" cakes layers. Ice with any frosting you'd like, but Cream cheese is my favorite with Red Velvet!

"B" Cake

My wonderful In-laws came into town this past weekend, so I decided I would make them a cake! It's no Butter Rum cake, but I did make them a chocolate cake with a caramel filling and fudge chocolate icing. It was pretty tasty if I do say so myself!

Jamie, my Mother-In-Law absolutely LOVES monograms and "B"s- so I saw it fit to make her a cake with a "B" on it. And yes, I used UMHB colors :) (That's where my husband, her son, went to school...and they are die hard fans :) ).

I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do with the B, but I like to make flowers-so I went with the flowers and did my first flower border on the bottom too! I used edible pearls as the center of the flowers too. I thought it turned out pretty cute.

Needless to say, we had a whole cake for 4 people...we ate some after dinner Friday night and again after lunch Saturday! Breakfast was an option too :) We managed to eat half of the cake and sent the other half back with them!