Teacher gifts... homemade hot cocoa

These were the gifts that my daughters gave to their school teachers for Christmas.... homemade hot cocoa with mini marshmallows and chopped up chocolate inside a mug with an ornament along with homemade gingerbread man cookies. Happy Holidays!

Sugar Cookies and Gingerbread Men

My husband and my Father-in-law are both ENT physicians, and this past weekend they had their Christmas party, so I made each family a little box of cookies as well as homemade hot cocoa (the post for that is a few down) as little gifts. I have been told that I made the BEST sugar cookies (wink, wink). I was planning on making all the desserts for the party (pecan crusted chocolate pudding pie, lemon bars, pastry puff, and spritz which I did already have made), but my dog ate a cake for a customer that was due the next morning so I was busy
re-doing that, and so I had no time to bake and I was forced to buy the desserts. :(

Snowflake...


Mitten...


Present...


Ornament...

Gingerbread man cookie...

gift boxes...

All boxed up and ready to go (I found these perfect Martha Stewart cookie boxes at Michaels)...

Punky's i Carly laptop computer cake

This cake was made for a girl I went to High School with's daughter Alyssa aka Punky who turned 8. This cake went off without a hitch until a sudden disaster struck... my dog Sasha ate it (scroll down to see the pic of the cake she ate) at 7pm Friday night. Words can't even begin to describe what was going through my mind. Anyway, I jumped right on making another one, and actually finished alot faster than it took for the first one. I guess I was a seasoned pro at making computer cakes by that time. :) The cake was white with chocolate buttercream/chocolate chip filling with vanilla buttercream frosting and then covered entirely in fondant. The screen was made from styrofoam and then covered in fondant as well. Happy 8th Birthday Punky!



This was the first cake that I made... the one that my dog ate!!!

Jacob's hockey cake

This cake was made for a repeat customer's son Jacob who was turning 8. He loves Hockey so that is what he got. His favorite color is green so that was incorporated into the cake as well. The cake was chocolate with chocolate buttercream filling and vanilla buttercream frosting. The hockey sticks, puck, stars and stripes were made from homemade marshmallow fondant. Happy 8th Birthday Jacob!



another view...

Homemade hot cocoa

Elizabeth's 1st birthday monkey cake

This cake was made for some friend's of our's daughter Elizabeth who was turning 1. A light purple cake with a monkey theme was asked for so this is what I came up with. The cake was white with strawberry buttercream filling and buttercream frosting, and the monkey, bananas, 1, and polka dots were all made from homemae marshmallow fondant. I absolutely LOVE the way this cake turned out! Happy 1st birthday Elizabeth!!



Closeup of monkey and bananas...

Brayden's baptism cake

This cake was made for some friend's of our's son Brayden who was being baptized. I was told that I could do whatever I wanted which was nice and that it didn't have to be anything very detailed, just something simple due to the fact that it was for the same day as my birthday. The cake was chocolate with vanilla buttercream/chocolate chip filling and vanilla buttercream frosting. Cross, white doile and border were made from homemade marshmallow fondant and silver dragees were used for finishing touches.

Newspaper Retirement cake

This cake was made for a man who retired from Towne Ford after 30 years! The cake was one layer chocolate and one layer white with raspberry buttercream filling and vanilla buttercream frosting. I absolutely LOVE the way this cake turned out!

Happy Retirement Paul!!

Minnie Mouse

This cake was made for a little girl turning 2 who has taken an extreme liken to Minnie Mouse. The cake was one layer white and one layer chocolate with a raspberry buttercream filling. Minnie Mouse's "head" was chocolate cake with homamade marshmallow fondant ears and then complete with fondant polka dots and bows. Happy 2nd birthday Kyra!

Six wheeler

I was asked if I could made a six wheeler cake, and at first I had absolutely no clue what one was. After I saw a picture, the first thing that popped into my head was that it looked like one of those paddle boats that you take out onto a lake... (you know, the ones that you paddle and paddle until you get so tired that you can't paddle back), except with 6 wheels. The cake was chocolate with almond buttercream filling and the six wheeler was made from Rice Krispy treats and then covered in homemade marshmallow fondant. Rocks and sign were made from fondant and then oreo cookie crumbs were used to look like dirt. Happy 35th birthday Jimmy!

another view...

The six wheeler...

ipod

This cake was made for a boy turning 12 who specifically requested a bright yellow ipod. The cake was chocolate with chocolate buttercream filling with homemade marshmallow fondant pieces and then finished off with fondant headphones. Happy 12th birthday Steven!

Banana chocolate chip muffins

YUMMMMMM!!! That's all I really have to say about these! :)

Conner's Lightning McQueen cake

This cake was made for a young boy turning 3. The cake was white with lemon buttercream filling and vanilla buttercream frosting. Lightning McQueen and the stands were made from Rice Krispy Treats and then covered in homemade marshmallow fondant. Happy 3rd birthday Conner!

(Please excuse the quality of the pictures. There is something funky going on with my camera).



another view...


The stands with non-pareil fans...

My Cupcake Halloween costume!!

My "sweet" Halloween costume complete with a cherry on top!

We decided to have a halloween party for our kids and this was my costume. I received the Pottery Barn Kids Catalog in the mail and fell in love with the idea of dressing up as a cupcake, so I googled until my fingers fell off and when I hit a dead end, I decided that I would have to take matters into my own hands and have a go at making one myself. This is what I came up with... isn't it great? Everyone loved it! I even had a little girl say that she wanted to take a bite out of me! :) Happy Halloween! Muahahahaha!!!

Happy Halloween!

These were the goodies that I made for the Halloween party we threw for our kids.

Halloween cupcakes...


Cupcake stand...


Sugar cookies (just one of three platters)...


Spider with web...


Jack-O-Lantern (all had different faces)...


Ghost...


Bat...

Lemon cookies

I made these lemon cookies along with some chocolate cookies which for some reason I didn't get a picture of, for a Diwali dinner that my Mother-in-law and my Father-in-law were hosting. For those of you who don't know what Diwali is, it is the celebration of the Indian New Year.