The BIG Reveal!

I have been concealing a super fun secret, well actually TWO secrets since Tuesday and today they were finally revealed. Wanna know the secret? I'll give you hint, the answers are concealed within these TWO cakes! Any thoughts popping in your head yet? Well keep on reading....

On February 13th I was driving to Birmingham for the Mercedes Marathon with my friend and Team in Training co-coach Kelly! We were heading up to coach our TNT runners for the half marathon that weekend. Well about 30 minutes into our drive she looks at me and says "so I've got something tell you and also something to ask you". She continues to say "first of all I'm pregnant"....I let out a huge scream and was super excited for her as this was going to be her first baby! She is going to make such an awesome mom...she's always in a good mood, is overflowing with loads of energy, extremely involved with numerous organizations in the community and is one of the most kind, caring and generous people I know...she is truly and inspiration to all! Then she goes on to ask me if I would make a cake for her so she could have a "gender reveal" party for her friends and family. Her idea was to have the inside of the cake to be dyed either red for a girl or blue for a boy! So immediately being the cake lover that I am I said YES, I would love to bake the cake for her!


But there's an even bigger twist...Kelly said that only her husband was going to find out the sex of the baby during their ultrasound and he would text me the gender so that I could make the cake for the party! WOW...I felt so honored that she was willing to let me know the sex of her own child before her so I could make the cake, and then she would be totally surprised as she cut the cake at the party!


But wait, this story gets even better...on March 2nd she sends me a text saying "TWINS!! September 13th!" WHAT....I couldn't believe what I had just read! I was so excited I couldn't even contain myself. I couldn't wait to talk to Kelly and hear all about how her appointment went. She had gone to the appointment without her husband that day because she thought it was just going to be a routine checkup and nothing new was going to happen since she already knew she was pregnant and it was too early to tell the sex yet....wow was she in for a big surprise when she found out there were two babies!


So now you know the reason behind the TWO cakes...each baby definitely deserves a cake of their own right???? Apparently when you are having multiple babies the doctor refers to them as baby "A" and baby "B". I found some white wooden letters at Michael's and thought it would be super cute to paint the letters red & blue as a monogram for each of the babies' cakes.

Once we knew the babies were TWINS we started planning the color scheme for the party. Kelly's mom had found some super cute polka dot napkins and plates that she had planned to use for the party so I thought it would be fun to carry that theme through in the cakes. I had started looking around for color inspiration through some of the blogs I follow and found a super cute red/blue theme at One Charming Party. I forwarded this idea to Kelly and she liked the colors so that's what we went with! Red & Blue could work for both a girl/boy, boy/boy or girl/girl outcome...I just love this color combo!

So Tuesday, April 13th was the day I received the text from Kelly's husband with the genders for the babies..."baby A..... You really think I was going to tell you the secret just yet...keep reading

For the "big reveal" we thought it would be fun if everyone cast their vote for the sex of each baby. Kelly and her mom came up with the theme of "what color are your booties" for the party so I created a ballot to go with this slogan.

And it's not a party without some cake lollipops right?

As I was looking for party decorations in the red/blue scheme I came across these super cute monogram note cards at Michael's that just so happened to have the letters "A" and "B" on them and be in red & blue, this couldn't have been any more perfect for the party. So I punched holes in the top and strung some blue ribbon through to create some garland for draping by the cakes.

I set up a trial run of the party sweets and decorations at my house to see how everything fit together.

Kelly also wanted to incorporate the sayings "sugar and spice and all that's nice" and

"snips and snails and puppy dogs' tails" into the party food. I created these labels for her to set on the food table...she made a cinnamon & sugar mixture to dip fruit in for the "sugar & spice" and then a snack mix of pretzels, Cheese-its and gummy worms for the "snips, snails & puppy dogs' tails".

And to go with the cake lollipops some cake balls!

More cake lollipops! I love the rainbow sprinkles!

One more fun label...PEANUT & PLAIN M&Ms...get it??? Peanut = Boy, Plain = Girl

So that wraps up the behind the scenes planning at my house...let's head on over to the big reveal party for some more pictures!

The party was this afternoon at Kelly's moms' house and in the entry way she had the cutest pink and blue booties and bibs displayed!

I set up the cake display on the kitchen bar so everyone would be able to gather around when it was time to "cut the cakes"

Are you ready to know what colors are in these cakes yet....I bet the anticipation is killing you...

My guess before I knew the ultrasound results was A = girl

and B = boy....do you think I was right?

Kelly's mom had found these adorable little wind up babies that we put by the baby voting.

The first vote being cast...

The votes are in, let the cake slicing begin!

Here's a picture of Kelly with her brother Andrew, sister-in-law Jessica and nephew Evan.

The cake lollipops were dyed blue

and pink! Everyone was allowed to indulge in the cake pops prior to the cake cutting knowing that even though the pops were colored blue and pink, the true secret colors was hidden beneath the layers of fondant and icing on the cakes.

Proud parents to be...Kelly & Rob! Rob knows the secret and Kelly's about to find out! I don't know how he was able to keep such a huge secret from her for the past 6 days.

Kelly's vote: Baby A = Boy, Baby B = Girl

Here come's Baby A...

BLUE...it's a BOY! Yeah, Kelly was right!

Here's the happy crowd excited for Baby A being a Boy and awaiting the reveal of Baby B.

Here comes Baby B...

Another BOY!

Kelly and her mom sharing a hug! They were both hoping for at least one little girl since there are already 3 little boys nephews/grandsons in the family but looks like they're about to get 2 more. Kelly said "well at least I'll still be the princess!"

So happy for you both! You are going to make terrific twin's parents!

Here's a pic of me and Kelly.

And finally the inside of the cakes...Cake B on the left was a "blue velvet" (traditional red velvet dyed with blue food coloring) and Cake A on the right was a yellow butter cake dyed blue.

And the sonogram that confirms everything: Baby A is a Boy! and Baby B is a Boy!

So there you have it, the big secret and probably one of the most fun baking projects I have ever done are revealed! Thanks Kelly for asking me to be part of your special day!