Happy Birthday To Me!

I'd like to introduce you to my birthday cake! It's pretty fun don't you think? Definitely one of the most colorful and sprinkled cakes I have ever baked or indulged in. Oh and yes it was absolutely delicious too! I have been DYING to make my own version of this Pastel Swirl Cake ever since I saw it on Sweetapolita's blog a while back. If you have never visited Sweetapolita's blog, you sure have been missing out. Rosie makes the most decadent, delicious, unique, and most beautiful cakes that look like pure pieces of art! She is one talented lady and I am in awe every time I look at her latest cake creations! I wish I could spend a day in her kitchen and learn some of her techniques and be her taste tester!
 I have baked several of her cake recipes and they never disappoint! I have been anxiously awaiting the perfect time to try her Pastel Swirl Cake and figured I would give it a go for my birthday cake this year! I loved the three colors Rosie picked when she did her swirl cake, but I wanted to create a cake that was completely different so I decided to go with pink (since my birthday is the day after Valentine's day), purple because it's one of my favorites and then a teal green...well because as you can see from my blog I kinda have a thing for teal! And as far as I'm concerned every cake tastes better with sprinkles, so I loaded up the top with some Valentine jimmies, pink nonpareils and some pale pink sugar pearls!

Lucky for me and you, Rosie made a video tutorial (and yes I have watched it several times) of this very cake on her blog so you can learn just how to blend the colors to make the perfect pastel swirl cake! I decided to use the same Chocolate Cake Recipe and Whipped Vanilla Frosting recipe that Rosie used but just made a 6" cake instead of 8". This is seriously one of the best cakes I have ever tasted in my life and I've already had 2 slices today!

And then I got out my camera and snapped about a million pictures of my colorful cake because it just made me so happy!

Happy Birthday to me and thank you Sweetapolita for making my birthday so sweet with this beautiful cake idea! You truly are an inspiration!

Jake and the Neverland Pirates Birthday Cake

Yo ho ho! One of my favorite little guys just turned 5 last weekend! To help him celebrate such an important birthday I had the honor of creating his birthday cake for the fourth year in a row! This year he wanted Jake and the Neverland Pirates Theme! Let's just say Joshua is definitely paving the way for me and teaching me all kinds of things about what little boys like so I'll know what to expect as our little Sam gets older. We have just recently started turning on the tv for Sam to watch Disney Jr. and luckily I happened to catch a glimpse at Jake and the Neverland Pirates about a week before I made Joshua's birthday cake. I was getting a little worried that I would have no clue how to decorate a cake for a show I had never seen before! Luckily I was able to pick up a few of the key characters, Jake, Tick Tock Croc and Captain Hook at the store to use for cake toppers. In the past I have always created round cakes for Joshua so I thought it would be fun to switch things up this year and create a sheet cake to appear as both water and sand with a treasure hunt. Using some brown tinted fondant I made a map with the birthday boys name and age with a trail towards the treasure and crumbled crushed graham crackers on top to resemble sand. I had looked high and low for some gold deblumes at various stores and came up empty handed...what was I to do? Luckily Mardi Gras is in full swing right now and we just happened to go to the first parade the day before I needed to make this cake. And what do you know, the first float that comes by throws silver coins! Hooray...I finally have the treasure for the cake! I also added a strand of gold Mardi Gras beads. Joshua and his friends all loved the cake!

Hope you all enjoy the Jake Cake too!

Someone is going to be ONE - {Party Planning}

Today my little guy is 10 months old! He is hardly a baby anymore but a toddler on the verge of walking any day now. I can't believe how much cuter he gets each day! He has a huge smile, 7 teeth coming in (4 on top, 3 on bottom) and loves to wave to the lights and say "da da da da" like crazy! With his FIRST birthday quickly approaching in 2 months, you better believe that the planning for his birthday bash is well underway! Here's a sneak peak at some of the colors I plan to use for his special day! This polka dot fabric jumped out at me and I quickly snatched it up realizing I could do so many things with these colors! And it just so happens I already had 3 cake pedestals to match!

Stripe straws are all the rage these days and I have seen them in every color of the rainbow on a ton of party planning sites online, but you'll never guess where I found these for half the price...Michaels for $2.00! Gotta love a good find like this! So I grabbed 3 bags just in case! So now that you know the color scheme...it's time to reveal the theme...drum roll please....

"Little Man" or "Lil Man" or "Mustache Bash"...not sure officially what I'm going to call it yet, but know for sure that there will be all kinds of little ties, bow ties and mustaches in plaids, stripes and polka dots for my little guys 1st birthday party! At first I was thinking about doing a beach themed party since we have a crab theme in Sam's nursery, and then I decided to explore the milk & cookie party route, but again changed my mind to the tie & mustache theme, which is the plan I'm sticking with! After all, Sam's daddy does wear a tie to work everyday and what little boy doesn't want to grow up and be just like their daddy, so I thought this would be a super fun idea!

Now it's time to start thinking about the party invitations. I've got a cute idea for a photo shoot in mind if I can pull it off! Of course I have already been thinking about all the sugary goodness that I plan to bake, decorate and serve for all the guests! And I'm sure you guessed that there will definitely be some cookies involved from the cookie cutters above! So stay tuned as I continue to plan our little Sam's 1st birthday, I'll be sure to share little peaks along the way!

Cake Inspired Birthday Cookies

Today's post is dedicated to my amazing sister Emily! It's her birthday today and I wanted to make her some "cake inspired" cookies to show her how much I love and appreciate her! This past year she became an aunt or "Auntie Em" as we now call her to our little boy Sam! Let's just say we are so blessed to have her in our lives and Sam is one lucky little boy to have her as an aunt! I am not kidding when I say probably about 90% of his wardrobe for the first almost 8 months of his life has been bought for him by her! Emily is constantly sending me text messages during her lunch break of new outfits she has bought for Sam! And if she comes across one that has something to do with "aunt" on the front, well of course she is putting it in her shopping cart! So today, although we are 725 miles apart, I wanted to send her some birthday love in the form of cookies! Lucky for her, my mom (our mom) is down here visiting us right now and flying home today to hand deliver these special cookies!

The theme for these cookies came to me from our numerous conversations we have had about cakes we come across online from other bloggers that we absolutely love and that she always tells me, "you should try this sometime"! The common themes for most cakes that grab our attention these days consist of ruffles, ombre, or sprinkles! So what better way to celebrate the birthday girl than with some of her favorite cake trends replicated on cookies!

So first up is the "ruffle" cookie and "ombre"! If you are a long time follower of my blog you may remember my Valentine's ombre cupcakes here, with the recipe and tutorial posted on Half Baked here. Using a decorating tip #104 and varying shades of turquoise I created these ombre ruffle cookies! I used a crusting buttercream icing instead of royal icing for these cookies so that I could get the texture I wanted when creating the ruffles.

Every birthday needs sprinkles am I right? Rainbow non pareils are my absolute favorite! I love the crunch you get when you bite into the cookie! I think my sister is pretty fond of rainbow sprinkles too. Afterall, here is what she requested for her birthday two years ago! Today she is celebrating the big "29"! Enjoy the last year in your 20s Emily!

And finally another "ombre" cookie using a technique I have been dying to try ever since spotting these cookies on The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle. All you need is a can of Wilton Color Mist and a piece of paper to spray the cookies in varying shades! Let's just say this took a little trial and error at first to get a feel for the spray can, but I finally got the technique down! Still need more practice though! Step-by-step photos are over on The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle so check it out!

I think these cake inspired birthday cookies turned out pretty cute and I can't wait for her to see them in person! I have also already taste tested them, and they are pretty yummy!

Happy Birthday Auntie Em! Hope you have a great day and enjoy your cookies! We will see you next month for Christmas! Sam can't wait to give his auntie a big hug and kiss!

Unscramble the Cookies...

This past weekend I did a fun baking project...it involved cookies in the shapes of letters, brightly iced in lime green, turquoise and orange (the colors of Sam's nursery). There is a hidden message within these cookies...can you guess what it says?

I then boxed up the cookies in some cute Martha Stewart packaging, wrote a little note from Sam (he's only 5 months now...so I had to help him!) and sent them off with my sister on a flight instructing her to be extra careful with them! The cookies were to be opened and unscrambled by my dad, "aka...Gpaw" as a surprise for his....any guesses before you scroll down to the next picture?

60th Birthday! Since Sam and I couldn't be there to celebrate with him in person, I thought it would be fun to send him an edible birthday wish! I love how the cookies turned out, so fun and vibrant! I came up with the whole color scheme from the colors we used in Sam's nursery.

My dad and step mom actually made all of Sam's crib bedding, curtains, a quilt and pillows so I thought it would be fun to do the cookie photo shoot in the nursery surrounded by all the bright colors and fun patterns! It was quite the task trying to photograph this little guy, he's such a wiggler these days and is just starting to sit up on his own.

I love the way he is looking at the cookies in this picture. He is definitely going to be a little cookie monster if he's anything like his mama!

Sam's exhausted after the shoot! Time to relax!This is probably one of my all time favorite pictures of him to date!

I talked to my dad yesterday and he absolutely loved the cookies! My sister took a video of him trying to unscramble the message and she said it took him about 6 minutes to figure it out! I'm still waiting on her to send me the video to watch! So Emily if you're reading this...hurry up and send please!

Also, if you are wondering about this absolutely adorable outfit Sam has on, it was given to me as gift from Carrie @ Half Baked. If you are a long time follower of my blog you know that I contribute to Half Baked with a monthly cupcake recipe! So how fitting was it for Carrie to send me this cupcake onesie with Sam's name on it and it matches his nursery too! She also sent an adorable bib that has the turquoise chevron pattern on it and say's "Mommy's Little" and then a picture of a cupcake! Thanks again Carrie for such a thoughtful gift!

Happy 1st Birthday Max!

Check out these adorable cookies I made and sent to my friend Laurie for her son's 1st birthday today! Laurie was decorating for the party in bright primary colors so I thought it would be cute to do the cookies in blue, green and yellow for little Max! I added a few polka dots and stripes to provide a fun assortment for the party guests!

Laurie and Max live in Florida and we live in Alabama so I've only seen her little guy once when he was about 3 months old! I was actually about 4 months pregnant with Sam when we met Max. So it has been a long time and he has changed like crazy since then. Hopefully Max and Sam can meet sometime soon, I know they would be the best of buddies! Good thing for iphones these days b/c we are able to send pictures back and forth of our little ones growing and changing so quickly!

We wish you a HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY MAX!

Polka Dot and Stripes 1st Birthday

Polka Dots, Stripes & Primary Colors...what a fun way to celebrate a 1st birthday right! I had a blast decorating these bright cakes and cookies recently for such a sweet little girl, Linnie Grace (how cute is her name!!!). Her mom contacted me about creating a cake, smash cake and some #1 cookies for her very special 1st birthday! She had the idea of polka dots & stripes and wanted the colors to coordinate with the location of where the party was being held...red, yellow, blue and green. To add a girly touch to the cakes I added some fondant ribbons around the bases of the 2-tier cake and some multi-colored buttercream ruffles around Linnie Grace's smash cake!

Happy 1st Birthday Linnie Grace!