Happy Birthday, Mrs. Roberts!

Susie's mom is turning 79 this weekend so Susie ordered a nice cake to help her celebrate. I had a lot of fun making this cake--lots of royal icing drop flowers had to be made ahead of time! This is a french vanilla cake, iced with butter cream and decorated with royal icing drop flowers. I hope her mom likes it!

A Perfect Little Cupcake

Wouldn't it be great if every time you were tired, sad or frustrated, someone made you a perfect little cupcake? 

This cupcake is one of 36 cupcakes made for Sabrina's Mom--otherwise known as Persila. (On a side note--how many of you know other mom's as "Sabrina's Mom" and not their real names?). She is celebrating Chinese New Year this week, and will be taking these cupcakes and adding a little chinese good luck charm to the top. I can't wait to see the finished product.

Thankfully, both kids are asleep for their afternoon nap and let me decorate these cupcakes. As I sit on the couch blogging and watching last night's episode of Hell's Kitchen, I wonder....how good would a cup of tea and a cupcake be right now?

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

When I was doing my cake decorating course in the fall, all the decorated cakes would end up at my daughter's montessori schol on Thursday morning. The teacher's loved it (although they claimed their waistlines were hurting from all the cake!) and couldn't wait to see what was going to show up each week. 

Since I'm not doing Course III this winter, Ms. Farah's tummy was having cravings today for some of my cake. So in honour of their Winter Carnival tomorrow, I threw some cupcakes in the oven and out came 2 dozen beautiful snowflakes! And like all good snowflakes, no two are alike!

I also discovered tonight that 'self rising flour' and 'cake and pastry flour' are NOT the same thing! I tried to make Banoffee Cupcakes--banana and toffee cupcakes with whipped cream and dulce de leche topping. I didn't make it to the topping, as the cupcakes didn't rise. They are little hockey pucks of banana and toffee bits. I tried one, and it sank to the bottom of my stomach like a rock. Okay, so I'm going to need to find a better option to bring to my Mommies Group tomorrow.

Grr...

Baby Showers

There are lots of amazing cakes that can be done for a Baby Shower or a Bridal Shower. Don't worry if you can't come up with an idea. I've got lots! Just give me a call, or email me a picture of a great cake that you have seen and we'll discuss your options!

This cake was done for my good friend Lisa, who was hosting a Baby Shower for her sister-in-law today. It is a french vanilla cake, covered in rich buttercream icing. 

Cheers!

My How Spiderman Has Changed!

I very happy to say that my decorating skills have clearly improved over the past 2 years. The Spiderman on the left was my very first character cake. My good friend Diana shared her wealth of knowledge with me and this was the final product! At the time I was so excited! My nephew, Eric, thought it was the coolest cake in the entire world. It was until months later when I really LOOKED at the cake that I realized how bad it was. Again, I had problems with the eyes.

The new Spiderman was decorated last night for Jonathon's 5th birthday. I'm very happy to say that I very excited about how this one has turned out. The eyes are straight and the hands actually have five fingers each! Whoo Hoo! I'm sure Jonathon will love it.

My cake business is really taking off, and Saturday's are booking up fast. So if you have an event in the near future, please give me a call so we can talk about what cake will WOW! all your guests!

Cheers!

Wow! Thanks Everyone!

I've only been up and running for just over a week, and I've already had to turn down two orders for Saturday! Thank you to everyone who has spread the word about Cakes by Casey...I really do appreciate it.  Hopefully I'll be able to make a cake for Scott and Miss Jenny next time!

I had a lot of fun decorating this cake for Mason's 2nd birthday in October. All he wanted was a blue car. Not picky. Just a blue car. This was my first 3D cake, and it was surprisingly easy! Mason loved it! There are so many character cakes and shaped cakes that can be made using the Wilton Shaped Pans. If you need some inspiration, check out the website at www.wilton.com/shapedpans or give me a call and we can talk about your cake needs!

So I'm off to get a double batch of buttercream icing ready. I have two orders for Saturday...Spiderman for my friend Danielle (and I promise the eyes will look better this time) and a Baby Buggy for a baby shower Lisa is hosting on Saturday! I'll post pictures as soon as they are done!

Have a great Thursday night!

Happy Birthday Mya!

After I finished decorating the Iggle Piggle cake, I was having so much fun that I cracked out the rolled fondant and started decorating a second cake! 

The cake is a chocolate fudge cake covered with vanilla buttercream and decorated with pink and orange rolled fondant.

I decided it was too pretty to cut into for dessert, so I sent it to work with my husband. He walked into work and yelled "Happy Birthday, Jay!" who promptly blushed and said it wasn't her birthday. But it was her daughter's birthday tomorrow! So Jay took the cake home to celebrate Mya's 5th birthday! I'm very happy that my practice cake ended up in a fantastic celebration!

Happy Birthday, Mya!

Happy Birthday, Nicholas!

Happy 5th Birthday Nicholas! Nicky is the cutest little 5 year old that lives next door to me. When I asked him what kind of birthday cake he would like, he said "Iggle Piggle!" and I said "Who?"

Thank goodness for the Internet!

Iggle Piggle is from a Treehouse show called In the Night Garden. I watched about 2 minutes of it, and it made me think of Teletubbies. I'm so glad my eldest daughter hasn't discovered this show yet.

Still Laughing...

I'm laughing so hard reading the Cake Wrecks blog that I'm crying.

Cake Wrecks

As I sit here on the couch watching the Bachelor and surfing the web for new cake designs, I came across the Cake Wreck blog. I've never laughed so hard in my entire life! You really need to check it out!

I'm sure we have all walked past the cake window in the local grocery store and wondered who actually decorates those cakes.

Every baker has that cake that should never have seen the light of day. And so I post the picture of my first Ariel Cake. It was for a good friend's daughter's 4th birthday. I did this cake before completing the two decorating courses. Thankfully, from the perspective of a 4 year old, she thought it was the greatest cake! Phew!

So laugh it up on this fine Monday night.

Cheers!

Cupcakes and More!

I also really like to do cupcakes. They are so quick to make and they can put a smile on anyone's face! My daughter's teachers love it when I show up with cupcakes! Most of the time, Miss Farah remembers to share!

Cupcakes are a great way to let each child have their own 'little cake'. They can be personalized for each party person! The options are endless! 

These cupcakes were for a holiday party and I had a great time making them!

Please give me a call if you would like to order cupcakes for your child's next birthday to send to school. I am currently using a modified recipe with Duncan Hines mixes--and only the ones that are nut free!

Cupcakes are $1.50 each with a minimum order of 12.

Have a great week!

Casey

The Slideshow

My husband, Rob, is my personal tech support God. I've been trying for 2 days now to get the slideshow gadget to work. He got it working in 10 min. Grrr...

Anyways, the slideshow to the left shows some of the cakes that I've done of the past 2 years. Please, don't laugh at Spiderman. It was my first character cake, and I realize that his eyes are a little crooked. I'm much better now!

I love doing the character cakes from Wilton. If you think you would like to order a character cake for your next birthday, please check out the Wilton website for designs. The site is http://www.wilton.com/shapedpans/ . There are so many great character cakes, it is so hard to choose sometimes!  

Character Cakes I have done:

3D Cruiser Car in blue

Ariel, the Little Mermaid

Spiderman

Soccer Ball (which can also be a baseball, golf ball or basketball)

Lion

Santa with list

Barney ( I had purple icing everywhere!)

Cheers!

On a boring Saturday Night..

So I'm so excited at the possibility of creating more cakes, that I popped one in the oven this afternoon just so I could have something to decorate after the kids went to bed. 

This is the result of my 'nothing better to do' Saturday night. We ate it for dessert with tea.

I'll be posting more pictures of cakes that I have done, including some of my first ones. Please don't laugh at Spiderman.

My Favourite Cake

This is my favourite cake so far. I had just finished the Wilton Cake Decorating II class and my mother asked for a birthday cake for her party. Her birthday happens to be 5 days before Christmas, and she is adament that her birthday is NOT an extension of Christmas. So I thought this cake was as far from Christmas as possible.

This cake is an 8" chocolate marble cake with homemade buttercream icing (BC). The dark and light purple violets were made the week before in Royal Icing (RI).

Mmmmm....I love cakes.

My first Blog.

So my sister suggested that I start a cake blog instead of trying to maintain a website. We'll see how it goes!

Why?

My maternity leave will be ending in the middle of February. But I have decided to stay home with Kate until September. So that means no pay cheque and no E.I. Boo. I have to make some extra money somehow.

I just completed Wilton Cake Decorating I and II (offered through Durham College) and I'm ready to put my new skills and great passion to work. I love doing cakes, cupcakes and character cakes. I'm not ready for wedding cakes yet. Give me time.

This is what I will be charging:

8"-12" round or  9x13" rectangular Buttercream Cake: $30

Wilton Character Cake: $40

Cupcakes: $1.50/each (minimum order:12)

Tiered Cakes/Fondant: to be discussed.

So, if you aren't a baker, but would love to have a fantastic cake for your next birthday, baby shower or anniversary (or even to take to your kids' school), just give me a call!