Gum Paste Flower Cake and Cupcakes

This beautiful cake and cupcake tower was created for a retirement gathering.  The cake was taken home by Joyce, the lucky retiree, while the 90 cupcakes were quickly devoured by her colleagues remaining on the job! 

The tower consisted of red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, lemon poppy seed cupcakes with lemon curd and Swiss meringue buttercream as well as chocolate cupcakes with chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream.  Every cupcake had a handmade gum paste leaf and flower.  The cake was a chocolate cake with a filling of bittersweet ganache and chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream frosting.  It was covered in handmade fondant and more than 50 gum paste buds and blossoms.  I love how the cake resembled a spring hat.  I loved the way it all came together and I wish Joyce many years of happiness and good health!

Leprechaun Hat Cake - repost

I've never met a leprechaun, I've never even been to Ireland, but I imagine there are all different kinds of leprechaun personalities. The shy one, the bold one, the happy one and the grumpy one. And then there would be the one who would wear this jaunty little hat. I can only imagine he would walk with a confident gait and have a magnetic personality to match! Maybe this March 17th I will finally meet my first leprechaun. Can't wait to see what his hat looks like! This hat is made of four delicious layers of brown sugar butter cake, filled with caramel Swiss meringue buttercream and is covered with shamrock green fondant. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 

 

Cake & Cookie Decorating Parties

Over the years I have thrown my daughters some incredible birthday parties (tooting my own horn, just a little!)  No matter what the theme, I would always make one of the activities involve icing in a piping bag!  Whether they were decorating cookies or cupcakes, the kids always had a blast!

When my youngest turned 5, each child got to decorate their own mini Barbie cake!

So in response to all the joy I have witnessed when kids wield an icing-bag and after numerous inquiries in regards to parties and cake decorating instruction, I set about organising a couple of cake decorating party test runs with children of various ages and they were very successful.  I couldn't believe how much fun everyone had! 

And so today, I officially announce that Sweet Handmade is offering decorating parties.

A Sweet Handmade birthday party is an easy party for you!  Thoughtfully planned out, all you need to do is provide each party-goer with a work area and I will take care of the rest; I set up each work station, lead the group with 1 1/2 to 2 hours of decorating fun and I clean up at the end.  There is no need to purchase a party cake because the demonstration cake becomes the party cake - and this delicious cake is one you will want to eat!  There is also no need to purchase a loot bag or take-home gifts, as each child will bring home their cake and cookies, boxed for ease!  Starting at $180 for up to six children, $30 for each additional child to a maximum of 15 children.

Enjoy these pictures of young budding cake designers as they try their hand at cakes, fondant, cookies, frosting, cutters, piping and fun!

After set-up, this young party-goer has her sugar cookies and frosted cake ready to decorate.  After a quick and easy demonstration, she will be ready to go.

A little help is sometimes needed!

After I demonstrate some super sugar cookie decorating techniques like outlining, flooding and marbling, the kids try out what they learned and come up with their own designs.

An occasional lick is part of the fun and so yummy!

The party is surprisingly quiet as the amateur decorators work on their craft.

I then lead the group to channel their inner-cake-designers, first by demonstrating how to colour and roll fondant, then how to cover their cakes and how to finish the design with fondant cutouts and piped icing.  Each child then works on their own cake.

Using cookie cutters and fondant balls, this party-goer made her cake beautiful.

This cake was decorated in beautiful bright colours - stars, teddy bears and hand prints.  Super cute!

Always different, always special, always delicious and always super fun!

Contact me today to book your next party - suitable for ages 5 and up.  What a wonderful time!

Fantasy Flower 65th Birthday Cake

Designing and creating a cake for a special occasion; a milestone birthday, a child's birthday, an anniversary or a wedding always fills me with such a feeling of joy.  As I work on the cake I feel my craft will help make the occasion even more special and I always feel honoured for the request and the ability to add something really special to the day.  When the delivery takes place, I leave before the guests arrive and rarely witness the guest reaction to the cake and its taste. 

Last weekend my wonderful mother-in-law turned 65 and my father-in-law planned a surprise party for her.  He hesitated asking me for the cake because the party was two hours away on a hot July day.  I really wanted to do this cake and I went to work creating an elegant design that I felt would suit her beautiful, kind and loving nature.  It is not often I get to design a cake from scratch and this one was an extra special project.

I started by creating these fantasy flowers that shimmered with lustre dust and reminded me of sea shells, perfect for my m-i-l who loves to travel.  Then I baked up layers of chocolate butter cake and white butter cake and alternated them with my delicious Swiss meringue buttercream tinted the softest shade of coral.  I fashioned an elegant 65 out of gum paste and placed it on top of this beauty.

After a harrowing 2 hour drive in 32 degree celcius heat, the cake arrived at its destination intact.  It was a different experience to be there as the cake was cut and served.  I suspect that like every cake delivery I make, the cake became a focal point that people could talk about, study and eventually taste.  The incredibly positive feedback added a happy element to the party for me and I was so happy that my mother-in-law loved it as well.  I wish you many more happy and healthy years, Jackie!

Tractor Cake and Cookies

For Susan's husband's 53rd birthday we decided on a John Deere riding mower/tractor design for a cake and matching cookies. The mower is Mark's newest "toy" and Susan thought the cake would be delicious in lemon poppyseed poundcake with a lemon curd filling and Swiss meringue buttercream frosting.

 
It was a devine flavour that everyone who tasted loved! Happy birthday Mark!

Noah's Ark Cake

For little Owen's Christening, his mom and I decided on a Noah's Ark cake, a special and symbolic design for an important occasion in this little boy's life.  Creating the cake was a labour of love, with each animal taking on a personality all their own...

...those super-cute giraffes with their silly grins and those monkeys peaking out of the portholes just above the waves....


Owen's dad was also Christened the same day, so we put a small tribute to him on the cake as well.


...the lovable turtles, the sly snakes peaking out from behind those elephants (just look at those ears and trunks!) ...

...the super-cute pigs and the hippos and ducks and alligators were a joy to create....


Thanks Cake Avenue for the inspiration.


....and finally the zebras and the lion and lioness.  I finished the design with a pair of white doves, symbolic of peace and love, two things I hope are plentiful in Owen's life. 

The cake itself was alternating layers of chocolate butter cake and white butter cake were frosted in vanilla and chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream and covered in homemade fondant.  The fondant was sculpted to look like rustic boards and a thatched roof, I am really pleased with how it turned out, as was little Owen's family! 

Baby Shower Cake for Chloe



To celebrate the birth of beautiful Chloe, I designed this lovely two-tiered cake.  Brown Sugar Butter cake with Brown Sugar Swiss Meringue Buttercream is covered in my homemade fondant and decorated with sugar paste disks and sugar paste ribbons.  This design would be just lovely in blue or pink!  Welcome Chloe!

Chocolate Easter Cake with Truffle Egg Nest

With Easter just around the corner, it is time to think about the dessert you will be serving at your special dinner.  Last week I posted my extremely kid-pleasing Easter Bunny Cake, today I'm posting this elegant cake, perfect for those of you who don't get a visit from the Easter Bunny and who need their own chocolate fix!

My Truffle Egg Nest Cake is a super tall 6" cake.  It is a rich chocolate cake laced with espresso powder for a subtle mocha flavour. It is layered with a whipped ganache and then topped with a shiny dark-chocolate glaze. Inside the milk-chocolate nest are bittersweet-chocolate truffle eggs, coated with milk-chocolate tinted a sweet blue colour and brushed with luster. This gorgeous cake feeds 8 to 12.  Contact me for pricing and delivery options.

Fairy Cupcake Tower

Here is the cupcake fairy topper that I created for Mikenna's 9th birthday party.  This cute fairy was sculpted out of gumpaste and was named Joyce by the birthday girl!  Joyce sits at the top of this beautiful pink themed cupcake tower, filled with mini chocolate and vanilla cupcakes each topped with a swirl of pink Swiss meringue buttercream and a gum paste flower.  Happy birthday Mikenna!

Pirate Cake with Cupcakes

Ahoy Matey!  This super-cute pirate cake is suited to a young pirate boy or pirate girl celebrating their birthday.  In addition to the cake sporting the pirate, the crew is on the cupcakes, most of them sporting a scar or two to prove their bravery in battle.  The pirate map leads us right to the treasure, in this case, Liam's third birthday party!  This cake with cupcakes can be tailored to your needs, with flavours and quantities at your discretion.

Snowflake Cupcakes

Welcome to Canada!  We were warned of blizzard-like conditions yesterday, and I decided the best way to deal with snowflakes is to make them yummy!  A delicious sour cream vanilla cupcake with a swirl of luscious Swiss meringue buttercream frosting, topped with a fondant snowflake and sugar dragees.  This is how to celebrate the winter season!

Holiday Cookie Decorating Kit

What kid (or kid-at-heart) doesn't love to decorate Christmas cookies? The good news is the stores have been carrying the cookies since Halloween. Wait a minute! Who wants 2 month old cookies? And, have you ever checked out the ingredients? Bad news!

How's this for an alternative? My "Christmas Cookie Kit" comes complete with a piping bag of Royal Icing (simply sugar and meringue powder), small candies and dragees and freshly baked chocolate or gingerbread cookies (flour, sugar, butter, eggs, and chocolate or molasses and spices). The kit comes freshly made for you! All you need to do is sit back and enjoy the fun the kids are having. If you are lucky, you'll get to sneak a few delicious bites!

You might never consider store bought again! A kit contains 12 cookies in chocolate, gingerbread or both, 2 bags of royal icing (this allows two kids to decorate at the same time) and an assortment of seasonal candies.

Bûche de Noël

The origins of the bûche de Noël, or yule log, may be traced to celebrations of the winter solstice. On this night, the longest of the year, logs were brought indoors and burned in the hearth, not only for warmth, but to symbolize the sun's return. This beautiful dessert will wow your guests when you place it on the holiday table, but the best reaction you will get will be when they take their first bite!
My delicious bûche de Noël starts with a delicate Chocolate Génoise cake rolled around my spectacular Milk Chocolate Mousse. The log is glazed in Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache and Bittersweet Chocolate Splinters and decorated with Sugared Rosemary and Meringue Mushrooms.  This dessert will provide a generous slice to approximately 15 people. 

Contact me early to discuss pricing and to guarantee this outstanding dessert makes it onto your holidays table!

Monkey Cake for Lucas!

Sweet Lucas turned one and a delicious and extremely special cake was in order.  After a consultation, Lucas' mom and dad decided that this super cute monkey design (inspired by Whipped Bakeshop) was perfect for their "little monkey"!  The flavour for this two tiered cake was double almond (dense almond cake, almond dacquoise, apricot preserves and rum Swiss meringue buttercream) and the cake was decorated with chocolate and vanilla fondant circles, stripes and monkeys!

Of course, children would be in attendance and they needed something special too!  These adorable mini chocolate cupcakes were frosted in chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream and topped with chocolate and vanilla fondant monkeys, in keeping with the theme.

Lucas' mother was thrilled with the outcome and told me "the cake was delicious!  It was definitely a highlight of the party, and had my guests talking."  It was a pleasure to create such a sweet cake for such a sweet boy.  Happy birthday, Lucas!

Happy Birthday Cupcake Tower

One of my best girlfriends lives in a house full of men. When her birthday came around, I figured she needed something pink! For ease of serving and match her casual lifestyle, I opted for a cupcake tower. Each Vanilla Cupcake was topped with a swirl of Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream. A buttery Sugar Cookie frosted with Royal Icing in this darling pattern was put on top of each cupcake. Happy Birthday Shelley!

Flavours - Chocolate Lover's Cake

This one's for the purist!  This cake is all chocolate; no fruit, no nuts, nothing to adulterate the true flavours of the chocolate. 

It starts with layers of Devil's Food Cake, made with coffee to bring out the chocolate flavour. The  layers are filled with Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache and Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream and the entire cake is covered in Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream and is just plain awesome!

Flavours - Mocha Cake

Today's flavour is my delicious Mocha Cake.  It starts with three layers of sinfully rich Devil's Food Cake, each generously brushed with Coffee Syrup.  The bottom layer is covered with a delicious layer of Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache, the next layer with Swiss Meringue Buttercream and finally the whole towering cake is covered in Coffee Swiss Meringue Buttercream.  A coffee lover's dream.

Flavours - Chocolate Cherry Cake

Today I am presenting my Chocolate Cherry Cake.  It starts with four layers of rich Chocolate Butter Cake, each brushed with a Kirsch syrup.  This cake is then filled with a Dark Chocolate Ganache mixed with Kirsch-soaked Cherries and frosted in Whipped Dark Chocolate Ganache.  This cake is a chocolate-lover's dream and is rich and moist and full of boozy flavour.  Is this the one for your next special event?

Circles and Flowers Cake

Here is a delicate design using both fondant circles and gum paste flowers. A pretty design so nice for a mom or sister!

Carrot Cake



This super delicious cake, Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, was made for a young soul turning 82. The carrots were made of fondant and brushed with a little cocoa "dirt" to give them that fresh picked look, without the fresh picked taste! Mmm!