Some cupcakes.

two new cakes

This cake is for a girl at the shelter who is turning 8. That is how she spells her name. The only other info I had on her is that she likes purple and sparkles. Hope she likes cake!

These are some cupcakes for a little girl at the shelter who is turning 4. The only piece of information I had on her was that she liked butterflies. These butterflies are made of royal icing.

this hungry caterpillar just wants cake....

On Saturday, he ate through one 9x12 sheet cake, 15 or so cupcakes, two cans of frosting, 30 Necco wafers, and a few Laffy Taffy. That night, he had a stomachache!

(This was for a first birthday at the shelter. The faces are drawn with edible ink and the antennae are made out of melted-then-formed Laffy Taffy.)

Lego cake

This was for a boy celebrating his 10th birthday at the shelter. I'm told he likes Legos. This was the easiest cake I've done in a long time- no piping! The bumps on top are marshmallows. Not my neatest work, but I had fun doing this one.

I hate Bratz

I really do hate those Bratz dolls. No particular reason- maybe their noseless little faces give me the creeps. Or maybe the trampy outfits. Or the b*tchy attitude of the marketing. Whatever. But this little girl at the shelter *really* loves Bratz, I'm told, so I swallowed my better judgement and made her this cake. I hate it so much, I almost didn't even post the picture. But it came out pretty close to the picture so I figured why not? I also made her some traditional cute rainbow chip cupcakes- because I think it is a requirement that all little girls like rainbows. (And unicorns also.) But for the record if my own daughter wanted this cake the answer would be a very strong NO.

First Birthday...

I am feeling like my oven is never off lately! This one is for a little girl spending her first birthday at the shelter...it was a chocolate & pink checkerboard cake inside.

Pink Penguins?

Another cake for the shelter...they have been keeping me busy this month! This is for a 16 year old girl who likes pink penguins I guess....

Go Cubs!

This is a cake I did for a boy at the shelter. He was turning 16 and is apparently a big Cubs fan. So i had to put some extra love in this cake....

Happy Birthday, America!

Nothing says festive like a pretty cupcake.

How could I forget this picture? This is one of the cupcakes after it has been enjoyed.

CT's school mascot is an owl, so we made owl cupcakes in a pretzel nest for the class picnic. Hooooot.

we've been back to baking...

*finally!* Another birthday at the shelter. It has been nearly two months since we have baked for Hesed House. This cake is for a 13 year old boy...hope he likes baseball because that is what he's getting. This cake was super easy and I think it turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself. Of course, I did have lots of "help"...this is a dramatic re-enactment of the "helping" since I missed taking pictures during the actual "helping" since their "helping" is actually very labor intensive on my part.


You aren't fooling anyone with that fake cupcake, mister.

One of the real cupcakes...

happy birthday to me....

Well, I am one year closer to having rotten eggs....*sigh*. But I did have a super nice birthday weekend thanks to my awesome friends & family. Love you guys. On Saturday, my super cool organic friend took me to a 'scrap mania' and we got to sit all night and play with pretty papers and look at pictures of our babies. She also treated me to some coffee, because she knows me so well! Thank you to my mother for taking CT out for a few hours and giving Husband a reprieve. My mom & CT picked out a cake for me so that I didn't have to bake one for myself. *yay!* Then I came home around 11:30 pm to this (minus the child standing there, thankfully):

On Sunday, the actual Big Day, my whole family remembered and called to wish me a happy birthday. That's like 3 calls, so it is pretty noticable when someone forgets. Then CT and I went to Starbucks to play cards while Husband and Lil' A napped.
Husband needed a nap because he let me sleep in. Yes, I was out all day and night, and then I got to sleep in! Later we went for a tasty but waaaaay overpriced Italian meal. Thank you for that Mom. I still feel kind of guilty about it, but it was Super Yum. And then, of course we had cake. Not a bad way to spend the first day of my last year without rotten eggs.

A cake I made.

A cake CT made...

Sweet treats

These are birthday treats for a little girl named Shannon who lives at the shelter. The cookies are actually a project from a class I took with my friend Feather. Hers turned out way cuter but she did not send me any pictures. Anyhow, I think I'm liking the swirls on the cupcakes. Uses less icing and looks super cute. Like the 'burners' on little play ovens.

A cake for a girl named Ashley who lives at the shelter. All I knew about her is that she likes Barbie, so I figured gobs of pink ought to do it.

The party' s over.....

Well, our 4 day birthday celebration (see below) for CT is now in its last day. And here are the pictures of the cake that so many of you have heard me talk (fret) about. It was a huge hit and the kids *loved* watching the marbles go through. Most everyone ate the marshmallow fondant, which I was not expecting. The party was a hit in every way, I hope that the parents who stayed had as much fun as I did with their kids. We are so lucky that CT has so many nice friends and nice families to match!

Oh...so why is there a donut in the picture? Well after working on this cake for 3 days I was not about to take a chunk out of it on CT's actual birthday (Thursday) nor was I going to bake another cake. So he settled for a donut, he was actually quite excited about it, and even cut it in half to share with Lil' A.


Our Birthday Week Itinerary:

*Wednesday*: CT's special day at school. He wanted both Husband and I to attend, so of course we did.
*Thursday*: The Actual Birthday. We were planning on heading to the Museum of Science & Industry or Sears Tower (not so much for the Skydeck as to count the elevators) but a snowstorm forced us to reconsider. So we hit the Children's Museum and went for lunch at Noodles & Co. which was just as exciting for the babies and far easier on us. Realization that I now have a 5 year old child. Yikes!
*Friday*: The Party! Spent the day cleaning and decorating and cleaning. Kids came in their pj's at 5 and danced and played and ate pizza and ran around and ate cake and went home at 7. It was like a big tornado of little kid birthday goodness blew right through our house, leaving a rubble of cake crumbs and crumpled wrapping paper.
*Saturday*: Family party tonight, which is way easy after last night. Also because we have such a small family. The plan is to have the kids go sledding and do some eating and finish up the last 2 cakes. And then it's over. :::sigh::: Next stop, Six. :::Ug!:::

Tinkerbell Shout Out

Can you *believe* this cake!?! My friend Heather made this, but to protect her identity we'll call her Feather. Feather made this for her daughter's 5th birthday, isn't it *awesome*!? (Again, I can't tell you her name!!) Those little girls must have been freaking out at the party! I do wonder, however, the reaction they had when she pulled the legless torso from the dress, that could have been pretty creepy. Feather is an awesome cake decorator. If I can't do a cake for a birthday at the shelter she is always happy to step in. And totally out-do me!!! She is also always donating and getting others to donate to my cause. So here's to you, errrr....Feather!