Bella's 3rd birthday

First I have to say that I cannot believe that I have been lucky enough to make Bella's birthday sweets for the third year in a row! It has been such a joy to be a part of her life from day one. She really makes me feel like I have a niece of my own to spoil :)

She had a princess themed tea party. 

I loved all the place settings :)

These were a few of the other sweets we enjoyed :)
Macarons by me and the rest by James' mother!

All the girls got to dress up in fancy dresses and have tea and crumpets. So this year I got to make her cake more grown-up than cutesy. I tried many new techniques with this cake that I have read about and watched videos but haven't had the right opportunity to try. Well I decided that sugar flowers were no longer allowed to scare me! I tackled the project head on and literally dived into making these bad boys. I started with white just to get the technique down. I made one of those and I was off... and after hours of sitting at that table I was finally finished :)

Then I had to bake the cake! I used a vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream to keep the cake simple and kid friendly. The boys were excited to take a huge bite out of each and every one of the roses! Don't worry, I stopped them at one. WAY too much sugar in them!

That was probably one of the best feelings of accomplishment I have had with cake so far... until I put the cake together!

I loved making it and I loved how it came out! I can't wait to use these new techniques again!

I also used royal icing as a way to border the layers and decorate the teacup.

Decorated Cupcakes!

Over the past couple of months I was able to make individual decorations for cupcakes for occasions from baby showers to birthdays. I love the look of a bunch of cupcakes with the little decorations on top.

I made a bunch of these little cuties for a baby shower. They were the perfect little bite of sweetness all in one!

I love the little army of cupcakes. They look so cute. All lined up and ready for battle.

These next ones were for another baby shower made back in June. They were made to match the invitations and were vanilla with a ganache filling. YUM!

The fondant decorations were all cut by hand even down to the little indents in the surfboards. And I love these little wrappers. I could use them all the time! The scalloped edge is adorable!

And as always, my little army of turtles all riding out to surf the party together :)

And these were my first attempt at making sugar flowers by hand. They took a lot of research, trial & error, & time to get right, but I think I finally got the hang of it toward the end there.

The colors of the party were pink and purple and they painted lilies :) And if you ever wondered what an army of sugar lilies looked like...

Thanks for checking out my cupcakes :) Let me know any fun ideas you may have for my next project!

New Obsessions.

Firstly, I have been absolutely obsessed with watching Amazing Wedding Cakes on WEtv. I know it's a little bit corny the way they describe exactly what everything is, but I love watching the different cakes they produce from the consultation all the way to delivery. I love seeing the inside of all of their shops. Some of them have little stores where you can get coffee and a cupcake or some delicious cookies. Some of them have gorgeous little industrial buildings that they have perfectly equipped for their cake making.

My favorite shop to follow is the White Flower Cake Shoppe in Ohio. It gives me hope that one day I can own my own shop in not-as-popular cities. They make such cute enormous cakes, my favorite being the glam cake, or maybe the black and white gift boxes cake.

Images courtesy of Facebook

Image courtesy of Google

These girls and their cakes are definitely an inspiration to me. I see how young and successful they are, and it proves to me that it can be done.

Secondly, I have discovered that I own over 500 cupcake wrappers. I need to get baking. I have so many cute ones from Bake it Pretty that I still have yet to use. I can't find occasions to make them for. But since June is officially cupcake month, I vow to make at least 5 new cupcake flavors in some of these adorable wrappers. Comment here and tell me some flavors you'd like to see :)

Thirdly, I love this apron.

It's so cute and chic. I would wear it every day. It's made by Flirty Aprons and if it ever goes on sale, it's mine. :)

Thanks for reading about my baking obsessions. Comment here and tell me about some of yours!