SweetThings

Guest Post: Coco Cake Cupcakes from Vancouver

2012-01-31T10:58:00.001-05:00

Today's post is part of our bi-weekly Guest Post: 5 Pics Series. We feature multi-talented cake designers from all over the world that I have met online.

Today we feature Lyndsay from Coco Cake Cupcakes and Custom Cake in Vancouver, BC. Lyndsay is self taught and has been making cakes for three years. Her design style is clean, creative, unique and has a vintage/modern vibe to it. She loves to make kid's birthday party cakes especially the animal face cake.

She is pretty famous with the online community from her Very Hungry Caterpillar cupcake cake. Beside caking, she also finds time to blog about ice cream and food

#1 - The Famous Hungry Caterpillar Cupcake Cake

#2 - Cute Animal Cakes

#3 - Angry Birds

#4 - Elmo

#5 - Cute duo of cakes

You can follow Lyndsay here:

Website at: cococake.com/
Blog at: cococakecupcakes.blogspot.com
Facebook and Twitter
Lots of cake photos on Flikr

2nd Birthday Cake: Chuggington Cake

2012-01-24T08:49:00.001-05:00

A Chuggington themed cake with handmade sugarpaste Koko and Wilson for a 2nd birthday. The cake was chocolate sour cream cake with strawberry buttercream.

Have a great week! See you next Tuesday!

Guest Post: Caroline's Cake Company from UK

2012-01-17T09:11:00.002-05:00

It's back, our bi-weekly Guest Post: 5 Pics Series. We feature multi-talented cake designers from all over the world that I have met online.

Today's Guest Post comes from Caroline Smith, owner and cake designer at Caroline's Cake Company based in Birmingham, UK. Caroline started the business in August 2008 following 3 years of classes at the Birmingham College of Food and countless cake orders for family and friends. Since then, the business has grown and developed beyond her wildest dreams. She loves spending her time meeting amazing clients and creating delightful cakes for their weddings and celebrations. Have a look at some of her wonderful creations:

#1 - Delicate and Sweet

#2 - Tea Anyone?

#3 - 3D Fun

#4 - Fun cakes for kids

#5 - Always Creating - Stunning creation based off a company's logo, check out her blog post on this.

Caroline is also regular blogger of her wonderfully creative and clean creations, you can follow her at:

Blog: carolinescakecompany.blogspot.com/
Website at carolinescakecompany.co.uk
Facebook at facebook.com/CarolinesCakeCo
Twitter at twitter.com/CarolinesCakeCo

40th Birthday Cake: Porsche Cake

2012-01-10T08:27:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone is having a great week so far! We've been having some warmer temperatures here in Toronto - it does not feel like winter at all. In the peak afternoon - you really could drive a convertible, so I thought this cake would be appropriate.

It's a chocolate convertible porsche cake for a 40th birthday celebration with the personalized license plate of "OVERTHEHILL".

Have a great week! I will be back here next week to feature another Guest Cake Designer's creations.

Superheroes Cake

2012-01-03T10:04:00.001-05:00

Welcome 2012 and I hope everyone had a wonderful start. I was out with some friends on New Years Eve and I was reminded of this very interesting fact.... In Back to the Future II, the future date they went to was 2015... that is only 3 years away! Yikes - time sure flies!

And speaking of somethings that fly... a superhero cake with "cutish" characters made out of sugarpaste. It was for a 25th birthday and I just loved how it turned out - so colorful and fun!

Have a great week - see you next Tuesday!

Snowman Cake

2011-12-31T09:03:00.001-05:00

Snow finally arrived in Toronto a few days after Christmas. There isn't quite enough for a snowman, but I'm sure any day now we'll get a big snowfall. In the meantime, how about a snowman made out of cake?

I've certainly had a wonderful 2011 filled with good health, friends, family and the arrival of my little girl Sidney. Thank you to all my readers and clients this past year - wishing you happiness, great health and a year full of celebrations! Happy New Year!

Fresh Flowers Cake

2011-12-27T09:34:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I entered a cake contest, the last time was a cupcake contest back in March 2009. This time around, it actually wasn't a "cake" contest... but I thought making a cake just might win it.

Earlier this month, BlogTO, in partnership with the Royal Ontario Museum, held a photography contest to Win a free iPad2. The theme was based off of David Hockney's Fresh Flowers exhibit which features Hockney's and also hundreds of other artist's sketches displayed on iPhones and iPads.

I knew that I wouldn't be able to compete in a photography contest, but after looking through some of his sketches, it inspired me to create a cake! Here is the photo that I chose:

Here is my contest submission: Fresh Flowers in cake and sugar!

I had so much fun with this concept. It reminded me of a wedding that was held at an artists' gallery last year and the wedding cake design was inspired by one of the paintings.

A few days before Christmas, I found out that I WON the iPad! I was so excited and I can't wait to see the ROM exhibit. Since it was an online contest, I also got to enjoy the 4-layer vanilla butter cake. :-)

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T09:58:00.000-05:00

To all my blog readers, clients, family and friends: Wishing you the sweetest Christmas! Savor and enjoy every moment. All my best! Juanita

Christmas Cupcake Tutorial

2011-12-20T07:41:00.000-05:00

Christmas is just around the corner. I put together a simple and easy tutorial for Christmas tree cupcake toppers.

What you need: A small rolling pin, green and yellow fondant, star cutter, painbrush and small pair of nail cutting scissors. The nail scissor can be found at any of those dollar stores and very useful for your cake tool box.

Step 1: Roll the green fondant into a pointy shape. If your fondant is very soft, mix with gumpaste or add some tylose to it to stiffin it up.

Step 2: With the curve of the scissors pointing upward, start making little cuts into the fondant. Match the start and finish of the cuts and just move around the shape.

Step 3: When you've reached how tall you want the tree, then make the final cuts very deep. Then you can just easily twist off your tree.

Step 4: Roll out the yellow fondant and cutout your star. Dab a little water on top of the tree and place it on. And there you have a simple Christmas tree - feel free to add additional decorations too!

I liked my trees plain as I did made a little reindeer to match my daughter's onesie that says "My First Christmas". Hope you enjoyed the tutorial and have a great week!

5-tier Baby Shower Cake

2011-12-13T08:15:00.002-05:00

As you might know, I love making cakes for baby showers. I was asked to re-create a previous 5-tier baby shower cake with some little changes. The cakes were Chocolate Sour Cream and also Banana Cake - yum!

I only got one good picture of this cake as the lighting wasn't too good in the hall. I wish I could've taken a close-up of the little pink sandals. I just have so much fun creating all the cute little details out of sugarpaste.

The quotes on the cake say "Babies are a tiny bit of heaven" and "Babies touch the world with love" - it's so true! Have a great week - see you next Tuesday!

Guest Post: Faithy Bakes from Singapore

2011-12-06T10:35:00.001-05:00

Today's post is part of our bi-weekly Guest Post: 5 Pics Series. We feature multi-talented cake designers from all over the world that I have met online.

Today's guest post comes from Faithy Bakes in Singapore. She started baking in 2008 when she renovated her kitchen and her husband bought her an oven, as they didn't have one before. Faithy then began her first blog: diary of Faithy, the amateur baker. Then she started cake decorating in 2009 when she made her daughter's birthday cake. I remember watching her portfolio of cakes grow and leaving her a comment that she really should drop the word "amateur" :-)

You can follow her wonderful cakes, cupcakes, cookies and macaroons at her new blog Faithy Bakes. Here is a selection of some of her cakes.

#1 - Everything handmade, handpainted and edible

#2 - More 3D Cake Fun

#3 - Defying Gravity

#4 - So Cute

#5 - For the Jewelry Lover

To follow Faithy and her wonderful creations:

Blog at faithybakes.blogspot.com/
Facebook page at facebook.com/FaithyBakes

3rd Birthday Cake: Cute Airplane Cake

2011-11-29T06:42:00.001-05:00

A couple weeks ago I posted an airplane cake, here's another one but 2D and on the cartoony side. This 3-tier cake was for a 3rd birthday celebration.

The cake inspiration was from their party designs created by Barbara Neely designs who you'll find on Etsy.

This 3 tier cake was vanilla butter cake on the top two tiers and chocolate sour cream cake on the bottom tier.

Guest Post: Cake Fixation from Redmond, Washington

2011-11-22T07:51:00.001-05:00

Today's post is part of our bi-weekly Guest Post: 5 Pics Series. We feature multi-talented cake designers from all over the world that I have met online.

Today's guest post comes from Stephanie, owner of Cake Fixation in Redmond, Washington. She was always interested in baking, then in 2008 she launched her cake design studio and her blog. Originally from Dallas, Texas, she learned from great cake designers such as Bronwen Webber, Colette Peters, Nicolas Lodge, and Debbie Brown.

She loves trying new things and creating over-the-top designs that are completely edible too! You should also check out some of the helpful tutorials.

#1 - Bold and Elegant

#2 - 3D Fun

#3 - Very cool 3D that also breathes fire!

#4 -Whimsical Birthday

#5 - Super Cute!

To follow Stephanie and see more of her wonderful creations:

Website at www.cakefixation.com/
Blog at www.cakefixation.blogspot.com/
Facebook at www.facebook.com/CakeFixation

Winner: Cupcake Diaries Book Giveaway

2011-11-18T11:13:00.000-05:00

Thank you everyone for participating in the Cupcake Diaries book giveaway via blog comments, email submissions, twitter and leaving comments on the SweetThings' facebook page. Also a big Thank you to the folks at Harper Collins Canada for sending over the books.

The winner is....

... a Facebook Entry from Nicole C. Congratulations! I will be contacting you shortly to get your address to mail the book out to you!

For those of you in Toronto, the sisters Katherine Kallinis and Sophie Kallinis LaMontagne will be at Indigo Yorkdale on Tuesday, November 22nd at 7pm. Have a great weekend everyone!

Airplane Cake

2011-11-15T08:19:00.001-05:00

How do you combine a retirement cake and a wedding anniversary cake?

The couple was celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary and the husband was also retiring as an Air Canada pilot. This is what their daughter surprised them with at their party.

The airplane and top tier was vanilla butter cake and bottom tier was chocolate velvet cake.

Have a great week and don't forget to enter our contest for a fabulous Cupcake Recipe book: The Cupcake Diaries. Contest end this Thursday at midnight and open for those in US and Canada.

Contest: Cupcake Diaries Book Giveaway

2011-11-11T12:03:00.001-05:00

Happy Friday! I'm happy to announce another book giveaway! I received a wonderful package from Harper Collins Canada this week. A copy of The Cupcake Diaries: Recipes and Memories from the Sisters of Georgetown Cupcakes. These are the ladies from the show DC Cupcakes.

One book will be given to one of my lucky blog readers in Canada or USA. Contest starts today until Thursday, November 17th, 2011 - details below.

There are so many recipes in this book - some of them include: Salted Caramel Cupcakes, White Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes, Bacon Blueberry Pancake Cupcakes, Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Lava Fudge and Hibiscus Mango Cupcakes.

How to Enter

Jump over to the Harper Collins Canada website and just pay them a visit to see what they are up to.
Leave a comment on my blog - make sure you leave me your email address so I can get a hold of you if you win. Or send an email to info(at)sweetthings(dot)ca if you'd prefer.
For 1 additional entry, visit the SweetThings Facebook page and leave a comment.
For another 1 additional entry, follow me on Twitter @SweetThingsTO and tweet the following including the shortened url: I want to win the new Cupcake Diaries Book from @SweetThingsTO and @HarperCollinsCA http://bit.ly/vQpIwP #Cupcakes
A maximum of 3 entries per person. Available in Canada and USA.
Deadline for entry is Thursday, November 17th, 2011 at midnight EST.
One winner will be randomly selected and posted on Friday, November 18th, 2011 at noon. Also notified via email. The book will be shipped to you.

Good luck everyone! And for those of you in Toronto, the sisters Katherine Kallinis and Sophie Kallinis LaMontagne will be Indigo Yorkdale on Tuesday, November 22nd at 7pm.

Winner: Cake Boss Book Giveaway

2011-11-09T12:02:00.002-05:00

Thank you everyone for participating in the Cake Boss Book giveaway contest via blog comments, email submissions, twitter and leaving comments on the SweetThings' facebook page. Also a big Thank you to the folks at Simon & Schuster Canada for sending over the books.

The winner is....

... a Twitter entry from Dat757Deeva. Congratulations! I will be contacting you shortly to get your address to mail the book out to you!

For everyone else, please check back in on Friday for another contest book giveaway! Another book hot off the press... but this time, it's about cupcakes!

Guest Post: Rafael Logrono Cake Design from Philadelphia

2011-11-08T08:52:00.003-05:00

Today's post is part of our bi-weekly Guest Post: 5 Pics Series. We feature multi-talented cake designers from all over the world that I have met online.

Today's guest post comes from a young cake designer, Rafael Logrono, from Azucar, a custom cake shop located in Philadelphia, PA. Rafael has had cake decorating in his blood ever since he was born when his mother began selling cakes. Several years ago, Rafael starting designing his own cakes and his 8th grade teacher placed an order back in November 2008. Yes, if you add that up - he is a very talented 18 year old!

Since then, his cake portfolio has really expanded, he's been featured in Cake Central magazine, competed in many cake competitions, won several awards and will be teaching several classes in 2012. Here is a sampling of some of his work:

#1 - Stunning Beauty!

#2 - So Creative, so Elegant

#3 - Something Funky

#4 - Tall and Striking

#5 - Very Chic!

To see more of Rafael's wonderful cake designs:

Website at: www.rafaellogrono.com/
Facebook at: www.facebook.com/RafaelLogronoCakeDesign
Blog at: http://rafaelscakes.blogspot.com/
Twitter at: twitter.com/RafaelLogrono

And if you are in Canada or US, don't forget to enter our contest giveaway to win the new Cake Boss Book. Contest ends tonight at midnight.

Contest: New Cake Boss Book Giveaway

2011-11-01T11:15:00.004-04:00

Don't you just love getting packages in the mail? Here's a lovely package I received last week from the folks at Simon & Schuster Canada. It is a copy of the new Baking with the Cake Boss: 100 of Buddy's Best Recipes and Decorating Secrets which just launched today!

Even better, they sent me two! One book will be given to one of my lucky blog readers in Canada or USA. Contest starts today until Tuesday, November 8th, 2011 - details below:

Here's a little peak at what is inside:

I know that I will definitely be trying to make these lovely cannoli's.

How to Enter

Jump over to the Simon & Schuster website and just pay them a visit to see what they are up to.
Leave a comment on my blog - make sure you leave me your email address so I can get a hold of you if you win. Or send an email to info(at)sweetthings(dot)ca if you'd prefer.
For 1 additional entry, visit the SweetThings Facebook page and leave a comment.
For another 1 additional entry, follow me on Twitter @SweetThingsTO and tweet the following including the shortened url: I want to win the new Cake Boss Book from @SweetThingsTO and @SimonSchusterCA http://bit.ly/tkOdWr
A maximum of 3 entries per person. Available in Canada and USA.
Deadline for entry is Tuesday, November 8th, 2011 at midnight EST.
One winner will be randomly selected and posted on Wednesday, November 9th, 2011 at noon. Also notified via email. The book will be shipped to you.

Good luck everyone!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-30T20:41:00.002-04:00

Happy Halloween everyone! What a fun holiday.... and what a great day for a cake! Here's my Halloween duck cake -- it is vanilla butter cake with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream.

You are probably wondering... why a duck?

Well... it is a duck because I had to make a cake to match my 4-month old daughter's halloween costume :-) Have a safe and Happy Halloween everyone! Be sure to stop by on Tuesday for a contest giveaway!

Guest Post: Too Nice to Slice from Kitchener, Ontario

2011-10-25T08:17:00.002-04:00

Today's post is part of our bi-weekly Guest Post: 5 Pics Series. We feature multi-talented cake designers from all over the world that I have met online and admired.

This week's guest post come from award winning cake artist and designer, Chrissie Boon, from Too Nice to Slice in Kitchener, Ontario. Chrissie’s love for sugar art has been a long time coming. Starting in her mom’s kitchen with her little toy oven, to eventually running her own Christmas cookie business. Today, in addition to creating amazing cakes, she runs a cake supply store: Icing Inspirations and host an annual cake competition.

Now if you didn't think that was enough, she also has a newly renovated classroom and runs regular classes bringing in cake designers from all over the place. I attended one of these amazing classes back in March. Now here's some of Chrissie's wonderful creations:

#1 - Tall and Elegant

#2 - Wonderful and whimsical

#3 - Unique and completely out-of-the-box for cake

#4 - A one-of-a-kind Spider-lizard

#5 - Chrissie setting a new trend in Cake Art

To see more of Chrissie's creations or visit her online store at:

Websites at www.toonicetoslice.ca and www.icinginspirations.ca
Facebook pages at http://www.facebook.com/TooNiceToSlice and http://www.facebook.com/IcingInspirations
Twitter: http://twitter.com/toonicetoslice
Email: chrissie [at] toonicetoslice.ca

Boston Celtics' Cupcakes

2011-10-18T10:32:00.003-04:00

A quick post for this Tuesday.... which Twitter tells me that it also happens to be National Chocolate Cupcake Day! Some cupcakes that are sporty and sweet!

Chocolate sour cream and banana sour cream cupcakes topped with handmade sugarpaste Boston Celtics designs. Have a great week - see you next Tuesday!

Guest Post: Pink Little Cake from New Jersey

2011-10-11T07:24:00.004-04:00

Today's post is part of our bi-weekly Guest Post: 5 Pics Series. We feature multi-talented cake designers from all over the world that I have met online.

This week's guest post is Kathia from Pink Little Cake in New Jersey. Her passion for cake decorating started 4 years ago when she was celebrating her daughter's 1st birthday. Since then, Kathia has been taking pastry and cake decorating classes and making wonderful cakes, cupcakes and cookies. She writes a lovely blog where she shares many recipes and tutorials. And just in time for Halloween, she has a ton of guest blog posts and ideas for Halloween. Now, a sampling of her cake creations.

#1 - For the Fashionista

#2 - For the Shoe Lover

#3 - Elegant Wedding Cake

#4 - Cute 1st Birthday Cake

#5 - 3D Yorkie Puppy Cake

You can visit Kathia from Pink Little Cake at the following places:

Website: http://www.mypinklittlecake.com/
Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/PinkLittleCake
Twitter at http: http://twitter.com/pinklittlecake
Etsy at http://www.etsy.com/shop/pinklittlecake

Rock n' Roll Cake n' Cupcakes

2011-10-04T07:04:00.000-04:00

The theme given to me was The Rolling Stones, The Who and Rock n' Roll, so I came up with this cake n' cupcake tower. All the decorations were handmade from sugarpaste - I really used a lot of my trusty xacto knife for this creation.

I usually take some pre-delivery photos to double check the set-up and also helps as many times the venue is not completely set up or does not have good lighting. Here's the tower minus an extra cake tier which I will stack at the venue.

The cupcakes were strawberry vanilla and chocolate sour cream. By the way, if you don't recognize the sugarpaste "records" then you are young! :-)

Here is the final set-up with the additional tier. I forgot to take photos from the other angles, but the cubes also had the guitar and record design on the other sides.

Guest Post: The Cakerator from North Carolina

2011-09-27T07:49:00.002-04:00

Today's post is part of our bi-weekly Guest Post: 5 Pics Series. We feature multi-talented cake designers from all over the world that I have met online and admired.

This week's guest post comes from The Cakerator in Raleigh, North Carolina. The owners and talented cake artists, Luis & Maria, specialize in sculpted celebration cakes and elegantly designed wedding cakes. Their cake styles are very versatile with every design element being edible. I also really love how The Cakerator takes their own time to post many free Step-by-Step tutorials and "Ask the Cakerator" for other cake artists or hobbyists.

#1 - 3D Cake at is finest

#2 - For the Hello Kitty Fan

#3 - So Elegant Wedding Cake

#4 - So Elegant Anniversary Cake

#5 - For the Fashionista

Make sure you check out The Cakerator at the following places:

Website coming soon at www.cakerator.com
Blog at www.thecakerator.com
Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Cakerator
Twitter at www.twitter.com/The_Cakerator
Email at info [at] cakerator.com

1st Birthday Cake: Baby Sesame Street Cake

2011-09-20T08:33:00.001-04:00

A very popular design for 1st birthday cakes is the elevated tier design. This version is made with the baby sesame street characters handmade out of sugarpaste.

You don't see these characters a lot unless you are a parent and have changed one-too-many diapers that have these characters on it :-)

Have a great week! See you next Tuesday.

Guest Post: Cup a Dee Cakes from Georgia

2011-09-13T08:49:00.004-04:00

Today's post is part of our bi-weekly Guest Post: 5 Pics Series. We feature multi-talented cake designers from all over the world that I have met online and admired.

This week's guest post comes from Cup a Dee Cakes in Tunnel Hill, GA. The owner and designer, Jenniffer White, specializes in large wedding and sculpted groom's cakes. Similar to me, she used to be in corporate world and gave that up to pursue her first passion. Good thing she did - she is very talented - you have to check out her amazingly smooth buttercream! She blogs every Tuesday and Friday about her adventures in the cake world. Here's a snapshot of 5 Pics of her wonderful and creative design.

#1 - Stunning and Elegant (and it is buttercream)

#2 - Ferntastic Flowers

#3 - Swirls Just Wanna Have Fun

#4 - Cake Chameleon

#5 - 3D Fun and Fantastic

To follow Jenniffer and admire more of her wonderful Cup a Dee Cakes:

Website: http://www.cupadeecakes.com
Blog: http://cupadeecakes.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/cupadee
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CupaDeeCakes
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/cupadeecakes
E-mail: jen [at] cupadeecakes.com

3rd Birthday: Thomas & Friends Cake n' Cupcakes

2011-09-06T08:54:00.003-04:00

A very popular request for 3 year olds... Thomas the Train and friends. A fun display of cake and cupcakes. All characters are handmade out of sugarpaste.

The cake topper is vanilla butter cake with strawberry buttercream. The cupcakes are chocolate sour cream with chocolate buttercream and banana sour cream with cream cheese icing.

Have a great week! See you next Tuesday for another wonderful Guest Post.

Guest Post: Cake Fiction from New Jersey, USA

2011-08-30T08:25:00.003-04:00

Today's post is part of our bi-weekly Guest Post: 5 Pics Series. We feature multi-talented cake designers from all over the world that I have met online and admired.

This week's guest post comes fresh from Cake Fiction in New Jersey. Paula Tosonotti founded Cake Fiction to serve the tri-state area with fabulous and original designs. Paula is an internationally trained chef, her secret weapon is her walnut almond pound cake with a dulce de leche cream filling (recipe here) from her native Argentina. Here's a snapshot of 5 Pics of her wonderful and creative design.

#1 - Simple and Elegant Wedding cake

#2 - Bold and Elegant Birthday Cake

#3 - For the Fashionista

#4 - Super Cute

#5 - "Grand" 3D Cake

To admire more of Paula's creations at Cake Fiction, you can find her here:

Website at http://www.cakefiction.com/

Blog at: http://cakefiction.blogspot.com/

Become a fan of her Facebook Page

Twitter at www.twitter.com/CakeFiction

Email Paula at info@cakefiction.com

Guest Post: 5 Pics Series

2011-08-23T11:03:00.003-04:00

I'm excited to start a new series of Guest Posts next week. Every two weeks, I will be featuring very creative and talented cake designers that I have met online over the past few years. These designers have multi-faceted design skills and I plan to showcase that in a series of 5 Pics.

I will introduce you to them and their 5 Pics will give you a snapshot of their wonderful and vast design skills. These designers can make something simple and elegant, then also create something 3D & gravity defying. Here is the format with my own 5 Pics:

#1 - Simple and Elegant Wedding

#2 - Not your typical Wedding Cake

#3 - Something Fun

#4 - Something for the Fashionista

#5 - Show me cute!

#6 Bonus Pic: A Cake-tastrophe – everyone has had one of these! Fortunately, I was able to catch this in time as I always have extra cake made for my 3D cakes. Don't worry, it was fixed - see blog post

So, stay tuned next Tuesday for my first Guest Post feature!

1st Birthday Cake: Pretty Purple Cake

2011-08-16T08:07:00.002-04:00

Just a quick post this week. I wanted to post a pretty purple cake made for a little girls 1st birthday.

Next Tuesday, I am excited to start my Guest Post series of some very creative and talented cake artists that I have met online! See you then!

Black & White Wedding Cake

2011-08-09T08:42:00.000-04:00

Today is just a short and simple post..... a simple and elegant Black & White wedding cake. I love how black and white work so well together.

The top tier was vanilla butter cake with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream. The middle tier was strawberry vanilla cake with strawberry buttercream. The bottom tier was chocolate sour cream cake with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream.

1st Birthday Cake: Safari Cake

2011-08-02T10:28:00.004-04:00

As a cake designers, I never usually make the same cake twice. Every cake is custom designed for each of my clients special occasions. Many times it is a combination of other cake ideas that they have seen, additional personalized details and then I add in my own design elements.

For this 1st birthday cake, it was a combination of two of my previous cakes: 3-tier animal print cake and the popular elevated tier design.

Each cake tier was alternating chocolate and vanilla layers with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream.

Have a great week! See you next Tuesday!

Coming Soon: I will be featuring some guests posts from some of my favorite cake-blog friends. If you are interested in a feature, leave a comment or email and I will send you the details.

Elegant and Tall Wedding Cake

2011-07-26T08:13:00.001-04:00

A few weekends ago, I had the pleasure of making this wonderfully tall wedding cake. The wedding was held at the wonderful setting of Canoe which is on the 54th floor overlooking Toronto.

The cake tiers were double-tall cake tiers - strawberry vanilla cake with strawberry buttercream on the top two tiers and chocolate sour cream with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream on the bottom tier.

This avocado green cake design was inspired by one of my favorite cake artists, Rich Reichart, from Cakelava in Hawaii. I was lucky enough to take his first ever class back in March - see blog post.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer - see you next Tuesday!

Cupcake Cake

2011-07-19T12:03:00.000-04:00

Today's post is about a Cupcake cake and my little cupcake, my 2.5 week old newborn girl.

This cake was made when Sidney was 1 week old and inspired by her cute little onesie. The cake was 6 layers of chocolate sour cream cake with strawberry buttercream.

Here we are getting ready for her photoshoot with the cake...

I think she likes the cake....

Or maybe not....

Have a nice week everyone! See you next Tuesday!

Baby Shower Dessert Table

2011-07-12T08:49:00.008-04:00

In May, I posted some baby shower cakes and announced my own baby news. What comes next? A baby shower dessert table for ME!

2 weeks ago, my mom and sister threw me a backyard baby shower and I had the pleasure to make the dessert table for my family and friends. My sister, Yvonne, (who has a very creative blog called choo cha handmade that you have to check out!!) gave me this pinwheel design as inspiration.

To start off the dessert table, a 4-tier lemon butter cake with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream decorated with handmade sugarpaste pinwheels.

Handmade strawberry marshmallows, fondant decorated sugar cookies and strawberry vanilla cupcakes with strawberry buttercream.

... pinwheel sugar cookies and handmade vanilla bean marshmallows dipped in caramel and graham cracker crumbs.

Sweet n' salty boxed kettle corn, dark chocolate covered pretzels and mini-raspberry jam donut muffins (recipe from Cakes and Bakes NI blog).

One last thing... a lovely SURPRISE... our baby decided to arrive 3 weeks early. So, 10 days ago, a healthy little 6lb girl named Sidney entered our lives. We feel so lucky and it has been an amazing experience so far. More next Tuesday - have a nice week!

Hot Dog Cake

2011-07-05T10:36:00.001-04:00

What a fabulous weekend we had! What did you enjoy on your Canadian July 1st weekend or US July 4th weekend?

Hopefully wherever you are, you enjoyed it with family and friends. Maybe even over a barbecue -- with hamburgers and hotdogs? How about this hot dog - it's a very big cake! Vanilla butter cake with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream.

Here's a couple more views of the cake - it was so fun to make!

Have a nice week everyone! I'll be back next Tuesday with a post with a very special dessert table.

Simple and Elegant Wedding Cake

2011-06-28T07:38:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted any recent wedding cakes in a while. Here is a lovely, simple and elegant wedding cake I did in the spring in the wonderful Distillery District of Toronto.

The wedding had fresh tulips scattered everywhere - I sure fell in love with tulips that day! I didn't make the tulips on the cake, but when I get an opportunity, I will tackle handmade sugar tulips - they are just too lovely!

This cake had a wonderful, subtle texture that I added to the tiers - loved how it turned out! And also happy I took so many different photos from different angles.

1st Birthday Cake: Toybox Cake

2011-06-21T08:10:00.002-04:00

As a cake designer, there is always a theme or design that you hope someone will order soon or you try to make up an excuse to make it for a friend. I was excited to get this order for a 1st birthday - I love the toybox design.

Last year I created this couple's baby shower cake with the yellow booties. Their daughter just turned 1 and I included some of her favorite toys handmade in sugarpaste.

Here is the birthday girl reaching out for one of the sugar details - how cute!

Champagne Celebration Cake

2011-06-14T08:47:00.000-04:00

A champagne celebration cake for a custom design software company, Jonah Group's, 10th Anniversary. The bottom tier design was inspired by the design of their blog, A Series of Tubes, and their Twitter page.

This 2-tier cake was alternating layers of chocolate sour cream and vanilla butter cake. The champagne bottle was made out of rice krispie.

A few years ago, I made a Big Blue Whale cake for their 7th Anniversary. I look forward to creating their next big milestone cake! Happy Anniversary Jonah Group!

Panda Cake

2011-06-07T07:33:00.000-04:00

I just love pandas - this cute cake was for a girl who was celebrating her 22nd birthday!

This cake was layers of chocolate sour cream cake with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream covered in fondant. The champagne bottle was made out of sugarpaste.

Louis Vuitton Purse Cake

2011-05-31T08:59:00.004-04:00

I never tire of creating Louis Vuitton purse cakes, although I must admit, I always hope the logo gets easier to handpaint... but it doesn't. It still takes longer than I plan but the result is so rewarding.

My client asked for a classic style LV purse similar to a cake design that I made up a couple years ago. So, I chose the Louis Vuitton Beverly GM.

This cake was alternating layers of chocolate sour cream and vanilla butter cake filled with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream and covered with chocolate fondant.

Here is a view of the side and back of the purse cake - handpainted logos everywhere. If you are interested in attempting a purse cake, you can refer to my purse cake tutorial.

Baby Shower Cakes n' Cupcakes n' Me

2011-05-24T08:13:00.003-04:00

Is it me or does it seem like there are babies everywhere? Here are some cute baby shower cakes I've made with a wonderful pram design.

I also have a wonderful announcement.... in 2 months, I will be a mom for the first time! We don't know whether it will be a girl....

We don't know if it will be a boy....

You may be wondering why I took a picture of a cupcake with 4-inch heels... I was shopping with my husband when I just passed the halfway point of my pregnancy. I saw these heels and fell in love. He looked at me in the shoe store and said "You are 5 months pregnant and want to buy 4-inch heels?" I answered coyly, "Yes, is there a problem with that?" He had a giant smile and laughingly said "No problem at all"

We are so excited and I am feeling great. If you notice from my availability, I will be taking some time off from regular cake orders. But, I will definitely continue to blog every Tuesday about cakes, do some tutorials and have some guest posts. See you next Tuesday!

1st Communion Cake

2011-05-17T07:59:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, I made another first communion cake. I've made this design previously in a 3-tier blue version.

This time it was a 2-tier cake and in hot pink! Chocolate velvet cake with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream on the top tier and vanilla butter cake with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream on the bottom.

The cross and rosary were made out of sugarpaste. I also created a handmade sugarpaste model of the girl that matched her first communion dress.

4th Birthday: Princess Castle Cake

2011-05-10T08:17:00.002-04:00

This past weekend, I created this wonderful princess castle cake for a 4th birthday. Last year, the birthday girl was into all things Egypt and I made her a Sphinx Cake. This year, her parents surprised her with a princess themed cake and a surprise trip to Disney!

The top and middle tier were chocolate sour cream cake with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream. The bottom tier was vanilla butter cake with vanilla swiss merinuge buttercream. I covered the castle with edible gold dust, added in some edible glitter on the rice krispie turrets and Cinderella was handmade out of sugarpaste.

1st Birthday Cake: Toy Story Cake

2011-05-03T08:26:00.003-04:00

It has been a while since I created a cake based off of Disney's Toy Story: here's a link to that post. I find the characters very detailed and complex - but love all the different colors. This time around, the characters were 2D, instead of 3D - I loved how they turned out.

The frog sugar topper is not a Toy Story character, but the birthday boy's favorite toy. The top tier was Orange Dream cake and the bottom tier was chocolate sour cream cake.

Angry Birds Cake

2011-04-26T08:55:00.001-04:00

Raise your iPhone or mobile device if you are addicted to this Angry Birds game? Actually, I spend countless hours playing Scrabble on my iPhone, so for this cake - I had to do lots of research on this game. I soon realized that it was all in the details and I had so much fun with it!

This was the first time I actually made a backdrop to a cake. It started out as two cakes and then I ended up making the 3 birds and the TNT mini-cakes. The 6 cakes were alternating layers of chocolate sour cream and strawberry vanilla cake.

Everything else is handmade out of fondant and the stacking bricks were Rice Krispie squares covered in fondant.

And yes, there is that golden egg hidden back there.

Easter Chicks

2011-04-24T09:30:00.004-04:00

Hope every is enjoying their long Easter weekend with their friends and family. I'm sure everyone is also savouring some sweets.

For my sweets this weekend, the theme was Easter Chicks (inspired by a blog post by my blog friend, Kathia, at Pink Little Cake.) Firstly, we have a vanilla butter cake with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream

Chocolate sour cream and strawberry vanilla cupcakes.

Lastly, an easy to make treat of rice krispie squares dressed up with some Easter Chicks. Happy Easter and have a great week everyone!

Sports Themed Cakes

2011-04-19T09:11:00.001-04:00

In the past, I've done some sporty cakes related to working out, hockey and wrestling. Here's a collection of some more cakes and cupcakes with a sports theme:

For the football fan, Raiders or Vikings....

This football field cake was a surprise groom's cake for a groom who played for the Toronto Argonauts and the bride who was an Argos cheerleader.

Cupcakes for the Nike basketball shoe lover.... (yes, these fondant toppers took me forever...)

Cupcakes to enjoy after the gym...

And finally, cupcakes for those who love curling.

Pink Fashionista Cakes

2011-04-12T08:42:00.002-04:00

This past weekend, I participated in a wonderful fundraiser called Toronto Bakes for Japan. It was a volunteer-organized, Toronto-wide bakesale held at 6 locations over 2 days. So far, we have raised over $20,000 with 100% of funds going to the Japanese Red Cross Society.

My contribution to the event was inspired from this wonderfully pink bridal shower cake that I made this past weekend.

I decided to make mini vanilla butter purse cakes. They were all one-of-a-kind in a pink and brown palette.

I also made some chocolate sour cream cupcakes with fondant purse toppers.

Look how cute the purses were all boxed up and ready for the bakesale! I had so much fun making these sweet things and met such wonderful people the fundraiser. I hope we continue to raise additional funds to support Japan's relief efforts.

Toronto Bakes for Japan

2011-04-09T09:41:00.004-04:00

It all starts today, Saturday, April 9th: Over 150 bakers, both amateur and professional have joined together for Toronto Bakes for Japan. 6 locations across Toronto and 100% of process are going directly to the Japanese Red Cross Society and their relief fund for victims of the earthquake.

Here's what you can do Toronto!

1) Join us on Saturday, April 9th and purchase some goodies! Here is where you can find us:

Farmer's Market at Evergreen Brick Works, 550 Bayview Ave: 9am-1pm

2) Join us on Sunday and purchase some goodies! Here's where you can find us:

For the WestEnders: Liberty Noodle, 171 East Liberty St: 11am-3pm
For those downtown: The Rivoli, 334 Queen St W: 11am-3pm
For those close to Little Italy: Cafe Diplimatico, 94 College Street: 11am-3pm
For those near Wychwood Park area: Amaranto Cafe, 809 St. Clair Ave West: 11am-3pm
For the Beachers and EastEnders: Yoshi Sweets, 2359 Queen Street East 10am-5pm

3) If you can't make it out and would like to participate, you can make an online donation here.

I will be volunteering, with my friend Sam, at the Liberty Noodle location on Sunday. Hope to see you there! I will be making mini-purse cakes and also some fashionista cupcakes. Here's a sneak peak....

My friend Sam has made some cute Hello Kitty Sugar cookies. Have a look!

A Spring Wedding

2011-04-05T08:59:00.000-04:00

It is spring here in Toronto, although you wouldn't know it.... our weather is sunny, rainy, snowy, warm and cold all in one day. But it always makes it interesting!

I had the pleasure of creating a wedding cake for a wonderful spring wedding which took place at the beautiful Toronto Hunt Club. What a gorgeous setting overlooking the water for this sweet couple.

Their 3-tier cake design was simple and elegant: Small flowers dusted with pearl lustre dust and pale pink lustre dust. The top tier was Zesty Lemon Butter cake with lemon buttercream, middle tier was Orange Dream with chocolate buttercream and bottom tier was Chocolate Sour Cream cake with vanilla swis meringue buttercream.

Here is a view from the top. I actually underestimated the number of sugarpaste flowers I needed for the cake needed - Any guesses?

The couple also had matching cupcake takeaways for their guests. Chocolate Sour Cream cupcakes with Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

Dim Sum Anyone? I mean, Dim Sum Cake!

2011-03-29T08:05:00.002-04:00

Dim Sum is a traditional chinese dish or a meal that involves small plates or bamboo steamers with small portions of food and drinking lots of tea. I often crave the dumplings and just the atmosphere of dim sum where the servers will roll around carts stacked with bamboo steamers and you try to get their attention to get the specialty item you are looking for.

Now, this isn't traditional Dim Sum.... it's a CAKE! Banana Sour Cream cake with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream and the steamer is made out of sugarpaste.

These dumplings are actually strawberry cake bites - yum! I just loving making cakes that are meant to be other foods.

3rd Birthday: Crane Cake

2011-03-22T08:04:00.002-04:00

When my nephew, Maseo, was born 3 years ago, I told my sister that he would always have the best birthday cakes. On his 1st birthday: it was a Heffalump cake and on his 2nd birthday: it was a Tractor cake.

This year, I thought that I might make him a Thomas the Train cake. But when I asked what his favorite toy was, he said it was a Crane. He already knows how to challenge me. I wonder what next year will bring :-)

The cake was Orange Dream cake with Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream. And thank you to my husband who built the wooden structure for this cake. My nephew now plays with the wood stand and has hooked up strings to it like a real crane.

Cakelava Cake Designs

2011-03-15T08:37:00.003-04:00

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending a 3-day "Discover your Inner Artist" class with the amazing and uber-talented cake designer Rick Reichart of cakelava. Rick and his wife Sasha traveled all the way from Hawaii to the amazing cake studio and classroom of Icing Inspirations in Waterloo, Ontario.

Rick was a fabulous teacher as he guided us through two of his amazing designs; the very popular 3-tier tall hibiscus cake and a Clownfish sculpted cake. He generously shared with us his design style, techniques, thoughts and created this wonderful atmosphere for all of us to get lost in our cakes.

Here is the wonderful line-up of hibiscus cake designs. Each one has its little personalization to the floral pattern as they are freehand cut (no cutters). My cake sits on the far right and the photo below.

Here I am with the amazing and so genuinely nice cakelava duo Rick and Sasha Reichart.

I must also mention all other the wonderful people that I met. The owners, Chrissie and Justin, of Icing Inspirations and Too Nice to Slice who held these classes - very kind and accomodating to us. I also met my longtime blog-friends, Brandy, of Cakes-a-nonymous and Angela from The Sugar Cove.

I met so many new cake friends - it was such a wonderful experience to be in a room with so many people with the same passion. One minute we are all laughing and chatting it up - the next minute, there is complete silence as we are all concentrating on painting the fine details of our cakes. I loved that - I was in my element!

Here's a photo of Brandy (who kept me laughing all 3 days) and I with our finished clownfish cakes. Also a top-view of all the sugar details we made during class.

I took so many photos, here are some of my additional favorite ones. Imagine 17 people airbrushing 2.5 feet tall cakes.... that was a funny moment.

I had the pleasure of meeting the sweet Carrie Biggers of the famous Carrie's Cakes in Utah. I have been following her beautiful work for many years.

Rick with the clownfish cake all iced with buttercream and ready for fondant - yes, it is cake!

7th Birthday Cake: Puppy Cake

2011-03-08T08:23:00.003-05:00

Last year, I made a 6th birthday cake for a girl who loves dogs. For her 7th birthday, it was the same theme and I could do any design I wanted to.

I have to admit, I do have this thing where I refuse/avoid making carved cakes that look like realistic animals, babies and also baby bumps - I know its just cake, but I still can't stand the thought of a knife cutting into it. However, for animal cakes, as long as I can make them stuffed animal looking and cartoony, then its okay by me. Here's some other views of the puppy cake.

Any other cakers feel the same or is it just me?

Camaro Z28 Cake

2011-03-01T08:37:00.002-05:00

It's been a while since I posted a car cake... and this one sure is slick! It's a vanilla butter Camaro Z28 cake for a 60th birthday.

And of course, the final touch, the birthday boy with his favorite car and dog.

A February Wedding

2011-02-22T08:39:00.001-05:00

This past weekend, I had the pleasure to make this 3-tier wedding cake for a lovely couple from Ohio. They chose Toronto as the wedding getaway destination for family and friends. Yes... Toronto in February... where our average temperatures are usually -10 °C (14 °F). They wanted to do something different and heard lots of great things about Toronto.

Well, as luck would have it... we had an unbelievably warm and very sunny +10°C (50°F) day for their wedding. I made this 3-tier cake based off of the Martha Stewart vintage daisy design with handmade sugarpaste cake topper and buttercup yellow roses.

The top tier was chocolate sour cream cake with strawberry buttercream. The middle tier was strawberry vanilla cake with strawberry buttercream and the bottom tier was chocolate sour cream cake with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream.

Baby Shower Cake

2011-02-15T08:21:00.000-05:00

As a custom cake designer, I rarely make the same cake design twice. Some cakes are similar but I usually customize the cake, change the color palette and add in different details.

In this case, the client just loved everything about this 1st birthday cake. The only thing I really changed was to make it a baby shower cake - I loved how it turned out... again...

Valentine's Day Cake

2011-02-13T20:34:00.000-05:00

An extra post this week for Valentine's Day. So, instead of Be Mine, I Love You, Kiss Me, Be My Valentine, XOXO or Happy Valentines Day.... How about THANK YOU!

THANK YOU from the bottom on my heart! This was 6-layers of carved strawberry vanilla cake with strawberry cream cheese icing.

While we are on the topic of saying Thanks... I want to thank all my friends, family, blog friends and clients for such a great start to 2011. It has been over 2 years since SweetThings officially opened and I couldn't be happier!

I want to share with you an interview I did last month with a website called Human Detour. The YouTube video gives you a bit of background on how I got started. If you have the time, this interview is about 15 minutes long and split into Part I & Part II. Thanks again!

Princess Cake

2011-02-08T09:38:00.000-05:00

It had been a while since I did a very girly birthday cake. This is a 2-tier cake based off of the the princess from Disney's Princess and Frog. The bottom tier and the dress is chocolate velvet cake. The character is handmade out of sugarpaste.

And to make it even more special, some cupcakes with the popular sugar cake slice

A view from the top - you know I love these shots.

Here's a close-up of the cupcakes with a cute cake slice on it. A popular design which I've done a few times.

Chinese New Year Cupcakes

2011-02-05T10:02:00.000-05:00

Happy Chinese New Year Everyone! The chinese lunar new year started on February 3rd. This is a 15-day festival which ends with a lantern festival.

In the chinese zodiac, this year is represented by the Rabbit. This is the lunar year of some very close people in my life! It is your lunar year if you were born in 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987 & 1999.

Some carrot cupcake with cream cheese icing decorated with sugarpaste gold rabbits and coins.

Vanilla bean cupcakes with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream decorated with handmade sugarpaste lanterns and lucky money. The symbol been Good Luck.

I hope everyone had a great start to the Year of the Rabbit.

Cakes that look like Food

2011-02-01T08:32:00.001-05:00

I definitely get a lot of fun cake requests. What's more fun than a cake that is disguised to look like food?

This was a surprise birthday cake for a guy that loves his chocolate chip cookies and his dog. I sure hope he wasn't disappointed that it was actually 3 chocolate and vanilla cakes covered in fondant with chocolate fondant chips.

And what's better than cupcakes for breakfast? Handmade sugar cupcake toppers of pancakes, coffee and bacon & eggs.... a very hearty breakfast!

4-tier Pink and Cream Baby Shower Cake

2011-01-25T07:40:00.002-05:00

Another baby shower shower cake based on a little wagon design. The theme of this baby shower cake was "little angel" and the colors were pale pink and cream. 2 of the tiers were Chocolate Sour Cream cake and 2 of the tiers were Strawberry Vanilla cake.

I love how the little sugarpaste angel turned out.

Here is a few from above the 4-tier cake.

1st Birthday Cake

2011-01-18T08:56:00.003-05:00

This is definitely one of my favourite cakes of 2011 so far. The elevated tier is one of the most popular cake inquiries that I received.

Here is the first version I posted, the next one with a cute giraffe on top, a Baby Einstein version, with animals and ladybugs and also inspired this cake for Gail Vaz Oxlade of the TV show Til Debt Do Us Part. I have also made them with Sesame Street chracters and BabyTV Peek-a-boo characters - I will be sure to post!

I love how this cake turned out and so happy with the lion cake topper. The top tier was chocolate sour cream cake and bottom tier was vanilla butter cake.

New Years Eve Dessert Table

2011-01-11T09:11:00.003-05:00

2010 was a wonderful, fun and successful year at SweetThings. So many celebration cakes, fabulous clients, challenging cake designs, wonderful people I have met over Twitter and the blog world... I am so thankful.

My last cake for 2010 was this New Years Eve Dessert Table. The photos are a little fuzzy, but there was a flashing disco ball in the room and I have no idea how to shoot that type of photo. :-)

The Dessert Table included rice krispie squares dipped in milk chocolate, cranberry white chocolate biscotti, mini strawberry vanilla cupcakes, triple chocolate brownies with swiss meringue buttercream, chocolate cream cheese sandwiches and a small candy station of treats.

The disco ball and its stand was vanilla butter cake with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream. I was inspired by the disco ball cake made by Baker's Cakes in NC - I loved her idea to color each little fondant square and add each one to the ball. A very realistic look, worth the effort!

Blundstone Boot Cake

2011-01-04T07:59:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year everyone! As we give "the boot to 2010" and welcome 2011, I thought this cake would be appropriate...

These two vanilla butter cakes were for a birthday for a gentleman who loves all his different pairs of Blundstone boots. We all know someone or have these boots ourselves... they seem to last forever!

1st Birthday Cake

2010-12-28T08:18:00.001-05:00

A few blog posts ago, I showed a sneak peek of a pale blue and chocolate brown 1st birthday cake. Here are some more photos of that 3-tier cake.

Here is the inspiration photo that the client sent me. I knew plaid would be challenging to make - but I'm so happy how it turned out. Well worth it!

Christmas Cupcakes

2010-12-21T08:11:00.001-05:00

It's that time of the year again for Holiday Cakes and Cupcakes. There are always lots of fun ideas when it comes to Christmas like stockings, Santa stuck in a chimney, rudolph, a string of Christmas lights and so many more.

Even more fun, a cupcake tower topped with a big ornament cake with cupcakes decorated with sugarpaste christmas lights and ornaments. Hope you enjoyed these cupcake ideas! Happy Holidays to everyone!

Winner: Tetley Tea Gift Basket

2010-12-18T11:23:00.000-05:00

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Tetley Tea Colour Therapy Gift Basket contest. But before I get to the winner, a sneak peek of a 1st birthday cake I did this weekend. What a wonderful colour palette: chocolate brown and pale blue.

Now, onto the contest.... Thank you everyone for participating in the contest via blog comments, email submissions and leaving comments on the SweetThings' facebook page. And a big Thank you to Tetley Tea Canada for providing the wonderful gift basket.
The winner of the wonderful Tetley Tea Colour Therapy gift basket worth approx. $70 with 2 containers of each tea, a canister/teapot and 50 mood influencing gift card is.....

Congratulations to edmontonjb! I will be sending you an email to get your address to send you this lovely gift basket. Have a wonderful day everyone!

Louis Vuitton Purse Cake

2010-12-14T08:20:00.001-05:00

Fashionista cakes are always very popular cake inquiries. I love making them the exact dimensions so people think that it is actually a purse. I did one of the most challenging patterns recently... the Louis Vuitton Monogram Multicolore Speedy 30. It was a surprise 30th birthday cake for my client's wife.

This cake was pretty big - 11.8" x 8.3" x 7.3" (LxHxD) - about 8 layers of vanilla butter cake.

Here is a view from the back. I really did underestimated how many logos I needed to paint. But finally in the wee hours of the morning when I finished handpainting each side - it was amazing to see it all come together.

Elephant-inspired Baby Shower Cake

2010-12-07T08:27:00.003-05:00

I posted a sneak peek of this cake on Saturday - now here it is. A very cute elephant inspired 3-tier baby shower cake. The top two-tiers were vanilla butter cake with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream. The bottom tier was chocolate velvet with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream.

I was sent this lovely inspiration photo from the Potter Barn Baby website. Isn't that so adorable?

And another view of this cake. I just loved this colour palette. And speaking of colour, if you are from Canada, I'm running a Tetley Tea Gift Basket contest until December 19th, so enter now.

Contest: Tetley Colour Therapy Gift Basket

2010-12-04T11:19:00.012-05:00

A sneak peak of the a cute baby shower cake that I made this weekend. One of the things I loved about this cake was the colour palette. I will post more on this cake on my regular Tuesday blog post.

Speaking of COLOUR.... Tetley Tea has a new line of herbal teas based on how colour influences our lives every day. Our surroundings and colour choices can have dramatic effects on our mood and well- being. You can discover which tea will suit your mood by visiting their website.

Even better.... Enter this contest! Tetley Canada has provided me with this gift basket for one of my readers to win. Available in Canada, excluding Quebec.

Win this Tetley Colour Therapy gift basket worth approx. $70 with 2 containers of each tea, a canister/teapot and 50 mood influencing gift cards. Deadline for entry is Friday, December 17th, 2010 at midnight EST.

How to Enter

Visit the the Tetley Colour Therapy website and tell me what tea or colour you selected
Leave a comment on my blog - make sure you leave me your email address so I can get a hold of you if you win. Or send an email to info(at)sweetthings(dot)ca if you'd prefer.
For an additional entry, visit the SweetThings Facebook page and leave a comment.
A maximum of 2 entries per person. Available in Canada, excluding Quebec.
Deadline for entry is Friday, December 17th, 2010 at midnight EST.
One winner will be randomly selected and posted on Saturday, December 18th, 2010 at noon. Also notified via email. The gift basket will be shipped to you.

Good luck everyone! Have a colourful day!

A Birthday Surprise!

2010-11-30T08:37:00.000-05:00

A cake can celebrate so many fun occasions. It can also be used to announce a wonderful surprise like a baby on the way or something fun like this cake...

It was a 2-tier cake to celebrate a 29th birthday...

Oh wait.... the top tier opens up and there is something inside....

And she said "Yes!" Here's a note that I received from the newly engaged gentlemen:

"Everything went very well lastnight and couldn't be any better. She had absolutely no clue when she saw the cake. I presented the cake to her along with a birthday card and she thought that was it.
After a while, she was looking at the cake, admiring how beautiful and cute the cake is and she sort of shifted the lid over and realized that it is openable.
That is when I took out the male figure as she was opening the lid. So at that point, she saw the male figure and saw the ring box in the cake and realized that I was proposing to her. She started crying and it was a very touching moment."

Baby Shower Cake

2010-11-23T06:50:00.003-05:00

I was asked to create a baby shower cake with only 1 request, that it would have a pair of sugar running shoes on it. Otherwise, I had all the design freedom. I love cakes like these and I loved how the cute running shoes turned out.

I designed the cake based on a little wagon, inspired by my nephew who loves to pile things high and pull it around the house. I can't wait to do a similar design this weekend.

Here is a view from the top of the cake.

And another photo of the running shoes. I don't use a template - I just search for cute shoes on the internet and try to copy them. I'm so happy how they turned out.

Toronto Life Cupcakes (and a cake....)

2010-11-16T06:49:00.002-05:00

I was invited to be a part of a Toronto Life online article called The City's Most Beautiful Cupcakes. And you know how I love creating Toronto-themed cupcakes....

We were asked to submit a sampling of our cupcakes, whatever flavors we wanted and whatever design that best represents our cupcakes. A Toronto Life magazine is the perfect inspiration for cupcakes - so I made a magazine cake and then cupcakes with handmade sugarpaste toppers to match the different sections.

From top left and clockwise: Food, Drink, Cupcakes (of course), Shopping, Pizza and Weddings.

For more photos, there is a flickr page from the writer.

Interview over at A Cake to Remember

2010-11-13T10:18:00.002-05:00

One of things I love about blogging and twitter is all the the wonderful people that I have met. They share their thoughts, ideas, rants and cake designs. It is always funny and comforting to see tweets from cake decorators late on a Friday night when I am doing the same.

I visit my favorite bloggers and twitter friends often to see what they are up to. One of those bloggers is Kara from A Cake to Remember in Richmond, VA. She has been making beautiful custom cakes for over 15 years. She recently interviewed me and here is the blog post if you want to learn a little more about me.

This interview made me think back to my first wedding cake project in 2006. I dug up this photo from a class I took at George Brown College. I remember the teacher saying that she was very happy because I went "outside the box" and designed my own cake, instead of copying one. That was an affirming moment for me.

Bar Mitzvah: Hockey Cake

2010-11-09T08:13:00.002-05:00

Who is lucky enough to get 10 cakes for their birthday? This birthday boy who celebrated his Bar Mitzvah at EZone which is indoor sports and entertainment complex.

I was able to blend in his love for hockey, Pittsburgh Penguins and personalize everything it for his special day.

I loved how it all turned out and everything was completely edible. I would say the hardest part was making 2 matching skates.

When I made carved cakes, I always bake extra cake, just in case. So, I added in these mini-cake pucks. Wouldn't this be a great idea for a boys birthday and everyone gets their own puck!

1st Birthday Cake: Green & Pink

2010-11-02T07:38:00.004-04:00

I'd like to thank whoever designs kids' party invitations. Aside from being utterly cute, they provide the perfect inspiration for cake designs.

Here's a strawberry vanilla 1st birthday cake for a little girl named Sophie. The inspiration came from the invitation and sticker shown below.

And some additional orange dream cupcakes made it the cutest cupcake tower.

Halloween Cupcake Tower

2010-10-30T08:22:00.003-04:00

Happy Halloween Everyone! I wanted to share this fun cupcake tower with a Mummy cake topper and halloween cupcakes.

If you'd like to see how I made these cupcake toppers and cake, click on over to visit Kathia at Pink Little Cake for a how-to and mini-tutorial. Aside from being a fabulous cake designer, Kathia has a great blog that I follow. Over the past month, she has been putting together a collection of fabulous blog posts called 28 Days of Sweet Halloween Ideas. Lots of great ideas and I am happy to participate with my fellow bloggers.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy halloween weekend.

Green and White Wedding

2010-10-26T08:54:00.019-04:00

As many of you know, I got married last month. And yes, I did make my own wedding cake(s) and dessert table.

The wedding inspiration was different shades of green, white and paper lanterns. Decor, signs and invitations were designed by my talented sister Yvonne.

It was a beautiful, warm September day for our afternoon outdoor ceremony. It was held at Cedar Ridge Creative Center and Botanical Gardens in Scarborough.

We had a cocktail reception in the historic house catered by Daniel et Daniel. Following a champagne toast, our guests enjoyed the sweet table which I absolutely loved putting together.

The treats included: S'mores, chocolate covered strawberries, gluten-free chocolate cake, mini strawberry vanilla cupcakes, sugar cookies, zesty lemon sphere cakes, chocolate dipped pretzels, white chocolate truffles, chocolate covered almonds and orange cake bites. The croquembouche were made by the caterers.

It was such a perfect day for Steve and I. We had so much fun and would like to thank our family and friends who were able to join us.

Photography by You+Me Weddings
Make-up by Janine Falcon and Hair by Alexis Jardin
Wedding Officiant Daniel Brereton
Green Wedding Shoes by John Fluevog

Wedding Cakes Inspired by the Wedding Dress

2010-10-19T09:11:00.005-04:00

When designing a cake, sometimes the elements can be inspired by the bride's wedding dress. It can be a single element, it can be exactly the dress or it can be the main elements of dress. Here are two wedding cakes that I made which were completely inspired by the wedding dress.

This cake was inspired by Vera Wang's Dinah dress in a light ivory. The top and middle tier were Strawberry Vanilla cake with strawberry buttercream and the bottom tier was Chocolate Sour Cream Cake with chocolate buttercream.

The couple also had 2 cherries as part of the design of their invitations, so I was able to encorporate it into the piping and also to the cake stand. I love this angle for this photo.

This 2-tier cake was for a couple who were married overseas. The design was based off of a photo just after they said their "I Do's" at their beach wedding.

Baptism Cake

2010-10-12T03:49:00.002-04:00

This was a re-creation of one of my past Christening Cakes - similar, but a little bit different. The top tier was strawberry vanilla cake and the bottom was chocolate sour cream cake.

Here is a picture of the front of the cake and I also decorated the back as this was for a special family dinner celebration with people sitting around the table.

I should also mention that Sienna's birth was also celebrated with a SweetThings baby shower cake earlier this year. And Sienna's dad celebrated a birthday a few months back with SweetThings custom cake. I look forward to continuing to make wonderful and creative cakes for this lovely family.

1st Birthday Cake and Cupcakes

2010-10-05T05:10:00.002-04:00

This was one of those cakes that I couldn't saying "It's so cute!". A clean and simple design, but oh-so cute!

I was given this wonderful inspiration photo of the little girls room. I loved the lettering of the name Logan, so I re-created it in a 3D way with gumpaste.

The 2-tier cake was vanilla butter cake and there were also chocolate sour cream and orange dream cupcakes.

Here is the beautiful birthday girl, Logan, with her cupcake before.... and after. Happy 1st birthday to Logan!

Wedding Cake Inspired by a Painting

2010-09-28T08:16:00.007-04:00

I absolutely loved making this cake wedding cake, although there is a lot of extra pressure when the design is based off of a famous painting. The couple wanted a cake which complemented the venue, had a fall-ish theme and was a little bit different, but not too crazy.

The couple were married at the McMichael Art Gallery in Kleinburg which exhibits wonderful Canadian Art. My design was based off of this famous Tom Thomson painting called Pine Trees at Sunset which sold for $2 million in 2008. I love how the cake turned out - I used fondant, a 3D tree effect on the top and used edible paint - I hope I did justice to the art piece.

The couple is very active, loves the outdoors and biking, so they wanted me to add this in. I made sugarpaste characters of them and their bikes.

70th Birthday Cake: Stacked Books Cake

2010-09-21T08:12:00.002-04:00

I get so many requests to customize a cake for someone special, but they don't have an idea what they'd like. I always ask them to describe the person, their hobbies, profession and whatever you can think of.

Sometimes we end up deciding on one theme and sometimes we can decide on more than one. An easy way to blend different hobbies is a stack of books.

For this client, the birthday boy was turning 70, he was an Actuary, loved hockey and also wines of France. He also loved Tom Petty, so I made a sugar version of the Greatest Hits CD which is not in the picture because it was still drying when I took the photo.

Animal Cupcakes

2010-09-14T08:50:00.002-04:00

How cute are these cupcakes? Perfect for a baby shower, christening or kids birthday celebration.

All cupcake toppers are handmade out of sugarpaste. Which one is your favorite?

Bar Mitzvah: Gold Maserati Cake

2010-09-07T08:01:00.003-04:00

It all started with a gold maserati cake....

Then add a few tire cakes, 4 to be exact.... Stack them a little offset.. and....

....add the Gold Maserati on top and voila! You have a fabulous, eye-catching 5-tier centerpiece cake for a Bar Mitzvah.

A view from the top.

Cake Decorator's Tip: For cake tiers that are identical in design and shape (as in the tires above), ensure that you somehow mark each with the cake flavor. You way want to do this discretely or in the back of the cake for yourself and the servers. I always provide printed instructions of all the details of the cake and serving instructions.

Wedding Cupcake Towers

2010-08-31T09:14:00.002-04:00

A popular option for weddings are wedding cupcake towers. Sometimes, they are also topped by a small cake too. Purple was the main color theme for these two weddings.

This cupcake tower matched the couples invitation. It was filled with chocolate sour cream cupcakes with strawberry icing and strawberry vanilla cupcakes with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream. How cute is the cake topper that they purchased from Naked Peggies on Etsy?

The display also included a few cupcakes in boxes and extra labelled clear boxes displayed behind with a little sign that says "Enjoy a wedding cupcake or take one home". It was both a takeaway and also a dessert.

This wedding cupcake tower was decorated with some sugarpaste bees and ladybugs. The tower had chocolate sour cream cupcakes with cream cheese icing and zesty lemon cupcakes with lemon buttercream. On the sides were plates of mini chocolate cupcakes decorated to look like grass.

80th Birthday Cake: Liquorice Allsorts Cake

2010-08-24T08:18:00.001-04:00

A few weeks back, I posted this sneak peek on Twitter and everyone did guess correctly. These were small stacked zesty lemon cakes decorated like the candy Liquorice Allsorts. You either love the confection or hate it.

These cakes were for an 80th birthday. I also made a collage of some personal things for the birthday boy based on some things his daughter told me. She told me that he loved it and is saving the board. How sweet!

Cupcake Towers

2010-08-17T08:55:00.004-04:00

Whether you are turning 1 or 38... it's fun to celebrate with a cupcake tower topped with a fun cake.

This first celebration was a 1st birthday with a toy theme. The topper matched the invitation and the yellow car is a sugarpaste version of the birthday boys favorite toy.

I handmade 48 sugar items like planes, helicopters, tractors, cars and trucks to top each cupcake. They matched the toys they were giving away in the loot bags.

This celebration was a beach-themed surprise birthday party. 24 zesty lemon and 24 vanilla bean cupcakes.

Sesame Street Cake

2010-08-10T07:42:00.004-04:00

I always love making Sesame Street cakes or any of the characters - they really do make you smile! Here's a cute cake for a 1st birthday. All the characters are handmade out of sugarpaste and the cake is 8 layers of lemon butter cake.

A view from the side - I love the alphabet letters around the bottom of the cake.

50th Birthday Party: 1979 Corvette Cake

2010-08-03T08:34:00.006-04:00

A perfect surprise 50th birthday cake: a black 1979 Corvette L82 chocolate cake. The birthday boy's spouse had been planning this surprise for over 6 months. I guess it would be more of a surprise if it was the real thing!

And here are some photos on how it all began.... Somehow, I had to turn these chocolate cake layers into a sleek corvette.

7-tier Wedding Cake

2010-07-27T08:21:00.003-04:00

There is nothing worse than non-stop rain showers when you have to deliver a 7-tier wedding cake. But I was very lucky, the rain subsided in the evening when I had to deliver this wedding cake to a reception held in Toronto's Distillery District.

This off-white 7-tier cake was alternating tiers of zesty lemon and strawberry vanilla cake. Each tier was different heights and decorated with different styles, textures and lustre to give it a tall, elegant and grand look.

The bride provided me this photo of the gorgeous flower on her wedding dress which I replicated in sugarpaste. I wanted it to be perfect - I actually re-made the flower 4 times to get it just right.

Bridal Shower Cake n' Cupcakes

2010-07-20T08:21:00.001-04:00

As some of you might know, I'm getting married... yikes... in less than 2 months! So, when I was asked to make another wedding dress cake, I had lots of inspiration from my own shopping trips. The client allowed me to create whatever design I wanted for the bridal shower - so the bride's real dress design is still a surprise.

The cake was gluten-free chocolate cake and the cupcakes were zesty lemon with lemon buttercream.

And no.... this is not the design of my wedding dress. That is still a surprise too!

3rd Birthday: Animal Print Cake

2010-07-13T08:06:00.001-04:00

It is so fun to make animal print cakes - the cakes just come alive with every spot or stripe you add. This cake was for a boy turning 3 years old.

I can't take the credit for the design as I was given a photo of a cake to replicate and I just added in my own flair to it. The cake was 3 tiers of chocolate sour cream cake and all decorations are handmade out of sugarpaste.

Simple and Elegant Wedding Cakes

2010-07-06T08:49:00.003-04:00

Happy July everyone! Summer is definitely here and lots of wedding celebrations. Here are a couple of photos of simple and elegant wedding cakes with handmade sugarpaste flowers.

I always find it interesting to see how they look before they are delivered and then finally when they are set up at the event. The lighting, how the table is set up and what angles can be seen.

This wedding took place at a wonderful and charming restaurant in downtown Toronto called La Maquette.

This wedding took place at a The Old Mill Inn in Toronto.

Bar Mitzvah: Medieval Times Cake n' Cupcakes

2010-06-29T08:14:00.002-04:00

As a cake designer, I'm so lucky to be a part of special events. I love hearing about their event preparations, seeing the invitations and talking through cake ideas which will compliment the party theme.

This cake and cupcake tower was for a Bar Mitzvah. The theme was medieval times. I had a lot of fun with this and loved how it all came together.

The cake was orange dream with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream and there were chocolate and vanilla cupcakes decorated with handmade sugarpaste decorations.

When the cupcake tower were finally set up at the event - it was perfect! The decor at the banquet hall was absolutely amazing and really set the tone for the medieval times theme - I, myself, wanted to have a medieval times party :-)

30th Birthday: Toolbox Cake

2010-06-22T08:13:00.006-04:00

Back in March, I made a pink baby shower cake tower for a client. With a brand new 1 month old - she was able to pull off a surprise 30th birthday party for her husband.

Her husband is an electrician so she loved the idea of a red toolbox filled with lots of his tools including hammer, marrets (caps for the wires), wire cutter, screwdriver, outlet and multi-meter.

The cake was Chocolate Sour Cream cake with vanilla swiss merinuge buttercream. All the items were edible and handmade out of sugarpaste. It was so fun to see it all come together!

2nd Birthday: Elmo Cakes

2010-06-15T07:47:00.002-04:00

There has been a lot of 2nd birthday parties lately and the most popular request has been Sesame Street cakes! In particular, Elmo!

This design was a 2-tier cake with Elmo popping out of the box. The flavor was Chocolate Sour Cream with Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

The client sent me over one of her photos which included the cute cookie monster cupcakes that she made. She has her own blog called Crazy4Cupcakes.

Here is vanilla butter cake Elmo sitting with his 3 chocolate cake presents.

Lastly, a smaller Elmo sitting alongside a sugarpaste figure of the birthday girl.