#ICEBucketChallenge Cake

I love the ALS #IceBucketChallenge as it has really showed that people are fun and they are willing to donate.  I loved seeing updates on Facebook from everyone, their kids and especially those people who rarely post.

I decided to have my own fun with this - I hope it counts! I have donated to ALS.ca and an unrelated charity The Jack Project.  I hope we all continue to research other organizations and continue regular donations when we can.

 My best and positive thoughts go out to Team Frates who started this challenge to #StrikeOutALS.

Matryoshka Doll Cake

I have always loved Matryoshka Dolls, also known as Russian nesting dolls.  How exciting to be able to make a cake design for one of these!

Generally these dolls are narrower, but the client was very stressed about transporting and moving it, so I made her a little thicker.  That's better for everyone - more cake! :-)  The cake was strawberry vanilla cake with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream.

4th Birthday Cake: Superhero Cake

There is a wonderful non-profit organization called Icing Smiles which provide custom cakes to families affected by critical illness.  Their goal is to create a custom cake for the ill child, or their sibling, that provides a temporary escape from worry and creates a positive memory during a difficult time.  Volunteer "Sugar Angels" are matched up with the families across the country to deliver a "Smile" in the form of a custom cake.

I was honoured to be a sugar angel for Frankie, currently battling Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), who turned 4.   He is a true little superhero!

Please help if you can:  The US Icing Smiles has been around for over 4 years and has delivered over 5000+ custom cakes.  In Canada, they have been around for over 1 year and unfortunately are in danger of losing their charity status.  We have 1 more week to raise enough funds to keep this going - please help if you can - every little bit helps.

Green and White Wedding Cake

A year ago, I made this little cupcake to congratulate one of my regular clients on her engagement.

A few weeks ago, she had her wedding day.  I love this green tone and how the handmade sugarpaste peonies turned out.  The cake was alternating layers of strawberry vanilla cake and vanilla bean cake, filled with strawberry buttercream and covered with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream.

3rd Birthday: Toopy and Binoo Cake

And just like that, my daughter Sidney turned 3 last week.  She had been asking for a Toopy and Binoo cake for the longest time.  For this design, I made fondant cutouts and drew the characters with edible marker and edible colors.

It was just a small celebration with family so I had a simple sweet table including mini strawberry vanilla cupcakes (with a side of Patchy Patch), fresh market cherries, paleo chocolate cake bites and rainbow fruit skewers.

Here's a blurry picture of me and my little one.  Happy Birthday to my sweet Sidney!

Summer Cupcakes

After that long long winter and lingering spring... summer is officially here in Toronto.  We've had a couple weekends of nice sun and hot weather.  So it's time to get out those flip flops :-) and enjoy some summer!

1st Birthday: Sandra Boynton Cake

Whether you are a grandparent, aunt, uncle, parent, caregiver or teacher, you are probably familiar with the Sandra Boynton series of books. They are fun and wonderfully illustrated - every child has their favorite book.  My daughter's favorite is "Night-Night, Little Pookie".

I had a request for this fun book, MOO, BAA, LA LA LA! for a little girl named Lola - this was fun!

Here's what I came up with and I loved how the name Lola worked with this book title!  What's your favorite Sandra Boynton book?

3rd Birthday Cake: My Little Pony Cake

I always look forward to making this little girls birthday cakes every year!  It all started with her colorful 1st birthday and then her 2nd birthday Bubble Guppies cake. This year was My Little Pony with her 3 favorite characters in sugar, Twilight, Spike and Pinkie Pie.

I loved how the handmade sugarpaste characters turned out.  I was told that Twilight was brought to school for show and tell.

Hello Kitty Castle Cake

As a cake designer, I try never to make a cake design twice.  Some designs are harder than others to change up.  I have done a few castle cakes in the past and decided to change this cake up with these wonderful silicon molds that I got from my cake friend Kara from A Cake to Remember in Richmond, VA.

 This cake was for a baby shower for a special lady who loves Hello Kitty.

6th Birthday: Angry Birds Star Wars Cake

It's that time of year when my nephew's birthday rolls around.  I love to see his expression when he sees his cake.  For the first two birthdays, I was able to design whatever I wanted from his favorite things.  Then for his new few birthdays, he would tell me what he wanted.  For the latest birthday, he actually drew me a picture of the Angry Birds Star Wars cake that he wanted.

 That was a fun cake to make, although he did mention that I made a few mistakes on the characters that he drew, ooops!  But he still loved it!  :-)

Here's a review of his past birthdays!  I'm excited to see what his 7th birthday brings.

• 1st birthday Heffalump cake 
• 2nd birthday Tractor cake
• 3rd birthday Crane cake
• 4th birthday Stegosaurus cake
• 5th birthday Transformers cake