Sushi

So, when I look at other people's cake blogs, I always see a "sushi cake". I decided that it was something I should make, like a rite of passage to the world of cake blogging.
I made this cake for no special reason, and so my family was all surprised when I showed up for dinner with this cake.
The round cake is actually a brownie, and the square is cake. The sushi is all little pieces of cake, covered in fondant, and the "rice" nigiri is rice krispie treats covered in fondant.
My daughter claimed the shrimp one as soon as it was finished, it's her favorite.
It was so funny too, my dad had one of the "tuna" nigiri's, and he held in between his two fingers and ate it like a real piece of sushi.

Go Irvine Anteaters!!!

So, our baby brother is in college now. He goes to UC Irvine. Seeing him graduate from high school made me feel so old. Even older than when I had my second child. I swear, my brother will always be 15 years old in my mind. So when people ask me how old he is, I really have to think hard.
I made this cake for my brother, he loves video games. But I think this must be a few years old, because he doesn't play his playstation anymore, mostly he's on his laptop doing his gaming.
This playstation cake has an anteater on top of it, because it's UC Irvine's mascot.
I kept calling it an aardvark, and he kept patiently reminding me that it is an anteater.
We love you Eric !!!

Congratulations Kari and Tom !!!

I have this great friend, Kari, who I have known since seventh grade. She is one of the most sweet, patient, kind, people I have ever met. We have been through a ton of stuff together, and now she's marrying a wonderful guy named Tom. They are getting married in Hawaii, and last weekend she had a bridal shower. I made her this tropical themed cake and mini cakes to go with it.
It was much easier to make the mini cakes that I had expected. But it also took twice, if not more, time than I had expected.
I also transported the cakes for a three hour drive to the shower location! Now I know how the guys on Ace of Cakes feel when they deliver cakes hours away. It's crazy, and thank goodness for air conditioning, that's all I can say about that.
This was also the first time I had used fresh flowers. I didn't have floral tape, and don't really know how to put them in, so I wrapped the stems with tiny pieces of saran wrap before I poked them into the cakes. I think they turned out pretty cute!

Cupcake Hat

So, I mentioned in my profile that I have oodles of yarn stashed away. I love to knit in my free time, it's so relaxing and you really get that sense of accomplishment when you look down and see the beautiful product you've made.
On a sillier note, I knit this cupcake hat for the kitty. She was not very happy to try it on, though she did stay still long enough to take a picture.

tee hee hee !!!

And, since I'm talking about the kitty now, here's her halloween picture.
The kids kept laughing because the chicken hat looks like a pair of underwear!

Oh, and here's another one, with my mom in law's puppy. They look so adorable in their pink crocheted sweaters! hee hee
And, no, they're not friends hanging out together. They were taking a rest from their many chases and fights around the house. My hubby called it "the battle of the pink sweaters". so funny!

See the yarn stash in the corner ? :)

Pizza Cake

If there was one thing my son could bring on a deserted island, it would probably be pizza.
The kid lives for pizza. In fact, whenever the doorbell randomly rings, he thinks it's the pizza guy and he starts to do a little dance.
So it only made sense when I asked him what kind of party he wanted to have, that he said he wanted a pizza party. I really enjoyed planning the party, as well as making the cake. It was really easy, I just went and bought a bunch of pizza boxes and filled them with play dough and plastic playdough cutters that resemble pizza cutters, and little wooden rolling pins and aprons.
The little pizza boxes are little cakes, and the pizza on the very top is made of fondant.

Zoom zoom cake

So, we had a small birthday party for our son at my parents house, I think it was actually on his real birthday. We were planning to have a party at the park with friends a few days later. But he had recently started having these huge melt downs when people sang happy birthday to him, so this was a cake I made for the trial run. Of course he melted down and ran out of the room when we sang, but the cake was really good! A few days later at his actual party (pizza cake), we quickly cut the cake before anyone noticed, and skipped singing the forbidden song. It's been two years now and we still haven't sung to him, although he has stopped freaking out at other people's parties, and actually sang the song once for someone else. Baby steps, I keep telling myself.
The road is painted with powdered food color and lemon extract, and all of the little cars are hand made and many are modeled after a car belonging to someone we know, like the little flat white one on the very top of the picture is my sister's convertible and the blue one above the "h" in birthday is my friend's Prius.

Pajama Madness

So, this year my daughter wanted to have a sleepover. But, some of the invitees on her list were boys, so I didn't think it was a very good idea. After brainstorming for a bit, we agreed to have a pajama party, where the guests would come in their pajamas, we would have movies and junk food and games and such. It was such a fun party, both for her and for us. Several parents stayed and hung out, ate, and drank a few margaritas with us, so all around everyone was happy.
The cake I made was of two pillows with a popcorn container on top. I made the popcorn out of fondant, and the cupcake on top is a candle I got from Target. The cake was decorated with all of her favorite candies, and incorporated her favorite colors.

Rattatouille Cake

We absolutely loved that movie, even if you don't have kids it's so funny and enjoyable. I guess that once you have kids, you feel obligated to see all the kids' movies. I don't remember the last time my husband and I went to see a movie by ourselves.
Last year my daughter decided to have a Rattatouille birthday party, so I made her this cake. I ordered the figurines from ebay, but all of the other decorations, the little veggies, and the spoon too, are made from gumpaste.

Bon Apetit ~

Crazy Quilt Cake

Here's another cake I made for my mom on her birthday. I actually made it the same day as the one I made for my cousin, the blue one with the necklace. Their birthdays are 8 days apart, so we had a party for the both of them on the same day. It was good time management on our parts.
Anyway my mom was working on a crazy quilt at the time, which is a quilt with no defined pattern. It's a random fabric piecing creation, like a hodgepodge of textures and colors. Some of the pieces are embroidered, some are embellished with beads or buttons.
My daughter, K, made all of the little buttons and added all of the details on them, the little holes, and designs. She did such a great job! My little helper. :)