Coco Cake Round-Up: Children's Party Times!!

Oh, crazy children of the world. They love to part-ay like it's 1999. And they love to part-ay with their cakes, and their cupcakes! Here is a big old collection of some of Coco Cake's recent children's party projects. I love kids--I am lucky I get to work with them twice a week teaching art, and that I have the CUTEST niece and nephew (see above pics!). I can't even believe I have another niece or nephew arriving in May. Go childrenland go!

Race-car themed 2nd birthday cake for cute little Michael!

Vroom! Vroom! Or is it more like... putputputput...

Black and red Spidey cupcakes for one of my oldest friends, Erin's son Denis' birthday!

Thanks again for the tzatziki and homous, Erin-- I am STILL working it off at the gym, aiyahh!

Henry's adorable PEANUTS themed birthday cupcakes...

Snoop Dog (the original Snoop--bow wow wow yipppee yay) and his buddy, Charlie

Heehee! Kung-fu Panda cake for Jonelle's godson Wil!

This movie made me chuckle. I watched it with my sister (who teaches grade 4) and her entire class at a year-end movie party. I liked all the char-siu bau (BBQ pork bun) references... !

Cute little Adrien's Harry & The Dinosaurs cupcakes!

Harry... with ginger hair... !

I had never heard of these characters before... but I think they turned out super cute!

Dun Dun... Dun Dun...

JAWS!!! AGHHHHH!!!!

Seriously though. Jaws was my total absolute nightmare when I was a kid. I was terrified of Jaws. I couldn't even properly do my swimming lessons at Canada Games Pool because I was so scared of opening my eyes under water. Is that why it took me four times to pass "Maroon"? Aggh. I am still scared of Jaws. Children are impressionable, and when you throw in a bonkers imagination things can get scary. I never even saw the movie when I was a kid. I happened to come across the BOOK at my mom's best friend Diana's house one day and I started reading it. And of course the imagery of the woman swimming and that huge terrifying beast coming straight at her to bite off her torso... ugh. And the omnipresent theme music... what a score. WHAT an amazing musical score.

On a more DELICIOUS note, please enjoy these pictures of the JAWS themed cake I made for the wonderful Carmen, for her partner Adam's 40th birthday! Jaws is his favorite film. The cake was dark chocolate with chocolate ganache and chocolate buttercream. I was really happy with how the shark itself came out-- as I was building him I was all worried it would turn out too cartoony and cutesy. But add some sharp teeth, some blood and some fondant severed limbs... No problem!!

Fun times for Coco Cake! I molded the shark body out of rice krispie squares, something I saw on a TV show or something so I wanted to try it to see if it worked. In the meantime I ate oh, 10 or so of those devilish rice krispie squares myself. I had to get Rich to hide them in a nondescript black bag somewhere in the house so I wouldn't decimate the rest of them.

But of course I found the bag and, well, I decimated them. Just like Jaws decimated his victims. I am the rice krispie eating Chinese JAWS...

Announcing... Coco Cake Cupcakes the Sequel!

The beautiful and talented Jamie Anderson of Fort Design designed and created my super awesome and adorable new website and new logo!! I think I gave the words "vintagey, modern, not overly feminine, fun, a sense of art/craft, vintage children's aesthetic, clean, lots of white space, stripes. We looked at fonts together, sent me so many lovely options... man it was tough to choose. The girl came up with some total bonkers amazingness. I would recommend working with Jamie to anyone--I think she's super talented! I love how the brown logo above looks kind of like a cute little face to me, with the "boutique cupcakes" curving like an upside down rainbow, looking like a little special smile. Hee!

The new Coco Cake site photography is of course by the equally beautiful and incredible Amy Pelletier! We spent an afternoon at my house with a horde of my cupcakes and did a bunch of cute set-ups in my house full of vintage things... what fun!! Amy is not only an ad exec at a distinguished ad agency, but she is also a conceptual artist and commercial photographer! All of these lovely photos featured on this post are by her...

Thank you everyone for your continued support... looking forward to lots of good things, fun times, hard work of course, and cool moments happening in 2010!! xo

Coco Cake Specialty Cupcake Bonkers-ness

Is bonkers-ness a word? The incredible Engine Digital placed a mega-order for 8 dozen specialty Coco Cake cupcakes, as New Years presents to some of their lovely clients! It was a life-affirming order for old Coco Cake-- it showed me that yes, this is a ridiculously fun job and, yes, I really do enjoy using my creative skills in cakeworld. It was so much fun to bring Engine Digital's requests to cake life!(cake life is sort of like thug life). Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and fondant decorations. Below, the outcome, with their ideas... hilarious times...

BC Hydro logo!

BC Hydro "electricity meters", cartoon style, and logo. I did two dozen of these-- thanks RT for helping me place the numbers!

Great Western Brewing: "We heard these go well with beer." -Engine Digital. Fondant peanuts (in case anyone was allergic) and real Pretzels.

Cuteness party snack pack cupcakes! Engine shipped these little guys all the way to Saskatchewan... thinking about my little cupcake buddies traversing along the bumpy and cold road to Sask made me chuckle away...

"Raise Your Hand" campaign-- safety in the workplace! Engine wanted some bloody hands that had NOT practiced safety in the workplace... Hands of fondant with non-pareil candy fingernails, and food colouring for blood...

Hand collection...

Communion wafer-topped blood red cupcakes: for St.Bernadine Mission design firm!

"A tastier way to take your communion wafer." -Engine Digital. Rich and I went on an adventure to find the Church Supplies Store that had these wafers. The friendliest Chinese proprietor man, and half the store is also a trophy engraving shop! Neat-o!

For Coastal Contacts: some face with glasses... I thought they turned out really cute and hilarious with their different colored glasses, little different faces and moustaches and hairdos...! Nerdcakes!

"Who, meee?? Me with the moustache?" Okay, this one looks a bit like Gerry Sung with a curly hairdo (dad, you did have a perm in the 1980s...)

Black lumps of coal for Western Coal Corp!

Thanks so much for such a fun order, Engine!

xo Lyndsay

Hoot Hoot! Brody Turns 2 Years Old!

Brody's 2nd birthday party!



How cute is my little nephew Brody??

Not even these little orange cupcake owlies are half as cute as Brody!

Awesome sign my sis Leanne made!
(she's also 5 months pregs! Go sis go!)

"I don't give a HOOT if I get eaten! No, really!"

Adorable crafty arty owlies... kid's parties at Collage Collage are so cute and fun...!

The work of Coco Cake, a.k.a L.K.S., also known as... "Auntie Lynsheee"

Hooray!! Happy Birthday singing with mama and dada!

"Easy does it, Bro...eaaassssy..." says Auntie Lyndsay... helping Bro cut his cake...

The cutest and slowest little cupcake bite you've ever seen... so slow and thoughtful with his eating...

Wah! Hard to believe my little nephew Brody is now 2 years old... remember last year's Totoro birthday for his 1st birthday?? For his birthday, my sis Leanne-- who is a designer with her own awesome card design business Patches & Charlie-- devised a very cute woodsy winter owl theme for Bro's birthday! I of course went with this theme for Brody's cake and matching cupcakes... hoot hoot! Orange Owlie! I made sure to put a "ball moon" on the cake too, one of Bro's sayings. "Ball moon! Ball moon!" The cupcakes were chocolate with vanilla buttercream, and lemon cupcakes with lemon creamcheese frosting, a family fave. The cake was chocolate with vanilla and decorated with fondant.

The party was held at the super lovely shop Collage Collage, with an owly storytime session and an art making session where the kids (with the help of adults!--2 year olds here!) made adorable giant grey owls.

Brody loved his kids party...! And I love my hilarious and supercute nephew BroBro! Happy 2nd Birthday Brody!

Love, Auntie Lyndsay