"Hi Baby Kensie!!"

"Hi Baby Kenshee!" this is what my nephew Brody says to my new niece Kensie, who turns 1 month old on August 7th! Last night my sister Shelley and her husband Gerald threw a celebratory 1 month party for her (it's a Chinese thing) and I made these adorable little cupcakes to match her ridiculously adorable strawberry dress Rich and I got her a few weeks ago!!

The cupcakes were a delightfully tender vanilla buttermilk cupcake with strawberry jam swirled throughout and filled with strawberry jam too, plus my mom made the strawberry jam! So it was a real family affair. I topped the cupcakes with a french swirl of pink vanilla buttercream, and handmade fondant flowers and leaves, all in shades of pink to match Kensie's dress!

Awww Baby Kensie!! You are such a little cutie!!! I think Kensie looks just like a mini Shelley, my sis!! I can't even believe she's 1 month already. I'm already plotting the cupcakes and cake I will make for her 1st birthday... :)

Alice & Rory

Um, can a couple get any cuter and more attractive and stylish than adorable Alice and Rory?? Alice and I have been in touch for the last six months planning the cupcake details for her special day. The final decision was bright pink and orange cupcake liners (gorgeous and vibrant!), and chocolate cupcakes with matcha buttercream, raspberry jam filled lemon cupcakes topped with fresh raspberries, and perfect pink vanilla bean cupcakes! Alice has great style, and it showed in her cupcake choices-- she also requested matching cupcake flags, which of course I loooove to do for weddings and parties!

I was so happy that Coco Cake Cupcakes could be a part of their amazing wedding day. What crazy, perfect weather... and a rolicking fun wedding party celebration for them at Vancouver's Brix restaurant. Special thanks to the lovely Anne Marie for being so helpful when I arrived! And congratulations to Alice and Rory... may you be happy and madly in love for all the years to come! Love that last pic where Rory is checking out the cupcakes... !

xo

Allergic To Fish Fish Cake!

Super cute Adele from Dace (incidentally one of my favorite Vancouver clothing brands) ordered a hilarious cake for her boyfriend Ryan's birthday bash: a fish cake on a platter complete with lettuce and tomatoes, as Ryan is very allergic to the real thing! This fish cake stressed me out beyond mental reason-- I think I worried about it for two weeks straight, and could not sleep the night before the beginning of Fogerty the Fish's production, this being my very first fish cake. I drew out my design and tried to think like a little cake engineer: how would I make this large sheet cake look like a ridiculously adorable fish about to be eaten for dinner??

Thanks to my husband and jack of all trades Richie for helping me carve my fish Fogerty into a nice fish shape! And of course for helping me "lay down the roof tiling" on my little fishy's scales. You are the best RT!!!

Here is the "making of" of Fogerty the Fish. Enjoy!!

Pre-Fogerty: diagrams, diagrams help me lots.

First, a giant sheet cake! Eggless chocolate cake, with vanilla buttercream.

"The first trim is the deepest"

The second trim is much better: Rich Trawick to the rescue! Master Carver!

Delightful carved away cake, to be eaten at a later time by probably Rich Trawick

Freshly frosted once again, post-carve!

Two different colors of green fondant later, the cake is covered, with fins intact...

Much later: the finished product!! Tomatoes and lettuce, and Rich helped perfect the scales!

"Le Poisson, le poisson... Hee hee hee haw haw haw!"

Close-up of my cute little tomatoes and veined lettuce.

"Qui, moi, Fogerty??" looking sad with his gift for Ryan, the tomato topped cupcake.

Adele, hope Ryan had a great birthday party!!! Til next time blog world,

xo

Pink, White, Silver, Brown... Pretty!!!

Loved doing this. Loved it. A phone call from Whitehorse in the Yukon Territories of Canada-- a pink, girly birthday for a special 17 year old!! A custom cupcake stand even! Oh boy. It's great to have such freedom in creating something truly special and unique-- and to have people trust me in the design process in coming up with that something special. The request was for pink, cream and chocolate colors, with some sort of "bling" element-- anything a 17 year old girl might like. I made pink flags out of heart craft paper, and adorned these little sticker rhinestone things to them. I also made this custom stand and made a matching Happy Birthday flag. I love how it all turned out!

Thanks Susan for calling me-- I hope the cupcakes were a gorgeous hit!

Matcha Matcha Man

Matcha makes me think of: Macho Man Randy Savage from my childhood days of watching WWF Wrestling, and the Village People tune!

And of course, that taste that can only be described as itself: matcha green tea. Engine Digital requested some matcha buttercream topped cupcakes for Kele's birthday, as well as some lactose free chocolate ganache cupcakes for Adrian's birthday too!