Garrett's "Up" Themed First Birthday Cake!

Yes, I’m an adult. Yes, my favorite movie is “Up.” My very favorite movie! When it came to the local theater, I saw it twice. Once with my child, once without her (on a date with my husband).

So when I got the call from our long-time family friend, Leigha, asking if I could make an "Up" themed cake for her darling son Garrett's first birthday, I’m pretty sure I literally jumped up and down.  I had a full-on BLAST making this cake. I struggled with Russell - and 4 heads later (3 of which ended up in the garbage can), I finally just decided I'm quite rubbish at sculpting. There will be no "close up" shots of Russell on this post, that's for sure. Carl, on the other hand (pictured to the right), was super easy. Although this cake ranked somewhere among the top 5 most time-consuming cakes I’ve ever made, it's probably the one that is the most near and dear to my heart. Part of that is because of how much I loved the movie and part of that is because of how precious this family is - and what a joy it was to bake for them.

Look at Leigha and her adorable little man. I want to say he's a doll, but then I want to say so is she! I've known her since she was just a little girl. I can't believe the babies in my life have babies of their own.

I wish I could have tweaked the things I screwed up while decorating this cake because I wish it could have been as perfect in real life as it was in my MIND. I blame it on being so new to all of this. I wasn't unhappy with the end result, it was just so stellar in my dreams.

Happy birthday sweet Garrett. I hope your momma picks another Pixar movie for your next birthday and calls me to make it for you!  ;)

Oven’s on – I’ll be back soon.

~ Peggy

Rett's Circus Birthday Cake! (Click any photo to enlarge it!)

This was one of the most challenging cakes I’ve ever made. Based on a story book called “Monster Birthday Party,” I was asked to recreate the monster's cake (which wasn't anything to do with monsters at all, but rather had a circus theme). The cake featured animals parading around the base of it, clowns marching around the tiny top tier (each holding a candle), and had sparkler-type “fireworks” spewing out of the top (which I was asked to somehow include). At the same time that I was given a theme to go by, I was also given creative freedom and so was allowed to bring this cake to life in any way I wanted - and that made making it a total blast. 

I hand-painted the 2D animals on the side (lion, elephant, giraffe, camel, and tiger) and spent way too much time nitpicking over the clowns, which I also spent way too much time designing!  

The “fireworks” are royal icing flowers piped onto pre-shaped floral wire. I filled a drinking straw with royal icing, poked the “bouquet” of wires into the straw, and after it dried, I insert the straw into the cake – tada! No wires touching cake!

Look at this angel face! This melts my heart and reminds me why I love making cakes for my sweet friends and their sweet friends! Happy birthday to little Rett! I’m so happy and grateful his mom had the creativity to dream up such a clever, fun idea for his cake - and that I was the one who got to make it!

Oven’s on – I’ll be back soon.

~ Peggy