Brenda's Cakes

Shop Hours

2011-11-02T18:24:00.002-04:00

I'm sure we're going to end up tweaking our hours after we've been open for awhile, but for now, they are as follows:

Tuesday through Thursday - 10am to 7pm
Friday and Saturday - 10am to 9pm
Closed Sunday and Monday

And a reminder, the new phone number is (614)523-2400. The address is 20 South State Street, Suite H (behind Java Central), Uptown Westerville.

We'll have a variety of cupcakes, cookies, and mini cakes available daily for walk-in customers, as well as doing our custom orders.

If you haven't "liked" us on Facebook yet, that's the quickest way to get updates, specials, menus, etc. Just follow the link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Brendas-Cakes/188659154490650

We'd love to see you soon!!!

Our Westerville location is now OPEN!!!!

2011-10-29T23:39:00.000-04:00

After 3 very long and exhausting months, we opened the shop in Uptown Westerville yesterday for Midnight Madness. It was sooo much fun to be able to fill our bakery case and see so many wonderful people at the shop. I had totally meant to post BEFORE we opened, but things have been so unbelievably crazy!

Now that we got Midnight Madness out of the way, we'll decide on some regular hours and post them very soon. We will have cupcakes, cookies, and other treats available for walk-in customers, as well as continuing our special order cakes and cookies.

Here's a few shots of the new shop. It's located at 20 South State Street, Suite H (behind Java Central). Our new phone number is 614-523-2400. Website and email will remain the same.

Our new display case, filled with goodies for Midnight Madness...

A shot of our very wide-open kitchen...

And if you'd like to see more...well, stop in and pick up a cupcake. Or two...we have rent to pay now! :) Also, if you haven't "liked" our Facebook page yet, that would be a great way to keep up with specials, daily menu, etc.

Hope to see you all real soon!

Fun Week

2011-09-25T10:44:00.000-04:00

I had such a fun week this week. I did a cake that I think is my new favorite! Even the little smash cake was so much fun to do. The base cake is our white almond sour cream with chocolate ganache filling. The ladybug cake is our white almond sour cream with strawberry filling. Two of my favorite combinations! Have a wonderful 1st birthday, Evey!

And Julia is turning 13, so her mom ordered cupcakes to bring to the event. I matched the stand to the cupcakes.

And a baptism cake for Samuel....

My mom was down for a visit a few weeks ago. We came over to visit the Westerville shop, as she hadn't seen it yet. Here is the prettiest picture of my mom with her great-granddaughter, Emma!

Have a great week!!!

We're now on Facebook!

2011-09-22T16:51:00.000-04:00

I finally, finally broke down and made a Facebook page for the business. So please, check it out and click on "Like". We're looking a little sad with only our 50 Likes! :)

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000526359424#!/pages/Brendas-Cakes/188659154490650

Lots of Cupcakes

2011-09-22T16:39:00.000-04:00

We've been working on some new flavors, for when we eventually get the shop opened! Let me know what you think!

First off, raspberry swirl cake with raspberry icing.

And Smores Cupcakes - we did this one with white cake with marshmallows and chunks of Hershey's chocolate baked into the batter. Topped with marshmallow icing and graham cracker crumbs. It was excellent, but I'm thinking we'll try a version with chocolate cake to compare. We love taste testing! :)

We also had an order for some wedding cupcakes. Congratulations Amelia!!!

And of course, my favorite little cupcake got her newborn pictures back, so I have to throw a few of those in! :)

Have a good one!!!!

Long time, no post!

2011-09-19T15:23:00.000-04:00

I sincerely apologize for how behind I've gotten with updating the website and the blog! This is a busy time of year with specialty cakes and wedding cakes, plus we're attempting to get the shop in Westerville opened by the end of October. And of course, I have my beautiful new granddaughter, Emma, who requires lots of snuggle time with her grandma! But I'll save my excuses and get onto the cakes!

This was a unique one for me. Generally I make "cute" cakes, so to make something look more realistic and fierce was a challenge for me. My wonderful daughter, Chelsey, helped alot with sculpting and painting various pieces on this one. Everything on the entire cake is edible, including the dice and the figurine.

We also did an adorable "baby album" cake for this past weekend, with cupcakes to match.

And some Lego cupcakes....

We've also been doing some experimenting with new cupcake flavors for the shop, but I'll save those for another post! And of course, I can't go without giving everyone an Emma update! My adorable granddaughter is doing fantastic! She's up to 6lbs, 9ozs, and we are so proud of our big girl! She is SUCH a joy to have around!!!!!

Have a great week!!!!!

Last Farmers Market

2011-08-31T08:47:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was our last farmers market of the season. :( We had gorgeous weather and a fantastic turn out. Thank you sooo much to everyone who came out faithfully every week, especially in the heat we've had this summer. It was a wonderful season!

And since it was our last one, we thought we should try out some new recipes. Our favorite was this one...white cake with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups baked into the batter, buttercream icing, chocolate drizzle, and more crushed Reese's on top. Can you say yum?!

We also did some cute princess cupcakes last week. The crowns on top are molded out of white chocolate. Two treats in one! :)

And the cake to match:

And, we are finally on Facebook! Once the shop is open, we'll be able to update it daily with our cupcake selections of the day. Until then, we'll keep posting cake pictures and "in progress" shots of the shop. Here's the link:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Brendas-Cakes/188659154490650

And because I'm a new grandma, and just can't possibly resist any opportunity to show off my granddaughter, here's a recent picture of her. She's up to 4 lbs, 14oz! We're looking forward to her hitting the 5 lb mark! :)

Have a great week!!!

It's my birthday!

2011-08-25T10:38:00.000-04:00

And I have to brag...I am getting the most incredible gift anybody could've given me. My granddaughter, Emma, is coming home today!!!! After three weeks in the hospital, my sweet girl is finally being sprung! :) She was born six weeks early and weighed 3 lbs, 14 oz. Three weeks later, she's up to 4lbs, 8 oz, and is doing great! Happy Birthday to me!!!! :)

In the meantime, we are still plugging away at getting the shop in Westerville opened. We ran into some unexpected snags with the city code, but are working through them one by one. After quite a struggle, we have the display case in, and our refrigerator and freezer were delivered as well. FAR from done, but here's a peek....

At this point, we're hoping to be open in six weeks or so. Patience is a virtue, right?! That is NOT one of my gifts, but we're hanging in there. :)

And finally...some cakes!!!

2011-08-13T13:52:00.000-04:00

See, I told you I actually had real work this weekend! :) Between visiting my sweet grandbaby Emma, working on cakes, and working on this shop, this has been one heck of a week. Productive though...the shop floor is finally done, which means we can start moving in equipment, etc, while we await the many required inspections. My hubby is there as I type, putting the trim back up, so I'll take pictures next time I'm out. It's looking good!

I had so much fun making this cake. For some reason, modeled monkeys have always been a little difficult for me. They never seem to look just quite right. So I was very happy when this one turned out exactly as I had hoped! Thank you for the order Tiffany...I'll see you in October!

Another fun order for Rachel, for her daughter's 7th birthday. Rachel really trusted me as far as design goes, so I hope she likes it!

And an order for a great customer, Liz. Liz actually just finished up the work on my new logo, business card, and label. Wait until you see them! It all looks amazing!!!!

And an order for the Clark family, who will be very happy when I open the shop, as they drive from the Westerville area to get their cakes now!

And that's it! I'm off to drag my daughter out of the hospital for a good meal and to snuggle with my grandbaby for awhile! Hopefully I'll have some updates on the shop to share by Monday. Have a great weekend!!!

It's About Time!

2011-08-10T15:10:00.000-04:00

So, I FINALLY got to hold my grandbaby!!! I've been waiting patiently - okay, semi patiently - for permission to hold her. I totally understand that they have to put Emma's needs first. But of course, I've been aching to hold that sweet little girl. So I finally got my chance last night! Emma and I got to spend 20 minutes cuddled together, while I talked non-stop about anything and everything. She seemed to like the sound of my voice (I don't know why the rest of my family doesn't feel the same way!), and spent the entire time looking at me and making the most adorable little faces. :)

And I suppose, since this is still my cake blog (I think), I may post a picture of some cookies we did recently! :) We mailed 9 dozen of these to Georgia. The trucks were made to look like the party invitations.

And I would share more pictures, but between working on the new shop, vacation, and a new grandbaby, I haven't been doing a whole lot of paying work! :) I am super busy this week though, so I swear I will actually have something cake related to share.

Meet Emma Ann

2011-08-09T14:43:00.000-04:00

Sooo...life never does turn out like you expect. My hubby and I left last Thursday on vacation. We were going down to North Carolina to attend an ICES convention (cake convention...yes, they have them!). I planned on posting all sorts of fantastic vacation pictures when we got back. But, like I said, life doesn't turn out how you expect.

Friday morning, my daughter Tessa, decided to go into premature labor. You can imagine my shock and dismay when I realized I was going to miss the entire thing! I was 8 hours away, and there was no way I was going to make it there. Luckily, my mom and my daughter were with Tessa, so she had a great support system with her. And the fantastic medical team at Southview Hospital actually let my mom keep her cell phone on during the entire operation, so I got to hear the entire thing, including little Emma Ann's first cries!

So, instead of vacation pictures, you get something much, much better....baby pictures!!!!! :)

Emma Ann was born on Friday, August 5th. She weighs in at 3 pounds, 14 ounces. She's a little one, but she is a little fighter. She's breathing on her own, she's digesting her mom's milk, and we're so hoping we'll be able to bring her home in a couple of weeks.

So, on to Emma Ann! As a new grandma, you just have to know I'm going to post a ton of pictures!!!!! This is my very favorite picture of her. She's so adorable with her little eyes open. And you have to catch it quick, since the girl really does like her sleep!

After she was born, they did have her on oxygen for a little while. Although she didn't need it, she was breathing on her own, it was just a precaution. Now she just has a little IV to help her with fluids and vitamins.

And I love, love, love her little chicken legs. (Although we'll be much happier when they're big, chunky, baby legs, since then she'll be able to come home!!!)

And once I FINALLY got to the hospital, we were able to go into the nursery and watch Tessa hold her baby for the very first time. What an amazing experience!

And here's me, my beautiful daughter Tessa (who looks incredible 48 hours after a C Section!!!) and our adorable Baby Emma!!!!

This is one of those times, where I am just so overcome with how proud I am of my entire family. My mother was with Tessa every step of the way. She filled in when I couldn't be there, and she's the only person I could've trusted my baby to. My daughter Chelsey was also with Tessa the entire time. She recorded every second, she provided Tessa with anything she could possibly need after the surgery, and was such a huge help to her sister. My wonderful husband, who didn't mind one single bit that we left behind our paid-for vacation to get home, and was just as anxious as me to be with our new granddaughter. And Tessa - who is so incredibly strong and is going to be such a wonderful mother. Emma is one lucky little girl!

And More Progress.....

2011-07-27T07:39:00.000-04:00

I'm a little late in posting these. I went back in Monday and put in another nine hour day of painting. It's far from done, but at least there is color on the walls! (I know...it looks a little like mint chocolate chip ice cream at the moment, but I do have a plan!)

The floors seem to be giving us more trouble than anything. We found cement underneath the carpet, which is actually great, but the carpet was glued to the cement, so we need to remove all the adhesive. That job definitely falls into Arnie's department, as it involves nasty chemicals and I tend to be a clumsy gal! :)

I thought it might be nice if I actually posted a cake picture or two as well. Just in case you thought I forgot how to do that! :) Cake and cookies for one of my best customers, Beth....

And last but certainly not least, my customer Amy sent me this photo. I did cupcakes for her a couple of weeks ago, and she always comes up with the greatest ways to display them. She made this adorable cake stand to put them on. Isn't it great?!

Okay, well, for me its back to work. I have paperwork to file and walls to paint. :)

A Good Days Work!

2011-07-24T20:07:00.000-04:00

So, I haven't posted any pictures of the inside of the building yet, and that's definitely for a reason! This is what we started with at 8 o'clock this morning:

Obviously, one of the first things we wanted to get rid of was the paint! So, after 9 hours and LOTS of primer (we can now strongly recommend Valspar brand from Lowes!), we have primer on everything and no more carpet. Now the fun will begin tomorrow, when I can start painting our final colors!

I have a feeling we're in for some loooong days of labor! But I'm so excited to get going! It's hard to believe that we only signed the lease two days ago!!!!

It's Official!

2011-07-22T12:13:00.000-04:00

Our new retail location will be located at 20 H South State Street, Westerville, OH!!!!!! The lease is signed, the electric is on....now begins the construction and painting! We are hoping (desperately) to be open by the end of August or September 1st at the latest, barring any unforseen problems.

We plan to offer a variety of cupcakes, cookies and small cakes available on a daily basis, along with special order custom cakes like we currently do.

I will definitely keep the blog updated on our progress. You won't want to miss the Grand Opening....free cupcakes for all!!!!! :)

Fantastic News!!!

2011-07-20T08:19:00.000-04:00

We are moving to Westerville, to a retail location!!! We have thought about opening a storefront for quite some time, but we finally found the perfect location. We'll be located in Uptown Westerville (the old downtown area) on S. State Street. We'll spend most of August remodeling and getting ready to open, but I'll keep the blog updated with opening dates.

Wish us luck!!!! :)

What a great week!

2011-07-16T13:08:00.000-04:00

Isn't it nice when you can say you had a great week at work?! That's definitely what I had. My orders this week were all so much fun to work on. AND - we found a great retail location in Westerville that we are sooo excited about! It's not 100% yet - we have to check on some zoning issues - but if that works out, we'll be going retail!!!!

My first order for this week was for a great customer, Amy. She always comes up with such fun things for her sons' birthdays. The hats on these were made out of white chocolate, so they are totally edible.

I also had an order for Emily's 14th birthday. She's a big fan of the Cake Boss, so I'm hoping that I managed to live up to her expectations. The cheetah print is hand painted.

This one still needs to be delivered, so I'm hoping Kimberly doesn't pop on here. She's probably too busy getting ready for the party anyways! :)

And cookies to match...

Have a great weekend, everyone! And check back often for updates on the shop. You know how much I love posting pics. If it's a go, I'll definitely take "in progress" pictures as we remodel!

Farmers Market

2011-07-14T08:12:00.000-04:00

Okay, I still have two bakeries to post, but I thought I'd take a break and actually post something that we made!

Our farmers market on Tuesday went really well. It was VERY hot, but my tent wasn't trying to blow away, no freak storms moved in, no rain. :) I was a little behind in getting ready, so my oldest daughter Tessa came over to help. She got a crash course in icing cupcakes and I was shocked and impressed with how great they came out!

We also introduced our new Cake Cups. They are simply cake cut into chunks with icing in between the layers. However, when Tes and I started working on them, she came up with ideas for different flavors, like Cookies N' Cream or Smores. Now the wheels are turning. I think Banana Split would be a cool flavor and this morning, my hubby suggested Strawberry Shortcake. So who knows what we'll end up bringing next week!

And of course, our cookies from last week!

Don't forget - the Hilliard Farmers Market is every Tuesday from 4pm to 7pm...rain or shine! :)

Bakery Tour - Chattanooga Cupcakes - my 2nd favorite!

2011-07-10T16:57:00.000-04:00

This was my 2nd favorite cupcake place we visited in Chattanooga. It's almost unheard of, but we actually went back for more cupcakes from this place. The location helps....it's a quick walk from our boat, across the pedestrian bridge and into downtown. If I haven't mentioned the pedestrian bridge yet, it's one of my very favorite features of Chattanooga. I've always loved bridges anyways, but this is the longest pedestrian bridge in the country. Here's a shot of it from the downtown side of the river. You can see the Delta Queen docked underneath it, which is where we like to stay.

Another shot of what the bridge looks like. I took this picture for my mom, who actually introduced me to Chattanooga. The crowd of people coming towards us is headed to the park to set up to watch the fireworks (which we got to watch from the deck of the boat, lucky us!).

Okay, one more for Mom. This shot was taken on the pedestrian bridge, looking down into Coolidge Park, where everyone set up to watch the fireworks. And you can see my boat, the Delta Queen, off to the left. People started setting up tents and roping of their sections at like 10am.

On to Chattanooga Cupcakes. So we left our boat, walked across the pedestrian bridge and into downtown. This is the side of the building, and I got so excited when I saw their adorable logo, that I never took a pic of the front. Go figure.

And here's a close up of that adorable logo. I just love how the cupcakes replace the two o's. So cute!

And when we walked in, I was in heaven. Honestly, it was a little bright for my tastes, but this was one happy, friendly cupcake place!

The seating area was really cute as well. Everywhere you looked there were cupcakes...pictures, knick knacks on the ledges....everywhere!

The quality of their cupcakes blew me away. And get this...the strawberry cupcake actually had strawberries in it!!! The peach cobbler cupcake (Arnie's favorite)...it had peaches in it! I know that should be normal, but its quite often not the case in alot of places we've visited. My only complaint would be that there is ALOT of icing on those cupcakes, but I had no problem scooping off a bit from the top and enjoying the rest.

A must-do stop if you happen to be in Chattanooga....

All Aboard!

2011-07-08T09:10:00.002-04:00

Just in case you were wondering if we did anything other than visit bakeries on our vacation, here's the proof that yes, we did. On Saturday, we took the Tennessee Railroad from Chattanooga to Chickamauga, GA. It was about a 2-1/2 hour train ride each way, with an hour and a half layover to check out the small town of Chickamauga.

We had really high hopes for the train ride. It sounded like soooo much fun. Unfortunately, it didn't go quite as well as we expected. First, we stopped for an hour for them to fix one of the women's bathrooms. It seemed a bit unnecessary, as there were other restrooms available and they could've worked on it while we were stopped in GA. Add to that too many unhappy children and unpleasant scenery, and it just wasn't what we had anticipated. However, when we're on vacation, we try to keep a good attitude, so we definitely didn't let it ruin our day.

Once we stopped in Chickamauga, we decided to find some lunch. We ate at a barbecue place (my hubby LOVES barbecue..we ate alot of it on vacation, which is a fair trade off for all the bakery stops!). The food was really fantastic. I loved my smoked chicken, and we also had fried green tomatoes that were the best I've ever had. And it was a really cute place too.

And then, on to the bakeries! :) The first place I was really excited about...it was called Cakes & Coffee. I only took one picture of the cute outside, as when we walked in, we realized it was more of a gift shop than anything else. They did have one full cake, a few cupcakes, and a pot of homemade coffee, but that was it. Not much of a cake shop.

Luckily, across the street was a place called the Chocolate Cafe. How could anybody resist going in there? Somehow, I didn't get a picture of the outside, but the inside was exactly what I have always pictured my own shop would look like. It had beautiful brick walls and hardwood floors. In the backroom, there was a large fireplace and an outdoor patio.

Cute, right? Almost exactly what I would look for in a shop. While I really like the "cute" cupcake shops, I'm always drawn to the more natural elements, like brick and wood.

From here, we made the two hour train ride back to Chattanooga, giving a huge sigh of relief as we exited the train! :)

Bakery Tour - The Bread Basket

2011-07-07T12:52:00.000-04:00

On our first full day in Chattanooga, we headed up the mountain to Signal Mountain. My friend Sandie owns a cookie shop, so we stopped in there to say hello, then headed to The Bread Basket. What a cool place! The outside is incredibly beautiful. (LOL..there's my hubby again, being dragged to another bakery!)

On our way down, we stopped at a cheese farm, did the tour, and bought some cheese varieties, so we definitely needed some bread to go with it. The interior of the shop was just as beautiful as the outside. The staff was friendly, and the bread was delicious!

I love the wicker rack they have with the different mini breads. I would love to find something like that for the farmers market, so let me know if you happen to come across one!

'Til tomorrow....

Bakery Tour - Whipped Cupcakes

2011-07-06T14:28:00.000-04:00

This is an adorable little bakery. And the best part is, it's located right by the Delta Queen, which is the steamboat we like to stay on when we're in Chattanooga, so its within walking distance. Well, most things are within walking distance for us when we're on vacation...that seems to be about all we do!

They have a very cute seating area with this huge foam core cupcake on the wall. And I love the hanging tissue paper balls.

My poor husband...he is SUCH a patient man. When I got home and uploaded pictures, I realized that he's in a bunch of them, always ordering for me, so that I can look around. I'm lucky he's such an amazing travel companion! :)

The bakery case is pretty cute too. They have plastic trays that have the perfect size circle cut into them so that the cupcakes stay nice and don't fall over.

Stop in tomorrow for another tour. I think I have like five more to post. I haven't been on a scale, but I'm assuming I need to start dieting off the cupcakes!!! :)

Back from Vacation!

2011-07-05T18:37:00.002-04:00

I surely wish I could say I was happy to be home, but that would be a total deception. :) I love vacation with my hubby. If you have followed my blog for any amount of time at all, you know that I'm slightly obsessed with visiting bakeries and cupcake shops while we're gone. I prefer to think of it more as research than obsession, as it sounds more sane. :)

I can't possibly post all of my pictures in one post, so I'll post a bakery a day. Our first bakery stop was The Cup in Knoxville, Tennessee. We came across it by accident...just saw a small billboard at an exit we were getting off at anyways. The shop is totally adorable. They have another location in Knoxville as well.

I have to admit too, that I've taken most of my pictures with my camera phone, so they may not all be fantastic, but hey, you'll get the idea.

The inside was really cool as well. I really like a minimalist approach to decor, and they pulled that concept off perfectly!

I would love to say the cupcakes were amazing, but the best I can give them is pretty good. They were definitely fresh and not piled with a ton of icing. They were simply a very good cupcake.

'Til tomorrow.....

Vacation

2011-06-30T08:09:00.000-04:00

We will be closed for vacation from Thursday, June 30th through Tuesday, July 5th. We're spending the 4th in my very favorite place...Chattanooga, TN. Hopefully when I get back I'll have lots of bakery pictures to post, as that's one of my favorite vacation activities! :)

We will also not be at the farmers market on Tuesday. There just won't be enough time to get everything ready. But we'll be there on July 12th!

Happy Independence Day!!!

On the Menu for June 28th

2011-06-28T07:34:00.000-04:00

Today is the farmers market! We'll be there from 4-7pm tonight. On the menu is:

Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Gingerbread Cookies
Decorated Sugar Cookies
Banana Bread
Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
Lemon Cupcakes with lemon icing
Chocolate Cupcakes
and two other type of cupcakes that I haven't decided on! :)

See you all there!

Slacking Again...

2011-06-25T19:50:00.000-04:00

Yes, I've been slacking again on keeping up on my blog! Life just has a way of interfering with things sometimes, but get ready for a heck of a catch up!

I'll start with this week's cakes. Julie was a joy to work with. She was organized and knew exactly what she wanted. I made two cakes for her mother's 70th birthday. The purse cake was made to look like a Jessica Simpson handbag. Hopefully she liked it! :)

And the sheet cake to match:

Princess Brynn celebrated her 1st birthday today. The cake is a 14" round chocolate cake with cookies n' cream filling. The carriage is strawberry swirl cake. The pretty little crown is made out of white chocolate, as are the shoe and the jewels. Happy Birthday Brynn!

And an interesting wedding cake for Leah and Justin. I have never done a cake quite like this one. I wish I coud post credit to the original designer, but the picture I received didn't have any watermark on it.

We had such an interesting week at the farmers market last Tuesday. The weather was absolutely beautiful at the beginning. A little hot, but the cupcakes made it there without melting. Maybe that's because I was FINALLY smart enough to put them in a cooler! Duh! My granddaughters came to visit in their new adorable little outfits...

Not long after the grandkids left, the skies darkened and the scariest storm I've ever seen moved in. The sky was growling...no, seriously, growling. It was a constant sound, unlike any type of thunder I've ever heard. The wind kicked up and tents started flying like crazy. We got our stuff contained, then my daughter and her girlfriend took off to help others with their tents. I'm pretty sure a few of these tents didn't survive...

Needless to say, we're hoping for better weather this week! :) Although the rain doesn't seem to be in a big hurry to stop.

Okay, enough catch up for one day. I leave for vacation next week, so nooo cake orders. Which means I'll have time to post again. Probably. :)

Lots of Graduations

2011-06-11T11:29:00.000-04:00

Graduation season seems to be slowing down a little bit. I think this is my last week that I have a bunch booked.

Dani's Graduation Cake: (I love the quilted sides!)

Te's Graduation Cake:

Troy's Graduation Cake:

And my one non-graduation cake for the week! Hailee's cake was made to match her birthday hat, which was adorable!

Hat:

Cake:

So now my week's work is done, it's on to planning our menu for the next farmers market! Have a fantastic weekend, everyone! :)

Fun at the Farmers Market

2011-06-08T13:04:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was our first Hilliard Farmers Market of the season, and what a weird one it was! When I left our house, it was oppressively hot and sunny. By the time I got to Hilliard, it was overcast and windy. Then all of a sudden, a storm blew in...tons of rain in a very short amount of time. Then right back to hot and sunny! Gotta love Mother Nature! :)

Despite the weather, we had a pretty good turn out, although I'd love to see more people there in the future. Come on out and support your local farms and businesses...and us! :) Here a few photos of our booth, just so you know what you missed!

So stop in and see us next Tuesday, from 4pm to 7pm! And have a great week!

Hilliard Farmers Market - tomorrow!!!!!

2011-06-06T14:56:00.000-04:00

We are getting ready for our first Hilliard Farmers Market! If you haven't been, you should surely stop by. There are tons of really great vendors, and of course, us! :) The market is located in Old Hilliard and runs from 4pm to 7pm every Tuesday throughout the summer.

On our menu for this week (so far!):

Lemon Bars
Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake
Our very popular decorated sugar cookies
Carrot Cake
Oatmeal Cranberry-Orange Cookies
Banana Cupcakes with Caramel Icing
White Almond Sour Cream Cupcakes with Raspberry Filling and Buttercream Icing
Orange Swirl Cupcakes
Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Icing (yum!)

And whatever else I have time to whip up!

Hope to see you there!!!

Guitar Cake

2011-06-05T17:30:00.000-04:00

I met the coolest family today. My hubby and I delivered this guitar cake, along with matching cupcakes, to the nicest people I've met in awhile. Seriously...they were so awesome, we just wanted to hang around for the rest of the day! :) I'm sure they would've loved that...nothing like your cake decorator mooching dinner off you, right?!

And I think they were really happy with how the cake came out. I made it to match the dad's guitar, as it's his 60th birthday. Here's a couple of shots of it....(and please pardon the poor shots...Arnie used the camera last and he always changes the settings on me. I never know until I upload them! Ugh!!!)

The music is printed on wafer paper, so technically its edible too...although no one would seriously want to try it. Not exactly tasty stuff!

And the six dozen cupcakes to match. They chose great flavors: white almond sour cream with buttercream icing, spice cake with cream cheese icing, and chocolate with chocolate ganache icing (my favorite besides banana).

Well, tomorrow is my hubby's birthday. And I desperately need to start getting my stuff together for our first farmers market on Tuesday. So wish me luck! :)

Another Busy Week

2011-06-04T10:48:00.000-04:00

We are definitely still in the midst of graduation season. I did actually get to do some cookies this week, which I think we all know I love doing! School colors were red, white, and blue, so that was a fun combination to work with!

And the finished platter of two dozen cookies:

I also had a graduation cake for two boys from different schools. It can be difficult to incorporate different school colors, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

My granddaughter's 4th birthday was this past Wednesday as well. This is the very first birthday we've been able to spend with the grandkids, as they used to live in Florida. We're having her party today, but of course, Grandma had to at least bake her a little cake ON her birthday! :) Isn't she just too cute for words?!

Well, back to baking! Tune in tomorrow...I am finishing up a 3D guitar cake for delivery tomorrow that I think is going to look amazing!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Legos

2011-06-01T19:01:00.000-04:00

I was shocked to realize that I haven't posted a picture of this cake yet! I have to be honest...this one was really a challenge. My customer sent me quite a few images of figures that her son had built out of Legos that she wanted incorporated onto the cake. Her son also loves weapons, so I needed to include as many of those as possible. As much as I absolutely LOVE it when a customer lets me run with a design, it can sometimes be a little stressful, only because I want to make sure I create something that they are truly going to love. She seemed really happy with this one, so hopefully I pulled it off! :)

My mom came down from Michigan a few weeks ago for a visit. First time I've seen her since Thanksgiving, as her and her husband travel in their RV during the winter months. (How cool would that be?!) It's rare to have all of together in one place at the same time, so I just have to include this picture. :) From left to right: my beautiful mother, who I inspire to be like as I age, my daughter Chelsey who is almost 19, me (age not open for discussion), and my daughter Tessa, who just turned 20.

We are so busy getting through the graduation season. And next week Tuesday starts the annual Hilliard Farmer's Market! I sure hope to see many of you there!!!!

Bakery Visit

2011-05-29T16:17:00.000-04:00

I met my friend Dawn when we both went to Cookie Camp last year. (Many of you will know her as Kneadacookie on Flickr!) She came down to pick me up in Ohio and we continued on to Tennessee. Mind you, we had never met before. Can you imagine how uncomfortable that would've been if we hadn't totally hit it off?! But we did. In fact, we're so much alike, it can be a little frightening! :)

Dawn lives in Michigan, which is where we are originally from. Since we went up to my nephew's wedding last weekend, we decided to take an extra day to stop and see Dawn on our way home. She opened a bakery, called the Butterfly Bake Shoppe, in the Detroit area. I'd never been to that side of the state before, so it was fun for us to take a new way home.

And Dawn's bakery....gorgeous!!! Exactly what I hope to open someday. Here's the two of us...it took alot of begging to get Dawn to take a picture with me, but I finally broke her down!

Well, I guess I should've started with the outside, so that's where we'll go next. The area is absolutely adorable. There's quite a few little bakeries in the area. We spent a little time just wandering around.

On to the interior. I love the colors she choose to paint the inside. It's really bright and cheerful. And the bakery cases are beautiful!

Dawn handpainted the "Coffee Bar" on the wall, which I LOVE!

And she has this HUGE kitchen that I would almost kill for. I did say almost, right? :) And the picture only shows half of it! Oh the mess I could make in there!!!!

So if you're ever in the Detroit area, make sure you stop by! Her lemon bars are FANTASTIC! And I must not be the only one that thinks so...we were there for around 2 hours and 3 customers stopped in looking for them!

And thank you, Dawn, for putting up with us, answering our millions of questions, and letting us interrupt your day. It was soooo nice to see you!!!!!

Graduations Galore!

2011-05-28T10:00:00.000-04:00

It is definitely that time of year! Lots of graduations, lots of different school colors. But first, a picture of a wedding cake I did for my nephew Aarron last weekend. He renewed his wedding vows on the beach by Lake Michigan in Muskegon, so of course, we had to do a cake with tons of white chocolate shells to fit the theme!

And on to the graduations...you'll be seeing plenty of these over the next few weeks! :)

Also, our Hilliard Farmers Market will be starting in just over a week. The first one is June 7th, and we'll have them every Tuesday from 4 to 7pm. We'd love to see you there, so stop by if you get a chance!

Have a great weekend. The first one in - I don't even know how long! - without rain! What a treat!!!

Another Busy Week!

2011-05-20T19:37:00.000-04:00

But before I get to the cakes, I have to share this picture of my daughter! She's 5-1/2 months pregnant, and I swear, that belly popped out overnight. She is absolutely radiant, and we are counting down the days until Baby Emma arrives! :)

And speaking of baby girls, this is a 2D diaper bag cake I did for today. Everything is edible...the bottle, pacifier and diaper pin are all made of chocolate.

Graduation season is definitely coming on. Congratulations Stephanie!!!

And a very cheerful cake for a woman turning 40. I love that her friend ordered bright colors instead of shades of black!

We're heading out of town tomorrow to attend my nephew's wedding in Michigan. (Guess who's bringing the cake?!) And on our way home, I get to stop in Detroit and see my friend Dawn's new bakery! I am soooo excited! :) I'll make sure to take pictures to post when I get back.

Have a great weekend!!!

May is here!

2011-05-07T17:47:00.000-04:00

In the caking world, you can always tell when May hits...things just go craaaazy! :) Graduations, weddings, birthdays....cakes, cakes, and more cakes. And no, I am certainly not complaining! This week was busy, but fun. Lots of different themes and occasions.

We'll start with the largest graduation cake I've done yet! I loved this one...it was very personal, just as a graduation cake should be.

I also did a 2D can of Mike's Harder Lemonade for a sweet young lady that can't actually drink yet! The lemons on the board are cookies.

And a first communion cake with matching cookies:

And Morgan turned 10 this weekend:

And a package cake for mom:

And some cute little farm cupcakes:

Whew! No wonder I'm exhausted! :)

I hope you all have a fantastic Mother's Day tomorrow! I'm getting the best present of all...a visit from my mom! :)

All the Buzz....

2011-04-30T07:24:00.001-04:00

So, my husband is a....well, we'll call him an interesting man! :) He loves to learn and he loves to farm, so throughout our marriage, we've had about every kind of animal imaginable. Since we moved to Ohio and have a much smaller piece of property, having too many animals is no longer an option. Or so I thought.

So meet our latest project. These came home yesterday, and I will openly admit, I was terrified.

Arnie brought home two boxes like this, and each box contains...wait for it....10,000 bees!!!! Holy crap!!!! That's enough for two hives. Each hive has to have a queen. So here's your lucky day...you get to meet the queen....

So, the bees need to go from the box into the hive. That sounded terrifying to me, but I was told that no, the bees would be calm and only want to stay by their queen. Partially correct, but I was not prepared for how many were flying everywhere, how many were all over my husband, or how many would sting him. (Four...but that's a fluke, according to him!) So here he is dumping the bees into their hive. Yes, the mound on top is a mound of bees (yuck) and no, I was NOT that close to him, I had to crop the picture!

I have to admit though, while they do scare me a little, bees are extremely interesting, so I am looking forward to seeing how all of this works out! With the best of luck, we'll have some great honey by the end of the year! :)

Oh, one more pic...my poor dog was soooo confused by the bees. He kept snapping at them, and chasing them, so we finally had to banish poor Farley to the house! :) He looks so innocent here though...

Have a great weekend!!!!

Happy Friday!

2011-04-29T14:06:00.000-04:00

I'm almost shocked to realize this, but here it is, 2pm on a friday afternoon, and I just finished up my last cake AND cleaned up all the mess! That means I'm free all weekend. I don't even know how to act! :)

On Thursday, I shipped out an order of cookies for one of my favorite customers in Kentucky. Her son is turning six and wanted a basketball themed party.

I never thought I'd type these words together, but next up is a pretty pink skull cake for Diamond, who is turning 8. :) The cake matched her party invitation. We also matched the cupcakes by adding hearts and white chocolate coins.

And finally, happy 1st birthday to Ean!!! His cake also matches his party invitations, which are totally adorable. His mom is placing the cake on a very cool cake stand that has the black and white checkered pattern.

Time has really been flying. Next Sunday is Mother's Day already! And I'm doing my first graduation cake of the season. It's so hard to believe its that time already! And...my mom is coming down for a visit. I'm so excited! I haven't seen her since Thanksgiving, so having her down is a great Mother's Day gift for me! :)

Have a great weekend, everyone! Hopefully we can get the rain to stay away for a day or two!

Supplies

2011-04-28T07:50:00.000-04:00

I've had a ton of questions on where I order supplies, especially boxes, bags, etc for cookies. Because I'm an actual business, alot of what I order is wholesale, but my wholesaler doesn't always carry exactly what I like. So I thought I'd list a few of the places where I shop regularly and can recommend.

I love using these clear topped cookie boxes for smaller gift sets of cookies. The presentation is just awesome. And there are so many options...you can use them plain, you can line the boxes with tissue paper (as shown above), you can fill them with shredded paper, or line your cookies up in paper cups, which I haven't tried yet. Alot of mine I order wholesale, but I also buy them online at Nashville Wraps. My favorite size is the 10x7x2. They can be kind of hard to find with all the boxes and packaging they offer, so here's a direct link to my faves: http://www.nashvillewraps.com/gift-boxes/stationery-boxes/clear-lid-boxes-white-10-7-2/sku-sb01t.html

When I individually wrap cookies, I use cello bags. I go through a ton of them, especially when it's the season for the farmers market. Again, I buy alot of mine wholesale, but if I do go retail, I definitely order these from Nashville Wraps as well. I've had alot of questions regarding sizes, but that totally depends on what size cookies you're creating. I always have a huge variety of sizes of cellos available to choose from.

I absolutely love these kraft style boxes as well. I keep a variety of sizes on hand, along with cupcake inserts to match the box sizes. I often use these for cookies as well. If I'm shipping a small amount of cookies, I'll nestle them in a box like this with my company sticker on it, then package that in a larger shipping box. It works great. I get these at BRP Boxshop. They have great service, deliver very quickly, and shipping is free! You have to order these by the case, usually by 50 or 100, but I go through so many, it's not an issue for me. Also, you can pay $10 shipping and order any 5 boxes they have, so you can give them a trial run before ordering.

And of course, cookie cutters! Below is a list of my very favorite cookie cutter suppliers:

Copper Gifts
Foose Cutters
Ecrandal

And if you're looking for some awesome tutorials on how to do cookies, you just have to visit The Sweet Adventures of SugarBelle. She does such a fantastic job of sharing information in a way that's easy to follow and understand.

I also purchased a 12" impulse sealer quite a few months ago. It seals cello bags and helps keep cookies fresh. I use it mainly when shipping cookies. When I started researching, most of the places that carried them were asking around $125 for them. I wasn't willing to make that large of an investment. I went to Ebay and found a seller there that sells them for around $45, including shipping! For some reason, I can't put a link to the seller, but if you go to Ebay and type in "impulse sealer", you should be able to find a good deal!

As far as decorating supplies, there are TONS of online places to shop. And of course, you can always support your local cake decorating store. The one thing I stay as far away from as possible is Wilton cake supplies. One, I feel their product is inferior to others. I've had terrible problems with their parchment bags bursting, their decorating tips rusting, and their pans warping. But mainly, I dislike that Wilton has most of their products made in China. I am a good ol' American girl who tries as hard as possible to support her own country, especially in times of economic uncertainty such as these. While your job may not depend on buying American made products, your neighbor's might.

I think that's it! All my favorite places to shop in one post...not bad! Unfortunately for my husband, now I'm in the mood to shop!!! :)

Happy Belated Easter!

2011-04-27T08:03:00.000-04:00

I'm so far behind...I had planned on posting this on Easter Day. Well, only three days late...not bad, right? :)

As some of you know, my family has expanded recently. My husband's daughter, her boyfriend, and our three grandchildren have all moved here from Ohio. So this Easter was our first big family dinner. It was so much fun to have the grandkids with us on a holiday! Normally I ship gifts down to them, so it was a treat to actually get to watch them search for their Easter baskets!!!! I made little cookie bags for their baskets that I think turned out cute:

Easter is always a slow time of year for cakes for some reason, so I normally get to actually make treats for my own family! This year we did bunny cupcakes and bunny butt cookies:

I have some cute cakes for this week, so hopefully I'll get those posted in a more timely fashion! :) I hope you all had a fantastic Easter!!!!

It's Almost Easter!

2011-04-19T11:16:00.001-04:00

I have to admit...I had NO idea Easter was this coming Sunday. I knew it was at the end of April, but apparently the end of April snuck up on me fast! I didn't realize it until I read it in CookieCrazie's blog, so thank you Pam! I would've been soooo behind.

Life has been a bit hectic lately. We still have a full house with all three grandkids with us, so it's difficult to set time aside for cookies. :( But I just HAD to try to get some done.

These cookies were inspired by many talented cookie artists. It's so hard to know where the original ideas came from, especially when you get a cookie like the "peeps" one that everybody wants to do! I try really hard to name the original designer, as I've had a cupcake cookie design that's been copied so much that no one can remember it was my design either! :) Okay, not the worst problem to have, but it's still nice to get credit for the original.

That being said, I think the original designer of the Peeps cookie was T-Woods on Flickr. If anyone can correct me, let me know! I have NO idea who came up with the chocolate covered bunny design, but it's genius as well! I had such a good time creating this set. Hopefully the grandkids will enjoy munching on them come Easter morning! :)

Even posting this picture makes me smile. :) Which is the whole point of a cookie, right?!

This past weekend, I did a cake to match Connor's party invitations. The animals are all modeled out of chocolate or fondant. Hopefully he enjoyed his 2nd birthday!!!

And a close up of the monkey. I was pretty proud of him, as monkeys seem to be my nemisis!

I hope everyone has a fantastic Easter! We're pulling out all the stops this year....ham dinner, homemade gravy and biscuits, baskets for the kids, dying easter eggs, easter egg hunt. Wow, I should get busy!!! :)

Brush Embroidery

2011-04-15T19:21:00.000-04:00

I've been meaning to post this picture for quite awhile. I wanted to give brush embroidery a try, so I made these. I like how they turned out. I can picture them in black and white as well...I think it would be very dramatic! :)

How's that for a quick post? :) Have a great weekend!!!!

Bridal Showers

2011-04-11T10:10:00.000-04:00

For some reason, I don't normally get many orders for bridal showers. I had two for this past weekend, so that was unique! :)

First was an order for my friend Cathy in New York. She's hosting her daughter's bridal shower, and although she's a cake decorator and makes FANTASTIC cookies herself, she just didn't have time to do them with everything else she had going on. Understandable! :) The fact that she trusted me to do the cookies meant alot to me, and I really hope she loved them!

And a close up....the shells are made of white chocolate, which I think went well with the theme!

And a bridal shower cake, made to match the invitations.

Oh, I also did this cake last week. It kinda reminded me of my mom...she took a class in making glass beads, so for awhile, she made us some really cool jewelry!

Have a great week!!!!!

Cookie Exchange

2011-04-07T09:00:00.000-04:00

I've been meaning to post these pictures for so long now! Life just kinda gets away from you sometimes, doesn't it?!

I had a little cookie exchange with one of cookie heroes....Angela, aka SweetToothFairy on Flickr. I have wanted to see her work in person for such a long time! We decided to do a cookie exchange between the two of us. My jaw hit the floor when I opened my box and saw these AMAZING cookies:

Her work is so amazingly delicate and detailed. I can't imagine how small of a tip she must've used to do these!

I really struggled with what type of cookies to make for her. I ended up settling on a spring theme, just because I'm desperate for some nicer weather! Anything "springy" puts a huge smile on my face, as I'm hoping it did hers as well!

Honestly, I loved the way they turned out, but mine definitely looked kinda big and clunky next to her delicate work!

I've been thinking of maybe doing a couple of "how-to's" for the blog as well, so if anyone has any suggestions, I'm open to ideas!

As for us, we're still looking for a three bedroom house for rent for our house guests. So if anyone knows of anything in the Columbus, West Jeff, Plain City area, let me know! We love being full time grandparents but are looking forward to getting our empty nest...emptied again! :)

A Special Woman

2011-04-03T08:10:00.000-04:00

Two weeks ago, I made a birthday cake for a woman turning 91. That alone was something special. But when I went to deliver the cake, I was told a little about her life. Harriet was a member of the very first female unit of the Marines! How impressive is that?! She enlisted in 1942, after receiving her college degree (also unique for that time). Although she could've enlisted as an officer, she didn't want that advantage and was instead enlisted as a first sergeant. I felt so very honored to create her birthday cake, and I really hope she loved it!

I also did some cookies for a baby shower a couple of weeks ago that shipped to Kentucky. These are my favorite baby cookies in a long time. I love the colors they chose for the shower! The pictures aren't the greatest, unfortunately, but you'll get the idea.

Hope you enjoy your weekend! Its supposed to be a beautiful 60 degrees here today, so we are definitely getting out for a nice long walk to enjoy the sunshine!

Its Been Awhile!

2011-04-02T22:11:00.000-04:00

I've dropped back into my old habits of terribly neglecting my blog! As I posted awhile ago, my stepdaughter and three grandchildren relocated here from Florida, so they're staying with us until they find their own place. I had totally forgotten how small children can take up every second of your day! :) Don't get me wrong, it's a joy to be a full-time grandma, just more tiring than I thought! :)

But I still have to make time for cakes, of course! Yesterday I did one of my new favorite baby shower cakes. I really love how it turned out. The boots are made of gumpaste, so everything on the cake is totally edible.

I also had a small wedding cake that I delivered to Little Turtle Golf Club in Westerville. Kim, the woman in charge of the reception, was by far the sweetest person I've had the priviledge of dealing with. She did a great job of giving me directions and having everything ready when I arrived. Thanks Kim! Everything on the cake is edible, except for the diamonds!

And a simple baby shower cake from last week. I love the sentiment they picked out for the cake though...so sweet! :)

I have lots of pictures to get caught up with, so I'll try harder this week to update more regularly! Have a fantastic week!

The Hazards of Cake Decorating

2011-03-13T09:11:00.001-04:00

So, cake decorating sounds like a pretty harmless hobby/business, right? Well, not if you're concerned with your waist line, it's not! :) I am never actually tempted to snack on cake anymore. I've been doing this for 15 years now, so the craving for cake has definitely wore off. But....

I had an order for this adorable little truck cake this week. And guess what I had left over?

M&M's! Who can resist M&M's???

And then, I had an order for this baby shower. It had THE cutest theme...milk and cookies! So the main cake is our white almond sour cream with cookies n' cream filling. And the cupcakes are chocolate with cookie dough icing. The cake as pictured isn't complete...the party planner was going to add some cookies around the base to finish it off. She is being so kind as to share photos with me, so hopefully I'll have a couple to post. And of course, anytime I make cookies n' cream filling, what am I left with?

Oreos! I don't even like Oreos that much anymore, but when they're sitting on my counter, they just call to me.

And finally, I made this platter for a donation to be auctioned off at a benefit. I really hope it went well and helped the family in need.

And...yup, you guessed it. With this, I was left with extra buckeyes. Chocolate and peanut butter...who could possibly have the will power to NOT eat one of these?!

So, it's been a rough week. I'm envisioning an extra run (or two) this week, to attempt to make up for all of my indiscretions. :) But hey, everyone should be allowed to splurge occasionally, right?!

Baby Week

2011-03-07T10:42:00.000-05:00

Last week was full of baby shower cakes, which I absolutely LOVE doing! Here's one for Baby Colton:

And for a set of twins, with matching cookies:

And this was designed to match the party invitations:

And although "2" is certainly not baby age, since my girls are now 19 and 20, it still seems like it to me! :)

I'd love to be able to claim credit for the awesome design around the side of the cake, but it was totally inspired by a fellow decorator on Flickr!

I've been busy enjoying my new kitchen. My hubby and I are going to have to start hitting the gym harder, as I have an overwhelming urge to cook and bake in it almost constantly! :) I guess it's not an all bad problem to have!

Have a great week!!!

Finished Kitchen!

2011-03-03T09:34:00.000-05:00

We are sooo happy to have this project done! And we absolutely love our new kitchen. We still need to buy a couple of bar stools, since we spend all of our time here now! :)

And now that the kitchen looks so nice, it's making us want to redo other parts of the house! It's going to be a never ending project, I just know it!

And some cookies that I shipped to Kentucky to celebrate Madison's 10th birthday:

I have such a busy week this week. Good thing, right? And THREE baby shower cakes in one week! I just love it! :)

Pretty in Pink...

2011-02-28T15:40:00.000-05:00

I'm a little late in posting last weeks cakes. I finally have my kitchen back, so I've been seriously enjoying cooking, and baking, and decorating it! :) I'm waiting on a couple of final items to come in, then I'll post pics. It's so beautiful!!!!

This is my favorite cake from last week. My customer was looking for a Barbie cake, which we can't do due to copyright issues. So we went more with a princess theme. Everything on the cake is edible...the crown and jewels are made out of white chocolate, and the pearls are white chocolate clay. I really hope McKayla liked her cake!

I just love it when customers order cookies that match their cakes. They are so much fun to do! Below are the cookies and the cake to go with it....

And I have a bit of good news! Anyone who has followed my blog has heard me talk about our grandchildren in Florida. We go down for visits twice a year and I send them goodies at almost every holiday. Well, the entire family has decided to relocate up here by us!!!! So instead of seeing them twice a year, we'll get to be full time grandparents. We're so absolutely thrilled!!!! Below is a pic of me with the grandkids at the zoo during our last visit....aren't they just too cute for words?! :)

Hope you all have a fantastic week!!!!

Still at it....

2011-02-23T14:42:00.000-05:00

Remodeling, that is! This project has definitely turned into a bit of a never-ending process. But I think we're finally in the home stretch.

Yesterday, I spent most of the day grouting in the tiles my hubby set the day before. That was a job, let me tell you! It took so much longer than I anticipated, which really shouldn't surprise me at this point!

I do think there's finally an end in site. On Friday, we can seal the grout. At that point, we'll be able to put the sink back in (thank goodness!). Tonight I'm going shopping for tiles to use as the backsplash, which will hopefully be my project for tomorrow.

This morning was spent going through cabinets, reorganizing, etc. That's the fun stuff! And...ordering new curtains, new clock, and a new utensil holder. I'm going with splashes of red to get some color into the kitchen, since I hadn't really intended on doing the whole thing in gray!

So, awhile back, I posted pics of cookies I received during our cookie swap. I just realized, I never posted pictures of the cookies that I made! I sent these to Laura at A Dozen Eggs Bake Shoppe. It was a little nerve wracking making cookies for her, as she is so good at what she does! But I had alot of fun creating these, and she seemed to really like them, which totally made my day!

Busy Week

2011-02-20T14:48:00.000-05:00

We have been soooo busy this past week. Not only did I have alot of cake orders, but we've been remodeling our kitchen all week. You can imagine the chaos that causes! But the cakes came out good and the kitchen is coming along, so life is good!

First I'm going to sneak in a couple more "in progress" pictures of my kitchen! We have everything done except countertops. We've decided to tile the counters, and having never done that before, it's proving to be a bit more time consuming than we thought. Actually, tiling itself really isn't bad...it's cutting the tile, and finding a decent tool that will actually cut it properly. Poor Arnie is off at Home Depot again, hoping to find a better tool (which is why I have a minute to blog!).

And we have our first little section of tile down. Now, it can't be grouted for 24 hours, so this is just the base tile...no backsplash, no edging, no grout....i.e. no fancy stuff. But I love the color of the tile and how natural it is!

I'm just so excited to get it all finished! :)

Okay, on to cakes. This was one of my favorites this week. I've done versions of this cake before, but not with the Valentine's Day colors, which I really loved!

I've also done a version of the sock monkey cake, but I really love the colors that Kayla decided on for this, plus the little birthday hat on the sock monkey, which was also Kayla's idea!

And cookies that will be shipped out tomorrow to Wisconsin. They are the logo from a musical that the kids are putting on at school.

Oops...almost forgot the big Nike shoe for Jimmy's 13th birthday!

Well, I'm sure Arnie will be back soon, and then its back to work for me! Hope you all had a great weekend!

Kitchen Fun

2011-02-14T22:47:00.000-05:00

In a different way than normal! We're doing some remodeling to our kitchen. I am just sooo excited to get the extra cupboards and countertops. Our kitchen wasn't designed very well to begin with. I have a separate kitchen for doing cakes, but our actual kitchen had almost nooo countertop. Here's a couple of before pics:

Yeah, pretty crowded, right? So here's our new floor (and my sweet dog)...I LOVE it. My hubby actually broke down and bought the good stuff! :)

We moved the refrigerator to the other side of the room. We also took out the dishwasher. I know, insanity, but I honestly hate the dishwasher. I used it about a dozen times when we moved in, and now it's used for storage. I thought cabinets may be better storage! :) And here's a beginning shot of our new cabinets.....

Happy Valentines to me! :) I'm seriously hoping for new countertop tomorrow or Wednesday.

Okay, next post I'll add some cake or cookie pictures, but I'm having so much fun and am so excited by my new kitchen! :)

Cookie Swap Cookies!

2011-02-12T11:56:00.000-05:00

So my big news is that my Cookie Swap cookies finally arrived this week! (Hmm, maybe I need a hobby or something!) And they are soooo darling! Definitely worth the wait! And I have to admit, I did eat MOST of them, per my partner's request, but I just had to save the lemonade pitcher and the glass. Those were way, way too cute to eat!

And speaking of mailing cookies, I needed to get cookies shipped out to the grandkids this week, so they could have them by Valentine's Day on Monday. I had to go a little more on the simple side than I usually do, since I had a very large order for OSU this week. But they're little...I don't think they'll care!

I have to admit...sometimes doing cakes for boys is just not all that much fun. Not always, but sometimes. This week though, I had SO much fun creating this cake for Tommy's 7th birthday. I've always wanted to try the giant Legos, and I really liked how they turned out. The little figures are all modeled out of chocolate. They are supposed to resemble the Lego Star Wars figures.

And one final cake to celebrate Brad's 50th birthday. It would also make a really cute Valentine's Day cake!

Have a great weekend!!!!

Good Read

2011-02-08T10:34:00.000-05:00

As if my life doesn't revolve around baking enough, I'm still drawn to books that are written about baking! :) I picked this up over the holidays, thinking I'd read it while we were on vacation, but I just now got around to finishing it. Really, really cute book! If you're looking for a good, light read, this book is perfect. And lots of cookie recipes too! :)

Last year, twelve of us from Flickr met in Tennessee and had "Cookie Camp". This book kind of reminds me of that!

When the cats away....

2011-02-07T13:24:00.000-05:00

LOL. Since my hubby has been out of town visiting a friend most of the weekend, I used the time to spend some quality time with my new cutters. (Sssh, don't tell!) :) I ordered from Ecrandal...a fantastic family owned cookie cutter company who does AMAZING work! Their website is http://www.ecrandal.com/, if you're interested. They make beautiful, sturdy copper cutters that will last forever with a HUGE variety of shapes and sizes available.

First is the flower bouquet. I loved this one! It's a really large cookie, which gives me room to work with larger fondant flowers. This one cookie with maybe some small hearts or flowers would make a wonderful boxed set. I did the flowers in a hurry, as I'm always anxious to see the finished product!

I also ordered two new corset cutters. The ones I've done previously have more of an elegant feel to them, while I think these are fun and playful and sexy.

And I got this weekend's cookies all packaged up. I think I enjoy packaging almost as much as I enjoy decorating! :)

We've finally gotten a break from the ice and the cold here today, so its been a bit of yard clean up from our ice storm last week. It's finally safe to attempt to walk across the yard! And of course, still stalking the postal carrier, hoping my cookie swap cookies will be here soon! :)

Valentine's

2011-02-05T08:27:00.001-05:00

...is just around the corner! Be sure to get your order in this week. Surprise your sweetie with a delicious treat!

My wonderful friend, Diane, turned 50 last week, so I just had to mail her out some cookies, done in her favorite colors.

And of course, lots of work on Valentine's Day cookies. This first picture has a cookie that I entered into a contest, so pop on over to Haniela's and vote for mine! (Or your favorite....I guess!) :) There's a Wilton set as a prize that I want to win for my daughter, who has finally decided to start decorating cookies! Finally! :)

I'm really excited....I should be receiving my cookies from our cookie swap this week! I will post them as soon as I get them. I think our mail carrier is starting to think I have a crush on her....I've been staring longingly at her all week, hoping she was bringing my cookies! :)

Have a great weekend!

Cupcakes Galore

2011-02-03T08:31:00.000-05:00

What do you do when everything is under an inch or more of ice and its treacherous to even attempt to leave your house? Well, if you're me, you bake! When everything outside is cold and miserable, I loved being holed up in my warm kitchen with a good cup of coffee and something sweet in the oven!

So yesterday, after baking my hubby his very favorite gingerbread cookies, I thought it would be nice to get some Valentine's Day cupcakes done. I had so much fun playing with these!!! I bought these adorable wrappers last year and just didn't have an occasion to use them.

And I love chocolate icing with red accents...it just really makes everything pop!

I've wanted to do this "sealed with a kiss" design on a cookie, but I think it's just as adorable on a cupcake!

And I would hate to waste such adorable cupcakes, so I packaged them up in my new boxes to send with my hubby this morning to give to his customers. I really love how they look. I think they make such a sweet gift!

Keep warm and safe, everyone!

Ice, Ice, and More Ice

2011-02-02T09:46:00.000-05:00

We've spent the last two days covered in this awful layer of ice. Last night, we had another ice storm, on top of all the ice we already had. We spent most of the night waking up once an hour to some type of crash or another. When we got up this morning, it looked like a tornado went through the yard. Tree branches are breaking under the weight of the ice, sheets of ice come sliding off the roof of the house at any given moment (making leaving and entering quite stressful!). I probably have no right to complain, as I have friends who are dealing with more snow than I want to think about. But last night, as I was crawling out of the ditch by my mailbox - where I had slipped into the ditch and couldn't find one single place to put my foot to climb out, not my finest moment - I would've given anything to trade the ice for just a few inches of snow!

So, today is a great day to curl up with a cup of coffee and get caught up on my blog! I worked on a couple of Valentine treats over the weekend. My daughter found me THE cutest little Valentine jars. They were just screaming to be filled with cookies, so I caved. The light pink ones are iced in Strawberry Royal Icing and are soooo delicious!

I also had some extra cupcakes over the weekend, and I saw quite a few pictures online of cupcakes iced like this, to look like roses. What a fantastic Valentine's idea! I'd love to give credit to someone for the idea, but I've seen sooo many pictures that I wouldn't know where to start with finding the original!

We bought boxes with inserts that hold four cupcakes, which I think would make the perfect gift. Wrapped up with a Valentine's ribbon, it's a pretty presentation.

Well, I think I may attempt to start cleaning up the mess in my yard, although I'm not sure I have shoes equipped to deal with the ice. If only I had a pair of cleats! Wow, that has to be the first time THAT thought ever crossed my mind!!!

Have a good day, stay warm and safe!

Fun Week

2011-01-29T17:01:00.000-05:00

I love weeks like this, when all the cakes have a fun theme! This is for one of my favorite customers. He brews his own beer and collects beer glasses, so this should be perfect for him.

I thought it might be fun to make Jeff a set of matching cookies, so I came up with these:

And Krista ordered a treasure chest cake for Kholton's 3rd birthday, which I loved doing!!! Everything on it is edible...the gems and coins are made of chocolate!

Also had a platter of cookies for an insurance agency this week:

And I think that about wraps up this week! It's been a nice surprise to have January busier than it normally is, although I did still have to break down and get my tax information done. :( I think tomorrow we'll get some Valentine's Day pictures posted...it's only two weeks away! Enjoy your weekend!!!

New Valentines Cookies

2011-01-22T21:07:00.000-05:00

I've been going through a little bit of cookie withdrawls, so I decided to work on a new Valentine's Day set. I wanted to incorporate all the things needed for a 'romantic evening'! :)

I belong to a really awesome group on Flickr. We're doing a cookie exchange, so I also worked on those cookies. And while I am just dying to post them, I can't until the recipient receives them....and I still can't until everybody gets their cookies and we guess who made what. But it's killing me not to post 'em! :)

We have a new venue (or new to me) in town called the House of Bounce. I've done quite a few cakes for parties there recently, but never an actual bounce house, so this was new! From the pictures online, it looks like a great place to have a party. Heck, I wouldn't mind having an hour myself to play in there! :)

I'm really looking forward to this next week. I have some interesting cake and cookie orders, so it should be a fun time! Check back for pictures! :)

Slooow January....

2011-01-17T10:48:00.001-05:00

January has always been my very slowest month for cakes. It gives me time to get my taxes done, get caught up on house work, all things I don't really want to do! :) So needless to say, I dread January! LOL!

I did have a couple of fun orders last week. One was for Leah's 25th birthday...I really liked how the cake came out. Her husband was really great to work with.

I also did some cookies for a baby shower. I added the little flowers as a last minute touch.

And a cute soccer themed cake for twins. I don't know why soccer is always a hard theme, but I really like the way the soccer ball turned out on this one!

And since I have some spare time, I've been able to play around with some hand made cards. I love Valentine's Day...all pink and red and hearts and cuteness!

Have a great week!!!!

Change of Location?

2011-01-11T09:52:00.000-05:00

I've been offered a very interesting opportunity, to combine resources with an existing bakery in the Clintonville area. If I decide to do this, I'll be working out of that location from now on. I would love some input from my existing customers, future customers...well, anyone really! :) Would Clintonville be more/less convenient for you as far as pick up? I know it's a long haul for many of you to get out here to me, although I sincerely appreciate that you've been willing to drive so far! Another advantage would be the retail location...we'd actually have items for sale individually, so you can pick up one or two or a few cupcakes or cookies, a slice of cheesecake, that type of thing.

I would really love any feedback you'd be willing to share! Feel free to comment here or email me directly at brenscakes@yahoo.com

Since I'm still recovering from this never-ending cold, I haven't been spending alot of time in the kitchen. Okay, NO time in the kitchen. But it seems long overdue to post a pic or two, so here's a couple from Valentine's last year. We're digging into the archives! :)

I sent these to my daughter when she was in her advanced military training. I figured she'd love to see any pattern other than camoflauge!

These were mailed down to the grandkids last year:

I love Valentine's Day goodies. They're so fun to create. While I haven't been doing any actual work, I do have plans for some really cool cookie sets for this year, so maybe by next week I'll have a NEW picture or two! :)

Enjoy your day!

Still Recovering

2011-01-10T10:56:00.001-05:00

Well, its a week later, and I am STILL recovering from this cold from hell! I literally cannot remember the last time I was sick like this. But I am definitely on the road to recovery, so I am going to concentrate on being grateful for that!

The upside to being down for a week with a cold...lots of time to read. Since alot of you who follow my blog are bakers, you'll find this book interesting:

My Life from Scratch, by Gesine Bullock-Prado

If you haven't read this one, I strongly recommend it. Gesine is actually Sandra Bullock's sister, although the book doesn't concentrate on that aspect hardly at all, other than it's an interesting fact. As I read this, I found that I had alot in common with the author. Gesine's mother was an opera singer born in Nurnberg, Germany. My grandmother is from Stutguard (did I spell it wrong, mom?) Germany and has always truly loved opera. Gesine seems to be a bit sarcastic and anti social, and let's face it, so am I. :) The book is extremely readable and informative at the same time. Not to mention, it has some pretty good recipes scattered throughout as well. I went to her blog and it looks like she has an actual cookbook coming out in April, which I will definitely purchase.

Oh, and I wanted to share this picture. We had this taken of the grandkids in St. Augustine, at one of those old-time photo places. Isn't it cute?! Its one of the few pictures I have of them all looking at the camera and smiling at the same time!

On that note, I am going to crawl back onto my sofa with a book and resume my recovery! :)

Chattanooga, Tennessee

2011-01-06T08:28:00.000-05:00

As previously stated, I LOVE Chattanooga. I love everything about it...the mountains, Sugar's Barbecue Restaurant, the pedestrian bridge (my fave), the cool shops, the gorgeous downtown, the fantastic aquarium. I am just a huge fan! :) So we stop there for an overnighter whenever we can, usually on our way back from Florida.

This time, we were both a little under the weather with colds from the grandkids, so we didn't do as much walking as we normally do. But we stayed at our favorite place...the Delta Queen!

The ship is docked now, as required by Tennessee law in order to be used as a hotel. But it's just beautiful! It's docked right downtown Chattanooga, very close to the pedestrian bridge, so you can easily get over to the downtown area. Once we get there, we normally park the car and walk everywhere we want to go.

The view from our room was incredible. To the left is a wonderful view of my pedestrian bridge. The rooms are small, and there's no TV, no phone, which we actually love.

The interior is filled with antiques and history. You could spend an entire day just wondering around, reading plaques and scrapbooks about the ship and who has stayed on it. It has a grand staircase that sooo makes me want to put on an evening gown and heels so I can float down those beautiful stairs. (And there are NOT many things that make me want to wear heels....ever!!!)

And I have to add, that they have by far THE most comfortable beds I've ever slept on in a hotel. Seriously!

Once we dragged ourselves out of that amazingly comfortable bed....hard to do when you're sick and it's so warm and cozy....we went to find at least one or two bakeries before heading home. I can't enter a town, ever, without finding a bakery! :) We stopped by The Cake Gallery and picked up a cupcake to split there. Pretty good cupcake, but they keep them cold, which is my least favorite way to eat a cupcake. I guess I could've waited for it to warm up, but I was hungry! Great flavor though, and a wonderful fudgy filling.

We thought we might like to find more of a breakfast type of bakery, so my hubby found this place, the Vine Street Market:

This is one of the most charming bakeries I've been to in quite awhile. They didn't offer alot for breakfast, but we did get two fantastic muffins, steaming hot right out of the oven. They were amazing!!! Their lunch items sounded so good, we really wished we were going to be in town another day just to try it. But the interior was so comforting and earthy...very close to what I want when we finally open our shop!

Notice the fire place off to the left of the counter? I just love that! We sat and had our muffin and coffee and would've been quite content to spend most of our day there!. But alas, it was time to head home! We need to get back to work...to save up money for our next vacation!!! :)

St. Augustine, Florida

2011-01-05T08:09:00.002-05:00

We spent New Year's in St. Augustine, FL. It is such a gorgeous town! They still had lights up from Christmas, so it was just gorgeous in the evenings!

Normally, once we head to St. Augustine, it's kind of "our" vacation time. But we did decide that since the grandkids are getting older, we'd bring them down just for the day, so they could enjoy a change of scenery as well. While Arnie took the two older ones to a living history museum (more fun than it sounds!), Grace and I toured town in our rented stroller, charming everyone that went by. (Okay, more Grace than me!)

We also made a stop to the new cake shop in town. The name of the shop is "Sugared Bliss", which I love! The owner was very nice, and her prices are way too reasonable! $2.00 for a huge cookie. I hope she raises her prices soon. She makes THE best snickerdoodle Arnie or I have ever had.

I really love her decor, as well. We visit alot of bakeries, cupcake shops, cake shops, etc in our travels, and I just don't care for the overly "cute" type of place. Personally, I love the earth tones and simple elegance...a man would be comfortable sitting down to get a cup of coffee here without feeling like all of his testosterone is seeping out!

We also passed by "Luli's" cupcake shop. I did go in and get a cup of coffee but didn't get a cupcake. I got one last time I was there and remember it as being pretty good. But I'm trying to watch my calories a little, so I'm holding out for excellent!

Arnie and I are still trying to recover from our trip. One thing you forget about when you don't have small children around anymore...germs! Arnie and I are never sick...its an extremely rare thing. We both came home sick as dogs. All three grandkids had runny noses and coughs, and I think they aimed them in our direction every time. :)

Tomorrow we'll do Chattanooga, TN...my very favorite place! I seriously plan on living there someday! :)

On to Jacksonville, FL

2011-01-04T13:58:00.001-05:00

From Savannah, we headed down to Jacksonville, FL, to visit the grandkids, as that is the main reason for our trip! We brought them down Christmas gifts...it was nice to be able to actually see them open them instead of mailing them down like we normally do! The next day we picked them up and took them to one of our favorite places....the ZOO!!!! I love the zoo! :)

I promise I won't post a million pics of my ugly mug, but hey, I need one of me with the grandkids, right? From left to right is Mercedes, Grace, Grandma, and Andy.

This is my favorite picture of Grandpa and Grace:

A very rare photo of all of them looking at me and smiling at the same time! It felt like a small miracle!

And my favorite thing about the zoo, other than the grandkids, is always the Larakeets! They are the sweetest little birds, and I could just look at them all day with their gorgeous plummage!

Tomorrow I'll post St. Augustine, Florida. What a gorgeous city! And we stopped at two bakeries, so I have cute pictures of those to share as well!

Happy New Year!!!!

2011-01-04T10:52:00.001-05:00

Okay, a few days late but better late than never. I hope everyone had a fantastic New Year's! We certainly did. We spent ours in St. Augustine, FL, enjoying the 74 degree day, so we have nothing to complain about.

And, we're just back from a week long vacation. So you know what that means, right? Yup, the dreaded vacation photos! I'll only post a few a day, so hopefully you won't be run down with boredom! :)

The first place we stopped on our way down was Savannah, GA. We spent two nights there....NOT enough time to enjoy Savannah! We did the Historic AVA walk, which is voted one of the top ten in the country, and we can totally see why. Here's a few shots from our walk...

Savannah's historic area is made up of all of these "squares", which are really, really cool. They have a ton of parks in the center of the squares, each with different sculptures, fountains, etc. And people really utilize them. It was so nice to see so many people out, enjoying the parks, spending time with family. It was a little cold (in the 40's) but at least the sun was shining!

After our AVA walk, we did a walking Food Tour. We did one of those in Lexington, KY on our last vacation and are now convinced that every time we go to a new town, we're going to see if there's one available. On this one, we got to eat in Paula Dean's restuarant (we got to choose one item from the buffet to try...I had the mac n' cheese, which was amazing...my hubby had the pulled pork, also amazing..and I am NOT a buffet eater!). I was entirely too busy stuffing my face to take pics of any of the restaurants we stopped to though, so I am a little bummed about that.

But we did come across this neat cake shop on one of the side streets. She's only open by appointment only, so we didn't get to try anything, but it's a neat looking shop!

Well, off to catch up on phone calls, emails, bills, etc. Tomorrow I'll post a few pictures from Florida and a few of the grandkids, of course! :)

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T16:58:00.000-05:00

I hope all of you had as lovely of a Christmas as we did. :) Now we're getting ready to leave tomorrow morning on our vacation to visit our grandchildren in Florida. We'll be gone for just over a week, so this will be my final post for awhile! I hope you all have a fantastic New Year!!!

These are the finished boxed sets of cookies we're bringing down for the grandkids! I really love how they turned out!

And this is a set of cookies I mailed to my friend, Diane, for Christmas. She loves her cats, so I thought I had to get at least one of them in there! :)

Happy New Year!!!!!

Merry Christmas Eve!

2010-12-24T22:12:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone is enjoying their Christmas Eve. This year was a little strange for us. Its the first year we didn't spend Christmas Eve with our family in Michigan. We miss them, but its been a nice day! My daughter, Tessa, had us over for a great dinner. It's always nice when someone else cooks! :)

I have to post a huge thank you to my cake friends. I seriously have the sweetest friends ever. I got the mail the other day, and I had this gorgeous handmade card from my great friend, Diane:

And a package from my friend Cathy in New York. She embroidered this adorable door hanger. It warmed my heart that she would think of me at a busy time of year like this!

And the back:

I had an order from one of my very favorite customers, Candy, this week. I love doing platters for holidays....they are just so much fun!

And a couple of smaller orders:

Well, that's it for me. I'm turning in for a good night's sleep. Both of my daughters are spending the night, and I know it's so that they can wake me up at some ungodly hour to open gifts! They may be grown, but they're not THAT grown! :)

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Cookies for the Grandkids

2010-12-21T10:44:00.000-05:00

We are leaving the day after Christmas to go to Florida to see the grandkids. It will be such a treat for us to deliver their cookies and Christmas presents in person this year!!! :)

For my granddaughter who loves all things "princess"...

My grandson is totally into trucks, so we came up with this set...

And for my youngest granddaughter, who is so incredibly sweet....

And I wanted to try out a new treat yesterday, so I baked gingerbread cupcakes with cream cheese icing and a mini gingerbread cookie on top. They are soooo delicious!!!!

I think the rest of my day will be spent wrapping gifts! I started yesterday but totally procrastinated and did cookies instead. :) I guess they aren't going to wrap themselves though, so I'd better get to it!

Busy Holiday Season

2010-12-20T11:47:00.000-05:00

I apologize for being a little missing-in-action lately! I was doing such a great job of keeping up with my blog and cookies each day, but the holiday season has overrun my life a bit. I'm sure you all understand that! :)

This has been my largest project. We had an order for 200 bagged cookies for the Hilliard Senior Center. It was a joy to do this, but definitely alot of time and work.

My daughter Chelsey surprised me on Saturday by coming over to help with this order. And what a HUGE difference it made! I'd pipe outlines and she'd fill in cookies. She even took over piping the dots on the wreaths. I think I need to utilize her talents a little more often! :) Thanks baby! :)

Now I'm off to deliver this order, then to finish up some shopping. I'm not usually a last minute shopper, but I can't seem to stop this year! And I have a mound of gifts left to be wrapped as well. Yikes....better get to work!

It was bound to happen!....

2010-12-16T14:50:00.000-05:00

I had to miss a few days. :( My aunt passed away, so I traveled to Michigan for the funeral. And if any of you are paying attention to the weather up here, I can tell you, it was not a fun drive!

And although I certainly wish it was under better circumstances, it was so nice to visit with my family for a few days. I don't get to see them nearly as often as I'd like, and I do miss them!

I got home on Wednesday and immediately went to work on an order for today. Nothing big, just a 1/4 sheet cake and a dozen cookies, but we all know that cookies need time to dry! I got them done in record time, and hopefully they don't look like a rush job! :)

And all bagged up and ready to go:

Now I need to start work on the 200 cookies I'm doing for the Hilliard Senior Center for Monday!

Surviving Christmas Shopping?

2010-12-12T07:35:00.000-05:00

My hubby and I spent most of yesterday checking and double checking our Christmas list, trying to get as much done as possible! We did pretty good...I have a few stocking stuffers to pick up, but then, I am done! Woo-hoo!!! :) Hope you all are surviving the busy Christmas season!

I faced one of my worst fears with this cookie of the day...Santa! I am terrified of anything with a face, really, but with Santa's being so recognizable, it seems even more terrifying. I can't say I'm 100% satisfied with how they turned out, but I wasn't horrified either. I would love a better way to do his beard, but I'll work on it. Or I'll just skip Santa in the future! :)

Oh, while we were out yesterday, I found THE CUTEST pair of PJ's for my granddaughter. I could not resist buying them!

My oldest daughter, Tessa, is in the National Guard. Today is their annual Christmas party. I'm always so proud to attend events like this! Hopefully the snow will hold off for awhile, so we can make the hour drive each way. I wish she lived a little closer. :(

Have a great day everyone!!!

Cookie Day 27!

2010-12-11T08:14:00.000-05:00

Well, we braved the crowds and finally did some Christmas shopping last night! I figure I'm about halfway done. My goal is to be totally finished this weekend. I know its not going to happen, but I think I can come close. Wouldn't it be nice if this guy really did deliver all the presents and we didn't have to shop?!

And a couple more cake orders from this week:

Off to relax for a bit this morning before I head out into the cold to shop! :)

One of my Favorite Weeks

2010-12-10T16:15:00.000-05:00

I think this has to be one of my favorite weeks of work in awhile. I had so many orders for interesting cakes this week. Work becomes fun when I have orders like this. I have to be one of the luckiest people ever to get to do something I love so much for a living.

I think this one is my very favorite. It's just so bright and cheerful and happy! The lettering was inspired by my friend, Diane, a fellow cake decorator in Conneticut.

I have another one I had planned on posting but I just remembered its for a surprise party! The chances of the customer looking at my blog is pretty slim, but I think I'll be cautious and wait until tomorrow.

My cookie of the day is the cutest little polar bear, inspired by my friend Lisa (bearfootbaker on Flickr). I totally fell in love with hers, so I just had to order a polar bear cutter and give him a try! Thanks to Lisa for always being so willing to share her work! :)

Another fun one for this week. I love the bright colors on this one as well. Its nice to see such bright colors, especially when its been so dreary and cold here!

And one final one. This is for a woman graduating from nursing school. Congratulations Kristie!!! What a huge accomplishment!

And that's it for today! I'll have a few more tomorrow....like I said, busy week! :) I'm off now to do a little Christmas shopping and quality time with my daughter!

Poinsettas

2010-12-09T10:42:00.000-05:00

I remember every year when I was a kid, we'd make a trip to Flowerland to pick up poinsettas to bring to both of my grandmas. So I thought I would make a flower for each of them! :)

Back to work...lots of cake orders for this weekend! :)

Cookie Jar Shopping

2010-12-08T09:49:00.000-05:00

Another minimalist way to decorate gingerbread cookies. Arnie will go so far as to pick off every little dot, but I like a little icing with my cookie! These little round ones remind me of my dad. He always LOVED gingersnaps. He'd dunk them in milk, dunk them in his coffee, or just munch on them. I should make him some for Christmas!

I had the strangest realization yesterday when I was putting away Arnie's gingerbread cookies. I don't own a cookie jar. Seriously, I don't own a cookie jar! I thought I did...I thought I had a Christmas one, but if I did, its evading me. I do find it troubling though...I am a Grandma, after all. What kind of Grandma will I be without a cookie jar? So, definitely a situation I need to rectify immediately! I looked on Ebay...lots and lots of cookie jars, but most of them are vintage and a little more (or alot more) than I want to pay. I have to keep in mind that I tend to be a bit clumsy, so vintage is probably not a good idea. I did find a couple of really cute ones on Amazon though....

This is the first one that caught my eye, but now, looking at it again, it kind of reminds me of an urn. Probably not what I need to be reminded of when reaching for a cookie!

But I really like both of these. I tend to like more simple, clean designs, and these both fit the bill.

I'm tore between the two, the main difference being...do I want to see the cookies? I like the idea of the glass one so I can see how many I have left. But seeing them may also make them more tempting to snack on, so its a dilema. What do you think? Decisions, decisions....

Cookies for Arnie

2010-12-07T14:46:00.000-05:00

I realized the other day while going through my blog that everytime I refer to my husband, it's as "hubby". No name, just "hubby". So I figure its long overdue that I introduce you to my very patient husband, Arnie.

Poor Arnie has to put up with alot. His wife is constantly covered in powdered sugar, his hands are always being slapped away from goodies because they're for customers, and anytime he wants something baked for him, he gets "the look" - the look that says "I've baked nonstop for three days, do you really think I want to bake MORE?". Despite all of this, he's still very helpful. He's great at picking up supplies, coming up with ideas, and just in general, being the most supportive and wonderful husband a woman could ever ask for.

And to put a face with the name, this is Arnie, with two of our grandchildren, Mercedes and Andy.

So, today its like 18 degrees outside and bone chilling cold. What better day to bake up a batch of Arnie's very favorite cookies, gingerbread? Now, the problem is that he likes his gingerbread plain. I, however, have a hard time making a cookie that isn't pretty. So I compromised. I just added a few accents to make them sparkle, but for the most part, left them unadorned. And yes, it was painful. But hey, after 16 years of marriage, I can make a sacrifice here and there, right?

So yes, Arnie will be a happy man when he gets home tonight. I even went so far as to leave some......(pause for dramatic effect).......totally naked! Not pretty at all!!!! :) The things we do for love!

Cookie Day 22

2010-12-06T11:10:00.000-05:00

I wanted to get some cookies made for the grandkids. These are the first two in a series of Santa cookies I'm going to make for them. I wanted to try something a little different than your regular Santa face, and I am happy with how they turned out! :)

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have a giveaway to announce, so stay tuned!

Cookie Day 21!

2010-12-05T09:09:00.000-05:00

Since my hubby was off hunting all weekend, I had time to get all sorts of things done. Christmas cards are finished, tree is up.....and I got to play with my new mini cookie cutters! :) I've never done a full set of mini cookies before. They're alot of fun, although just as time consuming as large cookies! Maybe more so, as you need to use smaller tips on the smaller cookies.

I got quite a bit of inspiration from Callye of Sweet Adventures of Sugar Belle. And because of her and Polka Dot Cookies, since I had minis made, I just had to put them in a cute little jar to see how they'd look. I love them! I think they would make a wonderful gift!!!

Stay tuned later this week for a giveaway that may or may not (but probably does) involved the new mini cutters! :) And enjoy your Sunday!

Pretty in Pink

2010-12-04T11:22:00.000-05:00

Seems like this is pink week at Brenda's Cakes! :)

I had an active morning already. My daughter met me at the garden center at 9am to get our Christmas tree picked out, then followed me home to get it put up. My hubby is hunting, so we were on our own this year...we did pretty good. :) The tree is straight, there aren't any of the same colored lights by each other (my husband's pet peeve!), and its in a location that no one is going to trip over it, hopefully.

And of course, I have to post cookie day 20! I'm so happy I made it so many days without too many mistakes! :)

Also, I ran across a great find yesterday. I found this set of mini cookie cutters at KMart for $2.99. There are 20 cutters in the package, and they are seriously cute. What do you think...maybe I should pick up a couple of packs for a giveaway? It is the season, after all!

Cookie-a-Day - Day 19

2010-12-03T08:54:00.000-05:00

I ordered this cutter from Ecrandal (fantastic cutters!) awhile ago and haven't used it yet. I had a totally different plan for this cookie, but it changed and kinda took on a life of its own. I never use pink in a Christmas cookie, but it seemed to work with this design.

So, my youngest daughter has always been a bit of a baker. She's been trying out alot of new recipes for the Christmas season this year. It has been so nice to eat cookies that I didn't have to make!

This is Chelsey: (I know, incredibly gorgeous!)

She text me Wednesday evening to tell me that she was trying out a new recipe. White chocolate pumpkin cookies. Had I seen that recipe, I would've thought "gross" and moved on. But she likes to try the different combinations. It was 10 o'clock at night, and as soon as my cookie pig of a husband (said with love and affection, of course!) found out she was baking, he headed over to pick up some samples! LOL! Gotta love that man. But hey, it was sooo worth him making the trip....they are amazing!!!!!

She is an incredible baker. She's also an artist. I really need to get a piping bag in that girl's hand! She would do amazing things! :)

Cookie-a-Day - Day 18!

2010-12-02T07:40:00.000-05:00

I love gingerbread men! They've always been one of my favorite Christmas icons. I thought I'd have a little fun with these ones.

Cookie-a-Day - Day 17

2010-12-01T09:04:00.000-05:00

Woke up this morning to our first snow! Although, being from Michigan, I've had enough snow to last me a lifetime, I do have to admit that I always get a little excited to see it for the first time every season. Until I have to drive in it. Or shovel it. Or slip on it! :)

And Ellen...don't forget to email me your address so I can send out your book. If I haven't heard from you in the next couple of days, I'll have to redraw another name! :(

Cookie-a-Day - Days 15 & 16

2010-11-30T09:26:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know it looks like I cheated by not posting a cookie yesterday, but I swear, I finished it yesterday! By the time I was done last night, it was just too dark to photograph them. (Don't you hate this time of year? Dark by 5:30pm....ugh!)

So, here is Day 15. I like how these turned out. I think the blue shading adds a nice touch.

And Day 16:

These were inspired by Ali of Ali Bee's Bake Shop. She kindly gave me permission to attempt to reproduce her gorgeous package cookies. Thanks Ali!

And the winner is.....

2010-11-30T08:16:00.001-05:00

Ellen! Congratulations Ellen! If you email me your address, I'll get your new book put in the mail! :) Thanks everyone!

Cookie-a-Day - Day 14

2010-11-28T18:45:00.000-05:00

Its been a long, busy weekend. Feels like its taking awhile to get everything back in order after Thanksgiving! So this will be a quick one. :)

Corset cookies for a "naughty and nice" bridal shower. I think they turned out well!

Cookie-a-Day - Day 13

2010-11-27T10:06:00.000-05:00

I took a little break from Christmas and did something with more of a New Years feel. :) My hubby and I are taking a vacation over New Years...we'll be in St. Augustine, FL...one of our very favorite towns. So I have New Years on the brain now! :)

Next week I start on Christmas cookies to send overseas to our troops. I'm really excited about it! If it brings the smallest smile to one of their faces, I'll be thrilled.

The Day After - and Cookie Day 12?

2010-11-26T10:43:00.000-05:00

I'm starting to lose track of the days! :)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I hope all of you did too. This is the very first Thanksgiving we've had at home. We've traveled every year since we've been married....16 years! This year, my mom and her husband Dave came down, so we actually got to have our own Thanksgiving dinner. And I must say...it was pretty darn good! My husband did an incredible job with the turkey. I had the perfect biscuit day too, which is a rare and beautiful thing.

My beautiful mother, me, and my two gorgeous daughters, Tessa and Chelsey. (Not a shabby looking lot, right?) :)

And of course, we have the "big game" approaching, so you'll be seeing lots of these:

And on to the cookie of the day. These were both inspired by ornaments. The cookie sheet I found at Hallmark...they have some adorable baking ornaments this year! I'm going to put them all on a little tree in my kitchen. :) And the other was inspired by an ornament my friend Diane found and drew me a sketch of! I used fondant for the little rolling pin.

Maybe this will inspire you to start your holiday baking....or order your holiday cookies! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T10:32:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone is having a very Happy Thanksgiving! I thought I'd get my cookie posted, before the family arrives and the festivities begin. The turkey is in the oven, the pies are baked, the house is clean....nothing to do now but enjoy the rest of the day. (And a few hundred dishes later!)

There are so many things to be thankful for this year. My family is incredible. I am married to the most supportive, wonderful man any woman could ask for. My children are both moved out and doing really great on their own....they make me so very proud! I also have the joy of doing what I truly love to do for a living. I am truly grateful for each and every day that I have!

Cookie-a-Day - Day 10

2010-11-24T18:05:00.000-05:00

No, I did not forget about posting my cookie for the day. I swear I didn't. I did not get all caught up in pie making and house cleaning and errand running, and actually FORGET about my cookie!

Okay, yes I did. But here he is. And he is the last penguin you will see this year. I almost promise! :)

Not the greatest picture, as by the time I remembered to photograph him, it started raining and icing outside.

I hope everyone has a very, very Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Cookie-a-Day - Day 9

2010-11-23T09:08:00.000-05:00

The Penguin Series... Part 3. :) I like this little guy. I made a mess at the end of his scarf, but I have company in from out of town and didn't have time to redo him, so please pretend its not there!

I like how his little skates turned out!

Cookie-a-Day - Day 8

2010-11-22T08:03:00.000-05:00

This is definitely the first cookie that I am full on disappointed in. I'm not sure what I did wrong with this poor guy. I've had this clipart saved for months and months and was so excited to finally make a cookie out of him! Maybe I was in too big of a hurry. But...its either post him or break my "cookie a day" streak. :) Tomorrow....another day and a much better cookie! :)

Cookie-a-Day - Day 7

2010-11-21T08:22:00.000-05:00

I made it through my first full week! Not too much of a challenge, but next week will be difficult with Thanksgiving and family in from out of town!

My friend Diane sent me the idea for this one....I think it turned out cute!

My hubby and I went and saw "Morning Glory" last night at the movie theatre. Loved that movie!!! Very cute, very funny....I've always loved Diane Keaton though too.

Don't forget to sign up for our free book give away a few posts below.

Have a great Sunday!

Cookie-a-Day - Day 6

2010-11-20T07:32:00.000-05:00

I really like how this set turned out. Its a little different for me, but I'd like to concentrate a couple days on doing some more simple, elegant designs.

Also this week was the 3D diaper bag cake. I made it to match the mother's actual diaper bag, which had to be plaid, the most difficult pattern to replicate! :) She was great about the pattern being simplified though, so hopefully she'll be happy with how it turned out.

And a cookie order:

That's it for now. Have a great weekend!!!!

Cookie-a-Day - Day 5

2010-11-19T08:16:00.000-05:00

When you make so many cookies, some are sure to NOT turn out as well as you'd like. I guess. Or so I keep telling myself. :) I almost didn't post this one, but heck, who hasn't had a bad cookie day, right? And I learned a couple of lessons on this one, which made it worth doing.

So first, my inspiration. This is my buddy. I love him sooo much! :) We got Farley when he was six weeks old. He's a pure bred Australian Shepard. He is such an amazing dog.

He's a blue merl, so I thought his coloring would be interesting to try to do in a cookie. Yeah, definitely interesting! And here's the end result.....

One of the main things I would do differently next time is to have a thicker consistency of royal icing. I gave him a flooded look, and I think if it had been thicker, I could have used a paintbrush to pull "fur" from him, and he would've looked alot better. I think flooding an animal cookie is only good for a short haired animal. Or at least that's what I think now! :)

Stay tuned for Day 6 tomorrow....I'm working on an idea that my friend Diane sent me that is just adorable!!!

Book Giveaway!!!

2010-11-18T17:03:00.000-05:00

I ordered this book on my last CK order, not realizing that I already had it! Its kind of a pain to return, so I thought it would be easier to give it away. Its brand new. All you need to do is become a follower of my blog, then leave a comment under this topic letting me know that you did. I'll draw a winner on November 30th and get it mailed out to you, in plenty of time for your holiday baking! :)

And if you're already a follower, just leave a comment here to be included!

Cookie-a-Day - Day 4

2010-11-18T07:24:00.000-05:00

As I get towards the end of the week, the cookies will definitely be a little more simple, as I do actually have to concentrate on my cake orders! My friend Diane just sent me the coolest idea for a cookie though, and now I am so anxious to get started on it! :) Thanks, Diane, for feeding my obsession!

I admit, these are pretty simple and not real imaginative, but I do like the bow on the candy canes.

Tonight will be yoga at the gym, then watching the new episode of The Office. Yes, I am addicted to that show. The Office and the Food Network are the only reasons I still have tv.

Have a great day!

Cookie-a-Day - Day 3

2010-11-17T07:32:00.000-05:00

Still in Christmas mode, apparently! :) I'm hoping to change that later this week. But I liked how this one turned out. The gumdrops are real....I just cut them in half and stuck them on for some added color.
My friend Diane loves to make cards and often sends me photos of stamps, etc. This design is based off a stamp she sent me.

And we think we may have found our shop!!!!! Its located in Old Hilliard, right on Main Street. The parking is good, location is good, rent is good. We're really hoping we may be able to open the first or second week in December!

Cookie-a-Day - Day 2

2010-11-16T08:50:00.000-05:00

I had a little time on my hands yesterday (I love Mondays!). So, I actually got to play around with a more detailed cookie design. I am so happy with this little guy!

I should try out some non-Christmas designs, but I seem to have Christmas on the brain already. I remember when the stores used to wait until after Thanksgiving to put out the Christmas stuff, or at least before they started the Christmas music! Maybe it's a good thing...I actually have some of my Christmas shopping done, which is pretty early for me!