Cal Poly Pomona Graduation Cake

When my cousin was asked what she wanted on her graduation cake, she said "wouldn't it be funny if Jen could make the CLA building out of cake?!" So naturally, I had to try it. I love a challenge. And it was!

This cake was a feat in engineering, at least in cake. I (tried to) create what they call the most recognizable building on the Cal Poly Pomona campus. It is, in fact, triangle shaped with an asymmetrical roof line, so pretty complicated to build. But luckily I found my building inspiration when I came across some long stir sticks from Starbucks. I created the open roof structure by hot gluing the sticks together and sticking them in the cake. Then I wrapped fondant around the sticks to hide them. The base cake was red velvet with cream cheese icing, and the building was cookies & cream cake with vanilla buttercream. The triangle building cake was 6 layers of cake, which I have since found out was a bit too much. The cake actually started to implode on the drive to the party. Luckily, this was for family, so when the "leaning tower of Pomona" showed up at the grad party, they were all good sports. In the past, I have managed to escape the learning curve, but I guess it caught up with me this time. Oddly enough, I was informed that the building has been marked for demolition...maybe I'm just psychic! Congratulations Amanda! It's nice to hear that someone graduated in 2010 and got a job out of college befitting their major... There is hope for the future after all.

Jan 2011 Flavor of the Month: S'mores Cupcakes

So (one of my) New Year's resolutions is to come up with a new flavor of cake every month (yes, my neighbors...good news for you!) I have a big list of flavors that I wanted to try, so this resolution should be a (you guessed it) piece of cake!

So far so good. January is S'mores month...I created a graham cracker flavored cake and stuffed the cupcakes with milk chocolate pieces and bits of graham crackers. For the last few minutes in the oven, I added a few mini marshmallows on top so that they got brown and melty. The cupcakes were really good with my chocolate buttercream icing. I topped the icing with a marshmallow and a triangle of graham cracker just for fun. Much less messy than the real thing, but still tasty!

Armadillo Cake

I'm not sure how I feel about starting out 2011 with a cake like this! It's a face only a mother could love. Even back when I first saw Steel Magnolias, I didn't get it. But I have to admit that when it was all done, even I thought he was cute.

I created the body out of red velvet cake (of course!) by stacking round layer cakes. I carved the sides a bit to elongate the body. Then I added a large cupcake to the front end and a king-size cupcake to the front of that. Then I carved away a bit from the head and frosted everything with a thin crumb coat of cream cheese icing. When I got to this point (what I call the "panic point" of the cake), I really had my doubts. [I meant to take a picture before the fondant armor, but trust me when I say that I wasn't sure that I could make this cake into anything.] But I went ahead and rolled out my gray fondant, rolled a texture mat over it, and cut strips of "armor" which I laid on top of a generous top coat of cream cheese icing. Starting at his tail end, I layered the fondant strips up to the neck, then I used a large piece of fondant to cover his whole head, wrapping it under the chin and cutting off the excess. I rolled a thin fondant tail and covered it with small strips in a similar fashion, then tucked the tail into the back end. I also hand-molded his little hands and feet and tucked them in. I added fondant ears and a pink nose, and eyes which I colored with edible markers (adds shiny color). The final touch was a dry dusting of luster dusts in charcoal and brown to bring him to life. Now my husband wants one to bring to work! What a crazy conversation piece.

Christmas at the Stonebargers

Welcome to my living room! I decided to post these photos to give you an idea of how I decorate for the holidays. Now I hosted several events this year, including hosting my family for Christmas eve, so it's a little more over-the-top than normal. But I feel that by really decorating for Christmas, I get into the holiday spirit early and enjoy staying home in the cool weather. My kids also are starting to appreciate my effort. I had finished this room in the evening, so when my 4 year old daughter saw it all done the next morning, she gasped and said "MOM! It's so BEAUTIFUL!" I think that was worth all my hard work.

I tend to use my same decorations every year, but I move things around and pick a different color scheme for different rooms in my house. My main decorations are mostly in traditional red, and I love snowmen and gingerbread stuff. But this year, I incorporated gold into the tree and living room. Last year, I used red with white and went with a peppermint candy theme on the tree. This year, the peppermint stuff went to the dining room with my gingerbread collection. I admit that I did buy some new stuff this year...I was into the nutcrackers this year. (Curse you, Home Goods!) But most of my decor are favorite pieces that I bring out every year.

I also wanted to post these photos to remind everyone that I am available to help YOU decorate for holidays or parties as well. I can use what you already have, or design and pick out all new stuff for you. I can even come over and wrap all your gifts before Christmas.I often have friends come over and say, "wow, will you come do this at my house?" The answer is YES, and I'm affordable. (Are you kidding? A job that combines shopping AND decorating? Yes please.) So keep that in mind for your next special occasion.

"Pinkalicious" Birthday Cupcakes

With a preschool daughter in my house who loves cupcakes and the color pink, how in the world did I miss a book named "Pinkalicious"? It's about a little girl who eats too many pink cupcakes and turns pink herself. So the design for these cupcakes were straight from the book's illustrations. I made vanilla cupcakes tinted pink, and topped them with a light pink buttercream icing. I added white non-pareil sprinkles and a squiggle of darker pink icing. Finally, I topped the cupcakes with sour cherry candies. They were so adorable! Maybe when we're through the "princess years" over here I can talk my daughter into a Pinkalicious birthday party. So cute!

Snowman Cookies

These little guys were part of an order for 140 snowman cookies for teacher gifts from a generous PTA. I glazed the homemade sugar cookies with white royal icing and while the icing was still wet, I added M&M buttons, candy canes and mints, and pieces of orange slices for noses. Once the cookies were dry, I added eyes and mouths with an edible marker and wrapped up each little ice man in a cellophane bag wrapped with a little ribbon bow. They turned out darling, and tasty (quality control is the downfall of my diet!)

Circus Tent Birthday Cake & Cupcakes

These treats were for a first birthday party with a circus theme. I made a cake with alternating layers of vanilla and chocolate cake and chocolate filling. I created the "tent" top on the top tier by carving the cake into a point and covering the whole cake with buttercream icing. Then I covered both tiers with fondant; white on the bottom layer and yellow on the top. I rolled out some red fondant and made stripes for the tent, plus a ribbon for the bottom of the cake. I added details with fondant in primary colors, including some animals that I cut out and stamped with a set of "animal cracker" cookie cutters that I got from Williams Sonoma. I used the same brightly colored details to top the cupcakes as well, which tied them in with the cake nicely. It was really bright and fun, and I hear that they were the hit of the party. So fun!