Floral Baby Shower Cookies

Cake Wreck Recovery

I look at a lot of pretty party blogs and think, "Man, these mamas have got their stuff together!"  They probably aren't scrambling to hide junk in their bedroom as guests are coming up the walkway. They probably aren't yelling at their kid with empty threats of,  "Stop CRYING or I will cancel your party!" They probably even get in a shower before putting on a perfectly tasteful strand of pearls. 

But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they're more like me than I think, they're just not 'fessing up to the madness behind the tissue poms. I know all the party blogs and Pinterest boards can make even the best hostess feel a little deflated and insecure. Is it enough? Are mustaches in or out? Where can I get chevron paper straws for my mason jars?  Trust me, I get swept up in the trends, too.  It's fun! And I love throwing parties. But truth be told, it is ugh-lee up in here up to the very last second.  I am a sweaty, smelly stressball making mad dashes to get everything ready: setting up tables, finishing last minute touches, cleaning up after a tornado of chaos, etc. I'm going to expose the ugly truth about the behind the scenes craziness that goes into those perfect parties you see in the blogosphere with a little story to make you feel better if everything doesn't go just right at your next soiree.

Sooooo. Y'ever have a baking day like this?

This triple decker beauty was for a party I was hosting later that afternoon. Like in 2 hours guests would be arriving.  Crap!  This was going to be a gorgeous flower covered centerpiece on the buffet table for my kiddo's tiny Spring Fling party.  I don't know what went wrong because I bake these kinds of cakes all of the time.  I DID forget to grease the sides of the cake pans, which gave me some torn up sides. And then one of them cracked down the middle. And then it all just crumbled and fell apart when I tried to stack the layers. Yikes.  What's a hostess with guests on the way to do?

STEP 1: Head to the grocery store! My Vons had some simply decorated, double layer carrot cakes for $9.99 a pop. This juuust might work.  I picked up two of them and rushed home to Frankenstein them together.

STEP 2: Stack the cakes.  I happened to have a cardboard cake round and some plastic drinking straws to cut up and insert in the bottom cake as supports.

STEP 3: Scrape off the "carrot" globs.

STEP 4: Scrape off the coconut flakes, fill in the separation between the stacked cakes and break up the crusted over frosting.

Then get ready to go royal icing transfer CRAZY:

This was the original idea for the cake I wanted to make, only it turned out a bit larger than I initially planned.  I had premade all of these royal icing flowers, so I just started pressing them into the sticky frosting, layering the smaller ones on top to cover any gaps. This was going to work! Crisis averted.  Almost.

Top view

Back view. Ok.  Hold up. This is not cute.  Of course I didn't have enough flowers to cover the whole cake. (Did I mention the store cakes were a bit larger than I had originally planned for?)  Luckily this wasn't for a client and my party guests like a good laugh! And I could turn this side towards the wall to hide it. Thankfully it all worked out in the end.  Whew!

From disaster to delightful in 20 minutes!

Spring Treats

Happy Easter!  I had two orders for cupcakes and cookies to celebrate the Easter Bunny's arrival this weekend.  That's a lot of jelly beans, folks!  I baked up these fab and tasty carrot spice Easter basket cupcakes with cream cheese grass frosting putting a slight tweak on a Bakerella's adorable design.  Love how these sweet things turned out.

And then there were the cookies.  Two different collections:  one bright and cheery nature inspired and the other done in pretty pinks, greens and yellows. Both turned out happy and spring-y with lots of fun details to look at.  Check them out for yourself - Enjoy!

Bright and Cheery Collection.

In love with the cotton tail.

 Carrot top detail.

This one goes out to my Peeps!

  

Ladybug detail.

Pretty Easter egg detail.

 Soft Pink, Green and Yellow Collection.

 Silvery bug eyes.

 Marbled Easter eggs.

Happy Easter!

Spring Fling Party

My daughter's best friend Hailey was turning two and her mom, Erin, wanted to throw her a fabulous and fun Spring Fling birthday party. Bright colors, happy flowers and hand made pinwheels really set the tone for this over the top May event.

The focus of the party was fun fun fun and Erin set up a child's paradise in her backyard. The lawn was covered in a multitude of irresistible play zones: a bounce house, splash pool (with swim diapers and sunscreen on standby for those without), kiddy wading pool, rainbow parachute, teepee, playhouse and swing set. The kids didn't know where to begin, although most of them found their way to the big splash pool, including my kiddo, who I'm not even sure got out a "Happy birthday, Hails!" before she was stripping down to her bathing suit so she could be the first to dive in.

The fun zone

The birthday girl approves!

The driveway was transformed into a happy, brightly colored dining hall with the help of rented tables and chairs. We scored these vibrant paper lanterns, plates and table cloths from The Dollar Tree to carry out her Spring Fling theme. Erin created a dozen balloon flowers to dress up the white gates and welcome guests into the backyard.

We set up the favor bags on the kids' table so they wouldn't be forgotten about and not get taken home. These simple white lunch sacks were filled with goodies and dressed up with colorful name tags attached with bright and cheery pinwheels from the Dollar Tree. So cute!

Gift bag detail

To pack a big colorful punch we hung a hand made felt "Happy Birthday!" pennant banner above the food tables and created a miniature dessert table to display Erin's sister-in-law Lisa's amazing and adorable sugar cookies.

Dessert table detail

The family talents also extended to Erin's sister Bonnie, who created the fantastic flower power cupcake tower for the kids to enjoy instead of a traditional birthday cake. Just the perfect size for little hands!

The kids all had an amazing time and the parents were really wowed by all the care and attention to detail put into this party. As for the birthday girl? I think her face says it all:

Happy birthday, Hails!