Leanna's Sweet Sixteen

Soccer friends asked if I would do a cake for their older daughter's Sweet Sixteen party. She picked a very sophisticated cake - this wedding cake (the middle one) she saw on the TLC show Cake Boss.

I am not much of a piper, but I think it turned out good and I really like the large flowers. Thank goodness for YouTube instructional videos that showed how to make them. The bottom layer is chocolate with chocolate buttercream filling and the top layer is the family's red velvet cake recipe.

King of the Jungle Baby Shower Cake

A client was throwing a baby shower and asked me to make a marble cake that would match the King of the Jungle decorations she had gotten on partypail.com. This is what I came up with.

I was working on my son's Diego cake and was able to make similar decorations all at the same time. It worked out great.

Go, Diego. Go! Cake

My son, Seth, had a Diego Birthday Party. I made him this cake. It is a lemon cake with buttercream frosting and marshmallow fondant decorations. The Diego figure is a candle I bought at Michael's. He loved the cake and had a fun party.

Carlee's 4th Birthday 2009

It's so hard to believe that my little Carlee is growing up!  This is how her day went.

Eric is making it a tradition to make his kids special pancakes for their birthday breakfast!!

Cute huh!!!

 

Carlee was so happy...

 

...and ate them all!!

 

Since Carlee is into horses lately, we went for a horsey theme.

 

It's made with chocolate cake, cookies and cream filling, covered in buttercream.  The barn and hay bales are chocolate crispy cereal covered with chocolate clay.  The horse and fence are chocolate clay.  I didn't use fondant at all.

 

 

 

Can I eat it now?!!!!

 

She was impatient waiting for grandpa Jensen and her daddy to come in, so she started sneaking pieces of the fence off and eating them.

 

See...I ate them!!  Little stinker!!

 

Present time!!  She received a dress up doll from Kaitlyn.

 

A stuffed horse from Grandma J.

 

A movie from Grandma C.

 

That came with the movie!  B.O.B

 

And then she got a stick horse from her mommy, daddy and Collin!

So that's it for the family birthdays this year!! 

Stork Baby Shower Cake

I made this cake for a baby shower I was co-hosting this last weekend. My friend, April, is having her first girl after having 2 boys. I love the stork idea - when my kids were born I wrapped them up, put them in a basket, and took pictures of them on my doorstep. The cake is lemon with buttercream frosting and decorated with marshmallow fondant.

Curious George Cake

I made this cake for a 1 year old's birthday. I was worried about getting the George just right, but he turned out pretty good. Some kids were over playing the day I was working on this and when they left I noticed the tiny candle off George's cake was missing. Apparently, one of the kids had to have a taste - at least it was something I could remake in about 30 seconds! The cake was marble, frosted in buttercream, and decorated with marshmallow fondant.

Zesty Oat Groats-Black Bean Chili

This rib-sticking chili offers a hearty mix of oat groats, beans, peppers and onion.  You can also substitute wheat berries for the oat groats.  I made my own black beans and measured accordingly. 

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 1 large yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons chili poweder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed
• 1 14-ounce cans no salt added diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 small can chopped jalapeno peppers
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar (I didn't add this)
  
• 2 cups cooked oat groats
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro

Preparation

1. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Add onion, bell pepper, garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally until tender, about 5 minutes.  Add beans, tomatoes, jalapenos to taste, broth and brown sugar.  Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 25 minutes. 
2. Stir in cooked oat groats and heat through, about 5 minutes more.  Remove from heat.  Stir in lime juice.  Garnish each bowl with avocado and cilantro.

Makes 6 servings.  1 1/2 cups each

Around 386 calories per serving