year of the dragon...

i have known jaina since high school...we went to JMU together and have also kept in touch in our post-college years...since then she has gotten married to james...her loving husband...

when i first started making cakes...she saw the pink & purple princess cake that i had made for maddy's 1st birthday and jaina said she wanted that cake for her child's 1st birthday...girl OR boy...so naturally i was a little afraid when jaina and james had their adorable son jameson...

luckily (for jameson)...jaina opted to go for a blue & silver dragon themed cake since jameson was born during the year of the dragon...

since i am not an artist by nature, only by precision...i hired my husband as my new sculptor!

i had seen a tradition of having a smash cake for the baby to have their first taste of cake...so i decided to make one for jameson...he loved it and apparently was licking his fist all day!!!

it was an absolute honor to make your son's 1st birthday cake...i wish you all many years of celebrating jameson's birthdays!!!

vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream covered in fondant

march 2013

march 2013

march 2013

march 2013

march 2013

all's fair in love and war...

alice and i first met in our sat prep class during high school.  we were later reunited at jmu, where we lived together for 2 years.  she is someone who has so much heart...passionate for who and what she loves.  she is a girl who knows exactly what she wants...and won't stop until she gets it.

we were all surprised when alice told us she joined the army, but were supportive of what she wanted to do in serving our country.  while she was in iraq, serving our country...she met a boy named david.  the two of them got together in the midst of war...and found love.

it was a blessing to attend their wedding as a guest...and a greater honor to make their wedding cake for them.  the bridesmaids got together to make cupcakes, but they wanted a cake for their cutting ceremony.  the couple wanted a simple small three tier cake.

congrats to you both! may God bless your marriage infinitely as you begin this incredible journey together!

red velvet (bottom tier) and lemon (middle and top tier) filled with cream cheese frosting covered in vanilla buttercream decorated with daisies

november 2012

i am learning to texture the cake better with more practice

the adorable toppers are courtesy of the bride and groom

i do domo...

i met clara and anand in harrisonburg during our jmu days. after meeting them i remember thinking that they were two of the genuinely nicest people i had ever met. years later back in nova...when i had heard that they were engaged to be married...i couldn't have been happier for them.

a couple months ago clara and anand were ironing out details for their wedding and though they had set on cupcakes instead of a traditional wedding cake...they were still looking for a top tier for the cake cutting ceremony. jangeun, one of clara's bridesmaids, is a dear friend of mine. she is probably my biggest supporter...having been the first person to hire me for a cake job. did i mention it was for her wedding? (this can be found in a previous entry)  

anyways...jangeun suggested clara ask me...and ask she did. they were looking for a simple cake to top off their cupcake tower. the cake was requested to be a color that wouldn't get caught in the teeth...as to not make for some embarrassing pictures! the best part of the cake is definitely the domo bride and domo groom. these have to be the cutest wedding cake toppers i have ever seen!

strawberry shortcake covered in vanilla buttercream and fondant decorated with pink pearls

august 2011

as clara and i emailed about details for the cake shown above, she mentioned wanting to surprise anand with a groom's cake. since he loves to break dance she sent me a picture of his favorite shoes and asked if i could make a cake to resemble the shoes. i have been making a few cakes to match invitations recently...but nothing this realistic. this cake took a lot of planning and detailed work...but i was extremely happy with the way the shoes turned out.

the shoebox is strawberry shortcake with vanilla buttercream...the shoes are rice krispy treats with royal icing...all covered and decorated in fondant

august 2011

august 2011

boys just wanna have FUNfetti...

for the past couple years my older brother's friend has been requesting a special birthday cake resembling that which he loves most...a cookie ice cream sandwich. bobby has been asking year after year only to be disappointed when i didn't deliver. this year my brother asked me to make a birthday cake for bobby and of course his request is what immediately came to mind. sadly, my brother informed me that ice cream wouldn't survive the drive into dc where they were eating dinner. so i decided to make a slight alteration to the cake substituting ice cream for bobby's favorite kind of cake...FUNFETTI!

funfetti cake (made from scratch) with a cookies & cream filling covered in vanilla buttercream sandwiched between two 14" cookies.

august 2011

i was pleasantly surprised with how well the homemade cookie cakes turned out!

apple for the teacher...

though i have yet to meet marian in person i already know that she is an amazing person. marian has been teaching esol english and fast math for many years and is now retiring to take some time off for herself. not only has she dedicated so much of her time investing students, but she has also raised a daughter who has become a teacher herself. alissa is a co-worker of mine who asked me to make a cake for her mother's retirement party. marian is going to leave the east coast and enjoy sometime on the west coast!

the cake is a strawberry shortcake covered in buttercream frosting. it is covered in fondant and decorated to honor this teacher who has dedicated so much of herself.

june 2011

the apple isn't quite as realistic as i'd hoped...i will definitely need to practice my sculpting.

hats off to the graduate...

i met ellen a couple months ago at a mutual friend's bridal shower and then again at the wedding. when she found out that i had made the wedding cake, ellen was shocked and then proceeded to ask if i had made any graduation cakes. her son was going to graduate from high school so she just threw the idea out there. about a month ago i received an email from ellen requesting this graduation cake. when she told me that her son was graduating from fairfax high school, my high school, i was excited.

the cake was a chocolate oreo cake covered in vanilla buttercream frosting. then covered in fondant and decorated to honor the graduate's years of studying and hard work resulting in his high school graduation.

june 2011

hoped to make the books more realistic looking but had a bit of difficulty working with the rectangular cakes.

the bride...and bridesmaids wore white...

my co-worker michelle said that for the past two years she has been looking for an excuse to ask me to bake her a cake. well...she finally found one! one of her dear friends is getting married, so michelle asked me to bake a cake for her bridal shower. i have never met the bride, but from what i've heard she sounds like an awesome girl! unlike other brides who curse anyone who dares wear white to her wedding, this bride is actually going to dress her bridesmaids in white alongside her. her dress will of course out shine her friends, but i can definitely see how this makes for great photos! men in black...women in white...simple and gorgeous!

the cake is a strawberry shortcake covered in vanilla buttercream frosting.  this was covered in fondant and decorated to honor the bride's fashion sense and her three bridesmaids who are hard at work planning!

june 2011

june 2011

june 2011