Candy Stripes and Polka Dots

Lilly with two "L"'s turned 2 last week, and her mom asked me to create a cake for her. This was inspired by a wonderful book I turn to often for ideas, called Pretty Party Cakes by Peggy Porschen. She is a fabulous cake designer in the UK, and I find her cakes to be very much "my style". The top tier is a candy striped two-tone pink and white cake, while inside it is dark chocolate with rich chocolate ganache filling. The bottom tier is a bit whimsical, using polka dots in the pink and lime scheme, with tiny dots surrounding the bigger polka dots. It is a banana cake filled with chocolate buttercream-yum! I also did some cookie favors in the shape of birthday presents-two tone pink for the girls, and blue and lime green for the boys. I think it is so fresh and pretty for a little girl's birthday, and I loved it! I think it's one of my favourite colour combos, and I know it's going to get used again...

Fairies, Butterflies and all things Girly

What 4 year-old little girl isn't obsessed with all things magical? When my girls saw the birthday cake and the cute little cookies I made for my friend Anne's daughter Britt, they couldn't stop talking about their own birthdays. I have a feeling it will be a fairy birthday theme for my girls this year! Fairies must represent all things mysterious and enchanted in little girls' imaginations, and I was happy to create something really cute and special for Britt's birthday. I have an inkling this won't be the last fairy cake that will magically appear in our house(and magically disappear too!)!

Playmobil for Luke

My nephew Luke turned 5 on Valentine's Day, and his parents threw him a "theatre-style" birthday. They had rented out an old church that had been converted to a theatre, and invited lots of kids to come and play on stage. The kids brought their dress-up stuff and had a blast dressing up and dancing on stage to fun kiddie music-I even found myself singing along to "Wonder Pets"! Nadine and I had planned to make him a theatre-themed cake, perhaps some tickets with the name of his play on them, but a few weeks ago Luke called me to ask if he could have a Playmobil cake instead. Apparently, he's addicted to Playmobil, as are so many other kids his age, mine included. So, how could I resist the opportunity to indulge his birthday fantasy? I used our own Playmobil animals to decorate this safari-themed cake, and the kids could hardly contain themselves while waiting for him to blow out his candles-hands were reaching for animals, and I feared it may not stay a safari for long!