Easter Cake

I can actually say that I am blessed beyond measure because God has placed me and my family in a church that really gets it!  On a monthly basis we have a meeting which is called "staff worship" and that is what it is,  all of the CF staff from all 6 campuses coming together to worship our Lord and to be reminded of who we serve, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It's about understanding that we all have a mission which is to reach the lost no matter where they are. It's not about council meetings and hours and hours trying to reinvent the wheel. It's as simple as doing what the gospel tells us to do and do it with a sense of urgency.  It's about reaching our community not as Christ Fellowship, the church, but as the body, as Christians being obedient of the Great Commission which is to go outside of our walls and boldly preach the gospel to everyone everywhere.
I made this cake for today meeting.  It was a sheet cake measuring 18x24 and could feed 100 people.  The flavor was vanilla with vanilla bean buttercream.

Snowflake Dessert Table

Christmas celebration at home this year was weird. I had decided that I wasn't going to do much. This created a problem with some family members to the point that I decided that to keep the peace and harmony of my family, I would this one last time go ahead and do something nice. I had everything at home so I didn't have to break the bank last minute. One thing is for sure, I refuse to spread myself so thin next year. I'm getting too darn old for so many things in one day! The day before I cooked, made desserts, and set the table and dessert table. I did as much as I could because I knew that for Christmas Eve I would not have enough time to finish everything. I told my husband to do a couple of things, such as heating the food at a certain time because I would be home late. I left that morning at 11 am to go rehearse (We had two Christmas Eve services that Ashley and I were part of the praise team). I got home at 9 pm and the food was cold. Our guests were all already there. At first, my reaction was anger, a desire to run away or kill my beloved husband for not doing what I had asked for. If I would have gone ahead and done what my heart wanted at that moment  I probably  would have looked like a mad  woman in need of a restraining jacket or would have gone to jail for murder... on Christmas Eve... due to cold food... crazy, I know, lol! . So I decided that it made more sense  to breath, take it easy, heat up the food and make the best of it. It was great having the Tabora's over,  They are like family so things didn't feel awkward at all., thank God!!! Everyone complemented the food and expressed how lovely everything looked.  Lauren, as usual, made everyone laugh with her crazy, sarcastic remarks and so did Christine.  Ashley was very quiet this evening because she was extremely tired because her and I were up and down and all around that day. At the end, when I sat down with everyone at the table, I had a blast. We all did. It turned out to be an amazing night after all!

Now about the stuff this blog is really about:
My Theme was Snowflakes, Red, Silver and White.  For the dessert table I made a Red velvet with creamcheese frosting and cupcakes.  I garnished them with little snowflakes I made out of Gumpaste. I also place Carmel and figs in the little shot glasses. I made eggnogg flavored cake balls covered in white chocolate Vanilla cookies in the shape of snowflakes and my famous Coconut flan.

Gerbera Daisy Cake and Dessert Table

My first born turned 21 and she wanted a party.  We debated as to what kind of a party it would be and we decided on a small, close friends and family party. It's funny,  the family was missing in action, the only family I can really excuse is my family that live in the North East, but such is life, It's a matter of priorities. Hopefully we have instilled  our kids with a better concept of what family truly is. Anyway, We had some finger foods, an amazing DJ with a great mix of dance music and Ashley's request for a dessert table.  I created her invitations, The cake,  and all the goodies.  My baby girl had a blast and made me melt when she told me she was blessed to have a mom like me. Party  colors were: Pink and Orange

The Dessert Table with all the goodies

The Cake that we designed with flowers my daughter, Ashley and I made out of gumpaste. I love how this cake turned out! Flavor was Orange-Coconut. 

A closer look at the details

People actually thought the flowers were real, yey!

Yummy Orange and Strawberry gummy wedges

Grand Manier cupcakes with strawberry & Citrus frosting! To die for

Marshmallows Dipped in white chocolate dipped in sugar crystals

Brownie Pops covered in tinted white chocolate

Strawberry and Orange Vanilla cookies

These had to be present - Chocolate Covered Oreos

The Invitation

The Royal Family

Valentine's cake

For Valentine's this year, I had to bring out two smaller tables to be able to hold all of the cakes, mini cakes, cupcakes and cookies I made.  My house was literally a mad house!  I truly enjoyed every minute of it, though. The work was simple.  People mainly wanted hearts and the color red and white, although I suggested others. I am not posting everything, only the what I have not posted. 

 

Of this I made several versions (just the cake, just the cupcakes and both)

  

Better view of the top of the cake

Hearts separated by edible pearls with a heart of pearls within a heart 

These mini cakes with a bear were a hit!!!

I really don't know how many I made!

Red and Blue Dessert Table - Valentine's

A blue and red small dessert table for my Valentine's dinner party made my guests really happy. It had an assortment of sweets to please everyone.

 For the table I put on a white tablecloth and draped it with a blue sheer overlay

The centerpiece of the dessert table was a yummy almond flavored square cake decorated in blue and a red bow

Vanilla cupcakes with a red MMf heart on top

 Hershey's Chocolate bars that I covered with matching blue and red paper and added a tag

Delicious figs and dulce de leche

and

Chocolate covered Oreos

Chocolate Covered strawberries

Fun red gummies and candies

Valentine's Pink and White Hearts Cookie bouquet

These are great to give to a friend or your sweetheart for Valentine's.  These are three sizes of cookie hearts decorated in pink and white and placed in a pretty cup that the recipient can keep and use over and over and remember the special person that gave them this gift.

Valentine's Bear Mini-Cake and Cupcakes

This is a mini cake with a cute bear on top.  I made the bear out of MMF that I stiffened a little with tylose.  I used a stamp for the words.  The cupcakes are vanilla decorated with MMF and painted with food color and gold dragees.

 

 

Valentine's Hearts and pearls

This cookie on a stick is 5 inches and looks great by itself, but if made smaller, more cookies could be added to this bouquet.  I did a quilt effect and where the lines crossed I added pearlized dragees.

The smaller cookies are decorated with MMF and swirls were made with a fine brush with black food coloring.  two different flowers were added and some pearlized dragees.

Red Roses and black swirls Valentine's

I love this combination of colors.  Last year I used these colors and theme for my Valentine's dinner party. 
Cookies are 3 inch letters covered in white MMF and then painted with black food coloring and a fine paint brush.  Roses are made of MMF.  The cupcake is also made the same way.

 

Heart of Roses Valentine's cake

A client wanted me to make a smaller version of a 3 tiered cake for her Valentine's Day party. I suggested  a color scheme I selected which I'm using for my Valentine's dinner party this year ( So excited, I'll post pictures).  She wanted to see if they looked as nice as I said.  I happen to think that baby blue and red look very sophisticated paired up.  Especially the very pale blue and candy apple red. She loved it! I'm Happy for that!  Flavor: Gran Manier with orange zest buttercream, topped with Marshmallow Fondant! Cute! This same type of cake can be done in any combination of colors!  The sky is the limit!

Christmas Tablescape

This year I decided to have a whimsical Christmas with bright colors and crazy graphics, but still traditional and elegant.  Well, one of my favorite craft stores had these little boxes with polka dots and that was my inspiration.  I already had the lime green tablecloths, so the rest was easy.

 Lime green tablecloths with a runner I made from a roll of gift wrap paper that matched with everything and it only cost $1

 

 I have these beautiful red serving chargers and ruby red goblets that worked well.

 

 For the centerpieces I used these cute tin buckets I found at Micheal's (some had polka dots and others had stripes) and made some poms out of tissue paper and to add some whimsy, I glued some ribbon and added an ornament in the middle!  Lovely!

 

I made them in white tissue paper and in green

 

 For name tags I used white cardstock and glued sticker to the edges (yes, a lot of work) and used tiny green and red ornaments to hold the card! 

 

 My inpiration for all of this... the favor box!!! I put two Ferrero Roche Chocolate inside for each guest

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My husband read a passage from the Bible that talks about Jesus, the reason for the season and prayed thanking God for  EVERYTHING, including our family and friends!

OH Christmas Tree Cake

This was the centerpiece of my dessert table.  Fresh strawberries and nutella filling layered between a moist delicious vanilla cake. ...to die for!  The tree is made of royal icing on an icecream cone and the gifts are made of fondant!  I sprinkled some edible glitter to make it look like snow.

Christmas Dessert Buffet

Goodies I made for Christmas Eve dinner.  We had such a great time getting everything ready for that night.  I thank God for giving me the opportunity to make pretty yummy things for my family.  They are my inspiration.  My girls helped me set-up this dessert table.  Everyone enjoyed these desserts after dinner.