It's almost time for the kids to head back to school!!  And I am purposely slowing myself down.  I have two more CRAZY weekends in September and the rest of my year is just 2-3 cakes a week.  

These past two weeks have seen Peter Rabbit, Jurassic Park, fidget toys, and even a Christmas nutcracker in AUGUST!

My favorite thing in the whole wide world is delivering buttercream cakes when the heat index is over 100.  NOT!  I can not wait till fall weather is here.  Let me count.  I only have...ugh.  That's too long.  

In the meantime, I got to do a really simple octopus cake for a smash photo session.  And below, and I can't believe it has taken this long, I got to try a fault line cake for the first time ever.  I am really happy with how it turned out.  

We LOVE Bob's Burgers over here in this house.  So when I got a request for a burger cake I was thrilled!  The bday girl lights up whenever Louise is on screen and I don't blame her one bit.

I made sure to add one of her favorite foods to the burger and completed a mini "Burger of the day" placard to boot.  Throw in Louise's beloved kuchi kope doll and we were all set!

Oh...that's right.  Every one of us in the house finally caught COVID and it was exhausting.  Throw in a black belt test, school testing, a moving up ceremony because one pixie is out of elementary school...and we are still exhausted.  

I have had to take it a little slower on cakes but I have still gotten some really cool ones out the door.  

Now that I think about it, Godzilla and fighter jets go together right?

And I'm getting better and better with smoothing out my buttercream like on this strawberry cake and mermaid cake below.

I've had Dory in my head all month as I am tackling the spring busy season.  I have another 3 weeks and it should calm down on me again to enjoy the summer with the kids.  

I've met a new friend in the neighborhood and I have been working with her lately on getting edible images when needed like for the Spiderman and friends below.  Bday boy really likes Miles the best so he was front and center in the pack.

This next cake is getting outfitted with PJ Masks toys from the bday boy's personal collection.  But he also LOVES space so we added some planets and cool macarons in as well.  The macarons came from one of our favorite bakeries in Cary at Asali

And one of my favorite families is expecting a little girl soon and I had the privilege of making the baby shower cake for lil bit. 

The next two cakes are for a set of twins that I have known for years at this point.  The very first year I baked for them they were turning 4.  And they loved Paw Patrol.  Since that cake, they have never agreed on the same thing again!!  We have done video games, Star Wars, a sinking Titanic...you name it.  This year was a hockey cake and a hamburger cake complete with shortbread cookie French fries.

I have lots to post so be sure to check out the gallery for some new stuff as well!! 
The cake below was MASSIVE!  That is a 19" by 14" board and it is FULL of details.   

Besides pirates and treasure, we also got to deliver the wedding cake that belonged to my son's teacher.  The sweet couple took down a tree on cleared property and it served as the platters for the cake and cupcakes!

We had to have another discussion that "football" can also mean "soccer" in the household again with this cake.

And last, but not least, a Cinderella cake fit for a princess

I know almost all the lyrics to that song now.  That's all.  That's how I spent my kids' winter break.  

The house is actually foam so the birthday girl can place it on her dresser or bookcase to keep for a while.  The grassy hill, complete with a flower bench, is made of chocolate cake with a rich chocolate buttercream for the neighborhood to share.  

I got to create a Harry Potter cake that was first done by Maria-Louise Cakes

But for the life of me I could not tell what was on the top parchment.  So I made my own Marauder's Map!  Quidditch hoops, a golden snitch, and a HufflePuff crest rounded out the decor.  And I got the bday girl's age on the prefect badge to boot!

It's almost Thanksgiving!  This year has FLOWN BY!  Don't you think?

I got to try another anti-gravity cake and I felt a lot more comfortable completing this idea than the ramen noodle cake at the beginning of the summer.  I grabbed the bday boy's fav beer at the moment and added in his love of Duke basketball to complete this cake.

I've been able to work on 2 space cakes recently and I kept the same rocket ship for both.  One cake just combined his love for dinos as well.

And this last cake just had everyone giggling in the house.  The mom was a new customer and explained that her twins shared absolutely nothing in common except for their love of pickles.  So that's what we went with.

Let's start unwinding a little bit before...and now I have a sick kiddo.  I did my happy dance too soon celebrating the end of another busy season.  The quick cold snap and heat turning on in NC left my oldest with congestion so nothing serious.  But I'm keeping him home to watch the Price is Right and sleep on the couch like I did when I was a kid.  

I got to deliver a massively heavy sheet cake decorated like a hockey rink and the couple's wedding date a few days ago.  And another sports cake was delivered this week.  The bottom half of the basketball is foam so there no chance of the cake falling apart.  

This last cake was nerve racking.  I watched a few videos to make sure I had the technique down and still had to improvise when it came time to decorate.  The honeycomb was done using bubble wrap and candy melts.   The family had a chocolate allergy but that could have also been used in place of candy melts.  

I measured the circumference of the cake and melted the candy.  But when I started spreading out the melted candy, it quickly started to set against the cold countertops in my house and started cracking as I wrapped the cake.   So I ran to get my travel hairdryer I keep in bathroom around the corner.  It helped melt the candy again so I could press and mold the bubble wrap around the vanilla cake.  I had a good laugh when I was done but I know better next time.