We are almost to the end of the year people!

Mario has made a resurgence in 2023.  A LOT of my cakes went simpler with buttercream sides.  And we still have people who forget that colleges can have graduations in December.  Ha.

Winter grad babies hold a special place in my heart since my husband and I both graduated in December.

One more cake to go after Christmas and we can call this year a wrap!

It's been a little bit and I can explain.  I cheated on cakes a little...with gingerbread.  My neighbor (and gingerbread pro) asked me to team up with her this year for the National Gingerbread Competition that takes place every November in Asheville NC.  The beautiful Grove Park Inn hosts the competition and it is simply a magical time.  

I went with Grier last year as her personal support person and enjoyed the perks of her 2nd place win from the year before.  She didn't place last year and wanted to get back on top.  

Now that the competition is over, I can safely say we made the top 10.  We didn't place in the top 3 that get to claim the prize money.  But as my first ever national competition, I am beyond thrilled to make the place we did.  The other top 10 entries were incredible and I am so happy for everyone that was up at the table with us.  

I will have more pics to come and may even make a "gingerbread" tab to show progress photos.  But until then, here is a photo from registration to enjoy.  

Nevermind.  That was just Hurricane Idalia clipping the area with it's rain and low humidity drop.  

But in other good news, we had a new macaron store come into downtown Cary called Mon Macaron and it's magical.  I grabbed rose, cherry almond, vanilla and wedding cake macarons for this sweet anniversary cake.  

And it's not every day that you get to make a Titanic themed cake for a 9 year old.  

Please!  It is so hot out there!!
And it makes me nervous just getting into the car with a cake.  I can not WAIT till it starts to cool off here.  

This Eevee cake was a cool design idea from the dad of the birthday boy.  They wanted the original Pokémon as a topper and all of the evolutions represented around the cake.

What happens when the birthday girl asks for her favorite things?  You get dancing otters on the beach of course. 

We were also introduced to a new (to us) Pokémon this week.  Meet Sprigatito!  

Oh to be 5 years old again and have a vivid imagination.  I was asked to make a unicorn astronaut cake and to make sure I included her favorite color of purple.
Mission accomplished.

Every time I look at this cake, I can't help but hear Jack Black's voice in my head.  He he. Big brother got the Pikachu (with attitude) cake a few months ago so we knew what direction to take this cake in as well!  

Now excuse me while I...
"A thousand troops of Koopas couldn't keep me from you" Ooohhhh...

These last few weeks have been a blur!!  School is officially out, camp has started, smoke in the air in the morning and torrential down pours of rain in the afternoon.  It's been a blur of a summer start this year.  And I think because of that, I have been in a little bit of a social media rut. I haven't been taking the best photos of my cakes or even worrying about capturing them at all.  But I have stayed busy nonetheless. 

I've painted a lot, stressed over tiered cake deliveries, and sliced everything at family celebrations because they are too scared to cut my cakes.  

I got tasked with a cake and told to have fun.  We wanted to keep a watercolor feel to the cake but incorporate the flowers from a couple's wedding invitation years ago.  The cards are no longer available for purchase so we decided to try a different route.  I started with my Canva Pro subscription and tried to recreate the invite myself.

Next, I printed the black and white image out with my edible ink printer onto rice paper.  I rolled out a thin layer of white fondant to attach the image before I started painting.  I used my trusty vodka and Americolor food color combination and set out.

And we were both THRILLED with the final result!

What do you get when a 5 year old asks for a rainbow dinosaur cake??

The answer is the cutest ruffled cake I have ever done!  
I have been steadily busy the last few weeks and June is going to be no different with birthdays, graduations, and baby showers to boot!

Pikachu cakes come in all shapes and sizes even if the little yellow guy stays the same.  I decided to give the hand painted Pikachu a little attitude on this cake instead of the stereotypical pose of him sitting down.  I'm happy to say it was 6 year old approved.