Hello Summer Fun!!!!

This was the last cake I made as part of a Bat-Mitzvah project. During the past year, I visited an after-school program each month to spend time with elementary school kids who had no place to go after school. I would play games and spend time with them. At each visit I brought a cake to share. Sometimes it was for birthdays and this time since it was the end of the school year I made a farewell cake and wished them a great summer.

500 CAKE RECIPES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the weekend of May 29, a 3-day long book expo came to New York City, it was called Book Expo America. At the Book Expo there were many different types of cooking and baking books. I was able to get my hands on a couple: 500 Cakes By Susannah Blake and 500 Cupcakes By Fergal Connolly. The recipes in both the books are so simple and clear. They have a beautiful picture of the cake or cupcake on the page to the right of the recipe and the desserts just look and taste incredible. My favorite part is that with almost every recipe comes a delicious variation with flavors you wouldn't even think of using in a cupcake. My favorite cake is the pound cake because it is so fluffy and has a great taste and texture. My favorite cupcake is the little caramel cupcakes because the caramel is so gooey and you can really taste the coffee.

Talk to the "Lamed"

This cake is made to look like the Hebrew letter lamed. It is a devils food cake frosted in vanilla butter cream. I decorated it with polka dots and wrote congratulations Mollie on it. The cake was made for a graduation party.

 

Peaceful, Smiling, Balloons

Here's another one of those cakes that I made for the after-school group where I volunteer every month. There were no birthdays so I decorated it with things that everyone likes, a peace sign, smiley face and balloon.

I Met Rachel Ray at the Food Network!!!

Today my friend Jen took me to the Food Network and I got to meet Rachel Ray. It was soooo cool!!! Here's a picture of me in Rachel Ray's kitchen and she even autographed her Big Orange Cookbook that Jen bought me. "Gillian S'up? Bake On! XOX Rachel Ray". She was so nice and spent a lot of time talking to me. I gave her my business card. I wonder if she'll check out this site. She asked me to post on her blog. What a FANTASIC day!! Thanks Jen!

Nic Loves Strawberries

This cake is a vanilla cake with a hint of lemon flavor. It has two layers filled wth a light and airy strawberry cream filling with a bunch of fresh strawberries. It was frosted with a homemade whipped cream and fresh halved strawberries on top!!!

Stephanie Lights Up The Room

Stephanie's mom works with my dad and she wanted a cake to celebrate Steph's 26th birthday. Since Stephanie is studying to be a electrician it seemed like a "bright" idea to design her cake like an electric light bulb

A Special Cake for a Special Award

You probably can't tell but trust me this is exactly what the award logo looks like. The company does promotional advertising and the owner (I know her personally) wanted a cake to celebrate the award with her employees.

Xavier's Super Cake

This was another one of the cake I made for the after-school program I visited as part of my Bat-Mitzvah project. Xavier has a birthday this month so I made the cake to celebrate. He loves "Superman" so I added the Superman shield to his cakes

I Designed This Cake!!!!!!

This was my Bat-Mitzvah cake. I really wanted to bake it myself but with everything going on I just couldn't. So.........the next best thing was to help with the design. Since the party was in February the cake is covered in snowflakes. The colors matched my invitation and I love the way they draped the lime green on the middle blue layer. Maybe they'll let me bake the cake for my sister's Bat-Mitzvah......we'll see.

Fly Away!!

 

This is one of the cakes I made for the after-school program I have been visiting as part of my Bat-Mitzvah mitzvah project. There were too many birthdays this month to add everyone's so I simply added a bunch of different colored balloons. No worries they ate it anyway!!!!

These are Really Cupcakes!!!!

I wanted to try something different. It's not a fancy design but even though it looks like a cake, it's really a bunch of cupcakes that I iced to look like one. I think I'm going to do this more often since kids love cupcakes and its easier than having to cut slices. This way you can pull it apart and each person gets their own cupcake.

Clowns and Polka-Dots!

I decorated this cake with multicolored clowns and polka dots. This cake was for a birthday party with a lot of children. It is a rectangular sheet cake made of choclate and vanilla... I used bright colors because they were fun colors!!!

 

"Max"imum Birthday

This is a chocolate with butter cream frosting on the outside and was made for a boy who was turning 15. His favorite hockey team is the New York Rangers so I incorporated their colors Red, White and Blue. GO RANGERS!!!!

Great Skate Cake

This cake was ice cool. It was an ice skate for a skating coach! Chocolate cake covered in white butter cream frosting and the laces were blue liquorice. The blade was tinted gold with a little bit of shimmer dust. It was an awesome cake

Sailin' with Irini

This was a chocolate sailboat named Irini.
On top of the sail I put a directional and on the base I put a life preserver. They were both made out of fondant. The date on the corner of the right sail is the boat owners actual birthday. On the smaller sail I put a strip of sprinkles for decoration.

Mom's the BEST!!!

This was a chocolate cake frosted in bright orange butter cream and decorated it with pink butter cream. This cake was shaped like a heart and had abstract shapes on the sides. On the top I out lined the heart and wrote "Happy Birthday Mommy" for my mom's birthday.

Lights, Camera, Party!!!

This cake was a sure movie starter. It was a chocolate clapperboard! This cake was for a ten year old's birthday who loves to act. The gold glitter was Pearl dust and I used sugar letters so it would look more realistic.

The "Flash"

Alexander is my little cousin who loves his "Superheroes", Spiderman, Batman and the Flash. He asked me to make him this "Flash" cake for his fifth birthday today. The cake was chocolate because that's his favorite.

It was a "Super" Birthday!!

This "Superman" cake was for a great kid who adores his superheroes and wanted specifically requested sprinkles on his cake. The "Superman" logo is very popular and I've made it for boys and girls in lots of different colors. Scroll down a bit and you can see it in pink and purple for a girl name "Sydney" (so the "S" logo was perfect for her and she's also a super kid)

By the way that's a picture of me below in my working space.