Castle and Princesses Birthday Cake

Here is another Disney Princess-themed birthday cake (kindly ignore the background?!?)

And in case anyone is wondering... we rarely, if ever, use fondant...

Disney Princess and Castle Cake

Last year, the little girl made her birthday wishes known... castle and Disney princess...

I was stumped about the castle bit, until a dear friend pointed me in the direction of a cut-out castle (and I was all prepared to do it too!).  Then a "guardian angel" gave a real (toy) Disney castle ("playhouse") last Christmas and so... all I had to do was plop the whole thing on top of cake and decoratively arrange the princess figurines!

Presenting... B's 5th birthday cake!

The kids in school were so enamored by the cake!

Anyway, here are the cupcakes, which the little girl said should be Disney princess too, and pink...

And, of course, since it wasn't appropriate for boys to have princess cupcakes... so they got Mickey Mouse instead...

I was the star that day... because I made her wish come true!

Mickey Mouse-themed Cake

For the first time, a request for a cake and cupcake "package" was asked of me... specifically with a Mickey Mouse theme!

I thought about it for a long time!

The "easiest" would be if I found figurines or cake toppers to plop onto the cake but I couldn't find any (in our part of the world the marketplace is limited!).  In my desperation, we even asked a friend abroad if he could find some for us (but he wasn't able to find any too...)

At the last minute (and I do mean just the day before the party!) I was meeting someone in a relatively small mall and while waiting I strolled around... and found a small Mickey Mouse stuffed toy!  Of course I checked its legitimacy and yes!  It was the genuine article... and it was on sale!!!  I bought it!

The concept came together after that.  Cupcakes with Mickey (and friends) candy and logo pick toppers for the bottom and middle layers and a top layer of cake with Mickey Mouse, a spray of flowers at his back, and candles that read "Happy Birthday".  The sides of the cake decorated with mickey logo candies...

The cake was beautiful!!!  but I have to say that the artistry is by hubby - I had the general concept in mind but execution was his - like I said, I have little (very little!) artistic talent.

A close up of the cake with the "happy birthday" candles lit.

It was yummy!!!  I am proud to say that my standard chocolate cake is always good but the bittersweet buttercream (a new recipe for me) was so yummy that hubby could not resist!  He said he would only taste a bit and he ended up finishing the "test" run!

Happy Birthday!

Now someone is asking about a Minnie Mouse-themed cake!!!

special mocha chiffon cake

For a dear friend's birthday...

Everyone was raving about it!!!  One of the guests even said that it was better than the "famous" one...

Woohoo!!!

Black Chocolate Cupcakes with (the BEST) Strawberry Buttercream

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful fairy princess (read as:  beloved daughter) who asked her equally beautiful mommy (read as: all powerful queen... of the household) for a pink flower cake (chocolate, of course!) and Tinkerbell.

Now, the mommy had a bit of a problem with this request because she didn't want to put artificial coloring in the cake so how could it be pink?

Then one day, while the fairy princess and her mommy were taking a stroll around the marketplace, they chanced upon... strawberries... red, plump, fragrant strawberries!  Did I mention that the strawberries were bright RED?

DING! went a bell in mommy's head!  A strawberry infused icing would be, at the very least, pale pink... PINK!!!

And so, they went to work to make the sought-after pink flower cake.  Of course, the fairy princess had to have cupcakes to give to her friends, so the (beautiful and all powerful) queen made some cupcakes too...

And, the cupcakes had to follow the same theme of chocolate and pink flowers...

See the lovely pink flower on top of the cupcake?  See the lovely dots of strawberry bits?

See the rest of the cupcakes all lined up in their pink glory?

The fairy princess was very happy.  And proud!

What about her mommy, the queen?  Well, her heart soared as she heard the fairy princess whisper:  "Thank you Mommy!"

The End.

Birthday Cakes

As of a year ago, we decided to give home baked birthday cakes to our friends.  By far the most requested is the Ube Chiffon Cake (which I am seriously thinking of renaming as Ube Velvet), followed closely by Mocha Chiffon Cake (we are open to suggestions for a name that has a bit more impact and appeal...)

In the past year, we've had requests for these:

60th birthday:

mini mocha cake:

50th birthday:

and, just another birthday...

Other designs are possible, as are other flavors for the chiffon cake - orange, lemon, lime (or dayap) chocolate, walnut, cheese, and even durian!

Our favorite, though, will always be mocha!