Monday, January 31, 2011

Birthday Cakes

 I made this cake for my nephew for his 2nd birthday. The cake is chocolate with banana buttercream frosting in between.
 This cake was for a friend of my sister's. It is chocolate mocha cake with mocha buttercream frosting.

 This cake I made for my sons 3rd birthday. It is simple chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. It was the first time I'd ever carved a cake.

 These TMNT cakes were made for my sons 4th birthday. Both basic Chocolate cake with Chocolate frosting and Vanilla Cake with Vanilla Frosting.

I made these circus cupcakes for my sons first birthday. I got them from the book 'Hello, Cupcake' by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson. 
There were Clowns.....








....Lions.....











.....Elephants....










....Puppies....











....and Monkeys, all the things you'd find at the circus, which was the theme of the party!

 This cake was the first time I had ever done a 2 tier specialty cake. It was for my nieces 4th birthday.
 I made these cupcakes for my nieces 6th birthday. They are vanilla with a Hershey's Kiss in the middle.










I made them with hot pink and purple icing and sugar sprinkles to make them sparkle a bit more!

















This is a Spongebob Squarepants cake I made for my cousins daughter.










This is the first 2 tier cake I did with fondant. It was for a friend of my sister.
Top tier: chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream filling
Bottom tier: vanilla cake with strawberry buttercream filling













This is the most recent cake I did for my nephews 4th birthday only a couple weeks ago. It was a mix of Ironman and Spiderman. The bottom tier is chocolate with chocolate frosting and the top is vanilla with vanilla frosting.

Just For Fun

These are a couple of things I bake in my spare time. Most of the time, I just get the urge to bake something and head into the kitchen. I never really plan out, I just hope I have everything I need, and if not, I improvise where I can!
Banana Loaf is on of the go-to's for me. It's easy to make and by keeping bananas in the freezer, they are always on hand when I need them!










I got this idea from a book I bought called 'What's New Cupcake' by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson. I love these books because for a beginner and a self teacher like myself, the cupcakes are easy to make but they look like they take hours!
I made these cupcakes once for a bake sale my sister was having a work and they were a huge hit. They are peanut butter cupcakes with Peanut Butter cups pressed into the centre.
 This is a chocolate peanut butter cupcake with chocolate and peanut butter chips. I found this recipe in a magazine and gave it a try. Peanut Butter and Chocolate is my favorite combo when baking!


Cookies are another of my go-to's. Usually after dinner I get the urge to bake cookies with the boys. At first it was only my oldest son Dominic and I who enjoyed baking, but lately my youngest son Alex has been helping out too!)
These are oatmeal chocolate chip cookies we made.






These are butter tarts I made from scratch. They too were a huge hit!

A Little About Me

My name is Talia, and I've been baking for as long as I can remember! Everything I do is self taught. Trial and error is the way I've learned everything. I started out just doing squares and cookies and simple cakes and cupcakes, and then a couple of years ago, I took a shine to specialty birthday cakes and cupcakes. It was the most fun I've ever had! To be able to do that full time, and actually make a living would be the best thing in the world! Maybe one day that will happen for me, or maybe I will just continue doing birthday parties and weddings for family and friends. In any case, this is what I love to do, and I will be doing it until I no longer have use of my hands (which, hopefully, is not going to be anytime soon!) I will be posting a lot of different things that I have made, cakes, cupcakes, cookies, etc. Some recipes I get from TV shows, others from books and the internet, and some I just think about when Im in bed! I hope you all enjoy! :)