Becoming an Aunt was probably the most extraordinary experience of my life - all three times.  Seeing a friend get to have that same experience is almost as good as going through it yourself.  When my friend Olga became an Aunt, everyone was thrilled for her.  Now, little Valentina is 5 years old and for her birthday, her Tia (Auntie) wanted a special cake.  And even though Olga had to go out of the country to attend to an ill family member, she still made sure her nice felt very special on her birthday.  Aunts are amazing people...

One of the side perks of this job is getting to see how my customer's lives change and their families grow over the years.  When I met Manuela (and her Mom), she was just a kid.  Now she's grown into a young lady.  I was very glad that she was able to accompany her Mother to pick up the cake - to spite a newly broken foot!  It was nice to see how she's grown and changed, and of course the smile on her face when she saw the cake. 

I always get excited when I see an email from Beth in my in-box.  Some of my favourite projects have been for Beth, like the Palm Bay cans, the crawling out the grave cake and her daughter's 10th birthday cupcakes.  This time she wanted another belly cake for a baby shower, pretty much exactly like the last one.

One of the nicest surprises in this job is meeting a new client through a referral.  It's always heartwarming to hear that people that I've made cakes for in the past, even though we may not be in contact, are still pointing their friends in my direction.  It's nice to know old friends still think of you.  This cake was made for a new client's grandmother, who liked to quilt and knit (the gumpaste knitting needs were still drying at the time of this picture).  I just love the colours!  I really wish I could have seen Wand's face when she saw her cake.

I had a big wedding coming up... I mean a *BIG* wedding, but more on that later.  I usually book the week before a wedding off from other projects so that I can get all my planning, shopping and organizing done.  However, when I saw an email from my bride asking me to make the cake & cupcakes for her bridal shower/traditional Greek bedding ceremony, I couldn't say no!  She said that everyone enjoyed the engagement cake I made for them so much, that she would really love for me to make the cake for her bridal shower.  She sent me a picture of a yellow cake with colourful flowers (below) and asked for cupcakes to go with it.

Here's my version, with the pretty cupcakes to go with it.  The cake is vanilla with a raspberry buttercream filling and the cupcakes are devil's food chocolate with French vanilla buttercream.  And for anyone else who was wondering...

"The Wednesday before the wedding is the day the bride invites her relatives to get the dowry ready. For those of you who do not know about dowries, basically they are made up of the linen for the new couple’s home, which the bride’s mother has collected over the years, while waiting for her daughter to marry. The bride’s sisters, friends and cousins separate the linen and tie it up in small parcels with colourful ribbons and again people arrive to gaze upon the beautiful bedding, the handmade tablecloths, the colourful towels, the expensive carpets that are all set up in one room for all to see."

When my friend asked me to make the bithday cake for his wife, he really didn't give me much to go on.  When I asked him what she liked, Sephora (which is a high end make-up store) was first on the list.  A week before the cake was due, I put on my research hat and headed off to the store to check it out.  While looking around and noicing the details on the make up, I couldn't help but notice the prices!  I graciously refused any offers of help from the sales girls and booted it out of there once all my info was gathered.  The cake itself is just a simple vanilla cake, with vanilla buttercream - the birthday girl's favourite!  The best part of the night was watching Sandra slow eat the black sign (like a little beaver knawning on a wooden block) and watching her teeth turn black from the inside out!  She loved it.

I really need to team up with a good photographer.... the pictures really don't do this cake justice.  The cake itself is a vanilla sponge with a toasted coconut buttercream filling.  Since I really don't like the taste of coconut, I can't say how yummy the icing turned out, but I'm sure it was enjoyed.  The cake is covered in fondant and hand piped, carved and painted decorations.  This cake took a lot more time than I expected, but it was worth it!

One of this week's projects was a wedding shower for a brand new client.  The order started off as two dozen wedding dress cookies cookies, in various colours.  This then turned into the cookies plus two dozen buttercream cupcakes.  Awesome!  Then, when I called to confirm the order a few days before the event, Julia decided she wanted a cake as well!  I thanked her and quickly got to work.  The cookies are my famous buttery sugar cookies, which were wrapped in clear bags and tied with peach ribbon.  The vanilla cake is layered with Belgian chocolate buttercream.  The cupcakes, while super cute and ultra yummy, didn't make it to the picture gallery this week.  Maybe next week cupcakes, maybe next week.