birthday cake

Hello Kitty and Her Little Cake

Posted on February 5, 2012 by Erica OBrien in 1st birthday, birthday cake, Featured, first birthday, wedding cakes connecticut, wedding cakes ct, wedding cakes new york, wedding cakes ny | 2 Comments

My baby turned three last week. Three! It took her a long time to decide on the design for her birthday cake. At first she wanted Strega Nona, one of her favorite books, but that was a while ago. As her birthday came closer, she vacillated between Hello Kitty and Strawberry Shortcake (with some random other cakes like owls, Dora the Explorer, and monkeys thrown in the mix) until she finally settled on Hello Kitty. The flavors were an easy decision: vanilla with raspberry. (But not for preschool. For preschool she wanted banana cupcakes with blueberry buttercream.)

I cut a chevron template out of paper (I’ll be doing a DIY on this soon) and used it to cut the pink fondant chevron I appliqued to the bottom tier. For the plaque on the top tier, I cut a pink round out of fondant and hand-cut the lettering and number. Hello Kitty was made of gumpaste, except for her clothes which were fondant. And for Hello Kitty’s mini cake I molded gumpaste by pressing it into two well-cornstarched round cutters and allowing it to dry overnight.

Happy Birthday Mia. I love you so much.

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Happy Birthday Wedding Chicks!

Posted on March 21, 2011 by Erica OBrien in birthday cake, peach cake, pink cake, wedding cake long beach, wedding cake los angeles, wedding cake orange county | 2 Comments

If there is such a thing as Karma, I like to think that in my next life, I will be rewarded for all my good deeds by being reborn as Amy Squires, the tall, blond, supermodel-thin founder of The Wedding Chicks. Amy is also honest, open, and very down-to-earth. For someone who is seriously gorgeous, she doesn’t take herself too seriously at all.

The Chicks turned three this year, and they asked me to make their birthday cake. Somehow, thanks to Amy, I didn’t feel pressured at all. Here’s the photo. Happy Birthday Chicks!

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Noelle’s 8th Jewelry Birthday

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Erica OBrien in birthday cake, birthday cake long beach, birthday cupcakes, childrens party cake, jewelry themed party, kids party cake, wedding cake long beach | 2 Comments

My daughter Noelle is the girliest of girls (her ancient-Egyptian themed party of 2009 being a fluke), and for her 8th birthday she wanted a jewelry-themed party. Colors? Pink and purple, of course. Her birthday is in December, so the stores were selling lots of Christmas decorations which doubled easily as jewelry. We decorated the door with ribbon and some Christmas ornaments…I mean earrings.

I decorated the table and backdrop using more jewelry, like the pearl garland (I mean necklace) on the front of the table which I picked up at the 99 Cents Store in the Christmas section. I also filled jewelry boxes with candy bracelets and necklaces, and purchased some pink and purple votive holders.

I’ve been experimenting with sugar recently with moderate success, and I made some edible sugar gems for the cupcake toppers which were made out of fondant and outlined with fondant beading that I made using a small bead mold.

The cake was white fondant with bows outlined with fondant beading.

When we were kids growing up in Queens, NY, my mom always made treasure hunts for our birthday parties in the park across the street. (Remind me to tell you about the time Alan Schlanger, the neighborhood bully, looted the treasure box.) We always loved the treasure hunts, and now I make one for almost every party. I typed out the clues and hid them all over the house and yard.
Instead of giving out goody bags, I made a bag for each guest and put them in the treasure box.

The kids always take the rules very seriously.

It’s fun watching them run around finding the clues.

Of course finding the treasure is the best part.

No party of mine is complete without some crafts, so I bought a bunch of jewelry boxes and had the kids decorate them with stickers and craft paint (fun but messy), and bought a variety of beads for making necklaces and bracelets.

Some questions you might have are:

1. Who took those incredible photographs?
and
2. Was the party a lot of work?
The answers are:
1. The incredible photographs were taken by Shannon Lee of Shannon Lee Images. I am eternally grateful to her.
2. Yes, I worked my ass off, but it was worth it.

 

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Much Ado About Bunting

Posted on December 9, 2010 by Erica OBrien in birthday cake, birthday cake long beach, cake bunting, fiesta cake, for the baker, for the bride, papel picado, unique wedding cakes, vintage wedding cakes, wedding cake, wedding cake long beach, wedding cake los angeles | 3 Comments

I’ve been going a little (okay, a lot) crazy with cake bunting lately. I first saw it on Etsy, when Charla, my friend and colleague, requested it for her daughter Brooklyn’s second birthday party cake. It seems that now there’s been a proliferation of cake bunting on Etsy, but this artist remains my favorite. This one is particularly cute:

I also stumbled across this fiesta bunting one day on Eat Drink Pretty.

Anyway, when I saw that cake bunting I loved it–loved it!–and decided to make my own. The only difference is that I make mine out of fondant. I use two lollipop sticks and tie the ribbon to each. Fondant does not like to stick to ribbon, so now when I make cake bunting I actually back each fondant piece with a smaller piece of fondant, wet them both with water or egg white so they adhere, and sandwich the ribbon in between. Here are some of my recent cakes with fondant bunting.

For a baby shower:

50th Birthday with Fiesta Theme:

Second Birthday Party:

Halloween:

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Mia’s First Birthday Cake

Posted on February 25, 2010 by Erica OBrien in 1st birthday, birthday cake, cake design, first birthday, fondant, for the baker, tips + tools | 4 Comments

This is Mia. She turned one on February 2nd, 2010.

This is Mia’s room.

This is Mia in her room. Well, actually, this is Mia in the dresser that’s in her room after she decided to take out all of her pajamas and climb in the drawer. (Photo of her falling out of the drawer and hysterical crying not included.)

This is Mia’s name hanging on the wall of her room.

This is the birthday cake that was inspired by Mia’s room.
And this is Mia about to eat the fondant topper from the birthday cake that was inspired by her room.

Now, for the bakers out there, here are some tips, tools, and tricks of the trade:

1. For easy, even fondant stripes, use a ribbon cutter. Also, use fondant that is on the drier side. If your fondant is too stretchy, knead some cornstarch or Tylose Powder into it. Allow the stripes to dry ever so slightly before applying.
2. For perfect lettering, try FMM Tappits. Just be sure to roll your fondant or gumpaste extra thin. Again, slightly drier fondant is best.
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