Happy Birthday Jesus

Even though I'm supposed to be on bed rest, I couldn't miss out on our traditional "Happy Birthday Jesus Cake."  This year, it's a chocolate chip cookie cake!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Finnley Turns 1!

I had the privilege of making sweet Finnley's 1st birthday cake.  His parents are good friends of ours in our Sunday School class at church.  Finnley is a sweetheart and I was happy to make him a birthday cake.  Unfortunately, we had to miss the party due to our vacation we had planned since this summer.  
He had a Halloween Costume party and his mommy wanted something with black, white, and orange and kid friendly Halloween.

friendly ghosts decorate the top tier

I heard the party was a blast and that Finnley really enjoyed himself!

Halloween Birthday

October is a very popular month for "Halloween" themed birthday parties.  (for obvious reasons) But how fun to have a birthday party where everyone can dress up!  I made this cake for a little boy at my church.  It was such a fun design!  I hope he likes it!

I tried a "Halloween-ish" drippy font

Around the sides I did some spiders and spiderwebs

 and a spooky tree with birds on the other side.

Like I said, this one was a lot of fun!  Doesn't it just put you in the Halloween mood?  I have another Halloween birthday cake for a 1 yr old next weekend!  So, stay tuned!

Star Wars Legos

This past weekend I had the opportunity to make a cake for my nephew.  He was having a Star Wars Lego party, so I knew it would be a fun one.  His mom sent me a picture of one that he really liked and this is my version of that picture.  The birthday boy loved it!

The top tier is white cake and the bottom tier is chocolate.  The cake is covered in marshmallow fondant with sugar sheet accents.  the bordering legos are made of chocolate. :)  All edible except for the Darth Vadar candle!

Event Planning Site

I just wanted to let you all know about a site I just discovered.  A Party Studio features personalized party printables such as invitations, banners, water bottle labels, and much more.   She's a local gal from the Pensacola area.   She specializes in children's birthday parties and baby showers.  

Check out her ETSY SITE.

Or find A Party Studio on FACEBOOK.

A Party Studio is also on PINTEREST!

Or send an email to:  apartystudio@gmail.com

For your convenience, I put a link to her etsy site in my sidebar under "Baking Sites I like."  

Minnie B'day

I made this for a 3rd birthday party for little miss Anna.  She's having a Minnie Mouse themed party. Can't you tell?

Now, I made ears to go behind the bow, but instructed the client not to put them on until right before the party...just in case the crisco/butter made the fondant melt. 

You can imagine what it would look like with ears.  

This was a fun one!

Here's a picture the client sent me, so you can see the ears and the Minnie candle she added.

Welcome Baby Elyia Jane

Here's a post-baby arrival baby shower cake I made for a friend.  My instructions were to make it pink and girly.  So, I kept it simple:

Gender Reveal Cake

My official baking hiatus is over, much like my summer, but ah, what a summer!  We did lots of traveling and spent time with family.  But now, school is in session and we're back to our routines.  Those routines include baking!  I've got several cake orders coming up int he next couple of months, so stay tuned.

Most recently, I did a gender reveal cake...for MYSELF!  In case you haven't heard, we're expecting our second child due in February.  We found out the gender and invited all of our friends over for a big reveal party!

The cake was owl themed to match the invitations, which read:  "Someone is joining the Ladner family.  Can you guess Whoo?  Will it be pink or will it be blue?"  I made a vanilla bean cake and colored the batter to announce the gender.  I tried a new Swiss Buttercream recipe and it was scrumptious!  It was so "slick" and unlike any texture I'm used to that my handwriting was a little off.  Oh well...it was still delicious.

 Wanna know what color it was????

We're having a GIRL and we couldn't be happier.  If you'd like to see more pictures from the party, you can check them out on my personal blog!

Key Lime Pie Cupcakes

Well, even though I'm taking a little hiatus, that doesn't mean I've stopped baking altogether.   I recently made some key lime pie cupcakes per the request of my Mother-in-law.  She sent me the recipe to try and I must say, they were perfectly refreshing for the hot dog days of summer!

Cosmic Bowling Cake

My second cake this weekend was for an 8 year old who had her party at the bowling alley.  Her mom wanted a "cosmic bowling" themed cake.  I thought about black lights and that took me to "black icing" and neon colors.  This is the end result:

 I tried a new recipe for chocolate marshmallow fondant.  It was "ok" but I found it was a littler drier than my other recipes.  (It still tasted delicious.  I've been enjoying the left over fondant.)  I also tried a new powdered sugar this time.  I was very disappointed.  It wasn't as powder fine as it should have been.  I'll keep the brand nameless since there are lots of their products that I do enjoy.  However, it's best to stick with name brands.  The only off brand that I've found to be just as good is Walmart's Great Value.  (Just a little F.Y.I.)  
Anyway, my mom was in town for the weekend and asked if there was anything she could do to help.  I gave her some fondant and told her to put her playdoh skills to work.  So she gets credit for the bowling pins!  (Thanks Mom)

1st Birthday Smash Cake

With 2 cake orders, I had a busy weekend of baking.  I had to wait until after our VBS to get started, so it was a late night.  This customer wanted a 6 inch "smash cake" for her birthday boy!  The theme was Mickey Mouse.  She sent me a picture of a two tiered cake and asked me to combine the two.  This is what I came up with: 

 I was running out of black icing and had just enough to make the border.  I mean, I've never cut it that close before.  My grandmother was watching.  She and I both thought I'd never make it all the way around the cake, but alas, I did!  Whew!  It was a close one.

I was very happy with  how it turned out and I think Brantley was pleased too!

Do You Like The New Look?

Well, you've probably noticed that things look a little different around here!  Thanks to Bobbi, at Ready to Blog, Sissy's Sweets has a new face.  I think she did a fabulous job and if you're looking to revamp your blog, you should check her out!  She also did a friends blog.  Check out Veggie Table to see more of her work! (and to try some of Brookly's recipes!)


Oh and stay tuned for blog updates because I have two cake orders this weekend!

Exciting things are happening....

The blog is getting a professional makeover!  Stay tuned for a new and improved Sissy's Sweets site! (I can't wait for you to see it!)

Happy Memorial Day

Tee Ball Cake

I made this congratulatory cake for my son's tee ball team to celebrate the end of the season.

I tried to make the Rams logo look like their team shirts.  It looked pretty awesome until the cake box smooshed it in the car.  Oh well, the kids liked it.

They especially liked their names on the baseballs.

Scroll-y Pops

I had a client order some pink cake pops.  She said drizzling some chocolate over the tops would be plenty of decoration.  It didn't need to be anything fancy.  But as I started making them, I couldn't help but jazz them up a little more.  I need some practice with my scrollwork, so I melted some dove dark chocolate and went to work.  I still need to work on steadying my hand, but you know what they say, "Practice makes perfect."

 Overall, I think they turned out well. 

The flavors:  vanilla cake with plain buttercream.

Mousse-filled Strawberries

I was fortunate enough to have my Mother and Grandmother spend the whole week before Mother's Day with me.  I always love it when they come to town, but especially on holidays.  One night after Mom cooked dinner, we had a healthy chocolate treat.  Mom found some of the largest strawberries I have ever seen, so I decided to stuff them with chocolate mousse!

It was a nice, light and refreshing dessert!  Especially after all of the cupcakes we had eaten a few days before!  hehe

Hollywood Movie Party

This weekend I made a "Hollywood" cake for a client.  She emailed me a picture of what she wanted, which makes it much easier for me.  :)  I really LOVE how this one turned out and it was so fun to make!

Pirate Birthday

Today, I made a pirate birthday cake for my friend's son, Logan.  The inspiration came from a two tier cake that she found online, but since she only needed a one tier, I tried my best to combine them.  The result was too cute!  She provided all the decor for the topper.

 X marks the spot!

Happy Birthday Natalie

I had the privilege of making my friend's daughter's birthday cake.  She gave me a lot of freedom to do whatever I wanted.  (which was scary)  lol  But she did tell me that she wanted a two tier yellow cake with white flowers.  This is what I came up with.  (Forgive the photo.  My SLR was having a malfunction and I had to take this one with my cell phone.)  

 Top view

Winging Cakes

What a busy baking week!  (Or two weeks rather)  But that's a good thing!  
I was asked to make two full sheet cakes for the winging ceremony at Whiting Field.  (For you non-military readers, this is basically the graduation ceremony from flight school.  They get their "wings" and are turned out into the fleet.)  So, this was an honor!   The client decided what to say on the cakes and that one needed to have wings on it and the other would consist of the different squadron patches.  So I got to work.  
I started with the squadron patches because I knew they would take a couple of days to fully dry.  I piped these bad boys with royal icing.  (Talk about time consuming!)  But I think they turned out rather well!  - Don't worry, I went back and dotted the "i" in helicopter!
Confession:  My blue buttercream was "almost"too thick, which made the writing a little difficult.  Not to mention that I hate to see my own handwriting on a cake.  Anyone else have that problem?  

For the wing cake, I ended up going with an edible image of the Naval Aviator wings and the Saudi-Arabian wings.  (We had a foreign nation student at this winging ceremony)

 These cakes were so huge, that if they had been any bigger, they might not have fit in the car!  The cakes themselves were 18x24 inches and the boards were made of plywood 22x28 inches.  They probably weighed 50 lbs. each!  

The cakes were a huge success and I heard some rave reviews.  And like I said earlier, I was honored to do these cakes.  Good luck to all the "wingers."  I hope you all have a very successful career!

Birdie Birthday

I did a baby's first birthday cake for the owner of Tiny Dancer Designs.  (Check her out on facebook.  She makes the cutest tutus!)  They had a bird theme, so this is what we came up with. 

 She also requested a dozen "robin's egg" cake pops to go along with the order.  I thought they turned out really well!

Easter Cupcakes

When my son has a party at school, I try to make some kind of cute cupcake that I think the kids will enjoy.  Well, this time I went a little crazy!  I saw these cute cupcakes in the book "What's New Cupcake" and thought I'd give them a try.  

I started out with great intentions of a step by step "how to", but I got a little distracted.  (oops)  First, I started out with plain 'ole plastic easter eggs. *You have to use the ones that don't have little holes in them.*

Wipe the insides with a little vegetable oil and coat the inside with melted chocolate. (I used candy melts)

Place the coated eggs face down on a cookie sheet and chill in the fridge for about 5 minutes.  Now for the hard part....getting them OUT of the eggs without breaking.  (This is probably where I became to frustrated preoccupied to continue with my "how to" photos.  Anyway, CAREFULLY remove the chocolate from the molds.  I found it worked best when I used my tiny paring knife from Pampered Chef to help separate the chocolate from the mold.  Granted, I made a HUGE mess and broke a ton  a couple before I got the hang of it.   
Once I got them out, I filled them with jelly beans and sealed them shut with some icing.  I covered the mess of a seam with a fondant strip and decorated with leaves and flowers.  

 Up close, you can see what a mess they are.  LOL  But from far away, they made quite the impression. 

The cupcakes were a new lemon recipe. (YUM) with raspberry filling and lemon buttercream (tinted green for the grass.)  They were very cute, but time consuming.  Much like my ValenSwines, there were just enough for the class!

Tea Party Cake

Tea party birthday cake for a 7 year old.  It looks bare, but that's because the mom had a tea set ready to go on top of the cake.  

Cake is traditional yellow cake with buttercream icing, topped with a marshmallow fondant "table cloth" and accents.  

Olive Cake Pops

I made these olive cake pops for a 30th birthday party.  The birthday girl is the owner of "23 Week Boutique."  (You should look her up on facebook.)    Her party was "martini" themed.  

German Chocolate Cake

I made this German Chocolate cake for my Father-in-law's 60th birthday.  (It's his favorite)

Pardon the Slacker!

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while.  I lost my Grandfather, who was quite possibly my favorite person on Earth,  on March9th.  You can read all about him on my personal blog.  


I promise, more posts are coming soon.  I just made a German Chocolate Cake for my Father-in-law's 60th birthday and I have several cute cakes coming up.  So, please stay tuned.  

Happy Birthday Dr. Suess!

I decided to honor Dr. Suess on his birthday with some baked goods.  What better way to do so than with Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes!  (Ok, so Andrew's teacher asked me to do something "Dr. Suess-ish," but I had been wanting to make these little babies, so it worked out perfectly.)

I started with the cupcake cups.  I had to label them, so I painstakingly lovingly traced out some circles, printed out some Dr. Suess font, cut, and glued 2 dozen labels!  (Thank you swim class for giving me 40 uninterrupted minutes!)

 Don't worry, from a distance you couldn't see the cut/paste lines!

 Color the frosting blue, stick some blue cotton candy on top for hair and ta-da...thing 1 and thing 2 cupcakes!

 Thing 1 was vanilla.

 Thing 2: chocolate!

**Side note:  If you try this at home, be sure NOT to put the cotton candy on until you're ready to serve and eat them.  All the oil from the frosting melts the cotton candy.  You have about 15 minutes before it starts to look like liquid mush!**