And finally...

This was the Chamber of Commerce's annual banquet. I had a couple friends think of me and get my work in there. From some of the comments, I think I'm starting to get noticed! These may be some very exciting times ahead for me! I do hope so. I seriously enjoy creating these things and would love to take on more. I'm also getting Mallory involved in the process. Here's her work for the potluck dinner at church today!

Farmers

Yes, I love doing cakes for farmers. Once I got this done, I just loved how all the edges came out and I couldn't bear to cover them with borders. It was just so nice and square. This was another one that was hard to charge full price. I'm just not good at selling to my friends. And everyone is my friend. But anyway, since the price changes at the store, this particular cake is more expensive at the store than through me. Not a big deal. I charge enough to cover what I need to cover and I'm happy with that. I have to sleep with myself at night!

I'm also hearing that some folks are pretty disappointed that I left the store. I've been taking some business cards to my friends that hear such things, just in case!

Go Clones!

A friend from Nebraska ordered this! Good taste in teams! They needed a gluten-free cake, so they had to bring me some cake mixes for this one. I would have rather they just directed me where to get everything, just in case it's needed again for someone else. It's really nice to be able to offer something that the store can't do. Anyway, I can get ahold of them if I need to!

It was disappointing that the teams weren't the right color. It was more disappointing to the little guy ordering it than it was to those of us who were just trying to figure out how to get the little guy's cake done on time!

Teachers

My friend sent her daughter to me for these. Both just wonderful gals. She insisted that I not give her a discount, but I just almost always do when it's for more than one cake. I feel bad that the grocery store will do a full sheet cake and I don't offer one. It's just too big and heavy to transport safely. I figure if the cake can't get there safely, what's the point? Well, anyway, if I were ordering in my cakes from Kansas City like the bakery does, they would work just fine. But while I'm baking my own, they are just too heavy to be that big. They also have to be set side-by-side, so that leaves a very good chance that they will separate and crack the frosting. Just not worth it. Only had one complaint and I was too expensive for her anyway. That's why grocery stores exist, I guess. Anyway, the store has now raised its cake prices, so mine aren't very far off from theirs anymore. But back to the cakes, those are supposed to be little apples, but I'm not sure anyone ever really caught that!

Recent past

This was one I missed, so my mom pointed out. It is sad that I missed it because it was for the grandson of one of my three readers ;)

Anyway, he's a rocket enthusiast, and it was actually his step-mom and grandma that got this worked up for him. I have never had more correspondence and meetings over a cake than I did for this one, and now I really miss them! It was a Thanksgiving cake, but we had been mulling over ideas since early spring. Now I haven't heard from them and I really miss them! They said the bride was very specific about who was in charge of what, and that they were in charge of the groom's cake. So we had a really great time with it, and I've heard comments that it looked and tasted better than the wedding cake! Okay, maybe I'm just bragging on myself. This was just one of the more crafty ones. It's two layers, so after I got them carved and frosted, I cut a hole into the top to insert a little pilot/astronaut (all we could find was a Star Wars fighter pilot), then covered it with an acrylic cover. I hear all the little kids wanted the man inside, but they were all told that it was for the groom. Not totally unexpected. I had two at my house asking if the little pilot would be returned here and if I was really sure I had to put him in there in the first place.

December

I only had a few cakes in December. Here's the residents' cake. I love making the poinsettias. Bonnie has me making a lot of them at the bakery!!

I wasn't even going to take a picture of this next one. I was in a hurry and it was way too simple for me! But, my assistant is always keeping up with me! The poor girl usually gets left with the clean up, so I like to make sure she gets credit where she can! This was for some residents that we have fallen for, mainly because they like our cats. I always do a monthly birthday cake, but she wanted a special one for him.

Then there was a deputy's promotion. The boys really had no desire to let go of this little gun. It was just Michael, Morgan and me when we got it, but I don't remember why. Anyway, Morgan held the two packages all the way home, quizzing me on which pieces I'd use. I never know until I get going!

Then, finally, the most important birthday of all. Kristy ordered this for the Sparkies. It wasn't too long before I realized that the red frosting along the bottom border probably wasn't the best idea for lots of kids in a church! Never fear, Kristy's so good she basically served around the red border... took the cake and left the red behind. Later, we caught all of her kids in the kitchen eating the red frosting remnants with their fingers!! You never win!

Oh, well. I do hope your holidays brought you closer to friends and family and left you time to quietly ponder why Jesus really came and why he came the way he did. Thank you to all who have supported my business both with orders and promotion. I appreciate it more than you'll ever know! May God richly bless your lives, families and businesses in the coming year!

November

I fell behind, I know. I'll try to get these caught up here:
These may be in no particular order as my memory is already shot!
This is one where we get a call at the bakery at closing time, requesting something that we just don't do. He didn't want plastic pigs, he wanted frosting pigs, and he wanted it tomorrow! Well, there was nothing I could do for him from the store but I told him I could help him at home. And we did. Mallory had a great time with this one. We both did. Fat little pigs all over. That was all he really cared about. Lots of pigs! Nice kid, though. Even sent me a thank you note!

The next one is a Pirates cake that uses one of the kits from the grocery store. These are supposed to make life and cake decorating easier, but a lot of times I think they lose something. This one was fun because of how much we changed it. It's just supposed to be a small, flat cake, and the size is pretty much determined by the railing at the back (aft??).
The problem was that they needed more cake than that, and they wanted half white, half chocolate. That's where I added the second deck. I liked it a lot better, and I think they liked it too! Made theirs just a little more original!



Here's a toughy: what's on this cake? I thought this was a great one. We rolled and cut fondant for a quilt, then airbrushed a design on it. It was, of course, for a quilter! Anyone I ever talked to just asked what that was. Oh, well, the quilter knew!

Then, another resident's cake. There were two hundredth-birthdays in November, but someone else was doing the other one. They wound up with two parties for them, and the rest of the November birthdays never got cakes! That made me sad!

That's all I can remember of November! Thanks for checking back!