Personalized Perfection

So, on top of offering party packages with The Green Crocodile, we are now also offering a new party package... Favorcakes!

Favorcakes are miniature cakes purchased for your guests to decorate and design themselves.  These are great as a party project to keep little (and big!) hands busy.  The guests can then either enjoy the cakes at the party OR take them home as a favor.  How awesome is that??

Here's the concept...

Sweet Dreams Confectionery provides both the cakes and the decorations.  We start you with either fondant or iced cakes in the color of your choosing.  Feel free to coordinate with your party theme or go basic and let your guests' imaginations soar.

(photo courtesy of Flickr)

Next, we provide decorations.  You will have you choice of everything from fondant shapes to candies to icing bags.  The sky is the limit!  (A word of caution on the icing bags and children... they are not always the best combination.  If you have a quiet group that you are sure will not decide to decorate your home like a gingerbread house, then you should be safe.  Otherwise, I would stick to the pre-made items.  Just saying.)

(photo courtesy of Flickr)

The cake is the canvas and your guests are the artists.  What could be more fun?!

"Ouiser, can we call a truce long enough for me to get a piece of cake?" ~Drum (Steel Magnolias - 1989)

For those of you familiar with the movie Steel Magnolias, this should make you smile...  I was asked by a new client to create a replica of the armadillo groom's cake from the movie.  You know, the "bleeding" red velvet cake that was done in the shape of an armadillo.  For starters, I didn't have much to go by since the only photo I could find was this one.

Well, I took that and created a down-sized replica (since the bridal shower was smaller than the movie wedding).  Check this out...

It's a shame they're not this cute in real life!  I made the cake out of the classic red velvet.  I then iced with a thickened buttercream before adding the design work.  I did an armor patterning on the body and head,  a separate armor pattern for the banding, created slightly darker feet and tail,  looped and "glued" two ears, and hand-painted the facial features.  I personally was a bit surprised how well it turned out.

I even gave him a scaly little tale...

Best of wishes to the new bride!!!   Here's some advice every bride should take from the ladies:  Don't make the sanctuary look like it's been hosed down with Pepto-Bismol...  Don't blow your friends off to scream at your husband cause you can do that anytime... And (my personal favorite) an ounce of pretension is worth a pound of manure -- LOL!  Congratulations!!!!

How I Would Like To Die

My husband came home and told me that he got a request from his supervisor for one of my cakes.  He was celebrating his birthday and wanted a "Death by Chocolate" cake.  First of all, I just had to laugh...  It never ceases to amaze me how effective men's stomachs and word of mouth can be!  So, obviously my response was, "Absolutely!  I would be honored to do his birthday cake!"

Now, this got me to thinking... You see, I am madly, deeply, and passionately in love with chocolate.  This has been on ongoing love affair since I was about 1 year old.  As far as I'm concerned, you can keep your sugary sweet stuff.  All I need is chocolate.  As my baseball cap says, "Forget love... I'd rather fall in chocolate!" (sorry, sweetheart!)  But, seriously, do I need to say more??

So I figured if I was going to die from eating a chocolate cake, this had better be the best damn chocolate cake EVER!  Therefore, in my opinion, there had better be the right KIND of chocolate in this cake.  So, here's my idea...

I started with a layer of dark chocolate cake and a layer of devil's food.  I then slathered (yes, I just said "slathered") the middle layer with a chocolate mousse creme.  That would be a little concoction I put together by making chocolate mousse with whipped cream.  Oh yeah, baby!

I then topped the cake with a chocolate ganache and wrapped the sides of the cake in chocolate buttercream.  But, did I stop there? Aawww, hell no!  I then pressed a combination of crushed chocolate wafers and miniature chocolate chips into the sides.  Finally, I finished the ensemble with chocolate buttercream dollops with milk chocolate angles.  I think my heart just stopped.  I need a moment...

You all who actually get to enjoy this cake (including my husband!) owe me a thorough description of its taste!!!

Last Minute Dreams of Palm Trees and Flip Flops

Christina, a close family friend and fellow cake decorator and new sewing entrepreneur, called me up and said she needed some help with her daughter's birthday cake...

"Of course!" I said, "When do you need it by?"
"Tomorrow," she replied.

Uh oh!

Rachael decided she wanted a palm tree with flip flops on her birthday cake to go along with her pool/slumber party theme.  And we had one night to do this.  Oh, boy!

So Christina came over, we hit some of the local stores for some last minute supplies, and got to baking.  Rachael loves butter cake, so we started with a two-tier round cake as a base.  Chris found this cute lei to act as a base border (saving us some time!) and we placed that around the bottom tier.  The bottom was iced in white and blue vanilla buttercream to look like water while the top tier was covered in brown sugar "sand".  Next came the requested design...

We started with the flip flops, which were made out of fondant.  We came up with a purple, pink, and teal color combo for a super summery feel.  The flip flop base was in purple with teal straps. We then added pink flowers on the toes of the flips and accented them with sugar pearl centers.  I almost wished they were real!

Next we did the palm tree.  A word of caution to any of you trying your luck with cake decorating... fondant ONLY seems to stick to icing or other pieces of fondant that have been painted with water.  I discovered this the hard way when I woke up the next morning and the palm tree had sagged.  Whoopsy!  After a quick fix, we were back in business.  But, if I had known this valuable little piece of information, it would've saved me alot of time and stress.  Ya live and learn.

The palm tree was essentially a plastic pipe that we layered with fondant to give the bark a real feel.  We did the palm leaves out of gumpaste since that dries a little harder and holds up better to structuring.  We veined and threaded the palm leaves on floral wire and stuck those into the top of the tree.

And here's the finished product...

Not too bad for 4 1/2 hours of work if I do say so myself!  Happy Birthday, Rachael!!!  Hope your party turned out great!!

A Little Humor on a VERY Hot Day

My Aunt and Uncle were holding their annual cookout for our ginormous family on the hottest day of the year so far.  You can't always get everything to work out.

Well, to take our minds of the searing heat, I baked up some cupcakes for the occasion and thought I'd have a little fun with it.  See, my Aunt and Uncle have great senses of humor and I just love surprising them occasionally.  So, I did a cupcake cake.  That's where you take cupcakes and pile them together, ice them as one item, and decorate it like a cake.

I did a combination of vanilla and chocolate cupcakes and iced them vanilla buttercream that I shaded in an assortment of summery colors.  I flat iced the center cupcakes and piped swirls on the border cupcakes.

For a little cookout humor, I wrote, "Grab your buns... it's the Livesay Cookout".  The adults got a laugh, but I think I confused some of my younger cousins.  I had to explain to them that I was alluding to hot dog and hamburger buns.  LOL!

Finally, for the border cupcakes, I designed miniature watermelons and fully loaded cheeseburgers in fondant.

We all still had a great time despite the intense heat.  Either which way, it's always wonderful seeing my family.  Love you guys!!!

Who Needs Power Tools When You Could Have Sweets?!

Father's Day was VERY eventful this year!  Not only did I have a couple orders, but I of course had to take care of my Husband and my Father!  I can't neglect the men who take such good care of me and have so much patience with my business, now can I??

So, for my Father, I made a Jewish Apple Cake (which, if you have ever heard of it, is a bit of a misnomer...  The cakes were actually created in Pennsylvania Dutch Country.  But, due to their kosher nature, I guess they picked up an alias.)  I apologize for not having any photos of this one.  But, my Father loved it so much that I'm sure I'll be asked to make another in the near future.  Even my Mom loved it and she HATES apples!  That still makes me smile.

My Husband requested Chocolate-Chocolate cupcakes to make his Father's Day special.  And oh boy did I oblige!  Check this out!

I started with Devil's Food cupcakes and topped all of them with chocolate buttercream frosting.  The decorations were the fun part...

On one set, I did a big swirl of buttercream and stuck a Hersey's chocolate square (hubby's favorite!) in the top.  The next set, I sprinkled the iced cupcakes with chocolate jimmies for a subtle crunch.  The last set, I rolled the cupcake tops in miniature chocolate chips.  Talk about a burst of chocolate!

Last, but certainly not least, I was asked by my friend and neighbor Michelle to do a cookie cake for her husband and father.  I was a little nervous since I had never attempted a cookie cake before, but I was later told it was excellent.  See what happens if you never take a chance!  Here's what we came up with.

I kept the piping simple cause I didn't want to overwhelm the cookie flavor with too much icing.  There is such a thing as too much.

Even though I can't bake something for every great father out there, I at least want to say "Happy Father's Day" to all you awesome guys!!!  Hope you had a wonderful day!

A "Minnie" Surprise for a Friend

One of my closest friends, Jamie, is expecting TWINS!!  God love her!  Well, she called me up a while back and TOLD me I was doing the cake for the shower  ; )  Like I'd turn her down anyway!  Her Mom called me to iron out the details and when I asked her if she had something in mind, she said she didn't really.  She told me that they were doing the theme of the party to somewhat match the nursery, which was done in a beachy, surfer theme.  And with that, the first thing that came to mind was two little baby bottoms on the beach.  I came up with an idea to do two rump cakes on a sheet cake.  For those of you that don't know, a "rump cake" is a cake that looks like a baby's butt sticking up in the air.  It's super cute and a fairly flexible and easy concept to run with.

Because Jamie is a HUGE Mickey Mouse fan, her Mom and I both wanted to incorporate that into the cake.  I came up with this...  And I'm THRILLED with the results!!

Jamie made it adamantly known that she wanted chocolate -- I knew I liked her for a reason, lol!  So, I started with a Devil's Food cake then layered and covered it with vanilla buttercream.  I pressed crushed graham crackers into the frosting for a "sandy" effect.  I draped two "beach towels" over top in the colors of the nursery.  I added a turtle embellishment to the boy's towel and a hibiscus to the girl's towel.

I covered two fudge cake "rumps" in red and white and placed them on the beach towels; red on the boy's towel and white on the girl's.  I then added pound cake legs and feet to the rumps.  I covered those in flesh-toned fondant.  I decorated the red rump like Mickey Mouse's shorts with the two white buttons and even gave the boy yellow sandals to match Mickey's shoes.

For the girl, I make a pink fondant sheet and fitted that onto the rump as a skirt.  I added white polka dots like Minnie Mouse's dress and ruffling around the legs.  I completed the ensemble with pink sandals.

I finished off the design by painting the names Jamie and her husband Mike picked out -- Grayson and Madelyn -- on the edges of the rumps and icing "tread" on the bottoms of the sandals.  I iced "Welcome Babies" into the tread, as well.

I am sooo excited for you both and can't wait to meet the new additions!!!!  Congratulations!!!!

New Business Ventures in Cute Little Packages

As previously mentioned, I'm friends with Meaghan, owner of "The Green Crocodile."  Well, she came to me with a business proposition... Party Packages!!!  The Green Crocodile specializes in sewn products, but especially children's dress-up wear.  She creates tutu's, wands, capes, dino/dragon tails,... the list goes on and on!  Here's some of her creations.

AMAZING, huh??

Well, she asked if Sweet Dreams would be interested in a package deal in which a client can rent (with the option to buy) costume gear specified to the party theme (i.e. princess party = tutu's and wands) and get their sweet treats from us.  I loved, loved, LOVED the idea!  So, here's what we came up with.

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Sweet Ideas for The Green Crocodile Party Packs

(Assorted cakes include the following options: vanilla, yellow, chocolate, and confetti.)

o   Tea Party

·         Hobknobby Cakes (Mad Hatter theme) – Assorted cake flavors topped with lopsided colorful buttercream and decorations   

           

·         Tea On Me – A dozen assorted tea cakes (honey cakes, petit fours, etc) and a dozen assorted cookies (shortbread, lintzer, etc)    

         

·         Premier – Actual teacups layered and filled with assorted cake and buttercream               

o   Fairy Party

·         Fairy Dust – Honey-flavored cupcake, buttercream frosting, and “dusted” with edible glitter  

   

·         Bugaboo – Assorted cupcakes iced with green “grass” and topped with sugar “bugs” (ladybugs, dragonflies, etc)       

o   Princess Party

·         Dream Come True – Assorted cupcakes, buttercream frosting, and “dusted” with edible glitter 

·         Bobbity-boo – Assorted cakes filled with cream and fruit, topped with buttercream, and garnished with edible wands    

o   Slumber Party (Milk & Cookies)

·         Two dozen homemade Chocolate Chunk, Brown Sugar Oatmeal, and Snickerdoodle cookies with a gallon of 2% milk     

o   Dinosaur Party

·         Dinobites – Chocolate cupcake filled with “molten lava” gel and topped with a buttercream “erupting volcano”                    

o   Superhero Party

·         Power-Up Cakes – Color-flecked and swirled yellow cupcakes with either chocolate crème filling and chocolate buttercream OR vanilla crème filling and vanilla buttercream frosting                 

o   Medieval Party (Knights/Princesses/Dragons)

·         Dragon Cakes – Assorted cupcakes topped with buttercream “flames”

·         Crown Cakes – Assorted cupcakes topped with edible sugar crowns

·         Shining Armor – Assorted cupcakes topped with edible sword and shield

o   Pirate Party

·         Buried Treasure – Assorted cupcakes topped with buttercream and garnished with a “sandy beach” and gold doubloon chocolate coin    

 *Actual birthday and party cakes (standard, unique, and individual) are available upon request and with advanced notice.  Please contact about specifics and pricing.*

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 I CAN'T WAIT to get these started!!!!

Gluten-Free Comes to Sweet Dreams

Hello, gluten-free!!!  Friend and partner in crime Meaghan of "The Green Crocodile" called me up and asked if I did gluten-free... Haven't tried it, but I'm willing to give anything a try!  She wanted a gluten-free version of our Lavender Cake for a relative's birthday.  I did some research and found out how much I DIDN'T know about gluten.  Through the research, I discovered that some minor substitutions and a few tweaks of the recipe introduced us to the wonderful world of gluten-free.  Instead of standard wheat based flour, we used a combination of gluten-free blend and almond flours.  A little more liquid and a little less dry and we were in business.  But, talk about a dense cake!  It was beautiful! 

I added a lemon curd filling and covered it with a honey cream cheese frosting. I then garnished with lavender buds and petit purple drop flowers.  It apparently was such a hit, I was asked to do another.  : )

A First Birthday for the Little Ladybug

When Caitlyn was due to turn the big 1 year old, her Mom and friend of mine, Michelle, asked me if I could do a ladybug smash cake to go with their party theme.  Of course!

I started with a vanilla cake and iced it in segments with red and black icing to get the design.  I then smoothed the icing to give it a glossy finish.  I had to avoid fondant or anything similar on this one since it was for a 1 year old.  But, I think I made do.  I finished the design with the black spots and two black antennae.

What started out with just a smash cake turned into the ladybug smash cake plus a sheet cake for the other guests.  When I asked what we could decorate the sheet cake with, we came up with everything from a flower garden to a larger ladybug cake.  But, after talking it over, I realized that sometimes simple is much better.  We opted for a field of grass covered in little ladybugs.

And I have to admit it turned out super cute!!  I started out with a layered confetti cake and colored buttercream icing a lovely shade of spring green to contrast a little with the red ladybugs.  I then applied it using a grass tip. The ladybugs were simple balls of red royal icing tipped with black icing.  I was so in love with those little creations that I wanted to do them all over the kitchen -- lol!

And since I had a mind lapse, I didn't think to ask what she wanted the cake to say.  So, once again, I went with simple and understated -- "Caitlyn's 1st" in red lettering.

I'm so sorry I wasn't able to stay and see her COMPLETELY destroy the ladybug, but the pictures spoke volumes!  Thanks again Michelle and John for letting us be a part of Caitlyn's special day!!!

Spring Sampler

Every month, our confectionery offers seasonal specialities with are posted through our Facebook Fan Page.  And since the month of May screams flowers and fruit, the items we featured were:  lavender cupcakes with a hint of lemon and topped with honey frosting, assorted berry tartlets, and lemon-thyme cookies.  Well, a couple people were so intrigued, they asked for samplers of ALL the items.  So, I threw together a sampling and here's how it turned out.

It was so popular, I got several more requests.  Thank you everyone for your support and your sweet teeth!  : ) 

My First Tasting Went Beachy

An old coworker and friend of mine, Laura, informed me that she is getting married and was hoping I would do cupcakes for her bridal shower.  Who am I to disappoint??  ; )  When I asked her, she told me the theme of her wedding is going to have a beach vibe with awesome summery colors.  Immediately, the gears started turning.  Once I got the flavors settled, I called her up and asked her to come over for a tasting to see what she thought.

Laura told me that one of her favorite flavors was Key Lime Pie.  So, my first cupcake creation was what I call "Toes in the Sand"... I know, I normally avoid naming ANY type of food using body parts, but the first image that came to me when I tried this creation was sitting on a long crescent beach with my toes in the sand.  I can't always help what my mind throws at me, so it kinda stuck.

"Toes in the Sand" is a citrus flavored cake with a key lime filling.  It's then topped with coconut frosting and sprinkled with graham cracker sand.

The next cupcake I came up with was "Sex on the Beach."  It's a tribute to the ageless cocktail bearing the same name, obviously.  I started with a peach cake and mixed cranberries into the mix for a nice change in texture and mini bursts of tartness.  I then topped the cupcake in an orange-pineapple frosting and garnished with that a drink umbrella, of course.

The third cupcake was "Bahama Beauty" since it was so tropical that only an island lady could concoct such a melding of flavors.  I sooo wish that was me!  It's a mango-pineapple cake topped with a coconut-kiwi frosting.  I garnished with toasted coconut for a little crunch in texture.

Laura's reaction of "OMG!" and the fact that she asked to take some home was more than enough compliment for me  : )  I can't wait for the shower!!

Playing catch-up...

Talk about CrAzY!!!  I've had several orders that have already been fulfilled and already many more to go... This has been great!  I've got a business running before I even realized I had a business running -- lol!  Well, bear with me while I get everything posted and as I complete more orders.

Love Bites... Into Buttercream!

A friend of mine asked for a yellow cake with vanilla buttercream frosting for his birthday.  And he gave me free reign on a design... Oh, how dangerous!  ; )

You see, this particular friend is in a 80's hair band.  Like I could NOT do something with that one!  And here it is...

Happy Birthday, Randy!  Thanks for letting me get creative!