I had a lot of fun making the cake for Tanya’s shower. I made sure to document every step of the process. Before I get started, I just want to say that my inspiration was a cake in the book The Whimsical Bakehouse by Kaye Hansen and Liv Hansen. My cake did not look just like theirs, but I got the idea from there. Very cute!

First, I drew the animals on parchment paper. I decided to free hand rather than use the templates from the book...

Next, I traced the animals in chocolate.

Then, it was time to fill them in. I used wafer chocolate and colored it with candy colors...

Finally, they were done. All in all, it took about an hour.

I decided to make a cake that was two tiers-one eight-inch and one nine-inch. Both were two chocolate layers and one yellow layer with cookies and cream filling and meringue buttercream icing. I didn’t take pictures of the cake-making process...too much of a pain, what with all that icing....but here’s the finished product....


Oh my gosh! I know I made this, but it turned out so well. Yes, Mr. Giraffe got a broken neck...and he and Mr. Zebra lost their tails...but the cake was a hit!

The shower was wonderful and Tanya got lots of adorable gifts! I wish now that I had thought to take a picture of her with the cake...

Coming back to life....

The last few months have been crazy. New job with lots of new responsibilities, and a giant learning curve. I keep dreaming of a life where my creative outlets make my living for me....but December and January were a blur of data sheets, signature pages, and tears. My shoulders get tense just thinking about it. Not even Christmas break felt relaxing, mostly because all I thought about was assessment and how I wasn't getting anything done....

I turned in my portfolio assessments on 2/9, and then I told my Philip, my very understanding (thank God!) husband that I felt like I was coming back to life. Work is still very stressful, but I am determined to learn how to do what the school system is paying me to do while I am on their watch and do what I want to do when I am on mine.

I have been decorating a lot of cakes lately. In a few minutes I am going to start on a safari cake for a a baby shower for my friend Tanya, our SLP at work. I am looking forward to using a new technique to make the animals. I have also made several button rings and a "bling" ring, which is a very cute technique where you make beaded dangles and attach them to a ring with special loops. Very swishy and adorable. I can't resist wearing all of my new things before I post them on my Etsy page.

Well, off to make lions, tigers, zebras, and giraffes.