J'taime Jennie

I made this cake for Jennie's 21st birthday. Jennie is my son's girlfriend and she speaks fluent french, though in 3 years, I have yet to hear her, so ... I'm told she speaks french.  Jennie is special, she's young and pretty and funny and sweet and sophisticated and styling all at the same time.  So this cake is a reflection of her and her special personality. 

The bottom tier was chocolate, covered in black fondant, because like I said, she has a quiet, somewhat mysterious side. 

The second tier is a combination of 3 layers of cake; chocolate, vanilla and strawberry covered in vanilla buttercream.  I covered this tier in white marshmallow fondant and painted pictures on it with edible food colour.  The pictures represent things that you would find while walking down any street in Paris such as: bouquets of flowers for sale on the sidewalk, ornate doorways, cafe's/bistro's, shops full of fashion and of course French pastierre's. 

The third tier is vanilla covered in a beautiful spot-on pink marshmallow fondant, wrapped in a thin, black ribbon with a subtle touch of bling.  This tier brings some of the girliness of Jennie to the cake. Finally at the top, the cake is adorned with 3 fun polka-dot cupcakes that are smothered in a white, fluffy, vanilla buttercream covered in pink hearts and pearls. One of the cupcakes is personalized with a little name tag using edible food colour. 

All of this is finished off with a gigantic fushia ruffled bow wrapped around the centre tier and a black and white polka-dot ribbon on the bottom to balance the polka-dot cupcake liners on the top.



Do sheep count or do you count sheep?

I made this cake to celebrate a special birthday for a special grandma who raised sheep back in the days when she was raising her family on the farm.  At 80 years young the family wanted a cake that focused on those lovely sheep and her love of gardening.  Each of the 5 sheep were hand made out of gumpaste and fondant and each was given different traits and characteristics because after all that's what families are. We're all people, but we each have our own look, our own personality and our own unique characteristics that make us ... well, us. My goal for this cake was to evoke a message of love and celebration.  The celebration of a full life, the gift of love, and the joy of family.

A celebration with lemon raspberry sponge

My neighbour's daughter was getting married, so she asked me to make a cake that she could share with her church friends and family the following day. I chose to make a 3 tier light and luscious lemon and raspberry cake in honour of Amy and Isaiah's wedding, held on Saturday October 15, 2011. The cake was a vanilla sponge filled with lemon curd, covered in whipped buttercream and fresh raspberries. The flowers were made out of royal icing. The idea for this cake was to make it special, which was why I started with a sponge instead of a typical vanilla cake.  The lemon curd and raspberry components gave it an "extra-special" taste that you come to expect for a wedding dessert.  The decorations were meant to be light, beautiful and very special without a lot of expense.

Butterfly cupcakes

Did you know, that if you even touch the wings of a butterfly, it will never fly again. Well that's not the case here.  You're welcome to touch these butterflies and lick off the delicious buttercream icing and no one will get hurt.These cupcakes are delightful and come in any flavour of cake or buttercream frosting you can dream up.They are great for parties and holiday celebrations and let's face it, who doesn't love a delicious cupcake.

Strawberry cupcakes and buttercream clouds

These delightful cupcakes look like a strawberry dream and they are.  Made with fresh strawberries, they're light, moist and bursting with flavour.  Beautifully topped with my signature whipped vanilla buttercream frosting they can be decorated in a wide variety of ways to suit any occasion.

Holy Stegosarus, Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor

When young minds have dinosaur fever, there's no quenching it. That's how it is with 5 year old Aaron. He's a big dinosaur fan and I think he may know more about dinosaurs than I know about cakes.  Wanting to give him the best birthday ever, I created this double chocolate cake with lush vegetation where dinosaurs live and play in peace. For some reason the cake looks all lopsided in this photo but it really was level. It's always a feat to picture cakes that have things going on, on ever side.  That's how it was with this cake, it was super hard to capture on camera but I think you can at least get a good idea of the design.

Rebecca ... you Rock!

If you're lucky like me and know Rebecca, you know that she is super nice, super cool and totally rocks!


I made this cake to celebrate her 17th birthday in style.  It's two layers of red velvet cake with whipped cream cheese icing covered in a homemade marshmallow fondant that I twisted in a pink and white tye-dye pattern.  I covered the cake with fondant roses and some green leaves. On the bottom I piped some buttercream and tossed on some sprinkles.


Rebecca sent me the nicest note to tell me how much she and her friends loved this cake and I couldn't have been happier to be a part of her sweet celebration.

Wedding creative, creatively wedding

This is a 3 tier wedding cake created for a Wedding Creative held at the Alton Mill.  The Wedding Creative was the brainchild of Wedding Coordinator Rose DuPont of Real Love Weddings.  Rose enlisted the help of a group of Caledon business people who offer wedding services to clients planning upcoming weddings and events. Rose can be reached at rose@realloveweddings.ca or 905-586-5222. The first photo was taken by me inside. The second photo was also taken by me outside.

Are you as quick as a fox?

Well if you are, you should join the quick-minded people at the Quick Brown Fox creative writing classes taught by Brian Henry.

My friend Joan (the creator of this magnificent website) is foxy and quick-minded and so she is a part of the Quick Brown Fox creative writing classes.  She quick-mindedly asked me to make this cake to celebrate the last day of her creative writing class and I quickly agreed. This cake was a vanilla pound cake filled with 3 layers of homemade mango filling and covered in whipped vanilla buttercream. Very yummy! The cupcake was for Alejandra, who was celebrating a birthday.  For more information on creative writing courses and workshops and other great stuff for writers, visit http://www.quick-brown-fox-canada.ca/.

What did you say is in the air?

A Chev Bel Air?


Yes indeed.  A red and white Chev Bel Air decked out with chrome rims and a handsome grill.  Old cars just don't come any cooler than this and lucky for me it impressed even the most discerning of old classic enthusiasts.  This cake brought a lot of style to a happy 65th birthday celebration and the long hours it took to make were worth the successful end result.

Style and Elegance ~ that's what I'm talking about

Ready for a night out on the town~? You wouldn't go far wrong with these accessories. Except for maybe the fact that they were made of sugar and cake. Yes, unfortunately ladies, these were just for eating. It wasn't all bad though, the purse was a delicious chocolate nutella and the cupcake was a light and fluffy vanilla sponge with whipped vanilla buttercream.  Since this birthday was right around Halloween, I pulled in the touch of orange to compliment the cake and give it a little pop.

All trails lead to love …

The love of a sweet cupcake that is. Made for a couple who love to hike, these chocolate and vanilla cupcakes were a welcome treat. My favourites are the campfire and the pair of hiking boots.

Giving thanks for mom

This cake was made for a mom’s birthday on Thanksgiving weekend and I drew on the autumn colours to make it come to life.  The cake was the guest of honour on the holiday table as the family sat down to give thanks for the many blessings in their lives … especially mom.



Nothing says I love you like a bouquet of flowers

This is something that you don`t see everyday.  A marriage of fondant and buttercream on the same cake.  Typically buttercream is a used as a border or edging on a fondant cake, but it doesn't usually become the focus of a fondant covered cake.  I left the fondant off the top and covered it with buttercream only. The cake came out looking quite soft and lovely, just the way a bouquet of flowers should be.

Birthday wishes tied up in a bouquet of sugar flowers

This was the second cake I made for my mother-in-laws birthday.  The other was vanilla, this one was chocolate. This has got to be one of my favourite designs to date -- I love everything about it. I love the gold coloured foil because it’s a change from the silver and it offers a soft warmth to the overall look of the cake.  I love how the yellow flowers compliment it and balance the whole cake.  The butterflies add dimension and colour, while the little white flowers compliment the white fondant.  The ribbon pulls out and balances the black centres of the flowers and the variety of greens in the stems provide some interest.  The ribbon around the bottom of the cake adds a level of sophistication, and the little card in the top left hand corner is simple and personal.

Cake and a 
box of chocolates

I made this cake for my mother-in-laws recent 70^th birthday celebration.  It represents a box of chocolates, hence the lovely stencilled box and the pink and white pieces of tissue paper nestled around the decadent chocolates. The chocolates you’ll recognise are the moulded cake balls I posted above.  This cake was 4 layers high which was a lot of cake but it made for a lovely presentation.

Unleash your Diva!

Inside every modern woman is a little diva!  This “diva-ish” cake was made for a neighbour turning a lovely 21 …. hmmm … I remember 21 …. it was the year I met a charming prince disguised as a farmer, and fell blissfully in love … ahhh … such sweetness.  But back to the cake at hand … it’s definitely rocking a good feeling and was such a huge it with the client.  The purse is lovely with just a hint of attitude, the pumps are glamour chick and the cupcake smacks of sweetness and fun.  The cupcake liner and cake board ribbon completely come together to make this cake the whole package.  This cake got a lot of flash photography and if it had legs, it’d be doing the catwalk baby!!

Mini-cake meets cupcake

You have to admit, this is adorable. This is my first attempt at a “mini-cake” - it’s bigger than a cupcake but smaller than a conventional cake.  It was fun, fast and came out looking great.  This type of cake has a lot of applications because not everyone wants to eat or invest in a full-size cake.  This cake would easily serve 4 or 5 people. Notice my first-ever homemade fondant – it`s soft, fresh, chewy and very delicious.

My, how the gates go by!

In honour of a 70^th birthday, this cake recognizes the crazy course we are all on as we race through our lives, trying to make it to the finish line. Well, we may not be anxious to get to the finish line, but we are all on a crash course as we fly through the years, twisting and turning, working on our technique so that we’re prepared to handle whatever life puts in our path. At 70, this client is an active member of our community, assisting others on the Caledon slopes, supporting a family, volunteering and always helping out wherever and whenever he can.  He’s always up for a challenge and I hope and imagine he’s got some good races ahead of him yet. Here’s wishing you a great run, Dave! Happy Birthday!

Welcome to the land of cupcakes!

Can you imagine a world without cupcakes -- neither can the people lining up for these lovely treats.  These cupcakes were created for a retirement party and had a safari theme.  There were leopard and zebra prints, water and earth, baby hippos, and chocolate chip cookies in honour of a giant fondness for cookies.