Sometimes life gets a little crazy and we have to climb up the nearest mountain and plot the best course of action for moving ahead. I have been blessed of late to have so many wonderful opportunities knock at my door. With all of the opportunities I've been presented, I have decided that my baking will need to be focused on a greater cause. Each year I have the opportunity to join the Great American Bake Sale to raise money for Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry campaign. I will be holding bake sales at my office as well as several bake sales at other locations to be announced in the near future. If anyone is interested in hosting a bake sale or contributing treats to my bake sales, please contact me. I'd love to get others involved in this great cause. http://nokidhungry.org/
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I have recently been fortunate enough to take part in some of the most treasured of life's celebrations. I helped celebrate a first birthday with red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and churro cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting.
I created cupcakes for two wonderful people, each 90 years young. What momentous celebrations to be a part of. These celebrations included pineapple cupcakes with toasted coconut cream cheese, dark chocolate cupcakes with orange buttercream, vanilla cupcakes with strawberry filling and vanilla buttercream, and a triple chocolate cupcake with chocolate bavarian cream filling and chocolate buttercream. With flavors like those, who could ever have just one?! I was also honored with the opportunity to bake the cake to celebrate my in-law's 50th wedding anniversary. It was a wonderful celebration that tested my skills. That was my biggest cake to date and was a huge success. The cake had a tier of strawberry cake with vanilla buttercream filling, a layer of chocolate with chocolate bavarian cream filling, and a layer of vanilla with strawberry preserves. I am always honored to be part of these special moments in the lives of the people I bake for. I hope to be fortunate enough to celebrate these milestones in my own life. Take the time in your life to celebrate the special moments. If you need a sweet treat to help celebrate, it would be my honor to be of assistance. Today was one of those days that reminded me why I love to make cakes for others. Sometimes it is all too easy to forget when you are up all night, trying to finish a cake and it feels like I will never finish on time.
Last night was one of those nights. I was exhausted and thought I'd never finish the cake I was working on. I was finally able to wrap it up and crawl into bed a bit after two o'clock in the morning, cake finished and ready to be delivered in the morning. All of the exhaustion and doubts about whether I created the cake the client had hoped for vanished when I saw the smile on Allie's face. Her blue eyes lit up when she saw the little hula girl atop her cake. That smile reminded me why I make cakes. What could be better than making a little girl smile? I'm not sure it gets much better than that. For a brief moment I get to share in that special moment in the life of my clients. I feel quite blessed to have those opportunities. Happy birthday, Allie and thank you for letting me share this sweet moment! I believe that we should all strive to learn something new every day. For the last four weeks I have been learning to make sugar flowers. This is so awesome! I always thought that it would too hard to make such beautiful flowers. Well, I was wrong. I had a great instructor (thanks Krista!) who walked through each step and gave great tips on how to create these edible beauties. I seem to have taken well to creating these flowers (much better than I took to royal icing flowers). I am so excited to be able to now offer sugar flowers for cakes and cupcakes. Check out my Gallery for a quick peek at a few of my creations. I will continue to add to my sugar flower skills so that I may share them with you.
Thank you for following along on this journey. Life is sweet, stop to smell the sugar flowers :) I am so excited to share with you that I have just signed up to host a bake sale to raise funds for Share Our Strength's Great American Bake Sale to help end childhood hunger in America. I will hold several bake sales between now and September to raise money. I will be selling cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and other sweet treats to help accomplish my goal of $250. Will you join me in helping end hunger in American children? Visit my bake sale webpage to get more information or make an online donation. Every little bit helps. Let's make life a little sweeter for the children in our communities!
Visit my bake sale site at: http://join.strength.org/site/TR/CEM/General?px=2001123&pg=personal&fr_id=1120 Thank you all for taking time to read my blog and helping make a difference. Hello all my pastry loving friends! I hope that you had a great Easter. I don't know about you folks, but in true holiday tradition, I ate way too much and over-indulged in Easter treats.
This year I made a cute 5-tier cake for easter and a few April bithdays in our family. It was a lot of fun. My mom came over and helped with the decoration and assembly. Thanks, mom!! I also created a sheep cake for my uncle's birthday. I have to admit, I think it just may be my favorite creation so far. It was so cute. I even made a second one, covered in mini-marshmallows for a more dimensional look. Almost too cute to eat (almost). I look forward to spring and all of the great creations I will be making and sharing with you. I hope you had a great weekend. Let's face it, most of us find it hard to pass up a cupcake or cookie. I know that I've been caught with my hand in the cookie jar a time or two. I have always been a fan of baked goods and sweets. They are so yummy and often so cute!
Several years ago, my love affair with these treats grew even greater when I had the chance to take a cake decorating class at a local Joann store with my aunt Kathy. We had a blast coming to class each week. My favorite part of the class was getting to spend time with her, but I also learned a lot. Turns out I not only had a passion for consuming these tempting tasties, but I wasn't too bad at creating my own works of confectionary delight. After our first class, my aunt and I figured we'd take the second class too. It was even more awesome! I was hooked. I spent the better part of my 'discretionary funds' on cake decorating supplies, clipping coupons from the Sunday papers and signing up for online newsletters that had even more coupons. Next thing I knew, I was baking like a crazy woman! A cake for work, cookies for a friend, cupcakes just for fun. It's been nonstop since then. I have designed my nephew's birthday cakes, cupcakes for bridal and baby showers, holiday cakes, etc. With all the ideas and a neverending line of requests, I decided to take my passion online to share with everyone. Creating these treats makes me happy. Hopefully I can make a treat for you too! Thanks, and remember... Lif is sweet, stop and taste the cupcakes! |
AuthorMy name is Jenni and I am the owner of Life is Sweet Designs. I'm just a regular gal with a sweet tooth and a knack for making treats that bring smiles to people's faces. Sometimes a simple treat can make the day. Archives
April 2012
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