Two's company, three's a crowd...in my fridge!

Well this weekend was a first for me. I had three cakes this weekend and that saying, Two's company and three's a crowd really made sense to me this weekend. In regard to three cakes, which is the most I have made in one weekend. Working full time puts me in a bind for time and you add in the active 15month old and Miss A with her soccer, piano, and cheerleading...oy vey!!! Time was crowded, space was crowded, and our extra refrigerator for drinks was emptied and crowded with cakes for the weekend. I almost think it was 4 different items because one order was a cake plus cupcakes!!! But I proved I can do it!!! So here we go...

It's an E-I-E-I-O cake and cupcake of a time!!! sheep, chick, pig cupcakes, and a barn cake!

Little piggies crack me up!!! Mmmm reminds me of bacon. I'm hungry.

Perhaps I could have stuck the ducks in a pond...we will pretend the pond is around back!!

Rise and shine! It's birthday time!!

Third times the charm for Minnie Mouse! This is my third time to make a minnie mouse themed cake and I must say it makes me smile each time I make those little ears!!!

Of course this was the first time I got to add a smash minnie mouse cake!! love the little ears!!

The cute pair together!!! 

Snoopy and woodstock...what famous pair!!!

This was actually the second dog house I did. The first I tried with cake, but the recipe was off and it got a little too crispy and crumbly. So I improvised last minute and grabbed some packs of rice krispy treats and fashioned a dog house!!! 

Snoopy I made out of gumpaste and he just makes me happy!!! Woodstock was a last addition this morning! HAHA!

A Whale Tale of PB&J

Miss A is truly coming into her own. She has always been that self sufficient, mothering, Scorpio first born that manages just fine on her own. Well with soccer, cheerleading, Kindergarten, and yes...her Bento lunches she is truly a 5 year old to be taken serious.

Miss A just recently discovered that public school allows Peanut products!!! So watch out...here comes the PB&J sandwiches. Babybel cheese, grapes, and sunburst tomatoes. 

You can't help but smile at this chubby little whale pair...don't really have to say anything more. Too cute Alexa!!! Gotta love this girl with her adorable turkey sandwiches, blueberries, and goldfish crackers!

A TALL tale...or neck.

I was working on a baby shower cake design that features a giraffe and Miss A remembered she had giraffe food picks! So of course we had to use them!! She then spouted a few facts that baby giraffes are born 6feet tall, adult giraffes have necks at least 6feet tall and so are their legs!! These kids get smarter and smarter! It is hard to keep up!!
So we have some grilled chicken with giraffe picks, blackberries, pirate booty, Mac and cheese, and a roll with a flower. She put a leaf on the flower because giraffes eat leaves!!! Smarty pants!!

Caterpillar, caterpillar, crawl, crawl, crawl...

Like a caterpillar which is in their larva stage so is my little Kinder girl Alexa. They preparing for their pupa stage where they go into a chrysalis phase before they became an adult butterfly...sniff sniff..

Okay a little odd I know...haha. I was trying to find a relation between the caterpillar bento and Miss A! Maybe it was a stretch but I'm sticking with it!!

Miss A has a caterpillar ham and cheese sandwich with a babybel head and toothpick antennas. Grape tomatoes, blackberries and Pirate Booty cheese puffs compliment the hungry caterpillar. Kind of like Miss A hungry for knowledge....HAHAHAHAHA!

Have a great one!!

Guardian of the Forest...

For the first day of school Miss A received a little surprise, which was the movie The Lorax. Soooo cute, funny, and what a great message. So she wanted to do a Lorax themed lunch today. She really wanted cotton candy for a Truffula tree but ummmm, Go Fish!!! Yeah...not really an item on hand in our pantry on a Monday morning. So with a few simple cheese touches and candy eyes added to her Babybel cheese...I give you the Lorax:

Leftover strawberry cupcake from Labor Day celebration, green beans (they look funny because of the stick of butter she put on them!! ha), ham rolls with American Flag toothpicks, and of course Babybel Lorax himself!! The Guardian of the Forest!! haha.

The BIG one!

Well my friends, this is by far the biggest cake I have done thus far and for a very special friend so the pressure was on!!! Her parents were celebrating their 60th birthdays together and they have one of those dynamic families where they are all beautiful and TALL!!! Geez...just a few more inches...even one inch is all I want so I match what it says on my drivers license! ha! Anyway...sorry...focus. This family has Sunday dinner at her parents house every week (our family does Sunday lunch!) just a great family! Her parents have 3 kids, 1 son-in-law, 2 daughter-in-laws (one is soon to be since her brother is engaged), and SIX grandsons!!! This cake was a special project completely tailored to her amazing parents and their life. Loves in their life like golfing, knitting, fishing, Texas Rangers, traveling and most importantly their family.  In reality this cake does a poor job representing how amazing all these things are but it is a nice gesture that I was able to provide!!! And let's just say it was HEAVY!! Poor hubby had to ride in the back with cake, I don't think I have ever seen so many stressful facial expressions on him in such a short amount of time!! haha! So without further ado...I give you...Kurt and Cindy...

60th Birthday Cake Celebrating K & C's loves in life. 8 layers of cake technically and it was almost 14inches tall. Doesn't sound that tall and massive until you are driving 75 miles on the tollway!! haha!

Red heart says it all. This was the one layer that started to lean a bit...:(

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For the record the mister does not knit! ha! But they both love the Texas Rangers!

Golfing...Fourrrrrr!!

Traveling...aaahhh

The cake actually make it in one piece to destination!!!

I have had the pleasure to get to know
My friends sister-in-law and call her a friend. She has three amazing boys. Also all beautiful!!!

This is my close friend who put her trust in me to make this cake! Her three boys are so adorable and their personalities are so unique!! Love the middle child...he is the distracted one kicking the ball...away from the family!! haha! He kills me!!

Birthday couple to the left
and their youngest son with his new fiance!! Congratulations!!! 

Cheesy flowers....

Good morning...Day 4 of Miss A's Big Kinder Adventure and she has decided she wants to ride the bus home!!! AAAGGHHHHH...sorry...I'm ok. I may have to try to swing by and watch her come off the bus because I don't know if I can handle it! One of her favorite things to do is to use one of the MANY flower cutters I have to cut cheese! hahaha...Cut Cheese! Sorry...juvenile. So today Miss A did a very elegant display of cheese flowers atop some seasoned green beans. Chopped turkey breast fillet, tomatoes, grapes, and a Babybel cheese because one she loves them and two it helped keep all the pieces in her lunchbox nice and snug! Just so you know...this food was leftovers from last night!!! It's ok moms to do leftovers occasionally. Especially if they liked it the first time! ha! She also packed her little thermos with rice. Yummmm....Go Alexa go. Now tomorrow they are having Pizza sticks in the lunchroom so she is going to try the cafeteria!! So no bento tomorrow...she did say she wanted to make her baby brother Maxim a rocket ship lunch! ha!

The Kissing Hand.....

Not going to lie we have been out of the habit of posting bentos so forgot to post Alexa's bento from yesterday! So two pictures today. 

On the first day of school I must admit I was super sad, as most parents are apparently, because Alexa came home with a poem called The Kissing Hand:

It's my first day of school

And the "Kissing Hand" is what we read.

It's about a raccoon

Who did just as his parents said.

Like the raccoon's first day of school

I was scared and a little shy.

But because of what you said

I was brave and I got by.

All through the year

I'll make more things for you.

So as I change and as I learn

You can see my growth, too!

Now the tears are flowing again!! haha! Here are Miss A's bentos for Tuesday and Wednesday her 2nd and 3rd day of Kindergarten....*sniff *sniff...

Day 3 of Miss A's Kinder Bentos - Turkey sandwich with a cheese raccoon, chips, raspberries and the last of the cookies Nanny Margie gave to Alexa!! The eyes, nose, and ears of raccoon are organic fruit strip pieces. 

Day 2 Miss A's Kinder Bentos - mac and cheese, cookie, organic chicken strips,  mandarin oranges, black olives, with fun bento food picks!!

Miss A and I featured in online newsletter.....

Crazy I know....but Miss A and I were asked this summer to write an article about Bento's and how to make them. It is a feature about helping kids eat healthier. We had a lot of fun and feel super special that were asked! I think it was also the jumping pad to get Alexa back on track and ready for the school year and making her own bentos 100%! I guess I will have to start making my own... Ha!

Click below to be directed to the link for the newsletter:
http://www.essentialformulas.com/newsmanager/news_article.cgi?news_id=89&alt_main_prefix=alt-main-&no_date=1

She's baaaaack!!!!

Well it has been an eventful 24 hours in the Zielinski household. Miss A has been the star of the day. First day of Kindergarten is such a big day! Our first born little princess was so ready to walk right in and get her day started. When she got home she said there were so many great things she could not just name one thing!
Well over the weekend Miss A decided she was ready to make her own lunches on her own terms. So Miss A is baaaaaack! No weekly themes, no crazy details, and no MOM!!! Ouch! Ha! She dragged out her step stool, went to the pantry and pulled one little cutter....a bear. That's all. Simplistic beauty...

Four little bear sandwiches, cut up pears, edamame, and pirate booty!!!

A Wacky Day!!!

A wacky cake that turned into a wacky day!

Some special friends of ours were celebrating their daughter's 6th birthday who is also a very good friend of Miss A's. So when her mom told me she was having a Madagascar circus themed party I knew it had to be spectacular and definitely wacky!!!
I love to make topsy turvy cakes but they are very time consuming and when you cut the layers there is always the chance that you cut too much or not straight enough and it just doesn't look right. They now have pans that are already shaped at an angle, but you have to buy more pans and in all sizes....that of course requires funds and space to store. I have seen some trends in wacky topsy turvy cake stands that basically tilt the cake for you! No cutting necessary! I looked up some stands on-line and found some to purchase anywhere from $99 to $500 for kits. Then I saw some DIY videos and pictures. All it took was a design I had in mind and showing my husband Henry the stands and he was so ready to try to make one! CHALLENGE ON!

Well the stand was complete and when it was time to stack the cakes I'm not going to lie, we had a few re-do's in regard to cutting the holes in the board but we got it!!!

Of course it wasn't just the wacky style cake that made this day wacky. As I was finishing up the top layer, which I had to access on my tip toes, my pregnant belly got in the way so I had to push the bar stool out of the way further. When I did it hit the corner post and came back on my foot! Let's just say my foot looked like the Hunchback of Notre Dame! My fabulous neighbor Michelle took me to the ER so Henry and the kiddos could deliver the cake!! The show must go on!!! 

Thank goodness my foot was just super bruised. I would post a pic of my foot, but it may be inappropriate. 

Bottom layer:

The bottom layer had Melman and Gloria!  

Marty and Gia sat on the second layer which was a harlequin pattern. When Henry delivered it since I was in the ER I was not able to help secure the cake in transit and the middle layer swung around and did get a little smashed. :(

The top layer had Alex the Lion of course!! And the fabulous circus tent. This was the layer that got me!

The birthday girl and her cake! 

Shower of Good Wishes and Good Cake!

I had the absolute pleasure to create a bridal shower cake today. I didn't know the bride but I had the opportunity to get to know her best friend in the planning of the cake. She is absolutely fabulous and has great taste. Just so grateful she trusted me with this special cake. The bottom layer was red velvet cake with white chocolate filing and the top layer was chocolate with a strawberry filling. Of course the outside was buttercream. Pink fondant pearls around the base of both cakes. The bridal dress was made of a corset style bodice with edible sparkle dust, a pink bouquet of flowers with pearl centers, and the skirted part of the dress was ruffled rose petals that were cut out and shaped individually and dusted with a hint of shimmer dust. Miss Alexa said someday when she gets married she wants a cake just like this! haha...I hope I have at least 20 years or so!!! Ha ha!

An "Engaging" Cake

I live in Collin County in Texas north of Dallas and in this area there are more kids between the ages of 0-5 then 6-18...which means we have a lot of baby stores, kid friendly restaurants, and you can't walk in the mall without getting run over by a few hundred strollers! Which explains why most of the cake requests I receive are usually a kid theme of some sort and pretty busy in regard to all the detail. It is a nice break to get a request for a more formal affair. I am starting to play with cake fillings so this cake of course had the usual buttercream frosting for all the outside of the cake. The bottom tier had buttercream in the middle, middle tier had a vanilla white chocolate, and the top tier had a strawberry preserve. I used a ribbon to wrap around the base and a type of coated raffia for that chic country look. Of course the chic can in place with the fondant magnolias with pearl dusted petals and gold shimmer centers. This what one of my favorite cakes to make for sure!!!

One Fine Summer Day...

Today was a special day for an amazing and beautiful little girl who is close to my heart. It was her first birthday and this little girl has taken to the water from day one! So it was fitting to have a swim party...

It's not summer without a beach ball, flip flops and an umbrella!

Smash Cake all edible except flower stem and umbrella!

Shells, flip flops, umbrellas, beach balls, and hibiscus flowers....can you smell the ocean spray? ha!

Not complete without the birthday girls name!!! ;)

Happy Birthday Jordan...so glad I got to spend this special day with you and I feel privileged to have made your special smash cake and cupcakes!

Those infamous ears!

Today was a birthday for a fabulous little girl with more gusto then I have in my little finger. She wanted a Minnie Mouse cake for her special day. I must say it is kind of nice to do a similar cake more than once. Usually each cake is the first time for me but I have done a very similar Minnie Mouse cake before for another fabulous little girl. Minnie Mouse is pretty awesome I must admit! The other duplicate cake I did was Lightning McQueen Cars cake. There is something special about Mickey and Minnie Mouse...makes you feel like a kid again! Just something about those black ears!!!!

"Laughter is timeless,

imagination has no age,

and dreams are forever."

              - Walt Disney

Bottom layer is chocolate with white buttercream, top layer is white cake with hot pink dyed buttercream icing. All other accents are all fondant and edible of course.

I free handed the lettering for her name so it would match the classic Walt Disney font. I hope I did it justice. 

Pikachu saves the day!

When I think of superheroes I think of your garden variety cartoon superhero like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Underdog, Mighty Mouse...you get the picture. But yesterday my hero was a Pokemon character called Pikachu! This yellow Japanese Pokemon creature from the media franchise of anime did not have to store electricity in its cheeks and release it in lightning-based attacks to save me...no...all this cute little red cheeked lightning tail had to do was sit on a cake and look adorable! So adorable in fact that young boys love him so much that even a Father cannot pass up an opportunity to make his son happy and present him with some form of Pikachu. Where am I going with this you ask? I don't really know...I kind of lost track on the Wiki reading up on Pikachu who is often found in houses, forests, plains, and occasionally near mountains, islands, and electrical sources like power plants. As I delivered this cute little fondant Pikachu to a mom who was making her son happy presenting him with a cake, I somehow got pulled over by a man of the law. Not the Lone Ranger...my Armada could have outrun that horse! haha...sorry. Anyway...as I pulled to the side to see what this man of the law needed I misjudged the shoulder of the road which was not really a shoulder but more of an armpit and I could hear the cake box slide and hit the side of the car. I got out to check on the cake, after the police officer nicely with his hand on his gun asked me not to make any sudden moves...and when he saw the precious yellow Pikachu perched atop the cake...he smiled...and I knew I had him right where I wanted...I mean...I knew he had a son who would love a Pikachu cake. It wasn't a bribe per say, just a mention. I drove off with a smile on my face and a piece of paper that "warned" me not do it again. Thanks Pikachu, I choose you as my hero!