What I've been up to...

It seems like every week 'blog' is on my to-do list, and it never seems to get done!  So I thought I'd just picture dump in one blog post and be done with it :)  Here we go:

Pretty springtime cupcakes for a wedding shower.  Double chocolate cupcakes with a raspberry filling...one of my favorite combos!  Topped with a dainty chocolate flower.  

Canucks hockey puck cake...fairly simple, but so fun and vibrant!

I love getting orders for boy cakes...seems like I do a lot of girly cakes, so it's fun to go out of the box sometimes :)  

Vanilla latte cupcakes for my little sis' birthday...um, yum. Recipe here. I used my regular vanilla buttercream and added some super strong coffee to it.

Mother's Day 'high heeled shoe' cupcakes to honor my wonderful mothers.  So blessed to have them in my life.  Lovely Pinterest inspiration for this idea...a cupcake with a Milano cookie inserted in as the 'sole' of the shoe and a Pirouette cookie as the 'heel'.  Not only are they cute, but the cookies are delicious too :)  Cupcakes and cookies...doesn't get much better than that.

Beesting cake.  Recipe from our church cookbook from one talented lady :)  I didn't use to be a huge coconut fan, but this cake has converted me.  It's my best.

Monster cake pops for 2 cute little boys' birthdays!  Love their little characters.  The eyes were ones you can get in a little package at Michaels or Safeway and made my life so much easier...no fiddling with chocolate or edible pens needed! 

And a cake for a mother-in-law's 60th? birthday!  2 tiered and decorated with royal icing flowers in blue and purple.  Vanilla cake with strawberry preserves and devil's food cake with a pastry cream filling, topped with a vanilla buttercream.  

Thanks for looking!  Have you been creating anything fun in the kitchen lately?
Rianne
PS...check back soon for a post with my girl's birthday party--lots of girly fun!

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Rainbow 'round me

As my sweet niece Lucy's 2nd birthday approached, my sister and I started talking cake ideas.  When she mentioned 'maybe something with rainbows?', I jumped on it.  I've been wanting to do a rainbow cake for a while now, and was excited to have the chance to finally do it!  Since the birthday girl had 2 birthday parties, we went for some fun rainbow cupcakes for the family party.  I just loved how it all turned out--I think it was one of my favorite cakes to date.  Bright, cheerful and happy... just like the birthday girl!  

All photos courtesy of my sister of Alyssa Brown Photography

Vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream, topped with a rainbow of Starburst jellybeans 

with marshmallow clouds!

Love this picture...rainbow themes are the best--so many options for bright, colorful candy and decorations! We found some cute colorful napkins, plates, and striped straws at Target that were perfect.

And my favorite part...the rainbow reveal inside!  Love the bright rainbow layers. 

Rainbow cupcakes...vanilla buttercream with candy tape rainbows and marshmallow clouds.

The sweet birthday girl!

Tie-dye rainbow colors inside the cupcakes!

Thanks for reading!  Have a sweet week,
Rianne

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Sugar, spice, and everything nice

Baby girl cake pops!  

Pink, pink, and more pink!  Last week we attended a baby shower for my beautiful sister-in-law and her little baby girl, who is due in April.  Needless to say, let's hope that baby girl likes pink and playing dress-up :)  It was so great to have Krissy home from Hawaii for a quick visit-it was a perfect chance to catch up over coffee, see that cute pregnant belly, and spoil her at the shower :)   

I of course had the perfect opportunity to try some new cake pops...pink, girly, what more can you ask for? :)  So, baby girl cake pops complete with soothers, bibs and hair bows...and pink baby rattles to round it out.  

The gorgeous mommy-to-be!
Photos courtesy of the talented Alyssa Brown Photography

Loving the little soothers, bibs, and hair bows.

and fun baby rattles!

We loved having you here, Krissy, and pray that the rest of your pregnancy goes smoothly....and quickly!! :)  

Thanks for reading!

Rianne

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Hoo's turning one?

I couldn't resist the pun. So bad, I know. I almost forgot to blog these owl cupcakes--I saw a picture of some owl cake pops the other day and was reminded of the cupcakes I made for my sweet little niece for her first birthday!

The 'Hello, Cupcake' cookbooks are always full of fun, creative inspiration...and since they use a lot of supplies you probably have in your house (rather than professional decorating supplies), they're written for the home cook. You should definitely pick up a book or two of theirs and check it out for inspiration! These owl cupcakes were from one of these cupcakes and have always been on my 'want-to-bake' list, so I was ecstatic when we decided on these for L's 1st birthday! I love how each one has its own character.

 Photos courtesy of the talented Alyssa Brown Photography.

Chocolate cupcakes with Oreo and Junior Mint eyes, Reese's Pieces noses, and chocolate cream cheese fur.  Yum! 

Happy birthday sweet L! (PS--isn't the banner my sister made adorable? Love banners!)

'

Thanks for reading!

Rianne

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Little princesses

With the huge Disney princess craze going on, princess cakes have been in high demand. They're pretty, easy to customize, and perfect for any girl! I thought I'd share a few of my favorites over the last couple years.

My most recent cake--the Tangled princess for a sweet friend of Ally's. I think this is one of my favorites...the colors, her pretty dress and her long hair. Love!

Princess Ariel (aside from the blond hair :) ) for a sweet neighbor friend. Love the versatility of the princess cakes!

Ally's 4th birthday cake...pink with ruffles, as requested :) I loved how this one turned out...simple and elegant!

Bright, happy princess! Perfect for any girly girl :)

And Princess Ariel is back! Pretty dress, yummy cake...can't get better than that!

Sleeping Beauty. This was for my niece's 5th birthday--we made it as a surprise for her, and seeing her face was 100% worth making this cake! :)

If you have a special occasion coming up, a delicious cake is the perfect way to celebrate! :) Contact me at rianne.kruyswijk@gmail.com for pricing and more info!

Thanks for reading!

-Rianne

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Tea party time...and a prayer request.

MIA...that's been me for the last 3 months. It's passed in a blur over here! Between being pregnant with baby #3 (and feeling tired/sick), getting an offer on our house, having a family reunion, packing, moving, and everything else in between, blogging has taken a backseat. But now that we're settled into our temporary home, I have a little more energy and I'm feeling a little more like myself. So I'm excited to share some of the things I've been up to in the last 3 months (although cake making has taken a bit of a back seat, too!).

First off I wanted to share Ally's 4th birthday party which was in June. Being the girly girl that she is, we went with a vintage tea party theme. I chose pink and green for the colors, and went from there. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea ;), but I love planning the girls' parties and spoiling them for a day! :)

Tea party invite

I made up custom printables for her party...just designed them in PSE and printed them onto cardstock--super easy!

Cake pops are always a hit at parties...so much easier to eat than a big piece of cake (especially when there's lot of other candies too! :) )

Tea cup sugar cookies!

I saw an idea for ice cream sandwich labels on Pinterest, and used the idea for juice boxes. So unnecessary, but so fun :)

And the whole table!

She requested a princess cake for her birthday again, so I couldn't refuse. She wanted the princess to have a pink dress with ruffles...I love how specific she was!

Princess cake...pink with ruffles as instructed ;)

I loved setting up this little table. I started off with a cute vintage table runner that I was lucky enough to get from my sister-in-laws wedding tables...then added some fresh cut flowers from our garden and a little place setting for each girl--cutest tea cups (thanks Karen!), a necklace and a vintage headband/flower I made up.

The girls' tea party table!

Individual place setting

It was a very fun, girly party with lots of giggling, tea sipping, crafts, games, dresses and laughs...perfect way to spend her special day.

All the girls...all of them are so special to Ally in their own way. So pretty in their favorite party dress!

And now for a prayer request:

My sweet three-year-old niece, Hadley, begins chemo (the first of 28 weeks) on Thursday for treatment of cancer in her kidneys. Please pray for a miracle...that she will be healed completely and quickly. Please pray for patience for her and her family, and the strength, trust, and perseverance her family will need to make it through this long journey. You can read her story and leave encouragement for the family at: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/hadleylodder

Rianne

(PS...big thanks to my sis, Julia, for taking these beautiful pictures and helping out with the party...she's the best!)

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Wedding fever!

It's the week before my little (well, younger) brother's wedding, and everyone has caught wedding fever! I still can't believe he's getting married...but he couldn't have chosen a better bride-to-be than Krissy. She is one of the sweetest, most genuine people I've met, and she's fit into our family so easily. It's going to be so hard to say goodbye next week to not just a brother, but also a new sister as they head to their new life on the Marine base in Hawaii. We know God will watch over them and keep them as they start life together.

The beautiful couple! Photo courtesy of Alyssa Brown Photography.

A couple weeks ago, we had a wedding shower for the bride-to-be. I offered to make a cake, since any opportunity to make a girly, pretty cake is too good to be passed up :) I went with a 3 layered cake--white, vanilla and chocolate flavors--decorated with vanilla buttercream swirl roses and simple pearl accents. Pretty and elegant, just like Krissy! :)

The inside of the cake is one of my favorite parts! Inspired by Annie of Annie's Eats, I wanted to do neopolitan layers, so I went with chocolate for brown, vanilla for white, and then colored the white cake pink. I love how it turned out...such a fun surprise when you cut the cake. And yummy strawberry preserves as a filling finished off the cake.

This week, it's on to wedding baking! Cupcakes, cake pops and a fun cake topper are in the works...fun times!

Have a sweet week! I know mine will be! :)

Rianne

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Birthday cake for a sweet 1 year-old!

This cake was so much fun to make. I had gotten an email a couple months back from someone who had been directed to my blog by a friend and loved what she had seen; she requested that I make her daughter's first birthday cake! It was so neat to go from just an idea a couple months back to bringing the cake to reality and delivering it to the birthday girl last week!

The client had a pretty good idea of what she wanted for cake, so we played off those ideas and her party theme, which included zoo animals. She opted for a 2 tiered cake with chocolate cake filled with strawberry preserves and a vanilla buttercream.

It was my first time making fondant figures, so I was a little nervous going into it. I still have a lot to learn, but I loved how these little animals turned out...they each have such character! :) The giraffe was the birthday girl's favorite animal, so that was a must. Then a pink elephant and a cheeky monkey rounded it out.

A number 1, a fondant gumball border in the theme colors, and a banner with the birthday girl's name finished off the cake.

Thanks for the business, R! I hope your party was a success and that little A felt better and got to enjoy some cake and partying!

Jon took a few pictures while I was in the process of making the cake...kind of a fun step-by-step photo collage!

Thanks for reading!

Rianne

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