Oh Deere!

I think this may be the most challenging, and one of my favorite, cakes I've done so far. When a dear friend asked me to decorate a cake for her brother's 40th birthday, I was all for it. He's a potato farmer who loves John Deere, so they wanted a farm/tractor theme for the cake. All the little details posed a challenge, but I went for it and loved how it turned out! And when I was asked to make 2 cakes--one for a business party, one for a family party--I didn't hesitate...after all, if you're going to make one, you might as well make 2! :)

One of the best things about this cake is that my friend baked the cakes and made the icing for me-so all I had to do was decorate. I think I could get used to that. Maybe I need to hire an assistant. ;)

The wagon full of vegetables was one of my favorite things about this cake...just looks like something out of a real farm!

These pumpkins were my favorite vegetable to make...so cute and round. The veggies were all fun to make though; I haven't done much fondant work, but I made all the veggies out of fondant--it was just like playing with PlayDoh!

These potatoes were definitely fun to make, too. I colored some fondant brown, then used a toothpick to give them some creases and holes, then rolled in cocoa to give them a dirty, earthy look.

Aerial view.

Thanks for looking!

Sweetly,

Rianne

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A cake 'fore' my love

This man is so many things to me. He is my best friend; God knew exactly who I needed in my life when I prayed for a husband....a wonderful leader, a great provider, the best place for good advice, a shoulder to cry on, a source of laughter and joy. He calms me, strengthens me, encourages me, helps me.

The man of the hour with his golf course cake and 'golf ball' cake pops (and with my assistant bakerella)!

Cakes signify a lot for me...they're a way I can express my love and affection for someone in a tangible way. So when Jon's birthday came up, I knew I wanted to make something special for him. This cake might look familiar...I did a golf course 'cake' made up of cupcakes for our brother-in-law's birthday a while back, and Jon was going on about how cool the cake would be in a cake form as well...so I tucked that thought away and knew exactly what cake I needed to make for his birthday!

The whole cake! I baked an 11x17 devil's food cake and then carved it in the shape of a golf course.

The golf balls were peppermints covered in white sprinkles, and the golf tee was shaped out of softened Mambas.

The sand pit is actually graham cracker crumbs!

The 'green' is my favorite part of the cake...pretty realistic looking! My mini bakerella loved helping with spreading the sprinkles for the green.

Happy birthday, Jon...I love you!

Sweetly,

Rianne

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Look who's 1!

It seems like just yesterday that this little man was born. As the youngest of 9, there's no shortage of love for this little guy...and lovable he is. Always smiling, easy-going, and ready with lots of kisses and hugs for my little Mya, it's been so fun to see him grow up into a little toddler--walking and starting to get into things!

Seriously, how handsome is he?!

So, after talking with his mom, I decided to go with turtle cupcakes, since they are the theme of his bedroom.

These sea turtle cupcakes were pretty easy to make...I just iced the cupcakes and used different candy--gumdrops, peach rings, spearmint slices and mini chocolate chips--to make the turtle!

I love my cupcake tower...look at all these cute turtles ready to be eaten!

Happy 1st birthday, Ty!

Have a sweet day!

Rianne

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'Tis the season!

How can you NOT love this time of year? It's such a cozy, festive time of year and I'm enjoying every moment of it with family and friends...setting up the Christmas tree, shopping for gifts, hot chocolate and games by the fire, making gingerbread houses, yummy treats, family and friend get-togethers. There's so much to be thankful for--especially when we remember the true meaning of Christmas!

The holiday season, for me, also means baking! A reason to make and decorate yummy treats can never be passed up by me. I decided to stick to just a few things this year, and focus on things I could package up for neighbor and family gifts.

I've been wanting to make and decorate sugar cookies for a while now, so this was a perfect excuse. I scoured some sites for inspiration and decided on snowmen, candy canes and Christmas trees! My royal icing started off quite a bit runnier than it should have been, so it made for some disappointing outlines on the cookies...but lesson learned :)

Simple, striped candycanes.

I think these trees were my favorite...clean and bright!

Happy little snowmen! I added some sugar sprinkles to the green scarf for a fun touch!

And all the festive cookies together...ready to be packaged up for delivery and consumption! :)

Wishing everyone a wonderful, happy holiday!

Rianne

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