Today marks the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day and to celebrate I've done two things.  1) I've partnered with Sustainable Travel Store to create a cake (because what better way to celebrate than with cake) And 2) I'm announcing my sustainable promise, which is this ...

I've been keeping a big secret ... I'm going to be on the Food Network!! I'll be assisting the amazingly talented Shannon Davie of The Happy Caker as we compete in this season of Halloween Cake-Off.  

Set your DVRs right now!! The series premier is tonight (Sept 23) and our episode will air on Monday, October 7 - check your local listings for times.  

I've had this as a personal policy for some time now.  However, after the November 2018 shooting in Thousand Oaks at the Borderline Bar and Grill, where survivors of the Las Vegas shooting were killed, I made it an official policy posted on my website.  I didn't blog about it then, but now, after the shooting this weekend at the synagogue in Poway, CA - I feel obliged to make it 100% clear.  I am an "gun free zone."  If you want a gun on your cake, I will not do it. 

In terms of engineering, I did my most complicated cake this weekend for my nephew's first birthday party (family members = cake guinea pigs).  It was a gravity-defying electric guitar "leaning" up against an amp.  Both the guitar and the amp are cake! 

 I got a lot of questions so I thought I'd share a look behind-the scenes.  Here's how it was done. 

This was my fourth year entering the Orange County Fair cake decorating competition.  This year I entered the Wedding division and took home 2nd place.  I look forward to this every year - it's a time for me to be the client, use some of my favorite techniques and mediums, push myself out of my comfort zone and try something new and scary.  This cake accomplished all three.  

No, I'm not talking about love.  I'm talking about little kid fingers & cake.  Below is the cake for my baptism (circa 1982) and the two hooligans caught in the act are my older sister and cousin. 

So here is the lesson.  ALWAYS TAKE YOUR PHOTOS BEFORE THE KIDS ARRIVE! You're never going to stop kid fingers from finding cake (again, they are magnets).  But you can take photos of the cake before the two collide.  You're welcome.

Today I'm celebrating the conclusion of my second year in business! And what a year it as been - no sophomore slump here!! The question I get asked more than anything by family and friends is - "which cake is your favorite?"  I tried, I really tried to pick ONE single favorite cake from my second year in business. 

​From October 2016 to October 2017, I had a 90 different cakes to choose from, but I just couldn't do it.  All my cakes are my babies and are my favorite for different reasons.  I was lamenting about this to my hair stylist (p.s. if you're a bride looking for great hair & makeup, she is your gal!) and she gave me a great idea ... categories!  So we did a quick brainstorm on some category options, and I posted on Facebook & Instagram asking for your input.  

So, without any further ado ... I give you my many favorites!

I was just coming down off the excitement of the Wedding Chicks feature and the viral spread of my cake on Instagram when I was contacted by Woman's World Magazine.  They were working on a story about wedding cake trends and had found a few of my cakes on Instagram that they wanted to feature.  Just a few days later the story came out!