A very special first birthday

I had the opportunity this week to do another Icing Smiles cake. These cakes continue to be some of my favorites to do, because I get to bring a smile to someone's face, who is otherwise facing very, very challenging days. It is such a small effort on my part, and it's an honor to have an impact on someone else's day.

This cake was for a first birthday celebration for a little boy who has been in medical care since birth. It was such an important celebration for the family, who has dealt with so many ups and downs over the past year, and I'm lucky to have been a part of it. I was even able to meet the little boy when I dropped the cake off!

No specific theme was requested, so I thought a general transportation theme would be adorable for a little boy.

Final cake! 

Mark's family LOVED the cake, and I'm so happy to have been a part of their special day.

xoxo,
Clare

A Lovely Cake for a Lovely Couple

My wonderful friends Emily and Stephen shared a joint 30th birthday party this weekend. Emily's birthday is in December, and Stephen's birthday is in March, so they decided to co-celebrate at the end of January!

They are a fun, sophisticated, and lovely couple, so they needed a fun, sophisticated, and lovely cake. The colors were black, white, and metallic, so we obviously went with that in a gender-neutral theme. To support the celebration, we of course went with a 2-tiered champagne cake with champagne Swiss Meringue buttercream icing. This gave me the opportunity to try a new recipe, as well as a new decorating technique. I was also able to test out the timelapse function in my iPhone camera! Super fun.

If you don't know about damming your filling, you should - adding an icing dam
around the edge of your cake is critical to ensuring that your filling doesn't leak
out when you stack your layers!

Such a fun and sophisticated theme!

I was worried there wouldn't be enough cake, so I made
cake pops dusted with gold and silver stars as well.
Spoiler alert: there was definitely enough cake!

Check out this spread!

And check out this gorgeous couple!

If you are interested, here's my timelapse. I definitely need to figure out a better setup/location for my phone, but this app is pretty impressive (even with this horrible angle!):

Thank you to Emily and Stephen for inviting me to be a part of their celebration!

xoxo,
Clare

Life update

Unrelated to Caketacular, but an important update on some new developments in my life! I've decided to leave Wilton and have accepted a position at a research and strategic consulting agency. Prior to joining Wilton, my professional experience was all on the supplier-side of market research. I never thought I would go client-side, but the opportunity at Wilton was such a perfect match for me, and allowed me to combine my professional skills with my personal passions and interests.

Working at Wilton was an incredible experience, but I've decided to go back to the supplier side - this will allow me to learn new research techniques and broaden my skill set - an opportunity that I wouldn't necessarily have at Wilton since I was leading the research department myself.

Never fear, though, the baking and decorating will continue!

xoxo,
Clare

Metallic magic

A colleague and friend asked me to make a cake to celebrate her mother's 60th birthday. She was looking for something simple and elegant, so we went with a rustic icing texture and metallic sugar pearls around the bottom of each tier:

Just goes to show that you don't need to go fussy to go beautiful and sophisticated!

xoxo,
Clare

Dia de los Muertos

This fall, I participated in another decorating competition through Pastry Chicago and The French Pastry School. This was the 8th Annual Haunted Cupcake Competition, and the cupcakes were judged based on their originality and being haunted, funny, or scary. I wanted to do something intricate and beautiful (versus gory), so I decided on a Dia de los Muertos theme. I made Ginger Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing, which I topped with fondant sugar skulls and roses:

All the cupcakes were evaluated by an incredibly distinguished and intimidating panel of judges: Chef Nicole Bujewski, Chef Instructor of The French Pastry School of Kennedy-King College at City Colleges of Chicago, demonstrated several techniques perfect for decorating Halloween cupcakes and beyond. The panel of judges included Memo Aguilar, Pastry Chef at Vanille Patisserie; Evan Bockenfeld, Manager at Magnolia Bakery; Angela Kelly, Management Recruiter at Mariano's Fresh Market; Elysia Root, Owner/Pastry Chef at Elysia Root Cakes; Kathy Summers, Executive Director of the Illinois Restaurant Association; and Joely Vargas, Production Manager at Magnolia Bakery.

And, shockingly, I came in third place! I can't believe my cupcakes were judged by such heavy hitters in the pastry world!!! It was such a fun competition, and I can't wait to participate in more events in the future. 

xoxo,

Clare

A Hollywood send-off

A dear friend of mine was recently offered an amazing opportunity to move to Los Angeles to help build out the West Coast office for her company. Although I am disappointed to see her go, I'm so proud of her accomplishment and know she is going to be incredibly successful in her endeavors!

She had a going away party at a local bar, so I made a two-tiered LA-themed cake, complete with the Hollywood sign and Santa Monica Pier and beach.

So sad to see Katie go, but so proud of her! And now I have someone to visit when winter gets unbearable here in Chicago!

xoxo,
Clare

Personal development

Sometimes, when I get blue or bored, I force myself to try something new or have a new experience. A few weeks ago, I took a walking architecture tour of a neighborhood near me, and it was such a great opportunity to get out of the house, meet new people, and learn something new. This week, I decided to try my hand at macarons, which I'd never made before. It was HARD, and I had to make two batches before I get them even close to right (the first batch went straight in the trash!), but I can't wait to make them again!

Pink with pretty metallic accents

Check out those feet!

xoxo,
Clare