Coco Cake Land

A Whale Of A Cake: A Birthday Cake for James!

noreply@blogger.com (lyndsay) — Tue, 21 May 2013 22:36:00 +0000

From James's mama Lisa:

"His most favourite thing is... orca whales! It is ridiculous how obsessed he is! I'm not sure exactly where this came from but he is cray for orcas! Blue balloons - when I asked him what he wanted for his birthday he told me a blue balloon! Adorbs."

The guy is turning three years old. He is the cutest little munchkin with a truly sweet disposition and he likes to run around at top speed.

Blue balloons and orca whales? Coco Cake can do that for ya, James! I made the orca whale out of rice krispie treats covered in fondant.

Love how that nutty whale is waddling around on a big old pile of pretty blue vanilla buttercream.

Lisa tells me to watch out - Teddy's gonna be a running around nut, too!

Happy birthday, beautiful little guy! I love how he's happily holding his ballooons!

Thanks Lisa and Shawn for the fun order!

xo Lyndsay

Little Rainbow Party

noreply@blogger.com (lyndsay) — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:22:00 +0000

I was inspired by this beautiful wooden rainbow stacking toy to create a simple rainbow party! Nope, no buckets of crazy colored buttercream or tie-dye cupcake insides or layers of coloured cake here! Just some lovely vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream, dressed to impress in every-colour-of-the-rainbow cupcake liners and fashioned with colourful flags.

Children's parties needn't always be jacked to the nines! All you need is a selection (even three different colours!) of cupcake liners, a few rolls of Japanese washi tape and the cutest inspiration: your baby's own toys.

You can even use those coloured cupcake liners to make a very cute and very easy festive garland, as I wrote about here - the striped liners with the white centers work great because they look like stripey little starbursts. Simply open cupcake liners flat, and use clear tape to adhere them to a few feet of string!

And yes... you can have a cupcake! Two, even!

Thank you to Land of Nod for sending me the rainbow stacking toy and alphabet letters!

Cute Animal Cakes For Little Jacob!

noreply@blogger.com (lyndsay) — Mon, 13 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000

Gosh, a few years ago I did a baby shower cake for Alice, who was expecting a little one... and now, when the little babe has come out on the other side, I get to do his birthday, too! Lucky! (ps, why did the Doors just pop into my head? Free cupcake for you, locals only, if you know which song I'm talkin' about!)

This was a fun order for an animal themed party cake and matching animal faced cupcakes for little Jacob. One of his favourite animals is the panda! CUTE! Hope he liked his "ate too much zany bamboo" panda cake topper and cupcakes!

Thanks so much Alice for the awesome order and Happy happy birthday little man Jacob!

xo Lyndsay

Knot Too Shabby: Sailboat Cake + Easy Cupcake Liner Garland

noreply@blogger.com (lyndsay) — Fri, 10 May 2013 21:19:00 +0000

Guys. This is as easy as 1-2-3. We're talking easy party idea! "Mellow sailing theme!"

Make a sweet and easy garland using about 24 mini cupcake liners.

Make some cute sailboat themed toppers using craft paper, wooden skewers and washi tape!

Pipe your cake with a wavy buttercream ocean top!

Now, party all day and sleep all night! (that's the dream of the new moms!) I'll have a medium-large slice, please! Muffin top for-eva!

You can read more about this ridiculously easy party idea over on my guest post at the awesome blog You Are My Fave!

Pink Tiger Cake + Mini Ruffly Cupcake Buddies

noreply@blogger.com (lyndsay) — Wed, 08 May 2013 22:34:00 +0000

I kind of just want to cuddle this fluffy pink tiger face and give it a big old squeeze hug! But that's just not a cool idea! Especially since I have an aversion to food, namely dairy products, on my face.

Weird, yes. You won't see me indulging in a Cleopatra-inspired milk bath. Yuck!

Although since having baby Teddy in my life, "food on the face" has forcefully turned into a No Big Deal situation for me. Ha.

Back to the cake: very cute vanilla raspberry cake for little Angelina's 3rd birthday party, ordered by her Auntie Jenny! Angelina is a year of the tiger baby, hence the girly tiger cake. Love!

Happy birthday Angelina and thanks Jenny for the fun order!

xo Lyndsay

Burger Time! A Burger Cake Photo Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (lyndsay) — Sat, 04 May 2013 19:23:00 +0000

Hope you enjoyed this photo tutorial... anyone feeling hungry for drive-thru??

Full instructions can be found over at my post on the Craftsy blog!

Pretty as a Peacock Party Cake!

noreply@blogger.com (lyndsay) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:40:00 +0000

Our friend Joel is celebrating a super special milestone this month - marking one year of sobriety. He is a die-hard NHL Vancouver Canucks fan (even though he is from Montana) and has never been to a hockey game - so it seemed like the coolest and most special gift ever to give him two tickets to a Canucks game! We celebrated his one-year with a blue and green party!

I'm kind of into the idea of minimalist parties these days - maybe I have dessert table fatigue? Of course I love design and matchy matchiness and craft and the love and care that goes into a mega- coordinated party... but sometimes it's nice to just throw something together on the casual. I feel inspired by Jordan at Oh Happy Day for that. Her parties always feel like just enough party-time-ness - there's a modern simplicity to it - but never overdone.

Or, maybe I've just become party-lazy!!! Ha...

For party decor, I purchased two rolls of crepe paper streamers in blue and green at my local party supply shop for $2 each, and used them to make minimal decorations around the house. The good thing about minimal decor is it's not going to cost you an arm and a leg. I twisted the two together to make a loose easy garland around the window, then cut strips of streamers in alternating colours and taped them up to the doorway! I "finished" the edges by cutting a little "V" shape into them - nerd alert!

Testing out frosting styles with my two-toned buttercream!

And a close-up of the finished cake ... Isn't this, in TLC's words, crazy sexy cool!? Ha. Head on over to CRAFTSY for the full peacock coloured buttercream cake tutorial! Yes, I'm writing for the awesome Do It Yourself blog Craftsy now and I'm very excited about it!

And there ya go. Perfect for a simple birthday party, or a bridal shower, or a peacock themed party... or a one year sobriety party! Hooray Joel! We are so happy for you.

What are some of your favourite "throw a party on the fly" tricks? Would love to hear.

xo Lyndsay

Cute + Easy Cupcake Party

noreply@blogger.com (lyndsay) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 21:50:00 +0000

Sometimes all you want is to pull off a simple little party with not too many frills - just enough cuteness without going overboard matchy-matchy. Keep your next party simple with a casual times approach: afternoon party anyone? For the menu - sandwiches and juice, fresh fruit, potato chips and cute and easy cupcakes in colorful liners with just a few sprinkles for crunch and colour! Plus, one little cupcake flag that can't help but scream out "party!"

You can find so many cute cupcake liners these days online - the choices are endless! I'm always a fan of these red and white stripey guys. Colorful liners also means you needn't overdose on much food colouring. Of course, a red or blue frosting mouth once in a while isn't going to hurt anyone... and kids in particular love sticking their tongue out in the mirror and marveling at the crazy colour... :)

Decor? A teensy vase with one bloom can go a long way, too! I snipped this pansy from a potted flower plant in my backyard. Or, arrange a collection of mini vases with single blooms for even more party cheer! I have a collection of inherited vintage plates, along with a decent collection of cake stands - but really, all you need is one cake pedestal. Different heights can add interest to a party table.

What are your go-to tricks for throwing together a little party? Or can you not resist going nutso and working on every little detail, from the cake to the favours to the decor? (I've done both!) Do tell!

xo Lyndsay :)

Lemon Frill Buttercream Cake For Peti!

noreply@blogger.com (lyndsay) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:15:00 +0000

The amazing Erin's super cool mom celebrated her 60th birthday this past Sunday.. and she got an incredible present indeed... her first grandson, River! Eeks!

I had a visit with the little mini man himself, he was ten days old, and he looked like a handsome rascal already with his golden blond (accidental) pompadour and "California tan" skin. Erin was beaming and looked so happy and relaxed with her sweet new little babe.

Man. Life is wild, isn't it. Pretty, pretty great.

Erin requested a lemon cake for her mama - and of course I happily obliged - lemon with lemon creamcheese frosting. I also made a cute little cake bunting and matching flag - I love how such simple accoutrements can say "celebrate!" Simple and sweet.

Happy 60th birthday Peti! It's going to be such a fun year with River! And congratulations dear Erin and Dave!

xo Lyndsay

t.y.p.o.g.r.a.p.h.y. cupcakes!

noreply@blogger.com (lyndsay) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 02:10:00 +0000

Cupcakes I made for my friend Lori's design class! Dark chocolate with vanilla buttercream swirls and my favourite round rainbow sprinkles. Did you know this type of sprinkles has a specific name - nonpareils, or hundreds and thousands, or "jimmies"...! Sprinkles are kind of like the cutest invention ever. They really do add a party-time vibe to cakes and cupcakes... is it because it's similar to confetti? Or do I imagine a wizard throwing a magic dash of tiny rainbow bits and casting a party animal spell... ?

^__^

Pretty Tri-Coloured Easter Cake & Tutorial!

noreply@blogger.com (lyndsay) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 03:06:00 +0000

Spring is upon us... Easter! But hey, this cutie tri-coloured rainbow cake would work for so many other events too - birthdays, bridal or baby showers, Pride weekend, coming out parties...! So much fun! I know everyone and their dog's pet cats have been rocking these rainbow multi-coloured layer cakes, but gosh darn it, they are so pretty and so fun to make... and when you cut into it... man, you just feel this giddy satisfaction... this primary school feeling of "I did it!"

This cake was inspired by my sweet cake pal Rosie at Sweetapolita - I recently watched her pastel swirl cake tutorial and was like, "I would like to try that!!!" So here ya go. My cake is much more... "rustic" looking than hers, as she is the MASTER! And my colours turned out way more vibrant than I had intended... I really thought I was going to make a pastel Easter cake... instead it turned out to be a little on the "crazy pants" side... hence the name.

Happy Spring, everyone!

CRAZY PANTS EASTER CAKE TUTORIAL

You will need:

1. Three 7 x 2 inch cake pans sprayed with vegetable oil and lined with parchment paper circles (for easy cake removal - or you can butter and flour your pans, too)
2. Vanilla cake recipe enough for one 9 inch layer cake - this recipe works! Or visit my friend Rosie for some great recipes! (or, no biggie here - go with a boxed cake mix!)
3. 4 cups of vanilla buttercream. This recipe by Sweetapolita will do great!
4. Three types of gel food colouring: I used Wilton brand gel colour in Violet, Sky Blue and Fuchsia.
5. An offset spatula to frost your cake with!
6. A piping bag fitted with an open circle tip, for filling your cake layers evenly (optional)
7. A little candy egg, and a toothpick with some craft paper or washi tape for a flag (optional decoration)
8. Three medium sized bowls to mix colour into your cake batter, and into your buttercream.
9. A bench scraper to smooth and blend the sides of your cake - or you can use an offset spatula.

Okay! Mix up your cake batter according to the recipe's instructions, and then...

Once you have your cake batter prepared, divide it evenly into three bowls. Put a teensy bit of gel food colour in each bowl - you can start with less then add more if need be. Mix gently to blend using a spatula or spoon.

Place coloured cake batter into your 7 x 2 inch cake pans. You can smooth out the top with an offset spatula to even it out in the pan if you like. Place in oven and bake according to recipe's instructions.

Once your cake layers are baked and cooled, using a serrated knife, level your cake layers so they're flat. Then, begin to layer your cake using the vanilla untinted buttercream frosting! Divide the frosting in half and use the first half for filling and crumb-coating your cake.

I used a piping bag fitted with an open circle tip to create an easy and even layer of frosting, but you can easily just use an offset spatula or even a regular old butter knife to fill your cake with.

I layered mine with the purple on the bottom, blue in the middle and pink on top... looks like a cute little hamburger now, doesn't it!?

Time for the crumb coat! This is the frosting layer that seals in those pesky crumbs.

All done! Totally ugly here but not a big deal! At this point I place it in the freezer for the crumb coat to set, about 10-15 minutes.

Now time to mix the remaining half of buttercream into three different colours. Again, I went with purple, blue and pink! Easter!

Bring your chilled cake out of the freezer. Now time to frost the colours! I started at the bottom with my offset spatula, frosting on the purple. Then I frosted on a layer of the blue - then I started from the top with the pink and will connect the pink and blue.

Doesn't this look like a 7 month old baby made this!? (not to fear... I call this a cake in progress...)

Taking your bench scraper or your offset spatula, smooth all around the cake, combining the colours while you smooth it. Okay, "smooth" is a loose term with this cake! "Smear"??

But look! Even with not the very best colour-combining and smoothing job, cake looks so cute and festive and colourful!!! I used my offset spatula to create a little swirly effect on the top of the cake. Add a little candy chocolate egg and a matching cute flag and you are ready to PARTY!

Slice it out... don't be shy! Get your fork ready, too and call your buddies to the table.

Eeks! Then freak out at how mini-exciting it is to see the insides of a multi-coloured cake!

Take even MORE pictures with a slightly different set-up! Cake photography nerd!

And even MORE pictures! ^__^

Then... your work is done... you may eat your slice now... chomp chomp...!

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial, blog buddies! Happy cakeing to all!

xo Lyndsay

Lemon Lovely: Bridal Shower Cake for Katie!

noreply@blogger.com (lyndsay) — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 02:07:00 +0000

Our dear family friends and old neighbors the Butts are welcoming Katie into their family as she gets set to marry Donnie in May of this year in Palm Springs! We are so sad that we're unable to make it to the wedding! As kids, Donnie and I spent many years ripping it down Blackcomb Mountain in Whistler together and I have always been fond of him. It's so great to see him with Katie, she is such a kind and cool girl and just fit so easily into the family when she first came on the scene!

I was very happy to make a super cute lemon cake with lemon creamcheese frosting and matching mini cupcakes for Katie's bridal shower! The last pic is of the beautiful women of the Butt family, including adorable little Ivy... and Katie cutting into her bridal shower cake!

I am so very happy for Donnie and Katie - happy matrimony, you guys!

"Showers of happiness!" now and always!

xo Lyndsay

Pretty On The Inside: Simple Ombre Cake Tutorial!

noreply@blogger.com (lyndsay) — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 15:00:00 +0000

How about a slice of cake with that green beer?

St.Patty's Day is a "holiday" I don't think I ever partied to. Might be because I'm not a very good drinker, and I tend to avoid huge masses of drunken party animals. However, coloring everything GREEN seems like a real blast! For an everything green party I'd serve guacamole, sliced cucumber, mint chocolate chip ice cream grasshopper pie, kale chips... okay, all those things sound kind of gross together!! But how about a good old vanilla cake with green ombre layers?!

So easy to make and always so exciting when you cut into it and the slices are so prettily colored. You can make this cake for any occasion, and follow the directions for any inside-colored cake!

You will need:

1. Four medium sized bowls and four 7 inch round cake pans.
2. A vanilla cake recipe enough for four layers of cake.
3. Gel food colouring to make the ombre effect - I use Wilton or Americolor brand gel color. For this one I used Wilton in "Leaf Green."
4. Five cups of buttercream. You will need enough to fill the cake layers as well as make a crumb coat and pipe buttercream all over the cake.
4. An open star piping tip. For this, I used a Wilton 4B tip.
5. A piping bag
6. A cake board, cake stand or plate. I cover my own cake boards using craft paper, gluestick and a pre-purchased round cake board.
7. An offset spatula for frosting your cake - not crucial, you can also use a butter knife!

Make it!

1. Prepare your cake batter. Now, divide up your cake batter evenly into four bowls. In the first bowl, add a dab of food colouring (the gel colour goes a long way, so be careful!) and mix batter with a spatula until coloured. In the second bowl, add the same amount but then a little more. In the third bowl, add even more... and the fourth bowl will have the most food colouring. You get the idea, right? Ombre?

2. Bake the cake layers according to the recipe's instructions. Let cool, level your cakes (ie, using a serrated knife, carefully trim the cake so it's surface is flat and not rounded). Make your buttercream, and then:

Place the first layer of cake on your cake board, fill with frosting, and continue to stack the coloured layers, starting with the darkest colour first.

Then, start frosting the entire cake to create the crumb coat (the first layer of frosting).

Now your cake is frosted! Get your piping bag ready. Snip off the pointed edge of the piping bag and nestle the piping tip into the bottom. Fill the piping bag with buttercream, and begin to pipe the sides of your cake!

Pipe all around the cake. I usually start at the bottom and go up the top, then pipe the top of the cake, too!

Above, a closeup of what the 4B star tip piping looks like!

And finish your cake with a little matching party flag on top! See, no one's going to know this cake has a green surprise!!

But you may want to keep it out of reach of some excited baby hands... (half Chinese leprechaun?)

And that magic moment... a slice of pretty green ombre cake!

Happy St.Patty's Day everyone ... ! Hope you enjoyed this short and easy little tutorial. Now I'm itching to make more ombre cakes in various colours... so fun!

Slice of cake photo by Amy Tran

Cute Grassy Bunny Cake & Lavender Mini Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (lyndsay) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 21:35:00 +0000

I love this funny little cake with the mini white fondant bunny hiding in the grass! I love it especially too because it making it reminded me of how lucky I am to have such cool, caring and nice customers! I've made a few little numbers for the cake-loving Mack family over the years, and it was so nice to hear from Julie again! Her request: a bunny themed cake for a good friend's birthday, with lavender rosette mini cupcakes too. The cake was vanilla with raspberry jam filling and vanilla buttercream and I made a cute little colorful bunting to display on top of the cake, too. Love how a bunting can elevate a cake into a real party-time feel!

So Julie showed up to pick up the cake, and brought with her sweet presents for my almost 7-month-old baby Teddy! Soooo nice and thoughtful! We yacked it up for a good fifteen minutes, catching up and talking about baby stuff, and Julie held Teddy for a bit, too! He was pumped on his panda bear puffy book and cute owl blanket she brought... and I'm sure he drooled all over her!

Thank you so much Julie for the fun order, and again for the cute presents for Teddy!

xo Lyndsay

Hairy Pup Birthday Cake!

noreply@blogger.com (lyndsay) — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 17:34:00 +0000

A lovely hairy frosted vanilla buttercream pup cake made for my old high school friend Sandeep's awesome mom's birthday! I've had the pleasure of making cakes for his wedding day, and many other birthdays since... so nice to catch up with him every once in a while through the cake biz.

And... it's hard to believe but next year it will be our TWENTY YEAR HIGH SCHOOL REUNION. Yep, that's right... I'm no spring chicken! And I'm feeling the age HARD today because I went to "boot camp" fitness class yesterday with my pal Helen and am paying the pain price now! Been trying to ease back into a fitness routine, but maybe doing a super hard class for my first fitness class since having a kid wasn't the coolest idea ever. Oops.

But seriously, twenty years almost since I'ved graduated high school?? That's nuts. Time keeps rolling by like nobody's business. All one really do is try and enjoy every day and plan for some fun things to do in the future, too. When you're young you never imagine that you'll ever be 20, 30, 40 years old... but then BAMMM it kind of happens! I remember my dear friend Tara showing me this list of "rules for living" probably a decade ago... and I came across it again recently and it felt pertinent. So... Here it is! Don't kill me for being a nerd!!

xo Lyndsay

Chocolate Raspberry Purple Ruffly Cake Cuteness!

noreply@blogger.com (lyndsay) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 18:09:00 +0000

Honestly. Sometimes I just want to put it on my head and wear it around like a pillbox hat. But then it would tip and unbalance and flop on the floor and I would have a big old cakey buttercream insanity mess to clean up! No to wearing cakes as hats, says me.

This cake! I loved it. And it was for a really lovely baby shower for the amazing Miranda of Blue Olive Photography, and all of her dear and crazy-creative friends threw her this really amazing looking party. Jeanie and Andrea were behind the shower awesomeness set-up and gorgeous decorations, in such a cute colour palette - yellow, grey, blue, orange and purple! No one asked me to make the cake purple but when I think of Miranda's photography and style I think vibrant, fun and bright. Violet purple ruffle-puff buttercream cake just seemed like the right thing to do!

Thanks ladies for having Coco Cake as a part of the beautiful celebration.

And CONGRATULATIONS Miranda and Riley! Super exciting baby boy times ahead!

xo Lyndsay

Last photo of cupcake set up with adorable bunting by Jeanie Ow!

Ruffly Little Mini Baby Shower Cupcakes!

noreply@blogger.com (lyndsay) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 01:25:00 +0000

Cute little dark chocolate with vanilla buttercream mini cupcakes in a green and yellow colour palette made to celebrate the impending arrival of Marla and Arch's little baby girl! Wishing you guys all the best! Wild, beautiful times ahead!

xo Lyndsay

Dashing Grey and Flamingo Pink

noreply@blogger.com (lyndsay) — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 18:19:00 +0000

I have flamingo pink bath towels. We got them as wedding presents and I remember when we were choosing towels to put on our registry, it was the only thing that fired up my husband and I ... arguing over the colour of our future towels together. He wanted something mellower, maybe a grey blue or a chocolate brown. I saw these lush and bright Ralph Lauren flamingo pink towels and felt the need to aim the little beepbeep gift gun thingie at the tags.

Beebeep! Pink towels.

But we also got chocolate brown ones, too. Everyone wins!

It's been six years of flamingo pink and they're looking pretty raggedy these days. Towely threads coming off and just a well-worn look about them. And a new friend, dove grey bath towel, has moved into the bathroom.

An ode to the bathroom towels in cake form:

hot pink rosette cupcake and lovely grey linen placemat.

Raspberry Vanilla Cake!

noreply@blogger.com (lyndsay) — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 00:50:00 +0000

A little raspberry jam filled vanilla buttercream frosted cake for our amazing, incredible mom on her 68th birthday. (Right?? As if she looks 68!! ... pictured above with my son Teddy.)

Mom, in 5 short years you've become a grandma to 6 little ones! You are the one who brings the world around you together with your love, support, warmth, diplomacy, generosity, knowledge, openness, spirit and strength. We love you mom!!! Best poh-poh ever, too!!!

Happy happy birthday! Thank you for everything you do for your daughters and our children!!

Brody's Angry Birds 5th Birthday Party!

noreply@blogger.com (lyndsay) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 17:26:00 +0000

My cute and sweet little nephew Brody turned 5! This seems crazy to me... I remember his 1st birthday party, Totoro themed, where we spent hours making a backdrop of trees and leaves and mini felt Totoros and I sweated it out making oodles of cupcakes and a Totoro cake. I believe it was my very first fondant covered cake! I remember I was so nervous rolling the fondant and placing it over the cake, not wanting to screw up... now I can do it with such ease and confidence ... (most of the time... I still screw up!)... to those who email me with questions on how I got into cake making and whether or not I went to school for it, etc... nope... just time, practice, doing it over and over and always learning! Sucking at first but just getting better and better!

Brody really still is just like he was in his first year. Sweet and curious, big eyes and super adorable.... though now he knows so much, and loves his cars, Hot wheels track and Angry Birds! Kids can be encyclopaedic with their knowledge of things... like knowing every name of every Angry Birds character. Who knew they had names!?? Makes me wonder what my little Teddy (pictured above in the red bandana with his grandparents!) will get into? I'm kind of guessing cars too as it runs in both sides of his family. Although I'm excited to get him his own little play kitchen and maybe an easy bake oven in the future... heehee! Top Chef Baby! Or maybe I just want to play in the play kitchen. I am loving all the cute fake wooden food that's out there!

Auntie Coco Cake (me!) made Brody dark chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream, and a special Angry Birds "Terrence" cake just for him. Brody had a great time at his party - romping around with his cousins and little friends in the play gym, then sitting around a big table snacking away and colouring his Angry Birds colouring sheet. His friend Callum leaned over to him, holding up a veggie chip and said "Brody, I like your fries!" And Brody picked up one of his slim vegetable chips, looked at it and crunched into it, smiling, as happy as can be. CUTE!

Happy 5th Birthday BroBro!

Love you lots! xo Auntie Lynshee

Sweet Lillie's 1st Ruffly Pink Cupcake Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (lyndsay) — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 19:32:00 +0000

A cool thing about having a baby is meeting other ladies who have babies. You become mama pals. And your babies in turn become buddies! It's a wild ride, this baby roller coaster. But having cool new mom pals to hang out with is pretty sweet. I hadn't seen Yani in years, and happened to run into her one evening in September while I was gingerly, nervously strolling my two week old kid - was he going to stay sleeping? Would he blow his top and scream cry in the middle of the street, far away from the safety of our home?

It was my first venture out - going for ice cream. (I had chocolate peanut butter. Heh). Lo and behold there was Yani and her extended family - she had a kid too!! Not just any baby, either - the cutest, roundest, most styling little baby named Lillie! Adorable! Of course she would be styling. Yani and Paul, Lillie's parents, are Vancouver's most fashionable couple!

Yani asked me to make some pink ruffly vanilla cupcakes for Lillie's 1st birthday at Collage Collage. It was a wonderful little party, a giant pink balloon for the birthday baby, drinks and snacks, pompom making (i really wanted to make one!) and plenty of family and friends warming up the place.

So cute. Happy 1st birthday Lillie! Glad Teddy and I got to come and say hi!

xo Lyndsay

(photos of Lillie's party by Lynne Turner)

Happy New Year - My Dad's Birthday Cake and Well Wishes for 2013!

noreply@blogger.com (lyndsay) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 08:00:00 +0000

My dear dad celebrated his 69th birthday on December 17th... and it has become customary for me to make a DOG CAKE for him every year! Words could never describe how much my dad means to me, and how much his love and support of me has meant, especially over this past year. Dad, you are always there for my sisters and I, and now our children, too. You are such a kind, generous, amazing and hilarious dad. We love you lots!! And here is GLS with a very excellent perm and tuxedo at his brother Randy's wedding in 1975 (pictured with his mom and his own dad, in the background!)

The world is nothing to me without my family, and I am the luckiest person to have such an amazing family. And now I have a little one, too - my baby Teddy! How sweetly his little cousins love him and care for him already, it melts my heart. It's amazing how much love a little baby can bring, and how having Teddy in my life has given me the strength to be myself again. My heart is bursting.

Happy happy new year everyone! Let's ring in the sparkly, wintry bright arrival of 2013, and look positively towards the future and all of the amazing things it can bring!

Lots o' love from cake land and see you in 2013!

xo Lyndsay

Pink Ruffles, Pink Flags ... Love and Peace to all.

noreply@blogger.com (lyndsay) — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 17:34:00 +0000

I think of all the wonderful cakes and cupcakes I've made for so many beautiful children. That excitement of your birthday party when you're a kid ... a special day that's yours only, with treats and love and special words, hugs and kisses from family and friends and maybe even presents, too. The joy and innocence and sweetness of little ones.

I can't snuggle and hug my little baby enough these last few days, hold him close and love him so much.

May love and hope and goodness prevail in the world...

xo Lyndsay

Mauve Vanilla Buttercream Blackberry Topped Cupcakes!

noreply@blogger.com (lyndsay) — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 16:36:00 +0000

Pretty pretty mauve vanilla buttercream frosted vanilla cupcakes with a blackberry on top~ !

Cupcake Attack!

noreply@blogger.com (lyndsay) — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 20:25:00 +0000