Musically Themed Cake

Congrats to Matthew and the whole Lineberger family on completion of your senior recital!  I was honored to make four cakes for the reception following the recital, and this cake was the centerpiece of the cakes.  It is a 9"x13" underneath an 8" round cake.  It is a yellow cake with vanilla buttercream and fondant piano keys. 

Dora The Explorer Birthday Cake

For a finished look at the cake, click here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=638252011237&set=a.638196886707.2140105.54603115&type=1&theater

This cake is made from yellow and chocolate cake, buttercream icing, and has fondant accents.  It sits atop a base covered in fondant and accented with ribbon.

Lila's First Birthday

Happy Birthday to Lila, the cutest baby in my neighborhood!  I was honored that our friends (and her parents) asked me to make her cake.  I made a six inch round cake for Lila, and a sheet cake for everyone else.  Both cakes were almond butter cakes with buttercream icing, and they were delicious!

A Graduation Cake

Congrats to grads everywhere!  This cake was made for a graduate from the divinity school at Gardner-Webb University, who graduated today.  It is a two tiered square cake, consisting of red velvet cake and white chocolate cake, iced with vanilla buttercream with fondant making the divinity school symbol. 

 

Sheet Cake

This post is dedicated to Beth, a former coworker who is moving to a different state and a new career.  Congrats!  I had the honor of making her cake for the going away party.  It is a yellow cake, and you can see it's frosted with chocolate buttercream and decorated with buttercream borders, writing, and flowers. 

Three Tier Offset Square Wedding Cake

Below is a wedding cake I made this past weekend for a great couple.  Congrats, Kristen!  Kristen wanted a square, three tier cake with black and red ribbons, swiss dots, and offset or twisted tiers.  Here's how it came out:

A close-up.  The ribbon and topper are not edible, but everything else is.

The cake table, putting the cake in perspective.  The tiers measure 6, 9, and 12 inches square. 








The top tier is a white vanilla cake, the middle is chocolate, and the bottom is red velvet.  All three layers are decorated in buttercream icing.

Black and White Wedding Cake

Again, congrats to newlyweds Dana and Tyger Elton!  Here is their wedding cake, a four tier creation in white chocolate and red velvet.  The outside is entirely buttercream with a ribbon around the base of each tier. 

Groom's Cake- Fishing Theme

Congrats to newlyweds Dana and Tyger!  The bride, Dana, ordered this groom's cake for Tyger, who is a very skilled fisherman.  Groom's cakes are the place in all the wedding stuff where you can really cut loose and have fun with decoration or theme. 

While it's sort of tradition to have a chocolate groom's cake, ironically the two grooms cakes I've made are both red velvet.  This cake is covered in cream cheese icing and the decorations on top are fondant. 

Doodle Flower Cupcakes

When my friend Kim needed some cupcakes for her daughter Rachael's birthday she asked me to make them.  The party had a theme of pink flowers with yellow centers, and Rachael wanted chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting.  This is what we came up with:

I have named them "doodle flower" cupcakes because it reminds me of the flowers I draw when I'm just doodling.  The cupcakes are a homemade recipe involving melted semisweet chocolate, and the buttercream is traditional vanilla buttercream.  The flowers are made of colored fondant. 



Wedding Shower

This cake was created because the bride preferred chocolate buttercream.  The actual cake is white chocolate, and there are blue fondant ribbon roses.  This would also make a great birthday, shower, or non-traditional wedding cake.

A Very Hungry Caterpillar

Last year I did my first birthday cake, modeled after Eric Carle's Very Hungry Caterpillar.  The body is made from individual cakes baked in a special caterpillar pan and then frosted and covered in fondant.  For a fun touch, I threw Oreos in the food processor to create the dirt that the caterpillar is crawling around on. 

A Baby Shower Cake

If you're just logging on to this blog to see pictures of my cakes, my apologies for not updating!  I have done cakes since 2008.  This blog is to serve as a way to let anyone who may be considering me to see what I've done thus far. 

With the apology out of the way, on to the cake!  This cake is a white cake with a light lemon flavor.  It is decorated in buttercream with fondant dots. 

A Christmas Present

Debra, the stepmother of the friend for whom I made the wedding cake in August, asked me to make a cake like that one for a Christmas gathering. I once again whipped out the white chocolate cake recipe, which seems to be my new signature cake, and set to work. I had originally thought about decorating with (fake) poinsettias and/or cranberries, but I couldn't find any decent fake poinsettias and I couldn't figure out what to do with just cranberries. Dilemmas! So, I bought some pretty ribbon and packaged it up like a Christmas present. Here's what came out.

My Great Grandmother's Birthday

For my great grandmother's birthday, I wanted a cake that would be cute and festive, but we also wanted something nicer than a sheet cake with "Happy Birthday" written across it. You only turn 102 once, you know!

So, I adapted Wilton's "Quiet Violets" cake and came up with this. The top messed up just a little before I could take the picture, but I think it is still a good representation.

Cupcakes!

Don't get me wrong; full sized cakes are great and the decorating possibilities are limitless, but sometimes, a cupcake is just what hits the spot. They're conveniently pre-portioned and have made quite the comeback within the last few years. So much so that entire blogs and cookbooks are dedicated the the glory of a cupcake.

I must confess that this particular cupcake was not made from scratch (although I am working on a scratch version); it is a recipe from Anne Byrn's Cupcakes! From the Cake Mix Doctor. This indispensable little cookbook features creative and delicious cupcake recipes and decoration ideas for all occasions and tastes.

The flavor of these little cakes was unexpectedly a hit with everyone. They're Cappuccino Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Mocha Buttercream. Even those who aren't so hot on coffee loved these! So, if you want me to bake something fabulous for you, don't forget these little cakes. I can do many flavors and can also adapt these same flavors to layer cakes. If you so desire, I will work to get it right from scratch.

So, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy a cupcake!

When Nesiya, fellow Gardner-Webb alumna and new bride, contacted me about a groom's cake for her new husband, she envisioned a cake made of red velvet and something showing his love of the Dallas Cowboys. I suggested a cake shaped like a helmet, and she liked that idea. Below are the fruits of my labor. The cake is traditional red velvet, but instead of the traditional cream cheese frosting, I used white chocolate buttercream. We found it complemented the cake really well, and it fit the request of buttercream from Nesiya.

Thanks for viewing my cakes!

Lauren

Welcome!

As Marie Antoinette said, "let them eat cake!" I've made it my mission to carry that out. Welcome to my cake blog, which I hope will be a good introduction of my work to you.


After becoming addicted to the Food Network, planning my wedding, and taking a cake decorating class for fun, I decided that cake decorating is fun- so much fun that I want to do more it more often. I love the fact that I can help others with their special events while finding a creative outlet.


I am based in Shelby, NC and currently run a small operation. All posts following will be the cakes I have decorated. If you are in the area and want a cake, please feel free to contact me by leaving a comment or e-mailing laurenmgivens@gmail.com.

Some background information:


All cakes are homemade by me, so you are automatically buying a gift made with a lot more personalization and care than a frozen, factory made cake from a supermarket bakery.


I am willing to travel, so if you are not right in the Shelby area, that is OK!

I will make just about any flavor cake you want, but some that I make include:

• Yellow Butter Cake


• White Butter Cake


• Chocolate


• Devils Food


• White Chocolate Cake


• Red Velvet

If you don't see the cake of your choice on the list, don't worry! I will work with you to create the cake you want.

Currently I do not have a price list but a quote can be worked up after we establish what you want.

Valorie's Wedding Cake

My roommate from my freshman year, Valorie, was married to her long time boyfriend and fiance, Kris on August 16, 2008. Deciding to move up her wedding date and wanting to be economical, she asked yours truly to make and decorate her cake. While she wanted a cake to cut and save, her main wish was for decorated cupcakes. She wanted flowers on each cupcake, and, since her colors were light and dark pink, we alternated colors on the cupcakes as well. Below are pictures of my work.

This first picture is of the whole cake/cupcake combination presentation.
Below is one of the cupcakes. I apologize for the less than professional photography. In my worry over my first big cake project I forgot to take a camera so all these are taken with a cell phone. The cupcake is a white chocolate cupcake with cream cheese frosting. The flowers are colored fondant. We alternated lighter and darker pinks. The centers of the flowers are the frosting as well.

Here are two pictures of the cake itself; a sort of overview and a side view. Wanting to allow the cupcakes to shine for their own decorative merit, we opted to keep the decoration of the cake simple. Valorie chose dots with a beaded border and we stuck some of her gerbera daisies on top. The cake was a different variety of white chocolate and the icing is also white chocolate icing. The coordinator of the reception said it was the best wedding cake she'd ever had.