Um, hey, remember me?

Well, well, well...where have I been? On vacation? I should be so lucky. Taking a 4 month long nap? I wish. Also I think that's called hibernating. The actual excuse is that Kevin got a fancy new camera for Christmas and we wanted to wait until we had a fancy new computer to install it. So that's all. We were being snobby yuppies.

My hiatus from blogging does not mean that I have taking a hiatus from baking. Oh no, my friends, I have a few creations for you to take a peek at. Well only 5. But hey, I'm a grad student (for 3 more weeks!), so give me a break.

Let's jump right in, shall we. My first cake has a long series of complaints that goes along with it, so bear with me. I made this cake for Christmas day to take to Kevin's family friend, Marie's, house. Was it necessary? No. Did I sacrifice sleep for it? Why yes I did.

Let's begin at the beginning. This year I had the privilege of cooking and hosting Christmas Eve dinner for Kevin's family. I was delighted and also stressed beyond belief. I mean, Christmas Eve dinner is not to be taken lightly and I didn't even own napkin rings! After much recipe searching and many conversations that went like this:

Laura: "I could make ham. Should I make a ham?"

Kevin: "I have no idea. Ask my mother."

Laura: "Do you think I should try a duck? Do people like duck? Do I like duck?"

Kevin: "I have no idea. Ask my mother."

I decided on citrus glazed roast chicken, stuffed artichokes, and all other sides brought by family. That's not a cop out. Anyway, the point of all this is that I got up at 6 am on Christmas Eve morning, panicked and cooked and panicked all day and in the middle of it all, baked a cake. Then, late that night, after we managed to get all the drunk parents and aunts into cars (yes, with designated drivers, stop worrying), I started to decorate. I made it to bed around 2.

The next morning, which was Christmas in case you've lost track, I woke up at 7 to see that the gorgeous bow that I have created had never dried and was now a limp pile of fondant on my counter. Now, for those of you not familiar, fondant dries very, often annoyingly, fast. This should not have happened. So after returning from present opening and cinnamon roll eating and before heading off to Marie's, I made another one. And froze it. It was deflating by the time we got to her house. So we took some quick pictures and then I hit it behind a poinsettia.

Here are the few pictures we managed to snap before it headed completely south. I apologize for the quality, we forgot the camera and took the pictures with Kevin's cell phone. I know.

This next cake was my very first wedding cake! Now before you knock the chair over in shock and excitement, it's a very simple cake. My friend Lindsay was married this past December and I was honored that she asked me to make a cake for the celebration. She was incredibly smart (mental note) and decided to buy sheet cakes instead of wasting money on a giant cake that tastes only ok. She asked me to make something small and simple for them to cut. We decided on ivory with sugar pearls and a blue ribbon accent. Originally we had discussed adding fresh flowers to the top, but a few days before the wedding she found the cake topper from her grandmother's wedding and it was perfect. Take a look!

I couldn't be prouder.

Next up? Two baby shower cakes. The first is for the friend of my dear friend, Jenn. She passed my number along and when I spoke with the woman throwing the shower, I had a moment of distress. The nursery and shower are Winnie the Pooh themed. And I told her that I could make a Winnie the Pooh. Why did I think I can make a Winnie the Pooh? The only explanation I have is I experienced some kind of out of body experience.

For weeks I thought about the Pooh. (That's a gross sentence when I said it out loud). Jenn offered to come over the day before the shower and help me tackle this bear. I bought a small Winnie the Pooh cake topper so I could have a three dimensional image to copy and went at it. I have to say, in the end, I'm pretty proud of the result. It's not quite right, I'll give you that. It's more like a knock off of Winnie the Pooh that you might buy in ChinaTown. Winkie the Pooh. Winnie the Booh. You get the idea. I'm just glad not to have the bear haunting my dreams anymore. I can use the rest.

I made this cake for our friends Mike and Stephanie to celebrate their new little man. When I asked if she had any theme preferences she sent me to babybedding.com to take a look at their registry. (By the way, mothers to be, cutest. baby bedding. ever). Here's a picture of what the crib bedding looks like:

So cute you want to die, right? So took the blue owl (the easy one) and tried to replicate it for the cake. I think it's pretty adorable. This was also the first cake that had to travel out of the county and it was a pretty stressful drive to Tucson. Especially when Kevin suddenly veered to the right and the cake fell over. Good thing I was holding it or we might not be together anymore. (Kidding. Love you Kev!)

(Isn't she adorable?!)

Ok, finally we've made it to my final cake. This one is (gasp!) fondant free and I made it for my internship supervisor for her birthday. (Call me a suck up, I dare you.) It's my favorite red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting recipe and I wanted to try this technique that I found online for covering the cake with large frosting roses. I think it's gorgeous. Do I get an A?

Ok friends, that's all she (I) wrote. Sorry for the long delay, but I promise now that we are all set with overly expensive technology, you'll see new posts more often. I have 4 cakes to make in the next month so look for a post after graduation (May 13th!!!).