My Grandson's 1st Birthday!!!

Yesterday was my Grandson Paxton's 1st Birthday party!! It was a fun celebration and of course I have to share all the sweets we made for his party.





   
 
I have a very talented team of decorators that do the party cakes at the bakery, but for his birthday, this Grandma couldn't let anyone else do the cake. 

This was his smash cake...

 

  


A close-up of some of the details on the cake.

The cutest cookies to go with the theme!

And, some cupcakes too!

The dessert table...

Happy 1st Birthday Paxton!!!

Love, Grandma

I love making pies...

One of the best equipment purchases I have made is our pie crust forming machine. We make our pie dough from scratch...no mix or ready-made crust is ever good enough.  We mix the dough and let it rest in the refrigerator over night. Then each dough ball is put in a pan and placed on the machine. At the pull of a lever it presses out a perfect crust.  The crusts are filled and for our fruit pies, a top crust is added. We seal with a crimper (shown below), but I like a hand pinched edge. So after a few pinches, it's ready for the oven. Beautiful! 

 

Rockin' the Roundhouse at WSU

We had a great time last night at Wichita State's Rockin' the Roundhouse, the annual fundraiser for the athletic department.  If you haven't been before it is where you get to walk around and sample lots of different foods from various Wichita restaurants. 

We sampled our pies, cut-out cookies, drop cookies and our new cupcakes.

The cupcakes got rave reviews. We served lots of different flavors.

And, I think my girls had a good time too!

Trip to the International Bakery Industry Expo in Las Vegas

I just got back from a convention in Las Vegas and wanted to share my trip with you.  It was a huge convention, one of the biggest I have ever attended. There were suppliers for equipment, ingredients, packaging and decorating supplies. I also attended some great seminars and workshops. These trips are invaluable to me. I gather so much industry information and come back excited and energized.
  

 Here are decorators who have competed on the food channel.  This is Courtney Clark demonstrating a fun topsy turvy cake set-up that I can't wait to try...Lowes, here I come!

A couple more decorators I have seen competing on TV.  I can't remember the one on the left...but Marina Sousa in on the right. She always wins her cake contests. 

 Various shots from different booths...

There were also a couple of competitions being filmed by the Food Network.  This is a chocolate challenge...the pieces they were building looked amazing.

 

 This was a baking competition...

The United States Entry

A closer view...it is all out of bread!

One of the best things about these trips is seeing my bakery owner friends.  I don't get to see them very often with the hours that we all work, and the couples above both own bakeries in Texas. But it is so great to see them at least once a year to catch up!

New Chocolate Peanut butter Dessert Cake

Chocolate Peanut butter Dessert Cake

Our love of all things chocolate & peanut butter got us thinking of a new dessert cake and this is what we came up with. It is our moist, rich chocolate cake split & filled with a peanut butter cream filling, iced with peanut butter buttercream and finished with chocolate ganache & peanut butter candy. This is definitely my new favorite cake...is your mouth watering yet??

3-D Cakes

 

I hear all the time from customers how much they enjoy watching the cake shows on television. And, you know, my staff and I love watching them too. It is so much fun to see the crazy and extreme cake designs.  That's why we love it when some one comes in to ask for something other than a typical sheet cake.   

Cake Artist Kristal working on sculpted dog

I have a talented team of cake decorators that are ready to bring your idea to life in cake. Stop by and let's brain storm something extra special your next occasion!  There isn't anything I've seen on those shows that my staff & I couldn't do. 

We do dream in sugar, you know!

CUPCAKE CRAZE!

What is all this talk here in Wichita about cupcakes lately??! We have been making decadent cupcakes for a long time! 

 Check out all of our fabulous flavors of cupcakes. Bet you can't eat just one!