My late goodbye to 2011

I did not get a chance to say goodbye to 2011 as it was a very busy time for me.  So I am just going to put in a quick goodby to 2011 before I get on to the new year - even though I have already posted my first order for the year.
My middle son Matt got married to his delightful fiance Bec on 9th December and of course I had the pleasure of making the wedding cake and the cute thank you gifts for the guests.  The ceremoney and reception were held at Bilgola Beach.  My eldest daughter Jayde - owner of the infamous Little Paper Lane at Mona Vale www.littlepaperlane.com.au & husband Steve - were the brains & braun behind the decorations. The day was perfect given that there was a solid week of rain and a great time was had by all.

We were also given some more happy news to end the 2011 year.  Jayde found out that she is pregnant and due to have baby # 2 in May of 2012!  Yay! So that will now make me the very proud GG (gorgeous granny) of 3 very beautiful grandchildren - Iggy, Charlee and ? (we know that it is a little girl).  I guess I am going to be very very busy with cakes in the next coming years. 

And my other busy function during the year of 2011 was the planning of my Mum's 80th Surprise birthday party.  We found lots of long lost friends and relatives and got together to give mum a great surprise to celebrate her 80th birthday.  I loved the cake I made for mum - even though it was decorated under a bit of pressure whilst all the relo's were watching!  It was a great day and will be remembered for years to come.

So it was a very busy year with lots of celebrations throughout and maybe this year I will get around to saying goodbye before rather than after.  Goodbye 2011!

Happy New Year

Hello to 2012 and I can't believe it is mid January already. With the new year brings new year resolutions and I wonder how many of us actually stick to them? I am choosing to treat my new year resolution more like a 'to do list' - maybe the pressure won't be as bad! So on my "to do list" for this year, I must make a big effort to get onto my blogging more often. Yippee, I can tick that off my list because here I am blogging; just wish I was a bit better at it.


I have already started the year with my first wedding of cookies as favours and they went all the way to South Australia, so as I have not heard anything about how well they travelled I can only assume that they made it OK - not a good thing to assume things though!

My favourite wedding cakes

I can't believe how fast the last 6 months have flown by, but it is a good thing because it means I have been very busy cooking and delivering some very sweet and pretty things.  I have also had the pleasure of baking for some very lovely and very friendly brides recently and it makes life so much easier when we are all on the same planet.  It can be a very stressful time being a bride and making the day go as smoothly as possible and I love knowing that the brides are at ease at least with their cakes.  Here are some of my favourite designs:

The Month of March 2011

March turned out to be quite a busy baking time for me with many varied orders to make.  My beautiful neice, Courtney, was hosting a baby shower for one of her friends, who was obviously having a girl and I send these cookies up to her in Nelson Bay.

I wanted to make some special cookies that looked Sweet n Pretty to put into my daughter's shop - Little Paper Lane at Mona Vale.  I have been very fortunate to be able to have my cookies down at LPL and it allows me to get my cookies out there into the world where all the lovely customers who come into this beautiful shop get a chance to buy my cookies.  My daughter is very talented and clever.

I was asked to make a pirate ship cake for Max who was turning 6 years old and his party was going to be on the beach.  He was very very happy with his cake.

My next order was very very special because I was asked to make a bunch of cupcakes and a small cake for my dear friend Grace on the celebration of her 50th birthday. 



Shop for Kids

My first claim to fame has come about with a feature of one of my cakes into the magazine Shop 4 Kids.  It was quite an honour to be asked to make a cake which would suite a boys birthday theme, with navy, light blue and white. 

In that very same magazine my beautiful little Grandson, Iggy, was featured modelling some very cute Peter Alexander PJ's.

The Month of February 2011

February was reasonably quiet baking wise for me, however it gave me a chance to start the house renovations. Well it was not actually me doing the renovations, but seeing as I have had my kitchen torn apart, it was quite relative as I did not need lots of orders to have to get out having to work under extremely hard conditions. I will post a pic of my work space later- it was quite a job.

So for the month of February, I was asked to make a 40th Birthday cake which was to double up as a Wedding Cake. The twist to the story was that Kylie was turning 40 and as far as her guests knew, they were to attend a birthday party and the theme was Hawaiian, but when they got there they were to find out that it was actually a wedding. When I delivered the cake, Kylie and her family were busy putting together decorations for a wedding and from what I heard later it was a great day and a huge surprise for all.


These gorgeous little treats were for my step-neice and a little party planned for her.

January 2011

It is now March 2011 and I have not had the time to update my blog because I have been kept busy with lots of cookies and cakes. To start the year off my first order was for a number one cake for a family member's sons first birthday celebrations, so I threw in some iced cookies to make his day and a surprise for mum and dad.


My daughters friend had a celebration party for her daughter's 10th birthday and they wanted some cupcakes with butterflies on them. Misty contacted me regarding some cupcakes and bright coloured cookie pops for her daughters 1st Birthday, so I got to play with some bright colours.

I have had the pleasure of meeting a lovely lady, who has quite a bit of bad health, but come out radiant and she was just so nice and she asked me to make some white cookies so that she could take them to a friends house for a dinner gift. She couldn't even taste the cookies herself because of her health, but she was so appreciative that I could do them for her.
I also made some bootee shaped cookies for a lady who was taking them to New Zealand and the follow up to that was that they travelled very well and proved a great hit with the NewZealanders, so good job to me and Annette. Monique was celebrating her 40th birthday with a blue and white texas hoedown and wanted a plate of star shaped cookies to match her party theme.

Melissa was celebrating her daughter, Elle's very 1st birthday and wanted some lovely butterflies to give to all her guests.

So that was the month of January that came and went so quickly, but it is so rewarding seeing my customers faces when they receive their special orders.

Christmas 2010

So let's say goodbye to Christmas 2010 and bring on a brand new year.

This Gorgeous cake used for a Christening

Fresh flowers were used to finish off this lovely cake. The bottom teir is an orange and poppy seed flavour and the top teir is a coconut flavour - both very tasty and beats the usual chocolate or traditional fruit cake.

A yummy GLUTEN FREE Chocolate Birthday Cake

I was recently asked to make a birthday cake for a girl who is a Celiac. I have a very dear friend who is also a Celiac and I know the dramas she has finding food to suit her condition. There are so many gluten free foods around now and it allows people to enjoy food that they used to be able to eat.

It's getting closer to Xmas

Xmas is not far away now, so it is time to start planning for some Sweet 'n' Pretty gifts. Why not say Happy Xmas with some perfectly iced cookies.

More very very Sweet 'n' Pretty

Butterfly Christening Cake