Sweet Sixteen

De verassing was groot voor mijn lieve nichtjes; de jarige Julia en haar zusje Odile.

A Decadent Vintage Cake

Een decadent vintage taart voor de jarige vintage liefhebster Chloé.

 De taart is een moeilijk te weerstaan, overheerlijke, smeuïge worteltjestaart.

Inwendig is het lichtelijk gevuld, maar uitwendig echter is het rijkelijk besmeerd met cream cheese en daarna overgoten met witte chocolade.

Gegarneerd met in melkchocolade gedopen marsch mellows, marsepeinen roosjes, een marsepeinen banner en een vintage "Chloe" figuurtje.

Hoe decadent wil je het hebben?

A decadent vintage cake for Chloé.

The cake is a hard to resist delicious, creamy carrot cake.
Inside it's slightly filled, the outside however is richly spread, with cream cheese and covered with
white chocolate afterwards.
Decorated with in milk chocolat dipped marsh mellows, marzipan roses, a marzipan banner and a vintage "Chloé" figure.

How decadent can it be?

Queenie Cake

The cake is made for celebrating a few (belated) birthdays and is dedicated to the abdication of our Queen Beatrix clearing the way for her eldest son, Crown-Prince Willem Alexander, to become our nation's first king in more than a century.

The crown change takes place on April 30, also known as Koninginnedag, which is a national holiday and renowned as one of the biggest and most colorful fesivities in the Netherlands. This year's festival will be jolly particularly due to the combined royal celebrations.

With the abdication, the Netherlands says farewell to a beloved and highly appreciated Queen.

It will surely bring an outpouring of sentimental feelings.

Ombre Taart

Taart à la Maggie Austin

Een taart met frills met in elkaar overgaande kleurschakeringen (ombre) dat al een tijd op mijn "Cakes I wanna make" lijst staat. Deze taart is voor de leukigheid, geheel voor onszelf, visite en collega's  gemaakt.

Maggie Austin, een voormalig balletdanseres, is bekend om haar ombre taarten. Haar creaties, waar ik een groot fan van ben, spreken mij enorm aan. Hierdoor geinspireerd is deze taart tot stand gekomen. Geheel in stijl van de kleur is de taart gevuld met pistache botercrèmevulling.

Eén van mijn favoriete smaken. Heerlijk.

Laureen

Chloé's design

Inspired by one of her favorite designers, Betsey Johnson (especially the jewellery), my daughter came up with a design for her birthday cake. I "only" had to make it. Well that was easier said than done. She explained how she wanted the cake to look like. She even made a drawing.

She exactly knew how and in what colors the cake had to be that daughter of mine. Blue, white and pink with roses, drapes, diagonal stripes and a chain with her name on it.
The chain was a magnificant idea. I find it brilliant. The stripes worried me though. It had to be equally spread ofcourse. Straight lines wouldn't have been a problem, but diagonal, how do I do that?
Well , it took me some time to figure that out but I managed and I think (and now I quote a comment on the cake) "the combined effort works very well".

Too bad she's not into cakes. She only likes to eat them not to make them. When I say she will inherit my precious and (some of them) expensive cake books she teases me by saying she will put them ....... for sale ...... on Ebay!

Ebay. Ebay?!!!! My heart hurts. Ofcourse I'll never speak to her again!
Laureen

And then there was .... cake

I made my first cake in a cake decorating class. Never I had the intention to make more than one. But I was surprised about the result. Did I make that?
I wanted to do more and participated several cake decorating classes to improve my skills. I'd never thought I would be able to make cakes that cause a jaw-dropping effect (excuse me for being so modest).

I'm still learning, but I have a lot of beautifully decorated cakes that I can show you already. No more dull cakes for me and my family.

The cake shown isn't my first cake. It's recently made for my niece's 40th birthday. She's my late sister's daughter. Her mother and I were very close.
My niece would have been happy with a simple cake, but I decided to give special attention in the making of it (read: spent many hours). I was inspired by one of the cakes of Collette Peters and it's my favorite cake so far. And my niece? She was very, very pleased and thanked me several times. You're welcome Sharon.