Happy Birthday, America! I made you this cake.

The Fourth of July is sort of the anniversary of my love of cake making. Not to mention, and much more importantly, a great day to celebrate! I love America so much, I made it this cake.

I like to make cakes that look like other food, and what better than a cake that looks like a pie? The pie tier is chocolate cake with strawberries on top (more on that later) and buttercream icing. The picnic table tier is yellow cake with chocolate pudding filling.

View from the top.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I feel that it is my duty to let you all know how this story ended. Between the heat and a right hand turn in the car on the way to a party, my cake had some technical difficulties. Turns out, frosting is not enough to keep a bunch of strawberries in place. Which I should know, and yet...

This is your cake on drugs.

Happily, I didn't cry. And, in a stroke of luck this cake could have used, the entire top didn't spill all over my dress, as the cake was in my lap when the top fell off. Also, it still tasted delicious, and the party was really fun (as my hangover this morning proves). Anyway, happy birthday America. I love democracy EVEN more than I love sugar (which is really saying something).

And now a trip down memory lane to visit the cakes that made all of this possible...

To me now, this is pretty ugly. But way back in 2010, you wouldn't believe how proud this piece of cake made me. I saw a (much more professional looking) picture of a flag cake, and thought I have way too much time on my hands before we throw a party. I should really attempt this in an effort to clean less before. And so I did. The frosting tasted so amazing--white chocolate frosting. I'll have to dig out that old recipe now that I'm thinking about it. Anyway, a seed was planted.

2011. I saw a hamburger cake in Jewel and I thought, I'm going to make that, but way better for our 4th of July party. And so I did. On top those are actually sesame seeds. At the time I had no clue how to level a cake (and it still is very hard for me), but I think that sort of adds to the authenticity of the burger. After I finished this cake, I looked at my boyfriend and said: "I am pretty good at this. I want to take some classes." 

And the rest, dear reader, is history.

Shower Power!

I've reached the point in my life, where nearly everyone I know is getting married. I'm in three weddings this year and will have attended five by the end of 2012, and we all know what that means: open bar!

It also means showers and bachelorette parties galore. My best friend Lauren's incredible aunts (who I named this post for) decided to throw her a big, beautiful shower, and they asked me to make cake pops as the favor for the guests. I had seen a lot of variations of Bakerella's bride and groom cake pops, and decided to try my hand at these cute little guys myself.

Lauren's colors are black, white and purple, so I decided to accessorize in color. 

The veil is a small piece of glittery tulle.

I was so happy with how they turned out! These aren't for the faint of heart--I was up until one in the morning decorating them, but it was well worth it. The scary part was bringing them in the car for a five hour drive in the heat wave, but (thankfully) they made it unscathed. 

This is the seventh shower that Lauren's aunts (a.k.a. Shower Power) have thrown, and you can tell. 

How cute are those little bags? These were at each guests' seat.

The shower was a huge success, and it was fun to meet Lauren's family so I know a few more people before making a speech at her wedding. If that goes even half as well as my cake pops, I'll mark it in the win column!

At the shower: Me, Lauren (the blushing bride) and Bevin, another bridesmaid