megan hamilton's cake toppers

You alllll know that I'm a HUGE Megan Hamilton fan.  HUGE.  I've given her customized dress sketches to my mom and to friends (and to myself!).  I was browsing her Etsy site this weekend, peeking into her new sketches and noticed she has a new product - cake topper/statuettes! I think these statuettes would be so sweet as decor on the gift table, or near the guest book.   (And really - if small enough...would be charming to have on a bookshelf at home!)  Love that cleaver Megan Hamilton. 

blooming rose cake

Wow.  That's all I can really say about that cake. 

Just.  Wow.

One Love Photo

our magnificent spiced pear cake

all of these delicious pictures are from One Love Photo

The wedding cake turned out exactly how I wanted it to - it was creamy and swirly and looked JUST as tantalizing as it tasted!  The yellow ranunculas looks smashing on it, and the little cake toppers were just adorable.   AND those pies!?  With that perfectly golden brown crust!?  OMG.  Or the two types of cupcakes!?  I could have sat and stared at our dessert buffet all night...it was such a pretty spread!

That spiced pear concoction was so delicious...so it was too bad that Tommy and I each only got to eat that one bite of it!  While we were doing the cake cutting, the sun started setting outside - so we kinda booked it outside as soon as we had taken our first bite of cake (we wanted to capture those golden rays of Arizona sun!)  By the time we got back inside IT WAS ALL GONE!  As was the pie - ALL GONE!  Only two or three cupcakes remained.  Unbelievable right!?  Good thing my friend Christine blessed me with the recipe so I can make it myself....which I will on our 1 year anniversary. 

While we were making the slices of the cake, Tommy's buddies at the nearby table kept telling him to smash me in the face with it.  I sorta wanted to throw cupcakes at them :-)  *In a loving way of course....maybe.

Yum!!!

Thank you, dear Christine, for bringing such sweetness to our wedding.  We appreciate all the time and effort you put into those tasty desserts for our wedding celebration.  That was such a gracious gift!  Plus... I miss you...like whoa.

*ENTER THE PERRICONE NO FOUNDATION FOUNDATION GIVE-AWAY* 

*HERE!*

our wedding cake...a trial run...

I have a cake fairy...her wedding gift to us is a homemade, yummy, frosted, wedding cake.  She's a peach and frequently sends me wedding inspiration...the girl knows her weddings!  A while back she emailed me a picture of the prettiest, sweetest lil swirly frosted cake ever...and I was hooked. Last weekend she created a mini trial run cake for us...to see if we like the flavor, the frosting, and the texture of her swirls.

All three were big fat A+'s! (the cake itself is a spiced pear cake...with a cream cheese frosting....dear God...it is yumminess incarnate.) 

Side note....the ripples in that frosting are totally bodacious.

And it was uber delicious!

victory #11: samyii cake toppers

Once I stumbled upon Samyii on Etsy...I knew Tommy and I had to "become" little wooden figures with clay hair. For $40 these totally personalized handmade cake toppers are a freaking BARGAIN! (especially since so many of the customizable cake toppers on Etsy are upwards of $100!)  And these are SO CUTE...and in real life they are even more adorable.  (and they fit in so sweetly into the little crevices between books in our bookcase that I know we'll keep 'em around a looooooooong time...remember...sentimental freak here).

Mine has freckles. I'm obsessed.  Really.


I sorta want to create our whole bridal party out of them, and our families too. And play games like Shoots & Ladders...or chess. (ummm... IF I knew how to play chess.)

I'm excited!

cutie cake toppers

how stinkin' cute are THESE lil people! $35 from Samyii

This is the kindof stuff I see and wonder how they are made. They're a lil quirky. A lil whimsical. A lil handmade treasure.

As long as we both shall live.

*note: Tommy came clean with me that he wasn't the biggest fan of the cake topper I originally bought. Which is great, because I'm really really in love with these sweet lil things!!!

perfection in cake form

via From Pink to Green

This is the winner.
It's the sweetest most perfect wedding cake I've ever seen.
I love it.

hold the frosting, please

Usually when I indulge in a little cake (or a lot of cake) I scrape off quite a bit of the frosting. Not a big fan of it. Whilst a cake decorator I ate myself silly with my frostings...had to taste every batch...I got over it, you know? (Though, I must admit, sometimes I like it, not gonna lie.)

Regardless, I dig this idea of yummy cakes sans frosting. Served with fresh fruits and whipped cream? Heavenly. I think yes.

And the white cake plates with lavender bunches is such a pretty presentation.

*happy birthday to you - my dear Beck-a-roo!

victory #5: cake

this looks yummmmmy...recipe from Saffron & Blueberry

My friends rule. Honestly. They do.

Especially Christine. I've known her since college where we worked together for a couple years...and lived down the hall from each other (we were RA's!). I was honored to be in her wedding a couple of years ago :-)

Christine is one of those "jack of all trades" type of woman. Not only is she an elementary school educator, a mommy to Luke (...who is the freaking most adorable kiddo ever to walk the planet), a wife, a brand new business owner, a crafter (like whoa), and a blogger...but she is also a pro cake baker/decorator. Do you see where I am going with this?

I have my Cake fairy!

Of course, we don't have design yet...and clearly haven't nailed down so much as a flavor. But she has ideas...and you all know My Guy and I have ideas. :-)

I'm just so thrilled to know that our dear friend will be hand creating our celebratory desert! Sometimes I just sit back in amazement and admiration for all of the lovely powers our loved ones are infusing into our marriage celebration.

cakes fit for the forest

Wendy Kromer Confections

Found these and thought they were over-the-top foresty fun.

(I know I know...I am totally having a super simple, frosting slathered confection at my own wedding...but I come across these pretty things on in the blogosphere and I am compelled to share them.)

here

This is pretty stinkin' rad!

single tiers

I yammer on and on about cakes :-) What can I say?. I love cake. The eating of them to be exact. And I think these look delicious. Totally understated...casual...and yummy. I must admit that I love the idea of having a couple single layer cakes in different flavors.

More work? Perhaps. I guess it depends on how wonderful your Cake Person is.


Photos via Once Wed

cake banners

I've never seen this idea and I think it's terribly creative and fun! Baumbirdy, one of my fave Etsy stationary shops, started creating these adorable banners to adorn cakes. They come in either a beautifully recycled paper or wood, are backed in fun prints (like polk-a-dots, stripes, or damask) and can be customized to say whatever your lil heart desires.

I immediately thought that this would be lovely on a bridal shower cake, or engagement party cake...or heck...even a rad wedding cake topper! I'm partial to the round ones...tooooo cute!

i dig the texture

Martha

Remember when I told you that I used to be a professional wedding cake decorator? Back then, in the late ninety's, smooth fondant was all the rage and that's what allllll of my clients wanted. Smooth smooth smooth. No creases. No evidence of frosting. The point was for it to be "perfect."

I don't so much go for that now. I like the texture of this cake. It looks like a person made it...in their very own kitchen...it doesn't look like plastic or wax...it looks edible, tantalizing and lip smacking good. I really like that. Yum!

pretty lil cake

What a delightfully sweet sweet cake.

from auburn & ivory

ENTER TO WIN AN ARTISTIC SKETCH OF YOUR WEDDING DRESS HERE!!

rad little cake topper dolls

I pretty much fell in love with these little people cake toppers, by GooseGrease, the first time I saw them. Aren't they sooooo cute!! I've seen them all over blogland, and was even more excited when I found the GooseGrease shop on Etsy. They make the coolest little customized couples (hello ninja couple!) and can create them to wear clothing similar to what you wear at your wedding!! I think this whole idea is very, very clever.

Actually, my favorite concept is that they can customize entire families out of these dolls which I think is the GREATEST way to celebrate the merging of two families...include the kids on top of the cake! PLUS, you can include your pet, who doesn't appreicate that?

These are adorable. In EVERY possible way. Go check 'em out here...their charm will surely make you smile :-)

tree = cakestand

OK, I know I've posted a similar post in the past about tree cake stands, but this one comes with diy directions! I found this over at Project: 10K Wedding, who found it at Once Wed.

I want to make these. I wonder if my uncle Pat could help me build such creations (he's pretty good with building stuff). And I think it's SUPER creative. And charming. And it's made out of treeeees. Why am I such a sucker for nature everything?? Oh. Because nature is lovely.


Read the full instruction set here.

coastal cake

If I were going to have a wedding near the ocean...this would be the cake I would dream about at night. It reminds me of air bubbles caught in water rising to the top, it reminds me of frothy foamy waves crashing on the rocks, it reminds me of the ocean pebbles smoothed by the ocean waves, and mostly it reminds me of pearls, the jewels of the sea.

I know I'm not getting married anywhere close to water...but just sayin...if I was.

hold the cake, please.

Cake by Cheryl Kleinman (via here)

This cake is obviously cool - but I'm posting it because of that FANTASTIC cake stand. Wowza.

via Ritzy Bee

This is a highly blogged about cake, I love it too. We see this rad type of cake stand again (I'm into it. Really. Into. It.)

Lynn Rutter

Martha (see her DIY instructions )

Of course Martha can make this wooden cake stand - duh! But a quick trip to the lumberyard and you can too (apparently) .

Julie + Todd (get the full deal on these nature inspired stands here)

Darling Dexter

I love the simple and clean presentation here. White cake stands make it all so uniform and pretty!

via re-found objects

Glass would be a beautiful and classic way to present cake. I even have a vintage glass cake platter in my cupboard! (and since I don't have much...these things must be everywhere). It could be easy to collect enough cake stands from friends and family. Wahoo borrow stuff! (oh yea, that is assuming you want a desert table or actually need the reason to use a few cake stands - I'm still pretty interested in several small 1 tiered cakes/pies. Dunno yet.)

Though I must confess, the colored glass cake stands that I've been seeing are really catching my eye. They are all kinds of beautiful.

My Suzy Homemaker

I really think that an eclectic mix of styles, shapes and colors would look amazing. ( this blogger admitted that this is only HALF of her collection!)

I'm hungry now. Need a treat. Corner bakery here I come.