WINNERS ANNOUNCED!!!

After much blogging and facebooking and posting, you guys will finally get to see the winners of this Cake Optimist Give Away!  I am so excited for you all and I can't wait to make your cakes and cupcakes and cookies!
So I used random.org to make random lists and then I used their number generator to pick a person so I think this was pretty fair.

The winner of the 9" cake is...
CAITLIN CARROLL

The winner of the cupakes is...
COREYANN KEAT

And the out of town winner of the cookies is...
KAYLA

Please contact me via email...
ashleymarie1558@yahoo.com
to arrange and talk about flavors and such.

Thanks to all those who participated and I want to give a special thanks to Amy in Mesa, AZ and Andrea in Provo, UT who both had 5 entries.  Sorry y'all didn't win!

Love you guys and may you always eat cake.

MARCH MADNESS & fondant

I am currently taking a cake class from the very talented Mandy.  Check out her blog.  I am loving the class and I am learning about doing real fondant, not just the marshmallow stuff.  One of the most important things I have learned so far is that you have to pay to play.  Real fondant is best bought in buckets from a website like Global Sugar Art.  The Satin Ice brand is great and that is what we used in this class.  It is so smooth and beautiful and I love it.  It also tastes pretty good, but honestly, who uses fondant because they like to eat it???  


This week in class we were learning how to stack cakes and doing more practice with covering them.  It is tough, but I am getting a little better.  Mandy is helping me out and I think that one day, I will be pro.  I made an 8" cake and a 6" one and since it is MARCH MADNESS I decided on a basketball theme.  First lets start with the flavors.  The top is coconut cake, like the ultimate one that is to die for.  The bottom is chocolate cake with cookies and cream filling.  I saw it on cake boss and it is one of my new favorites!!!  I forgot to take pictures of the insides of the cake, but next time I will...

I just love this picture!

My alma mater just had to be front and center, especially after they nailed their game vs. Gonzaga.

So, gotta love Texas, and I had a longhorns cookie cutter, so it was easy!

DUKE baby!  I lived in VA for 6 years and they are still my team!

So, I don't know a thing about Ohio, but I needed a team that was not blue, and they are good right?

 Even though I like Duke more, I couldn't resist the Tar Heels!

 And this is the top of the cake.  I used a black food marker to put the lines on and I think it looked great.  All of the other decals I cut out of fondant with an Exacto knife.

I loved this cake and everyone at our game party loved it too.  Both flavors tastes like a dream and most people ate a piece of each.  I can't wait to perfect my new fondant skills!

Birthday Cookies

My friend Nicole was turning 24 a few days ago and while I was making the luau cookies, I got in a few cookies for her as a birthday gift.  I got this really cute cookie cutter that is a cake, but there is a huge heart on top.  Cute for a wedding or something, but not so cute for a birthday.  I just cut the heart off with a sharp knife after cutting out the cookie and that seemed to work out fine.  I decorated with royal icing and she loved them...

RMU Style

I am currently in Physical Therapy School and I love it.  How do I make cakes while in grad school, you might ask.  Well, I am a little tight on time, but it is so fun that I just cannot resist.  It is especially nice when my two loves overlap, like for this celebration cake.  

Our school has been up for regional accreditation this year and we found out a few days ago that WE ARE ACCREDITED!!!!  It is a huge accomplishment for the administration of this great university.  We are now the second physical therapy school in Utah and I am very proud.  To honor and thank them, my class president asked for a cake for the presidents of our school.  They loved it and I think it turned out pretty nice.

St. Patty's Day

This week has been super busy, but I have lots of little things to blog about and I am very excited.  Thanks to all who are participating in my cake giveaway.  It should be fun.


This past Thursday was St. Patrick's Day.  It is a little celebrated holiday but what better excuse for a cake project right?  I was also having some people over that night to pain nails so I decided to combine the best of the best: beautiful nails, yummy cake, AND my team, BYU, making it to round 2 of MARCH MADNESS!!! 
I saw this idea on google images and this is what happened...

I cannot get enough my friends new camera and how beautiful it makes everything look!

Cake Optimist Giveaway!

In the way of self-promotion, I am hosting a cake giveaway.  Here is how it works...
Between now and next Saturday (3/26) at midnight, you have the opportunity to earn entries.  You can earn one entry by commenting on my blog, blogging about my blog, or posting things from my blog on facebook.  ALSO, I will be giving two entries for each person who decides to follow my blog.  (Yeah, I want followers!)  After you have done your thing, comment on this post to let me know so I can keep track of your entries. 
I will be giving away a 9" layered cake, a dozen cupcakes, and a dozen decorated cookies.  The cookies will be shipped to people entering from long distance, and the cake and cupcakes will be given to Utah locals.  Happy social networking!  

WINTER LUAU

I live in a great apartment with a solarium in the courtyard.  It is a little tropical paradise with a heated pool and palm trees.  BEST REASON EVER to live in the ghetto of north west Provo.  Ever since I moved in I have been planning on having a luau.  We have some pretty ugly winters here and what's better than pretending it is summer in March?  After reading Glorious Treats every day for about 4 months, I made some cookies and cupcakes, invited all my buddies, and the WINTER LUAU was born.

I made 4 types of cupcakes.  An easy vanilla, easy chocolate, the classic coconut cupcake, and a PINA COLADA cupcake.  The last one was clearly the best, but everything tasted great.

I had lots of help from friends with decorating and baking.  I think everything turned out adorable.  I especially loved the little cherries and umbrellas on the pina colada cupcakes.  I used my really fat round tip to pipe the frosting on these ones.

I also did some sugar cookies.  I used my same Better Crocker recipe and got all my decorating ideas from Glorious Treats.  I am in love with these cookies.  They are bright and really brought together the theme of the party.

For decorations we had balloons, tissue balls, an ALOHA banner and this dessert table.  The area is already tropical, so it was not hard to make beautiful.

Between swimming and talking and eating, it was a great afternoon.  I'm thinking that party planning is my new favorite thing!