Cake #3! Happy Birthday FIL

September 2012
It was my FIL's birthday and he wasn't really interested in acknowledging it, but the women in his life wouldn't allow that! So my MIL gave him a little family soiree and I got to bake the cake! I made a few cupcakes to go along with for those non-cake eaters. (Poor souls) It was a Hawaiian theme which gave me a chance to try out some gumpaste. I made some hibiscus and plumeria but finally decided on the lacy petals of the hibiscus in the end. Be kind, it was my first attempt. ;) The inside was a vanilla cake with lemon cream filling which was perfect and refreshing for the hot weather we were experiencing that week here in SoCal.

Painting my hibiscus

Hibiscus flower drying

Decisions, decisions. Hibiscus or plumeria?

Matching cupcakes with fondant toppers. These are vanilla cake with lemon cream filling as well.

Top view: two large flowers and one small

The final product

 Here's to another year on the third rock from the sun, Dad! I hope you had a fun night.

Tropical Cookies

August 2012
Farewell Cookies

Recently I had a request for cookies for a farewell party. The guest of honor was going to be moving to Hawaii. When I heard this, I knew exactly what to make! Recently my mom had sent me these hibiscus flower cookies that she found on Pinterest. I used the same colors, but did a few things differently. First of all, I did not have a flower cutter, nor the four leaf clover cutter the tutorial calls for. I knew I would need to cut lots of cookies and I did not want to hand cut them all so I tweaked an extra gingerbread man cutter that I had laying around to get the shape I wanted for the flowers.

For the pineapples I used an engagement ring cutter that my friend had bought for me the day before!

As you can see, I put my own spin on them, but I am really happy with the result. You can't see it in the pictures, but the pineapples have yellow sanding sugar on the fronts so they had a little bit of sparkle. Aloha!

Packaged and ready to go!