Tanner's Hawaiian 1st Birthday Bash : PINEAPPLE HEAD CAKE!

Twins! Separated at birth! Just kidding Tanny!!

Tanner's cake table set-up!

Cupcakes by Coco Cake! And my cute little nephew Brody chowing down!

I made this banner... Tanner's Banners!

Aggghhh! Tanny, you crazy cutie!

Tanner with his big bro, and my sis Leanne (she's also pregs! Baby Factory!) and proud Papa Dan!

My favourite of the banners I made. PINEAPPLE DUDES

OMG.

My hilarious, hefty and adorable little nephew Tanner turned 1 years old on May 15th! Since our family straight-up has Hawaii in our blood, my sis threw him a Hawaiian-themed 1st birthday bash! So cute! The party was documented beautifully by the incomparable and amazing Camille and Chadwick of Jonetsu Photography here in Vancouver.

Back to Tanner. I've always described him as a pale, gingery-brown haired little chubalub with an adorable Chinese face smack right in the middle! He is such a chuckling, good-natured, funny little guy. His hair has always had a mind of its own - he had a straight up fully natural fashion faux-hawk until his hair grew into the light orangey brown fashion plate haircut of late! It kind of looks like he's wearing a cute little wig... I love you Tanny!

For his Hawaiian themed party, I made coconut cupcakes with vanilla creamcheese frosting and toasted coconut, as well as lemon cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream. I also made a super kawaii cute banner for Tanner (yes, I know this rhymes) with little pineapple dudes... and a PINEAPPLE cake! With a face, naturally, of course. The cake itself was coconut flavoured. ^__^

So much fun! I just love Hawaii. It feels so similar to Vancouver in its diverse and open minded population... but in a tropical setting, of course. Love and shout-outs to Hawaii!

Happy Birthday Tanny!

Love, Auntie Lyndsay

gorgeous photography courtesy of Camille & Chadwick of Jonetsu Photography.

My Buddy The Purple Pup

If you are a reader of this here cake factory blog, you are well aware of how much I LOVE ANIMAL CAKES! It's hard for me to stop from just petting the daylights out of their cute little faces and sitting them on my lap on the couch.

I made this furry purple vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream cake pup for the gorgeous ladies of... I wanted to say "wrestling" there for a second. Yes, I was a big fan of WWF wrestling when I was a kid, and subsequently GLOW (Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling). No, I never wanted to be a wrestler... but I think it was the spectacle, costumes and drama that drew me in as a 9-year-old! Tomboy!!! So yes anyways I made this cake for the gorgeous ladies of Vitamin Daily Vancouver!

Sometimes I wonder if I should ditch all the other cake styles I make and just stick to only animals? What do you think? I know that's really squeezing myself into a crazy sliver-of-a-niche: Cakes That Look Like Animals.

I dream of other businesses, too... how long will I make cakes for, I wonder? I've always been an A.D.D. type of person when it comes to jobs. However I do love what I do and it's the people I make cakes for who make it all the more special... it's wonderful to receive an email the next day from a happy mom, or a beautiful and happy bride! Joy!

For now I will stick to cakeing... but I'm always sort of wondering ... what's around the corner...?

^__^

Baby Face Cupcakes - Baby Shower!

Baby shower cupcakes ordered by Fei! Lemon Frill cupcakes - lemon cupcakes with lemon creamcheese frosting, and chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache! And... some fondant topper baby faces givin' some attitude!

Thanks Fei for the cute order!

Angry Birds Cake!

Too hilarious. I loved the little cutie who ordered this too. Showed up all styled out, in an Angry Birds tshirt! A bunch of friends ordering it for their friend's 18th birthday... ahhhhdorable!!

Dark chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream, fondant decorations. Thanks Chino for the fun order! ^__^

And cahmannn, who else out there is hopelessly addicted to this hilarious game!? Everything about it draws you in like crack cocaine - the whistle of the zooming birds, the crash and crackle of shattered ice and broken wood, the snort and chortle of those EVIL GREEDY GREEN PIGS!!! MUST BLAST INTO THEM AND DESTROY THEM!

I think my favourite bird is the HUGE fat red one that lethargically crashes into stuff like a slow, bloated wrecking ball...

For The Love Of Mothers: Strawberry Ice Cream Cake!

I made this strawberry ice cream cake with pink vanilla cake layers for Mother's Day... I have the most amazing mom. She has always been a strong role model for my sisters and I - a warm, generous, wise and wonderful MOM! Committed to helping others, always someone you can count on, a good friend to many and a natural born people-person. She is always so supportive of all of our endeavors and always there for us in any way shape or form. I love you mom!!

My dear beloved grandma, 88 years old, still drops sharp zingers at the dinner table, and, even though her exterior appears more frail than before, she is also a strong woman and feminist well before her time.

My two older sisters are also amazing moms themselves now - I love their kiddies so much, and am inspired by the way my sisters are raising such hilarious, smart and thoughtful children.

My mother-in-law Beth also amazes me - such a kind, welcoming, loving and wonderful mother-in-law. I couldn't ask for a better one.

So to my dearest family members, high five for being super-awesome-amazing... !

xo Lyndsay

PS... for the ice cream recipe I used for this cake, please visit my ICE CREAM BLOG! ^__^

Ginormous Cupcake!

It's a biggie. I wonder how many it would feed? I'm thinking 15 people. Or 1 super hungry maniac. Digging in with forks... oh man that's a lot of cake and frosting! I made this for a little cutie baby named Kai - and for a "smash cake" photoshoot for his 1st birthday! I can't wait to see the pictures. The ever-amazing Jeanie Ow took the photos and I just know they will be bonkers cute!! I will post some when I receive them!

I love the idea of the giant cupcake. So pop art, so surreal. Inherently comical!

This ginamo dynamo cupcake is vanilla with vanilla buttercream, a whackload of rainbow sprinkles and a big old fondant red cherry on top! Oh, giant cupcake. Sorry you got the daylights smashed out of ya!!

On another note: HAPPY MOTHER's DAY to all those supermoms out there!! I will do a belated mother's day post in a few days... just as soon as I serve up the cake I made for it! ^__^

Cute Bon Voyage Cake

Bon voyage, mon amour! Je t'aime toujours!

J'ai fabriqué cette gateau pour Norah. C'etait chocolat!

My French kind of stinks these days. I hardly ever use it. But Canada is bilingual, everyone. Je suis bilingue!! We study French in school! I could order poutine in Montreal at least. And I was able to order breakfast in Belgium, and ask for the leftovers to go... although the response I got from the server when I asked in a round-about way in my weird French about taking my leftovers was: "Oh, you mean doggy bag?"

Question to my international blog reader friends:

What do other people in other countries call "leftovers" or "to-go" or "doggy bags"??

On a cakey note, yes, I made this Bon Voyage cake for Norah for her friend Eman. I modeled the cake board and flag after the adorable stripes on an "airmail" envelope. I love stripes! That plane is headed East to Montreal, Quebec!!

Pony Express! Choo Choo!

Adorable Kate wanted a pony cake this year for her birthday... and a pony cake it was! A giant brown pony in fact, nestled in some cool blades of green grass amongst pretty little flowers, plus matching pink and purple buttercream rosette-topped cupcakes!

I never was a pony or horsey girl when I was a kid. I was more into being a tomboy and trying to like cars to impress my dad. I was actually kind of scared of horses when I was a kid... they were so big! I imagined them chomping my hand with their huge white teeth if I tried to feed them a carrot. In fact I've only ridden a horse one time in my life - on a trip to Mexico when I was 15. My butt was so sore for days afterward from all that bouncing around! Nowadays I think horses and ponies alike are cute. Especially... MINI HORSES!

I really love the equestrian look though. Tailored clothing, tall fancy leather boots, jaunty riding hats and long hair as silky as a horse's ever-brushed mane.

Happy Birthday Kate! Hope you had the most delightul, pony-filled dreamy party!