A Bit About Me...

I lived in a world of food that was solely meant for eating. I never even imagined the possibilities that could arise when taste and artistic presentation were combined. The cakes I made were from a box, baked in a sheet pan, and covered with a thick coat of canned icing and sprinkles. My mom was (and still is) a fantastic cook and also has a mind for art, so she really sparked my love for baking. Once, she even made a cake that looked like a gumball machine for my little sister's birthday party. However, I had no idea I could accomplish anything even remotely close to my mom's incredible creations.

My life was changed forever when I received Karen Tack and Alan Richardson's books Hello, Cupcake! and What's New, Cupcake? for Christmas. I made pandas, bouquets of roses, lobsters and fake spaghetti! After a while, I had people asking me to make cakes and cupcakes for birthdays and special occasions. Here are two of my proudest creations.

Tinkerbell and her fairy friends in their magical meadow...

A bouquet of roses made from candied fruit slices.

But when I was 13, I went to a cookie decorating birthday party. The other girls were content painting their sugar cookies with food paint and liberally applying jimmies. I, however, spent nearly the entire birthday party sorting through sprinkles and finding just the right ones to make a miniature reproduction of a piece of Van Gogh's "Starry Night".

Van Gogh's Starry Night: Cookie Version

This, however, was terribly time consuming, and it didn't look nearly as pretty after it was baked. (Unfortunately, I have a perfectionist streak that makes me feel that if I can't make it perfect, it isn't worth making at all.) So, cookie decorating was put out of my mind for the time being. After a while, I stumbled upon Glory Albin's blog, Glorious Treats, and Callye Alvarado's blog, The Sweet Adventures of Sugar Belle. Their incredibly decorated sugar cookies introduced me to a new medium, royal icing! I immediately rushed out, bought some meringue powder and about five bags of confectioner's sugar, and got to work. These cookies were my very first attempts at mastering the art of royal icing. (and also half-decent pictures...)

My best friend's birthday was coming up, and I decided to try again. I made a huge assorted batch of cookies with all of his favorite things and our inside jokes.

Two very Angry Birds...

Moustache!

My attempt at the Hunger Games Mockingjay pin.

Mr. Unicorn

And my personal favorite, Hugh the Manatee. (Get it? "Hugh-Manatee"? Yeah? No...)

I still have a lot more projects I need to upload, and I'm going to try out some tutorials too. Sorry for the long post! Stay tuned for more!


~Kaitiebug