lil cupcakes.

the little baker was on fire last night. 

lea came to see me this morning to show off

her amazing little creations.

look at that detail! the frosting was flavored

with almond extract & it smelled delicious. 

lea's coworkers are so lucky!

and she also brought this for my fabulous cori. yum!

buttercream 4th & final.

we baked and frosted cakes in preparation 

for our last cake decorating class. 

lea is a fabulous and loud baker.

where all good buttercream comes from.

basic frosting not as easy as it looks.

quick taste test before printing practice.

cursive is easier than print.

mom was very proud of her letter piping skills. 

here, mom & ann marie discuss foreign policy & frosting.

ribbon roses are beautiful & pretty easy.

here's lea technique on multitasking when you

run out of hands for holding stuff...

my cake had a lot of blemishes so i used a lot of icing...

lea's finished cake!

she brought it to work the next 

day and it was gone in minutes!

mom's cake.

she later added "I LOVE U JEFF" on it.

ann marie made her husband a birthday cake!

i made my buddy joseph a bon voyage cake.

here we are with our diplomas and

the coolest cake decorating teacher, sweet joann!

*i made joann a fabric flower in her son's school spirit colors!

buttercream 3

week 3 of our cake decorating class was intense!

my mom was in new york & ann marie was absent so it was an

small and intimate cupcake crew. 

the baby armed with her game face ready to tackle some

flowers and leaves and shells.

practice leaves...

the shells were tricky- dani girl's watching me like a hawk!

we did find out that dani has 6 children and 9 grandchildren.

the shaggy mum.

the beginning of this labor intensive flower 

that i can't remember the name of...

ta-da!

we wanted to use more colors

but didn't want to waste the bags.

lea baked the cupcakes and dyed them pink & green

and they were delicious! the homemade buttercream was hardcore.

then we finished off a hard day of decorating with some sushi!

buttercream 2.

our 2nd cake decorating class was just as

fun and exciting as our 1st.

our homework was to bake a cake.

*thanks mom & lea!

here's lea & her cute cake.

anne marie gets all technical and uses the leveler.

next, we butter cream up our cakes and let them harden.

a few members of our class got a little raunchy tonight.

dani girl likes the idea of frosting as body paint... ooo yea.

lea and i peed our pants.

then we practiced making swiggles & lines & dots.

not to brag, but i totally excelled at the squiggles.

then our fearless leader joann shows us the

magic of parchment paper- it smooths everything!

totally smooth cake!

i added the bottom lining & dots & squiggles.

and then i added our monogram.

i can already hear you making fun of me, but i like it.

lea's amazing starts & dots!

ta-da! 

i love mom waving in the background.

lea levine the fighting machine's lovely cake.

mom's 'whole lotta lovin' cake.

and for the second week in a row i came home to a

delicious dinner- beef tacos with slim's specialty guacamole & salsa!

buttercream.

lea, my mom & i are taking a cake decorating class

at our local michael's craft store.

it's every monday night for the month of february.

the first class was really fun. the people watching was the best part.

here's lea with our decorating basics student kit.

it has everything you need to make fabulousness!

this is sweet joann, our instructor mixing buttercream icing.

joann is so nice. she loves cake decorating and 

has the sweetest laugh and i just love her!

i got my frosting bag all set up with the thingy and the tip.

checkout all those fancy tips!

hey lea, nice tip.

here's my mom and her pal ann marie.

they're so funny together- they also talk like kids throughout class...

i had to hush them a few times.

checkout mom's readers....cute.

definitely not paleo.

here's my practice page- not too shabby!

home girl over there was watching lea like a hawk.

keep the peace & the paleo and walk on.

this was the icing on my class cake.

 here's miss dani, she reallllllllly liked the icing.

* thank goodness my phone has zoom!

slim had a delicious dinner waiting for me when i got home!

salmon and roasted asparagus & butternut squash.

thanks, slim- you're the best... and so handsome.