SweetThings

GetSkeweredTO Food Truck Cake

2017-05-16T10:30:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I have posted - this will be my first post of 2017. Hope your year is going great so far - it is going wonderfully for a friend of mine, Chef Mel. She went after her dreams, left the corporate world and started her own Food Truck in Toronto called Get Skewered.

She held a soft launch last week and what a success!! I am so proud of her and surprised her with a little cake. If you are in Toronto and looking for healthy and clean eats like Polynesian pork, crab cakes with creole mustard sauce and Moroccan tahini Chicken... you will find her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. How amazing does her truck look?

3rd Birthday Cake: Mr. Men Cake

2016-12-21T16:43:00.003-05:00

I had sooooooo much fun making this 2-tier cake with the birthday boy's favorite Mr. Men characters. The cake was chocolate sour cream with strawberry buttercream filling.

Cakes, Cupcakes n' Cookies with Bows

2016-09-30T09:04:00.001-04:00

Sometimes all you need is a simple bow. Here are some lovely little treats with a simple and elegant design. Enjoy your week!

Tanooki Mario Cake

2016-08-10T08:24:00.003-04:00

A 3D Super Mario 3D Land Cake for a 5th birthday.

Tanooki Mario's body was chocolate sour cream cake with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream and his head was rice krispie treat.

Rainbow & Unicorn Cake

2016-07-20T18:19:00.002-04:00

Another year has gone by and my little girl is now 5. From Classic Pooh, Sesame Street, Toopy & Binoo, Superheroes and now Rainbows and Unicorns.

She had two parties this year - one with her school friends and one with family. Boy did those kids love the rainbow cake layers. They each got to take home a cupcake with a rainbow docorated sugar cookie.

For our family party, I was able to conveniently re-use the sugarpaste toppers that I made and add it to a grainfree banana cake with whipped cream - it was delicious!

40th Birthday Cake: BodyStep Cake

2016-06-21T20:45:00.000-04:00

Once again, my two careers (Personal Trainer & Cake Designer) collide. I surprised my client and friend with this 40 and Fabulous cake.

Not only does she work a demanding full-time job, a mom to 2 girls, weight trains with me... she is an amazing BodyStep instructor at the gym. People come from all over Toronto to attend her class.

Cute Plaid 1st Birthday Cake

2016-05-17T11:36:00.002-04:00

You can't go wrong with a cute plaid patterned cake and a happy green dragon. It was gluten-free chocolate cake with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream.

Willy Wonka Cake

2016-04-12T08:47:00.000-04:00

Every April, I look forward to designing a cake for a lovely little girl named Parker. It all started with this 1st birthday Hot Pink cake. Then 2nd birthday Bubble Guppies, 3rd birthday My Little Pony and 4th birthday Cinderella cake.

This year was a colorful Willy Wonka themed cake. I had so much fun with this one - adding in some bottle caps, sweet tarts, laffy taffy and nerds to the design.

Powerlifting Cakes n' more

2016-03-01T11:33:00.001-05:00

I have been blogging for almost 8 years now and February was the first month that I didn't post a single thing. In the last year, I have cut back significantly on the number of custom orders that I take to focus on my other life, as a Personal Trainer. I still have reserved spots for my regular cake clients/family, but mostly trying to balance out my time since I also took up Powerlifting.

Back in May 2015, Team Maximum Barbell convinced me to sign up and train for a Powerlifting competition. Based on your age group and weight category, you attempt to lift as much weight as possible (with strict form) for one repetition in the Squat, Bench Press and Deadlift. You get 3 attempts at each and your highest weight in each lift count towards your total score. Sound fun? Yes, it really is!!!

Since then, I've competed in 4 events including the 2015 Ontario Provincials winning a Gold Medal and 2016 Canadian Championships winning a Bronze Medal.

Along the way, I was able to make some fun sweet things. This was a 40th birthday cake (with a weightlifting belt) for a teammate's western themed party.

Cupcakes with sugar weight plates for a Powerlifting for Women seminar.

Fondant-covered sugar cookies.

I am very excited about the upcoming year - some more Powerlifting events for me and always exciting to see what cakes my clients will ask me to create.

6th Birthday Cake: Frozen Cake

2016-01-19T08:13:00.000-05:00

There is a wonderful non-profit organization called Icing Smiles which provide custom cakes to families affected by critical illness. Their goal is to create a custom cake for the ill child, or their sibling, that provides a temporary escape from worry and creates a positive memory during a difficult time. Volunteer "Sugar Angels" are matched up with the families across the country to deliver a "Smile" in the form of a custom cake.

It was a pleasure for me to be a sugar angel for Mya Rae, currently battling Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), who turned 6. Please send all your positive and healing energy to her to kick ALL's butt!

2nd Birthday Cake: Space-themed Cake

2015-12-08T08:35:00.003-05:00

Last year, this little boy celebrated his 1st birthday with a Where the Wild Things Are party. For his 2nd birthday, the theme was space. My client shared some of the photos she took of the event.

The first and second tier of the cakes were vanilla and strawberry cake with strawberry buttercream. The top tier was styrofoam.

Pumpkin Cake

2015-11-10T09:16:00.002-05:00

Who loves pumpkin cake? This cake wasn't pumpkin-flavor on the inside - it was alternating layers of strawberry and vanilla cake. Plus a little matching smash cake to go with it.

2nd Birthday Cake

2015-10-20T08:53:00.000-04:00

2 years old sure love Thomas the Train and Elmo - so give them both! Kids love cake and cupcakes - so give them both!

Bubble Guppies Cake

2015-10-06T08:26:00.003-04:00

Bubble Guppies cake for a 3rd Birthday. The cake was alternating layers of chocolate sour cream and vanilla bean with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream.

Baby Shower for Runners

2015-09-22T10:27:00.001-04:00

Having logged many, many, many miles myself, I loved creating this custom cake. The parents-to-be are amazing running athletes and coaches. These little handmade sugarpaste Saucony runners along with baby's first race bib were perfect for the cake.

Here's a close-up of the super small details that I painted on the bib. The bib number is the due date - wishing them all the best!

Couch Potato Cake

2015-09-01T22:14:00.000-04:00

This is not my first couch cake, but it was my first "couch potato" cake. The birthday boy was turning 50 and happily on the couch with his iPad, Maple Leafs Jersey and Diet Coke.

Bridal Shower and Wedding Cake

2015-08-11T08:22:00.002-04:00

First there was a bridal shower.... The bride and groom love chocolate chip cookies, so I encorporated that into the cake.

Then there was a wedding.... A simple design and inside was carrot cake with cream cheese icing.

I usually make back-up sugarpaste letters for my cakes, in case anything happens during transport. This time, they came in handy to add to the candy buffet that the bride put together.

Girls' Superhero Cake

2015-07-21T08:43:00.002-04:00

My daughter loves her superheros and has been talking about her birthday cake for the longest time. She told me exactly what she wanted: A super tall cake (she wanted a 3-tier), superhero girls on the top and villains on the bottom.

I wonder what she will design for her cake next year!

Winner: Yonanas Classic Ice Cream Maker Giveaway

2015-07-10T09:44:00.004-04:00

Thank you everyone for participating in the Yonanas Classic Banana Ice Cream Maker contest via blog comments, twitter, instagram and leaving comments on the SweetThings' facebook page.

The winner is....

... a Twitter Entry from @valerieann47 Congratulations! I will be contacting you shortly to get your address to ship the Yonanas to you

Recipe: Paleo/Vegan/Gluten-free Banana Ice Cream Treat

2015-07-07T09:00:00.001-04:00

Only a few more days to enter the Yonanas Classic contest. Full Contest Details here and make sure you enter before Thursday, July 9th at midnight.

Here are the amazing little banana ice cream treats that I made for my daughter's 4th birthday party - the recipe is below.

Paleo/Vegan/Gluten-free Banana Ice Cream Treat

Step 1: Make your crust and let it cool. You can use any regular pie crust recipe, but you probably only need 1/4 of it. I used a 6" square pan and the following recipe:

3/4 cup ground pumpkin seeds (or almonds)
1 tbsp arrowroot powder
2 tbsp molasses
1 tbsp avocado (or coconut) oil
1/4 tsp sea salt

Mix together and press in pan lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes (or until slightly browned).

Step 2: Follow the instructions in the Yonanas maker and make 3 flavors. I only ended up using about 4 frozen bananas. I started with the lightest color - pineapple, then raspberry, then blueberry - so the color wouldn't bleed too much.

With your cooled crust, spread your first flavor on and/ put in the freezer for a few minutes.

Step 3: Remove from freezer and spread the next flavor. Then re-freeze for a few minutes. Repeat with final flavor.

Step 4: Slice it up and place on small cupcake holders. You can store them in freezer until they are ready to be served.

Contest: Yonanas Banana Ice Cream Maker

2015-07-01T18:48:00.002-04:00

Happy Canada Day and it's time for a contest! I received a Yonanas Banana Ice Cream maker to test out some recipes, but I already had one. So, one Yonanas "Classic" Ice Cream Make will be awarded to one of my lucky blog readers in Canada. Contest starts today until Thursday, July 9th, 2015 - details below.

What can I do with this machine?

You can make this gorgeous Gluten-Free/Grain-Free/Paleo/Vegan Banana Ice Cream Layered treat! This recipe will be posted on Tuesday.

How to Enter

Leave a comment on my blog - make sure you leave me your email address so I can get a hold of you if you win. Or send an email to info(at)sweetthings(dot)ca if you'd prefer.
For 1 additional entry, visit the SweetThings Facebook page and leave a comment.
For another 1 additional entry, follow me on Twitter @SweetThingsTO and tweet the following including the shortened url: I want to win the #Yonanas Classic from @SweetThingsTO and @Yonanas http://goo.gl/ZVDw6p
For another 1 additional entry, follow me on Instagram and leave me a comment
A maximum of 4 entries per person. Available only in Canada.
Deadline for entry is Thursday, July 9th, 2015 at midnight EST.
One winner will be randomly selected and posted on Friday, July 10th, 2011. Also notified via email. The Yonanas Classic (valued at $50 at Loblaws, Canadian Tire and Walmart) will be shipped to you.

Good Luck Everyone!

Olaf Cupcakes

2015-06-23T09:32:00.002-04:00

It's official as of Sunday.... it's SUMMER!!! And Olaf sure loves summer!

These cupcakes were very fun to make. It was actually to celebrate a 40th birthday, his two little girls call him Olaf all the time.

Wedding Cake with a Hint of Purple and Football

2015-06-16T09:58:00.001-04:00

Several year ago, the groom was the recipient of this Raider's Helmet Cake. I had fun keeping this cake simple and elegant with a touch of purple, a touch of the Raiders and also the couple's two cats. I didn't get a good close-up of the handmade sugarpaste characters - but I wanted it to look "Superman-like".

Carousel Cake... and Cookies!

2015-06-09T08:46:00.002-04:00

I had the pleasure of designing a celebration cake for my friends' 10 month old twins. They were visiting from out of town to celebrate their Christening. I mentioned previously about having fun with fondant covered cookies and this design was perfect!!

The cake was alternating layers of zesty lemon and chocolate sour cream cake with vanilla swiss meringue buttercream with that added bonus of sugar cookies. I also displayed it on a lazy Susan so it was fun to spin it around.

Wedding Cake with Grey Accents

2015-06-02T08:25:00.002-04:00

One of my favorite cake designs - so simple and elegant. This wedding cake was delivery to the lovely venue, The Berkeley Church. All 3 cake tiers were chocolate sour cream with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream.