Happy Holidays!

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays!! It's such a treat to be able to have dinner with the entire family and enjoy what's really important in life. And I actually LOVE making the turkey. I wake up early, turn on the Macy's parade and cook all day. And although by dinner time I'm exhausted, I love to see a table full of yummy food and the smiling faces of my family. I am thankful for so many things...a loving husband, a great family and an amazing business partner!

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!!
 Love, Guelcys

Sisterly Love

What better day to share these next cakes than today...
my brother's birthday! Happy Birthday Chris!!!

Making cakes for family is so much fun. Especially when it's a surprise, like these.

Dad, Mom, Chris, Me & Ray

When I was ten I was blessed (and at times cursed...lol ) with a brother. I had been begging my parents for a sibling for years. I can still remember the day my brother Chris was born like it was yesterday. I wanted to do something special for his 25th birthday last year. We were super busy with other cakes that weekend. I told Chris I hoped he would not be disappointed, but we just didn't have any time to make him a cake. But I lied!! Viv and I had a plan all along. His PS3 was my inspiration for his cake. We even added some Netflix DVDs with special titles. My parents, Ray and I had him meet us for breakfast (we wanted Viv, Jorge and Celeste join us and they were leaving for a cruise so it had to be an early celebration) at a local Cuban restaurant. He was totally surprise!!

Ray was lucky to get two siblings. Milly, his older sister, and Midely, his younger sister. And of course I wanted to make each them their own special creation. Milly is an 80's kid so what better than a full out 80's cake! It had it all from the leg warmers and cassettes to Mrs. Pac Man and a Rubik's cube. And of course what teenage 80's girl didn't love the movie Sixteen Candles (and JAKE RYAN!! Yes, I still remember his name). We changed the title a bit, since it was her 37th birthday, and used it as the inspiration for the sugar topper. Here is a great picture of Ray with his sisters.

The cake idea for Midely's birthday came to me as soon as she told me we were celebrating at her favorite sushi spot. I had wanted to make a sushi cake and this was the perfect opportunity. The whole cake was edible. The bowl, plate and chopsticks were made of sugar and the sushi was made of fondant. She walked in and thought it was real sushi. I love that! It's the best compliment when someone says "that's cake?". 

Hopefully they enjoyed their surprise cakes as much as I enjoyed making them. And I'll just keep them guessing as to when they may be surprised again ;)
Guelcys

Invite Inspiration...

Sometimes, people have a set idea of what they want their cake to look like and sometimes they just want something that would match the theme of their party.  Something that everyone who is at the party will have seen and recognize, is the invite.  So, taking inspiration from the invite produces a cake that fits in seamlessly with the decor of the party.  Here are some of our favorites along with the invite that inspired them...



Baby shower cake with sugar carriage topper and butterflies.  The top tier was made to match the pattern on the back of the invite.

The engagement cake for a couple who got engaged in Paris - how romantic, right?!?!  Silhouette couple topper is all sugar.

Baby Shower cake with sugar butterfly topper. 

Baby shower cake with matching cupcake for the daddy-to-be.  The pattern on the bottom tier matches the pattern in the letters in 'baby' on the invite. 

The moral of the story is...anything can serve as insipration for a wonderful cake!!!  We really love taking a general idea and putting our own spin on it :D  We've also done a few baby shower cakes inspired by nursery bedding...but we'll save those for a future post. 

Till next time...

*V*

Aunt Viv and the Fresh Nephews of Miami...

Just this past Thursday, my friend H gave birth to her second son, S, and in celebration of him, I've decided to share some stories about my nephews :-)

Another tidbit of information about me - I'm an only child.  So even though I come from a really big family (11 aunts/uncles and 19 first cousins), I don't have any blood-related nieces or nephews.  However, I am so lucky to have two amazing nephews, A (6) and E (3), who are my brother-in-law's sons.  In addition,  I've been blessed with very close friends whose kids call me 'Auntie' or 'Tía'.  Unfortunately, my nephew D lives in Philly and my niece L lives in Colombia, so I have never had the honor of making them a cake.  However, for the ones who live here in Miami, we've been able to make some very special cakes.

For his 6th Birthday, A had a 'Jake and the Neverland Pirates' themed party.   We came up with this scene from Shipwreck Beach which included a personalized 'Jake' sign, sugar replicas of the five main characters: Jake, Izzy, Cubby, Skully the Parrot, and Bucky the Pirate Ship.  The 'water' is made of sugar and the 'sand' is crushed Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal (Yum!).  The treasure chest is the candle.

E had a 'Spongebob' party for his 3rd birthday.  His cake depicted SpongeBob's Pineapple House in Bikini Bottom.  Everything is edible, including the hand-molded SpongeBob.

For my friend H's son, who loves Elmo and was turning 1, we came up with this very colorful cake.  The Elmo topper was handmade out of sugar.

  

Here is little R with mommy H and daddy J, snacking on some frosting.

Finally, as it turns out, little R is, as of Thursday, now a big brother!  In August, for H's baby shower, we made this special cake to welcome the new addition.  S, auntie Viv loves you!  It was designed to match the invite that was created by my sister-in-law, Betty (http://creativeinvitationsbybetty.webs.com/).  I would say creativity runs in the family, but we are not blood-related, so I'll just say, "Birds of a creative feather..." 

So, to my adorable nephews/nieces, I say, "I love you and look forward to being part of many more of your special days!"

*V*

Cheers to the Birthday Girl!!!!

Please join me in wishing our very own Guelcys a Happy Birthday!!!! 

I am thankful every day that, by serendipity, we became 'Cakes With Attitude' and I couldn't ask for a better partner in crime ;)   I hope you have an awesome day, my friend!!!!!

*V*

With a Little Help From My [30-year old] Friends...

Making cakes for friends is doubly-rewarding because, not only do you get to make them something awesome, you then get to share the celebration with them.  Here are some of my friend's recent 30th birthday celebrations that we have been part of in the past year.

When our good friend Vilma (who's a huge Disney fan) turned the big 3-0, she planned a trip to Epcot's Food & Wine Festival to mark the big occasion. The guests included the birthday girl, her husband, his two brothers and their wives, Guelcys and her husband, my parents (who happened to be visiting from Philly), my hubby, my princess, and I.  We all had such a blast!  And managed to surprise her with an Hermes purse and shoe cake, complete with lip gloss, a Disney pin, and a Disney Charm bracelet.

She didn't think she was getting a cake since we had to drive it 3.5 hours away to Orlando, but for her...it was our pleasure! 

Love you, V!



Another friend and musician, ViTo, recently turned 30 and we were asked to make a music-themed cake for his party.  We designed his cake complete with a personalized marquee, and a stage featuring a sugar stool, microphone, set list, and a sugar replica of his guitar.  It was a big hit!

Finally, Brett (my co-worker), who is originally from Denver, got this Broncos cake topped with a personalized "30" jersey.  We got lucky that #30 for the Denver Broncos was Terrell Davis (a great player) and not a player that Brett would have been offended to share this jersey with...LOL.

I also surprised Guelcys with an Owl/Cherry Blossom Cake for her last birthday - but I'll let her tell you about it one day ;)

*V*

Bulldog Pride...

I don't think I've shared the fact that my hubby is a teacher at Braddock High School (The Bulldogs).  [Side note: our very own Guelcys and my hubby, are both alumni]  Since his co-workers and students all know that 'Server's wife makes cakes', CWA has had the privilege of being part of some of their events.  Here are a few of the cakes we've done that have a Braddock connection.

This cake was for the 2011 National Honor Society end-of-year banquet.  The theme of the event was Dr. Seuss and we were asked to incorporate the theme into the cake and this is what we came up with to highlight three famous Seuss stories: 'One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish', 'The Cat in the Hat', and 'Horton Hears a Who'.

 
Did I mention that the hubby is also the Braddock Girls' Soccer Coach?  Just this summer, the team participated in a tournament and when it wrapped up, all the teams had a celebratory BBQ.  We were asked to provide dessert :)  The ball is made of cake and the cleat is 100% sugar.  The sides had representations of the teams that participated in the tournament: Braddock High School Bulldogs, Southwest High School Eagles, St. Brendan High School, South Kendall Soccer, and South Miami High School Cobras.  The players and coaches loved it and I think we definitely scored with this one! :p

This next cake was for a baby shower thrown at school for a teacher who was expecting.  It was a surprise, so the teachers organizing the shower just asked us to be creative.  It was difficult, not knowing the mommy-to-be, to design something that we'd know she'd like.  So we looked up her baby registry and designed something around her Winnie the Pooh nursery bedding.  She picked it so we knew she liked it - we just translated it into cake!  And topped it off with a pair of matching sugar baby Converse.  Congratulations, Ms. D!

Finally, one of my husband's former students wanted to order a cake for her boyfriend's 18th birthday.  He's a huge Hurricanes fan, so she wanted a University of Miami themed cake.  She came to the right place!!! (C-A-N-E-S, CANES!!!!)  The cake featured a football field complete with a goal post and a sugar replica of Sebastian the Ibis. 

Thank you J for giving me the chance to show my Hurricane Pride!

We hope to be able to continue to provide the Braddock Family with many more fun cakes :) 
Go Bulldogs!

*V*

I have a crush...

Ok, I admit it. I have a cake crush! I have been following this blog http://www.mysweetandsaucy.com/ for a while now. And I must say I have developed what Viv calls a "cake crush" on them. Recently they blogged about a graduation cake they made based on the old Coppertone ad that featured a little girl who's bottom was being pulled by her dog. I have memories of that ad on a huge billboard here in Miami from when I was a little girl. That cake brought back memories of many fun filled family trips to the beach. I fell in love with it right way. A few weeks later, my co worker asked me to make a cake for her daughter's 21st birthday. Her daughter's only instruction was it had to be a 'Cakes with Attitude' cake! So, I had no theme and no hint as to what to make her other than she wanted it to have stars. I was stumped! What I knew about Charee from her facebook posts was that she loved the beach and her dog, Stella. Her mom told me how she was always making jokes about being born a summer baby. It's hard to have a party when schools out and your friends are off on vacation! I immediately thought about the Coppertone cake. It was the perfect summer baby cake.

Viv made the incredible sugar topper. We changed the dog from the original ad to match Stella and added starfish so she would have her stars. Charee got the joke and loved it. I posted on Sweet Saucy's facebook to thank them for their inspiration and I was beyond stoked when they replied that our cake "turned out great"!!!
<3 Guelcys

The Chandler to my Monica...

("Friends" fans will get the title reference)

As Guelcys mentioned, our husbands have been our rocks throughout this whole journey.  They haven't complained even though we've become "cake supply hoarders," they go on deliveries with us, they build support systems when we need them, and so much more...all in all, they have supported us 100%.  What more could a girl ask for?

So today's post I will dedicate to my hubby, Jorge.  Since this whole adventure started, we've had the chance to make him two very special cakes - which I will share with you now.

In August of 2010, my husband graduated from Graduate school with a Master's degree in American History.  To celebrate, a group of close friends surprised him with lunch at Dave and Buster's and CWA, of course, provided dessert.

This is one of those very personal cakes that requires some explanation.  The top is self explanatory and everything is edible.  The top tier represents a bookshelf holding all of the topics he studied during graduate school and his final thesis.  The bottom tier is postcards representing the 3 places they visited on course travel trips (Philadelphia, Washington DC, and Boston) and 2 postcards representing my graduation gift to him: a cruise to Jamaica and Grand Cayman. 
It was a neat way to give him his graduation present and he was very happy.  Here is a picture from that day and his graduation day - so proud of him!!!! :D

The other cake we made him was a Pink Floyd-inspired 31st birthday cake.  The hubby is a huge music fan and Pink Floyd happens to be one of his favorites.  We celebrated with dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe (very appropriate setting, I thought).  The 'Dark Side of the Moon' topper was made out of sugar.  The top tier was made to represent 'The Wall' and each of the sides of the bottom tier represented other Pink Floyd productions: 'The Division Bell', 'Animals', 'Pulse', and 'Live at Pompeii'.

 Pure coincidence that the shirt he wore to dinner was represented on the cake ;)

Next cake we make him? we will have to wait and see, but it would be safe to bet that it will either music or sports related :)  Always happy to be able to do something special for my #1 supporter.  Love you hubby!

*V*

Everybody loves Raymond...especially me =)

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I wanted to start the week by posting about a cake we did for the most important person (besides my parents) in my life. Enjoy!
We have the best husbands who are truly amazing and supportive of our 'cake life'. And boy do they help out! Ray has always been my rock and he is constantly reminding me why I fell in love with him in the first place. I'm not sure that I could have taken on this adventure without him cheering me on. The same same can be said for Viv's husband, Jorge, who I jokingly refer to as my 2nd husband since some weeks I see him more than my own.
Ray and I actually met when I was sixteen and started my very first job at a local grocery chain. We were friendly at work but went to different high schools and lost touch after he transferred to another store. About four years later we ran into each other and well, the rest is history! We celebrated our eleventh wedding anniversary this past July =D And as cheesy as it sounds, we are a perfect fit. When his birthday came around this year I surprised him with a Miami Heat cake complete with a special #35 jersey. I planned for our close friends and family to meet us for lunch at Sports Grill (trying to keep with the theme) and I even managed to get him to wear one of his Heat t-shirts. He loved his cake and had a great time. Not that you can go wrong with wings, beer and of course our yummy cake!

I love you honey! <3 Guelcys

Viv's Cakestory

Happy Friday!  We're so excited to share some of our creations with you along with the 'story behind the cake'. 

Everyone has a story - here is mine.  I am originally from Bogotá, Colombia; grew up in Philadelphia and finally moved to Miami to go to college (Go Canes!) and ended up staying. My husband, Jorge, and I married in 2005 and we had our daughter, Celeste, in 2008.

As Guelcys mentioned in her previous post, Celeste is actually the reason I decided to learn cake decorating. I figured I had many years of birthday cakes ahead of me, so, why not??? What I didn't know is that I would fall in love with 'caking' - and a hobby would turn into a passion. My friend Guelcys was interested in learning too, so we decided to take some classes together and some time later, 'Cakes With Attitude' was born.

Since my daughter is the reason I decided to embark on my 'Adventures in Cake Decorating', the first cake I'd like to share is the one we made for her 3rd Birthday.

Celeste is a very opinionated little girl and knows what she wants (don't know where she gets that from...lol) and when I asked her what theme she wanted for her birthday, she quickly responded 'Nemo' - so Nemo it was. Being the planner that I am (and slightly OCD), I immediately started brainstorming what we would do for her cake and eventually decided on a three-tier ocean scene (knowing we would have tons of cake left over because there weren't 100 people at her party, but 'go big or go home,' right?) depicting as many of the movie characters as possible.

Each of the 19 characters (Nemo, Dory, Marlin, Gill, Bloat, Peach, Gurgle, Bubbles, Deb, Jacques, Bruce, Anchor, Chum, Crush, Squirt, Mr. Ray, Tad, Pearl, and Sheldon) was hand cut or molded out of sugar. The only inedible thing on the cake was the candle. It was pure serendipity that the '3' happened to be orange and matched the cake :D

Guelcys and I worked long hours on this cake, but in the end, it was so worth it to see the look on Celeste's face and the smiles on her friends' faces at her party as they pointed out the different characters.

Here's a picture of my husband and I with Celeste; the birthday girl blowing out her candle and 'helping' to cut the cake.

I am looking forward to her next birthday! She's already decided (5 months in advance) that she wants a princess theme for her 4th birthday (I told you she was opinionated)...stay tuned!

*V*

Welcome!

Welcome to our brand new blog! We are so excited to be blogging and sharing what happens behind the scenes of our fun and sometimes crazy cake life.

So here is the story of us...

My friend, Viv, mentioned she would be taking a cake decorating class as a hobby. Being a mom, she figured she could have some fun making her daughter's birthday cakes. I thought it was super cool and asked to go along for the ride. Fast forward a while, and here we are! Somewhere between birthday cakes for family and friends, Cakes with Attitude was born. And that little hobby has become a passion!

And although all our cakes are a labor of love, we hope to share some of our favorites in the next few months. So come back soon!!

Guelcys