diaper cake
Yee Haw! It’s Rodeo Time!
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Dust off your hat. Shine up your boots, and slide into those Wranglers…it’s rodeo time again! Houston is gearing up once again for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo! HLSR is huge for Houstonians…great bbq, livestock shows, dancing, concerts, carnival, and did I mention bbq? And there’s plenty to do for the kiddos too. There are various activity booths and petting zoos for the kids that are both fun and educational. Outside the whole family can enjoy carnival rides and traditional carnival treats. It’s fun for the whole family!
Also now through Spring, many veteran and new moms to be are gearing up for baby showers! A western themed baby shower is a rowdy good time! You can create your own invites by cutting out plain or paisley cardstock in the shape of a cowboy hat. Or you can visit your local craft or party supply store for other options and kits.
Food: For some western flavor, cowboy favorites include barbecue or chili with cornbread. Steaks, potato salad, coleslaw, grilled chicken, wings, burgers, or even hot dogs are a yummy choice too. Pretzels, chips and salsa are good finger foods. For outdoor fun, try grilling hot dogs or making smores over an open flame. And for dessert, making a horseshoe shaped cake offers the parents to be a tasty treat and wishes of good luck!
Decorations: Depending on your location, you may be able to find hay bales for seating and/or decoration. A rocking horse makes great decor and wonderful baby gift too. Bandanas work great as decor and as placemats or utensil holders. Assorted cowboy hats, ropes, saddles, boots, toy horses, cows and tin cans with flowers make excellent decor.
Games: Modified game of horseshoes. Instead of the traditional game with iron horseshoes and a stake, you can play indoors using baby bottles and baby cowboy hats. 8 second bronco riding becomes 8 second (or less) diaper changing contest. And the “baby” song game can be played using country songs (write as many country songs with the word “baby” in the title).
Favors and Prizes: Individual packs of sunflower seeds (bags can be printed specific for your party). Also small tin or glass candles with twine wrapped or hot glued around them are festive too.
To top of your baby shower, a western / cowboy or cowgirl theme diaper cake not only makes the perfect centerpiece, but is a wonderful gift for the mom to be to take home and use! Check out these cakes and more from L.A. BabyCakes!
Moon & Stars Baby Shower
Thursday, February 18th, 2010 | How To | No Comments
If you don’t know by now, I love BAKING! I think it’s that I love being creative and love having a good challenge. One of my favorites to follow is Martha Stewart. Now I now she has a full time staff who gather new ideas for her show, website, etc., but I simply love this woman. She’s great when I need some inspiration. I recently ran across a recipe for an adorable cake she created – Stars-and-Moon cake. It’s just precious and I thought it would fit perfectly with a Moon and Stars diaper cake I created for a client. The whole theme is a precious idea for a baby shower. I checked out the recipe. Although it doesn’t seem too difficult, I would imagine it may be a bit time consuming….so as a warning…I would mix the batter and chill a day ahead just so you’re nice and fresh to begin the time consuming fun! 
Here’s the recipe from Martha’s site:
Ingredients
Serves 8 to 10
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for parchment
- 3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/3 cups packed light-brown sugar
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups heavy cream
- 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
- Royal Icing
Directions
- Sift flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl. Mix butter and brown and granulated sugars on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined.
- Divide dough into quarters; shape into squares. Wrap each in plastic; refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. Working with 1 square at a time, roll out dough between pieces of lightly floured parchment to 12-inch square, about 1/8 inch thick. Transfer on parchment to baking sheet; freeze until firm, about 20 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut dough into rounds with 2 1/4-inch cutter and into moon and stars with shaped cutters.(You will need 75 rounds for the cake; use remaining dough as desired.) If dough becomes too soft, freeze for a few minutes. Space cookies 1 1/2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment. Freeze until firm, about 15 minutes.
- Bake until centers are firm to the touch, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool. Can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 1 week.
- Beat cream and confectioners’ sugar until soft peaks form.
- Lay 15 cookies in an 8-inch circle, overlapping edges slightly to fill the circle. Spread with about 11/4 cups whipped cream. Repeat, making 5 layers. Refrigerate at least 6 hours or up to 1 day.
- Tint royal icing as desired. To frost moon and star cookies, pipe icing around edges; pipe zigzags to fill in, and spread with small offset spatula. Let stand until set, 1 to 2 hours. Serve cake, garnished with moon and star cookies.
Looks dreamy right? This cake would also be great for a child’s birthday party as well. And you can’t forget the wonderful DIAPER “cake” to go along with your edible one. This Moon and Stars diaper cake comes complete with the wonderful classic “Goodnight Moon” which is a must for any child’s library.
Sweet Dreams!!!
*For more information or diaper cake ideas, click the “quick buy” or “custom cakes” option above, or visit www.la-babycakes.com
Nursery Rhymes or Book Baby Shower
Sunday, October 19th, 2008 | How To | No Comments
As an avid reader myself, I think books are a great gift for children of all ages. Throwing a book or nursery rhyme shower works great for first showers or second and so on. Mother Goose has so many nursery rhymes that you can work with as a theme and decoration for your shower. You can work in a single story or several into one shower. Aesop’s Fables and the many stories from Dr. Seuss also work fabulously!
For decorating, finding plush characters from the stories to place around the room works great. You can also have guests bring a book or story from a collection and use those to decorate as well. Some stories and books also use a collection of colors similar in each book so using color coordinating balloons, streamers, tablecloths, ribbons, etc. add a wonderful touch. Also great for decoration and as snacks too, are colored candies. You can use candy dishes or jazz things up by taking martini glasses and placing them all over each table. You can either fill each glass up with a multitude of colors or a separate color in each glass. M&Ms have a great color selection. You can also find candy coated sunflower seeds, almonds, wrapped candies and more! 
These also work great for other types of parties as well. Another option is to wrap the tops and tie with ribbon and give as party favors. Another decoration and favor idea are small flowerpots placed throughout the room that correspond with “Mary, Mary Quite Contrary.” And as always…my personal favorite…the diaper cake. I really love diaper cakes because they are so versatile as far as design goes…and you can fill them with so many great usable products. Here are a couple Dr. Seuss cakes perfect for a theme party! 
You can’t have a party without games. In addition to traditional baby shower games, why not play charades? Guests can draw slips of paper out of a bowl which contain different nursery rhymes or stories. Players may act out the stories for their teammates to guess. Nursery rhyme Pictionary is a hit too. How about guessing how much wool for Baa Baa Black Sheep? Guests can try to guess how many cotton balls are in filled jars.
And how about a cute “Pat a Cake” cake that’s marked with a “B” as part of the nursery rhyme theme? 
Deviled eggs are a great appetizer for guests, but not so much for Humpty Dumpty. Cottage Cheese fruit dip is a hit for Litttle Miss Muffet and her curds & whey or roast beef sandwhiches for “This Little Piggy.” For drinks…purchase a new baby bath tub and fill with your desired punch or beverage. Find a cup and place 3 men figurines in the cup to float in the tub for “Rub a dub dub, 3 men in a tub” themed refreshments.
Enjoy!
Baby Shower for Next Pregnancy?
Monday, October 6th, 2008 | How To | No Comments
Should I or shouldn’t I? That is a good question! Back in the day, it was bad form to have another baby shower after having your first child. These days anything goes! Throwing a second shower is great for the mom to be whether they’re having different sex or same sex child this time around. There are several ways to approach it with varying themes.
The first theme has been around for quite some time – Diaper shower. No matter what sex the mother is having, she will always need diapers! The guest of honor will feel blessed to be stocked up on a much needed item after delivery. Each guest of course brings a bag or box of diapers to the shower, but they can get much more creative if they wish. Guests can create gift baskets of diapers or a wonderful diaper cake either loaded only with diapers or one that has a few extra treats inside. Even if the bundle of joy is still a surprise, a neutral themed diaper cake can work for you. Here are a couple of simple ideas courtesy of L.A. BabyCakes.
A second theme idea is a recipe or food shower. Guests will share their favorite family, or kid approved dinner ideas with the guest of honor. Guests may even bring the dish already made up along with the recipe card to the shower for the guest of honor to freeze and later use when she has her hands full with a newborn. Once each guest brings their recipe, they may all be compiled in a nicely chosen or decorated recipe box or folder for mom to take home!
And finally a “pamper mom” shower will always be a hit! This shower may be held at someone’s home, day spa, or salon. Guests as well as the mom to be can all be pampered at this shower! Depending on time, space & budget, you may choose to chip in and present the guest of honor with a gift certificate to be used before or after delivery. Or guests may bring items that may be enjoyed by the guest of honor such as beauty treatments, specialty foods, drinks, etc.
As always, plan well & have fun!!!
Puppy Theme Baby Shower
Sunday, September 28th, 2008 | How To | No Comments
What’s cuter than a puppy? How about a puppy themed baby shower?! This fun theme not only works great for welcoming a bouncing baby boy or sweet little girl, but it’s also a great idea for a child’s birthday party as well. This was also the theme for my daughter’s second birthday.
For the decorations, let’s start with the basics – balloons! Paw print balloons are easy to find and a cute way to liven up a party. Decorative tablecloths may be covered with puppy prints or contain an array of colors to complement your room. Tables covered in ceramic or plastic dog bowls (new of course) and filled with an array of treats is also a great start. Depending on what direction you want to go, for a more elegant look, bouquets of flowers and or beautiful candles may be mixed in among the ceramic dog bowls. For a laid back party, an assortment of dog themed decor such as puppy faces, dog bones, & fire hydrants may be found at most party supply stores. Plush dogs & puppies are great to place around tables or in a cute wicker basket so that the guest of honor may take them home after the shower to decorate or use as toys for the new bundle of joy. And the decorations would not be complete without an adorable puppy themed diaper cake on display. Check out www.la-babycakes for pre made or custom puppy diaper cakes! 
Mmmm…now onto the treats! What good puppy doesn’t love a good snack? “Puppy Chow” is a wonderful snack for guests to munch on throughout the baby shower. The “puppy chow” can be put in the dog bowls or placed in a decorated coffee or formula can such as I did for my daughter’s party. Also, bone shaped cookies or chocolates are a festive touch to the dog bowls and wrapped in individual baggies for guests to take home as favors! And now for the cake (the edible kind)! There are many recipes out there for cakes if you search the internet. Or for an even easier way, call your local bakery and have them create one for you. One of my favorite recipes I found on the Woman’s Day Magazine website. Unfortunately the recipe is no longer there, but they do have a VERY similar one for cats. So if you follow the basic format and just modify your decorating, you can create the cake I made below.
Here’s to a Pawfect Party!