You know those candy hearts you used to get for Valentine’s Day when you were a kid? The little sugary-sweet pastel candies that taste like glue and have sayings like, “Be Mine,” “2 Cool” and “Foxy Lady”? You can create the same vibe (minus the nasty aftertaste) with these Conversation Heart Mini Cakes.

Decorate these little cakes with any message you want, and let someone know exactly how you feel about them. Why stop with a Significant Other? Give them to friends, family, kids, people who put up with your kids, bosses, teachers and kind-looking strangers. Or make them for a Valentine’s party. And go crazy coming up with messages. Get cheesy. Quote “Family Guy.” Use your favorite Old-School slang or New-School texting abbreviations. Add their names or give everyone a heart that says “World’s Best Dad.” Let your freak flag fly, my friend.

TIP: Before we get started, if you don’t want to use fondant to decorate these cakes, feel free to cover them in buttercream or ganache and decorate them with royal icing. You could even use candy, like M&M’s®, to form the letters. Feeling more relaxed? OK, let’s do this

Continue reading: Conversation Heart Mini Cakes

© 2010 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

A few weeks ago, a friend e-mailed me about making a cake for her son’s second birthday. She was planning a party with a farm theme, so we decided on a cake with a barn and some of Ethan’s favorite farm animals: a horse, cows and pigs. She also wanted a fence running around the cake.

No problem.

Not that I’d ever sculpted farm animals.

But when you’re excited about a project, it pays to say yes now and figure out how later.

Continue reading: Something Completely Different: Ethan’s Farm Cake

© 2010 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

How are you decorating your cupcakes this Halloween?

I thought about all the usual suspects: skulls, eyeballs, ghosts, witches, werewolves and mummies. And then the answer became frighteningly obvious: owls. Because nothing sends a shiver down my spine like the sound of a “HoooOOOOooooot.” Or the sight of that swivel-head. Bloodcurdling!

Then I found this owl design in “Hello, Cupcake!,” and it’s as easy as a witch in a broom shop. DANGEROUSLY close to Sandra Lee territory. But it’s Halloween! Time to embrace the tacky!

Now, let’s get our hoot on.

Continue reading: Owl Cupcakes! For a Happy Owl-O-Ween.

© 2010 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.

Last year, I was at a total loss for what to give Jeff for his birthday. My brother-in-law, Taylor, had just scored a new-in-the-box PlayStation 3 from a police auction, and he gave it to me to give to Jeff. G-a-v-e. I paid him back the money he’d spent, but he never asked for it.

How much did Jeff like the gift? When I gave him the PlayStation, we were dating. Now, we’re married.

So, when my sister asked me to make a birthday cake for Taylor–a neapolitan cake topped with a huge catfish–I was all about it. Never mind that I’d never actually seen a catfish. Not without hushpuppies and tartar sauce.

Thank God for Google Image Search.

I started with three 9-inch cakes–one vanilla, one chocolate, and one strawberry–split and filled with vanilla buttercream, chocolate buttercream, and vanilla buttercream swirled with fresh strawberries. Then I crumb-coated the cake with vanilla buttercream and covered it in blue fondant.

While I baked the cakes and made buttercream, Jeff molded the catfish out of Rice Krispies treats. We let the “body” dry overnight, and then I wrapped it in chocolate fondant and sculpted the whiskers, gills, and fins the next day.

I held the cake on my lap while Jeff drove to Jenn and Taylor’s house. Rush hour traffic. Forty-five minutes. On the interstate.

I’ve never been so relieved to have something out of my car.

But the looks on their faces were worth it. Taylor was surprised. Jenn was beaming. My nephew, Logan, wanted the fish head, and his younger brother, Jackson, was pulling off the fondant and eating it by itself.

So, neapolitan? Check. Catfish? Check. A 200 proof sugar rush for the 3-year-old? Check.

My work there was done.

Happy birthday, Taylor!

© 2010 Rebecca Crump. All rights reserved.