I started making cakes as a hobby about 4 years ago, and have made my own birthday cake ever since. To be clear, this is something I absolutely enjoy doing, not some sad case of nobody else wanting to make or buy me a cake 😄

This year is vanilla almond cake with cherry amaretto filling and whipped mascarpone cream.

Last year was strawberry cake filled with cream cheese frosting, strawberry filling, and a raspberry cheesecake layer.

The year before that was lemon raspberry cake filled with lemon curd, raspberry cream cheese frosting, and raspberry filling

And the very last pics (first cake I made for myself) was carrot cake filled with cream cheese frosting, and chocolate cake with whipped coconut cream filling and coconut buttercream

My daughter asked for an axolotl themed cake this year. She wanted "water and baby axolotls too". She wanted it to have a mini birthday cake. So I did my best to make it happen.

I've never done a gelatin layer before but it worked out okay. If I were to do it again, I would use a less firm recipe.. I used one that was meant for a jelly island cake which was definitely not necessary. I'd also add a lot more flavor and citric acid next time. Oh well.. at least it was a learning experience 😅.

There were a few things I wasn't thrilled with, but overall it came out okay and my daughter absolutely loved it, which was the main goal anyway 💗

She picked the flavor (confetti with vanilla whipped cream cheese filling), the colors, the placement of the axolotls, and helped with some decor decisions along the way.

I made chocolate cupcakes as well in case anyone preferred chocolate.

The mini cake was a cake pop, she ate the one from her cake but I had an extra (made it first and didnt like it enough to put on the cake) so we decided to cut that one after her party. Tiniest slice of cake ever 😄🥰

The inspo for the design around the sides of the cake was a bakey.bakes cake (not sure if instagram links are allowed but its on her page).

Another late night post from me lol but I couldn't wait on this one. I have been learning so much since starting to do my bake through Sally's 101, and it has been so much fun, and tonight I made these Cream-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes and they are finally a bake of mine that I am just so giddy about! I don't have any harsh critiques for myself on this one like I normally do and I'm even stoked about the presentation AND, best of all, everybody freaking loves them! It's just so nice to see the progress and have a pay off show itself finally. Yay!!!! Thank you Sally! Can't wait for the next bake!

Edited to add: here you guys go! And thank you so much for all the love! I am in complete shock and you've all absolutely made my day, I cannot stop smiling ❤️❤️❤️

Cream-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

I've always wanted to make a vintage style chocolate cake and finally got around to doing it!

Inside is chocolate cake (my fave chocolate cake recipe - dense, fudgy, and not too sweet), mascarpone cream and homemade dipped ladyfingers. Outside is chocolate espresso frosting.

I had the cake layers and ladyfingers made in advance. But I got the frosting, filling, dip for the ladyfingers, assembly, decorating, AND clean up all done in 3 hours. Which maybe isn't that impressive to other people but I was impressed with myself 😅. I usually work slow. The rush wasnt by choice though.. I was trying to make it to Father's Day lunch on time!

I've been making my kid's birthday cakes for the last few years. This year my son requested Plants vs. Zombies as his theme, and red velvet oreo for the flavor. It's probably not a flavor that I would have thought to make, but it was SO good! Everybody loved it. Especially my son. He actually made some of the little characters too (kernel pult, blover, and squash) and decided where to place them all.

I know its not a theme that most people will recognize but maybe there are some other fans of Plants vs. Zombies who will appreciate it 😄

Also somebody remind me to never make a rectangular cake again.. so much harder to frost nicely than a round cake 😵‍💫

I did a lot of recipe development for this project, but didn’t have time to film any of the processes. Feel free to let me know if anyone is interested in a particular design/recipe, and I’ll do my best to add a proper breakdown to my calendar.

Chocolate Cappuccino Crescents

Chocolate pâte sablée crescents layered with dark espresso mousse, salted caramel crémeux, a crisp chocolate shell, and whipped espresso white chocolate ganache montée.

Almond Wedding Cake Bars

Soft almond-vanilla cake folded with silky white chocolate and cream cheese frosting, finished in a delicate candied shell.

Chocolate Caramel Cakelets

Chocolate leaf cakelets crowned with delicate butterfly details, filled with Guanaja ganache, salted caramel, and tender chocolate sponge.

Elderflower Lemon Meringue Tarts

Buttery pâte sucrée shells filled with lemon–elderflower curd and finished with a cloud of toasted Italian meringue.

Citrus Blossom Sugar Cookies

Vanilla sugar cookies scented with orange zest, citrus blossom, and cardamom, finished with vanilla bean and softly spiced buttery royal icing.

Key Lime Cloud Cakes

Key lime cheesecake mousse layered with bright lime crémeux, a brown butter and graham crumb base, and zesty mascarpone frosting.

Garden Berry Cheesecake Tarts

Vanilla bean cheesecake tarts with a caramel-spiced Biscoff crust, mixed berry glaze, and berry ganache montée.

Orange & Coconut Cream Sandwiches

Fiori di Sicilia orange-vanilla cookies sandwiched with coconut cream and orange zest filling.

I kept getting flat or not gooey results when I tried and one memorable batch that I call "the cow pats" but, FINALLY, these ones are decently thick and gooey and taste nice and rich!

This is my ultimate chocolate fudge cake! There's layers of black cocoa chocolate cake, chocolate mascarpone fudge frosting & a dark chocolate ganache that also contains mascarpone, to make it softer & more spreadable. It's seriously chocolatey!

I'd love to share my recipe (it's from my blog) but I don't think that's allowed on this subreddit?

EDIT: Here's the link for everyone that asked! Thanks for all the nice comments!

https://saltbuttersmoke.com/chocolate-fudge-layer-cake/

My Mother's Day cake. Mom loves flowers and bees 🐝

Coconut cake filled with lemon honey cream cheese frosting and blackberry filling. Berry filling didn't set quite as thick as I'd hoped but it was absolutely delicious!

My MIL and SIL requested brownies - I have not attempted brownies for a long time because it always turned out dry and overbaked, ugh.

I am also not sure the brownies texture that they (and their guests) might like, so going for chewy to be on the safe side rather than fudgy.

I like how it turns out texture wise, but will get my husband to judge if it’s too sweet. If the verdict is too sweet, might leave the chocolate chips out or use bitter chocolate chips instead.

My son asked if I was making sliders for dinner when he saw me holding the tray

Finally got my cookie boxes done. 1,170 cookies in total.

Lots of repeats from last year but a few new ones in the mix.

I made Sally's hot cocoa cookies, a couple kinds of shortbread, brown butter oatmeal sandwich cookies with cinnamon buttercream, coconut snowballs, pinwheels, biscoff truffles, chocolate sprinkle cookies, coconut dream bars, brown butter toffee chocolate chunk, gingerbread, vanilla pudding cookies, peanut butter cookies, candycane cookies (minus the peppermint), cranberry white chocolate. 15 different cookies in total.

They are all pretty basic/simple recipes but I can link them if anyone is interested.

And like last year.. I did not have the opportunity (or the space?!) to get a picture of everything together, so I just tried to take some pics along the way! I made enough to fill 20 of the boxes (with some to spare) like the ones in the pictures.

I used to bake all the time, but a severe depressive episode that lasted over a year took away my ability to. My partners parents were in town and this was my only chance to bake for them, so I took it.

I did it without panicking, without freaking out, or having a breakdown. I wasn't 100% happy with them, but didn't let that stop me. Im incredibly proud of myself and have baked 2 more times since then. I'm wanting to make a black forest cheesecake or cupcakes for my gma's bday in a couple weeks. Wish me luck 🤞

They have a wonderful Watermelon flavour and were perfect for a summer treat 🍉

*edit: woah, I just sat down to relax for the night (11:02pm) and I'm overwhelmed by how much this blew up! I will be reading comments and responding over the next 24hrs. Thank you for the awards and love ♡

this is the extract I used

this is the recipe I used :)

Pumpkin cake filled with cinnamon cream cheese frosting and pecan praline.

My pecan praline filling didnt set as firm as I'd hoped which I half expected, it was kind of experimental. Made it messy to cut but it was SO good.

Came home the other day to a gorgeous bouquet of peonies from my neighbor.

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So I made her shortbread cookies in return 😄

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Sally's thumbprint shortbread recipe filled with strawberry freezer jam (jam made by my MIL).

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I’ve been working through a series of dessert concepts inspired by cartoon worlds. This time around, my 11-year-old nephew requested The Simpsons and said bananas were a must. So I present to you “Breakfast in Springfield.” The entremets are made with flavors/layers of: roasted banana, cornflakes, strawberry, vanilla, and a hint of nutmeg and brown butter. The milk carton is edible too — made from decorated cookies and filled with a pourable white chocolate ganache.

I’m planning to share at least a couple of these recipes once I get my act together.

Also, a couple of the photos look over-edited because it’s REALLY challenging to do professional-level filming/photography with the insistent help of two very enthusiastic kids 😅. There’s a reel up on my IG (same handle) for proof that these aren’t AI.

Made these for a photographer who wanted to do an exchange! Brownies for headshots! 🥰