Get ready! (part I)

This is gonna be a long one! And will have to be in two parts... Part 2 will have to come tomorrow because I just realized I didn't download all the pictures.. dang!

SO, FIRST- had a very last minute cake to make at the end of last week. My dear friend at work decided to leave and follow a new adventure with another company. My dear Miss Marsha bid us farewell and I made her a BIG square cake. I wanted to practice covering a square cake again so this was a good opportunity. It was a simple affair- (5) 8" square layers. 4 layers were marble cake and 1 layer was strawberry, just for fun. There was either strawberry ganache or amaretto ganache all covered in the usual Swiss Buttercream and then chocolate fondant over the top.
Check it out:



Then... Then I had a very important date on Saturday with a new friend, Libby. She and I are hatching up an evil genius plan together and the first step was to get her stellar photography skills over to my kitchen to snap some of my attempts at greatness and me attempting to make them great. ;) Here is the cake I made and one of the cupcakes I made for the photo shoot :




You can check out one of the pictures she took of me on my facebook fan page, look for Sweet Sandy B and become my fan if you aren't already. I can't WAIT to see the rest of the pictures. giddy!
**Cake was 3 layers of Chocolate Creme de Menthe w/ a mint ganache and covered in Swiss Buttercream. The cupcake is Clementine Creamsicle w/ Swiss Buttercream.**

Then, Easter... It was a beautiful day- just gorgeous out. #1 and Mooch had a fab time hunting for eggs, and thankfully the kiddos don't like looking at the camera for pictures so I have a few to share of them hunting for those eggs left by that pesky Easter Bunny:




And, like a lot of American homes, we had ham for dinner.. lots and LOTS of ham. and lots of LEFTOVER ham... I found a yummy recipe for what to DO with all of that leftover ham and made some Scalloped Potato and ham gratins in my muffin tins. Seriously, they are delightful and nothing but BAD for you... butter, cream, cheese, ham, potatoes... sigh.. heaven in a muffin tin.




and then... I wanted to make carrot cake and try out this recipe for "the best pound cake ever". My idea was to do it on Saturday or Sunday, but that didn't happen (as things often DON'T go as planned lately). And then I started to feel under the weather and tired... so, they kept getting put off.

But then, a few twists and turns later, THIS was created:




And I'll tell you MORE about it tomorrow when I have the pictures lined up to tell you the story.. it's a good one! :) Happy Hump day! (ew, I HATE that saying. yuck and YUCK)