I'm super excited that my friend Cassandra has joined the blogging world... and not too long after I did!

Over the past year, she has become one of my very good friends and is one of the very best things about my job! She and her husband are expecting their first baby on Christmas Eve! If you only knew of her obsession with this holiday, you'd understand how fitting this is!! (I'm talking Christmas shopping as a year-round hobby... Christmas music in May... Christmas decorations up before Halloween... and everything red and green...) As of yesterday afternoon, the baby blog was launched so that we can keep up with everything to do with Baby Hopkins.

She will find out a week from today if her little pea-in-the-pod is a boy or a girl, so check back in to see what kind of fun ideas we cook up for her baby shower cake!! Mallory and I have never done a baby-themed cake, so we are really excited! Be sure to comment if you have any cute ideas we can borrow!

-Laura

It's nearing September...and everyone who is ANYONE knows what THAT means! It's time for not only the lovely Leah Kay's birthday, but also ADAM THE GENIUS FERGWAD'S birthday! If your saying to yourself "Doesn't Laura's birthday come before their birthdays?" you are correct. Laura's birthday is not celebrated with a cake, but instead with a gluttonous BREAD FEST, so don't think for a minute that we aren't celebrating in full the big 2-3.

Leah and Adam's birthdays are noteworthy this year, and they deserve a little something extra. Leah has moved to Auburn and will soon begin class, and more than likely she'll be student body president, an ambassador, and she'll finish her college career giving her big valedictorian speech (yes, she makes us sick, but we love her anyway). Adam has begun his career, and we all expect that he will be the next Bill Gates. He'll remember us little people when he creates the next life changing invention and strikes gold, so this is why his birthday must be celebrated.

Last year we had such a fun time, even if it was a LOT lame...that we have decided to make this an annual soiree! It will be called: LEAH AND ADAM'S ANNUAL BIRTHDAY EXTRAVAGANZA, this year being the SECOND! Good times are sure to be had by our ultra exclusive crew. Please be sure to check out the papparazo pics from last year...my goodness...we can't go ANYWHERE without the flash of the camera...WHY CAN'T WE JUST LIVE OUR LIVES?

-Mallory

I'm backtracking a little, but I forgot about our experience with cupcakes. The school year was nearly over, and that meant it was time for an art show at Spain Park High School- an art show in which Laura's sister Leah would be participating. Of course Leah asked Laura and me to participate by presenting some of our edible art at her show. We agreed that miniature cupcakes would be the way to go.

I practiced 4 different recipes for cake and icing that week, and finally decided which I liked best. Laura came over on Wednesday evening to bake/decorate, and it went fairly well. We're not as good at buttercream (yet) as we are with fondant. This isn't to say that the taste isn't outstanding, because it is, we just prefer to cover everything with fondant. We love the look, and the fondant keeps the cake fresh for several days after the event. Laura and I were a little frustrated with our results, and she left my house less happy than I had hoped. If only we knew what the next day would bring...THUNDER, RAIN, LIGHTENING, HIGH WINDS...needless to say, the art show was postponed, our cupcakes were frozen, and they turned out to be NOT SO TASTY when all was said and done. But the bright colors and little daisies on top made for a happy presentation!

-Mallory

Emily is now married and enjoying her honeymoon week in Hawaii. Congratulations to Emily and best wishes for her future! I do think Laura and I deserve a round of applause also for a CAKE WELL DONE! This cake in the shape of a bustier was our most enjoyable experience to date. The cakes were fantastic, the icing was the perfect texture, and the pink fondant matched the invitation to the party perfectly (though I suspect no one noticed this...). Everything went smoothly...the only tiny setback was the fondant was tearing at first, but Laura and I stayed calm and patient. It only took about an hour to get the fondant to the correct texture. No arguments, no bad feelings toward each other...we are most definitely progressing...I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed the entire process of creating this adorable cake. It was a big hit with our friends, and the restaurant staff as well.

- Mallory

There are few things in life more delicious than petit fours. Be honest with yourself...do you really go to teas for the bride or mother to be? HECK NO! You go for the super sweet, delightfully cute, little tiny pieces of heaven ...and the punch of course! Laura and I knew this would be our next cake to master. I have to insert a *HAHA* right here because it was such a nasty, disgusting, repulsive MESS!

The cakes were good- everything the base of a petit four should be- firm, white, yummy. We cut them into squares and whipped up a batch of glaze. Then we were at a loss as to what the next step should be. To dunk, to pour, to run to the bakery and just buy a dozen and call them our's...we didn't know. We attempted the dunking method first...it was a NO....crumbs had to be fished out of the glaze for the next hour...not fun. The pouring method was next...and it did work well...for about 8 or so mini cakes...then the glaze sat at the bottom of a jelly roll pan laced with more crumbs. Too many crumbs to be fished out. So of course we head to Bruno's for three or four more large bottles of vanilla, powdered sugar and various other top secret ingredients.

Back at my apartment, we made three batches of glaze to pour over the rest of the cakes. Sadly, this left a lot of glaze in my sink, on the floor, in our hair, etc... We put them in the fridge to firm a little, and glaze overflowed from the jelly roll pan to coat the bottom of my fridge in a HARD STICKY MESS. During this whole fiasco, Laura was also trying to make ornaments for the ornament swap at Cassandra's. Laura was crying, I was about to hit her, and we almost stopped being friends forever. Abby arrived to scope out the scene, and she was horrified. Laura's mother arrived and was also horrified. We piped little hideous green things on the top of each petit four, Laura cried some more, and she left for her party at Cassandra's. People said they enjoyed the petit fours , but we didn't believe them. Laura and I took a break from each other for a couple of days, rethought this cake thing, and just promised that we would stick to real cakes for the next little bit. It is also worth noting that Laura's own mother took a break from her for a few days as well. Laura and I baked a few cheesecakes over the holidays (which we we do very VERY well) and some cookies, but it was July before we decided to try another cake.

-Mallory

Some sweet friends of Abby and Matt's and I decided to throw a couples shower for the soon to be wed duo. It was a fall party, with a colorful autumn theme of chocolate brown and various bright colors. We (Laura and Mallory) agreed that a "present cake" would be the best option for party, so we got straight to work one evening after work.

The cake would be dark brown with a big bright green bow. We decide to start on the bright green fondant, and two and a half hours later, we arrive at the perfect shade. A little frustrated, we decide to make the dark brown fondant the next night. This was much easier...it only took about four large bottles of brown dye to achieve the color we had in mind.

Finally...Friday night...the night before the party, we begin Mission: Cake Assembly. With four layers of dark chocolate cake, cookies and cream filling (Abby's favorite), and a batch of chocolate buttercream, we were excited to put everything together. Then the DISASTER began...none of the layers were the same size, we didn't have the correct tools to pipe the filling, and a batch of buttercream just wasn't cutting it. ALL traces of chocolate in my apartment had been used, so my wonderful mother made a trip to Bruno's around 10:30 to buy every variety of chocolate on the market...

We make another batch of the chocolate buttercream, only to find that we needed ANOTHER!!!!!!! Needless to say, Laura and I were frustrated. We finally trimmed the cakes to the correct dimensions, filled the cake, and iced it (with butter knives and tablespoons...). TIME FOR THE FONDANT!!! The chocolate brown fondant was rolled in cornstarch, so it now looked more like ash. A quick rub down with our top secret ingredient, and all was good. Bow making began around 1:00 on Saturday morning. We were running off a sugar high (so much was inhaled it literally made us sick...but let's not think about that...). We had so much fun making the bow (even if it did take us another hour to complete!) that Laura decided to stay for another hour and a half to help me clean my NIGHTMARE of an apartment kitchen.

Picture those shows where the stay at home wife has a spot of flour on her cheeck and another on her apron. Now imagine that times infinity....powdered sugar, flour, regular sugar, crumbs of chocolate cake, butter, cornstarch, and who knows what else in places that don't even make sense...it was on tops of cabinets, smushed into the rug, even on the couch. Finally, at 3:30 Mission Cake Assembly was complete. It was one of the most amusing nights of our lives. That might be a little sad now that I think about it, but we'll never forget that night...and early morning!

-Mallory

The following, our very first blog post, is a gift from Adam Ferguson which he titles "Friendship Biography"...

This year will mark the 10th anniversary of Laura and Mallory's friendship. Though both from Birmingham, Alabama, they attended different elementary schools and so did not spend much time thinking about one another. They were, of course, destined to eventually meet, and did so at Berry Middle School. Neither was particularly in the market for a new friend to bother them, but they were locker neighbors, which is a particularly strong bond. They also had every class together, which, though not as strong a connection as locker placement, helped nonetheless. Somehow they both survived middle school, and decided that they would get in shape to be HOTT for high school. To this end, they decided to try running in the early mornings. Though given initially high ratings, this program was cancelled after only three days. Modern historians cite the facts that morning comes so early and that running is so unpleasant as a reason for this plan's decline in popularity. Undeterred, however, they decided that something taking place indoors was preferable, so they turned to aerobics. This plan also met with difficulties. It seems that the aerobics class permitted only two free sessions, and paying to be miserable was not an acceptable option. After much thought and consideration, they came to the conclusion that, rather than exercising, watching TV would be more entertaining. High school began, fun times were had, it was pleasantISH experience for both girls, and after graduation, they moved to Auburn, AL to go to college.

Auburn University provided sweet undergraduates Laura and Mallory with many a free afternoon. One afternoon, neither had anything to do. This lack of activity proved fateful indeed. The two decided to bake a cake-a cake that was the exact color of Mallory's cat's fur! It was an unparallelled success. A similar situation a few months later provided them with yet another baking opportunity. Laura decided that they should make two more cakes for her cats' adoptaversary . These cakes actually resembled cats, and were the highlight of the party. Despite this, the eccentricities of cat cake baking caused some of their friends and family to worry about the girls' mental health. The lack of positive reinforcement led to Laura and Mallory's early retirement from the cake decorating field.

College passed and the girls moved back to Birmingham to live their adult lives (husbands, jobs, espionage, the usual). Still, their past glory in cake decorating called to them, and they needed a creative outlet. They decided to plan their friend Abby's wedding to see if wedding planning or event planning might be something they'd like to pursue. They checked out every book from the library related to starting a business, event planning, weddings, taxes, and everything else that they thought might be of use. The books were not as helpful as they had hoped, though, as apparently one must read them to gain their information. So, the books sat idle until their due date. At the same time, Abby's wedding plans moved forward and so the books were returned, and Laura and Mallory got on with their lives.

The story might have ended there, but inspired by a talented coworker, Mallory decided to dabble in fondant. She purchased the supplies and went home to practice. Her first effort was not one that would be served in public to people (though perhaps at a nursing home or a prison), but it remains her smoothest fondant to date. Next, she decided to make a cake for Adam and Leah in September of 2007. These cakes were largely practice runs to familiarize her with the process, but when Mallory committed to making a cake for Abby's wedding shower, she knew that she could not do it alone. She needed Laura the perfectionist by her side. This was the genesis of the gift-cake. Everyone who saw it was stunned. No one could believe that the two girls had no formal experience in cake decorating! The two knew that they had found their "thing."

There is nothing that Laura and Mallory enjoy more than carbohydrates, and their cakes are wanted in all 50 states, though not for the same reasons that the girls are wanted in 3. Both Laura and Mallory want you to enjoy their blog as they fill it with sweet times, memories, and, of course, CAKES!

-The Reverend Adam Michael Ferguson