Happy Holidays

Breakfast with Santa

This Saturday, Simply Sweets will have a vendor booth at the Scottsdale YMCA's Breakfast for Santa. The event goes from 9 am - 11 am and will include photos with Santa, breakfast, and activities for the kids. Come out and join us

12 Days of Sweet Treats - Day 12

Day 12
Gingerbread Chocolate boxes

These boxes are made of chocolate and filled with M&Ms. Choice of milk, dark or white and wrapped in a cellophane bag with a bow. $11/each

The 12 Days of Sweet Treats comes to end today at midnight. Email or call us today and mention code 12days to receive your discount.

Day 1 - Holiday Chocolate Pretzels
Day 2 - Snowflake Chocolate Covered Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
Day 3 - Cookie Cutter Treats
Day 4 - Chocolate Spoons
Day 5 - Chocolate Dipped Snowflake Pretzels
Day 6 - Chocolate Peppermint Sticks
Day 7 - Chocolate Suckers
Day 8 - Snowflake Graham Crackers
Day 9 - Holiday Rice Krispies
Day 10 - Peppermint Crunch Bark
Day 11 - Snowflake Chocolate boxes
Day 12 - Gingerbread chocolate boxes

For 12 days during the month of December (December 3rd - December 14th) we will be featuring a different holiday treat each day on our blog. When you place an order for these treats during the 12 days you will receive 10% off these items. Please reference code 12DAYS when placing your order to receive the discount. Items are made to order so advance ordering is required. *delivery or pickup date must be for December 2007.

12 Days of Sweet Treats - Day 11

Day 11
Snowflake Chocolate Box

This box is made of chocolate (choice of dark or milk) with a white chocolate snowflake in the lid. It is filled with small white chocolate snowflakes, wrapped in a cellophane bag and tied with a ribbon. $12/each.

For 12 days during the month of December (December 3rd - December 14th) we will be featuring a different holiday treat each day on our blog. When you place an order for these treats during the 12 days you will receive 10% off these items. Please reference code 12DAYS when placing your order to receive the discount. Items are made to order so advance ordering is required. *delivery or pickup date must be for December 2007.

12 Days of Sweet Treats - Day 10

Day 10
Peppermint Crunch Bark

1/2 pound of white chocolate peppermint crunch bark in a holiday themed take out container (designs will vary). This is one of our most popular holiday treats! $6/each.

For 12 days during the month of December (December 3rd - December 14th) we will be featuring a different holiday treat each day on our blog. When you place an order for these treats during the 12 days you will receive 10% off these items. Please reference code 12DAYS when placing your order to receive the discount. Items are made to order so advance ordering is required. *delivery or pickup date must be for December 2007.

12 Days of Sweet Treats - Day 9

Day 9
Holiday Rice Krispies

Dipped in chocolate and covered with either snowflake or tree quinns, placed in a cellophane bag and tied with a ribbon (note ribbon may vary). $2.50 each

For 12 days during the month of December (December 3rd - December 14th) we will be featuring a different holiday treat each day on our blog. When you place an order for these treats during the 12 days you will receive 10% off these items. Please reference code 12DAYS when placing your order to receive the discount. Items are made to order so advance ordering is required. *delivery or pickup date must be for December 2007.

12 Days of Sweet Treats - Day 8

Day 8
snowflake graham crackers

The graham crackers are dipped in chocolate (choice of white, milk, or dark) with a white chocolate snowflake placed on top, placed in a cellophane bag and tied with a ribbon. Great for gifts these are popular with kids and adults. $2.75/each


For 12 days during the month of December (December 3rd - December 14th) we will be featuring a different holiday treat each day on our blog. When you place an order for these treats during the 12 days you will receive 10% off these items. Please reference code 12DAYS when placing your order to receive the discount. Items are made to order so advance ordering is required. *delivery or pickup date must be for December 2007.

12 Days of Sweet Treats - Day 7

Day 7
Chocolate suckers

These cute suckers are available in a choice of white, milk or dark chocolate. $2.25/each.

For 12 days during the month of December (December 3rd - December 14th) we will be featuring a different holiday treat each day on our blog. When you place an order for these treats during the 12 days you will receive 10% off these items. Please reference code 12DAYS when placing your order to receive the discount. Items are made to order so advance ordering is required. *delivery or pickup date must be for December 2007.

12 Days of Sweet Treats - Day 6

Day 6
Chocolate Peppermint Sticks

Peppermint sticks dipped in chocolate (choice of white, milk, or dark), sprinkled with white non-pareils, wrapped in a cellophane bag and tied with a ribbon. Perfect special treat to go along with a cup of cocoa. $1.25 each.

For 12 days during the month of December (December 3rd - December 14th) we will be featuring a different holiday treat each day on our blog. When you place an order for these treats during the 12 days you will receive 10% off these items. Please reference code 12DAYS when placing your order to receive the discount. Items are made to order so advance ordering is required. *delivery or pickup date must be for December 2007.

12 Days of Sweet Treats - Day 5

Day 5
Chocolate dipped snowflake pretzels

The pretzels are dipped in chocolate (choice of white, milk, or dark), covered with snowflake quinns, placed in a cellophane bag and tied with a ribbon. Great for gifts these are popular with kids and adults. $1.25/each

For 12 days during the month of December (December 3rd - December 14th) we will be featuring a different holiday treat each day on our blog. When you place an order for these treats during the 12 days you will receive 10% off these items. Please reference code 12DAYS when placing your order to receive the discount. Items are made to order so advance ordering is required. *delivery or pickup date must be for December 2007.

12 Days of Sweet Treats - Day 4

Day 4

Chocolate Spoons

The spoons are dipped in chocolate (choice of white, milk, or dark) and decorated with Christmas trees or snowflakes. These go great with a cup of cocoa or coffee and are perfect for adding to a gift basket or as a stocking stuffer. $1/each

For 12 days during the month of December (December 3rd - December 14th) we will be featuring a different holiday treat each day on our blog. When you place an order for these treats during the 12 days you will receive 10% off these items. Please reference code 12DAYS when placing your order to receive the discount. Items are made to order so advance ordering is required. *delivery or pickup date must be for December 2007.

12 Days of Sweet Treats - Day 3

Day 3

Cookie Cutter Treats

These cookie cutters are filled with chocolate (choice of dark, milk, or white) and sprinkled with coordinating quinns or sprinkles, wrapped in a cellophane bag tied with a bow. Something to eat now, and a cookie cutter to use later - perfect for adding to a gift basket, stocking, or to use to decorate a present. $1.50 each.


For 12 days during the month of December (December 3rd - December 14th) we will be featuring a different holiday treat each day on our blog. When you place an order for these treats during the 12 days you will receive 10% off these items. Please reference code 12DAYS when placing your order to receive the discount. Items are made to order so advance ordering is required. *delivery or pickup date must be for December 2007.

12 Days of Sweet Treats - Day 2

For 12 days during the month of December (December 3rd - December 14th) we will be featuring a different holiday treat each day on our blog. When you place an order for these treats during the 12 days you will receive 10% off these items. Please reference code 12DAYS when placing your order to receive the discount. Items are made to order so advance ordering is required. *delivery or pickup date must be for December 2007.

Day 2

Snowflake Chocolate Covered Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

The treats come in a cellophane bag tied with a ribbon. Available in dark or milk chocolate. $2.50/each.

12 Days of Sweet Treats - Day 1

For 12 days during the month of December (December 3rd - December 14th) we will be featuring a different holiday treat each day on our blog. When you place an order for these treats during the 12 days you will receive 10% off these items. Please reference code 12DAYS when placing your order to receive the discount. Items are made to order so advance ordering is required. *delivery or pickup date must be for December 2007.

Day 1
Holiday Chocolate Pretzels

Holiday chocolate pretzels are available in several designs including snowman, nutcracker, and angel. Available in a choice of white, milk, or dark chocolate. Each one is wrapped in a cellophane bag tied with a bow. Perfect for adding to a gift basket or for stocking stuffers. $2.25 each. Tax and delivery (optional) are additional.

Stetson Hills Holiday Craft Fair

This past Friday, we were one of the vendors at the Stetson Hills Holiday Craft which benefited the Stetson Hill's Elementary School PTSA. Despite the pouring rain, there was a decent turnout for the show. Our most popular items were boxes of peppermint crunch bark, chocolate spoons and gingerbread chocolate boxes.

Princess Samantha

This Princess Tiara cake for ordered for Samantha's 4th birthday. This is a repeat design - the tiara is made from sugar and painted with silver dust. They also ordered princess castle chocolate suckers for party favors.

Boy baby shower - BABY blocks

This cake was ordered for a baby shower to celebration the upcoming arrival of Baby Matthew Ryan. This cake is white sourcream cake, chocolate mousse filling, american buttercream icing, covered in fondant. The booties are made from gumpaste and the blocks are made from white chocolate. This is a round cake version of the popular blocks sheet cake that I've done a few times.

Underwater scene for a 5th birthday

This cake was ordered for a little boy's 5th birthday. I love the bright colors on this cake. The cake is a 10 inch round and they ordered an additional 30 cupcakes. The cake is decorated as an underwater scene and the mom is going to be placing a Sponge Bob figurine on top of the cake. Cake is white sourcream with chocolate mousse filling. The cupcakes are chocolate sourcream. The shells and letters are chocolate and the sand is made from graham crackers and crystal sugar. The additonal cupcakes were iced blue with chocolate shells on top.

American Cake Decorating magazine

A cake that I created earlier this year was published in this month's American Cake Decorating Magazine - Reader's Spotlight. The cake is the one that I made for my son's first birthday - this cake has also been popular with customers and has been ordered in several variations

train birthday cupcake cake

The cupcake cake was ordered by a repeat customer for her son't 2nd birthday. Half the cupcakes are chocolate sourcream and half are white sourcream. Cake is iced with buttercream and decorated with fondant and candy rocks. For the party, the mom placed a new train on the cake tracks - kids love the extra surprise of getting a new toy on top of their birthday cake.

business celebration

This is a cake that I did a few weeks ago but haven't yet posted. It was ordered for a business celebration. The cake is a full sheet cake (16 x 24) and was half double chocolate sourcream and half white almond sourcream with white chocolate mousse filling, iced in American buttercream and decorated with fondant. This cake was delivered to Dave and Busters for their business event.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone had a great Thankgiving!

We spent the day with family and when we asked what dish we could bring to share, the answer was cake, of course. We (my son helped - he's almost 2 and already in training to be a future Simply Sweets employee) made these cupcakes. They're banana cinnamon with cinnamon cream cheese icing and fondant leaves. These aren't on the menu yet but we'll let you in on one of the changes starting in the new year - each month we will be offering two to three types of speciality cupcakes sold by the dozen...stay tuned for more exciting changes.

I also wanted to post a few Thanksgiving cakes that I've done in the past - you might not think of Thanksgiving as a cake holiday, but we believe that there's a cake for every holiday! A perfect Thanksgiving cake flavor is caramel apple. This first cake is one that I did in one of my beginning cake decorating classes - my skills have improved and my style has changed but I still think its a fun cake.

This cake is one I did in my second year of classes - the icing is a chocolate glaze and the cornucopia and fruits are all buttercream

Baby Girl Rhoads baby shower

I created this cake for a friend's baby shower - she's expecting her second child in January. The hot pink and green colors where selected to coordinate with the invitation and decorations. The bottom tier is chocolate sourcream with white chocolate mousse and the top tier is white sourcream with raspberry mousse. The cake is iced with American buttercream icing and covered with fondant and decorated with fondant. The baby booties are made from gumpaste and can be kept as a keepsake. This cake is a 6 inch and 9 inch which serves approximately 30.

13th birthday cake for a skateboarder

This cake was ordered by a repeat customer for her son's 13th birthday who is into skateboarding. This cake was inspired by the goth-themed 16th birthday cake I did last month. The cake is white sourcream, vanilla mousse, buttercream icing with fondant accents. The Happy Birthday message is done in a tattoo font on an edible image.

Snowman cake

One of my interests (besides cake and chocolate) is collecting Department 56 Snow Villages and I belong to the local club of collectors, Desert Villagers. As a member I'm hoping to learn how to construct a village scene to display my houses from the experienced scene creators. The club is part of the National Council of 56 Collectors which is celebrating its 15th anniversary. To celebrate they are holding a cake contest that each club may enter. The present part of the cake represents the celebration and the snowman was made to look like the snowman piece that was created by NCC to celebrate the 15th anniversary. The present cake is white sourcream cake with raspberry mousse, buttercream icing and the snowflakes are fondant dusted with a little pearl dust. The snowman is chocolate sourcream cake covered in buttercream and fondant. The 15th anniversary logo on the shopping bag is an edible image.

Football sweets for a tailgate party

I made these for the Cardinals/Lions football game a few weeks ago for my husband to take to a tailgate party. Unfortunately, for my husband the Lions lost, though the chocolates where a hit! These can be ordered with a ribbon color to coordinate with your favorite team.

basketball birthday party favors

These basketball chocolate suckers where ordered for a Beckett's birthday party to be given away as party favors. They're white chocolate tinted orange.

First Birthday cake for Eric

This cake and smash cake were ordered to celebrate a first birthday - this cake is a single tier version of a two tier design that was originally done for my son's first birthday and just a few weeks ago was repeated in green and brown. The 9 inch round serves approximately 22. The "1" cake is a perfect sized smash cake and can be ordered with any cake for only $5 (this cake design is also available as a "2").

Princess Alexis

This cake was ordered by a repeat customer to celebrate her daughter's 5th birthday and was delivered to Chuck E Cheese in Scottsdale. This is our most popular cake design and while it can be done in any colors, our customers always select pink and purple. This is a very girly cake, but we could do a prince or knights castle version for a boy's birthday.

First birthday race car

This was a weekend of children's birthdays - two 1st birthday cakes and a 5 year old. This race car cake is a repeat of one I did almost a year ago, the only difference is that the Happy Birthday message is written on a banner on the cake board - the previous one had cupcakes which spelled out the birthday boy's name for additional servings. The car cake serves approximately 20-24. This one is white sour cream cake with American buttercream icing and fondant accents. This color scheme coordinated perfectly with the Cars themed party ware.

Happy Halloween

Wishing everyone a Happy Halloween.

This was my son's first year trick or treating. At first he wasn't sure what was going on but loved all the excited of kids running all dressed up - but after a few houses he quickly caught on that all he had to do was hold out his bucket at each house and it got filled with candy!

I love making Halloween treats - orange just pops on a chocolate background. These were ordered by Mariter of Daniela Jay Boutique as give-aways for their Halloween costume contest. If you haven't visted this boutique tucked in the Happy Valley/67th Ave shopping center you must check it out!

its pink! 2 tiered baby shower cake

This pink baby shower cake was delivered to the Palm Valley golf course in Goodyear. This two-tiered cake is a 10 inch and 6 inch round - the top tier is double chocolate sour cream with chocolate mousse filling and the bottom tier is white sour cream with raspberry mousse filling. Decorations are fondant and gumpaste. One great thing about tiered cakes is that you can order 2 different flavors!

75th birthday party - purple, yellow and green

This cake was order by a family planning a surprise party for their mother's 75 birthday. They wanted the cake white with purple, yellow and green accents - my favorite part of this cake is the multi-colored bow (its made from fondant). This two-tiered cake is an 8 inch and 10 inch cake which serves approximately 45. They also ordered chocolate dipped pretzels drizzled with white chocolate tinted purple, yellow, and green and 4 dozen San Francisco Chocolate Factory chocolate dipped strawberries. San Francisco Chocolate Factory treats can be added to Simply Sweets orders for no additional delivey charge - this includes strawberries, caramel apples and fudge, yum!

mummy cupcakes

These mummy cupcakes were part of the Simply Sweets Halloween special - we will be sending out more seasonal promotional emails filled with ideas of Simply Sweet treats that are prefect for your celebration or for gift giving. We often book up for custom cakes on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays but as long as you order these a few days in advance, these treats will be available. If you aren't receiving our specials and Sweet Talk newsletter, sign up for our mailing list.

chocolate boxes

Chocolate boxes are my favorite gift item - they are great for hostess gifts or when you want to give something small but sweet to neighbors or coworkers. The box is made entirely of chocolate and can be filled with chocolates that coordinate with the box theme or your recipient's favorite candy. I also have some love and valentine themed boxes that you could place some jewelry inside for the ultimate surprise.

One of my favorite boxes is the lips chocolate box that is perfect for Valentine's day - the box inside is filled with little chocolate Xs and Os. For the holidays this year I will be offering these in many designs include snowflake, angel, Christmas tree, and packages.

The package box comes in many different sizes - the small one shown here is about 3 inches by 3 inches and the larger one is about 3 inches by 5 inches.

First birthday

This two tiered cake was ordered for a large first birthday celebration. The cake is an 8 inch top tier and 10 inch bottom tier which serves approximately 45. Cake is chocolate sourcream, chocolate mousse, chocolate buttercream with fondant accents.

This cake was based on a design I did for my son when he turned 1 but the colors were changed to green, brown, and cream.

original cake:

Halloween-themed baby shower

This cake was ordered for a Halloween-themed baby shower - orange for Halloween and pink for a baby girl. The design is Sassy Circles, our most popular design. The shoes are hand molded using gumpaste. Cake is white sourcream, vanilla mousse, chocolate buttercream with fondant accents. The message reads "congratulations on the new addition to the pumkin patch".

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month so I wanted to take the opportunity to talk about a few things related to this topic. First I'll start with a photo of a cake that I'm often asked about:

This cake was done a few years ago for a former boss of mine. She was diagnosed with breast cancer and went through treatment and reconstruction and she told me when she came back to work she wanted a cake to celebrate her survival. This is the cake I designed for her and we presented to her at her welcome back lunch.

For those of you who haven't heard yet, Simply Sweets is proud to announce that we are an affiliate for Design-her-gals! Design-her-gals is a fun web-based business where you can design your own gal (or guy or children) with the latest fashions. Then have your gal printed on stationary, party invitations and even clothing. A portion of every sale goes to the Gal to Gal foundation which raises money for stage 4 breast cancer patients. This month you can sign up for a virtual walk to raise money for the Gal to Gal Foundation.


The Beautiful Garden Boutique is donating 10% of all sales this month to the Susan G. Komen foundation. Trisha, the owner of the Beautiful Garden Boutique is a member of my networking group, Swanky Moms Across Arizona - all local businesses started by moms. On Friday, October 26th, 2007 she will be hosting a pre-holiday shopping event from 5pm-8pm at the San Palacio Clubhouse, a Mark Taylor Apartment Complex. Do a little early holiday shopping or treat yourself to something special.

MOMs club raffle basket

I'm a member of the Phoenix-Happy Valley MOMS club which is part of the international MOMS club. Every year the Arizona chapters get together for a luncheon and each chapter puts together a basket for the raffle. This year's theme is "A Mother's Love is Sweeter than Chocolate" - I donated 3 baskets of chocolate and a Simply Sweets gift certificate. All of the items will be combined with all the other donations from our members and put together in a huge basket for the raffle. All money raised from the raffle goes to the Mother-to-mother fund. The Halloween themed basket contains chocolate dipped pretzels, chocolate dipped chocolate sandwich cookies with pumpkins, BOO chocolate sandwich cookies and white chocolate ghost and tombstone suckers. The Halloween takeout container contains Halloween bark. The third basket has a white chocolate flower pretzel and dark chocolate shoes and purses.

Halloween Bunco

These chocolate treats where ordered by a friend of mine for her Halloween-themed bunco night. Dark and white chocolate chocolate sandwich cookies with white chocolate dice and dark and milk chocolate dipped pretzels with Halloween quinns.