Isabel's 5th Birthday!

Miss Isabel is turning 5 & commissioned another pink princess cake from me. She looooves the Disney princesses & picked out these toppers. I got to play with my new "grass" tip - the path is crushed graham cracker crumbs. She was very pleased with the cake - I'll hopefully post a follow-up picture of her with the cake from her party this afternoon!

Monika's 30th Birthday!

My friend Monika ordered up this Triple Layer Strawberry Cake with fresh Strawberry Buttercream for her 30th birthday. Fresh strawberries in both the cake and frosting - delicious!

Happy 30th Birthday Cupcakes

I made the Chocolate Malted Milk Cupcakes again - this time for my friend Kim's

30th birthday yesterday...

...along with some yellow cupcakes w/chocolate buttercream and light pink pearl sprinkles!

Storm Troopers!

These chocolate cupcakes w/dark chocolate buttercream were for one of my "oldest" clients, Zac. He turned 8 on Sunday and he LOOOOVES Star Wars!

That's the old venerable Pooh who's just as old as Zac!

My birthday cake!

This is my awesome husband, Chris - who is practically a chef - but so not a baker. He bakes once a year, and it's my birthday cake! He was pretty handy with the sprinkles this year! (By the way, this is my favorite cake - yellow with chocolate frosting.)

Yes, I even bake on vacation!

This is the strawberry swirl cake I make every year in Cape May, NJ for my Fleming family. I think I might be sent home if I didn't make it - it's tradition! It's a white cake w/strawberry gelatin in it, to make it swirly and yummy. Frosting is Cool Whip, a little sour cream and powdered sugar. And of course - fresh strawberries on top and in between the layers!

My first order as Lala's Confections!

Thanks to my friend Monika's mom (thanks, Grace!), my first "official" order as Lala's Confections! Two dozen chocolate (half with walnuts mixed in and as garnish) and one dozen banana.

4th of July...noodling around with color

These were 4th of July cupcakes (french vanilla cake), just tinted various amounts of batter red and blue!

Happy National Sugar Cookie Day!

If I'd known...I would've baked up some fun sugar cookies! I need to find a good food "holidays" list...

Where "Lala" comes from...

I must give credit where credit is due. My nephew, Garrett - gave me the name Lala when he was about two years old - the summer he and his parents came to visit me. Aunt Melinda is quite a mouthful, so that's what he came up with. He's the only one who calls me that - and I love it!

Even though he's approaching 10 (wow....), I hope he'll continue with the name, just like we all did with our grandmother, Cuddy. She got her name when my brother (Garrett's dad) came up with "Cuddy" when HE was about 2 years old, and everyone called her Cuddy after that - never grandma.

So, a big shout out to THE GARRETT for giving me such a cool name. Love you!

Welcome to Lala's Confections!

Hello friends!

By now, you know I like to bake. No, let's try this again. I LOVE to bake. Many of you have already sampled my work, my overruns (even my mistakes!) and after selling a few of my creations to friends and co-workers, I'm officially branching out and starting a tiny little side business.

You'll notice my blog postings started back in April. I was ready to go back then. But we had a slight issue with some flood waters on May 1-2, 2010 and we are still in the process of getting put back together. But...one good thing that came out of the flood? Our new double oven! It has been the only thing we've said, "Thank you flood!" I've been baking in a tiny, drop-in oven that was a one-tray/one-pan at a time, for the past 5 years. While we had the contractor in-house, we upgraded to a fabulous Maytag Gemini and it's the best thing we've done.

So now, with all this new technology and all kinds of oven space - the sky's the limit! I've made birthday cakes, cupcakes, wedding shower cupcakes, baby shower cupcakes, holiday cookies, bread (from scratch!), all sorts of cookies...the list goes on.

My motto is simple: Handmade...Homemade...So good. Simplistic quality is what I'm all about.

I'd be happy to craft something special for your next family gathering, school party, birthday party - or just for a Wednesday night! :) Please take a look at my price list (see the link to the Pricing List under Pages to the left - or email me for a hard copy or email copy) and let me know how I can share a little "sweet tooth joy" with you!

Thanks -

Melinda Fleming

Smash cake and princess cupcakes for my "niece" Carrigan's FIRST birthday! June 2010.

Baby shower cupcakes for Leslie's mom's office. 72 little blue feet. 360 tiny,

itty bitty little toes!!! April 2010.

Chocolate fudge cupcakes w/dark chocolate buttercream for Susanna's daycare class, March 2010...and the kids enjoying them!

White mini cupcakes w/white buttercream for Leslie's cousin's wedding shower, April 2010.

Chocolate malted milk cupcakes with malted milk buttercream for my dad's birthday, April 2010.

Cake for Isabel's 4th birthday, August 2009.

Red velvet peppermint mini cupcakes, brownie bites, gingerbread men & shortbread for our holiday party, December 2009.

Dark chocolate cake w/fresh mint chocolate ganache for CVB sales holiday lunch, December 2009.

Chocolate peppermint bonbon cookies.

Birthday cake for Susanna's 2nd birthday, March 2010.

The lemonade cupcakes, turned into Peep cucpakes for Olivia's 1st birthday, March 2010.

Lemonade cupcakes w/lemonade buttercream.

Birthday cake for Zac's 5th birthday, August 2007.

Cupcake cake for Zac's birthday, August 2007.

Chocolate cupcakes w/chocolate buttercream for Zac's 7th birthday, August 2009.

Strawberry/vanilla cake w/whipped creme topping, July 2009.

Chocolate cupcakes w/frosting, Halloween 2009.

Sugar cookies, Halloween 2009.

Football sugar cookies, Fall 2009.

Birthday cake for my nephew Garrett's 8th birthday, November 2008.

My first foray into homemade cinnamon rolls - delicious! April 2010.

Chocolate cake w/chocolate ganache for Chris's birthday 2009.

Steelers themed cupcakes for Super Bowl 2009.

Red velvet peppermint cake with peppermint buttercream for Christmas 2008 in Pittsburgh.

Cake balls for Nanci's baby shower, May 2009.