Decorate Your Own Cakes and Save

Years ago, Annette's mom took a cake decorating class at ABC cake decorating in Phoenix. She learned so much during that class that she started making THE most delicious cakes our family had ever tasted. She passed her knowledge down to Annette and to our daughters Becky and Abbey too. They all have made fantastic cakes for parties and other celebrations we've hosted.

We'll post some photos of their creations soon.

But the coolest thing is that ABC Cake Decorating is that it's been around since 1965 and is owned by Dave and Barb Pela (Barb's parents started the shop in 1965).

About six years ago, when our youngest sons were in Boy Scouts, we switched troops and you'll never guess who the scout master was . . . Dave Pela—the owner of ABC Cake decorating.

Dave is a great leader (he is an Eagle Scout too) and a super generous guy. On scout outings he would cook up delicious treats for the boys over a camp stove. The kids (and the adult leaders too) would all look forward to Mr. Pela's special desserts and his campfire stories.

The Pelas have now put their entire line of supplies on the web so you can order from them too. The supplies they have for making and decorating cakes is extensive and relatively inexpensive (with the exception of things like Wilton cake pans which can be purchased at Michaels with a 40 percent off coupon for less than ABC sells them).

They also offer edible images (we've purchased several of them). Just email them your photo and they'll print out what you need.

Our son, Joe works at a local Baskin Robbins ice cream shop and they purchase all of their cake decorating supplies from ABC Cake decorating too.

Learning to make your own cakes can save you some money, but more importantly, you'll be able to create some great tasting desserts that will beat the pants off of the "lard" coated cakes at the grocery store and warehouse clubs.