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Beth from Seneca, IL

This month’s featured cake decorator is Beth from Seneca, IL and the inspiration for her hobby is her four handsome grandsons.  In fact, the 3 tier superhero cake she made for her grandson’s 4th birthday is what started it all. You may have seen the cake.  It’s quite popular with visitors at Coolest-Birthday-Cakes.com

Beth remembers the day her daughter showed her a picture of a similar superhero cake.  After unsuccessfully calling around to try and find  someone to make the cake for her, she had to resort to her own superhero… MOM (aka Beth)!

Unfortunately, Beth had never made a cake like this before.  She didn’t even know what fondant was. Needless to say, her first reaction was , “NO WAY!!!”

Well, that was her reaction until… she found out what her daughter had done. Before showing Beth the superhero cake picture, her daughter had shown her son and asked him if he’d like that cake for his birthday. Well, of course he did and boy was he excited.

A Super Cake By a Real Life Superhero

The last thing Beth wanted to do was disappoint her daughter and grandson, so she invoked her inner superhero and  purposed to bring her grandson’s dream cake to fruition! We applaud you Grandma Ugolini!

Five hours of Googling and Youtubing later, Beth lifted her eyes from her iPad, satisfied that she was adequately equipped with fondant recipes and cake decorating tutorials. She felt reasonably confident that she could recreate the cake…. and she DID!  In her words…

“When the cake was done, I was actually amazed that I managed to pull it off. It was so satisfying to step back and think WOW… I did it! And then to hear my family and all the guests go on about how cool it was, was so exciting!“

Yes, this is where the cake bug bit and Beth’s cake decorating journey began.  She had plenty of opportunities to use her new skills too. After all, she has four grandsons and they each needed something equally special for their birthdays.

Grandma Beth’s Powdered Sugar Mess Minimizing Tip

Don’t you hate the mess that the first puff of powdered sugar makes when you turn on your mixer, no matter how careful you are?! Beth has a solution.

“One of my favorite tips when making buttercream frosting or anything with powdered sugar is as follows.”

  • Set your mixing bowl in the center of a plastic grocery bag.
  • Hold the sides up tight while you tighten the bowl onto the mixer.
  • After adding powder sugar, hold the sides of bag up on top of the mixer.
  • Turn the mixer on low. You can see and use the knob with the bag up.

“NO MORE powdered sugar dust over everything, and no dirty wet dish towel to wash!”

Beth from Seneca, IL - Featured Cake Decorator
Beth from Seneca, IL - Featured Cake Decorator

More About Beth

Beth and her husband of 38 years live in the country, making their living as farmers. They have two daughters and 4 grandsons. “They are the loves of our lives,” as Beth put it.

When Beth’s youngest daughter started school,  she decided to re-enter the work force and applied for a part time job at a major supermarket. That part time job turned into a 40+ hour a week job for 28 years, but ended three years ago when Beth took an early pension and retired.

“I decided life really IS short and I didn’t want to miss anymore of my grandson’s sports and activities!”

Of course, now there’s also more time for baking and we can’t wait to see all of the amazing cakes Beth designs for family and friends in the days and weeks to come.

Can You Order One of Beth’s Cakes?

No. Beth does not take cake orders!  She really enjoys making cakes as a hobby,  but does not want to start a cake decorating business and turn her fun time into WORK. She makes cakes mainly for her family and occasionally for some friends.

“I like to share my cakes to inspire/help others that want to make cakes, because without sites like this and the internet, it would never have been possible for me to make the cakes I make.”

Beth’s Cakes


Would you like to be featured on our site?!

We really appreciate cake makers who share their creations and inspiration on our site. If you’ve contributed at least three cakes to our site and would like us to feature your cakes or cake-business (for free, of course), please contact us. Obviously we can’t feature everyone, but we will do our very best!



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