Several months ago I saw this and this on Amy Atlas’s blog.  My niece, Addison, was going to be turning 5 soon and I wanted to do something really special for her.  Addison and her little sister love The Sound of Music.   So, I started thinking about how I could do a dessert display inspired by the story.  There were just so many ideas to play with that, I, ultimately, focused on the song “My Favorite Things.”  In addition to making some of the things in the song like mittens and snowflakes, I mixed in a few of Addie’s favorite things like books, the color pink and lollipops.

This was very much a team effort.  My mother and sister-in-law and I were baking and decorating like crazy leading up to Addie’s birthday.  When I was a little girl, my mother would make these amazing princess/doll cakes for my birthday.  Each year, the dress would become more and more beautiful.  I asked my mother to make a similar cake, but decorated like Maria’s wedding dress since my nieces love to play “wedding” to the music from the movie.  My mother also painted the fabulous backdrop inspired by the “Hills Are Alive” scene.  My sister-in-law and I mixed, cut and iced cookies and made and decorated cupcakes.  Then, we had fun putting it all together.

We wanted this to be the first thing she saw when she came downstairs.   It was a lot of work, but so worth the look on Addie’s face when she saw all of the goodies.  Only on your birthday can you have candy, cookies and cake for every meal!

Addie celebrates with her new Barbie Maria doll.

A special thanks everyone who helped contribute!