Halloween?

This past Halloween I made some cupcake toppers for a party of one of my friends. This was the first time I had ever done anything Halloween related. I hope you enjoyed this flashback to October 2011 ;)

Baby Shower Cakes

I haven't been posting for a while. I need to finally put some effort into this blog. I love baking and there is no reason why I shouldn't share my creations for all of you. I am going back into my files to find pictures of cakes I have been doing. I hope that you are able to see my progression in skills and also in photography. I have to learn to take better pictures of my stuff!

I get a lot of requests for baby shower cakes. I particularly like designing for the little girls but lately the boys have grown on me ;) I hope you enjoy the images!

I made this cake for one of my friends who plans parties. The theme of the cake come from this website it is from a collection called Modern Baby Girl Caucasian (this name is a little weird if you ask me). The baby on top is made of rice crispy treats and fondant. some of the accents also have pink luster dust to add some sparkle and contrast in the pinks. I also hand rolled all of those yummy soft edible pearls. 

My dear friend from church and my sister's sister in law, had her baby shower not to long ago. She requested a Cherry Blossom Theme. Besides baking I love to plan parties and this is one of the parties I planned. The dessert table was so cute. It had cupcakes, some old fashion suckers, and and assortment of cookies and candy. 

The cake was a a two tiered vanilla cake with strawberry filling. I used the Wilton's Cherry Blossom silicone mold. 

The baby bums have been very popular and I have had several requests. The diaper part was made with half of the ball pan from Wilton. The legs are rice crispy treats covered in fondant. 

This one is a single tiered and only blue and pink.

 This one is two tiers blue and brown. 

Thanks for reading!

Christmas Sale

Black and Yellow Damask Birthday

     My very best friend turned thirty! Vasty is such a beautiful person inside and out that my sister and I gathered everyone to throw her a surprise party! One of our great friends let us borrow her home for the event! Vasty had originally wanted to have a huge event since it is a milestone moment for her, for many many reasons. Unfortunately she was unable to have it and that's were we stepped in, we couldn't go on without making a big deal out of it. Read on for what is sure to be the longest but best entry yet!!!

     We decided to go with a black and yellow damask theme. We felt it was sophisticated and grown up. The table runners were purchased at eFavormart.com. These were a steal and they added so much to the tablescape.

     For the centerpieces, we bought flowers at Albertsons, they always have gorgeous flowers. We used yellow and white spider blooms and yellow roses.  The Dollar Tree is amazing spot to shop when on a budget. If they don't have one near by don't fret they deliver! That's amazing especially since they might only have a few items of what you want on hand, you dong have to go hunting down store by store. The lemons added a great touch as did the vellum damask covered votive holders.

     The damask wraps were created on photoshop and printed on vellum. The votive candle holders I had purchased a while back at Big Lots and I also had the battery operated tea lights also purchased at the Dollar Tree (two for a buck!).

     The black plates I used as chargers were also purchased at the Dollar Tree (told you it was a great place). We used black napkins and yellow flatware from Party City along with the yellow plates.The flower napkin rings were a great a touch. I printed a damask pattern on yellow paper and cut our 3" strips and place a tissue pom pom flower. We got the tutorial for the flowers from Martha Stewart.

     The banner that says "Happy Birthday Vasty" was created in photoshop as well and printed on the same yellow paper as the napkin rings.

     With the help of my sisters we created a fabulous dessert table. We had cupcakes, cupcakes, and more cupcakes. We had chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting, lemon cupcakes filled with lemon cream, and coconut cupcakes with butter cream frosting and coconut flakes. I also made my staple sugar cookie favors. I decided it to be a simple V shape for Vasty's name. I tied them with black ribbon and finished them off with a yellow rhinestone. The cookie stand was purchased at Macy's. All cupcake liners were purchased at the fabulous etsy store Sweetestelle. She is an amazing vendor and her items are packaged ans shift swiftly and in great condition. The pineapple cheesecakes flew off the cake stand! I used Bakerella's mini cherry cheesecake recipe.

     We also bought some rice crispy treats and drizzled them with yellow and black candy melts. We unwrapped the pre-packaged hostess yellow zingers, not everything has to be home made ;) I also dipped marshmallows in yellow candy melts and sprinkles black sprinkles (from sweetestelles as well). The marshmallows were put in a vase filled with lemon heads for a little pizazz. The back drop for the dessert table looked so great. I took a 3 yards of yellow fabric and covered with different size flowers. The flowers were a lot of work but so worth it. I used a tutorial from Jesi Haack that shows you step by step how to create them. Again the "Sweets" banner was created in photoshop and printed on yellow paper. The three tiered stands were purchased at target, and the white plates at the Dollar Tree.  All other cake stands and platters were purchased at different stores like Macy's and Marshall's and Ross. On this picture you can barely see the Tootsie Roll Pops covered with black tissue paper and tied with yellow ribbon and finished off with a yellow rhinestone. I also made Cake Balls, and chocolate covered pretzels.

    The dessert shots were a hit. I bought the shot glasses at Macy's and I LOVE them!!! They are so cute. I also bought the dessert spoons at Macy's. I just love Macys's. The dessert shots were so yummy. I made Strawberry Shortcake Shot. It has vanilla pudding, strawberry, pound cake squares, and topped off with whipped cream.  The Chocolate Brownie shot had chocolate pudding, brownie squares, fudge, and topped off with whipped cream. And last but not least and my favorite was the Caramel Banana Shot, this one had banana pudding, pound cake squares, banana slice, caramel, and topped with whipped cream. I made twelve of each and they were all gone!

     My dessert table was truly inspired by one of my favorite cake artists Melody from My Sweet and Saucy. She is amazing! My cake was also inspired by one of hers. The cake was a chocolate cake filled with strawberry cream cheese filling and covered with buttercream. The yellow anemone flower was the first one of its kind  I ever made and I was ecstatic with the results of the flower and the overall look of the cake. The yellow color on the black damask wrap around the cake looked marvelous.

     My drink station was improvised on the spot since I was expecting a flat surface like I had for the sweets table but I love the way it turned out! My "Drinks" banner is another one of those photoshop creations.  I had two plastic water dispensers with Pineapple Water made with fresh pineapples (thanks Mommy!!!) it was sooo yummy. I also added some flowers to the back drop for that pizazz. I also made the water labels in photoshop and they looked great on those water bottles. The two glass water dispensers with their stands were purchased at Macy's. They looked so great! I used those for the cocktails. I made Fuzzy Navels and Lemon Drop Martinis. They were both yummy. The cup stand was used to be a white metal stand or shelf we had laying around and I spray painted it and added the yellow ribbon to some foam boards since its like a rack it wouldn't let the cups stand without tippin' over. I think its looks cool :) I took clear cups and dipped the rims in light corn syrup and then yellow and black sprinkles.

     I made this cool backdrop sewing black and yellow streamers together and adding another banner that says "Say Cheese". Guests really had fun with this since they had not seen one before. I made lips, uni brows, mustaches, glasses, and beards for them to use as props. I took photoshop brushes and printed them out and glued them to wooden sticks. The backdrop idea came from How Does She? The birthday girl is in the third middle picture.

     I just want to thank all those who pitched in for this event! You guys are truly amazing and wonderful for doing this for our beloved Vasty. This has been one of my best parties so far and I had so much fun baking and creating the final layout and presentation of this party!

Pink/Brown Baby Shower

I was honored to be the host of one of my dear friends and co-workers. This was her first baby and I wanted to make the event beautiful and memorable. She had no idea what she wanted or what theme she should have. We came up with pink and brown for colors and we also wanted to incorporate baby feet into the theme. As soon as I had some direction I searched everywhere for inspiration and this is the end result.

I made paper chains using pink, brown, and white card stock. I created the It's A Girl hanging circles at the ends of the chains. I hung them from the ceiling all over the room. (I had to take out all of my furniture to accommodate for all the guests, and when I say we I mean my dad and brother). I also hung a set from Party City that included the pink streamers and the ball in the center of the room. I customized the ball and streamers by replacing the hanging circle from the ball, it was yellow, green, and pink , to one of the ones I made. Some tables had pink tablecloths with a brown runner and vice versa. Plates, forks, cups, and napkins were all pink or brown. A sweet baby foot cookie was at each place setting.

I also put together a candy buffet station. The "Sweets" banner that I made in Photoshop matched the invitations. All the candy was and cookies were pink and brown with a hint of white. I had malt balls, animal cookies, chocolate covered pretzels, Dove's Bliss Chocolates, and some pink and brown Mexican candy. The pink candy bags were personalized with a label and some of the jars had labels also. The baby feet pretzel rods were done using a Wilton Mold. I also used the mold to make the toppers for the cupcakes.

The centerpieces were created using pink and white carnations, baby's breath, and hot pink roses. The bubble vases were purchased at the dollar store and adorned with pink and brown ribbon. I set two vases per table for a total of 12 vases.

I made two cakes one left and one right baby foot. The cakes were made with the paisley Wilton Pan Set. One cake was filled with strawberries and the other with peaches. It was covered with PuraWhip. The baby foot designed was free handed and not too difficult to achieve. I decorated the cupcake stand with dangling crystal ribbon. The cupcakes were the mother-to-be's favorite, Pillsbury Funfetti. I used Purawhip to ice the cakes and topped them with baby feet made out of chocolate using a mold. I love how the balloons served as a backdrop and the ultrasound of Baby Mia made it just perfect. I scattered several frames of Baby Mia throughout the room.

Another item that item that is just too cute is this Pin the Pacifier on the Baby game. The baby and pacifier images were obtained online (cannot remember where) and i enlarged it in Photoshop and mounted in onto the pink foam board. Each pacifier had a number and a piece of double sided tape. This game was a hit!

All of these goodies I created in Photoshop. Some of the brushes I made using clip art and others I found free online. The invitation was one of the first things I made and everything else soon followed. The invite insert was one of my favorites. It asked each guest to bring diapers and wipes for a chance to enter a drawing for a cool prize. Then the raffle ticket was created to write down the name of each guest who participated. The candy bag labels were printed on sticker paper and punched with a scallop paper punch. The thank you tags for the cookies were also cut out with the scallop punch. The napkin wraps were used to wrap a pink and brown napkin and a fork. The candy buffet labels were printed on card stock and cut by hand, as well as the paper chain hanging decorations. I used Boring Showers font for every item from the baby shower.

♥ Audrey's Cupcake Party ♥

My gorgeous niece Audrey just turned one. We celebrated her birthday with a cupcake themed party. The colors we used were a fuchsia pink and purple. It was so much fun to put together, and a lot of work. I was in charge of the baking of course ( I didn't bake the sheet cake). I made 100 Cookie Lollies, simply sugar cookies (click for recipe) on a stick, Pink and Purple Cupcakes, and a Giant Cupcake Cake!

The piñata pictured is custom made and not sold in stores. We searched and searched for a cupcake shaped piñata that was large but we had no luck. So my wonderful mom conjured up her creativity and made the piñata herself. I was beautiful and super sturdy.

The party was so much fun thanks to all who joined us to celebrate!

1. These are cupcake shaped cookie lollies. Cookie cutter is from Sweet Shapes. Outlined in white, top flooded with purple and bottoms with pink, and the top part of the cupcake was drizzled with pink jimmies.
2. My cupcake tower is from Wilton all dressed up with pink and purple ribbon alternating o the layers and a small tutu around the bottom tier. I also added rhinestones I found at Michael's. I had made two of these. It took some time to make them gorgeous but worth the time. Everything is removable which allows you to reuse the cupcake stands over and over again. I affixed the ribbon and tutu with double stick tape and glue dots. The cupcake liners were in hot pink and purple which looked beautiful. I got those from Etsy seller Bake It Pretty. The cupcake picks I made using small lollipop sticks, and a 2 in. scalloped whole punch, a 1 1/4 in. round punch, and the Martha Stewart cupcake whole punch all purchased at Michael's.
3. The Candle Lollies were outlined in white, flooded with purple or pink and before the flooded icing dried I added sprinkles to them.
4. The Letter A Lollies are so cute. I outlined them in white, flooded them with pink or purple icing. Once dried I finished them off with writing "udrey" the remaining letters of her name. Cookie cutter from Martha Stewart Alphabet set.
5. The Number 1 Lollies are outlined in white, flooded with pink or purple icing. Once dried I finished them off by writing Audrey on them. Cookie cutter from Sweet Shapes.
6. The Balloon Lollies are outlined in white, flooded with pink or purple icing. Once dried I finished them off by piping dots on them. Cookie cutter from Sweet Shapes.
7. The pinwheels were made with cardstock using a pinwheel template I found online. I made some in the fuchsia pink and purple. I finished them off by adding a cupcake pick minus the pick :)

Total Cuteness!

How I wish I had better pictures of this cake. It was my first time making MMF and using it. It was super easy to make and use that I will be doing more projects with it in the future. I had also used the giant cupcake pan before but had some issues with it, but it was fabulous this time. I was adding elements as I went along because I did not have it planned. I was pleasantly surprised at how good it came out. I am so happy my niece enjoyed the cake as you can all see. She is so adorable!!!

To complete the Giant Cupcake I:

• Made two batches of the MMF and colored one purple and the other pink. I divided each of the colored MMF in half and made half of the pink bolder and half the purple bolder as well giving me two shades of each of the colors.
• Baked the giant cupcake in the Wilton Pan. I used two boxes of Duncan Hines White Cake Mix. I used Cake Release to grease the pan. I love it cake releases from the pan perfectly.
• Let it completely cool on a cooling rack.
• Used Strawberry Jam, warmed in the microwave to make it runny, and spread it all over the bottom and top to help the MMF stick to the cake.
• Rolled out the darker pink for the top of the cupcake and smoothed it out and worked into the swirls to get the shape to come through.
• Rolled out the darker purple for the bottom of the cupcake and smoothed it out and worked into the grooves to get the shape to come through.
• Then stacked them and cut and inserted wooden dowels so that I had a stable cake.
• Used the dark purple to make the sprinkles.
• Used the lighter pink to make a tootsie roll shape for the candle cut a strip of the light purple and wrapped it around the candle.
• The flame was created swirling the light pink and purple and shaped it to look like a flame.
  A lollipop stick served as the wick. Another lollipop stick was used to insert the candle into the cake (Before inserting candle into cake candle must be completely dry or it will loose its shape. Do insert the wick, attach flame, and insert lollipop stick to the bottom of the candle and make an insertion point on the cake before it MMF dries)

Marshmallow Fondant Recipe from CakeJournal
Ingredients

• 1 bag of white marshmallows (8 oz)
• Water (2 tbsp)
• Icing sugar sifted (1 to 2 pounds)
• Crisco
• Heatproof bowl
• Spoon
• Food colors or cocoa powder
• Flavoring optional

Directions

• Put the marshmallows in a heatproof bowl and add the water.
• Put the bowl in the microwave oven and heat it for approx. 2 mins. until the marshmallows puff up.
• Stir the marshmallows until they get smooth. This is the time where you can add your chosen food color/cocoa powder or give it flavor.
• Now add the icing sugar and stir the mixture with a well greased spoon. Keep adding icing sugar until it looks like a dough.
• Turn out the “dough” on a greased work board and with your hands greased with Crisco start kneading the marshmallow fondant. Keep adding a little icing sugar at a time until it is not sticky anymore.
• Be careful not to use all the icing sugar as to much icing sugar can make it too dry.
• It is ready when it feels pliable and ready to roll.
• If you are not using the marshmallow fondant straight away then rub a bit of Crisco on it and wrap it in cling-film and seal it in an airtight bag.
• If your marshmallow fondant feels very hard you can always warm it up in the microwave for a few sec. at a time. Then it should be more pliable to work with.
• If it feels dry then knead in some Crisco or if it is too soft add more icing sugar.
  
  

Strawberry Cream Cheese Champagne Cupcakes

Hope all of you are gearing up for Valentine's Day! This recipe was supposed to be my Iron Cupcake submission but I missed my deadline due to my Internet, its horrible! I'm sad, but I got some great cupcakes out of this challenge! These cupcakes are sooo moist and delicious. When you scroll down to the recipes it may seem like a lot of work, but it really isn't and its a fairly fast process!

What I did:

1. Cut up a pint of strawberries about 25 whole strawberries, put them in a container and fill them with the champagne you want. Let the strawberries absorb the champagne until you are ready to use them. Its to OK to eat a few ;)


2. Then in your mixer mix the cream cheese frosting and set aside.


3. Now puree your strawberries in a food processor is ideal, but since mine hasn't arrived yet, I used my blender. It should be really smooth. Add the champagne to the strawberry mixture, you can also add more than the suggested champagne amount. (Save some to drizzle on top at the end)


4. Now, just combine the cream cheese and the strawberry mixture, add a little of the strawberry mix at a time, until you get the consistency you like.


5. Now mix the white cake mix recipe and grease your pans, I used Wilton's Jumbo Cupcakes Pan and their Easy Release.


6. You will need about 1 cup of batter for each cupcake. Bake at 350 degrees and remove from oven when toothpick comes out clean.


7. With a fork make holes to the top of the cupcakes.


8. Then in a saucepan put the 2 cups of champagne and 1 cup of confectioners sugar, bring to a boil and let it reduce to about half.


9. Now add the mixture to your cupcakes, just drizzle on top. I put 3 tablespoons, but you can put it as much as you would like.


10. Now you can assemble your cupcakes. Add some of the champagne infused strawberries.


11. Then add some strawberry cheesecake frosting a nice big dollop.


12. Now just top it off with some of the puree strawberry mix.

This is really, honestly, not as involved as it seems don't be afraid to try them out, they are soooooo good. Bon Appettit!!!

Make these:

White Cake Mix

Ingredients

1. 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
   
2. 1 1/2 cups sugar


3. 2 cups all-purpose flour


4. 2 teaspoons baking powder


5. 1/4 teaspoon salt


6. 6 large egg whites (3/4 cup)


7. 3/4 cup milk


8. 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy.


2. Stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.


3. Combine egg whites, milk and vanilla extract.


4. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to butter mixture then add half the milk mixture. Continue to alternate beginning and ending with flour mixture. Scrape bowl and beater often.


5. Pour batter into prepared cupcake pans.


6. Bake cake(s) about 18 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center emerges clean.

Champagne Syrup (to be added to the cupcakes/drizzled on once baked)
Ingredients:

• 2 cups champagne
  
• 1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Bring the champagne and powdered sugar to a boil and let them reduce about half way. Don't expect it to get thick. It will still be very liquidy when you are done.


2. Poke holes in the cupcakes and drizzle in the syrup. Let it absorb into the cupcake and add more.


3. Keep adding to taste.
   

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

1. 8 ounces unsalted butter, softened
2. 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3. 2 cups powdered sugar
4. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer.


2. With the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until smooth and creamy.


3. Beat in the vanilla extract.
   

Puree Strawberries (adapted to make this Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting)

Ingredients

1. 2 cups of frozen strawberries in sugar


2. 1/3 cup of Champagne
   

Directions

1. Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed and fold in to cream cheese frosting


2. Add the Champagne and mix.


3. Add a little of the mixture into cream cheese frosting, until desired consistency is reached. Refrigerate until ready to use.