More holiday stuff

So this is a cupcake blog, but it is also my output in life. Wow. Got my ass handed to me today-wasn't a bad day, but I guess the rest of the world got the memo that there really isnt any time left to shop. This is not a bad thing in any regard, just made me run a lot today.

Oh, and it figures I wore a wool (but really CUTE) dress to work today-totally regretted that one.
:)

And if I dont post in the next few days, don't fear-I will be back and making more cupcakes at the beginning of the year! And the picture I uploaded is Aiden, having fun a few Christmas' ago-I love this one!

Have a safe and super dee duper fun holiday!

Flickr page

So I updated my Flickr page to include all of my most recent pictures of cupcakes, cakes, and things I have made. Here is the link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24348752@N04/

1st order pictures

So here are some pictures of my first order....enjoy!

Note the Cafe Du Monde-a close friend told me to try it, and it is seriously one of the best coffee blends I have ever had. Makes sense to have with cupcakes :)

Holidazed..

Yeah, so I am kinda busy to say the least right now. If you didn't know, I work in retail, so obviously, this is a really nutzo time for me. If I am not at work, I am procrastinating the 10000000 Christmas cards I need to write, or the other 10000 gifts I need to wrap, or fuming about my oven-which is currently broken.

Seriously, lets talk about how much it sucks that I don't have an operational oven. I am so lost without it. I'll go to the grocery store to get some things to make a new cupcake, or even bake some mahi, but, nope, can't do it.:oven is broken. Crap. Its like losing a limb-I think its there, it calls me to use it, but then won't turn on. Thank goodness I have great neighbors that don't mind me using theirs-it saved me with my 1st ever order....I would have looked SO bad if I wasn't able to make my 1st dozen!

Oh, and on that note, I got my first order for a dozen cupcakes. He was having a dinner party with rich foods, so he decided to go with a vanilla or yellow cupcake with buttercream icing. I was leery of buttercream, primarily because I haven't ever really been a fan of it...it tends to be oily and too sweet.

After some searching, I found 2 recipes for yellow/vanilla cakes, and a buttercream that was made differently than others I have made. I made the 1st yellow, and that was a cake recipe from Gale Gand, one of the most amazing pastry chefs ever. They turned out great, with a really spongy texture and light. Then I started the second, which comes from the favorite blog of mine, Chockylit, for a 3 vanilla cupcake. And this is when the oven stopped working....

So after freaking out for a bit, I asked the neighbors to let me use their oven, which they were so great to allow me to do so. By this point, the cupcakes sat out for about 15-25 minutes, and I was scared I had lost them...but after baking, some of the sugars in the batter had risen to the top, and when baked, created a crunchy top. I thought they tasted amazing, so I ended up giving my customer 6 of each kind, and he agreed-they were great!

As far as the icing was concerned, it was a buttercream like icing, made from a paste of cooked milk and flour, and then creamed butter and granulated sugar was added. It made it fluffy like a buttercream made with shortening, but without the oily-ness. All in all, I loved it. Definitely a keeper!

Pics will be added later of the cakes!

And more...

As promised...

Pictures from Bottletree this weekend!

Bottletree Craft Bazaar 12-6 and 12-7

Wow. All I can say is wow. I am SO impressed with the people that came out this weekend! Everyone was so great, and the event was a great hit! I really want to thank all of the awesome people that bought my cupcakes and took an interest in my love of cupcakie-ness!

Also, I wanted to tell everyone how amazing my husband Jesse is. Not only did he have a late flight into B'ham on Friday night, he chose to stay up ALL night with me and supported me by making business cards, stickers, and building boxes to hold my treats. If I didnt have his help this weekend, I probally would have gone postal, or worse, given up on making the event on both days.

Last, I am at work right now, but I will be home later tonight, and I am planning on posting all of the pictures from this weekend. They should be up today or tomorrow at some point.

Seriously, the response I got from the people of B'ham really reassured me that I can do this for real, for money, and be totally happy. Thanks to all reading this that came....I had a great time this weekend, and I am really looking forward to the future !

Snake cake

I made this for a birthday earlier in the year, and it turned out great. It's a truffle cake made out of cake crumbs, melted chocolate, and jam. It was then rolled in chocolate fondant, and decorated with more fondant and icing colors.

I made cupcakes to go with it so the cake could last a little while.

Mint chocolate cupcakes

These came from a love of mint, and a nice change on the regular cupcakes I make. They are mint chocolate cake with mint cream cheese icing..tasted a lot like an Andes piece of chocolate.

Saturday cupcakes

So I work in retail, and it can be tough at times. To say thanks to my employees, I will make cupcakes for the team working on a busy Saturday.

These cupcakes were milk chocolate with a cream cheese icing. I love color, so that combined with sprinkles made these not only good to look at, but yummy as well.

Valentine's Day for school

My 3 year old, Aiden, loves to make cupcakes with me, so when we decided to make some for his class, he was very excited.

These are basic butter cupcakes colored red, with a pink buttercream icing. Aiden had a great time helping me, and loved the fact he got to wear his robot apron!

Banana cupcakes with peanut butter icing

I buy bananas all of the time because I have a 3 year old, and bananas are just good to have around. When I made these cupcakes, I had purchased a ton of bananas from Costco, and just never got around to eating them all.

Being that I had so many, I thought to make banana bread, but then decided to try a cupcake with it instead. They turned out great, and are a favorite of many.

The icing is a combination of a few recipes I have found, adding cream cheese to make it lighter in flavor. Kids love them too!

Hello Cupcake! TV Dinner

I really can't begin to tell you how much I love this cupcake book, Hello Cupcake. Seriously, I was so excited to make these for another recent birthday!! These are a spoof on traditional frozen tv dinners: mashed potatoes, turkey legs, peas and carrots, and even a brownie dessert!

The mashed potatoes and gravy are really swirled vanilla icing with butterscotch syrup and a lemon Starburst for the butter.
The turkey legs are mounds of icing rolled in Frosted Flakes and then a white chocolate "bone".
Peas and carrots are green runts and orange Starburst candy cut into quarters.

Hello Cupcake! "Starry Night"

Wow. I never thought cupcakes could look like this. This is by far one of the coolest cupcake presentations I have ever made. This was the 3rd cupcake I made out of Hello Cupcake.

To say the least, I found it to be time consuming in the prep more so than the execution of the design. While the art isn't close to the original, I do agree with the authors that differences help it to be your own interpretation of it.

Hello Cupcake! Werewolves

So this is the 2nd cupcake I made from the book, and this was for a die hard fan of horror movies. He loved the idea of werewolves in cupcake form, so I did it. Again, I'm pretty happy with the results, but had I more time, these could have been perfect.

marshmallows provided the ears and mouth, and all of the "fur" is hand piped, with a fruit roll up for the mouth, and candies for the eyes and nose.

Hello Cupcake! Owls

So I work at Urban Outfitters, and we got the most amazing cupcake book in about 6 months ago. I got it, and decided to try to make as many of the different cupcakes that I could. September and October were months that we had a lot of birthdays in the store, so I had all of the management team pick out cupcakes that they wanted me to make.

This was the first cupcake I made from the book, and while time consuming, they turned out great. I personally love owls as well, so this was really fun to do too!

Lavender cupcakes with lemon curd filling

This is another recipe from Chockylit, and while I loved the tartness of the lemon curd paired with delicate lavender, some weren't crazy about it. I had to explain to many that lavender can be eaten, and many liked it after I explained a bit about the idea of savory and sweet.

The icing I decided to make purple, primarily because I like to use color in my creations whenever I can.

Dark chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing

Yum. That's all I can say about these. They are comprised of a dark chocolate cake, a peanut butter icing, and then topped with organic banana chips I got on a trip during the summer to Maine. The icing wasn't as sweet as other icings, as the cake was so intensely chocolate, which paired really well together.

Peach, blueberry and thyme cupcakes

So I read a lot of cupcake blogs, and one of my favorites is Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit. She is beyond talented, and I have made this cupcake from her recipe, and only switched the ingredients to organic.

These have a roasted peach mush and blueberries in the batter, as well as chopped thyme. The icing is a thicker cream cheese with vanilla bean and thyme.

Sounds like a weird combination, but rest assured these were such an amazing flavor combination, and light enough for the summertime.

Pecan Pie cupcakes

As I loved the results with the pumpkin pie cupcakes, I decided to try it with pecan pie. While the pecan pie aspect was present, I found more success in the end result with mini cupcakes. While baking, the larger cakes spilled over when the filling was added, creating more of a mess I didn't need.

The end result wasn't bad by any means, but overall I was told that the pumpkin pie outshone the pecan pie.

I also topped this cupcake with a whipped chocolate ganache, which was amazing.