Dora Birthday Cake!

So, normally I'd wait for my Dad to finish photoshopping the pictures, but he is (justifiably) far to busy working on pictures of my adorable new niece (he just blurs out the background, since the window doesn't make a great backdrop). I'm too excited about how the cake turned out to wait. So, here it is! The cake itself was White Almond Sour Cream cake with Vanilla buttercream. One of my favorite combination's. I'm a sucker for the classics, what can i say :)I'll post the edited pictures once he gets them to me, since i really don't like looking at my clutter! Hoping to get back to some cupcakes this week after being so busy!

Birthday Cake #1

Well, i finished Birthday cake #1 of the week. Its for a little girls 3rd birthday party. Strawberry cake (which turned out Fantastic if i may say so myself) with cream cheese frosting and filling. The crown and name are gumpaste but the rest of the decorations are my delicious homemade fondant. Fondant tasty you ask? Its true, my kids love the stuff and apparently the kids at the party kept eating the roses off the sides. I found a new emulsion i want to use in it, can't wait to try it on my next cake!

Birthday Cupcakes!

Today i made 3 dozen last minute Birthday Cupcakes. I loved the way they turned out! They had to travel quite a distance, so i hope they made it ok!

Busy Week!

I made cupcakes yesterday, but none survived to take pictures! I'm up to my eyeballs in cake this week, so i haven't had much time to be online. 2 Lg birthday cakes and 6 dozen cupcakes!

On the news front, we are looking for a kitchen to move this operation to, and Mike is getting serious about starting a business sooner rather than later! We've got a name and a Logo now, what do you think? I'm undecided, :)

Recipe Contest!

After seeing a segment on the morning news, I decided to enter a local recipe contest. Winner gets $2000, which we would invest back into my cake's. So, this weekend after a 3 day hiatus i got to baking again. I made nearly 100 cupcakes, and my kitchen is a disaster but I managed to pawn them all off! Without further adeu, here is what i came up with!

Turtle: Dark Chocolate Cupcake, dipped in caramel then rolled in pecans. Frosted with caramel buttercream and garnished with a chocolate covered caramel and caramel and chocolate drizzle.

S'mores: Graham cracker crust, dark chocolate cupcake, marshmallow buttercream and garnished with chocolate and toasted homemade marshmallows.

Cookies and Cream: Vanilla cupcake with a surprise oreo at the bottom and cookies throughout. Frosted with oreo buttercream and garnished with an oreo and white chocolate.Cookie Dough: I made both chocolate and a brown sugar cupcake, filled with cookie dough and then frosted with cookie dough buttercream and garnished with a mini cookie. So far its a tie as to which is better.

Almond Joy: Inspired by my favorite candy bar. Dark chocolate cupcake with a coconut center. Topped with chocolate ganache, coconut and almonds. So GOOD!

Not sure which one I'm using yet, the results aren't all in :)

Thanks to my amazingly talented Father for taking some beautiful pictures for me! Its amazing what a good camera and artistic eye can do!

Candy Dreams

These baby's have been the subject of my dreams of late! Maybe its because Halloween is around the corner and i always find myself stealing the snickers out of my kids treat bags...For the life of me i can't decide which direction to go with the cupcake version of these beauties. Id like to make something that tastes like a snickers without actually using a snickers bar....but they may find their way in anyway because they are just so darned good! Here is what I'm thinking

1. Chocolate cupcake with peanut nougat filling, glazed in caramel, frosted with chocolate buttercream and garnished with peanuts and caramel drizzle.

2. Peanut butter cupcake with a peanut nougat filling, glazed in caramel and chocolate ganache, frosted with chocolate buttercream and garnished with peanuts and caramel.

Which sounds better or more "snickerish" to you? In both cases some chopped up snickers may find their way into the filling because, well, i just can't help myself. The only reason I'm leaning toward version #2 is because i'm worried version 1 may have too much chocolate. GASP! I can't believe I just said that!!!

Then there is the caramel, I'm not sure if either version has enough, but again its not the flavor that jumps out at me when i eat a snickers. Although it seems most versions on the web are mostly chocolate and caramel, i just don't want to end up with a milky way cupcake :). Just thinking out loud here, how about this?

3. Peanut butter cupcake with a peanut caramel filling, glazed in caramel and chocolate ganache, frosted with chocolate frosting and garnished with more peanuts and caramel?

Ah! I really don't know what to do...and i don't want to have to eat a bag of snickers to decide :) So, please leave some opinions

Velvety Goodness!

Today i tackled Red Velvet, my oh my i think i have a new favorite cake! I have to admit i haven't had a lot of red velvet but this was the BEST i've ever had! It was moist, velvety and fan-freaking-tastic! I'm planning on using the same recipe for my Pink Velvet cake, only i'll make it pink...obviously. I frosted it with white chocolate cream cheese frosting which was amazing as well.

So, since i loved this cake so much i took a ton of pictures and i can't decide which ones i like best.

So moist and yummy!

Frosted with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting and topped with white chocolate chunks

So pretty, thanks to my sister for taking some pictures for me!

Drool....

I love how red it is

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Lemon-liciuos!

Hahaha, are you getting tired of all the "licious" titles? My 5 year olds favorite books are currently pink-a-licious, purple-licious, gold-a-licous, you get the picture. So, every time she tries a cupcake its lemon-licious, or rainbow-licious and since she is my daughter and i think everything she says is cute it somehow always ends up here. I promise, no more though!

After making a lot of rich cupcakes i decided it was time for something lighter. So i tackled lemon this weekend. I had 2 recipes, one read "light and fluffy" the other read more like pound cake, so i decided to use elements of both and combine the two. The end result was moist and fluffy, just what i was looking for! I thought they were tasty, lemon isn't my favorite flavor but they were really good with some lemon filling and lemon cream cheese frosting. The original plan was to make a white chocolate cream cheese frosting, but i was low on white chocolate. So, i just garnished with it instead.I filled some with raspberry but i forgot to take a picture of the center this time. They were good but I actually liked the lemon filling better!

This weeks flavor is red velvet! So excited about this one! Also, they hubby and i were talking and decided i really needed a better camera. Its not that I'm bad at taking pictures, i just don't have the camera for it. One of the things i love about food blogs is the pictures that make you want to lick the screen! So, i checked out what camera's some of my favorite food bloggers use...OUCH! So, now I'm not sure what we are going to do because spending $500-$1500 on a camera right not just isn't in the cards...sigh...I know how important pictures are because that is what clients are going to go by. Food is as much about your eyes as it is your stomach!

Rainbow-licious!

I made these as a reward for my 5 year old who on her own, cleaned her bedroom and toy room all by herself! Usually I'm up there for an hour trying to get her to pick up! When i asked her what she wanted for a treat she yelled "CUPCAKES", she truly is my daughter!

looks like an ordinary cupcake right?

....and SHA-BAM!

Rainbow-licious

What kid wouldn't love those? Next time i'll do different colors but those were the only gel colors i had left.

Chocolate lovers only!

I had some plain cupcakes left from my S'mores batch. So i whipped up some filling and frosting and made these little gems. There is triple chocolate and chocolate raspberry. These are not for the faint of heart and only for serious chocolate lovers. I loved them, but for those who aren't big chocolate fans they were too much. I know i CAN'T be the only chocolate fiend out there :)

Dark chocolate cupcake with milk chocolate raspberry mousse filling and whipped chocolate ganache frosting. Drizzled with fresh raspberry sauce, chocolate and topped with a raspberry and white chocolate curl



Dark chocolate cupcakes with milk chocolate mouse filling, frosted with whipped chocolate ganache and garnished with white chocolate shavings, and a chocolate drizzle.

Please sir i want "S'more"

After venturing outside yesterday I totally abandoned my other ideas of red velvet and pumpkin. For some reason, it put me in the mood for a campfire and s'mores! Since neither were possible i give you S'mores cupcakes!!! I made some changes to the chocolate cake recipe i used last time and this time it WAS absolute perfection! Last time It was really good, but was a little to light/crumbly to hold up well to frosting and filling. This time i added 1c sour cream and 1 small pox of chocolate pudding. Mike doesn't even like chocolate cake and he raved about them.


I put a graham cracker crust on the bottom, topped that with a little chocolate ganache and then put the batter over top. I frosted with marshmallow frosting and garnished with a chocolate square, roasted marshmallow, and graham cracker crumbs. I also dipped them in ganache before i frosted them. They really did taste just like a s'more! Of course the kids loved them, but they will eat straight sugar from a bowl, Mike was the real judge and he LOVED them.


I was experimenting with where to put the frosting, in the middle and then dip in ganache or on top. So, i made some of both and let Mike decide. He liked it on top much better
Even though we decided to go with filling on the top, i couldn't resist this picture, it just looks so yummy!
Drool..........I make make a few alterations next time. They only think i would do differently is the frosting. It wasn't as Marshmallow-ey as i would have liked. Still tasty though!

hmmm, what to make?

I told myself i wasn't going to bake again until next weekend but its cold and rainy today and i'm feeling the itch! Plus i have SOOO many recipe's i just can't wait to try.

I can't decide between Dulce De Leche pumpkin cupcakes, red velvet cheesecake cupcakes, snickers cupcakes, or something the hubby would appreciate like pina colada or orange creamsicle. I'd be doing myself a HUGE favor by making one of the later since i'm not a huge fan of either which means i won't find myself sneaking down in the middle of the night to have one!

Who am i fooling though, i'll probably end up making the red velvet, YUM!

I almost forgot!

I made these the other day when i made the chocolate malt cuppie's, i just keep forgetting to post pics. They are Dark chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting! The frosting ended up tasting just like a reese's peanut butter cup, YUM! Yes the pictures suck, and yes i had to use a ziplock bag! So glad to have my piping bags and tips back!
The next thing i'm going to try out is comes from something Mike suggested, with my own little twist of course. Honey maple cupcakes with maple frosting and struesel topping

A few snippets

Here are a few cakes i've done. The rest are on a flash drive somewhere. I guess i should look for it since we have over 2000 pics of the kids on there too!!

Kim and Kevin's Wedding
Chris and Jenessa

Strawberry Dreams

After my last disastrous attempt at strawberry frosting i still had oodles of fresh strawberries left. I really wanted to perfect it before they go out of season so i got to mixing again. This time, i went a completely different route, and didn't use a traditional buttercream. It was yummy all on its own but with the strawberries mixed it was nothing short of amazing! I had the hubbs try some, he didn't say anything for a minute and then goes "mmmm, that's' pretty good" proceeds to get a spoon and starts eating straight from the bowl! After he was done he says "mmmm, no, that's amazingly good". I'm pretty sure its going to be my go to strawberry frosting now! I'm sure it would be great with other fruit mixed in as well. I think what made it great was the fresh strawberries (alot of recipes I ran across used jams/preserves). I simply pureed some strawberries with a little bit of sugar and some cornstarch then thickened on the stove and chilled. Next time i make it i'm going to try it with raspberries. I think it would also be great flavored with lime or lemon. I think i may even use the frosting recipe as a staple too. It was light, silky smooth and not sickly sweet like most buttercreams. Totally Delish! I'm going to see if i can come up with a white chocolate and chocolate version as well.
I made some more white cupcakes and frosted them with the strawberry buttercream and garnished with white chocolate shavings and a strawberry. They were divine although i'd like to add a white chocolate filling, maybe a whipped ganache? Who knows, i'll just have to keep experimenting! Overall the last few days have been a smashing success as i know have a cupcake and a frosting recipe that can be the base of many new yummy flavors

Sweet Success!!

Today i decided to try out a scratch white cake recipe. Those who bake from scratch can probably agree that white cake is the hardest to master. I also made strawberry frosting to go with. I was bummed out that my it didn't didn't turn out. So, there a was all upset that it was a complete failure and i'd wasted all those ingredients, until i tasted the cupcakes. They were Fantastic! Or as my kids would say, "fantastical" The texture was perfect the flavor was perfect and after sitting covered overnight they tasted even better this morning! Yes, i ate a cupcake for breakfast. :) I've actually found that most cake tastes better and are more moist the next day. The same was true with my chocolate cupcakes. I just put them all on baking sheet, covered with plastic wrap and let them be. In fact when i make wedding cakes I always make them in advance and leave them wrapped on the counter. If you ever over bake a cake just turn it out onto some plastic wrap while its still hot, wrap in several layers and pop in the freezer. When you are ready to use it set it out on the counter until it reaches room temperature. All the steam that was trapped in the plastic wrap condenses and soaks into the cake as it thaws. It can make a dry cake incredibly moist.
Anyway, back to the cake. As i thought of all the possibilities i got more and more excited. It can be the base for many other cupcake flavors. Lemon, Key lime, coconut, vanilla bean, vanilla honey, strawberry, raspberry, etc! I'm so glad I don't have to try out a billion different recipes! Its my Mom's Birthday today so i may try these again for her, this time with a raspberry filling and white chocolate frosting! YUM!

Cupcake attempt #1 Chocolate Malt

So, yesterday since i had all the ingredients for chocolate cupcakes i thought I'd attempt my first trial run. Since chocolate cupcakes are the base for so many cupcake flavors i thought I'd at least try 2. I decided to try Chocolate Malt, and Peanut butter. The chocolate cake turned out amazing, moist, chocolatey and delicious. The texture was almost perfect. Texture is usually a big hold up in scratch recipes because they either turn out to dense, too crumbly etc. It was great until i tried to add filling and frosting and then it crumbled a little. By itself though it was perfect. So, i may make a few alterations next time to remedy the problem. Next time i'm going to add some pudding, cover the hot chocolate mixture so i don't lose any liquid while it cools, sifting THEN measuring the flour, and mix in dry ingredients by hand with a spoon.

I made a chocolate malt frosting and a peanut butter cup frosting. Both turned out great although my family's favorite was the Chocolate Malt (they don't appreciate peanut butter like i do though!). I made the malt frosting with Chocolate malt powder whipped into a vanilla whipped icing. In the future i really want to find some Rich's bettercreme but i haven't been able to find any in my area yet so i had to settle for a wilton box mix. It is supposed to be stable at room temperature, it was NOT! So although it tasted yummy it just didn't work. I'll be trying again with another room stable whip topping, or I may try making a malt flavored buttercream. It really wouldn't be hard i just worry it may be too sweet. It would hold up a lot better though

Also, one of the things i LOVE about cake blogs is all the beautiful pictures. Photography is not a strong point for me, so I'm either going to have to work on it or have my wonderful sister take pictures for me. The pictures i took just don't do it justice, but i'll post anyway :)


Fresh out of the oven. When i let Jordyn have one she dubbed them "choco-licious!"

Chocolate Malt Filling. We were all eating this with a spoon!

Final Product, sort of. I left all my piping bags and tips at my parents house after the last wedding cake i made so i had to use a ziplock bag with the end cut off! So, next time i make these I'll work on the final presentation but this is the general idea. I may also try black or brown cupcake liners to make it appear even more Choco-licious!

Sadly i don't have any pictures of the Peanut butter cup ones. I made a peanut butter buttercream and it proved to hard to pipe through a zip lock bag!