Cupcakes and...

Baby Shower Cupcakes

I do love cupcakes, and apparently so does everyone else. Not only are there cupcake shops in every shopping center but there are plenty of TV shows dedicated to the new craze of cupcakes. I for one love to make them and love to explore more ways of making them look fancy. For example the pink ones pictured to the left had 3 different flavors and 3 different styles. You can't really see but the bottom ones were baby footprints and baby girl faces. I need to find those pictures.

Chocolate Reese's Cupcakes

Packaged so sweet!

And lastly is my first attempt at a pie. Now normal people go for apple, maybe pumpkin but not this girl. Bring on the chocolate!

Snicker Pie

Cakes From The Past 2...

Diet Coke Cake

                                                         



Well I did have more to post but I couldn't fit them all in the last post so here are some more past cakes.

Diet Coke Cake 

Double Chucker in Louisiana

Thomas the Train Cake

Cakes From The Past...

Small cake for a Wedding Auction

Since I am on a bit of a cake break I've decided to add some photos of cakes that I did before. I am hoping to get better pictures than what I am going to post right now and actually some I am not going to post due to the fact that I don't have good enough pictures. 

Double Chucker for a Going Away Party

But for now here is a view of what happened before the blog, some I am more proud of than others. I am grateful for them however because they all have taught me something one way or another. There are so many more but that is all I have for now.

25th Anniversary Cake

Enjoy!

I Did It, The Cupcake Cake!

Well never say never, right? My sister in law has been begging me for a while for one of those "Cupcake cakes" from all the commercials. You know those one commercials out there that show you items that your life wouldn't be complete without them. Well of course my sister in law was sold on it the minute she saw it and I think she pushed it so much on me because she knew how much I was against it. Gotta love her. ; ) I guess the reason I was against it was because it came from one of those commercials. It is not a bad item and I guess the commercials work because I know I was eventually begging for a "Snuggie" for me and my chihuahua Bella. LOL. Don't judge me. Anyways I decided because she had her pioneer school coming up it was a good time to surprise her with her cupcake cake. I couldn't believe that I was now searching for the pan that I had been refusing to even use, let alone buy. I guess I could've been Super Cake Boss and carved it but I was looking for easy. LOL. I found the cake pan and I got it on sale. I love sales and coupons. I had to bake and decorate the cake at my friends house because I didn't want my sister in law to see it.

Well it worked out. My mom told me two cake boxes and I didn't think it needed that much but "safe than sorry" is what we go by. I ended up having enough batter for mini cupcakes and a small cake, which was my small payment to my friend for her house and help. A chocolate cupcake cake filled with a chocolate whipped moose, NOT Oreo Filling (LOL), and frosted with cream cheese frosting. I decided to make a mock cupcake paper cup out of fondant and I frosted the top with a pastry bag and tip. To complete the decorations I placed sugar roses on the cupcake cake that I had made while I was waiting for it to bake and cool. Then surrounding the cake were mini chocolate cupcakes topped with chocolate whipped frosting. Milk anyone?

I was very nervous whether or not the cake would make it to the school but with good support it made it and was able to provide the surprise I wanted. I would've loved to have been there but I knew she was going to be happy and the picture of the empty cake plate at the end was good proof of the yumminess of it all. So maybe I should take a chance once and a while on items that may seem cheesy or kinda silly and see if with a little bit of creativity, I can't transform it into something awesome.

Luau Baby Shower

I want to begin by saying that this was a very special cake adventure for me. I was privileged enough to do the wedding cake for my friend and so it was only natural that I would be able to do her baby shower cake. The theme for the shower had been chosen a while back so the wheels had been turning for me to decide what I was going to do. 

I met with her to just get a general idea of color and flavor. Since she is having a girl I could really have fun with color. I had to tell her that unfortunately all she could choose was the cake flavor because I already had a solid cake concept. Thankfully she trusts me so there was no problem with me going forward.
The top cake was a true sprinkle cake in honor of the baby "Sprinkle" on the way. A name given by the new dad to be, it was only fitting to do Funfetti with vanilla sprinkle frosting. The bottom tier was my classic Double Chucker. I googled images of luau cakes and I came across a few that I really loved. A colorful top cake and the bottom tier made to look like a hula skirt. The cake was then adorned with a colorful candy flower lei, flowers around the sides, a baby monkey, pacifier in mouth and a polka dot bikini.

I took a lot of time with this cake because I wanted it to be exactly what I had envisioned. My only two oops was that the lei did not want to cooperate at first but with a little bit of thought it was ready and so cute and that the poor monkey lost her ear for a second. But we did find it. I was very proud of this cake and I was even more happy when I saw my friends reaction of it. I think she has even more confidence in me now. : )

40th Anniversary Cake

Here is an anniversary cake that I did on Friday for a friends In-laws 40th Anniversary party. The party was going to be similar to the carnival at the end of "Grease" and an old school 50's diner. They wanted a black and white checkered cake, musical notes, and a "Chevy" symbol at the top with 40 in the middle. I was told that they are a "Chevy" family and that the guest of honor had been working on restoring a Chevy himself. The cake had a lot of pipping work and I also was able to paint the Chevy sign to give it a good glow. I was very happy with it and I think they were as well.

Bad cake day...

I think when it comes to any hobby or job there are days when you just aren't feelin' it. I was all caked out and I did not want to make a cake. I begged my mom to get me out of doing the cake but it didn't work. It was a cake for my niece's Wedding shower, and yes I know that is a special occasion but it wasn't my day. I had planned to do my classic Double Chucker, which is a double chocolate cake with Snickers filling. Yum. I really didn't have anything planned for it but that it needed to be a good size.


For this cake I make my own frosting and here is where it all went downhill. It is very important to know where you can cut corners and where you have to just suck it up and spend good money. I bought all the best ingredients with the exception of the butter. I bought the cheapest one and I regret it. The mix of cheap butter and heat caused a bad reaction. Oh wait I forgot something, four layers became 2. LOL. I was trying to cut corners and placed a very heavy, cracked cake on top of an uneven cake. REALLY! I knew better. It was like that slow motion action shot in the movies when they are on top of a snowy mountain and you hear the crack and slowly watch the mountain split in two. What horror! There was nothing I could do and I knew it was bad when I saw my sister and nephew flee the room in fear of my Hulk like reaction. Haha. There was nothing I could do but move on.
So back to the cheap butter and heat. I knew it was bad from the start when the butter melted with Hershey powder went hard, I knew better! I frosted the cake and put it in the fridge and watched the second avalanche lol. The frosting was sliding down. I was mortified. I was determined to call it a day and not even show up to the shower, but the show must go on.

All I could do was laugh as I'm in the car on the way to the shower and watching the frosting slide down. I told my sister that there was nothing I could but at least it would taste good. In my head I kept imagining the reaction of the guests at the party and my idea was a complete opposite to reality. They opened the door and it was excitement. They called people to come and take pictures. I was confused as to whether or not we were looking at the same thing but apparently we were. They loved it and even more they loved the taste. So the moral of the story is: Unless the cake is in crumbs its still good... I wish that were true. The real moral for me was: When you are not in the mood buy the cake! hahahaha