Weekend Fun - Colors & Cinnamon...Huh?!

This past weekend my orders consisted of beautiful bright buttercream frostings, cinnamon, and of course the 'Simply Stawberries' (strawberry) 

and 'Love on Top' (red velvet), but I opted to only photograph the C's - cinnamon and colorful.

Naked, but just as good without the frosting!

Cinnamon, butter and brown sugar mixture is swirled
all throughout these cupcakes...Yum!!!

Cupcake Flavor: "Cinna-Ma-Yum" - Cinnamon, butter and
brown sugar mixture swirled throughout vanilla cupcake
w/brown sugar cream cheese frosting dusted w/cinnamon

The cupcakes below were requested by a client for their 20th wedding anniversary celebration they were having.  One of the nicest couples I've had the pleasure of meeting in my entire life.  The exchange was very brief, but they definitely made a lasting empression.

Cupcake Flavor: "The Usual" -
Vanilla cupcake w/tinted vanilla buttercream frosting w/fondant decor

 Don't you just love the color combination of pink and orange?  I know I do and the fact that orange is my favorite color, probably has plenty to do with it. A customer requested these cupcakes (and red velvet) for her daughter's graduation party and informed me they were reluctant to share...too funny!

Cupcake Flavor: "The Usual" - vanilla cupcake w/tinted vanilla buttercream frosting

Fell in absolute love with the cupcake liners...those colors!



Haaah-Yah!

My post title is supposed to mimic the sound that is made when someone is performing a karate kick, move, etc.  I hope I succeeded! LOL!

These cupcakes were made for my eight year old cousin who received his 1st degree Black Belt!  A huge CONGRATULATIONS to him for such an accomplishment at such a young age.  His request, of course, were cupcakes decorated karate style.  I decided upon the ying-yang symbol and the upper body of a someone with their karate gear on.

Kaleb and his Master after receiving his 1st degree black belt

Cupcake Flavor: "The Usual" - vanilla cupcake w/vanilla buttercream frosting



Peace & Love everyone!

One of my best girlfriends just recently had a 50th suprise birthday party for her mom and the theme was "The 60's".  She commissioned me to make some mini cupcakes with a 60's flair and I immediately pictured tye dye and love and peace signs.  While I didn't get the 'love' (although there was plenty of it), I was able to incorporate the tye dye and peace signs!  

Vanilla cupcake w/vanilla buttercream frosting -
(tinted colors are yellow, blue, green, pink and purple)



Birthday Party

Pink & Purple Swirl

Pink and purple along with Olivia the Pig was the theme for these cupcakes. Miss Makayla turned six, and what better way to celebrate than with some good ole vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting--why, pink & purple of course!!

Mother's Day Flowers

Flowers never smelled OR tasted this good !!

Carrot cake cupcakes w/brown sugar cream cheese frosting

Vanilla cupcake w/vanilla buttercream frosting (tinted)



Baby You're a....Rock Star!

'Rock Star' Cupcakes - Revisited

All I can say is "boy have I come a long way and still have a ways to go"! Here's the story:

Back in October (2011), someone commissioned me (through a referral) to do 'rock star' themed cupcakes for her daughter's birthday.  I had mixed emotions. On one hand, I was super psyched because I love creative cupcake projects and 'rock star' cupcakes just screamed CREATIVITY! On the other hand, I was a nervous wreck because I had yet to venture into the world of the love-it-or-hate-it FONDANT!

 

However, I was not defeated so I took on the task (learned lesson: it's okay to say 'no' if you are unsure of what it is you are doing). I had some time, so I begin researching how to work with fondant and while I feel I mastered that task, I neglected to research how to store it as I made the fondant figures two days before and let them sit in the refridgerator - a big fat NO in fondant world as I discovered once the order was delivered, I received a horrible review and I researched after the fact!

 

Nevertheless, I was pleased with the visual of the cupcakes. See photos below, and yes they are misleading. Read on for more:

Invitation that served as inpiration for cupcakes

Not too bad for an 'extreme' amateur huh? Notice I said extreme, so cut me some slack - these aren't winning any awards by no means, but for the first time, I was pretty proud of myself (that sunshine didn't last long).

 

Dropped off cupcakes on Thursday evening and was looking forward to any type of feedback so I rushed to put these up on this blog. By Friday evening I was literally in tears and feeling completely defeated. I had such a head ache that I went to bed and it was only a little before 8 p.m. The review (from a party goer, not the customer) basically stated that the cupcakes were pretty but tasted 'horrible'! I was CRUSHED!! After I got myself together, I called the customer and she explained that the cupcakes were hard and very dry. Which brings me back to the 'learned lesson' I stated earlier. I had yet to master vanilla cupcakes and had absolutely no business trying them out on a customer...absolutely none! (However, I've come a long way with these and even feel confidant enough to post the recipe - click here)

 

Well, my family gave me a pep talk, I refunded my customer's money (made her some more cupcakes) and here I am pushing on; still learning as I go.

 

This past weekend, with a good vanilla cupcake recipe under my belt and some fondant experience, I got the chance to redeem myselft and I'm proud to say these 'Rock Star' cupcakes were a success!!

Strawberry Kind of Weekend

It was a 'strawberry' kind-of-weekend this past weekend. I had a bridal shower and a 30th birthday party and each requested a different variation of my 'Simply Strawberry'.  For the bridal shower, I made a strawberry key-lime which was a strawberry cupcake topped with key lime buttercream frosting. The tanginess and citrus of the key lime mixed with the strawberries in the cupcake made for a very refreshing combination. I might have to add this to my 'ordinary' flavors!

'Strawberry Key Lime'

The other strawberry flavored cupcake I made was strawberry & 'roc. It's a strawberry cupcake infused with Red Berry flavored Ciroc Vodka topped with strawberry buttercream frosting with the Vodka.  So basically, the alcohol (or cocktail) is the draw with this one!  The next time I make this cupcake I'll have to up the alcohol content of the sugar drizzle because you really couldn't taste it. You don't want to put so much that it'll drain out the strawberry taste, but you want enough to taste the vodka.  As you know, alcohol tends to get drained out in the sugar with baking, so I must increase!

'Strawberry & 'Roc'