Thanksgiving Cupcakes

These cupcakes were for Thanksgiving dinner! I was given free reign to design some "elegant" cupcakes that were a break from the usual Thanksgiving desserts. So I went with some non-traditional cake flavors (Yellow Spice, Coconut Cream, Cappuccino, and Champagne Orange). The turkeys, leaves and pumpkins were all molded out of chocolate, then brushed with edible gold highlighting powder. I used gold and white sanding sugar and orange sprinkles to dress up the pale orange and yellow frosting underneath. I loved the way they turned out, very "fall" and festive. I hope they were thankful to try something new!

Girls' Night Out Cupcakes

These cupcakes were for a 40th birthday celebration at a spa. They wanted something fun and girly, so what's more girly than shoes, purses and flowers? I molded the shoes from chocolate, and the flowers and purses were made with fondant. I cut out the purses and all the beaded handles from fondant, hand painted them with luster dust, and added candy sprinkles and dragees. So YES, everything was edible (my golden rule of cake designs). I also used a new edible glitter this time (called "disco silver"! woo hoo!) which gave all the cupcakes a cool sparkle. The purses were so much fun to design. The cupcakes were four flavors: Cappuccino, Champagne Orange, Chocolate Chocolate Chip, and Banana Chocolate Chip. And they all got a generous dollup of my homemade vanilla icing. I hear they were a big hit! Thanks Gals!

Pretty In Pink Cupcakes

These cupcakes were for a 50th birthday for a lady who loves pink (someone after my own heart!) I did 3 different flavors (Coconut Cream, Chocolate Chocolate Chip and Lemon) and 3 different designs. They were simple and pretty with a little sparkle from the sugar topping. They were displayed on my favorite cupcake stand with hanging crystals (I didn't get a photo of them on the stand, but I will post a picture of that soon. It's available for rental.) For the top cupcake on the tower, I made a "50" out of chocolate. And I just had to post a separate photo of the Coconut cupcakes because I think they look so cute and fluffy with that blanket of flaked coconut. They remind me of the old "snow balls" from when I was a kid, but much tastier and a little more sophisticated. I've had a couple people mention that they wanted cupcakes but didn't have a theme...so voila! No theme necessary!

Winnie the Pooh Cake

Silly old bear! This Winnie the Pooh cake was for a 2nd Birthday party. It was a lemon cake with lemon filling. I iced the whole cake with vanilla frosting, then marked the pattern on the cake. I was kind of happy with myself figuring out how to transfer my daughter's coloring book image onto the cake (this is where my MacGyver skills come into play...it involved a copy machine, an exacto knife and a toothpick!) Then I spread the yellow frosting on with a spatula. The ears and nose were built with halves of sculpted cupcakes to give it a little more 3-D effect. Then I piped on the blue and red details with icing. I outlined his face and made his eyes and nose out of melted chocolate. Around the cake I wrote "Happy Birthday Patrick" for the little birthday boy. Then I added "bees" that I made out of chocolate and sliced almonds around the cake. He turned out really adorable! My three-year-old daughter told me "Great job, Mom". And my 18-month-old son pointed at the cake and yelled "OOH". I couldn't ask for nicer compliments. At least the kids are impressed!

Kaylin's Baptism Cake

This cake was for some dear friends of ours. I love doing projects for friends because they usually give me free artistic license to do "whatever". The cake was a fun project because I got to try some new cake decorating toys; I have these little pattern presses that gives you an impression in the frosting so you can trace over with a frosting line. (Oh shoot, my secret is out!) I mean, I "free-handed" all the green decorative vines. The vines and the pink borders I piped with frosting, but I made all the flowers from pink and purple fondant. I love the way the fondant flowers stand out a little from the cake and give it a little more dimension. And the finished cake got a little dusting of edible "pixie dust" to give it a little sparkle. Our guest of honor requested her favorite flavor cake: banana chocolate chip. (Good choice Kaylin. My husband is still talking about that one...he got a leftover cupcake and has been raving about how rich it was!) We were sorry to have missed the party this time, but I hope they liked the cake! Congratulations Kaylin!

More Beach Cupcakes

Aren't we lucky to live in So Cal and still get to feel "beachy" in November? I have done similar cupcakes to these in the past, but the beach cupcakes are always so cute that they're worth repeating. I added the flip-flops to my chocolate mold collection, and I like the way they look with the umbrellas. The "sand" is a mixture of graham cracker crumbs and raw sugar, so it has a little sparkle. And the beach buckets are also molded chocolate, which I fill with a little frosting to help the sand stick. So it's like getting a little candy treat before your cupcake! This was for a friend's daughter's 8th birthday; the cupcakes were chocolate chocolate chip, lemon and cookies & cream. Happy Birthday Paige! Hope your sleepover was lots of fun!

Superhero Halloween Cake

So what do you get when you cross Halloween and boy birthdays? Spooky Superheros! Our birthday boy, who's birthday party was on Halloween this year, was very specific about which superheroes he wanted on his cake: Spider Man, Iron Man, and a Green Power Ranger. So I created this design to encorporate everything for his party. The base cake was a square layer cake (chocolate chocolate chip) covered in chocolate icing and topped with chocolate cookie crumbs to look like dirt. I piped the white iron fence with royal icing. The grass was piped on with regular icing and topped with mallowcreme candy pumpkins. The spooky gingerbread house was actually a cake as well, covered in piped icing, complete with shutters of Fruit Stripe gum, candy corn eaves, and a Necco wafer roof. I hand made each of the superheroes from brightly colored fondant; I drew in details on Spider Man with a food marker and painted the other characters with luster dust. I think it turned out really fun and not too spooky, but still very Halloween-y. Mom loved it - hopefully the birthday boy did too. Hope you had a Super-fun birthday party Ryan!

Spooky Skeleton Cupcakes

Boo! These cupcakes were for a spooky Halloween party. I tried to keep them a little more "grown up" than usual. I used a chocolate mold for the pile of bones, and molded my own chocolate tombstones. The tombstone cupcakes were topped with chocolate cookie crumb "dirt" and the other cupcakes were rolled in different sprinkles The skull faces were also white chocolate which I molded in a cute ice cube tray that I found. The white chocolate was all dusted with cocoa powder to make it a little more spooky and bring out the details of the molds. The cupcakes were chocolate chocolate chip ("devils' food - what else?) and pumpkin pecan. It was really fun to do some different spooky designs this year. Hope they were to "die" for!

Oreo Cookie Pops

For me, October is synonymous with CHOCOLATE! Maybe that's why it's my favorite month. So I thought I would post this little photo. Chocolate dipped treats are a staple in my house, and a really easy project for mass gift giving. I made these pops by dipping oreo cookies (golden oreos and regular) in milk chocolate for a kids' Halloween party we attended. They are delicious, and who doesn't like food on a stick? I was excited this time because I made my own candy decorations out of royal icing this time. I've been known to just use sprinkles in the past, which are cute and easy. But I was in the mood to make spooky candy toppers this year. I was even too lazy to tint the royal icing orange for my candy pumpkins, so I just sprinkled orange sugar on the wet white frosting. It turned out kind of fun. The pumpkin stems and ghost eyes are just jimmies that I stuck into the frosting before it dried. These are great for any holiday or occasion, or a great addition to a dessert buffet. They look adorable with a little cellophane bag and bow. I also do chocolate dipped marshmallows, which are surprisingly addictive. Mmmm...I wonder if I have any left downstairs?