Rose Garden Cupcakes

Roses: the quintessential frosting flower found on 90% of bakery cakes. Confession: this is the first time I ever made them! I had thought about taking the Wilton course #1 just to learn roses, but I never got around to it. It turns out that between my books with great illustrations and my Mom (my original cake decorating teacher), I figured them out. When I was told that the client wanted 100 cupcakes with big roses, I said "sure!" (because that's how I roll). I figured that after 100 roses, I'd be pretty good at it. I admit, the first dozen or so were pathetic and didn't make it on a cupcake. But I eventually got my groove...and major hand cramping...so I called in reinforcements. So about half of these roses were the work of my Mom (most likely the prettiest ones!) who bailed me out of the "war of the roses". (Thanks Mom!) The cupcakes were champagne orange cake with vanilla icing, chocolate chocolate chip cake with vanilla icing, and carrot cake with cream cheese icing. They looked so fantastic all together on my big custom cupcake stand (Thanks Dad!) The cupcakes were for a retirement party, and the party was at a home with a spectacular rose garden, so they were such a nice compliment to the natural decor. And they even smelled sweet!

Graduation Cupcakes

These Grad cupcakes were chocolate chocolate chip and cookies and cream cake with vanilla icing. The Grad's school colors were black and gold, so I used that as a color scheme. I made the grad caps with mini Reese's dark peanut butter cups topped with a square of Ghirardelli dark chocolate. I piped the tassels on top with yellow icing. The diplomas and "2010"s were molded from chocolate and set on top. And I found some cool edible star confetti that gave the cupcakes a little sparkle.

Fancy Baby Rattle Cake

Ok, I gotta brag a little bit. I had a great MacGyver moment with this cake! I received a copy of the baby shower invitation and there was this graphic of a rattle with a beautiful blue and brown baroque pattern. I was going to just freehand the pattern with a piping bag of frosting, but between the cake and the matching cookie favors, that was a lot of "wingin' it". So I went shopping (the cure for my creative blocks!). I found rubber stamps that were close, and I thought that would give me a good impression if I pressed it into the fondant. But then I found these white puffy stickers that I loved. So I thought I'd make my own rubber stamp. I found a little acrylic tray at Mom's house (the original Martha MacGyver) and stuck the stickers on the bottom in a symmetrical pattern. I rolled out the Tiffany blue fondant, then pressed my homemade "stamp" into the fondant to create an imprinted pattern (see bottom photos). The patterned fondant would be pretty on its own, but it was even more spectacular filled in with chocolate frosting. So for the cake, I layered chocolate chocolate chip cake and chocolate custard ("death by chocolate" cake!) and covered the whole cake with a layer of vanilla frosting. Then I covered the frosting with a layer of white fondant. I decided I needed something "3D" for the top, so I actually baked a cupcake-sized cake in a pyrex bowl and added it to the top to be the rattle. I added my patterned blue fondant on the rattle and in a wide strip around the side of the cake. Then I finished my fondant details with a chocolate brown fondant bow and smaller brown stripes around the sides. The silver fondant details on top got their sparkle with a coating of silver luster dust. Lastly, I piped the bead borders and the writing to finish the design. I even added a small "#3" plaque to represent the family's 3rd bouncing boy! (I can't imagine...my one little boy is a handful!) I think the design was simple and elegant, if I do say so myself. And now I have a cool new tool for imprinting fondant! Take that, Cake Boss!

Fancy Baby Rattle Cookie Favors

These rattle cookies were favors for a baby boy shower. I made my favorite sugar cookies, glazed them with white icing, then added the blue fondant rattle top while the glaze was still wet. I made a custom stamp to use on the fondant that gave me the design to fill in with chocolate royal icing (I used the same technique for the matching cake). I also piped the silver handles and stripe detail in silver royal icing and added a chocolate bow. I wrapped each cookie in a small cellophane bag with a matching bow, making them the perfect parting gift for the baby shower. I just love the Tiffany blue and chocolate brown color scheme, and the fancy pattern turned out so pretty! Aren't babies so much fun? ;)

Hello Kitty Birthday Cake

This fun Hello Kitty cake was for a 50th (yep, not a typo) Birthday. I thought I heard this client wrong too, especially when she sent a photo of the party decor. But when I delivered this cake, I met the group of ladies and they seemed so fun that I totally felt like the it was the right cake for the occasion! I started with a layer cake that was Champagne Orange with layers of vanilla lemon custard. The whole cake got covered with my vanilla frosting, then I covered the cake with pretty pink fondant. The stars, balloons, bows and HK were all made from fondant. I piped on the bead border, the writing, and the black details with regular frosting. I even added a "50" in chocolate to the middle balloon for a subtle reminder! Before cutting out the balloons, I pressed some different texture mats into the fondant to give them a little interest. The design came right from the plates and napkins that the gals were using from the party. I think it works for a 5th birthday or a 50th! Cheers to all of us that are young at heart! Party on, girls!

Hello Kitty Cookie Favors

I was never a Hello Kitty fan as a kid, but I have to admit that she's pretty lovable in fondant! These cookies were party favors that went with the Hello Kitty Birthday Cake. I made my favorite homemade sugar cookies and added a hot pink frosting glaze on top. Then, while the glaze was still tacky, I added the fondant cutout of Hello Kitty's face. Now I have been looking for a HK cookie cutter for a while, and I just can't seem to find one without ordering from some weird Hong Kong-based vendors on Ebay. But I thought I was rather ingenious when I found a little tin of sour candies shaped like her head at the checkout stand at Michaels. Turns out the top of the tin worked as a pretty decent cutter for the fondant. That saved a lot of time on this project (I had to hand cut each head with a knife the last time I made HK cupcakes!) I made the eyes, nose and bow from fondant as well. The whiskers I drew on with an edible marker. Each cookie got its own cellophane bag with a pink bow (I always bag my cookies, but they don't photograph well through the plastic!) I admit that the fondant isn't as yummy as royal icing, but in this case I decided the design just looked better with the smooth fondant. And we did have a family cookie taste test, which they still passed. I love finding new techniques!

Tinkerbell Cupcakes

Now this was a challenge. I wasn't sure how to do a Tinkerbell, but you know me, I don't back down from a challenge. So I drew out my patterns and did my best to create the little pixie's profile out of chocolate. I painstakingly piped all the details with different colored chocolates and chilled them. Then I made some crazy big fairy wings. Once I pressed all the chocolate pieces into the frosting, I took a deep breath and asked my 2-year old son what they were. He got a huge smile and screamed "Tinkobew CAKES!" So I figured they were ok. I always use the kids as my success barometer (a real professional operation I'm running over here, huh?) For an accent, I frosted the other half of the cupcakes with green and added handmade leaves and purple flowers. All the cupcakes got a sprinkle of (what else?) "pixie dust" edible glitter. They turned out really cute, and our birthday girl was tickled. Cupcakes were chocolate chocolate chip and banana chocolate chip.