I know everyone has done this cake by now.... but I think it is so cute and simple, I wanted to try my hand at it too. With the upcoming wedding, I had to test a cake recipe before hand and this was the perfect opportunity to test the recipe and my piping skills. I can't wait to do this cake again sometime :)
I love the contrast of the blackberry frosting inside the cake too!
Had a little batter left over to make a few cupcakes as well :)
Red velvet with vanilla bean cream cheese frosting
Beautiful invite designed by our friend Erika
I have to say... I think I found a new favorite cupcake place! (Sorry Gtown cupcakes!) I love the vibe when you walk in tp B&W and the cupcakes and coffee were delish! I will try their other baked goods next time I'm down there :)
The Phanatic is the Philadelphia Phillie's team mascot. Now you can make him in cupcake form!
Finally got to present my dad with his retirement cake yesterday. He was so impressed he did not even cut it! It was a fishing scene since he loves to fish (typical retiree eh??) Haha... I also decorated the table with a fishing net, those fishing bob things, and gummi worms (I wanted to get fake fishing worm lures he could use but apparently they contain lead so it's a good thing I read the packaging!)
I used my cupcake tower and put the cake on top. The cake was a 6 inch round and a 4 inch round tiered cake. I decided I like working on a smaller scale cakes now. It was so much easier to stack and deal with. I got all the fondant decor finished during the week, covered the cake the night before and then decorated it in the morning. It was the least stressful cake I've done so far :)
Though I didn't find THE cupcake place in Philly, I had fun trying them out. Why did I choose such an expensive hobby again?! lol. Lastly, in honor of cupcakes I changed the sheets on the bed before the boy could say anything lol.... and looks like our dog Rocco is enjoying :)
Thanks mom for the cupcake quilt!
Haha... I was so flattered when I got this comment last night!! Georgetown is my favorite cupcakery here in the DC area :) So THANK YOU!! And thanks everyone who has donated their support for Haiti.
So I decided to change it up a little and make cookies this week. I've always liked those Cookie Bouquet kind of artsy cookies, so I figured I would attempt to make these! I'm too poor right now to afford a baking class so google has been my BEST baking teacher. So keeping with my love of cupcakes, I really wanted to make cupcake shaped cookies - I've seen these before w/ some really cute designs, but I didn't have the cookie cutter shape, and I did not want to wait. I googled around my area for bakery supplies places, but no luck. I thought of Williams and Sonomoa, but they didn't have any.. then I remembered this store Sur La Table had a bunch of random cooking things - I had been in there a few times but never got anything or paid much attention. (It is now my new favorite store by the way!!) I looked it up online and sure enough they had the cupcake shaped cookie cutter I wanted. I called up the closest one and they had it :) Made my day!
Warren Brown on the Food Network. Then I found out he was from the DC area and was opening up his own bakeries with cakes and cupcakes! I just had to try them out. I have since been three times. At first I was impressed - since this was my very first gourmet kind of cupcake. I really enjoyed the strawberry and coffee flavored icings. It light and not too sugary, but after being their 2 more times, I've realized the the icing can be a bit waxy if you don't wait long enough for the icing to come to room temperature. It like you wait in line, you're starving to eat a cupcake, and THEN you have to wait at least 15 or more minutes for it to come to the right temperature. It's like torcher! Also, the past few times I've gone the cake has been quite dry. I have not counted this bakery out just yet as I do want to try some of their actual cakes and pastries. But as for cupcakes, I've found a few other places that I enjoy.
done before. Aaron's family is from Philly and we have gone up so many times - yet he had never done all the stuff Philly is known for. So we drove around and visited Love Park, the Rocky statue, China Town, and checked out the Reading Street Terminal (RTS). If you like food (like Aaron and I) the RST is a foodie lovers dream. After we got a quick bite to eat, Aaron had to use the restroom. I wandered around and stumbled upon the Flying Monkey Cupcakes. I was just going to look, but I could not resist and picked out two cupcakes for the way home. I chose Lavender and the signature Flying Monkey Cupcake. I was very impressed! The lavender icing on chocolate cake complemented each other very well, and the little purple sugar crystals on top gave it a tiny sweet crunch. The lavender was very suttle and the icing was not too sweet at all. After I ate it I wish I got a few more. The signature cupcake was a chocolate cake, filled with banana, and topped with chocolate icing. I was impressed as well! I will go back here next time I'm in Philly.Hello Cupcake
http://www.hellocupcakeonline.com/
1351 Connecticut Avenue, NWWashington, DC 20036
So today we randomly decided to check out Hello Cupcake. While coming home from my grandparent's house in Ft. Washington, the traffic on 95 was horrendous. Since we were were not pressed for time, but did not want to sit in traffic, we decided to cut through DC. I was also craving a cupcake, and at first wanted to go back to Gtown Cupcake. We were driving through DuPont when I remembered Ash telling me about Hello Cupcake, so I figured it was a great time to try a new place since we were right there. Aaron typed the address into his iPhone (that thing is amazing I will admit) and it pointed us into the right dire
ction. We had no idea what this place looked like and just kept an eye out. Pretty soon I see a brown van with pretty flowers on it and there was Hello Cupcake. I jumped out of the car and Aaron went to find some parking. Hello Cupcake definitely has more room than Gtown cupcake - a bathroom and tables to sit. When it came to ordering there were a lot that were out, but luckily it was just a few more minutes wait for a new batch. I was a bit overwhelmed with some flavors since I wasn't sure what they were and asked the lady to describe like all of them to me, but hey it was my first time - sorry lady. I ended up ordering a half dozen: chai, tiramisu, coconut, vanilla, carrot, and lemon. After I finished paying for my half dozen, the cherry blossoms came out - and of course I had to get that one too, so I can compare it to Gtown. I did notice the box was not as pretty as Gtown cupcak (but as my friends would say, only I would notice something like that!! lol) Then Aaron came in and we split the tiramisu and the cherry blossom right there in the store. They were very good! The tiramisu was a espresso flavored cake with a sort of cream cheese/mascarpone icing topped with a chocolate covered espresso bean. I was a bit let down by the cherry blossom though. It was prepared differently than Gtown's - lemon cake with cherry preserves in the middle and white chocolate icing. It was not bad at all, but I just liked Gtown's version much better. Overall, Hello Cupcake was good and I'd go back if I was in DuPont and in the mood for a cupcake.
So that has been my cupcake experience so far! There are still alot of cupcake places in the DC/MD/VA area I have to try:
I'm excited to explore more cupcake places soon. I'm headed to Seattle for a week and I will be scoping out the cupcake scene there for sure! I did a little googling and here are a few in Seattle I hope to check out:
That's my cupcake update for now. Stay stuned for more cupcakeness! My next obsession: frozen yogurt! <3 Cara Lee
