Flavors

FLAVORS
Here is my list of flavors that I like to do.
I will update this post every so often.

Vanilla Bean
Vanilla bean cake topped with vanilla bean frosting

Coconut
Coconut cupcake with vanilla frosting and topped with toasted coconut

Lavender
Vanilla or chocolate cake topped with lavender frosting

Peanut Butter Cup
Chocolate cake, peanut butter middle and topped with peanut butter frosting

Lemon
Vanilla cake topped with lemon frosting made with fresh lemon zest

Smores
Graham cracker crust and chocolate cake topped with a marshmallow frosting. A little marshmallow fluff in the middle and garnished with graham cracker crumbs and a Hershey’s bar.

Red Velvet
Red velvet cake (a traditional buttermilk cake lightly flavored with a hint of cocoa powder) topped with white chocolate cream cheese frosting

Green Tea
Vanilla or chocolate cake topped with a green tea frosting

Cookies n’ Cream
Oreo crust, chocolate cake and topped with a vanilla and Oreo crumb frosting

Mocha
Chocolate cake topped with coffee frosting

Oreo Mint Chip
Chocolate cake with mint chocolate chips, topped with a mint frosting and Oreo crumbles

Mango
Vanilla cake filled with mango curd, topped off with a mango frosting

“Fluffernutter”
Vanilla cake filled with marshmallow fluff, topped with peanut butter frosting

"Car Bomb"
Chocolate Stout cake w/ Bailey's frosting

Chocolate Orange
Chocolate cake with a hint of orange and topped with an orange zest cream cheese frosting

Chocolate Salted Caramel
Chocolate cake w/ a salted caramel filling and topped with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream

Ginger Citrus
Ginger cupcake with a citrus cream cheese frosting

Green Tea and Red Bean
Green tea cupcake with sweet red beans mixed in, topped with white chocolate cream cheese frosting

Mexican Chocolate
Chocolate cake with a hint of cinnamon topped with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream frosting

Gingerbread
A moist gingerbread cupcake topped with maple cream cheese frosting

Berry Nutella
Chocolate cupcake with nutella in the middle and topped with strawberry swiss meringue buttercream frosting

Key Lime Pie
Graham cracker cupcake with key lime curd in the middle topped with vanilla swiss meringue frosting

A Coach's Birthday

I made these birthday cupcakes for a woman, whose husband is a baseball coach for their son's team. It was a surprise party and he had no idea! I hope it went well :) (I did hear kids were eating the cupcakes by the hand full *lol*)

Bridal Shower

A past customer of mine (the one who I delivered cupcakes to during the snowstorm), ordered some more cupcakes. This time for her sisters bridal shower. I just used the theme colors of green, yellow and pink. I used the blossoms as well as the "K" monogram for her sisters soon to be new last name.

Jenn and Dawson's Engagement Party

One of my good friends from college recently got engaged. They celebrated their engagement tonight and my gift to them was cupcakes :-) She only told me to use blue and purple, and this is what I came up with.

Even though this didn't match the decor exactly, I wanted to use my cute little bumble bees again. Ended up putting them on the top tier. (I also bought this new cake plate at home goods today too, which i loooove ;-)

Congrats Jenn and Dawson

I love packages!

My package from Global Sugar Art arrived yesterday! I love packages, but it's funny you forget how much you just spent on it after it arrives lol. Anyways, I had ordered a few things including a blossom cutter and veiner set, which one of my cake friends recommended to me (Thank you Rene!) Here are some blossoms I made today... I use white fondant, then painted them with a little edible petal dust. In the center I put a few dragees. They will be used for this weekends bridal shower and engagement party cupcakes :)

Rested up and ready to bake

I know it's been a little while since I've posted. Had a wonderful vacay in the U.S. Virgin Islands! I think the only thing the islands were missing were cupcakes ;-) Now that I'm back, I've got a full plate of baking ahead of me. Here's a taste of whats to come:

May 22nd - Engagement party cupcakes
May 23rd - Bridal shower and Birthday cupcakes
June 12th - Wedding cake cupcake tower
June 19th - Another wedding cake cupcake tower

It's gonna be a little crazy with grad school summer classes starting at the end of May too. It'll all work out though and I plan not to take on too many orders this summer and hopefully will be able to bake for myself and try some new recipes.

And last, since I haven't gotten a chance to bake anything since I've been back the past few days, I did buy these fun novelty cupcake mints while shopping with my friend yesterday.

They're supposed to be "cupcake flavored mints"... they taste like sweet candies with no minty taste. Eh, it was just something for fun :)

Vacation!

I'll be on vacay for a whoooole week. Hopefully I come back with a nice tan! I leave you with a pic from some beach cupcakes I had made for my friend Allie's b-day awhile back :)

Can you guess where I'm heading off too??

Great American Cake Sow

This morning I attended the Great American Cake Show here in MD. It's crazy how many people attend these shows from out of town, from all over the US! I'm just glad it was only an hour away from me.

I took another class on flowers - hoping it would be better than the last class I took at the other cake show. The class was with Beth Parvu. She does some amazing work! We were supposed to learn a Hibiscus, Water Lily (Lotus), and a Bhutan dragon. She definitely had a lot of tips and was really nice. Our class was small which made it even better to learn. The only thing I was disappointed in, was that we did not get to complete one flower in the 2 hour time limit. I left the class half finished Lotus/Water Lily and a stamen to a Hibiscus. She offered to let us see how to finish the flowers at her booth where she sold her products after class. I went by for a little while but I had to leave early. Here is what I have finished of the Water Lily I made so far:

My half finished Water Lily

It still needs 2 more layers of petals, but it's so pretty! I really love Water Lillies/Lotus because they remind me of my travels all over Asia (I taught English in China and traveled around there and SE Asia). I can't wait to try out more flowers. I bought the cutters, wires, and colors at the show to finish it. I Still need to buy a petal veiner, then I can actually finish it at home. (Again - why did I choose such an expensive hobby?! *lol*) Well, it's just gonna have to wait until I get back from vacation - leaving on Tuesday :)

Happy Early Cinco de Mayo!

Happy Early Cinco de Mayo

My friend Ashley and her BF had a little BBQ tonight. I always like to bring something including a dessert. On the menu was Carne Asada (for the meat eaters). So I went with the Mexican theme. I happened to have a whole thing of Abuelita Mexican Hot Chocolate around and I decided to use that. I'm a little "cupcaked out" (Not in a bad way!! Just wanted to change it up a bit that's all :-) I originally was going to make them spicy (Ash's BF loves the spice) but of course I buy the wrong spice at the store because I was cheap. Lesson learned: just spend the money sometimes! haha. I googled around for a recipe that had all the ingredients that I had around the house. I ended up making these Mexican Hot Chocolate brownies in that shape of mini cupcakes (of course lol). I topped them off with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting...mmm! *Instead of pine nuts, I did half plain chocolate and half almond (I added a bit of almond extract and chopped almonds).

Since my friend Ash is a vegan, and I didn't have time to really bake something vegan (which btw I hope to venture into that area of baking sometime soon) I picked up some vegan brownies at a local organic/vegan grocery store. They happen to sell vegan brownies (and other baked goods) from a DC bakery around here call Sticky Fingers. I tried one and they are goooood! Would never had known it was vegan.

Thanks Ash and Andrew for a delicious meal this evening :)

Erin and Karl's Wedding

The big day finally came and the wedding cake was a success!

It was my very first wedding cake I've ever done. Leading up to the big day I had a cake consultation with the bride to decide the design and a cake tasting with over a dozen different flavor combinations. I was so nervous up until they cut the cake! It such an important center piece to a wedding which is added stress and nerves.

The bride ended up deciding on a three tier cake with blue flowers and swirly pipe work around the flowers on the cake. For the top, she wanted something beachy but would also reflect each others personality and things they enjoyed. And this is what we came up with...

Cake Details

Bottom Layer: Almond cake with raspberry jam filling and vanilla bean frosting
Middle Layer: Chocolate cake with white chocolate cream cheese frosting chocolate frosting and raspberry cream filling
Top Layer: Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting
Flowers/leaves: Gumpaste
Fondant to cover cake: Homemade marshmallow fondant
Topper details: Everything was hand made with fondant except the chairs. On her chair- Roxy towel, Diet Dr. Pepper, and a book. On His chair - MP3 player with head phones and a towel with his favorite band's symbol. Both had a pair of flip flops. Sand is made with graham cracker crumbs with a little pixie dust mixed in to give it a little shine.

Groom's Cupcakes
(and Spongebob Birthday Cupcakes one of her friends)

Cutting the cake!

All the cakes I've been making so far have been "practice" for the big day. Some things have learned in the last year about getting ready for the big cake:
1. Prepare prepare prepare! For example you can make all the gumpaste flowers and fondant accessories well in advance. Bring as many tools with you to the venue and be prepared for anything.
2. Always try a new technique. For all the cakes I have been done leading up to the wedding cake, no matter how minimal, I always tried something new - a new technique, flavor, design, etc.
3. Try really hard not to sweat the small stuff. As a cake designer we see the smallest imperfections that the client would probably never notice or have any idea. Enjoy their happiness :-)

Congrats Erin and Karl!
You had a beautiful wedding now go and enjoy that amazing honeymoon :)