Ben & Beckie Get Hitched

My Tiki and Tacos Moment

When the pinatas and tacos happen, you know the party is gonna be good! This is a tribute to my Tiki and Tacos and a birthday surprise party to make me feel very clever :)

This is vanilla butter cake with vanilla buttercream, tinted green for guacamole. The mini tacos are made from gum paste and filled with various colors and flavors- the ground beef is actually ground chocolate!

It was a bit of a rush job but overall, a great experience.

Vanilla Cherry Yum

Vanilla Cherry Cake with Vanilla Cherry Creamcheese Frosting. Happy 40th Birthday, Brother!

Pink and Purple Birthday

Smidgencakes has a customer who wants cupcakes for her one year old's birthday celebration. She asked for bright pink, light pink, lavender, purple, and white smooth icing...Butterflies, flowers, pixie dust (edible glitter) and such... One big cupcake and 30 regular sized cupcakes...

The only problem I had with this project is that the flavors weren't really specified but I assumed vanilla would be ok. I should have went with my instincts on the icing other than what I went with. Royal icing is the smoothest icing but it doesn't taste very good. Had I followed my instincts, I would have just made a smoother buttercream so that the taste profile fit the prettiness of the cupcakes.

Morale of the story: Follow your instincts. Cupcakes are made with love and if you don't love it, don't do it.

Roller Derby Cupcakes

 

Lemon Raspberry

 

Chocolate with Peanutbutter Buttercream

Roller Derby Bake Sale

Chopped Apple, Fig, Papaya and Carrot Cake topped with a cream cheese frosting and edible sugar paper butterflies 

 

 

  

Vanilla Strawberrry Cake with Cheese Buttercream topped with fresh strawberries

First Roller Derby Bout!

Gum Paste Roses

I have a wedding coming up on the 17th of September. No, I am not getting married. I am actually doing my first "gig" in the cupcake business! I am nervous, of course, but the bride is as sweet as sugar and has given me alot of creative freedom. She has chose very simple yet classic cakes, chocolate, vanilla and red velvet. I am making mini-cupcakes (approximately 300) and one giant cupcake for the grooms cake. The wedding colors are red, silver, white and black. My partner in crime is helping me build a cupcake stand this weekend to hold all those cupcakes! I will keep you posted as the next few weeks go by on progress of cupcakes, decorations and the stand.

In the meantime, I have started making gum paste roses to add as decor to my cupcake display. Unlike my last gum paste flowers, I have started this project off with some documentation. Gum paste roses are somewhat easier than the lilies but I haven't even begun the dusting yet so we will see how it goes. Here are the first couple I made:

Gum Paste Flowers - Take one

I took a class from Dawn's Candy and Cake on gum paste flowers. Here is a few things I learned:

1) Gum paste tastes like marshmallow.
2) Gum paste dries fairly quickly.
3) Gum paste is not like playing with Play Doe or Fimo.
4) There are ALOT of steps involved in making gum paste flowers.
5) Making gum paste flowers takes much longer than I anticipated.
6) Common chalk (for kids) is food safe and you can use it to dust your gum paste flowers.
7) If your gum paste flower happens to break, you can use Superglue to repair it and when dried, Superglue is also food-safe.

I am sure there are alot more things I learned but after watching so many cake shows, I thought gum paste would be a walk in the park. It was more like a jog, uphill, in a rainstorm. Do I love it? Oh yes! Once I master it- I have a brilliant idea for a niche cupcake shop. So gum paste- bring it on!

My only regret with these lilies is that I didn't document the process with pictures- just the finished product.

Here- Taste this.

I have to say, my partner in crime is such a trooper. I force him to try my various cakes and frosting combinations. He dutifully opens his mouth and allows me to insert whatever I happen to have at the end of a spoon!

Fortunately, he gives me honest responses to how he feels in regards to the taste, texture and flavor profiles. Sometimes it's good. Sometimes, not so good.

The good news is that we had another success this weekend! Almond cupcakes with key lime buttercream, topped with a SugarRobot butterfly and fresh lime zest...

I love you to Pieces!

This weekend, I went to a bbq at a friends house. Due to my last name starting with a "T", I had to bring a dessert...oh darn! Another chance to prove my cupcakeness? I think so!

This is a mini chocolate cupcake with a mini peanutbutter cup baked inside, frosted with triple chocolate and peanutbutter buttercreme, filled with crushed Reeses Pieces. As an added bonus, each cupcake was topped with one additional mini peanutbutter cup.

   

With Silver Bells and Cockle Shells...

It has been awhile since I have discussed my garden. My treasure. My sanity. My love.... Despite the weather we have had this summer, my garden seems to be doing "okay." My tomatoes are growing, some still with blooms, others bearing fruit not yet ripe. My green peppers are the size of ping pong balls. My peas have come and gone and produced about 2 cups of shelled peas. I sort of neglected them on a few hot days due to absence, otherwise they might still be producing lovely little pods of green goodness.

Last night I picked lettuce from my garden to feed salad to my family. I have a yellow squash, 2 green squash, one lemon cucumber and two small cucumbers, though I don't remember what kind they are. My swiss chard is pretty and multi-colored. My lavendar is in full bloom. My beans, well, my beans have been devoured by slugs. I tried to keep them away but in the end, the slugs won. All of my herbs are happy and growing. My carrots seem to finally have given into the fact that they must grow!

I have also a beautiful flower garden. My strategy is to plant as many flowers as I can because I forget what I plant year to year. The following year, I am always pleasantly surprised when my garden is full of blooms. It is finally time to make more flower garden around my yard. Flowers are so much prettier than grass, right?