You are the icing on the cake

Happy Valentine's Day!!  My aunt asked me to make a cake/cupcakes for her husband and son this year.  I have always wanted to make a cupcake bouquet and thought this would be the perfect chance to.  It was going to be a small one, hold under 24 cupcakes.  I was thinking all red flowers, maybe with some greenery around.  It didn't go as I planned :)
She wanted marble cupcakes.  I didn't realize I have never made marble cupcakes before.  Turned out great.

I found a styrofoam ball at the store.  They had a small ball that would have only held about 5 cupcakes or the one I got which I thought would hold 15-20.  24 tops.  I started putting the cupcakes on and soon realized I was going to need more, a lot more cupcakes.  It turns out it held 41 cupcakes!!

They ended up getting marble, yellow and chocolate flavors.  I decided to make some flowers white and some red.  I think it turned out fabulous!!  So fabulous and big that it wouldn't fit in the box!!  I had to call my aunt to come pick me up.  Luckily she only lives a block away.  This is the first project that I have made that I couldn't transport all by myself.  I love how it turned out and so did my family.

Hope you all have a great and wonderful Valentine's Day!!

Three C's: cupcake, cake, & cake pop

I was asked to make a baptism cake and cupcakes for my cousin's baby baptism.  This is the first time I have made both for someone.  It was fun!  I made a yellow cake with chocolate cupcakes.  The cross is white chocolate.  The L blocks are candy melts.

It is Super Bowl Sunday!  I had some leftover cake so I made some cake pops.  We are having people over, so I thought I would try making footballs :)  I used chocolate and buttercream for the laces.  Love how they turned out. 

I have been using my mom's Nikon camera for the last couple weeks.  I just love how it takes a photo!  I may have to invest in a better camera.  It makes everything look so pretty :)
Hope you all have a great day watching football.
Thanks for looking.

An apple a day......

Last weekend I went to my girlfriend Katie's house to bake.  We made a new cupcake together.  It was the first time we have baked together and it was a blast!  I normally do not like to bake with anyone, have my own routine.  It was easy to do with Katie.  I think being friends for so many years we know what to do and how each other work.  We made a Carmel Apple Cupcake. 
This is the first time we have grated an apple before.  We ended up using 3 Gala apples.

We knew by tasting the batter that the cupcake was going to be delicious!

We made the carmel from scratch.  I didn't realize how long and hard it is to make. 

Katie's dog, Brooklyn, loved baking day!!  While mixing the cream cheese frosting, the powdered sugar was going everywhere.  Brooklyn thought she would help come clean the floors for us :)

The cupcakes turned out so great!!  It was a apple cake, with carmel inside and a cream cheese frosting.  Katie drizzled carmel on the top for a great touch.



It was a great day baking with Katie, and I am looking forward to the next time we get to do it again :)
Hope you all have a great week!  Thanks for looking.





Cherry on Top!

I have become a DC Cupcakes fan lately. I bought their book.  I also watched the first season and fell in love <3  My mom's girlfriend lives out east and has had cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake.  She says they are amazing.  I was inspired after that to try a recipe.  I chose Banana Split Cupcake.  It was a good one.  There were so many different aromas in my kitchen tonight; from banana to cinnamon to chocolate.  What a great time baking. 
The cupcake is a banana cake base.  Then it has a chocolate ganache filling.  Put on a cream cheese frosting with toffee and more ganache.  And top it off with a cherry. 

The ganache was chocolate and heavy cream mixed.

I made a hole in the cupcake to put the ganache in

They look like little dishes of ice cream :)

I topped them off with some ganache, toffee, sprinkles and a cherry! 

They are very sweet.  Definitely have to have a glass of milk with it.  I am very happy with how they turned out!  My girlfriend KT and I are going to try another of their recipes this Sunday, a Carmel Apple Cupcake.  Hopefully that one turns out just as good as this one.
Hope you all have a great weekend and thanks for looking :)

Red and Green

I have been in a funk so I decided to bake to cheer myself up.  I found a new recipe for Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  It was just what I needed.  I feel better :)   The recipe turned out very well.  The cupcake was a rich red.  I put some Valentine sprinkles on it for fun.

Here is a shot of the red center :)

I had a birthday cake to make for my friend's niece this weekend.  She was turning 13!  She likes the zebra print and loves green so this is what we came up with.  It was yellow cake with buttercream frosting.  I was told to load up on the frosting in the center.  I am sure her and her girlfriends were bouncing off the walls from all the sugar :) 

I hope you all have a great week and thanks for looking!

Cake Pops

I had many treats and goodies to make for the holidays this year.  I made cake pops for a few of them.  Everyone loves cake pops!!

They both were made with yellow cake and vanilla frosting.  The first ones were Christmas Trees.  Paul bought me 14 different kinds of sprinkles for Christmas and it happened to have yellow stars!  Worked out perfectly :)  It was dipped with green candy melts and has sprinkles for the lights.

The second ones were Santa Hats.  I showed my aunt how to make these the week before for her Christmas.  I think they are a cute idea. 

I made them a little bigger than normal, but they were still delicious!

I now have a portfolio with my pics inside!  My little sister Ashley made me a book with my pictures of my cakes for Christmas.  It was very thoughtful of her!  I have a cake due in two weeks for a teenage girl. 
Until then, I hope you all have a great and safe New Years!

Cookie Exchange :)

Every year my family does a cookie exchange.  This year there were 4 of us participating.  We each made three different kinds of cookies and exchanged 1/2 dozen each.  I made Chocolate Crinkles, Peanut Butter Ritz and Red Velvet Cookies.  I also made some snowmen as an added bonus :)  He was made from an Oreo ball and dipped in Almond Bark.  A girl and I were talking at work one day, I still don't know for sure what Almond Bark is, but I use it every year :)  Here is how to make the snowmen:

First you need to crush up a pack of Oreos, I use my Bullet to finely crush

Then mix in a package of softened cream cheese.  It is easiest to hand mix this

You want to put it in the fridge for about 10 minutes.  Then shape into 1 inch balls. After they are all rolled, put back in the fridge for another 10. While they are chilling I started the bases of the snowmen.  I got everything ready to go beforehand.  Makes for easier decorating.  Here is what I used for his accessories

Melt the almond bark.  Take a tablespoon and dump on wax paper.  Spread it around to get your base.  Then add all your extras.  You want to do one at a time, otherwise the bark will set before you get back to it.

I let them set in the fridge for a few minutes.  Then take your balls and dip in the bark and place them on your base.  Put your nose on right away.  Do these one at a time as well.  Otherwise you will have to go back and glue on your noses.  I let them completely set and then drew in the faces with my food writers.  That's it!  Pretty simple, just takes a little bit of time.  When you do the oreo balls, please remember to refrigerate them.  They have cream cheese in them.  Here is the finished product

They are super fun for the holidays! 

Lastly, my girlfriend Katie gave us some treats for dog sitting for her this year.  I thought I would post a pic of them since they are so cute!  Thanks KT!

Stay tuned for Christmas Cake Pops!!!  Till then, Have a great and safe Christmas!