Cookie Monster cupcakes

My baby's first birthday :)

This kid loves watching Cookie Monster!!!!

My 9 year old made googley eyes, taped them on balloons

and drew a furry mouth on for our decorations. 

nom nom nom!!!

 Spread a thin layer of blue frosting on a cooled cupcake.

 Using this tip...pipe fur starting at the outer edges of cupcake and fill to the center.

 Add googley eyes.

 Then shove a cookie in his mouth. 

Mine were bigger than I thought (homemade-because my family loves them) so I cut them in half. 

Store bought soft batch Chips Ahoy cookies work great too!

These made for one happy little birthday boy!

Bridal Shower Cupcakes

 Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla, ivory colored frosting, and mauve fondant hearts.

I was asked to make monogrammed cupcakes. I thought about making royal frosting hearts and piping the initials in it and having it look very "christmas cookie-ish". I even thought about making fondant hearts with royal frosting letters for a 3-D effect, but didn't have a lot of time that weekend for piping really good looking letters. So, I found some stamps that I had in my craft supplies. I cleaned them thoroughly!!! I cut out one heart then took a smaller heart and made the indented outline. Then I pressed the stamps (each letter individually) very carefully so they were even into the fondant and let harden. It really did not take very long and they turned out looking so clean and classy. Congrats Daniel & Jane!

Halloween Spider Cupcakes

We had our annual neighborhood/church trunk-or-treating Halloween party tonight. Lots of games were set up for the kids to play including a cake walk. I love cake walks, but get tired of bringing home multiple plates of cupcakes/cakes/brownies/cookies! This year I was determined to make it easier to hand these bad boys out so the kids could get more than one and the parents not overwhelmed with confections.

I bought some clear plastic 8oz cups at the grocery store and some fold over sandwich baggies. I actually cut the folded side of the baggy to open the tops & make it easier to tie (I couldn't find any that weren't gift bags and I was trying to do it on the cheap). 

And, voila! cheap and easy cupcake carrier to please little kids and parents alike :)

The cupcakes were made with a BC devils food cake mix, with homemade vanilla buttercream. I decorated them AFTER I put them in the cups. Nobody wants my finger marks on their frosting!

Super T

 I had been asked by my SIL to make these Marvel Hero cakelets (no longer available from Williams-Sonoma) for her little "T"'s first-birthday-super-hero party. Of course I said yes. She also recently started a new website that my cakes/cupcake were featured on, as well as the rest of the decor and costumes for this cute party. Megan (my SIL) is also a very talented photographer, you can check out her site here.

The cakes and cupcakes are all vanilla with vanilla buttercream and/or royal icing decorations.

 Spiderman

Captain America

Iron Man 

Wolverine

 A few more super hero symbols.

And last, but not least, Super "T"

Toy Story, Woody cupcakes

I was trying to make my little boy an over-the-top Toy Story cake, he wasn't having it!

We saw some cowboy hat cupcakes online and he decided that's what he wanted, nothing else :)

These are vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream. The hats are made of chocolate/butterscotch chip clay. They were delicicous, a little like a tootsie roll but softer.

Baptism Cupcake Dress

Cupcake "Cakes" are so nice because they are easy to serve up and cute!

I made these for a little girls baptism to match her off white dress. 

These were for a different baptism with the theme of "I Like to Look for Rainbows", everything there was colorful and fun!

Sunflower Cupcakes

 

 

These were made for a bridal shower themed "Meant to BEE", how cute is that? The sunflowers were made by cutting fondant (store bought fondant works great for these) with a daisy cutter and textured with a fondant tool for lines.  The shape of the flower was created by placing them on a mini cupcake liner that was slightly flattened. I was able to use my awesome airbrush kit for the orange/red fade on the center of the flowers. You could probably get the same affect using a powder color or luster dust applied with a clean blush brush. The center was a fondant circle that I striped like a grid and then cut out. The bees bodies were made of fondant that I shaped into tear drops and painted stripes with black color paste. I used black and white royal frosting to 1. glue the bee to the flower and 2. pipe on the wings and head. I let them dry completely before placing on cupcake.

Royal Icing:

2 egg whites whipped to soft peaks

then add 2 1/2 c powdered sugar

plus 1 tsp cream of tarter, mix

thin with lemon juice or water 1 tsp at a time to get the consistency needed 

(Use the rule of it holding it's shape for 10 sec before fading)

Chocolate Cake Recipe 

• 2 cups sugar
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup  Cocoa
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Mix dry ingredients together and wet ingredients together minus the water. Then combine wet and dry, then add hot water. Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full. Bake @ 350* for about 20 minutes.

The flour in this recipe can be substituted with a Gluten-free all purpose flour mix.

Chocolate Butter-cream:

1 stick butter melted (1/2 c)

1/2 C cocoa

3 C powdered sugar

3 Tbls corn syrup

1/4 C milk

Mix butter and cocoa. Then add 1cup sugar,1 Tbls syrup, and a little bit of milk and mix well. 

Repeat until all sugar and corn syrup is incorporated adding enough milk to thin to the consistency you want. Whip for 1-2 minutes.

This is very fudgy and delicious!

Peppermint Swirl Cupcakes

These were fun, cute and delicious! These were made with a moist vanilla cake recipe from The Cake Boss' cook book. The frosting was a yummy experiment. I remembered always loving those homemade butter-mints you'd get at weddings or your grandma's, so I tried to make a frosting with the same flavor, mission accomplished! I found a gingerbread man chocolate mold at Baker's C&C and created the peppermint swirl with this technique. I used disposable bags just to make it easier. 

Butter-Mint Frosting:

2 sticks butter softenend

5+ C powdered sugar

1-2 tsp vanilla

1/4 -1/2 tsp peppermint extract

up to 1/4 C milk

Cream butter & flavoring. Add sugar 1 cup at a time, thinning with milk as needed, always adding sugar last! Whip it with your mixer, and whip it good! Lots of air will make the frosting light. Enjoy :)

Old as Dirt

 Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. Decorated in chopped chocolate and gummi worms.

Additional cupcake for the party; vanilla, chocolate and carrot with cream cheese frosting. 

Happy 60th Vern! I hope it was a great day!!

Lori

Lori's wedding cake:

Bottom layer- Chocolate cake with chocolate butter cream filling

Middle layer- Lime cake with coconut filling

Top layer- Lemon cake with cream cheese & blueberry filling

Lori's cupcakes:

chocolate & vanilla cupcakes with vanilla butter cream frosting

and lime cupcakes with coconut butter cream frosting

 All the best Lori!

Amy

For Amy's official cake:

Bottom layer- Vanilla cake with white chocolate & raspberry filling

Middle layer- Red velvet cake with cream cheese filling

Top layer- Chocolate cake with milk chocolate mousse filling

For Amy's Open House:

Red Velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting

Lime cupcakes with coconut frosting garnished with toasted coconut (my new favorite!)

Congrats Amy!

Minnie Mouse Birthday

My girls LOVE Minnie Mouse. This is why this is my second time throwing a Minnie party. I used a jello frosting I found online for these cupcakes. Though it was easy to frost with, it was not my favorite... I think I'll stick to my buttercream frosting next time :) 

The ears are chocolate melts you buy at the store and the bows are fondant. 

1st Birthday Owl

Owls are everywhere! AND they are so cute. I was so excited when asked to make owl cupcakes and a smash cake for a little boys 1st birthday party. 

The owls are fondant decorated with buttercream.

The cake & cupcakes were either chocolate or vanilla with vanilla buttercream.

It's a ...

I made these as a gender reveal for my Bro & SIL. When you bit into the cupcake there was a baby blue filling....It's a boy! So excited for my newest nephew to come! Congrats to you both. 

( I had a picture of the blue filling showing, but I cannot find it anywhere!! grrr)