Monday, August 23, 2010

Camping Cupcakes part 2

More fondant fun.... campfire! Smore made from fondant.
Tiny ladybug made by big sister in the grass.
Butterfly
Random camping cupcakes...i see a spider, flashlight, and a lantern.
WORMS in the grass! Unfortunately she loves worms!



Lots of work, but LOTS OF FUN!!!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Camping Cupcakes part 1

Here is how they started out... Bella was cupcaked! Unfortunately it was marshmellow fondant which i find is better for covering cakes, not molding. So this is an age pregression cupcake!
Next we have a tiny watermellon and picnic basket & blanket!
Tent, butterfly, camp fire, and a smore. This theme was really fun to get creative with.
Tent....LOVE IT! Can you see the large marshmellow that is holding it up in the inside?
All the cupcakes!

Close ups of all the rest on the next post.........

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Smores...cupcake style

So princess #2 was turning 4 and why wouldn't she want a camping b-day party theme!?!?! First thing she says she thinks of is smores, and that means i think cupcakes! I made gram flour cupcakes to serve as the crackers...then came the homemade chocolate ganache as the frosting! YUM!!!
This is a Martha Stewart recipe from my favorite book!
Next I made marshmallows!!! How cool is that?!
How perfect and cute is this little guy? I wanna squeeze it...or eat it! ;)

Look how perfect they look on the baking sheet wanting to be browned! But I don't have a kitchen torch....
I tried a lighter...then I tried broil!!! NO!!!
NOT PRETTY!!! This was 5 seconds on broil...luckily I only tried this with half of them! I guess a few smores in the making always fall in the fire or drop on the ground.
The smores were a hit, but I didn't honestly love them. I don't think that I will make these again, but they were super cute and PERFECT for the camping party!!!
BUT...the real cupcakes for the camp out will be on here next!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Reb's B-day

SO...the 4th of July party was at the home of one of my favorite ladies! Reb (for short) and her birthday is shared by my 4 year old which is on the 6th of July. But I wanted to bless her with a few special cupcakes just for her!When i arrived at the 4th of July party I gave these to her and told her to HIDE THEM! Everyone will try to steal them once they learn how good they are. *wink wink*
So she hid them so she could enjoy them at a later time for her special day. I just adore how the pink swirl looks with the cute little flower.

I used the butter cream frosting for her cupcakes knowing she would already have access to the cream cheese ones. Plus how cute is the cupcake papers? SO CUTE!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY REB....I LUV U SISTER!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

4th of July...(wow i have been slacking)

In my defence THE SUN IS OUT IN THE PUGET SOUND...which means you DO NOT sit inside on the computer as much are you may normally do. With that said, here are the cupcakes i made for the 4th of July bash we were invited to! I made some of my world famous (hehehe) chocolate, coffee butter cream filled, cream cheese frosting cupcakes!
I had found these papers months ago from Reynolds so I couldn't wait to use them.
I also found these gummies at the store so it got my cupcake mind going!
I got them all packaged up and ready to go...in WA it is almost better to stay local to watch fire works. No traffic, no paying to park, no wacko's (well depending on the BBQ you attend).

Here are the goodies ready to go...

This was taken by my 11 year old amazing daughter of the fire works that were being fired off by the homeowner! Guess it pays off to live near the Reservation where they sell the fireworks.
I am very thankful for this countries independence!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

My first fondant covered cake

I was going to make cupcakes for my neighbors birthday party at the skate rink. BUT for some reason they don't allow cupcakes only a cake! What kind of CrAzY rule is that? First off who has any sort of rule against cupcakes must be nuts! Second their rational is that they make more mess than cake. I guess I can't wrap my brain around that since you have plates and forks with cake and someone ALWAYS drops their plate!

Oh well...fondant cake here we go..........

My chocolate cupcake mix (2 batches) to make this double layer 9in cake.
Frosting to hold on the fondant topping. YUM!!!

For this I made marshmellow fondant which would be really good with the chocolate cake and crumb layer as the main "frosting". I rolled it out and thought I knew enough of what I was doing as far as the size went.

NOPE....to BIG! See the folds and trimming it on the bottom was not as easy as I thought it would be. AHHHHHH! This is when I started to STRESS.
I already had all the top fondant decorations made to match her invitation. But, I had to go back and make some larger flowers to cover the folds on the side. Cause once you put the fondant down on the frosting layer on the cake...game over! There is no going back to make it smaller.
Over all I am very happy with it since it was my first attempt and TOTALLY out of my cupcake comfort zone!




Not so sure I will make a cake anytime soon! It is to much STRESS for me! I like having a LOT of chances to make them FUN!

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Michael's got new papers!

When i saw the employees in the Wilton baking aisle a month or so back moving stuff and marking older items clearance I KNEW WHAT THAT MEANT!!! After all i did work for that company for 10 years. It meant NEW PRODUCTS! Yea, they have a whole new line of papers and other baking supplies that are not just Wilton.
These items were for a bridal shower. They gave me the slip of paper and i found the rest! I LOVE Michael's!

They also now carry Duff's baking supplies! The black fondant is so yummy and convenient since I CANNOT seem to make any that is not purple! Thanks Duff & Michael's!