Rachel's Birthday Cuppies

These are some of the yummy cuppies we had for the card club in honor of Rachel's birthday. Her favorite cupcake right now is the Dark Chocolate Guiness, so she got one with vanilla buttercream and two with caramel buttercream. Both were filled with fudge frosting. The pink one is strawberry, filled with strawberry cream filling and topped with vanilla buttercream.

More of Card Club

Hi Sweet Readers! Here are a couple more of the cards and the table that I created for our card club Wednesday night.

Card Club Creations and a Happy Birthday Shoutout!

Last night, we had card club here at my house. I went a little crazy designing and recreating the projects and couldn't just stop with three or four. I did 7, plus a couple more in the form of yummy treats :) There are so many great ideas out there to enjoy and play with!

It was also a celebration of my dear friend, Rachel, who is celebrating her birthday TODAY! Happy birthday, Rach! We had some fun eating the goodies (I'll show you them in another post) and enjoying some yummy port (thank you, Peggy!). It was tons of fun and I just love these gals...thanks again for coming everyone!

Cupcake Solitaires

Sometimes just one cupcake is so pretty by itself, isn't it?

These are a sampling of the variety of cuppies that I am bringing to a friend's for a hostess gift. The first is a chocolate cuppie with fudge frosting and buttercream on top (filled with the fudge frosting, too). The second is vanilla filled with fresh strawberry cream and topped with vanilla buttercream. The third is a dark chocolate guinness cuppie filled with fudge frosting and topped with vanilla buttercream and last, but not least is the red velvet chip topped with the fudge and vanilla frostings.

Flower Birthday Cupcakes

Hello Sweet Readers!

As promised, here are the birthday flower cupcakes for sweet Katie. She celebrated her birthday yesterday and I sure hope she enjoyed her cuppies! They were so fun to make - love making the girlie goodies :)

These were strawberry and chocolate cupcakes with a variegated purple and pink vanilla buttercream and white nonpariels. Some of the cuppies also had some fondant flowers and candy hearts for variety.

Katie's Birthday Cake

Here are some pictures of the birthday cake I did for 6 year old Katie today. The bottom picture is before I adorned it :) She is having a pink and purple princess party tomorrow and her sweet mommy ordered this cake with matching flower cupcakes (I will post those next!). I am so pleased with the result and I hope she loves it.

The cake is a really yummy fresh strawberry cake with a fresh and light strawberry whipped cream filling. I topped it all with some lovely vanilla buttercream and fun handmade letters and crown.

Happy Birthday, Katie!

Firefighter Cupcake with Custom Cupcake Box

Hello Sweet Readers!

Just wanted to show you a single cupcake order I made for a friend who is going to a firefighter's retirement dinner tonight. She ordered a single cupcake in a "manly" custom cupcake box with a matching tag. Since he is a firefighter, I did a chocolate fire helmet to top off the Dark Chocolate Guinness cupcake. I also filled the cupcake with fudge frosting and topped it with creamy vanilla buttercream, Vahlrona chocolate dragees and some small silver dragees. I hope he likes it!

Shark Attack! :)

Hi Everyone! Here are the cuppies I made for my son to take to his class for his birthday. They are fun and crazy and a TON of work. Honestly, because they were for him, it was worth it, but really, does anyone need an extra donut or twinkie ON TOP OF A CUPCAKE! :) (Yes, those sharks are really Twinkies and Famous Wafers in disquise!)

They were generally fun to make..there were some mishaps and if I ever do them again, I will make the sharks a bit shorter so they can be more stable, but all in all, he loved them. His class did too.

Hope you like them! Just note, if you want them, THEY WILL COST YOU! :)))

Happy 8th Birthday, D!

Happy Birthday to my D! I can't believe he is 8! Wow.

Here is his birthday cake! He requested a chocolate cupcake cake with blue-green frosting on the top and ganache over the bottom. There is also some decadent chocolate frosting between the layers. I made some little fondant D's for him as well. Hope he likes it! This is a great day to celebrate a wonderful son! We are truly blessed.

Stay tuned for an "attack" of more cupcakes!

(And happy birthday to Rhys, Otto, and Connor if you happen to be near your mommies reading this!)

Single Cuppie and Minis

Just some yummies I made a few weeks back...working on my son's bday cake and cuppies for tomorrow and a big order for Friday and can't wait to share it with you! Have a great week!

Lemon Poppyseed Cookies

Good Morning, Sweet Readers!

I have had tons of lemons around lately. Our sweet neighbors and a babysitter's parents gave us some last week and we have been trying to enjoy them in many ways. I saw this recipe over at the blog Technicolor Kitchen and thought they would be tasty. They are! Very tangy and sweet at the same time. And just the perfect crisp.

I'm also loving my new DSLR. I took this photo with it and am trying to get the hang of it in the time that I have free. So much fun! I just love pushing the button and taking a picture without delay. Glorious!

Coffee Pecan Pound Cake

Hello Sweet Readers!

I hope you have been having a great weekend! I baked much of the day yesterday. It smelled mighty yummy around here. Here is one thing I made - a very moist and delicious coffee pound cake with toasted pecans. I had been given these cute little mini bundt pans and they were perfect for the recipe. I also made a bunch of cupcakes with it. Couldn't resist! Anyhow, the recipe came from the darling cookbook, "Little Cakes", and the whole family agreed it was a winner. And no, the coffee did not keep the kiddos up too late :)

Spouse-ology Cupcake Truffles

So tomorrow night, our marriage group at church is having a game night. We will be playing the game "Spouse-ology" which is loads of fun. I, shockingly, signed up to bring dessert, and went through a few different options until I came to this one. These are dark chocolate cupcake truffles in "Spouse-ology" colors. (funny, as I type this, our UPS guy is delivering the fourth game we needed!)

Though they are small, these beauties pack a punch. They are deliciously decadent!

The little hearts on top are for all the wonderful married couples coming to share a date night together!

Hope you have a sweet weekend! :)

Explorer Cupcakes

Howdy!

The "E" is for Explorers! At my youngest son's school, their mascot is the explorer. Tomorrow, the 5th graders are having a bake sale for their outdoor ed experience. Sooo, I offered to make some cuppies to help them earn some moola! Our colors are two shades of blue, so that is where the blue came from...

The cuppies are vanilla with apple filling and vanilla buttercream. Hope the sell! :)

Have a great Thursday!

Orange Hazelnut Chocolate Cake

Hello Sweet Readers!

I saw the recipe for this wonder in November and have been dying to make it since. I'm sorry to say that I do not have any pictures of the inside of it, though. It was absolutely stunning. So rich and delicious and decadent! It took forever and a day to make, but I have to say, it was worth it.

The cake was a thin, almost flourless cake that I made, then cut in half. It had delicious chocolate and toasted hazelnuts, along with just a hint of orange. I then put a decadent chocolate mousse between the layers of cake and then again on top. From there, I coated this beauty with chocolate ganache, candied orange peel, toasted hazelnuts and chocolate curls. Delish! So delish. I had more than my fair share.

If you are interested in making it yourself, and have half a day to spare, I got the recipe from Epicurious. It was in a 2005 Bon Appetite issue and is called "My favorite Birthday Cake". It's worth it!!

Have a sweet day!

Justice Cupcakes!

Hi Sweet Readers!

Just poppin' in this weekend to show you some fun cupcakes I made for an order. The order was for a judge's swearing in reception and I wanted to treat my client to something fun. I made some special scales of justice and gavels to top these precious mini cuppies. I thought it would be fun and festive for the occasion and I think I might have pulled it off! The cuppies were vanilla, cookies and cream, and red velvet. I topped them with some decadent chocolate buttercream and a yummy vanilla buttercream that tasted like a mix of whipped cream and traditional buttercream. Yum! Some silver dragees, white non pareils and voila!

Have a great rest of you weekend!

Wedding Cupcakes - Q and U

Here are my first wedding cupcakes! They were for the wonderful couple, Q and U. My son's kinder class did the annual wedding ceremony of Q and U today and his teacher asked me to bring in cupcakes. I thought it would be fun to make some candy wedding rings for the top. Of course, they will likely go completely unnoticed by the kindergartners, but it made me happy to make them!

In case you were wondering why the rings are so large, these are mini cuppies, so they are actually normal size.

Have a great weekend!

Just Sprinkles.

Just playing around with sprinkles and a different frosting method...have a great day!

Holiday Cupcakes and My Sweet New Cupcake Stand

Good Morning!

I wanted to share these photos of some gingerbread cupcakes I made over the holidays. Mostly, I wanted to share my new cupcake stand that my sister-in-law gave me for my birthday in December. Isn't it pretty? Funny thing is, I was actually in Crate and Barrel on my birthday helping a friend shop for her new salon digs and I saw this stand. I wanted it very much, but actually resisted it. Good me! Much to my surprise, however, later that day I opened the gift my sister-in-law graciously sent me and voila! It was the stand. Lucky Me!!

White Chocolate Cranberry Biscotti

Good Morning Sweet Readers!

I came across this recipe Sunday while looking for my Mushroom Barley Soup recipe and just had to have them. They are so yummy! The biscotti are not too sweet, though with the white chocolate drizzle, I guess for some they may be. I personally have a very high "sweet tolerance". :) Anyhow, I thought they were delicious. My sweet hubby, however, prefers soft cookies so these aren't his favorite. Can't win them all, I guess. :)

Have a great week!

Happy New Year Cupcake

Happy New Year ! I made these vanilla cupcakes with dark chocolate frosting (yummy!) for an order today. I thought I would make them a bit festive for celebrating New Years by adding some yummy Valhrona crunchy balls and silver dragees. Festive, don't you think?

Here's another question for you. What flavors would you like to see me make this year? I would love to know! Leave a comment and share! Maybe you will see your flavors in living color :) With Valentine's and St. Patrick's day coming up, there is room for some creativity!

Limpa!

Happy New Year, sweet readers! I hope you had a blessed 2008 and are looking forward to a wonderful 2009. I wish you all the best for what this new year has to bring.

I wanted to post this beautiful loaf of Limpa bread. Before I headed to Southern California for Christmas, I met with my dear friend Dana to make this very yummy Swedish rye bread called limpa. This photo is the warm bread taken out of the oven..it was divine! So warm and yummy! We ate most of it right then and there. She invited me over to make the bread and it was such a treat. Her husband is from Sweden and at Christmastime, they make many wonderful Swedish treats. Though she has nine wonderful children who normally help her with this task, she allowed me in and I was able to share in the experience. Normally, I am very bad at making breads that need to rise. For some reason, I just can't get them to rise. She took me step by step through the process and we ended up with some great bread. I took photos of the process and would love to share them with you when I get the time, but I had to show you this - a very yummy loaf.

Thank you, Dana, for teaching me this great technique and for you and your family's warm hospitality! It was a blessing.