Rene Takes the Cake

Cherry Blossom Cupcake Tower

2011-07-21T10:28:00.001-04:00

Wow - I haven't been on my blog in a long time! I just realized I never posted this wedding I did back in April! I totally thought I did immediately following the wedding...maybe I just didn't save the post. So here it is again! Feeling inspired as I have an upcoming wedding in August to prepare for!

For this April wedding, held on the weekend of the Cherry Blossom Festival parade, I created a tower of cupcakes - 5 yummy flavors, all adorned with sugar cherry blossoms! The wedding took place at Hotel Monaco and from what I saw, couldn't have been more beautiful!

Caramel Chocolate Stout
a rich chocolate stout cupcake filled with a dollop of chocolate ganache and topped with a caramel stout buttercream

Cherry Blossom
a classic vanilla cupcake with cherries baked in topped with a vanilla mascarpone and cream cheese frosting

Grand Marnier Chocolate
a classic chocolate cake with fresh orange zest, soaked with Grand Marnier, filled with an orange cream and topped with Grand Mariner bittersweet chocolate ganache

Lavender Lemon Drop
a light lemon cupcake topped with a luscious lavender buttercream frosting

Vanilla Fudge
a classic vanilla cupcake topped with a rich chocolate fudge frosting

Retro Cherry Party

2011-04-28T14:21:00.001-04:00

I was over the moon excited when Lindi of Love the Day asked me to make one of my cakes for her latest party idea - A Retro Cherry themed party! As soon as she sent me her inspiration board on Pinterest I was in LOVE!

Lindi has the Guest Dessert Table feature over at Sweet Designs - A Blog by Amy Atlas today so head on over and check it out!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from her photo shoot.

Cupcakes and Cocktails: Girl's Night In

2011-01-26T11:51:00.001-05:00

In addition to working full time and my baking/caking hobby on the side, I am also an Independent Stylist for Stella & Dot. I think I started selling this gorgeous jewelry so I always had an excuse to throw a party! This month we launched the new Spring Line and it is FABULOUS! To show it off, I held my Spring Launch show this past weekend. The party was held in the evening and the overall theme was Cupcakes and Cocktails. The colors of hot pink and turquoise were inspired by Stella & Dot and were carried throughout the decor. I dressed up the ribbon with sparkly jeweled embellishments to tie the dessert table into the jewelry table. I also thought the hot pink tulips made it feel a little bit more like spring!

On the menu I featured Chocolate Espresso Martinis, Chambord and Champagne, and Stellatinis which were made from strawberry lemonade, vodka, and sprite. Each drink was paired with it's cocktail inspired cupcake (yes, they had alcohol in them).

{Tasty Thursdays} Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes

2011-01-06T08:30:00.001-05:00

Last week Oprah had the sisters from DC Cupcakes (AKA Georgetown Cupcake) on her show. Since Georgetown Cupcake is pretty much in my backyard (not really but I could go on regular basis if I wanted to) I was intrigued to see what the Girls had in store for Oprah viewers. You can watch the video clip here if you missed it.

I'm not a huge fan of Georgetown Cupcakes - I think their frosting is way too sweet and their cupcakes are tiny - but hey, who am I to judge when they have people lined up for hours for their sweet treats? I decided the recipe would be fun to try anyway since I had a gathering to attend on New Year's Day.

Instead of making the recipe as they did, I made regular size cupcakes and did away with the whole champagne glass and sparklers thing. I was not at my house and needed an easy dessert to create after making 150 cupcakes for a wedding the night prior (see last blog post).

I'm attaching a picture of the cupcakes as prepared for the Oprah show as mine were not ready for their close up! The recipe called for a bit too much champagne in the frosting since mine looked as if it broke with the last little addition and it ended up being super sweet with all that powdered sugar. The cupcakes were also super tiny - they rose and then fell. Everyone loved them though - or so they said but I think I'll tweak the recipe a bit if I make them again. If you never had a Georgetown Cupcake before, try this recipe because this is exactly what they taste like...

Servings: Serves 12

Ingredients

Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes (36 mini cupcakes, 3 per Champagne flute)

1/2 cup fresh strawberries , diced
1/2 cup good Champagne (sweet rose Champagne suggested)
2 1/2 cups flour , sifted
1/2 tsp. baking powder , sifted
1/4 Tsp. salt
8 Tbsp. (4 ounces) unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs , at room temperature
2 1/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract + seeds from 1 vanilla bean(NOTE: move down to next line...see edits to other recipe)
1 1/4 cups whole milk , at room temperature

Champagne Buttercream Frosting

16 Tbsp. (8 ounces) unsalted butter
4 cups confectioner's sugar , sifted
1 tsp. whole milk
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup good Champagne (sweet rose Champagne suggested)

Strawberry Layer

24 fresh strawberries
1 cup good Champagne (sweet rose Champagne suggested)

Chocolate Ganache

2 cups high-quality semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream

Directions

For Serving:

12 glass Champagne flutes

12 long spoons

12 indoor-safe sparkler candles

Step 1: Baking the Mini Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line 2 mini cupcake pans with 36 mini baking cups or grease pans with butter if not using baking cups.

Dice up 1/2 cup of fresh strawberries and soak in 1/2 cup of Champagne. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

Place the unsalted butter in the bowl of a stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer. Add the sugar; beat on medium speed until well incorporated.

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing slowly after each addition.

Combine the vanilla extract, vanilla bean seeds and milk in a large liquid measuring cup.

Reduce the speed to low. Add one-third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, then gradually add one-third of the milk mixture, beating until well incorporated. Add another one-third of the flour mixture, followed by one-third of the milk mixture. Stop to scrape down the bowl as needed. Add the remaining flour mixture, followed by the remaining milk mixture, and beat just until combined.

Gently fold in the diced Champagne-soaked strawberries, just until incorporated.

Scoop batter into baking cups and bake for 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely. If using paper baking cups, peel off all of the paper baking cups from the cupcakes at this time.

Step 2: Making the Champagne Buttercream Frosting

Place the unsalted butter in the bowl of a stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer. Add the confectioner's sugar; beat on medium speed until well incorporated.

Add the vanilla extract, milk, salt and Champagne, and beat on high speed until light and fluffy. Place frosting in a disposable piping bag with a large round tip.

Step 3: Preparing the Strawberries

Slice 24 strawberries lengthwise and soak in 1 cup of Champagne for approximately 10 to 15 minutes.

Step 4: Making the Chocolate Ganache

Fill a medium saucepan with an inch or 2 of water and place over medium-low heat. Place the chocolate chips and heavy cream in a medium glass bowl over the saucepan and melt the chocolate chips. Stir occasionally until the chips are completely melted. Remove the bowl of melted chocolate from the saucepan. Pour the ganache into a plastic squeeze bottle. (If a squeeze bottle is not available, you can drizzle with a spoon.)

Step 5: Assembling Layers in Champagne Flutes

Line up 12 glass Champagne flutes. Insert 1 mini strawberry Champagne cupcake in the bottom of each glass. Next, pipe a swirl of Champagne buttercream frosting on top of each cupcake. Add several slices of Champagne-soaked strawberries, and a drizzle of chocolate ganache. Repeat layers. Finally, place a third mini strawberry Champagne cupcake at the top of each glass, pipe with a final "Georgetown Cupcake signature swirl" of Champagne buttercream frosting, and top with a final drizzle of chocolate ganache.

Step 6: Serving

Insert 1 indoor-safe sparkler candle in the top of each glass. Light the candles at midnight, serve with spoons, and enjoy!

Amy and Steve's New Years Eve Wedding

2011-01-03T10:54:00.002-05:00

I was so excited when my friend Amy asked me if I would make the cupcakes for her wedding! Of course I said yes and that it would be an honor! The wedding was this past weekend at Romanellos South in Hamburg (just outside of Buffalo) New York. Her wedding colors were deep purple and lime green and she was having about 135 guests.

We decided to go with 150 cupcakes and a traditional cake topper for the bride and groom to cut into. The flavors chosen were Chocolate Candy Cane, a chocolate cupcake topped with a peppermint candy cane buttercream, Chocolate Truffle, a chocolate cupcake filled with a rich chocolate truffle and topped with a white chocolate buttercream, Lemon Snow Ball, a fresh lemon zest cupcake topped with a coconut buttercream and Vanilla Cookies & Cream, a vanilla cupcake filled with cookies & cream topped with a vanilla buttercream. Vanilla Cookies & Cream was also the cake topper.

Individual fondant flowers were placed on each cupcake. For future reference, purple is a very hard color to achieve. For my first batch I used the Wilton gel color violet. I thought I achieved the perfect purple, until they dried and turned royal blue. I tried again with my AmeriColor. These turned out a bit better - not as bright as I wanted them but at least they stayed purple.

Hard to tell but the ribbon and wrappers were a deep purple.

Close up of the cake and fondant flowers.

150 Cupcakes!

Cupcake menu made to match the Candy Bar food labels.

First pic I have taken with one of my creations.

The happy couple!

Cutting the cake!

Amy also had a candy bar for guests. I helped out by making the custom food labels to match the rest of the wedding decor for each of the candy jars. The candy bar was such a huge hit with the guests - who doesn't love candy?

Purple and green candy for guests to take home.

The Gummi Frogs were my favorite!

Lime green and purple food labels and ribbon were added to the candy containers.

Berries and Branches - Holiday Party 2010

2010-12-17T08:11:00.003-05:00

I'm so excited to share my Berries and Branches themed Holiday Party with you! Ever since I saw this theme on Hostess with the Mostess more than 2 years ago I've been wanting to do it - only problem was, I only had silver decorations. This meant some shopping was in order to get ready for the party. Lucky for me Crate and Barrel and Home Goods provided a one stop shop for my decorating needs. Of course a few trips to Michaels craft store and a little online shopping at Save on Crafts filled in the rest.

My go to girl Lindi of Love the Day came through again with an amazing selection of printables. I love adding these touches - especially the water bottles! It's so funny how impressed party guests are when they realize you put your own label on a water bottle.

Also, a big huge thanks to Liz of Liz Hough Photography! After a busy day on multiple shoots, Liz agreed to stop by and take some photos of the party before the festivities began. Thank goodness she did, because my pictures were not so good.

This was our annual wine and cheese open house for friends, family, and neighbors. Usually the theme that drives the menu is wine and cheese, however this year, I needed to incorporate berries (and I guess the peppermint bark could be considered branches?)

On the Dessert Table were Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, Cranberry Coconut Macaroons, Chocolate Goat Cheese Truffles, Peppermint and Cream Cheese Cake Pops, A Candy selection of Strawberry Zaza Chews, Gummie Raspberries, Filled Red Raspberries and Blue Raspberry Rock Candy, and Homemade Peppermint Bark was given as a take home favor.

The Savory Table consisted of Assorted Cheeses and Crackers, Brushetta with Pears Goat Cheese and Honey, Brie en Croute, and Three Cheese Artichoke Dip. And to drink we had Cranberry Sangria and a variety of wines.

{Love the Day} Butterfly Party

2010-11-09T16:34:00.000-05:00

Lindi at Love the Day sent over pictures from her daughter's butterfly party and they are amazing! What a lucky little girl - Lindi really knows how to put together a party! Here are some of my fave pictures and make sure you check out her blog - She's doing "butterfly week" and is featuring a different aspect of the party each day! Today's' feature is my cake!

Cake: Rene Takes The Cake
Ruffle Garland: Hank And Hunt
Lemon Curd Tarts, Blueberries Pies, Cupcakes, Chocolate Mousse, Marshmallows, Dipped Cookies: City Sweets
Fairy Costumes: Halo Heaven
Flower Headbands: The Little Pea
Photography: Jon and Melissa Smith
Printables and Styling: Love The Day

{Friday Feature} Liz Hough Photograghy

2010-11-05T08:29:00.001-04:00

I am so excited for this weeks Friday Feature. Remember a few weekends ago I put together an intimate wedding party in Bethesda Maryland? I included some pictures of my flowers and food for the day - but they are nothing compared to the work of Liz Hough Photography. When she sent over the pics that Nancy took I was ecstatic and I wanted to share them right away! Of course the pictures of the bride, groom and their family were gorgeous as well - but those are not for me to share!

Liz and Nancy, the team from Liz Hough Photography are based out of Middletown, MD and serve the greater Washington DC Metro area - Her Facebook page, however, says she will travel worldwide so you're in luck! If I could do my wedding all over again, I would absolutely love to have this team capture every moment.

Take a look at her webpage, blog, and Facebook page if you don't believe me!

Here a some of the pics that were taken of the flowers and reception spread that I put together for the wedding!

Pink and Purple Butterfly Birthday

2010-10-31T19:28:00.005-04:00

Yay! Little Madelyn, my niece turned one! This weekend we put together the SWEETEST pink and purple, butterfly birthday party! Happy Birthday Madelyn!

Madelyn with her larger than life lollipop!

The theme for the party was chosen by Madelyn's dad back in July when mom took over the planning of their son's 2nd birthday. We've been coming up with ideas since then and just this week ended up putting it all together. Because it was going to be a smaller party, I decided against doing a cake. But what would a dessert table be without a cake centerpiece? So I decided to make a cake out of some of the Styrofoam cake dummies I had. Mom really liked the last butterfly cake I made so that is what inspired this cake. I also made my first Etsy purchase from Sugar Robot - The little edible wafer paper butterflies were the perfect finishing touch on this pink and purple creation!

Madelyn posing with her "cake."

Madelyn again with her "cake."

We thought it would be fun to put together a SWEET table for a very SWEET little girl. Even the paper used for the butterfly garland was made with paper embellished with cupcakes, candy, and chocolate! Making these garlands are so easy with my Silhouette SD! And I even made my own food tents this time! I was so excited to find the perfect matching purple and pink ribbons!

On the SWEET table there were banana split cupcakes (a moist banana cupcake topped with strawberry buttercream, chocolate sauce and a cherry), chocolate dipped rice crispy treats, chocolate covered pretzels, classic rock candy, bubble gum, grape licorice, sixlets, lollipops, and water to wash it all down! Party guests were also given little goodie bags to take home the sweets. Also on the brunch menu were fresh fruit kabobs, quiche, and a mixed greens salad.

The Sweets Table.

Close up of the Sweets Table.

Butterflies and Blossoms "Cake"

Pretty in Pink and Purple.

Yum! The pretzels were so good!

Another Close-up.

Rock Candy is so pretty!

A favorite amongst the young guests.

The banana split cupcakes were a perfect addition.

Custom water bottle labels.

Of course there was pink lemonade!

{Friday Feature} Butterfly Inspiration

2010-10-25T07:57:00.000-04:00

I have less than one week left to help plan my niece's first birthday party. My sister asked her husband to pick the theme for the party and he picked butterflies! We know were' going to do a fun candy table but now I need a great cake to add to the table. I found a couple today that will serve as some inspiration and thought I would share them here as my Friday Feature!

Pink Cake Box

http://www.nickygrant.com/cake-galleries/iced-wedding-cakes

Fall into Fashion with Stella & Dot Launch Party

2010-10-18T10:53:00.006-04:00

This past weekend I hosted my "Fall Into Fashion with Stella & Dot" Launch party! I've been dying to whip up some yummy, fall inspired treats for a while now and this proved to be the perfect occasion!

On the menu were:

Caramel Apple Cupcakes
Pumpkin Ginger Whoopie Pies
Goat Cheese with Pumpkin Butter and Crackers
Chocolate Covered Pretzels (mainly for decoration)
Vanilla Meringues (again mainly for decoration)
Mulled Apple Cider with Apply Brandy (Too bad it was over 70 degrees and no one wanted a hot drink)
Sparkling Apple Cider

I was so excited that I was able to use my Silhouette SD again - I just love this machine and want to REALLY learn how to use it. But in the meantime, it proved very useful in making my leaf garland! I bought this huge book of fall inspired paper from Michaels so there was no need to design anything!

Thanks again to Lindi of Love the Day! She made my food tents and matching signs that were just perfect for the party!

Here are some photos:

Dessert Table

Caramel Apple Cupcake Display

The display of jewelry

Another shot of the jewelry display

"Interested in being a hostess" Sign by Love the Day

Outdoor Welcome Sign (by Love the Day) and Fall display

Thanks to the hubbie for making my outdoor display

{Friday Feature} Swanky Tables

2010-10-08T07:51:00.000-04:00

I had the privilege of meeting Annette of Swanky Tables while at a conference in Portland Oregon this past summer. Swanky Tables is a boutique event design company specializing in chic social events with a modern flair. For over an hour I was able to pick Annette's brain about her business; how she got started, what her specialties were, etc. I was really interested in how she put together those fabulous dessert tables and candy bars since I myself like to make fabulous desserts (well cupcakes anyway =).

After our initial meeting in July we've continued to stay in touch through email and phone. She most recently asked me if I could provide some custom fondant cupcake toppers for an upcoming event she had. She sent me the companies logo and I brainstormed how I was going to make that happen! Originally we were just going to do a lowercase "b" cut out but then the owner of the company wanted their logo. What I ended up doing was cutting the logo out of card stock and rolling it into the fondant. This was a technique I used to make my Elmo face cut outs a few months back. Instead of cutting out the logo (it was rather small) I hand painted each one with gel food color. I think they turned out nice for the first time ever trying this technique! Here are some pics she sent me from the event.

{Tasty Thursdays} Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

2010-10-07T09:01:00.000-04:00

I was so excited yesterday when I received my mail to find a King Arthur catalog! I've just recently started order some baking supplies from here so now I guess I am on the mailing list! Their best product has to be their cake enhancer. I used 2 teaspoons of this in every cake layer I made a couple weeks ago and I really noticed a difference in the texture of the cake - I highly recommend.

Now back to why I was excited - On the front cover of this catalog were these big, beautiful whoopie pies! They looked so delicious and I just need to find some time in my schedule to make them. I eagerly turned to the page that included the recipe - hoping not to find vegetable shortening in the list of ingredients...There is a bit of veggie oil but not too much (I'm kind of a butter freak).

Here's the recipe if you're interested:

Ingredients

Cake
• 1/2 cup soft butter
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 2 tablespoons King Arthur Cake Enhancer, optional
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons Vietnamese cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups (one 15-ounce can) pumpkin
• 2 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Filling
• 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
• 4 tablespoons soft butter
• 2 cups glazing sugar or confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum, optional
• 1/4 cup diced crystallized ginger, optional

Directions
1) To make the cookies: Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease two baking sheets or line with parchment paper.
2) Beat together the butter, oil, sugar, molasses, cake enhancer, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.
3) Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, then beat in the eggs one at a time, until fluffy.
4) Stir in the pumpkin.
5) Add the flour in two additions, mixing well after each addition.
6) Use a muffin scoop to deposit the thick batter onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2" around each mound.
7) Bake until the cookies feel firm; a slight indentation will remain when you gently press them in the middle, about 16 to 18 minutes.
8) Remove from the oven, cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then move to a rack to cool completely.
9) To make the filling: Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth and fluffy.
10) Beat in the sugar in two additions.
11) Add the vanilla and xanthan gum. Beat for 2 to 3 minutes, until very fluffy.
12) Stir in the crystallized ginger.
13) To assemble: Sandwich two cookies around 2 tablespoons of filling. For best storage, wrap each pie in plastic wrap.

Yield: 1 dozen 4" whoopie pies.

{Giveaway} Winner of the Halloween Printables

2010-10-01T12:08:00.002-04:00

Congratulations Cara Lee! You are the winner of the Halloween Printables from Love the Day! Please email me at rene@renetakesthecake.com to find out how to claim your prize! We can't wait to see what you create with these!

{Tasty Thursdays} Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

2010-09-30T09:11:00.000-04:00

A couple weekends ago I had the pleasure of meeting Melissa of Cupcakes OMG! at Cupcake Camp. We were both basically pushed up against the same stairway where the crowd would attack the poor Cupcake Camp Volunteers bringing down the baker's creations. We've kept in contact a bit since through each others blogs and I've asked her to share one of her favorite recipes with me for a Tasty Thursday post. You can also get a ton of her other recipes (including her Cupcake Camp entries, Funfetti Cupcakes and S'mores Cupcakes) and some great, snarky commentary along the way - In her own words, "I am more the Perez Hilton of cupcakes. You either love me or hate me, but either way, I always tell it like it is."

Happy Baking!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes (Magnolia Bakery Chocolate Cupcakes)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To melt the chocolate, place in a double boiler over simmering water on low heat for 5-10 minutes (about; stir occasionally until completely smooth and no pieces remain; remove from heat and let cool 5-15 minutes or until lukewarm.

Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers; set aside. In a bowl, sift the flour and baking soda together; set aside. In a big mixing bowl, cream the butter, using an electric mixer on MEDIUM speed, until smooth. Add the sugars and beat for about 3 minutes or until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beat well after each addition. Add the chocolate, mixing until well incorporated. Add the dry ingredients, in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overmix. Scrape down the batter from the sides of the bowl, using a rubber spatula, to make sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth. Carefully spoon batter into cupcake liners; fill 3/4 full. Bake in a 350° oven for 20-25 minutes or until pick comes out clean.

Cool in tins for 15 minutes. Remove from tins and cool completely on a wire rack.

Peanut Butter Buttercream
2 sticks of butter, room temperature
1 box of confectioner's sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup creamy peanut butter (feel free to add more or less to taste)

Cream the butter with a cup of sugar at a time. Once the sugar is fully incorporated, add vanilla and peanut butter. Top cupcakes with buttercream. If dunking in chocolate, refrigerate for at least 15 minutes (don't rush this--the frosting must be chilled for the chocolate coating to harden).

Homemade Chocolate Shell
1 16 oz. bag of milk chocolate chips
1 Tablespoon of vegetable oil

Melt chocolate chips. Add vegetable oil and stir. Allow to cool for a few minutes before dunking chilled cupcakes.

You can see Melissa's original post here!

{Giveaway} Halloween Printables!

2010-09-27T11:06:00.003-04:00

I am so excited to be pairing up with Lindi of Love the Day again. This time it is for a fabulous giveaway...and just in time for Halloween. She has come up with some amazing Halloween inspired printables which can be all yours! Take a look at how cute these are!

Here's how to enter:

1. First chance: go to Love the Days Etsy shop check it out come back and tell me what your next party will be after you win your free Halloween party. (please leave email address at the end of your comment)

2. Second chance: "Like" Rene Takes the Cake and Love the Day on Facebook and come back here to tell me you did so. (please leave email address at the end of your comment)

3. Third chance: facebook, twitter, or blog about this giveaway. Come back here with your linkback. (please leave email address at the end of your comment)

4. Bonus chance: "Follow" Rene Takes the Cake and come back here and leave a comment telling me you did so. (leave me email address at end of comment)

Please one comment per entry.
Winner will be chosen via random.org.
Giveaway closes on Friday, October 1st at Noon.

Best of luck.

Weekend of Weddings - Part 2

2010-09-26T11:45:00.003-04:00

So onto part 2 of my crazy weekend of weddings. This wedding was completely different than the last - NO CAKE! I've been working on this wedding with my co-worker for months and it was so nice to see it all come together.

She wanted a simple, casual wedding her very lovely Bethesda home. I absolutely loved the monochromatic theme we used throughout with the decor. The only thing I wasn't able to find in ivory was the champagne gift bags - but I did find the cutest polka dot with bow bags at the absolute last minute (literally at 8pm the night before). I am an absolute sucker for polka dots and bows!

For Kari and Matt I went back back to the kitchen and provided them with the following menu for their cocktail reception:

Oven Roasted Shrimp Cocktail
Trio of Bruschetta (Three Cheese Artichoke, White Bean, and Classic Tomato)
Anitpasto Skewers
Maryland Crab Dip
Lemon and Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes
Pomagrante Sangria

I also played florist and provided Kari with her bouquet, centerpieces, and boutonnieres/corsages for all the wedding guests. If you ever need flowers in the metro DC area I highly recommend Potomac Floral Wholesale in Silver Spring, MD. Their selection is great and their prices are fairly reasonable - Great quality flowers. Although, my hydrangeas did not make it through the night and my local Safeway saved the day the next morning!

After the cocktail reception the bride and groom along with their family left in a huge limo bus to take photos at various DC monuments and to have dinner at Marcels! I can't wait to see the photos taken by Nancy from Liz Hough Photography. In the meantime, here are a few of mine!

The appetizers.

Close up of the shrimp cocktail.

Trio of bruschetta and antipasto skewers.

Cupcakes and custom cupcake wrappers using my Silhouette SD paper cutter - FUN!

Cupcake Tower.

Centerpiece of roses and hydrangeas.

Kari and her bouquet of roses and hydrangeas.

The bar which includes the Pomegranate Sangria and the fabulous gift bags I found.

The bar later transformed into the dessert station.

A smaller centerpiece - embellished with ribbon and pearls - a theme carried throughout.

Another shot of the smaller centerpiece.

Weekend of Weddings - Part 1

2010-09-26T11:05:00.001-04:00

I'm not exactly sure what I was thinking when I said yes to 2 weddings in one weekend...except that I um, I like a challenge - Yeah that's it!

First up was a four tiered bridal cake and a grooms cake - destination Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Luckily, I did not have to deliver these cakes - the task was left in the very capable hands of my friends Kim and Calvin who were attending the wedding - Thanks guys!

The bride and groom wanted their cakes to represent the areas where they have lived. For the bridal cake we did a four tiered, Tiffany blue cake to represent NYC with cascading cherry blossom branches to represent DC. Inside the cake was coconut cake (thanks Martha Stewart for a great recipe) with coconut Swiss Meringue buttercream. Because I had to make the cake ahead of time (was picked up on Friday for a Saturday night wedding) I used a new product I found from King Arthur Flour called cake enhancer. This product claims to make a cake stay fresher longer - I think it worked (at least from the all the scraps I was able to sample - very moist!)

This is the biggest cake I have ever made. There was a point when I just wanted to throw in the towel but I couldn't do that! It was for a WEDDING! For some reason I thought it would be ok to place a few of the tiers in the freezer - just for a minute. BAD idea! When I brought them out they immediately built up condensation making the fondant all sticky. There was no coming back from that so I had to tear off all the fondant and start over. Much better but during the process I definitely dinged up the cakes - oops! Once the white ribbon and the cherry blossoms were added it all came together - Thank goodness!

For the groom's cake they wanted to represent Memphis, TN with Elvis's iconic "Taking Care of Business" (TCB) emblem. The cake was red velvet with mascarpone cream cheese filling and caramel Swiss Meringue buttercream.

Hopefully I'll be able to see what the cakes looked like at the wedding!

{Tasty Thursdays} Guest Post: Megpies!

2010-09-23T07:22:00.000-04:00

Hello Everyone! I’m Megan from megpies and I’m so thrilled to be a guest on Rene Takes the Cake!

One year ago, I started a small pie business completely by accident. In fact, this Thanksgiving marks megpies’ 1^st Anniversary! Sharing its Anniversary with Thanksgiving is only fitting since it’s my favorite holiday. The smell of food cooking early in the morning, having people over, getting the linen napkins out…these are the things that make it special. Now that megpies is born, it makes it all the more dear to my heart.

In honor of the Thanksgiving season coming up I would like to share one of my most popular pie recipes – Bourbon-Orange Pecan Pie. It’s not Thanksgiving without pie! In fact, my family is so into pie that traditionally we will eat pie for breakfast on Thanksgiving morning. Our reasoning is that we’d rather not wait until we’re too full of dinner to enjoy the pie! So pie is first on Thanksgiving – it’s our favorite part after all! I hope you enjoy it at your Thanksgiving table this year.

Bourbon-Orange Pecan Pie

Photos by www.halliewestcott.com

1 uncooked pie crust

3 eggs

¾ cup light brown sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

¼ tsp salt

1 tbl – 1 ½ tbl orange zest

2 tbl bourbon

¼ cup melted unsalted butter

2 cups (plus 1 cup for decoration) Pecan halves

Place the uncooked pie crust into a 9” pie pan and gently form into the pan. Crimp the edges as desired. Place the pie shell in the fridge while you prepare the filling.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Wisk the eggs and add the brown sugar and corn syrup. Wisk again to combine.
Add the salt, orange zest and bourbon. Wisk again to combine.
Add the melted butter and wisk until combined.
Pour in 2 cups Pecan halves and toss.
Pour the mixture into the pie crust shell
Arrange the remaining cup of Pecan halves around the outer edge of the pie.
Place the pie on a baking sheet and wrap the edges in foil to prevent the crust from burning.
Bake on the bottom rack of your oven for 40-50 minutes until the top looks dry and starts to rise a bit. Let cool for at least 1 hour before serving.

megpies Tips:

While forming the crust to the pan, be careful not to stretch your dough. Any stretching you do now, will shrink as it bakes.
I use several pieces of tin foil to wrap the edges of the pie while it bakes. There are other methods such as the metal pie baking rings, etc. but I’ve found that good ‘ol tin foil works best. It’s a little harder to get it in place, but don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be perfect. Just make sure the shiny side of the foil is facing the outside.

Thank you all for spending some time with me today. I would love to hear about your Thanksgiving traditions in the comments below! Happy Holidays!

Butterfly and Rose Cake

2010-09-19T07:41:00.001-04:00

In addition to Cupcake Camp DC this weekend, I had a cake to make for my collaboration with Lindi from Love the Day designs. When I dropped the cake off for her party I only got a small snapshot of what the whole thing was going to look like - and oh my was it ever cute. As we were pulling out to get on our way to Cupcake Camp, she walked out with these two tiny little butterfly costumes - and the cutest little girl - must have been the guest of honor =)

A month or so ago Lindi sent me her color palette and some pictures of cakes for inspiration. I really liked this one cake she sent over that had this eyelet kind of lace on it. I immediately went to my fave online cake supply shop (Global Sugar Art) to see what I needed to buy.

The cake was vanilla with orange cream filling (top tier) and strawberry with chocolate ganache filling (bottom tier). I made the the big sugar rose and butterflies from gumpaste a few days ahead of time so they would have time to dry. This was the first time I tried to make the eyelet cut outs...I should have practiced in advance because it didn't come out as nice as I would have liked - the fondant was sooo soft.

Here are a few pics of the cake - I can't wait to see the whole event!

CupcakeCamp DC 2010

2010-09-19T07:27:00.004-04:00

On Saturday I attended the first annual CupcakeCamp DC event. I heard about this event from my friend Cara of Cara Lee Cakes and Cupcakes a few months ago and signed right up - An event all about cupcakes - who could resist that? At the time of signing up my two favorite cupcakes were my newly created Orange Dreamsicle (a vanilla orange cupcake filled with orange cream and topped with orange vanilla Swiss Meringue frosting) and the always popular, kitchen aid winner Chocolate Covered Strawberry (chocolate cupcake with rich ganche filling topped with strawberry Swiss Meringue frosting and a huge chocolate covered strawberry.)

There were so many people at this event - the cupcake fad is certainly not going anywhere that's for sure. My best guess is that they served at least 50 different cupcakes during the 2 and half hours. They were sent down to the crowd in 8 different rounds. After the first few I was done...way too many cupcakes and I felt bad only taking a bit and leaving the rest. I'm really not sure how the four judges did it.

The most exciting news is that I won first place by the judges vote for the Chocolate Covered Strawberry! I'm thinking I would have had a good shot at crowd favorite, but when they brought my box down to share with the crowd there were only 4 left!

Here are some pics from the event that I took - Hopefully there was someone at the event who will publish their pics and I can put a link in this entry. You can check out more pics from the event here!

Chocolate Covered Strawberry

Orange Dreamsicle

Cara and I with our winnings!

The crowd!

Many half eaten cupcakes =(

{Tasty Thursdays} Fall Flavors

2010-09-16T08:06:00.001-04:00

I am absolutely loving the weather in DC right now. In the mornings when I leave for work it is in the 60's - the air is so crisp and refreshing. This morning I even noticed a few trees turning colors which means my favorite season of the year is almost here - FALL!

One of my favorite recipes I go to when Fall arrives are these fabulous Harvest Muffins by the Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten. I discovered this recipe about 5 years ago and have been making them ever since. They take a bit of prep time but are well worth it in the end. At first I had a hard time finding Calimyrna figs - I find them in the dried fruit section at Trader Joes and Whole Foods - I've never tried fresh figs in this recipe, only the dried version.

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/4 cups whole milk
2 extra-large eggs
1/2 pound unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped fresh cranberries
1/2 cup medium-diced Calimyrna figs
3/4 cup coarsely chopped hazelnuts, toasted and skinned
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup granulated sugar

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the mixture and add the milk, eggs, and melted butter. Stir quickly just to combine. Add the cranberries, figs, hazelnuts, and both sugars and stir just to distribute the fruits, nuts, and sugar evenly throughout the batter.

Spoon the batter into the paper liners, filling each one to the top. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until browned on the top and a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean.

Coming next week: My first guest post!

First Birthday: Retro Robot Cake Topper

2010-09-11T20:45:00.001-04:00

A couple weeks ago I was asked if I would be able to help with a cake topper for a first birthday. Mom planned an entire Retro Robot themed party and had a specific cake in mind to top her cupcake tower. She sent me over a pic of what she was thinking and this morning at 5am I got to work!

The cake was vanilla and I used my "tooth ache" buttercream frosting so I could achieve a brighter color (Swiss Meringue does not like to take on vivid colors). Each piece of the robot was cut out of fondant which took the longest. I had some left over fondant from the colors I mixed so I included a few fondant cupcake toppers. I can't wait to see how it all came together!

{Friday Feature} The Power of Collaboration

2010-09-10T08:50:00.001-04:00

I thought it would be fitting to make the topic of my Friday Feature about collaboration since in just a couple weeks I will be collaborating on an event with the very creative Lindi of Love the Day Designs!

For some time now, I have been following 2 FABULOUS blogs from 2 very CREATIVE women. Kim from the TomKat Studio has a huge line of themed party printables and Glory of Glorious Treats is a phenomenal baker and party blogger - All things I just happen to be in love with.

The two women recently joined forces to create this amazing Halloween spread. With Halloween just around the corner this post from the TomKat Studio offers great inspiration to all us party planners! Here are just a few colorful highlights!

{Tasty Thursdays} The Perfect Vanilla Frosting

2010-09-09T18:35:00.001-04:00

I am on a personal mission to get everyone who makes cupcakes/cake from scratch to stop using powdered sugar! (Well OK, I'll let the cream cheese frosting slide since it is so yummy).With just a little extra effort you can whip up the most delicious, smooth, and creamy buttercream frosting ever. Here is my favorite Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe - Don't be nervous to try it out!

Ingredients
Makes enough for 36-48 cupcakes (depending on how much frosting you like)
6 egg whites (room temperature)
1 and 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 and 1/2 pounds room temperature butter (cut into one inch pieces)
1 T plus 1 1/2 tsp of pure vanilla extract or vanilla paste

Method
In your (kitchen aid) bowl whisk together the egg whites and sugar.
Place your bowl over simmering water and continue to whisk making sure the egg white mixture does not harden on the sides of the bowl.
Insert a candy thermometer and continue whisking making sure the temperature of your mixture reaches 140 degrees F.
After the mixture reaches 140 degrees, move the bowl to your stand mixer with the whisk attachment.
Whip hot mixture on high until cool. Egg white should start to look lighter in color.
Add your butter in small pieces on low to medium speed. Once all the butter is added, bring the mixture back up to a high speed.
Turn off mixer and add your flavoring. Continue to whisk until incorporated.

Swiss Meringue frosting is shelf stable for up to 2 days. You can make it ahead of time and refrigerate for up to a week, or freeze up to a month. Just bring it back to room temperature and beat again with whisk attachment.

This frosting is extremely versatile. You can add any extracts, melted chocolate, liquor, juices, or fresh fruit. If I am making a fresh fruit frosting, I wait until the day I want to use it to add my fruit.

The only down side - if this really is a down side, is that Swiss Meringue does not take on color very well. I like to keep my frosting white and add colorful decorations. (Who wants frosting that tastes like gel color anyway?)

Try this recipe out and let me know how it goes!

{Friday Feature} The Fabulous Stylings of Bobbette & Belle

2010-09-03T10:31:00.001-04:00

When I was perusing my favorite blogs earlier this week, I came across this fabulous post on Sweet Designs, a Blog by Amy Atlas. Pretty much anything on her blog is amazing but there was something about the photos of these cakes and dessert table - I just had to make it my first "Friday Feature". Check out these beautiful cakes and desserts.

These gorgeous creations are the work of Bobbette & Belle out of Canada. I just love the sophisticated, simple design of each cake - especially the one on the right with the huge flower on it. And the cake with the ribbon flowers is to die for. I will absolutely be adding Bobbette & Belle to my list of favorite sites for inspiration - Their work is absolutely fabulous! See Amy Atlas's full post here.

{Tasty Thursdays} Vanilla Versus Vanilla

2010-09-02T08:31:00.005-04:00

To me there is nothing better than the pure and simple taste of a vanilla (cup) cake with vanilla frosting. This is why I have been on the hunt for the "perfect" vanilla recipe for my cupcakes.

A few of the usual go to recipes I have found on the web and that I tried have been:

Warren Brown, Cake Love: How to Bake Cakes from Scratch
Martha Stewart's Cupcakes: 175 Inspired Ideas for Everyone's Favorite Treat
Amy Sedaris' Vanilla Cupcakes

But I always come back to my first ever vanilla cupcake recipe that I tried - that being Billy's Vanilla, Vanilla Cupcake from the Martha Stewart web page. These cupcakes from Billy Reece are so delicious! They have the perfect texture and they are one of the easiest cupcake recipes I have in my repertoire. This recipe also takes on other flavors very well! Substitute any extract for the vanilla. Add lemon, lime, or orange zest for a citrus taste. How about cinnamon and honey? The possibilities are endless.

When I do make just plain old vanilla cupcakes, I amp up the vanilla in this recipe. I use 1 tablespoon of vanilla paste instead of the teaspoon of extract he suggests.

Ingredients

Makes about 30 cupcakes.

1 3/4 cups cake flour, not self-rising
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add butter, mixing until just coated with flour.
In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together eggs, milk, and vanilla. With mixer on medium speed, add wet ingredients in 3 parts, scraping down sides of bowl before each addition; beat until ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat.
Divide batter evenly among liners, filling about 2/3 full. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 17 to 20 minutes.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat process with remaining batter. Once cupcakes have cooled, use a small offset spatula to frost tops of each cupcake. Decorate with sprinkles, if desired. Serve at room temperature.

Hope you try this recipe if you haven't already and let me know what you think!

Do you have a favorite vanilla recipe you'd like to share? If so, please submit it to guestpost@renetakesthecake.com with "Tasty Thursday" as your subject text. Please remember to give proper credit if the recipe is taken from another source.

Time for a Facelift!

2010-08-30T19:48:00.000-04:00

Rene Takes the Cake is undergoing a face lift! I want to thank Lindi of Love the Day designs for my new logo. You should definately check out her page and her Etsy shop! I just love her party ideas and printables.

Thanks to the powers of social networking, Lindi and I discovered we only live 40 minutes apart and we will be collaborating on a party in September! I am really looking forward to providing her with a Rene Takes the Cake original cake!

Other changes to come! Hopefully you're enjoying the new blog design and set-up!

30th Birthday Redskins Jersey

2010-08-29T13:01:00.000-04:00

This weekend my brother-in-law celebrated his 30th birthday. Since he is a die hard Redskins fan I thought the perfect cake for him would be a jersey with his name on it!

For some reason, this week has been crazy with cupcake baking. By the end of the week I completely lacked enthusiasm about baking one more thing - But I dug deep and pulled this together. This is the first jersey cake I have ever done and I wasn't sure how much actual cake I would need. I baked one sheet cake and instead of making a one layer cake I decided to cut the sheet in half and make a double layer cake. This resulted in a shorter looking jersey than I had hoped but I think for my first attempt it came out all right.

The cake was Guinness Chocolate and filled with a layer of rich ganache. Underneath the layer of fondant was a caramel Swiss Meringue buttercream.

‎{FREE PRINTABLE} Swanky Carnival Party Cards

2010-08-25T08:22:00.000-04:00

Add a swanky touch to your next carnival themed party! These cards will make great colorful additions to your next dessert table or snack buffet. Download Here!

Triple "J" Birthday Party!

2010-08-22T20:33:00.000-04:00

I was asked to make cupcakes for the birthday celebration of three August birthdays today! I chose to do my favorite classic red velvet cupcake with vanilla mascarpone cream cheese frosting, a mocha cupcake with vanilla mascarpone cream cheese frosting, and a new flavor - Banana Split! My goal was to find a banana cupcake recipe that wouldn't taste like a muffin. The recipe I found was pretty good - light, fluffy and super moist. I topped the banana cupcake with fresh strawberry Swiss meringue frosting, chocolate syrup and a cherry. Yummy!

My 100th Blog Post!

2010-08-19T08:38:00.001-04:00

Instead of waiting for my next cupcake creation, I've decided to use my 100th blog post to reflect on how all this cupcaking madness began and to look ahead to where I see myself going in the future. There's no telling how long and drawn out this blog entry is going to get - but thanks in advance for sticking with me!

People are always asking me where I learned how to bake, decorate, create...etc. I guess it all began with my first job at a country club. I started working when I was 14 - I was the best corn husker they had during the summers. That summer job turned into my place of employment for 7 years! How's that for dedication? During my time there I learned so many different things about food but for some reason it was never my life's passion to go into the food business after graduating from high school.

I have always been rather "crafty". During my early years of college I made extra money selling my handmade hemp necklaces to hippie stores and on the road at Phish shows. It was pretty funny to witness my boyfriend at that time (now my husband) along side of me learning how to macrame and bead! We used to make these crazy little Fimo (clay that you bake in the oven) creations as well as those cute little hippie shirts together.

In addition to being crafty I have have always loved planning events. My jobs out of college have always revolved around planing something - I love the logistics, check lists, and ability to be creative when it comes to themes and event decor. Since my professional life revolved around higher ed events I longed to do more in my personal life with social events. My own wedding in 2005 was the first large scale event I planned outside of my everyday job - Mark and I were such DIYers at that time mainly for 2 reasons. One, we were on a tight budget, but two, we both loved having our hand made touches at the event. Since then, I've tried to do more and more with helping friends and family members with their special days.

We'll fast forward to 2008. At this time people were telling me I needed to create a portfolio of what I have been doing. I had pictures but nothing really official - it was just for friends and family. I posted a few pictures on Facebook here and there but was never really into the social media frenzy. I decided one day in February (when work was a bit slow) to start a blog - I didn't really know what that meant exactly but it was a place I could upload my pics and write about them. This seemed like a great place to showcase my little creations and share them with people. I spent so much time trying to come up with a catchy name...Finally, I decided on Rene Takes the Cake (which has since stuck!). I used most of February to upload pictures of my past creations from the year - I was lucky that I had a sister who was getting married to someone she met in DC - therefore we had 2 bridal showers, 2 wedding receptions, and once she had children, 2 baby showers!

I really enjoyed planning all these events and getting back into the kitchen. At this time, cake decorating was all over the television - not like it is now but there was enough exposure. I signed up for the cake decorating classes at my local Michaels craft store. If you go way back in my blog you'll see my first creations - they're pretty funny. But never-the-less I really enjoyed what I was doing and according to my instructor I was really good at it (she had once asked if I was a Wilton spy =). For these cakes I used box cake mixes and that disgusting Crisco buttercream you have to make for class...but when I shared my cakes with people (purely so I didn't have to waste them), they still enjoyed them.

After I took all four courses I was hooked! Not only did I love decorating I wanted to learn how to bake using only the best ingredients! And this is what I set out to do. I brought test recipes to work all the time - "A cupcake for your honest feedback" was a sign that would accompany my creations when looking for the best vanilla recipe! I'm thinking that the wonderful and encouraging feedback is where all of this turned out of control for me - but in a good way!

Now a days I am making lots of cupcakes and cakes for my family, friends, and co-workers. I'm taking classes with some of the best people in the biz (including the fabulous Courtney Clark from the Food Network Challenges). The response is so great that I have considered on multiple occasions to turn it into a side business. But in the metro DC area there are multiple road blocks in place for me to do so. The biggest of them being working out of a licensed commercial kitchen which cannot be my home. Since I do not want to make cupcakes my full time job (right now anyway), it will not work financially to do it on the side. So what's next?

I've given some thought to starting an event styling business - one that focused on making beautiful dessert tables! I could then outsource my sweets and focus on the decor - making those fondant decorations really is my favorite part. There is also the idea of an Etsy shop brewing. I am also going to "amp" up my blogging presence in the coming months. How do "Tasty Thursdays" and a "Friday Featured Parties" sound? Then in a couple months or so I could possible add "Style Saturdays" (I'm thinking about becoming a Stella & Dot stylist).

I am at a loss on how to end this post...I guess that is a good thing because I do not see an end in sight! I hope that each and every day I continue to grow in my creativity and passion and that I continue to meet fabulous people along the way. Who knows what is next...

One thing I do know is that you'll be able to find out if you stay tuned to my blog =)

Thanks for reading - and I apologize for the horrible grammar and spelling mishaps along the way!

Bridal Shower (With a Green Wedding in Mind)

2010-08-15T09:46:00.002-04:00

I was so excited when my husbands, cousins, wife asked me to come up with a cupcake creation for her sister's (are you following this family chain?) bridal shower. They plan to have a beautiful and sustainable wedding in the fall so she wanted to the cupcakes to reflect this as well for the bridal shower. In my mind I thought, fresh, earthy, and nature - I came up with the following:

Lavender Lemon Drop Cupcakes - I wanted this cupcake to be fresh and earthy...to have a just a hint of citrus flavor...so I added fresh lemon zest and a little bit of lemon juice to my favorite vanilla recipe. I was excited to use my lavender sugar that has been sitting for the past month to do a Swiss meringue frosting rather than the powdered sugar version. Turns out the sugar wasn't enough to pack a lavender punch...so I made a simple syrup and added that. I also added a bit of honey for sweetness. The result...a nice, not so overpowering lavender frosting. Each was topped with a fondant leaf design disc - If you looked closely, the brown disc was stamped with a tree bark stamp. I had a few gumpaste dogwood blossoms left over and thought they would add a nice tough to the display!

Chocolate Green Tea Cupcakes - Nothing tasted more "earthy" to me than the matcha green tea powder I bought a few weeks ago. I thought doing this as a frosting would accompany a rich chocolate cupcake well. Plus the colors of green and brown went perfectly with the overall theme. In the future, I think I might try to make this into a Swiss meringue frosting - after you have the real thing, the powdered sugar version just doesn't cut it anymore - but they were still good! Again, each was topped with a fondant leaf design disc and/or a gumpaste dogwood blossom. (The green tea are on the right).

Christening Cupcakes for a Little Girl

2010-08-15T09:29:00.002-04:00

Oh the power of Facebook...someone I have not seen in over 12 years from high school contacted me to make the cupcakes for her daughters Christening this weekend! She is currently living 45 minutes away from me (we both headed south after graduation) and made the drive to pink up these pretty in pink creations for her party this weekend! It was nice to see you again Michelle - I hope everyone enjoys!

Chocolate Covered Strawberry - These were rich chocolate cupcakes filled with a bittersweet chocolate truffle and topped with a fresh strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream. Most were adorned with a chocolate dipped strawberry and a cute little butterfly and the others had a pink cross with her little girls initial.

Cherry Blossom - These were vanilla bean cupcakes with fresh cherries and topped with a silky vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream frosting. These were adorned with little pink crosses, cherry blossoms, and pink crosses with her daughters initial.

Cupcake Camp DC

2010-08-10T19:22:00.001-04:00

I just noticed that I am in the Baker Spotlight today for Cupcake Camp DC! I'm looking forward to participating in this event next month! Many thanks to Cara of Cara Lee Cupcakes and Cake for letting me know that a space opened up as a baker for the event.

Office Birthday and Department Bake-Off Cupcakes

2010-08-05T19:35:00.001-04:00

Last night I made two separate batches of cupcakes. One was for a coworkers birthday celebration and the other was for a fellow book club member's office bake off. Both we my Lemon Surprise cupcake - Vanilla cupcake filled with fresh lemon curd and topped with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream. I just purchased Madagascar Bourbon vanilla paste - it's a little stronger than vanilla extract and you get those nice flecks of vanilla in your frosting. I liked the amped up vanilla flavor!

Recipes for a Cure

2010-07-14T13:59:00.005-04:00

UPDATED NEWS -

Well my cupcake recipe did not win the Hello Cupcake contest but to my surprise, they posted the pics of all the entries on the Kitchen Aid page for a community vote. I had to wait an entire weekend to see if something of mine posted on Facebook could finally pull in enough votes - Official word came in on Monday morning that I won! (I never win anything...ha ha). For this win I get a pink hand mixer - not sure when I'll actually use it...but it will be a nice addition to my growing Kitchen Aid collection!

Recipes for a Cure? Wouldn’t it be sweet if my cupcake could aid in the cure for cancer? Well it
can during the Hello Cupcake for a Cure KitchenAid Promotion. I submitted
a cupcake recipe of my favorite pink-frosted cupcake - the Chocolate Covered Strawberry! The winning cupcake recipe will be re-created and sold on July 17th during the Hello Cupcake for a Cure KitchenAid Promotion. A portion of the sales will go to Susan G. Komen for Breast Cancer research.

If you have a Facebook account please log on now and vote by going to the Hello Cupcake DC Fan page. You have to "Like" Hello Cupcake DC first then you can vote for my cupcake! I'm contestant number three!

Surprise Baby Shower (s)

2010-07-11T14:06:00.003-04:00

This weekend I was asked to make cupcakes for two "Surprise" baby showers - Surprise meaning neither know what the sex of the baby will be and one is getting a surprise shower! I've been craving some summer flavors and since I wasn't told I had to make a specific flavor, here is what I came up with.

Orange Dreamsicle - For this cupcake I used my vanilla cake recipe and added a couple packets of crystallized orange that I found at Whole Foods (while I was looking for orange extract). This stuff is really good! I then made a fresh orange curd and mixed that with some whipped cream - making a sweet and creamy orange cream filling. I topped the cupcake with my Swiss Meringue Buttercream - again I added a bit of crystallized orange as well as some vanilla and orange oil.
Lavender Lemon Drop - For this cupcake I used my favorite lemon cupcake recipe (Martha Stewart's Meyer Lemon recipe) and topped it with a Lavender Buttercream frosting. I normally wouldn't use a powdered sugar frosting now that I have found Swiss Meringue but to make the Lavender flavor, I had to steep the buds in some milk. I plan on making some lavender sugar soon - which I hear takes a month or so to really develop it's flavor.

Carnival Elmo Birthday Party

2010-07-06T09:36:00.015-04:00

This past weekend I had so much fun planning my nephew's second birthday party with my sister. We decided a while back that Elmo was the obvious theme to go with since he loves sesame street - but to make it even more interesting, we decided to make it a carnival theme! The color scheme went well with it being 4th of July weekend too! Because there was so much going on - this will be a bit longer of a post - with lots of photos!

First - Colin absolutely loved his Elmo cake. He just stared at the big fondant Elmo cut out on the side of the cake for a long while before blowing out his candles. With the cake, I tried to pull in decorative elements from the dessert table rather than go all cute and sesame street with it...a bit more swanky and sophisticated right?

For the longest time I have been wanting an occasion to do a "dessert bar". I absolutely love the work of Amy Atlas and I look to her blog (and many others including Swanky Tables) for inspiration all the time! Colin's dessert bar consisted of his cake which was chocolate cake with Oreo creme filling, vanilla cupcakes, red velvet cake pops (from Bakerella), cotton candy (freshly made from the cotton candy machine in the backyard) and some fresh popped popcorn. On the other side of the room, my sister created a hot dog, nacho, and hot pretzel bar to round out the carnival theme! I also had a lot of fun creating Colin's Happy Birthday pennant banner!

Yum - The Nacho Bar was a big hit - tons of toppings!

The outside setup which include a snow cone and cotton candy machine, fresh squeezed lemonade and fresh brewed iced tea.

Colin's best friend enjoying the frosting on a cupcake - I made sure to add extra frosting to the cupcakes for this very reason!
Colin loved his cotton candy machine!
I was excited to see Cracker Jacks! What happened to the cute box they used to come in?

Coffee and Tea Cupcakes

2010-06-28T13:59:00.004-04:00

Again I was given the liberty to provide whatever flavor cupcakes I wanted to do for a ladies only, mid afternoon gathering. I recently bought some green tea powder at the international market and thought it would be fun to do a green tea cupcake - which led me to thinking I'd pair it with some kind of coffee flavored cupcake.

I wasn't set on what my frosting would be for the green tea cupcake until I went to the refrigerator and took out the gallon of my favorite ice tea - Turkey Hill Green Tea with Honey and Ginseng. This is what inspired my Honey and Ginger cream cheese frosting (where in the world would I get ginseng? ha ha).

The coffee inspired cupcake was a chocolate cupcake, made with coffee and espresso powder, topped with an espresso Swiss Meringue Buttercream - which BTW, was absolutely to die for - I couldn't stop eating the frosting. I topped these cupcakes with a fondant blossom and in the center placed a chocolate covered espresso bean.

Cherry Blossom Cake

2010-06-28T13:38:00.004-04:00

This past weekend I went for a one on one cake lesson with Dusty for DoCakes (the same person who taught the Topsy Turvy class from a few months ago.) I wanted to practice covering square cakes with fondant as well as learn a new way to make cherry blossom branches.

The class was great as I learned quite a few new tricks with fondant. I also learned that when they say a fondant is transparent, it really is - you can see the cake right through it!

Each cherry blossom is individually wired which makes it very easy to position them accordingly on the cake.

The cake got a little "smashed" up in transport. But practice makes perfect and every cake from now until September will be square!

Housewarming Cupcakes

2010-06-18T21:15:00.004-04:00

I love when some asks me to make them cupcakes and says - do what ever you feel like doing! This is all too rare - normally I get, "chocolate and vanilla, please." (Not that there is anything wrong with that, I think I may have found my favorite chocolate recipe). For the decorations, I ws inspired by a recent blog post I saw of a red and turquoise dessert table.

I thought this would be a good time to try two new recipes and provide a tried and true favorite. I've been wanting to do a Dulce de Leche cupcake ever since I had one at Hello Cupcake, DC a few weeks ago. My first batch, a new found recipe did not come out so great...the cake was very dense and lacked any real flavor - so those went into the freezer for a future cake bites. I baked another batch using my vanilla cake recipe but substituting caramel syrup for the vanilla. I then made a Swiss Meringue Butter cream and added Dulce de Leche syrup. These came out moist and delicious - much better!

My second new attempt was a Mango Mojito. I saw this flavor on a Cake Nouveau newsletter and they sounded so good - Vanilla cupcake with fresh mango, filled with lime curd and topped with a mango mint buttercream and a sugared mint leaf. Only problem was, no recipe. For the first time concocting these, they came out pretty good. Next time I will know not to put so much mango in the cupcake - they may have needed another minute of 2 to bake.

I included my red velvet with vanilla cream cheese frosting as the third selection - these are always a crowd fave.

Graduation Cupcakes

2010-06-14T20:12:00.005-04:00

What would the month of June be without Graduation Caps and Diplomas? I'm getting pretty good and quick at making these fondant caps (practice makes perfect)! I was also happy that my most recent order was for red-I was able to switch it up a bit - I was a bit nervous however. I normally buy anything that needs to be red in color...I usually find it hard to get a true, nice red color. This FondX fondant really took the color on nicely though.

Vanilla and chocolate cupcakes with vanilla and chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream frosting.

Chocolate cupcakes with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream frosting.

A Weekend of Cupcaking

2010-06-06T12:46:00.005-04:00

I had a busy weekend of cupcaking. My first task was to complete an entry for the Hello Cupcake DC cupcake decorating contest co sponsored by Kitchen Aid. We had to design a cupcake inspired by DC or a DC neighborhood.

I chose to do my Cherry Blossom cupcake (vanilla cupcake with fresh chopped cherries inside and topped with vanilla cream cheese frosting). On top of the cupcake I placed a fondant elephant (who could also be representing a political party - not mine of choice - but hey it works...) with a rainbow of blossoms. The rainbow of blossoms also had two meanings - first they represented all the DC Metro lines and second, they represent Gay Pride - I guess there is a bit of political satire there? The red band behind the word zoo represented the Red Line - which is the metro line you take to get to the zoo and my favorite metro line because I ride it everyday!

My second project was to create a batch of cupcakes for the arrival a new baby boy to the family! My husbands cousin and wife welcomed their new baby boy, Dustin to the family just a short time ago and we were going to head out and visit them after dropping off my cupcake for the competition in Dupont circle. These too were the Cherry Blossom cupcakes.

My last project of the weekend were for a coworker heading out to a high school graduation party. Her school colors were red, white, and black. To accompany the red, white, and black customized fondant decorations, I chose to make red velvet cupcakes with vanilla cream cheese frosting, and chocolate cupcakes with a hint of caramel Swiss meringue buttercream.

Birthday Celebration Cupcakes

2010-05-27T19:44:00.003-04:00

I made these fun cupcakes for a co-workers birthday today. They were mocha flavored cupcakes with vanilla cream cheese frosting. I just learned how to do the ribbon rose - I love the whimsical look. Luckily her name was four letters so it fit perfect in the cupcake carrier!

Rehearsal Dinner Cake Bites

2010-05-20T11:45:00.002-04:00

A friend of mine is getting married this weekend in the Boston area. Since traveling with my cupcakes would be a little difficult, we decided that these cake bites would be a perfect addition to her Rehearsal Dinner. Guests will be able to take a box of each flavor as a gift upon leaving for the night.

The flavors were pink velvet cake with cream cheese frosting dipped in white chocolate and Chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting dipped in bittersweet chocolate. Each were drizzled with more chocolate and topped with fondant blossoms and dragees.

Graduation Cake

2010-05-18T19:33:00.004-04:00

For my husband's graduation day I created this three tiered cake in his school colors of blue and white and added a bit of silver for some pizazz.

The bottom layer was made especially for him - Guinness chocolate cake with Guinness and caramel buttercream and bittersweet chocolate ganache.

The next two layers were coordinated with a wedding tasting I was also doing that weekend -
The middle layer was vanilla cake with cookies and cream filling.

The top layer, the cap, was coconut cake with coconut buttercream frosting.

Sculpted Purse Cake

2010-05-09T20:40:00.004-04:00

During the Great American Cake Show, I participated in a Sculpted Purse class. The class was going fine until the second hour when I just completely wore out. Prior to this 3 hour class I was in another 3 hour class - which turned out to be too much! It was so hot and I was starving.

I actually can't believe that I am posting pics of this cake - Anyone who knows me will say, "Gold what's up with that?" That's how much I wanted to finish and get out of there - I spray painted my purse gold! Sorry Louis - it was supposed to be an homage to you and your great Speedy design!

Happy Birthday - Spring is in the Air - Cupcakes

2010-05-02T07:18:00.006-04:00

This weekend I was asked to make some cupcakes for a friends wife. I was told that vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting were a must - so we decided in addition to those flavors we would also do chocolate cupcakes and raspberry buttercream. To customize the cupcakes, I used springtime cherry blossoms and baseballs - she is a huge Chicago Cubs fan.

Below are:

Chocolate Cupcakes with chocolate and raspberry Swiss meringue Buttercream topped with 2 sizes of spring time cherry blossoms.
Vanilla cupcakes chocolate and raspberry Swiss meringue buttercream topped with fondant baseballs and a couple Chicago Cubs emblems.

Retirement Party Cupcakes

2010-04-27T21:42:00.003-04:00

I was asked to make the cupcakes for a retirement party here in Kogod. The only direction I was given was there must be chocolate.

I was excited that my new cupcake tower arrived just in time for the event. Anyone in the market for a nice tower should check this one out.

The cupcakes are as follows:

Peanut Buttercup - Chocolate cupcake with peanut butter cream cheese frosting topped with a Reese's Peanut Buttercup.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry - Chocolate cupcake with fresh strawberry buttercream frosting filled with a bittersweet ganache and topped with a chocolate dipped strawberry.

Lemon Surprise - Vanilla cupcake with lemon zest cream cheese frosting filled with homemade lemon curd and topped with a personalized fondant stamp.

Strawberries and Cream - Vanilla and fresh strawberry cupcake topped with vanilla buttercream and a fondant blossom.

Triple Ginger and Lemon Mini - Triple ginger (freshly grated, powder, and candied) mini cupcake with lemon zest cream cheese frosting.

Happy 13th Birthday!

2010-04-17T07:28:00.006-04:00

My coworkers daughter will be celebrating her 13th birthday this weekend. She likes bright colors so I tried to make these three cupcakes as bright as possible - I realized while trying to do so that this buttercream recipe does not take on color well and ended up with some pastel colors. But I think the flowers came out bright enough to satisfy.

The cupcakes are as follows:

Very Vanilla - Traditional Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream topped with a large pink Gerber Daisy.
Hot Pink Velvet - Traditional Red Velvet Cupcake colored pink with Vanilla Buttercream topped with a small Gerber Daisy.
Cherry Lemonade - Vanilla Cupcake with chopped cherries and fresh lemon zest with lemon cream cheese frosting and topped with a fondant blossom stamped with the birthday girls first initial "X".

Birthday Cupcakes

2010-04-09T20:44:00.003-04:00

Very Vanilla Cupcake with Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting topped with a pink fondant blossom.

Chocolate Cupcake with Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting topped with a yellow fondant blossom.

Chocolate Cupcake with Semi-Sweet Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting topped with a pink fondant blossom.

Very Vanilla Cupcake with Lemon Zest Mascarpone Cream Cheese Frosting frosting topped with a yellow fondant blossom.

Strawberry Vanilla Cupcakes

2010-04-09T20:40:00.004-04:00

Vanilla cupcake with fresh strawberry buttercream frosting sprinkled with pink sanding sugar and topped with a strawberry slice.

Cherry Blossom and Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

2010-04-04T19:05:00.008-04:00

This weekend I tried out 2 new cupcake recipes. One was inspired by my recent trip downtown with the family to see the Cherry Blossoms. We also stopped by Georgetown Cupcake on the way home and I challenged myself to make a better cherry blossom cupcake - my hubbie claims I succeeded. The other was an Irish Car Bomb cupcake - I had some leftover Bailey's Irish Cream frosting in the freezer so I thought I would try these out.

Cherry Blossom Cupcakes - Vanilla Cupcake with Maraschino Cherries topped with a Vanilla Mascarpone Cream Cheese Frosting and a pink fondant blossom.

Irish Carbomb Cupcakes - Guinness Chocolate Cupcake filled with an Irish Whisky Ganache and topped with a Baileys Irish Cream Buttercream frosting. For the party these were topped with a Congrats message made from fondant stamps.

Personalized Cupcakes for a Conference

2010-03-30T07:52:00.004-04:00

The Kogod School of Business hosted the annual CUIBE spring meeting this past weekend. For an extra special treat, we had 2 stamps made to personalize the cupcakes. Below are Red Velvet and Vanilla Cupcakes, both with my favorite Vanilla Mascarpone Cream Cheese Frosting. One person even commented, "Your icing is amazing. If I could marry it, I would."

Giant Cupcake Class with Courtney Clark

2010-03-21T17:43:00.006-04:00

This year at the National Capital Area Cake Show in Fairfax Virginia, I was so excited to take a class with one of my fave Food Network Cake Challenge stars, Courtney Clark from Cake Nouveau!
Courtney was so nice and she let us in on so many of her tricks when working with fondant - I feel like I learned so much in this short three hour class. I also think this giant cupcake cake is really cute and I can't wait to make more!
Thanks Courtney!

Batter Up! Cupcakes to Celebrate the Start of Spring!

2010-03-19T19:07:00.005-04:00

I made these cupcakes for a co-workers friends birthday - Because spring is literally just around the corner (tomorrow) I was asked to make my red velvet cupcakes with a baseball as the decoration and because St. Paddy's Day was this week, I did a chocolate cupcake with Bailey's Irish Cream Buttercream frosting.

Happy St. Patricks Day!

2010-03-17T19:08:00.005-04:00

Here are three dozen cupcakes I did for St. Paddy's Day! The first two were for my colleagues little boy who had to bring something to his preschools celebration. To make these more with more kid appeal, I used extra frosting! There was Vanilla Cupcakes dyed green with Vanilla Frosting and a Chocolate Cupcake with Mint Cookies and Cream Frosting. Of course shamrock sprinkles and fondant cutouts were the perfect embellishment.

The third dozen were for another colleague at work - her favorite are the Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with Mint Cookies and Cream Frosting.

Cosmopolitan Cupcakes for a 50th Bday Party

2010-03-14T15:49:00.007-04:00

Here are another round of Cosmo Cupcakes done for a 50th Birthday Party. I was contacted through Facebook from a former student from when I worked at PSUMA - Cosmos are her mothers fave drink so we figured these cupcakes would be perfect. At the party, they were going to be set up in martini glasses for the guests.

Each cupcake was topped with a fondant lime slice and a sprinkling of sugar.

The cupcake is a lime flavored cake and the frosting is cream cheese based. To make the frosting taste like a Cosmo I mix in cranberry juice concentrate, lime juice, vodka, and a touch of Grand Marnier.
This time I brushed some of the liquid Cosmo mixture on the warm cupcakes to add some extra flavor and moisture!

3 Diaper Cakes in One Day!

2010-03-14T15:32:00.003-04:00

I haven't had to make a diaper cake in a long time - Now I had to make three in one day! Here are two cakes for a boy and one for a girl. The last picture shows all the items put into the cake - you don't necessarily see these when the cake is finished!

Cupcakes for a 4 Year Old

2010-03-05T13:18:00.005-05:00

I was recently given the challenge to create Princess and the Frog themed cupcakes for a little girl turning 4 this weekend. I say challenge because that is what it turned into when I couldn't find any little Princess Tiana garb anywhere! Disney...get on that!

I had to get creative.

Below are 2 dozen cupcakes - The first are chocolate with vanilla frosting and the second are vanilla filled with lemon curd and topped with vanilla frosting. To decorate I used the purple and green colors as well as found rubber stamps of a frog and of a princess crown. I also created a few lily pads complete with their own white flower.

The pictures aren't the greatest - I forgot my camera and had to use my phone.

I hope she likes them!

Topsy Turvy Class

2010-02-21T20:18:00.006-05:00

I was excited to take a Topsy Turvy class being offered at Kake Kraft Korner in Ferndale, MD this past Sunday. It was quite a drive, but for a full day class it was well worth it. Dusty of DoCakes was our instructor and she was great! We had 8 people in the class which was just the right size!

Now that I have learned how to make one of these cakes, I can't wait to try it again. I have definitely learned from my mistakes on the first one. I also would never put such a bad bow on a cake but I was getting inpatient and I didn't let the fondant dry completely.

All in all, I think this cake came out pretty good - I love the colors and the flowers - which were a new purchase.

Farewell Party Cupcakes

2010-02-16T19:21:00.005-05:00

I had the privilege of making 4 dozen cupcakes for a co-workers farewell party. Good luck with your future endeavors Priscilla! You'll be missed.

Pictures below are:

Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Butter Cream
Chocolate Cupcake with Vanilla Cream Cheese and Coconut
Vanilla Cupcake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Vanilla Cupcake with Lemon Curd Filling and Cream Cheese Frosting

Madelyn's Baptism Cake

2010-02-15T10:16:00.005-05:00

Little Madelyn had her baptism this past weekend on Valentines day. Of course the cake had to be fun and pink! Since I wanted to practice my fondant skills, I convinced my sister to allow me to use it even though she hates the taste.

The cake was a new recipe - I made a white cake which was very light and moist (no egg yolks) with lemon zest. I also made homemade lemon curd which was delicious. The buttercream was flavored lemon as well - This was pretty much a lemon overload cake!

I didn't use my homemade MMF this time - I purchased Satin Ice Vanilla Fondant online at Global Sugar Art - this seems to be the fondant that the cake decorators on television use all the time. I liked working with it and will continue to use it in the future! Also, I found that Global Sugar Art has some pretty good prices on this fondant - compared to the cake decorating supply store I usually go to!

Chai Tea Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

2010-02-10T17:06:00.005-05:00

The 2010 DC Blizzard has us still cooped up in the house. Thankfully we have not lost power or our satellite...which is why I have baking on the mind. Food Network is on 24/7 and since it's the week before Valentines Day, they are featuring lots of sweets!

So...here is another round of cupcakes! This time I did a Chai Tea cupcake and because I had some left over vanilla cream cheese frosting from the last batch, they were topped with that and a touch of cinnamon.

SnOwMG 2010 Cupcakes

2010-02-08T09:14:00.004-05:00

In honor of one of the biggest snow storms in Washington DC history, I made these "snow ball" cupcakes! Moist chocolate cupcakes with vanilla cream cheese frosting and sprinkled with sweetened coconut.

Meant to Bee Bridal Shower

2010-01-25T15:23:00.006-05:00

I was recently asked to come up with a cupcake for a bridal shower with the theme, "Meant to Bee". Here is the final cupcake:

Honey and cinnamon flavored cupcake with a honey and cinnamon flavored marscapone cheese frosting. Each was topped with a honey made from marzipan with almond slices as wings.

Holiday Cake Bites

2009-12-19T08:47:00.003-05:00

This year I made Cake Bites (AKA Cake Balls) for my holidays gifts at work. Cake Bites are actually cake and frosting dipped into chocolate and decorated. Most directions on-line have you use cake mix and canned frosting - but not me. I baked these cakes fresh for these gifts and made homemade cream cheese frosting. These are also a great way to use cake scraps if you bake a lot of cakes.

After baking and cooling your cakes completely, add them to a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Combine cake with frosting and roll into small balls. Place in your refrigerator or freezer until firm then dip into chocolate. Cool completely again and then decorate!

Chocolate Covered Candy Cane
Vanilla cake baked with pieces of candy cane in the batter then dipped into semi sweet chocolate and topped with a piece of candy cane.

Red Velvet
Red Velvet cake dipped into white chocolate and then small white non-perils.

Holiday Cupcake Time

2009-12-14T15:44:00.003-05:00

Cupcakes make great hostess gifts - as in the case below. This dozen Red Velvet cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting were given to the hostess of a lovely dinner party this past weekend. Accompanying the cupcakes was a bottle of Cupcake Vineyards Chardonnay which was rather delicious!

Finally Downloaded Pictures

2009-12-10T11:51:00.004-05:00

I finally downloaded the pictures from my Iphone. Here are some pics of cupcakes and cakes from a few months back:

Vegan Cookies and Cream

Vegan Chocolate and Vegan Cosmopolitan

Devils Food Cake with Marscapone Whipped Cream

Tiffany's Cake for a going away party

Holiday Staff Appreciation Party

2009-12-10T11:35:00.004-05:00

I thought it would be fun to include cupcakes in our Holiday Staff Appreciation party this year. Instead of me decorating them, I let the student staff do the decorating. I made 4 dozen cupcakes (Red Velvet and Gingerbread) alonge with two types of vanilla frosting (buttercream and cream cheese). I also brought a whole bunch of holiday themed decorations. Each person was able to take away 4 cupcakes in a box as well as eat them at the party. Any leftovers were decorated and offered up to the staff in the building - getting rid of them took all but a minute! Here is a collage of their creations:

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes

2009-11-23T11:08:00.004-05:00

I made these Vegan Chocolate cupcakes with Cookies and Cream Frosting in "Fall" colors for a co-worker this weekend. Ever since I tried these out they have been requested time and time again. The chocolate cake is so moist which is why I believe everyone loves them. There are no dairy products used when making this cupcake - even the frosting uses Tofutti - a cream cheese substitute.

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

2009-10-30T14:04:00.005-04:00

I absolutely love fall - and my number reason, pumpkin. I just had to make these pumpkin spice cupcakes with my marscapone cream cheese frosting. Absolutely delicious. All that was missing was a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks!

My First Wedding Cake

2009-10-07T14:55:00.007-04:00

Here are a couple of pictures of the wedding cake I did this past weekend for a couple in Old Town Alexandria. This was a two tier, lemon flavored, square cake filled with Trader Joes low sugar, organic blackberry preserves and fresh blackberries. The frosting was marscapone and cream cheese and was a little difficult to work with which is why it does not look as smooth as I would have liked it to. I learned a lot from making this cake - like I will only do cupcakes from now on =) Well, maybe I will try again - practice makes perfect.

"Pretty in Pink" Sprinkle

2009-09-27T14:06:00.007-04:00

I had the honor of hosting a "Sprinkle" for my sister's second baby. This time she knew she was having a girl, so of course, everything was dolled out in what else? Pink! We started our morning with a few of us going to a day spa for pedicures. Next, we had a lunch at a very nice restaurant in Olney, MD - Riccuitis.

Here are some pics of the cupcake favors (Pink Lemonade), flowers, and diaper cake centerpiece I put together:

My First Wedding Tasting

2009-08-27T11:09:00.005-04:00

A friend of mine from back in the day referred me to a couple in Virginia looking for a small wedding cake or cupcakes for their early October wedding. Thanks Julie! I was excited to be able to offer them a tasting this past weekend. The first step involved them taking a look through this blog to see what I have done before and then they told me all the little things they liked from various projects. Before the tasting they decided that 2 flavors they would like to try were Lemon and then something with a white cake with raspberry jam. Because this is for a wedding, I wanted to step it up a notch - Here is what I presented:

Limencello Cupcakes with Marscapone and Cream Cheese Frosting - I added Limencello to both the cupcake batter and the frosting! I also made half the recipe with straight lemon juice to test out the flavors. Next time, I think I will add more of the Limencello. I went a little light because I didn't want the frosting to be too runny.
Godiva White Chocolate Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting - I added Ghiredelli White chocolate shavings to all the cupcakes and Godiva White Chocolate liquor to half. Then I made two seperate buttercream frostings to try - one vanilla and one with the Godiva White Chocolate Liquor - These cupcakes were filled using the "cone" method with raspberry preserves.

"Danielle & Co." Going Away Party

2009-07-28T08:19:00.004-04:00

A colleague of mine in the business school is leaving this week for a new job. She loves the chocolate and raspberry flavor combination so I tried out a new devils food cupcake recipe (from the Martha book) and used my fresh Italian buttercream frosting. I made 2 dozen of these as cupcakes and the cake. She also loves Tiffanys blue so I made 2 dozen vanilla cupcakes and tinted the vanilla buttercream the signature color and I attempted to make a Tiffanys gift box out of cake. This was my first time doing a box shape and it was harder than I thought. I had no idea how to get those crisp box like edges. Also, humidity is not a friend of buttercream and marshmallow fondant, so some sagging started to occur. Thanks for already made gumpast flowers to hide the flaws!

Luscious Lemon Cupcakes

2009-07-16T12:59:00.005-04:00

There's not too much to say in this blog post except that these cupcakes are delicious. I used the Meyer Lemon recipe from the Martha Stewart Cupcakes book but with regular lemons. I topped them with my favorite cream cheese/marscapone cheese frosting but instead of vanilla used lemon juice and zest. The cupcake recipe uses cream cheese instead of milk/cream - it makes the cupcake really rich!

Carrot Cupcakes with Marscapone and Cream Cheese Frosting

2009-07-06T19:06:00.005-04:00

This past weekend my parents were in town for the 4th of July holiday. My father mentioned that he enjoys carrot cake so I decided to pull out my new Martha Stewart Cupcake book. The carrot cupcakes were moist and delicious. I did not include the nuts but did include the golden raisins. The frosting was my favorite Vanilla Marscapone and Cream Cheese frosting. I topped each with a candied walnut.

Reviews - Delicious!

Jungle Themed First Birthday

2009-06-30T08:24:00.008-04:00

My nephew Colin turned one year old this past week. Everything he has is jungle themed so it was only natural to throw him a jungle party! Here are the invite and the cake I did for him.

The cake was vanilla with layers of Bavarian creme and fresh strawberries on the inside. The entire cake was then given a coating of vanilla buttercream frosting and then covered in homemade vanilla marshmallow fondant. I made the animals in advance out of store bought fondant. Since the fondant cake would not be as much fun to get all into, I made him a separate, individual size cake to go wild with!

Introducing Bliss Cupcakes and Company

2009-06-23T15:34:00.006-04:00

I thought it would be fun to start a marketing effort around my cupcakes - I came up with Bliss Cupcakes and Company as the new name for my business that I still need to officially start. Since Bliss Cupcakes was already taken by someone in Australia, I added the "and Company" part - Worked for Tiffanys right?

Here are some new photos and logos made for me by my talented friend Calvin. Hopefully, if I get get my stuff together, a website will be coming soon.

Look for it at: www.blisscupcakesandcompany.com.

60th Wedding Anniversary

2009-06-22T08:47:00.006-04:00

Here are photos from my grandparents 60th Wedding Anniversary Party. The cake was three tiered, with white chocolate cake as the bottom and top layer and mocha cake as the middle layer. The entire cake was a frosted with ivory vanilla butter cream and filled with fresh raspberry butter cream and layers of fresh raspberries. I ended up making sugar roses to decorate the cake with. I was going for a more classic, almost vintage look and the dogwood blossoms didn't seem to go anymore.

We also put together the floral centerpieces which included ivory roses and (for lack of knowing the real names) an ivory "puff ball" flower. The tables also included a Hershey's take away, thank you gift re-labeled to match the rest of theme.

The invitation was printed on an ivory piece of card stock that included a shiny ivory border. I embellished the invite with an ivory satin ribbon and a crystal to signify the Diamond Anniversary.

Time to Monkey Around

2009-06-21T20:05:00.006-04:00

A former colleague of mine asked me to put together a diaper cake as an office gift for a mom to be. The nursery is all shades of purple and has a safari theme.

The diaper cake included:

72 size one Pampers Swaddlers

3 bibs

6 wash cloths

3 Johnson and Johnson baby bath products

2 pacifiers

1 bottle

1 cuddly monkey

Cupcakes of the Mini Kind

2009-06-10T14:42:00.004-04:00

A co-worker of mine asked me to do some mini cupcakes for her meeting this week. They sure are cute but seem to be more work then the regular size ones - could that be? They are so little?

Chocolate and Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate and Vanilla Buttercream Frosting - topped with colorful giant confetti!

Second Round of Grad Cupcakes

2009-06-05T21:15:00.006-04:00

Here are another round of grad cupcakes. This time I made my own fondant (from marshmallows and powder sugar) for the decorations. (Last time I used the premade from Wilton - which is not very yummy to eat. But the marshmallow fondant actually tastes good.) Now the caps and diplomas are edible!

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Marscapone and Cream Cheese Frosting
Mocha Spice Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (These are becoming my favorite chocolate cupcake :)

White Chocolate and Raspberry Butter Cream Frosting

2009-05-25T12:01:00.005-04:00

I am searching for a new recipe that has a summer feel for my grandparents anniversary cake in June. These are white cake batter with white chocolate shavings and fresh raspberry butter cream frosting. Each cupcakes is adorned with a raspberry and white chocolate shavings.

Mocha Spice Cupcakes with Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting

2009-05-25T11:53:00.005-04:00

These chocolate cupcakes are the most moist cupcakes I have ever had. In addition to cocoa powder, you will find hints of fresh and ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Fresh brewed coffee rounds out the flavor. The vanilla butter cream frosting is extra smooth and creamy. Each cupcake is adorned with a chocolate covered espresso bean.

Birthday Cupcakes

2009-05-12T10:41:00.006-04:00

My graduation cupcakes from last week were a hit! They got me this past order for some birthday celebration cupcakes. Below are two of everyone's favorites

Chocolate Cupcake with Vanilla Creme inside and dipped into a Semi Sweet Ganache. A handwritten "Happy B-day" message was included. (Which I admit needs some work).
Classic Red Velvet Cupcake with Vanilla Marscapone and Cream Cheese Frosting. Each of these cupcakes had a Fondant "J" for the names of the two birthday girls sharing a birthday! The "J" was made with a stamp and I love how it looks - I'm going to have to go out an buy more stamps!
The other cupcakes were left over from the recipe and I made my husband take them to work to see if he could drum up any business in PA! Each of these cupcakes was topped with a Royal Icing Blossom.

Gumpaste Flowers - Dogwood Blossoms

2009-05-11T12:59:00.007-04:00

A couple of weekends ago I went to the Great American Cake Show in Westminster, MD. While I was there, I was able to take 2 classes to learn how to make sugar flowers. I am planning a cake right now for my Grandparents 60th wedding anniversary in June and really wanted to include some flowers. I really enjoyed my first class - Elizabeth Parvu was our instructor (www.sugarpaste.com) and she taught us how to make the Dogwood Blossoms and Apple Blossoms. This was my first time working with floral wires and my flowers in class needed a little help. But this past weekend I spent some time again on the Dogwoods and I think they turned out much better.

That one class taught me a lot and hopefully I can apply what I learned to teach myself how to make other flowers - Or at least find some more classes.

In June I should have pics of the final cake.

Graduation Cupcakes

2009-05-08T13:04:00.008-04:00

For the last few weeks I have been planning how to go about baking and delivering 15 dozen cupcakes for a Graduation Party being held at the Shadow Room on K Street in DC. Because I planned to make 3 of the 4 types of decorations with fondant, I was able to do those over a weekend prior to the event. I made some of the frosting a few days before and refrigerated. Baking of the cupcakes waited until the last minute - which was a little terrifying because this was where everything could have went wrong. Luckily, my new convection oven pulled through and minus a few cupcakes that resided on the ends of the pans getting burned (must be an oven hot spot) everything went well!

Traveling was a breeze with these cupcake insert trays I found at Golda's Kitchen. They were absolutely perfect! Each and every cupcake made it to the Shadow Room in perfect shape. Now getting to the Shadow Room was a whole other adventure!

On the menu:

Classic Red Velvet with Marscapone and Cream Cheese Frosting (topped with a fondant diploma)
Very Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Butter Cream frosting (topped with Stars for the Class of 2009)
Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Creme and Semi Sweet Ganache (handwritten Congrats in White Chocolate)
Coconut cupcakes with Lime Cream Cheese Frosting (topped with blue fondant graduation caps)

Tiffanys Inspired Cake

2009-03-23T14:58:00.004-04:00

This past Saturday I took Cake Decorating 201 at L'Academie de Cuisine. I thought I would try to build upon my fondant skills. We were provided an 8 inch cake and we made our own marshmallow fondant and buttercream frosting. I like the recipe we used for the fondant. It was a lot easier to work with then the one I used last time - It may have also had to do with the fact I was in a classroom setting with an instructor so I was not afraid to try new things with it.

I did not go in thinking of doing a Tiffanys blue - It just turned out that color and immediately I thought of my favorite little blue box with white ribbon. And of course, since I love polka dots...

I can't say I learned too many new skills in this class. There were over 30 people and there was not a lot of individual attention paid to the attendees. I am happy that I left with the fondant recipe because I now have a recipe that makes great tasting fondant and one that I can make decorations with.

St. Patricks Day Cupcakes

2009-03-17T15:31:00.003-04:00

Here are a dozen chocolate cupcakes. Six are topped with mint flavored butter cream frosting and the other six have a vanilla cream filling and are topped with a semi-sweet chocolate ganache with white chocolate writing.

Baby Shower Cupcakes

2009-03-17T15:24:00.004-04:00

Here are 2 dozen cupcakes done for a baby girl shower. The first are red velvet with a vanilla butter cream frosting and the second are chocolate with chocolate butter cream frosting. Both were topped with pastel colored fondant blossoms.