Happy Easter {Eggs!}

Happy Easter everyone!  I experimented with a new cupcake design for Easter, thanks to my wonderful "Hello Cupcake" inspiration book.  I used graham crackers to make Easter eggs, and decorated them with sparkles and icing to create fun Easter designs.  I then tried to create the effect of grass on the actual cupcake (as if the Eggs were hiding in the grass).   They came out pretty cute...what makes them even better is that when they are all together it looks like field of Easter eggs (even the platter has a floral/grass arrangement!).

Hope everyone has a wonderful, beautiful, and loving Easter...enjoy the cupcakes and BAKE ON!

New Business Opportunities!

I know it has been a while since I have blogged- but I haven't stopped baking!  Just last week I made two very large batches of gooey chocolate cookies! Oh my goodness- they were delish!  I brought them in to work for some of my co-workers visiting from LA.  They heard about my baking, and I figured it would be smart to back up what I say!  They loooooved them!!!

Anyways...what I am really excited about is a new business partnership!  A friend of mine from Girl Scouts (yes...I am a Girl Scout still!!!) is starting a fashion show business (once she gets a website up....check out the links I will post!).  And she is going to feature my cupcakes and cakes!  Well...she is going to offer my cupcakes to the girls to decorate for the party and then as an option they could get a customized birthday cake!

I even created a flip book of my top "girly girl" cakes to show off to her future clients...once that gets delivered expect a few pics...and hopefully a lot more girly girl cakes!!!  BAKE ON!

Birthday Wishes!

It's been a few weeks since I have made a cake - however today I was thinking back to my senior year of college (all of a year ago) and my last week at my restaurant job, I made 2 cakes for my co-workers.  One of my co-workers, Sam said she hadn't had a birthday cake with her name on it for a really long time (maybe not ever).  Since I love to bake before I leave any place I work, it made perfect sense to make her a birthday cake.

I started off with just a simple chocolate cake with chocolate frosting - can you tell, she loves chocolate?!  And then I added some colorful sprinkles around the cake to brighten it up.  Then for the rest of my co-workers, I wanted something a bit more fresh and spring-ish!  I made a lemon cake with fresh strawberries in the middle with this chocolate-whipped icing.  It was light and fresh, and it was devoured within 20 minutes of cutting it!  I had fun making a strawberry spiral design on the top and love to make this cake in the summer because it's so fresh!  Take a look and let me know what you think?!

BAKE ON!

Employee of the Moment!

In the kitchen at my job, we have a white board where we nominate the "Employee of the Moment" so someone who did something nice, changed the water bucket, or is just plain awesome!  So today, after a pretty dreary two weeks (I'm ready for SPRING!) I walked in to see my name!!!!!

And then of course I saw the side note "in hopes that she brings more cupcakes!"  Well...I am usually the one to not disappoint others - so here are my cupcakes that I am treating my co-workers to, tomorrow!  I went with pink icing and fun spring colors in hopes of bringing a little bit of flair, brightness and SPRING into our office!  Enjoy...and Bake on!

That's my "nomination"!  Let's just say all those who were in the office were super happy on Friday and those who were out travelling, were quite disappointed that they missed out on my cupcake.  I guess I'll have to bring some more in soon!!! :)

Memories of baking!

A lot of people ask me where I learned to bake, and why I love to bake so much.  My mom doesn't like to bake, neither does my grandma and for sure none of the men in my family bake! However, my great-grandma lived next door to me for the first 16 years of my life, and yes she was a baker (just for fun though).   I remember making pizelle cookies with her (these flat, wonderful, waffle type Italian cookies).  I grew up with my great-grandma, I blame her for my love of coffee and tea- because every morning and afternoon I would go over there and have coffee and Stell D'Oro biscotti, or tea and of course a biscotti.

To this day, one of my favorite things is having one cookie (preferably a biscotti) with my cup of coffee.  But, the best memory now aside from thinking back to sitting outside in the summer with my grandma having tea and coffee is sorting through all of her cookie recipes and bringing back all of those great memories through the taste of her cookies. I found her old biscotti recipe and they beat any cookie I have ever had from any bakery.  It takes a lot of time, patience, and love to get the cookies just right- but at the end, they are definitely worth it! Biscotti in Italian means twice baked, so that is why it takes a little extra patience, after some practice - it just becomes second nature on how to make them just right. I think it's time I bring that recipe back up and bake some biscotti this week or next...yummy!

Bake on!

Sleeping Beauty for A Beautiful Friend!

It was my best friend's 23rd birthday and well, I always tease her that her boyfriend is the Prince from Disney's Sleeping Beauty.  I've never been home for her birthday, so she's has not gotten a "Cute Cake by Vicky" just yet.  This year, I drove up to her school (she's in grad school  now) and surprised her with a Princess Aurora cake (that's Sleeping Beauty's real name, for all those non-Disney fanatics!)

She was so shocked and happy- she hoped I would bring a cake, but didn't know if I could transport it the hour-plus drive up to her house!  I couldn't NOT make a cake for her birthday!  She absolutely loved it and so did all of her friends and roommates.  It was a perfect start to a great birthday day and night!  Next up...her wedding cake!  (okay, okay...in a few years!).  Happy Birthday best friend!

BAKE ON!

Minion Cake part 2

I am guessing my first minion was a success, because....I GOT ANOTHER ORDER!  This time for a minion with one eye from the movie "Despicable Me".  It's a great family movie, I watched it with my nephew before creating the first cake and feel like watching it again!  Maybe tonight?!

Anyways...this was for a friend of mine, her daughter who was turning 19!  Yup, 19 and she LOOOOVE the minions (I mean...they are adorable!).  Check it out below...pretty much exactly the same as the first one. Except this time, I changed the letter on his overall for V, because the cake was for Veronika!  Enjoy and remember to BAKE ON!