Giant Cupcake for a Giant Heart!

The past 4 years, I have not been able to make a cake for my younger cousin because his birthday fell in October and I was always away at school.  This year, I am home and could make his cake...however his birthday falls the day after my boyfriends.  And I was in Chicago visiting my boyfriend and couldn't make a cake for his actual birthday...boo!

And to make matters even worse, my poor little cousin had to have major surgery a week before his birthday.  He's doing well, but he's only 4 and is recovering as best as he can.  He's a little superhero, champion, and miracle.  When you see this little boy, you can't help but to smile because he is so loving and so warm- he doesn't deserve to be sick.  I wanted to surprise him and make him something just for him.  So I created a GIANT cupcake just for him...it probably weighed more than him (he's THAT tiny!) 

My prayers go out to him...and hopefully this giant cupcake can warm his giant heart!

BAKE ON!

Cupcakes for Kids!

As I have mentioned probably many times before..I LOVE KIDS!  and I love baking for kids, they love anything that is cute, festive and YUMMY!  This past summer..I had 2 birthday cakes for lovely little kids.  A little girl who was turning 2, and a little boy who was turning 5!  Of course, they wanted fun and festive cakes (for the grown ups) but cupcakes work so well for little kids!  Because it is a miniature cake just for them.  They can dig in, make a mess, and enjoy.

For the little girl, I made that awesome butterfly themed cake (shown in earlier posts) and then I did lady-bug cupcakes.  I individually piped each part of the lady bug, switching from red icing, to black to white.  It was time consuming and it hurt (my hands were sore and dyed red!).  But look how cute they came out!  Perfect for a cute bug themed birthday party :)

And the adorable 5 year old wanted a Buzz Lightyear themed cake with the Aliens as cupcakes (You know the ones who said "oooooooooooh").  Again..I hand piped each cupcake with the face, eyes and ears.  It was a little difficult to get the right ear shape and make them as cute as they are in the movie...what do you think of them??

BAKE ON!

Delivery Disaster...ALMOST!

Most people assume that the most difficult part of making and decorating a cake, is making it perfect.  Which, I can not lie-- is very true.  I am a perfectionist, so I like to create a product that has absolutely  NO flaws.  However, the most difficult and challenging part of having a cake business, is delivering the cake! 

If you have watched any Cake Challenge on the Food Network or even Ace of Cakes, it is absolutely nerve racking to move a large cake, let alone travel a long distance with a cake.  Well, I have had first hand experience delivering a large cake and almost dropping half of it on my lap.  It was a three-tier engagement cake with really delicate fondant details.  As my mom drove, I held the cake in my lap praying for dear life that the cake would not tumble.  Unfortunately, some of the fondant lattice work, crumbled off of the cake to my dismay.  I was able to move the top tier around to hide the flaws, but I was heart broken.

Now, I have mastered the tiered cake (sort of) and I have learned how to place a cake in my car so that it won't tilt or tip. It's still a bit nerve wracking, but hey- it's always worth the smile and happiness of delivering it to the birthday person! (or engaged couple!)  Check out the cake below!

BAKE ON!

Baking for the heart!

I've recently lost my voice...and it is not fun.  So in order to cheer myself up, I decided that I was going try out some new cookie recipes just to work on my techniques and to add to my resume new assortments of cookies.  So I was inspired by Martha Stewart as well as the Food Network. 

I started of working on Red Velvet Gooey Cookies.  I used Red Velvet cake mix and mixed it with cream cheese, butter and a few other ingredients.  And they came out YUMMY.  They stay soft and kind of crumble in your mouth.
  

Next up, I made a great FALL or Winter cookie...oatmeal, almond crisps.  Super easy, and they are nice and warm for you to have with tea (I have had 3 cups today) or coffee (I miss my dear coffee...since I am sick, I can't drink it) or hot cocoa (best part of winter!)

And lastly...I attempted to make Lemon Meringue cookies (attempt being the key word).  I successfully made one batch, after throwing out 2 different batches of the Meringue that did not get to the proper consistency.  And my oh my...it took a lot of mixing to get it to the proper consistency and my arm hurt.  But the batch came out pretty good!  May have to try it out again to learn some new tricks..but live and learn!

Bake on! 

Obsessions!

I must admit...I am a coffee addict! Completely obsessed, love it, could drink it everyday, all day, for the rest of my life.  My sophomore year of college, my roommate was (almost) equally as obsessed as me with Starbucks!  So for her birthday, I decided to make her a Starbucks cake to reflect  her obsession.  The best part of the cake...I used chocolate covered espresso beans on the top of the cake to look like the coffee!  Delish!

Then this year, a friend of mine wanted a cake for her friends birthday.  Of course, I asked- what does she like?  The best cakes normally reflect people's hobbies, favorite sports teams, favorite books, or movies... what did she want for her friend?  Twilight!  So I did some research (I've already read the books and seen the movies) but how could I put THAT on a cake?!  So I went with something simply and symbolic.

I think that taking your obsession and turning it into something delicious is important and fun!  And plus, by knowing what people like allows me to get to know the person and put my heart and soul into the cake.  I always always put my heart and soul, but to get to know why a person loves things in their lives- makes it so much easier and more fun to create a beautiful cake!



BAKE ON!