Friday 2 for 1

It's Friday so I'll leave you over the weekend with two sweet cakes. This first one was for a girls night get together with some of my favorite gals, (even though I wasn't able to attend). They let me run with whatever I wanted, however, it had to have chocolate! So, they got a chocolate cake filled with chocolate chip cookie dough, a light whipped topping and adorned with chocolate dipped strawberries. If that doesn't scream girls night, I don't know what does!
Next up was a baby shower cake for a surprise baby shower. It was such a joy to be a part of the party. The mom to be is a dear friend and this baby is a Miracle. Can't wait til the little gal gets here! The cake is chocolate filled with oreo mousse and covered in chocolate ganache. The decorations are made out of candy clay as are the flowers. Candy clay is really easy to make you should try it sometime!

Yes Cupcakes get you dance partners!

My older sister had a birthday recently and we decided to celebrate by taking her dancing! By dancing I mean good 'ole Texas two-steppin. If you are ever in the area, check out Southern Junction. The only problem was that all our guy dance partners bailed on us so we were left at the mercy of whoever was brave enough to ask. Sister wanted cherry cobbler for her birthday, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to keep cherry cobbler warm and serve it at Southern Junction. So, sister said, "can't you just make cherry cobbler cupcakes?" Of course I can. Haha. So, I whipped up a brown sugar cake with a cherry pie center, crumble topping and Vanilla whipped frosting. There were probably 500 dancers at the Junction and at least half of them were eyeballing the cupcakes. But one brave cowboy did more than stare, he walked right up to me and said, "Whose birthday is it?" I pointed at my sister, then he said, "how could I get one of those cupcakes?" I said, "oh you can just have one! But, It'd be awesome if you took my sister out for a spin on the floor, haha." He said, "Deal." Took her out for a dance and said, "I'll be back for more cupcakes." And he definitely came back again. So, the moral of this story: If you are going dancing but don't have any solid dance partners lined up just bake some cupcakes and watch the guys line up!

Heart or Guitar pick, you decide?

I keep saying, "I don't do cakes" and yet here I am again posting a cake. Let's be honest, I like to challenge myself every once in awhile! And by challenge I mean, I like to make myself cry while trying to cover a cake. Cupcakes are so much more forgiving! Anyway, this is a Fender guitar pick cake for one of our best-ies Rob. He's a great musician and a greater friend. We even call him cousin Rob from time to time. His friends kept wondering why I made him a heart cake, but seriously....you take a look at the inspiration and then tell me if it resembles a guitar pick. I realize it's large but there were like 30 people at the party. Next time I'll make 30 tiny guitar picks.

New Year, New Cakes...

I'm so ready for 2010....I really want it to be different than 2009. I have a ton of goals and I plan to make good on them. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up the blog the way I want to, and it might branch out a little into some healthier venues!
Some sweet friends of mine asked me to do a cake for their son's 1st birthday. He is such a cutie and smiles a lot! They are about to move to Germany and continue to multiply themselves so that people will embrace truth. I can't wait to see their pictures of him going after the smash cake! They got a red velvet cake for the adults with cream cheese frosting and Candy Clay decorations (i hate fondant). And vanilla cake with vanilla cream cheese for the birthday boy!

Frosting!

It never fails that I end up with little tubs of leftover frosting scattered throughout my fridge. I've pondered time and again what exactly to do with the tubs and I think I've finally found an acceptable solution. Cookies on Crack! At least that's what it feels like to me. I have a confession....even though I'm a cupcake baker, I am addicted to cookies. Which is why I limit how often I bake them. It just so happens that my need to find a use for extra frosting coincided with a charge to bake cookies for a Christmas Caroling party! So, Here you go Christmas Cookies on Crack! Peppermint Chocolate Ganache sandwiched between two peppermint butter cookies and Eggnog Cream sandwiched between Molasses cookies....more to come on Cookie Crack flavors in the future!

Nousins...

Nousins= Nephew/Niece Cousins, this is what I call my 1st cousins kids. They are the closest thing to a Nephew and a Niece I have in my life. They call me Tickle and I like that. So for each of their birthdays I put the mixer into high gear and try to give them something they would love. Now, I have to say for the little ladies 1st birthday I was so excited to get to do something so girly and fun! And I learned a few things in the process:
1. The Giant Cupcake pan takes forever to bake and the cake comes out pretty dense.
2. Covering the bottom in Candy clay instead of Fondant (I hate Fondant) was perfect.
3. Simple often turns out cuter than elaborate.
4. Ms. little lady is much better at cake demolition than her older brother was on his 1st birthday!
5. It doesn't matter how much sleep I lose trying to make their cakes perfect, I love my Nousins!

Stay tuned, Big brother is turning 3 in January and I'm determined to make the coolest cake/cupcakes ever!

Get the Campfire Burnin!

For the past few years a group of our dear friends have gotten together to go camping. We sing songs, talk about life and eat way too many S'mores! This weekend is camping weekend! So in honor of the festivities I thought I would leave you with a treat: S'more Cupcakes. Graham cake with Milk Chocolate Ganache and Toasted Marshmallow fluff. Best if eaten warm! I hope you have a great weekend...Soon I'm thinking about posting a few recipes, maybe even some non-cupcake related. Much Love!