I can blog about more than just Cupcakes right?

Goodbye summer and Hello Fall! I've decided that Cupcakefarms is really more than just cupcakes essentially it's a metaphor for life. Cupcakes are small treats that facilitate the mantra, "all things in moderation." And Farm(s)....well I grew up on a farm. I love that on a farm things are slower, yet somehow the work is harder, more satisfying. On a farm it takes time to plant, grow and cultivate fruit much like the lives we live. So I made an executive decision and gave myself permission to blog about anything I want. I'll still blog about Cupcakes so don't freak out on me.

Today, I want to talk about Homecoming. Yes, I realize I'm not in High School anymore but I love students and I have some thoughts about Homecoming, Homecoming Mums to be specific. I had to run an errand at my favorite wholesale craft place and it was teeming with moms buying baskets full of mum doodads, teddy bears and glitter that threw up on everything. For Example:

These are ridiculous. And I found out today just how much one of these bad boys cost. The moms I talked to were spending $500, to make their own! FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS!

Now, I love doing things in life just because they're fun, but this isn't fun, I think they might have back problems from wearing those things. I did some research and you can buy a very modest mum for about $30. But most people probably spend about $150, and that's just for the girls' mum not an outfit or the guys garter.

In Texas we believe, "If it's bigger it's better," well, I don't agree and I dare you to do something else with your money instead of spending it on copious amounts of ribbon, fake flowers, gutted teddy bears, cowbells and glitter. By all means have fun at Homecoming, but buy yourself a $30 mum and then consider doing one of the following with your left over $120.

1. Support students who are sharing the gospel among the nations.

2. Help a friend adopt a child from an impoverished nation.

3. Buy a Lawnmower and start a business.

4. Buy t-shirts, socks and underwear for the homeless or help those who do.

5. Buy ingredients to bake cupcakes and give them away to people .You can probably make 300 people smile.

These are just a few humble suggestions that I hope you'll consider. You might even consider scraping the $30 Mum also. I think some of you are just crazy enough to do it, and if I was guessing you could still have a great time at Homecoming without the big as your entire body fake plastic sparkly feathered necklace thing. I think this has just inspired me to make a Homecoming Cupcake! Watch out it might include every sprinkle and topping I own.

Boy Birthdays

I love girly things and often feel like little boys get the raw end of the deal when it comes to cool stuff. I have vowed to try and make cool boy stuff and not lame pastel blue and yellow things. (no offense to people who like that). I have 2 little boys in my life that I adore who both happened to be named Brock.

This year I got to do both of their birthday cakes! B-Rock and his sister Jodie are my Nousins (Nephew/Niece Cousins) you might remember his little sister's giant birthday cupcake! B-rock turned 3 and is into all things rock-n-roll and motorcycles so they had a Harley flame birthday party for him.

The bottom cake is Chocolate with Vanilla Cream Cheese frosting and the top cake is Strawberry with Vanilla Cream Cheese. It didn't turn out like my original plan, but it was worth hearing B-rock say excitedly "Look at my FIRE cake!"

Now Brock #2 or Boogie as I call him is the smartest kid I've ever known. Boogie turned 2 and adores Thomas the Tank Engine, especially the runaway kite movie. This is the first time ever that a cake turned out exactly like I planned it. I wanted the cake to look like the scenery from the movie so that when the train went around it would look just right. It was awesome to have the train chugging along around the bottom of the cake. Because I love Boogie's mom so much I let her have vanilla and chocolate cake instead of making her choose something more exciting, but I think it still tasted pretty well.

*All the details on both cakes were made out of candy clay...the kids apparently love eating it. I'm heading into my busy season at my "REAL" job, but I have a few awesome weddings coming up so hopefully I'll have time to post!

Finally!

I finally have time to update. Wow it's been a busy, busy time. I have a lot of pics to post coming up in the next few weeks, some from all the way back in January. But first, I want to welcome spring by reviewing a cupcake shop from Sunny California. I finally took a grown up vacation and spent a week enjoying the sunshine, sand, books, fresh fruit, camping, friends and laughing at the crazies on Hollywood blvd.

If you've never been to Hollywood, it's worth a visit to laugh at all the people dressed up as batman or barney or count how many spiderman's you'll see. While strolling along we stumbled upon the Disney Soda Fountain and Studio Store which happened to be hosting a Mad Hatter cupcake tea party! We didn't have time to stay for the event but decided we better try some cupcakes. Within the Disney store they have a branch of Yummy Cupcakes which offered 6 flavors (I think.) We tried Peanut-butter cup, Chocolate Chocolate, Vanilla and Red Velvet. I'm a pretty tough judge on cupcakes but I really only have two criteria that they should meet.

1) Moist, Fluffy cake

2) Frosting that isn't outrageously sweet

Four different people sampled each one and I made them rank each one. Here are the general thoughts.

PB cup: Liked the PB in the middle, cake was kind of dry. Overall not a bad cake. (Personally it tasted nothing like a PB cup so it should just be called PB chocolate or something.)

Chocolate: Wow, Chocolate overload. Even those of us who like chocolate thought it was a little strong. Cake was pretty good, also had a fudge filling. Not bad, not great. (Personally I liked the frosting on this one the best, the texture was really smooth and there wasn't too much of it.)

Vanilla: One person ranked it #1 but everybody else ranked it last. I think Walmart makes a better vanilla cupcake than this.

Red Velvet: Overall this was the best out of the bunch. Cake was still a little dry but overall not too shabby for mass produced cupcakes. The cream cheese frosting was pretty good but not great.

If you are looking for average cupcakes this is the place for you. That sounds harsher than I mean it. But really there was nothing too spectacular about the cupcakes except that you could get them on Hollywood blvd. But hey, this is just my opinion.

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!