More Cupcakes

I have had a few occasions that required cupcakes in the past month. First was my birthday. I refuse to make my own cake, but I did make Rolo cupcakes, and planned a potluck BBQ with family to celebrate. These were the cupcakes:

Believe you me, they were tasty.

Second, was my aunt's fourth of July/20th Anniversary party. I made 4 dozen cupcakes (and a red velvet cake) for the occasion. Half of the cupcakes were cookies and cream, and half were orange creamsicle:

They were all gone before I got one. 

Lastly, was my son's birthday party this past weekend. It was a "Phineas and Ferb"-themed party, so I made Perry the Platypus cupcakes. 

They were a hit!

Cat in the Hat cake

My baby turn one year old tomorrow. I swear he was just born! We are having a party for him today with our family, and I made him a Cat in the Hat cake for his party.

It is a chocolate cake with raspberry filling, finished with buttercream icing and a chocolate transfer.

Happy Birthday Jer-Jer!

Relief Society cake, takes 2 &3

This year is the 170th anniversary (or birthday) of the Relief Society. My cake was such a hit last year that I was asked to make two this year. And, because I can't say no (and I thought that they would be due on different days, not both today) I agreed. 

The first was basically the same as last years' cake, except it was a carrot cake with cream cheese icing.

The second is a chocolate cake with a simplified RS logo.

Happy Birthday Relief Society!

Mickey Mouse Birthday

My third little boy, Evan, turned four a couple of weeks ago. For the longest time all I could get out of him when I asked what kind of cake he wanted was "A circle cake." He finally agreed to a Mickey Mouse party when I suggested that. (At our house, they get their first "friends" party when they turn four.)

I usually make cookies for the to take to their school classes, but he isn't in school yet, so I made them for his church class.

We had his family party on the actual big day. I made him a simple mickey-shaped cake, and he was thrilled. Three circles is better than one, right?!

The next week we had his friends party and I made cupcakes with mickey silhouettes on them. I briefly thought about doing black frosting, but decided against it. Because it was a party for pre-schoolers, after all!

Happy Birthday Grizz! I love you!

Relief Society Cake

The Relief Society is the women's organization of the church that I belong to. This year they are celebrating their  169th anniversary. Our ward is holding a birthday party in honor of it, and I get to make the cake! They requested a chocolate cake with chocolate icing (which I have no problem with!), decorated with the Relief Society seal. The seal is a chocolate transfer. The cake is a 14" square.

Chocolate Transfers

I have posted a cake, cupcakes and cookies decorated with chocolate transfers in the past. I have recently had some increased interest in them, so I thought I would post a few more here.

This is the first transfer I did. It was very large - almost 13" tall. I actually had to do it twice - the first one slid off the board and broke into smithereens. I'm a lot more careful with them now!

This cake has a few transfers. The Elmo on top is about 10" tall.

This image is from a video game called "Little Big Planet" that my nephew likes to play. This transfer is also about 10" tall.

"How to Train Your Dragon" Cupcakes

Once my boys started having birthday parties with their friends, I quickly decided that I wasn't making two cakes (one for the friends party & one for the family party.) My solution was to make one cake, then serve cupcakes at the friends' party. He still gets to blow out the candles on the cake at both parties, but I don't have a boatload of cake leftover at the end. For his cupcakes I searched high and low for HTTYD toppers, but didn't find any. So, I made my own out of chocolate. I used the same method as I used for the characters on the "Up" cake. I call them chocolate transfers, but there is probably a better name for them. I had an email this week from Cori in Australia (Hi Cori!) asking if I made them myself, and I do. I don't usually ship them because they are extremely fragile. They also melt very easily. I had to stick this batch in the freezer because they wouldn't set up, even in my air conditioned house! Other than the transfers, the cupcakes are very simple - chocolate cake with white buttercream icing.

I also came across a fantastic tip for kids' birthday parties. Scoop out the ice cream before the party and put the scoop in muffin liners on a tray. Then stick it back in the freezer until it's cake time. It cuts down on the serving time immensely! All I had to do was plop a cupcake and an ice cream cup onto each plate and I was done!

"Up" Birthday Cake

I made this cake back in March for my 4-year old's birthday party. (It served double duty as the last cake of a Wilton class I was taking too.) He loved it, and so did I. It was a ton of work but I was really pleased at how well it turned out and at how well it was received.

 All of the characters and really detailed bits are chocolate transfers. Chocolate transfers are basically paintings made of chocolate. They are kind of hard to describe.

These are definitely the most detailed transfers I have made to date, and they are reinforced with jewelers wire to keep them from breaking (since they are vertical on the cake).

 The other cake details such as the vines, picket fence, clouds, biplanes and airship are done in buttercream. The cake is covered in marshmallow fondant, and the balloons are fondant as well.

My husband didn't want me to serve the cake at Jack's friend's party (he wanted to save it for the family party) so I made him these cupcakes to serve to his friends. They were all pleased with their explorer badges and most of them wore them home.

"Twilight" Quileute Symbol Cookies

My first order is done! These 4" sugar cookies (3 dozen!) were ordered for a birthday party. The party had a "Twilight" theme, and the colors were pink and black. The image on the cookies is the Quileute tattoo that the werewolf boys have in the movie "New Moon."

Tanya sent me this photo of her daughter at her birthday party. Marley loved the cookies, and Tanya left me a very nice review here. Yay for cookies!

I have two extra chocolate transfers (pink and black) that I will sell to any interested party for $5 each. If you are interested, click here. They are about 3.5" in diameter.