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!

Gourmet Cupcakes

I am branching out into the world of gourmet cupcakes. I have listed available flavors on my Cupcake Flavors page on the left hand side. They will be priced starting at $15 a dozen.

I made some super yummy orange creamsicle cupcakes for a party on Memorial Day, but I failed to get a photo of them. Trust me, they were GOOD.

There is a neighborhood GNO tonight here in my neck of the woods. It is a talent show. So for my talent, I'm bringing cupcakes. Tonight's flavors are: 

Cookies & Cream

and Almond Joy.

Hope I made enough!

Hello Kitty Cupcakes

One of my neighbors orders cupcakes for his daughter's birthday every year. This year she wanted Hello Kitty cupcakes. Even though I already had a couple of orders this week, I couldn't say no...

They were chocolate cupcakes with buttercream icing. The toppers are 100% edible and made of royal icing.

Happy Birthday Kiana!

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!

Star Wars Birthday

My 5-year old loves Star Wars. It is so funny because, to my knowledge, he has never seen a movie except a snippet here or there. My boys don't even watch the cartoon series The Clone Wars. He loves it though, and wanted a Star Wars birthday party this year. (On a side note, I didn't think he even knew what a Bakugan was, but he sure got excited when one of his friends gave him a set today and hasn't put them down since.)

His favorite character is Darth Vader, and he told everyone he was having a Darth Vader party. I had to make him a Darth Vader cake, right? So I did:

I also made lightsaber cupcakes for his friends, and will be making more for his preschool class on Monday.

He loved them all, and that is all a Mama can ask for, right?

"K" if for...

A friend stopped me in the street yesterday and asked if i wouldn't do some cupcakes for his daughter's birthday - which happens to be today. Being the person I am, I couldn't say no. I did get to play with my disco dust for the first time on the "K"s & loved the results! I also love the pink-green-black color scheme in these. Green is the birthday girl's favorite color (a girl after my own heart!), and I used black & white floral cupcake liners. Hope she likes them!

Happy Birthday Kiana!

Chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting.

Rack 'em up!

My birthmom ordered cupcakes for her own birthday this week. She loves playing billiards, so I made her billiard ball cupcakes. 

They are vanilla cupcakes with buttercream frosting & billiard ball sugar cookies on top. 

Happy birthday Meg!

"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!

Cream-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes last night as a special treat for my family. They are supposed to be like Hostess cupcakes - cream filling and all. 

They were pretty good, but I think I still need to work on the recipe. They stuck like crazy to the cupcake wrappers and I don't think I whipped the filling long enough. That didn't stop my boys from devouring them though. They really liked them!