Grandma's 93rd Birthday Cupcakes

For my Grandma's 93rd birthday party, I made 4 dozen cupcakes. 2 dozen were vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting (her favorite), and the other 2 dozen were a strawberry champagne cupcake with champagne buttercream. The accent piece on top is a piece of cut fondant stamped with a G for Genie, and painted with some luster dust to add a nice shimmer. The champagne cupcakes were so good. It was my first time ever making them, and it is definitely a recipe I will be making over and over again.

Katie's Bridal Shower Cake

My friend Katie is getting married next month. The theme of her wedding is nesting and love birds.. So I made this cake for her bridal shower with a bride and groom. I realized after I had made the love birds yellow that people would think they are ducks, but they are not ducks. The cake was lemon, with homemade lemon curd filling, and lemon cream cheese frosting. All of the accents are done in fondant except for the branch around the side of the cake. The branch was made out of chocolate frosting. Everyone loved the cake, especially the bride.

Pick Me Up Cupcakes

A friend of mine was going through a break up and needed some cheering up. What better way to cheer someone up than with a nice sweet treat. I made him a classic vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting. He was super appreciative that I thought of him, and it was nice to see him smile. They did their job.

30th Birthday Chanel Purse Cake

This cake is a 14" round marble cake with fudge filling and cream cheese frosting. The purse is made out of 3 layers of 8" round cake (the same flavor, filling and frosting) and cut to look like a purse. The cakes are covered and decorated with fondant accents. The 14" cake is actually covered in a very hot pink. For some reason the photo makes it look more orange-y than it actually was. The pearls are also fondant and painted with a white shimmery luster dust. The picture does not really convey the sparkle and shine of the pearls very well. The handles of the purse are actually rolled to look like a rope handle, which you cannot see in the picture. The piping accents are all done with royal icing. It was a huge cake!!

New Year's Eve Champagne Cupcakes

For New Years Eve this year, my friend Deb asked me to make something yummy and sweet for the celebration. I knew there would be a lot of champagne to ring in the new year, and thought there was no better sweet treat than a champagne cupcake with sweet champagne buttercream frosting. I added little pearl accents to the cupcakes to make them sparkle a little more. They were absolutely delicious. It was the first time that I had made them, and I will definitely do so again. I am glad that I got to make something fun to ring in the new year. Not to mention, that I got a candy apple red Kitchenaid stand mixer for Christmas that I got to use for the first time. What a difference a mixer makes!! And of course, I got to display them in my new cupcake tree. It was a lot of fun.

Ashlyn's Panda Cake

For my niece Ashlyn's 7th birthday she wanted an elaborate Panda cake with bamboo. Unfortunately, I didn't have all of the time to make cake with all of the details that she wanted, but I think she was pretty happy with the outcome. The panda is black and white fondant, the bamboo are vanilla filled cookies spray painted with a sugar spray, and the rest is buttercream. The cake was chocolate with a buttercream filling and frosting. It turned out alright, but I do wish that I could have given her all of the details that she wanted for the cake. There is always next year!

Chris's Belated Bacon Birthday Cupcakes

So many people have looked at me like I was crazy when I mentioned that I was going to make my friend Chris maple bacon cupcakes with chocolate ganache for his birthday. I think people tend to underestimate just how amazing bacon and chocolate pair together. It is quite amazing. These cupcakes are actually maple cupcakes frosted with a chocolate ganache and topped with some chopped bacon. It only took me a month to get Chris his birthday cupcakes, but I am pretty sure he thought it was worth the wait. Definitely a recipe to keep and make over and over again.