Dad's 50th Birthday Cake -- 2010

For my dad's 50th birthday, I wanted to make something special, something that would stand out and would capture everyone's attention and really focus on moments of my dad’s life. And that is exactly what I did. I made a  4 layered chocolate cake with peanut butter filling. I then covered it in white fondant, and decorated the white fondant with edible sugar images of my dad. From when he was a baby, to graduation, him running a race, etc. His favorite baseball team are the Mets so I incorporated the teams colors onto the cake as well. I dyed fondant in the teams colors and cut out all different size stars. Some of the stars I place directly onto the cake while others I put onto different sized wires and then stuck them into the cake. The end result was a one of a kind birthday cake. J

Thanksgiving -- 2009

Every holiday, I love to bake alot of treats. For Thanksgiving 2009 I decieded to make a variety of things and do the "traditional" with a little bit of a modern twist. I made the classic pumpkin pie, but in indvidual bite size servings. The twist, I frosted them with vanilla frosting spiked with a little cinammon and dyed it orange! I topped them off with little cookie shaped leaves that I cut out, dyed by sprinkling them with edible colored sugar and then baked. The result a bite size pumpkin pie that looked and tasted amazing!

My second Thanksgiving treat, mini carrot cake cupcakes. Again, taking the traditional carrot cake recipe and turning them into a bite size indulgence. I also dyed the cream cheese frosting to add to the color scheme of the pumpkin pies. I topped them off with edible white pearls. Some of them even got some of the cookie leaves I had made for the pumpkin pies.

I also made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache, as well as caramel apples.

 

Jesica's Baby Shower -- 2009

The next few photos will show the process that took place in creating the birdnest cupcakes and birdhouse cake for my friend Jesica's baby shower.

It began when I started making the cupcake / cake tower that would hold all 60 cupcakes along with the birdhouse cake that was placed at the top.



The three layer styrofoam tower was built with styrofoam pieces that already came precovered in the white fabric. (Sold at local craft stores) I then bought the white pillars and blue ribbon. With a little glue I glued the blue ribbon around each circular styrofoam piece. I then glued four pillars and glued the bottom of the second styrofoam piece onto the pillars. I continued the steps until I reached the desired look I was going for.

The babyshower was on a Sunday, so I began baking all the cupcakes on Friday night. After I made the batter I placed the cupcakes to bake in the oven and began making the butter cream frosting. When everything was completed and the cupcakes were cooled, I tied blue and white ribbon on each cupcake.

After that was completed, I began frosting the cupcakes with the butter cream frosting. 30 of the cupcakes were then topped with toasted coconut and the other 30 were topped with chocolate shavings. (This created the "birdnest" look I was going for.) After that was completed I topped all 60 cupcakes with  two Jordan Almonds each, alternating with blue and white / yellow and white.

All of the cupcakes were then boxed and put a side.

The next day the real challenge began. The first time attempting to make a birdhouse cake, with the help of my husband we created the birdhouse that sat on top of the cupcake tower. Made from layers of cake, chocolate graham crackers for a roof and then covered in fondant.

After the structure was completed and the birdhouse was covered, I went ahead and painted the cake with edible food dye.

***Tip: This was my 2nd time working with fondant, since then I have found it easier to dye the fondant first before stretching it and applying it to the cake, rather than painting it once its on the cake.

Like they say "Experience is the best teacher" :) (I find this to be very true being that I am a self taught baker.) 

Sunday was FiNALLY here, and delivering the cupcakes and cake was the BiGGEST mission of it all.

Once everything arrived to the location safely, I was extremely happy and proud of my work. :)

Steelers

These cupcakes were made for a friend of my husband and I  for his birthday, he's a HUGE Steelers fan, and a fan of my cupcakes :) ... These chocolate cupcakes were piped with chocolate frosting and topped with edible star confetti. For the Steelers logo, I had the image printed on edible sugar paper. I applied it to a rolled out sheet of fondant and then cut them out and inserted them onto tooth picks and stuck them into the cupcakes.

Mini Cupcakes made for Valentine's Day



From left to right
Chocolate with raspberry mousse filling, Chocolate with chocolate filling, and Chocolate with peanut butter filling.





My favorite of the bunch! The combination of the chocolate ganache and the tartness of the fresh raspberry and raspberry mousse filling was a delectable bite size treat!