Happy Halloween!

Readers! Many apologies for the lack of posts lately. I hand surgery a few weeks ago, and am finally able to bake again!

This week, I created some super cute Halloween cupcake toppers, including ghosts, witch hats, and pumpkins. The toppers are made from fondant, and dusted with pearl dust. The ghosts are definitely my favorite :)

A post dedicated to my love :)

Many great things have happened in my life over the past year of cake decorating - I've made some great baking friends (like Jenni!), and I've gone from making cakes for small family events to making wedding cakes (and cupcakes!) for over 250 people. And I really couldn't have done it without the support from my wonderful boyfriend Devin. Even when I'm losing faith in myself at 1am, still far from being done with a cake - you never do. You are my trusted QA tester. You run out for me to get ingredients that I forgot, and you never fail to keep me as calm as possible while delivering 4-tiered wedding cakes. I can't thank you enough for all of your support - I couldn't be doing this without you!

I woke up this morning all excited to make a special breakfast for Devin. I decided on Joy the Baker's chocolate chip pancakes - and they did not disappoint. The whole recipe makes enough to serve 4 hungry people; thankfully our neighbor's daughter still had a little bit of room after eating her own breakfast to help us a put a dent in the mound of pancakes I made. These pancakes are SO good - I highly encourage you to try them out!



Adapted from Joy the Baker:

2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
½ teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2- 3/4 cup milk chocolate chips (I used 3/4 cup, half semi sweet, half white chocolate chips)

Butter or cooking spray (for cooking)

Step 1: In a large bowl, beat eggs. Add buttermilk, butter and vanilla and mix well. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well until mostly smooth. Fold in chocolate chips and let batter set for a few minutes.

Step 2: Heat griddle or pan over medium heat. Add a teaspoon of oil to the pan or spray with cooking spray. You can test to see if the pan is hot enough by adding a few drops of water, if or when the drops start to dance its hot enough.

Step 3: Pour batter onto the griddle (I used 1/3 cup batter per pancake). Cook on the first side until bubbles that form start to pop. You can also gently lift up the pancake to make sure the bottom is not overcooking, if it is the pan may be too hot and you will need to adjust the heat. Flip the pancake over with a spatula and cook until golden brown. Repeat until all the batter is gone. Let cooked pancakes rest on a heat proof plate in a 200 degree F oven until ready to serve.

LIfe is a Beach

My apologies for the lack of posts lately! Now that my life has calmed down a bit, I hope to be posting much more frequently :)

I made this cake a few weeks ago for a bridal shower. This Tiffany blue beach themed cake was decorated with pearl dusted gum paste shells and a fondant bead border. The bottom tier was yellow cake with chocolate ganache filling, and the top tier was chocolate cake with chocolate ganache filling. Everyone at the bridal shower absolutely loved the cake, and the bride-t0-be said it was one of her favorite things of the day!

Kim and Brian's Wedding

Yesterday was a big day for my family - my little sister's wedding! It was an *amazing* day, and everything was just perfect. The happy couple is now on their way to spend the week on white sand beaches - those lucky ducks!

The limo:


My gorgeous bouquet:


My gift to the new couple was something sweet - cake, of course! I'm really happy with how everything came out, and how everything held up on such a hot day (it was 90 degrees+, with at least 80% humidity). I made a 4 tier cake, and cupcake centerpieces for all of the tables. My sister wanted to incorporate her favorite flowers - gerbera daisies - into the design for both the cake and cupcakes.

The cake was white velvet cake with fresh cut strawberry filling, draped in fondant. My new brother in law is a Second Lieutenant in the Army, and was VERY excited to cut the cake with his saber (which is why you see a sword in the pics!)!







Cupcakes! White velvet cake with fresh strawberry buttercream filling and vanilla swiss meringue buttercream. Daises made out of gumpaste, and dusted with petal dust.





Many thanks to everyone for making this day so amazing. And a BIG thank you to my boyfriend who delivered the cake, set up all of the stands, and orchestrated the set up of all of the cupcakes - without your help, none of this would have been possible! <3

Blue Butterfly Wedding Cake

This past weekend, I made this cake and over 200 cupcakes for a wedding! The cake was made of 1 real tier (white velvet cake with fresh strawberry and buttercream filling, covered in fondant), with 3 dummy tiers. The cupcakes were the same flavor as the cake :) The bride was thrilled, as were her guests - I even heard that a few people said that it was the best cake they had ever had at a wedding.





View of a table:


Cupcake close up:


Stay tuned for my sister's wedding cake - I can't believe her wedding is just 2 weeks away!

Bridal Shower Cupcakes

These pretty little cupcakes were made for a bridal shower this past weekend. Sorry for the not so good pictures - I was in a rush! There were several different kinds of cupcakes/fillings, all decorated with either handmade fondant roses and other assorted flowers, or butterflies and sugar pearls.

Surprise!

This cake was made for my cousin Marla's surprise 30th birthday party. All 3 tiers were chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and coffee buttercream fillings, draped in fondant. Decorated with fresh flowers and ribbon. Happy birthday Marla!

Lambda Chi Alpha Cake

Sorry for the lack of posts lately! My boyfriend had my camera, so I could take photos of the last few cakes I made. However, here's one I made this past week for a get together of MIT Lambda Chi Alpha brothers. The MIT ring is gold and features a beaver, the "engineer of the animal world"; hence the beaver topper! The cake itself was chocolate, with coffee buttercream and mocha ganache fillings, covered with fondant.

Front view:


View from the side:


The beaver!

Inspired by Louis Vuitton

These cupcakes were made for a birthday celebration honoring 3 lucky ladies with May birthdays :)

Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache and raspberry fillings, covered with fondant (white - vanilla; brown - dark chocolate) and handpainted. Each birthday girl gets a fondant LV inspired cupcake topper. I was definitely sad to part with these!

LV cupcake toppers, front view:


LV cupcake toppers, rear view:


Multicolored trio:


Brown trio:


Round bag, detail:


Multicolored bag, detail:

Argentina Soccer Cake

This cake was made for a fan of the Argentinian soccer team.

Banana cake with caramelized banana and caramel chocolate ganache fillings, iced with vanilla buttercream and draped in fondant. Yum! The jersey and all accents were made of fondant.

Blue Cherry Blossom Cake

This cherry blossom cake was made for a bridal shower this past weekend. The bottom tier was chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and raspberry fillings, the top tier was lemon cake with lemon curd filling, and all was covered with vanilla buttercream. Decorated with gumpaste flowers and fondant branches.

A princess birthday

Chocolate cupcakes and princess made for a 4 year olds birthday :)

Cupcakes, with vanilla buttercream, fondant butterflies and flowers.


The princess! Covered with fondant, and decorated with sugar pearls and fondant flowers:




Dress detail:

Golf, in cake form

I made this cake this week for a 60th birthday celebration, inspired by Cakespace. Banana cake with caramelized banana filling and caramel Swiss meringue buttercream, covered in fondant. All of the decorations are made out of fondant. I really enjoyed working with all of the simple components and small details - from the golf bag to the tees and golf balls :)

View from the top:


Side view:


Another top view:


Green, up close:


Golf bag, up close:

Rose wedding cupcakes

I hosted another wedding cake tasting this past weekend - red velvet with cream cheese icing, chocolate with raspberry and chocolate ganache filling, and white velvet with strawberry buttercream filling - chocolate and white velvet were iced with Italian meringue buttercream. They were all decorated with fondant roses and other small flowers, and sugar pearls :)

A few pictures ...











I also made a special treat for my co-workers :) Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache filling, iced with Italian meringue buttercream, with fondant flowers: