Chai Cupcakes with Vanilla Chai Buttercream

Today I whipped up the most delectable cupcakes ever for a family get-together Sunday afternoon.  Chai Cupcakes with Vanilla Chai Buttercream are moist, sweet, buttery and studded with flecks of cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves and nutmeg.  YUM.

Those are "Go, Diego Go!" cupcake liners.  Ignore them.  :-)

Practice Cakes, round 1

Over the weekend, I worked on improving my skills by promising to bring cake to work.  I needed to practice my fondant skills.  I ended up bringing two small cakes, each yellow butter with lemon raspberry filling, iced with vanilla buttercream and covered in fondant, to work on Saturday.  They turned out pretty good!  The only downside was I didn't give myself enough time to decorate them and they weren't very pretty... the is the only photo I have of them decorated, because I was almost late for work when I realized what time it was.

Because they were cakes for work and recipe/fondant testing purposes, I didn't spend too much time on the details.  Luckily, the inside was delicious.  I started with two 6" yellow butter cakes...

Torted them into two layers and filled them with lemon filling and macerated raspberries and then dirty iced them with vanilla buttercream...

Rolled out the marshmallow fondant...

And smoothed it out.  The end result was nice until I tried decorating them, but whatever.  I ran out of time, and they were only free cakes for work... :P  If anything, the kids enjoyed picking bits of marshmallow fondant out of the container...

I brought the cakes into work and they were a certified hit.  Everyone said the combination was delicious, the fondant was incredible, and the icing was suprisingly not-too-sweet.  I could only have been more pleased if the decorating was better!

On another note, a cake menu is on the right sidebar and I am officially taking orders.  The first few orders will only be charged for materials, as I am more intent on building my portfolio at this time than anything else.  Happy Ordering! 

Cake Pops!!!

That's right, Cake Pops!  These things are fabulous!  Basically small works of art in 4-5 bites of cake, dipped in candy and attached to a stick.  They are so adorable there is no doubt they would be perfect for birthdays, Halloween parties or any event where children are present.  However, these would also be great for weddings! (If done correctly.)  Cupcakes are a huge trend at weddings right now, but who wants to get all sticky peeling the paper off of their piece of cake at the reception?  They are also popular for favors and candy buffets, great for Valentine's Day, and a nice way to say thank you.  These pictures really got my creative juices flowing, I can't wait to get started!

I love this color combination!



Adorable, bow-tied penguins.





A basket of beebees :-)  Great for baby showers!



Take a few dozen to your child's class - fun for celebrating
any holiday at school, and less mess for the teacher to clean up!



Frosty the Snowman, complete with stovepipe hat and gumdrop pipe!



Get out, seriously, it's Mickey and Minnie!!





Babushkas!



Mr. Potato Head!  This would fit so well
into a Toy Story-themed birthday party!





Elegant, grown-up, cherry blossom cake pops.



Sesame Street!

Perfect for a bridal shower.  The tags of course are optional,
but as a general idea, any sort of tag can be placed
on any cake pop. 



And last, Thanksgiving Turkeys.  These would be
fabulous with pumpkin cake and cream cheese frosting!
- The feathers are candy corn.  How innovative is that?



Creations That Inspire Me

I get SO much inspiration from the internet! There are some really talented bakers and decorators out there. Of course, cakes aren't what they used to be! Now a decorator must also be skilled in sculpting with modeling chocolate, painting pastillage flowers and wiring for electricity. (See above, courtesy of Cake Boss on TLC.) This insane cake, if you look closely, has little openings on top of some of the buildings. That is where fireworks shot out. No joke. Buddy Valastro is my hero, for real.

Still on trend, probably for another several years- the very cute and very labor-intensive (read: expensive) mini-cakes. So cute, though. While I would be loathe to do 300 for a wedding, it would be so fun to do 30 or so for a small bridal or baby shower.

Chocolate mudcake with shiny dark chocolate circles.

I used to believe these scrolled cakes must be so difficult to make. Then I made a discovery... the designs are stamped on with these cookie-cutter things and piped over. I tried it and while it was time consuming, it wasn't hard to do at all! I especially love this cake because it combines two colors for a really unique and fresh look.

Vanilla Chai Cupcakes with Chai Buttercream. I am making these for a family get-together next month. They just look so... comforting. It must be the cinnamon stick!

I simply adore these hydrangea cupcakes, chocolate fudge with vanilla buttercream flowers.

These ducky cupcakes would be so cute for a baby shower, especially with the tiny flowers and the ribbon. These would look pretty in a pale green as well! The tops are iced with buttercream and the duck and flowers are modeling chocolate.

The first!

Some cakes I did awhile ago, before deciding to go into business...

This first one was my son's birthday cake that we ate on his actual birthday. I wanted to practice my scrolling skills (that design is called Cornelli Lace), which I thought turned out nicely. The top layer, I got impatient and just finished it in a hurry, hence the scrawling and smiley face. :)

Below are the bumblebee and ladybug cakes that I made for both my children's birthday party. These turned out much better; I used a Wilton tri-star tip for both cakes. The effect on them both was really nice!

I only wish I had taken more photos! Past projects also include polka-dot cakes for the kids for their last year's birthday and a baseball cake.

Projects on the slate- A Joe Mauer Jersey cake for a friend's birthday, Vanilla Chai cupcakes with Chai buttercream for a family get-together, Sweet Potato Maple cupcakes with Caramel Icing for Thanksgiving, and graduation cupcakes for next May.