Its been awhile... here are a couple cakes!

SO its been awhile, and maybe i just havent been baking as much, but the past few weeks have been busy!! So here they are!!

First up... Katie's Baby Shower Cake... It was a dense chocolate cake with Peanut Butter buttercream... Topped with fondant, and hand-sculpted fondant creatures.  The creatures were accented with edible marker.  The sides were done with fondant seaweed and starfish... and some bubbles!

Next was Nicole's Bridal Shower... Her colors are Orange and White for her awesome Fall wedding that is just around the corner!!!

The cake was another dense chocolate one, but filled with canolli cream and iced with vanilla buttercream, then topped with fondant.  All decorations are fondant as well!

Third was Gracie's First Birthday... she got a special cupcake, but here is her cake for the adults.  The cake was peanut butter cake, with peanut butter filling, and iced with marshmallow buttercream (my favorite!).  The cupcakes on the cake were cut from sugar sheets, and written on with edible marker.

Its been busy... but this happens... I also did a fondant baby and another 1st cupcake... didnt have my camera, so I am waiting on those pictures, and will share when I get one!!

CHECK IT OUT!!!!

I MADE IT ON Cupcakes Take the Cake

SOOO EXCITED!

Thank you ladies!!!!

Bridal Shower Cake and Cupcakes

It's been awhile, I do apologize.

Let me share with you today's Bridal Shower cake and the cupcakes to go with it.  Here's the cake to start.  It was a 9 in. Red Velvet cake with cream cheese icing.  Topped with white fondant and adorned with purple gum paste ribbon and a purple gum paste flower.  Its kind of a cross between a daisy and a lotus... we just wanted to make it full with layers of petals...

The lighting was a little off, but you get the idea... and you can see the layers of petals! 

The cupcakes were half vanilla and half chocolate, all with vanilla buttercream.  Each cupcake got a flower of their own.  Some small and flat, others larger and curled.

The sister of the bride was very pleased... the flower matches the favors that were being given at the shower.

All in all, another great success! Thank you to my future Mother in law, Betty who helped in the flower assembly line!! :-)

Shenanigan's Opening Day - Cinco de Mayo

I play coed softball for a work team called Shenanigan's.  Our colors are Black and Green and our logo is a shamrock!

Last Thursday, on Cinco de Mayo... it was the Shenanigan's opening day... To commemorate the day, and the festivities of Cinco de Mayo, I made Corona and Lime cupcakes. The shamrock on top is not for Cinco de Mayo, but for my Irish Shenanigans!

These were super easy to make, and way yummy.  I cheated and took a box of vanilla cake mix... I added 12 ounces of Corona beer to the mix and stirred.  Let them bake as usual... For the Lime Cream Cheese Frosting I took an 8oz container of whipped cream cheese, about 4 cups of confectioners sugar and a Yoplait Key Lime Yogurt and mixed until smooth and creamy!!!

I topped with some green sugar crystals and the fondant shamrock, and viola... Corona and Lime cupcakes... a little Irish/Mexican mix never hurt anyone! ;-)

They were sticky, but they went over well at the bar after the game.  We sadly lost, but there were a lot of laughs and a that's all that counts!!!

Nicole's 30th Birthday Almond Joy Cupcakes

My best friend turned 30 in April... I will turn 30 in June... we are inseparable... I was her maid of honor, she will be my matron of honor next year... whatever Nicole wants, I try to give her cause I love her and I couldn't imagine life without her!!!

For her big birthday bash she told me that she wanted Almond Joy cupcakes, so I went to work...

Vanilla cake (i know what you are thinking, but wait for it) strewn with toasted coconut in the cake.  Filled with a rich chocolate ganache... topped with a coconut buttercream and dipped in shaved almonds and more toasted coconut.  It sounds like a lot of coconut, but it was subtle enough that it wasn't over powering... People that didn't even like coconut ate them, and even went back for more!! ;-)

So moist, and so yum!!

Happy birthday bestie!! I love your guts!

Easter Daisy Cupcakes

Happy belated Easter and Passover everyone!  I made spring daisy cupcakes for our Easter celebration this year... Light and delicate, just like spring! ;-)

Vanilla cake, vanilla buttercream, and little daisies made out of gum paste by my own two little hands! :-)

Enjoy!

Toy Story Cake - Logan's Birthday

It was my little buddy Logan's 3rd birthday coming up, and he climbed into my lap and said... Jeannie, will you make me a Buzz and Woody cake???  Those adorable big brown eyes are impossible to say no to (not that I would have anyway)... So I started studying Woody and Buzz and a cake was made!!

The cake was chocolate, filling with chocolate pudding, iced with chocolate buttercream and covered with blue fondant.

I sculpted both figures out of dyed fondant, and even cut the clouds by hand!

 Buzz's space helmet was the plastic half of a prize from a gumball machine!!! :-)

Here is Buzz without his helmet

Happy Birthday Logan in Toy Story Font...

Toy Story 3 and Logan is 3... it all just worked perfectly.  His mom is going to post some pictures of him with his cake, so I will post those when I see them!  His face was priceless as he looked for me through the crowd, with his eyes all big and awesome, found me and said... THANK YOU JEANNIE!  ITS BUZZ!

He is the epitome of why I make these cakes!! :-)

Strawberry Rhubabrb Pie Cups

I am a big fan of Strawberry Rhubarb Pie... but my friend Lori is an even bigger fan.  At a Tastefully Simple party, I discovered that they make a Strawberry Rhubarb jam... so I had to get her some... at first taste, she was in love, and craving a pie!  I had to improvise.

I bought a jar, and made mini pies... I took my mini muffin pie tin out... greased it up, and then rolled tiny balls of pie crust... pressed then into the pan and and up the sides just like a big pie.  I took out a little spoon and filled each crust with some jam... took the leftover crust and made little crosses on top, and baked!

Viola... mini Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Cups!

They were a hit, and she was very happy... They got a little messy, but only the ones I filled a little too much! The crust was great though... I love crust!  I was going to make then into pie pops, but mini pies was more fun!!

Enjoy!

Spongebob Squarepants Charity Cake

I was approached last fall about a fundraiser for KidsPeace in Kingston, NY.  I have done fundraisers before, and am always more than willing to donate a gift certificate for a silent auction, or help in ways that I can.  The woman that won the bid for the gift certificate has triplet grandkids, and although they each get their own cake (which I love), she wanted to have an additional special cake for them to get excited about.  Being that her birthday is the same week, it would be her cake, but she chose a design that the kids would go nuts for... Spongebob Squarepants.

Now, you know me... a kid's themed cake where I get to make figurines... it doesnt get much better for me!

Here he is... Who lives in a pineapple under the see? SPONGE-BOB-SQUARE-PANTS!!!

And here he is with his buddy Patrick on top of his sea cake.

 He looks happy to be there!

 A closeup of Patrick

Chillin'

It was a fun cake to do, and I'm so glad I could help out with the fundraiser.  The cake itself was marble, with vanilla pudding and fresh strawberry filling.  It was crumb coated with vanilla buttercream and covered with fondant.  As always, I sculpted the figures by hand out of dyed fondant.

It's apparently cake season... I have 2 more definites on the way... and 2 other tentatives! :-) Looking forward to sharing them all with you!

Individual Crumb Cakes

I wanted something different, but something portable and individual.  Coffee/Crumb cake came to mind.  So I looked up some recipes... had all the ingredients, and decided to make them in the cupcake pan instead of a bread pan.  My friends were not disappointed.  One even compared them to the Hostess ones she ate as a kid! :-) I love when things work out so yummy!

yummy crumbs

perfect "cup"

so tasty.. john ate 2 last night :-)

an artsy shot for effect!

Short post, just wanted to share! ;-)

Oreo Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

So I am in love with baking things inside cupcakes right now.  So here is the Oreo inside the cupcake... I was originally going to do chocolate cake but wanted to make sure you could see the Oreo, so vanilla cake it was. The icing was vanilla buttercream with more Oreo's crushed inside... sooooooo good! ;-)

So Cute from the top...

and so amazing from the inside!

Look at that cookie!

I was pretty amazed, the cookie retained most of its crispiness... and just made the perfect bite.  My favorite taste-testers have now declared a new favorite!!!

Football and my version of "Hostess" Cupcakes

Everyone always raves about my chocolate cupcakes filled with vanilla cream and topped with the same yummy cream on top. I've always called them my version of the "Hostess" Cupcake.  When I had to make dessert for the Superbowl party, the consensus was to make my Hostess cupcakes... so I decided to make them a little more "authentic".  The cake was chocolate, they were filled with vanilla cream and then topped with rich chocolate ganache, twice!  I used the vanilla cream to decorate the cupcakes with footballs, Superbowl notes, and the classic Hostess swirls.

But I still had to make them fun for a football party!

I used the vanilla cream inside to decorate the ganache on top as well.

Green Bay and Pittsburg!

The "Hostess" swirls.

Shiny ganache

And the "Hostess" football...

They went over very well... 2 Dozen went pretty fast, especially when guests claimed their seconds or thirds to bring home with them.

I wish I had one of them right now! so yummy!