Portfolio: Carriage and Onesie Cookies

Everywhere I go, I hear of yet another mama that's expecting or just delivered.  It's that time of year!

My buddy Kristen asked me to whip up some cookies for a baby shower and specifically requested baby carriages and onesies.  The mama to be is having a little man, so we did everything up in a blue and white and brown theme.  They came out so cute that I'm doing carriages again soon!

Congrats Mama to be...may you have an easy labor and a healthy baby boy!

Happy baking,
Kelly

Portfolio: Nest Cupcakes and Bird Cookies

Ah, spring.  Time for flowers, birds, and babies!

A friend of mine is having her first baby in the next couple weeks and we threw her a shower this weekend.  Because I had other things going on, I wasn't able to make the cake for the shower, but I did promise to do some cookies for the favors.  I ended up with extra cupcakes from the car party, so I did a quick decorating job on those and they looked super cute with everything else.

The "nests" were easy to do; just swirl and dollop using a large star tip on the top, then set your eggs in the middle and voila!  Bird's nest cupcakes!

Originally, the theme was a Parisian spring baby shower, based on the baby bedding.  But we found out later that mama to be had changed the fabric on her baby bedding!  It actually worked out, because my design for little Eiffel tower cookies was a total bust.  I didn't have a cutter and so I thought I'd use a Christmas tree cutter and then pipe small Eiffel towers on them.  Good idea in theory, terrible idea in execution.  The cookies were too short to get a decent looking Eiffel tower on them, sadly.  But they were just perfect for birdies!

All wrapped up and ready to go!

My artsy fartsy cookie photo

I love these little birds.  It's a good thing there were so few cookies left after the party, because otherwise, I'd have eaten them all they were so dang cute!  I tried a new recipe for the royal icing too, which was a bit of an adventure, but I have to say, I'm sold on it.  I still use my trademark lemon juice in the frosting, but the consistency is much nicer.  I may try adding some corn syrup or something else in the future to get a glossier finish.

Since I wasn't able to commit to the cake, one of the cohost's had her stepdaughter do the cake.  It turned out really cute, and apparently is a very popular design this season–I immediately recognized it as the same design for another cake I'm doing at the end of this month!

The cupcakes were super easy to decorate and are perfect for Easter!  I whipped up a milk chocolate ganache and piped it on top of the cupcakes to look like nests, then nestled Robin's Eggs candies into the centers.  Super tasty and cute!

Congrats on the new baby Amy...we can't wait to meet her!

Happy baking,
Kelly

Portfolio: Car Cookies and Cupcakes

It was bumper to bumper traffic in my kitchen this weekend!

A gal I went to high school with asked me to do some car themed cupcakes and cookies for her son's 3rd birthday party.  We kept things simple with chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with blue and orange swirled icing on them.  For favors, I decorated car cookies to match.  Everything came out bright and beautiful and fun!

Happy birthday, Caden!  May you have many more to come!

Happy baking,
Kelly

Paddy Cakes

St. Patrick's Day is upon us!  I shall be baking up a batch of the Black and Tan Brownies I made last year for our annual St. Pat's feast with my husband's family, but I also baked up some of these lovelies this year too.  I admit, it's the same cake mix that I used for my daughter's birthday party, the Orange Supreme flavor by Duncan Hines.  If it ain't broke, don't fix it.  They're a lot sweeter than I'd prefer, but still tasty, and even better still when you throw some cream cheese frosting on top.

Orange cupcakes are perfect for St. Patrick's Day, especially when you ice them in white with green sprinkles...it then represents the colors of the Irish flag!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you and yours!

Luckily yours,
Kelly

Sweet Valentine's Day!

Nothing says I love you like a baked representation of someone’s sweetness! While I personally loathe Valentine’s Day as a bunch of commercialized crock, I take full advantage of it as yet another excuse to blow up my kitchen and my kidneys with an excess of sugary love. This year was no exception.

Billa is obsessed with Scooby Doo and I found cute Scooby valentine cards and pencils. I’m saving the pencils for goodie bags for her birthday party (which will be Scooby Doo themed, natch), but the cards were perfect to slip on a cookie pop!   I mixed up some turquoise and apple green icing to coordinate the cookie pops (because I’m a freak like that) and they came out super cute. I had grand plans for these, but I saved myself a whole lotta trouble at the last minute when I remembered that they were for toddlers. No point in gilding the lily for an unappreciative crowd! I added little pink hearts on them to girly them up just a tad, which unfortunately ended up looking more like blobs, but whatever. The kids liked them and that’s all that matters!

The remaining icing and cookie dough became Valentine themed sugar cookies for an impromptu dinner party we had Sunday night with my little brother and his girlfriend. I’ve wanted to try new designs and I am in love with these little lovebirds. They were so easy to create too. I may have to use these for my sister-in-law’s wedding shower later this year…they’re so adorable! And I really like the color scheme of the turquoise, apple green, and pink for Valentine’s day; it reminds me of the current Valentine’s products at Target this year which are super adorable.

Lastly, I sugared up my coworkers with some homemade Valentine-themed Hostess cupcakes that I saw over at Bake at 350. I LOVE Hostess cupcakes, even though they’re probably one of the worst things a human being can consume. These are waaaaaay better than their inspiring counterpart. I was lazy and did the cupcakes from a mix (hey, I was supermom the past week and took care of a sick little girl and her daddy, not to mention fought off the plague myself, so I think I’m allowed some leeway once in awhile!) and I have to say, it’s entirely unfair that the box mix created such perfectly domed cupcakes.; The yummy filling and frosting recipe is from scratch, and I used leftover royal icing to create the swirls on top with the word ‘love.’

They were incredibly delicious and my coworkers loved them. If the word is short enough, these could be used for lots of different events. And imagine changing the color of the cake and frosting! I may bake these again next year but with red velvet cake, cream cheese frosting, and red lettering. Shoot, I might even do these for my daughter’s birthday party too. Recipe for the filling and ganache are below or you can follow the link for the original cake recipe and blog entry from Bake at 350.


Instructions for constructing the Hostess cupcakes:

1. Bake chocolate cupcake according to package directions.
2. Use a piping bag fitted with a filler tip (or wide tip) and insert it into each cupcake, squeezing gently until filling is just beginning to ooze out.
3. Let sit in the fridge for a few minutes, while you mix up the ganache.
4. Once the ganache has cooled a bit, gently dip each filled cupcake into the chocolate and set aside to set up.
5. Put your choice of icing into another piping bag and pipe the trademark swirls and word of your choice across the top.

For the Filling
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 cup marshmallow creme

Using a mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Beat in 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar. Add the vanilla and 1 tablespoon heavy cream; beat until smooth. Beat in the remaining 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar and 2 tablespoons heavy cream in batches, alternating after each addition. Beat in the marshmallow creme; set aside or refrigerate.
For the Ganache
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract


Place the chocolate in a stainless-steel bowl. Heat the cream and 1 tablespoon butter until just boiling, then pour over the chocolate; let stand for 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth. Add 2 teaspoons vanilla; let stand until cool but still glossy and liquid.



I hope you all had a lovely Valentine’s Day with your loved ones, and that this post inspires you to be a ‘sweet’heart to all you meet!

Happy Valentine’s Day!
Kelly

Portfolio: Raggedy Ann Birthday Cake and Cupcakes

Last year my friend Caroline asked me to make her a Hungry Little Caterpillar cupcake cake for her daughter's first birthday.  This year, she decided to do a Raggedy Ann theme!  I remember Raggedy Ann being a big deal when I was a kid, and it's really nice to see her come back.  Good wholesome fun!

 
I did my usual Google image search for inspiration and saw a really cute idea that someone had done where they did the head and shoulders for Raggedy Ann and used red licorice for her hair.  I'm really into using candy and other tasty treats for accents and decor on cakes, so it seemed like a perfect fit.  And here is the final result:

Please ignore my reflection in the cakeboard...I didn't even realize it was there until much later!

For the head, I baked two six inch layers and for the shoulders I used one 10 inch layer, cut in half and stacked on top.  I ended up doing a dozen cupcakes as well, just in case more people showed up at the party.  I frosted everything in buttercream but used fondant for the white pinafore, the eyes, and the nose.  The cake itself is marbled chocolate and vanilla, since per Caroline, "Madeline could eat Starbucks' marbled pound cake every day of her life and never get tired of it!"

The Divine Miss M (as I like to call her) LOVED her cake and enjoyed playing with all of her friends' on the playscape.  I was thrilled with the cake and so happy to provide an important part of a special day for a very special little girl.

Happy Birthday, Madeline...may you have many more, my dear!


Happy Baking,
Kelly

Portfolio: Pretty Girlie Cupcakes

I've been sick with a horrible sinus infection/cold the past few weeks, so my baking has suffered.   My best friend recently celebrated her birthday and was supposed to have a barbecue birthday party, but wouldn't you know it, everyone in her house got sick too.  And it was raining.  Bummer!

Everyone deserves something special for their birthday, so when I was finally feeling well a few days later, I made her some cute girlie cupcakes.  Kellie likes traditional cake flavors and chocolate always make a girl feel better, so I did chocolate cupcakes with turquoise buttercream frosting and then sprinkled them with bright pink sugar to reflect her girlie nature.  I must say, those cupcakes were not only lovely, but they were yummy to :o)

Happy birthday Kellie!  At some point, we'll have a make up party for you or something.  Hugs!

Happy baking,
Kelly

Portfolio: Lego Cupcakes

My best friend's son Cameron celebrated his 4th birthday this weekend and he is a super Legohead.  They've opened up a Lego store here in Austin now, and since Cameron was having a very small party, we decided to do cupcakes with a Lego theme.  Cameron is usually a chocolate fiend, but when presented with several flavor options, he chose strawberry cupcakes with chocolate frosting.  Yum!

After baking a dozen strawberry cupcakes,  I frosted the tops with brightly colored buttercream, keeping the level pretty even.  That was the easy part.  I then piped tiny dots on each surface to simulate a Lego brick base.  If you've ever played with Legos, you know what I'm talking about:

After the tops were done, I then took a flat tip to create some Lego pieces that spelled out the letters of Cameron's name.  Our original idea was to place candy shaped like Lego bricks on top, but we couldn't find on such short notice and using real Legos meant cleaning them afterwards, which was not a fun prospect.

Cameron was thrilled with the results and we had a great time playing with Legos at the party. Happy birthday, buddy! We love you!

Everyone was wearing their Legos by the end of the party!  Meet Cap'n Bluebeard :o)

Happy Caking,
Kelly

Portfolio: A&M Cupcakes

If you're from Texas, you typically bleed one of three colors: red, burnt orange or maroon.  For those of you not from the Lone Star State, those colors represent the triumvirate of universities in this state that have the largest numbers of alumni and fans - Texas Tech (red), UT (burnt orange), and Texas A&M.  Fans of all three schools just love to razz each other about which school is greater and the rivalries are thick.  It is not uncommon for a house to be divided and our family is certainly that way!

My daughter's godsister Ronnie is heading off to Texas A&M to start her undergrad and I love her so much that I allowed the color maroon to enter this decidely burnt orange household.  I made her a batch of cupcakes to take with her as she moves into her dorm room on campus.

Friday Fun: Manly Cupcakes

A friend of mine posted the link to this blog post about "manly cupcakes" on his Facebook this morning.  Being a baker, I just HAD to check it out. And lemme tell ya, I was rolling on the floor laughing my butt off.  My favorite line had to be, "They don’t bake cupcakes, they build them. With, like, levels and measuring tapes and sh*t."  The engineer in me has found a new crush...

Check out these bad boys!  Aren't they adorable?  I mean...manly.  Or maybe handsome is more appropriate?

You can also check out the Butch Bakery here.  I love ideas like this.  My friends and I came up with this idea once for manly scented candles, but sadly, we discovered someone else had thought of it too.  And why not?  Who wouldn't want a Chuck Norris scented candle?  Speaking of Chuck Norris, the Butch Bakery needs to have a Chuck Norris cupcake...I think I might just suggest it!

Happy Friday!
Kelly

Portfolio: Hungry Little Caterpillar Cupcakes

On Saturday I posted about a cake I did for my friend's daughter Madeleine.  Her cake was one of two I did this weekend; the other was for another little girl named Madeline, the daughter of another friend (and I really wish that both of their names were spelled the same way so that it wouldn't make my brain hurt as much when trying to type them out!).  Madeline's first birthday is tomorrow and to celebrate, her mama requested cupcakes done up like the Hungry Little Caterpillar.  It's one of my daughter's favorite books, so this was a really fun project for me on so many levels (shoot, this whole weekend was full of fun baking projects).

The leaf cake board is a piece of foam board that I cut into a leaf shape and then used a large tip brush to apply watered down acrylic paint in large strokes.  It created a watercolor type effect that matches the book's illustrations really well.

Second Place Cupcakes!

UPDATE: If you'd like to try my winning recipe, you can link to Jennie's blog here to nab the recipe. Many thanks again to Jennie for putting on such a great event! I can't wait for next time!

* * * * *

Howdy all! It's been a whirlwind the last few days and I am happy to announce that my recipe for Coconut Lime Cupcakes with Lime Curd Swiss Buttercream won second place in the Freestyle Amateur Baking Contest at the Cupcake Smackdown 1.0! Yeehaw!

Saturday was a bit crazy and I had decided to bake my cupcakes that morning to ensure maximum freshness. I dropped my daughter off at a friend's house and then drove downtown to drop off my cupcakes. I decided to head back home to avoid some of the heat and wait for my husband to get home from work before the three of us headed downtown. Unfortunately, we got there just after the announcements were made on the winners and I was pretty bummed when I found out I hadn't won first place. But something just told me to buck up. It was my first competition, after all!

I did want to know what the winning cakes were and I was shocked when I read through the list of winners this evening and saw my name for second place! I was so excited I started jumping up and down and shrieking. My 17 month old thought it was hilarious and she started doing it too. I wish I could have had a video of the two of us running around yelling our heads off for the sheer joy of it. Anyhoo, below are pictures of my cupcakes. My winning recipe was Coconut Lime cake with Lime Curd Swiss Buttercream. My other entry was my Choco Cherry Chili cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing.

For the birds: Coconut Lime cupcakes with Lime Curd Swiss Buttercream and fondant birds

Pretty please with a cherry on top: Choco-Cherry-Chili cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing and fresh cherries

It sounds like the event organizer would like to feature my recipe on her blog, and I'm pretty stoked about that. If it happens, I'll link there! As for the little birdies made out of fondant, I am going to post a tutorial soon on how to make them as they were so cute and super easy to make.

Until then, Happy Caking!

Kelly

Putting the Smackdown on Cupcakes

Cupcake Smackdown!

A couple of weekends ago I was in All in One BakeShop picking up some supplies and I happened to notice a flier on one of the racks...'Inneresting,' I thought. I love cupcakes, and I love smackdowns! I visited the blog link for it and contacted Jennie, who is the organizer for it all and I have signed myself up for the chocolate and freestyle categories in the amatuer baking contest. I have decided to submit my coconut lime cake in the freestyle contest, obviously with some modifications to it. I recently had a mojito at my folks' house and so I have perfected my recipe to be more like a mojito. Yum!

For the chocolate category, I am toying with a couple of things and right now I am working developing a cherry chili chocolate recipe that should be uber tasty. My only snafu so far is the cherry part. I want more of the flavor to come through, but it isn't yet. I ahave a little less than a week and a half to figure out. If I opt for something else, I'm not sure what I'll do, but I will think of something!

Until then, visit the embedded link above to check out more info on the Smackdown. It should prove to be very fun and I can't wait! My first contest!

Happy Caking,
Kelly