It's a wedding shower

A friend, and mentor, from work is getting married! Yay! To celebrate several of us girls got together to surprise her with a wedding shower at Mia Bella's. She was quite shocked when she arrived as she thought she was only dining with one of us today - not eleven. We are often sneaky like that!
We all had a great time chatting, watching the bride-to-be open gifts, and dining on Italian food. To cap off the celebration we had cupcakes for dessert. Afterall, it's the proper way to end a celebration. Actually, it's the proper way to end anything - end of a week, end of the day, end of an hour, end of a blog post... :)

Here are the treats that I whipped up for our gathering:

Vanilla cupcakes with buttercream frosting and "I Do" topper
Devils food cupcake with buttercream frosting and handmade red chocolate hearts covered in sprinkles



Below is the bride-to-be Shelly (on the right) with our friend Shelly L. getting ready to enjoy their cupcakes!

Congratulations Shelly & Matt! Enjoy your upcoming wedding, and the wonderful adventure of marriage!

Happy Baking,
AJ

Silent Auction Cupcakes

In a recent post I wrote about a fellow coworker who was injured at his home. To help his family cope with some of their bills his neighborhood hosted a series of charity events. It started with a bake sale on July 4th and ended with a dinner/silent auction the following weekend. AJ's Cupcakes sent a couple dozen chocolate cupcakes to the bake sale. Then I added a gift certificate for two dozen cupcakes to the silent auction.

I am happy to report that between the bake sale and dinner/silent auction over $15K was raised for the Parrish family. That was with several baked items and around 100 items in the auction. AMAZING!

Earlier this week I was contacted by the lady who was the highest bidder on the cupcakes - Suzette. It just so happens that she is participating in a wedding shower this weekend. She asked me if I could make the cupcakes in time for the shower. She noted that the theme was sunshine, and that they were using a lot of orange and yellow. I baked up a dozen vanilla and a dozen chocolate cupcakes and topped them with colored buttercream frosting to match the shower theme!

I am really glad that I was able to help out. The amount of support and contributions people gave was awesome, and I know the family will be appreciative of it!

Happy Baking,

AJ

I want candy...

I decided to try a new set of cupcakes tonight - candy. In my house we love a few specific chocolate candies: Butterfinger, Reeses, and M&Ms. We love them in blizzards, on their own, in cookies etc. I figured that if they tasted good in all of those other things then cupcakes were a shoe in.

To start I chopped the candy into small pieces so I could put it into the cake batter. After I spooned the vanilla buttermilk cake into the liners I sprinkled the chopped candy in various cups. To help blend it I added another tablespoon of batter on top. Then I topped them with buttercream frosting and more candy!

When I make a new cupcake I always have my husband test it out before I take it anywhere. Poor guy. Tonight when I asked him to eat them he said that he wasn't really in the mood to eat three different cupcakes. So to compromise I asked him take one bite out of all three. LOL That is the equivalent of him eating one entire cupcake right? I put the three half eaten cupcakes aside for him to snack on later...they are now gone. :)

Happy Baking,
AJ

Fun Cupcake Friday

" I call this game FUN-IN-A-BOX ,"

Said the cat.

"In this box are two things

I will show to you now.

You will like these two things,"

Said the cat with a bow.

"I will pick up the hook.

You will see something new.

Two things. And I call them

Thing One and Thing Two."

- The Cat in the Hat

Confetti cake with vanilla frosting. Topped with blue cotton candy.

As soon as I saw these cupcakes on Annie's Eats I knew I had to try them for four reasons:

1. My daughter loves to read Dr. Seuss. Couldn't you tell from the picture? Those are just some of her books.
2. I love to decorate cupcakes with fun things - like cotton candy!
3. Creating a perfect opportunity to tell someone, "Uh there is hair on your cupcake." 
4. Finally because I wanted to give a shout out to a good friend via cupcakes! My friend Kristen and I were nicknamed Thing 1 and Thing 2 a while back. Probably because we had so much in common, and we were always together at work. It also helped that we wore solid red long sleeved jumpsuits everyday. ;) (Hi Kristen *nerdy wave*)

They were a lot of fun to make and they came together pretty quick. Have a great weekend and eat a cupcake, or two. Oh, and put some cotton candy on it. It really does taste good.

P.S. If anyone stumbles upon silver/gray cotton candy please let me know. I think I need to make a Don King cupcake next. I'm off to find miniature bow ties...

Happy Baking,

AJ

An Americana Staple: Apple Pie

With the 4th of July approaching I decided to find a fun cupcake to honor the day. Nothing screams "Happy Birthday America" like apple pie so I figured it was a good flavor to try out. As I was browsing the internet to see other's renditions I found one that looked great from  Annie's Eats. Let the baking begin...

Have a safe and happy July 4th everyone. Remember the burn ban...we don't need any other kind of fireworks this year either! :)

Happy Baking,
AJ

Pool Party Cupcakes

My friend Kristine's daughter is turning 4, and her birthday party is tomorrow. To celebrate they chose to host a pool party! That is one of the best things to do in Texas in July. With temperatures near 100 almost everyday there is no better choice. Although playing cards in your refrigerator comes in a close second. LOL

A couple of weeks ago, my friend and I chatted about cakes and cupcakes for the party. We finally decided on pool and sun cupcakes. Primarily because the Teddy Graham bears in inner tubes were SO CUTE!

While making these cupcakes I learned something new about Teddy Grahams. Some bears are made with their arms up in the air, and others are made with their arms down at their side. Random thing to learn, I know, but it's important when you are putting them in candy inner tubes. If your bear has his arms up he looks like he is having fun in the pool. Splashing around in his puddle of frosting. If they are down, the candy inner tube sits up around his neck and makes him look like he is drowning! Just a piece of advice...it's not ideal to have drowning bears as cupcake decorations at a pool party. :)

Have a great party tomorrow Camryn. Enjoy your cupcakes!

Happy Baking,
AJ

Cupcakes for Charity

A colleague at the company I work for was injured earlier this year, and unfortunately is now paralyzed. To help the family cover medical and construction (wheel chair accessible needs) bills their neighborhood, Prestonwood Forest, banded together to help.

The community arranged three events to collect donations for the family:

• July 4th: Bake sale @ Prestonwood Forest Subdivision (main clubhouse area)
• July 6th and 7th: Community Garage Sale
• July 9th: Dinner (for a fee) and Silent Auction (main clubhouse area)

AJ's Cupcakes decided to help out with the bake sale and the silent auction. I sent over 2 dozen cupcakes for Monday, and contributed a voucher for two free dozen cupcakes to the highest bidder at the auction.

If you find yourself in the area of Prestonwood Forest (@ 249 and Prestonwood Forest Dr.) stop in next week and help out the Parrish family. It is times like these when communities need to band together and help one and other. Just like the great folks in Prestonwood Forest. Thanks Cindy and Donna. :)

Happy Baking,
AJ