Cupcakes for Santa

My daughter, who is three, was given this Mickey & Minnie cupcake set from a good friend of mine. Really cute gift set huh? As soon as my daughter saw it she immediately said, "I want to bake cupcakes for Santa Mommy."  I have to admit, I said the same thing! :)

This morning we embarked on our mini cupcake journey. Even though I baked nearly 8 dozen cupcakes yesterday, I couldn't turn down my little girl's request to bake. Santa needed HER cupcakes, not mine. She was very excited and wanted to take part in every part of the process...except for cracking eggs.

She helped mix the batter

Helped fill the liners with batter

Helped me frost the mini cupcakes

Then she added sprinkles to each

All the cupcakes are ready for Santa...well not all of them

After she was done baking and decorating she ate one of her masterpieces. She said, "mmmmm" and was nodding her head yes. I might have just found a cupcake assistant! :)

Happy Baking,
AJ

Christmas Cupcakes Galore!

Two great girlfriends joined me in the kitchen today to whip up some Christmas cupcakes. We ended up making nearly 8 dozen cupcakes with wonderful flavors and cute trimmings! Here's our lineup:

• Devils food
• Vanilla
• Candy Cane (half red velvet and half vanilla)
• Chocolate Cherry Cordial

We all had a great time baking and trying out new decorations and recipes. Check out our Christmas cupcakes in all their yuletide glow:

The cast of Christmas Cupcakes

Left: Happy "Holly Days" - devils food with buttercream and holly sprinkles
Right: Merry and Bright - vanilla with buttercream and chocolate C4 bulb

Candy Cane Cupcakes - half red velvet and half vanilla with buttercream frosting and candy canes

Chocolate Cherry Cordial - white cake with chocolate and cherry bits
with chocolate buttercream and a chocolate dipped cherry

With so many cupcakes I just had to share. My friends, Katie and Jessica, took some to their families. I handed some out to my neighbors, and I am saving some for my family Christmas gathering. I might even leave some out for Santa with the cookies and milk. Santa likes cupcakes too right? :)

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Happy Baking,
AJ

Party Cakes...

Ms. K came to me as a referral from a friend. **Applause for referrals** She needed cupcakes to help celebrate Little H's first birthday. The unique opportunity that came with these cupcakes is that she didn't have a theme, only a cupcake stand and banner that she created. She sent me the invitation, picture of the cupcake stand and banner to show me all of the patterns and colors she was using. Here is the adorable stand and banner she made:

So my challenge was unique...make cupcakes that were not so over the top that the took away from this awesome stand. They needed to be more like accents! I decided to narrow in on a few of the patterns and colors. For the design I stuck with polka dots and sprinkles with a variation in the frosting style. Here is the outcome:

Golden vanilla smash cake with polka dots, Devils food with baby blue frosting and brown polka dot topper, Golden vanilla with buttercream and multi-colored polka dots

Ms. K is going to send me a picture of them once they are on the stand. I am anxious to see how they look. I would decorate a cupcake and hold it up to the stand/banner picture that was taped to my cabinet door and envision it on there! :)

Happy 1st birthday Little H. Enjoy your cupcakes!

Happy Baking,

AJ

Pupcakes go to a party!!

My friend, and recipient of the pupcakes, celebrated her son's first birthday Sunday. In my pupcake post, I mentioned that she made a cupcake stand to display them on. Today, I received an email with a few pictures of the display, and it turned out so good!

High-five B-man's Mom! The cupcake stand looks AMAZING! Thanks again for sending me pictures.

Happy Baking,
AJ

Pupcakes!

A friend, and former coworker, asked me to make cupcakes and a smash cupcake for her son's upcoming 1st birthday party. The theme of the party is puppy dogs! Since they are all fresh out of the oven, and now safely stored in my refrigerator, I thought I would share a few snapshots of the doggone cuties!

The entire pupcake pack

B-man's smash cake (vanilla cake, buttercream frosting, chocolate dots and bones)

The cupcakes (vanilla w/chocolate buttercream and chocolate #1
& devil's food w/baby blue buttercream and bones made out of sugar)

B-man's Mom also made an awesome cupcake stand after she found the directions in one of my previous posts. I can't wait to see them all setup!

I hope you enjoy your 1st birthday party B-man! Have an awesome time smashing that cake.


Happy Baking,
AJ

John Deere Birthday Cupcakes!

Last week I was asked by my fitness instructor, Aleta, to make cupcakes for her son's upcoming 2nd birthday! The theme, John Deere. I was so excited to give these a whirl! Not only would it be the first time someone has hired me to make cupcakes, but it gave me the opportunity to frost out of the ordinary. I got to make grass!! :) I started practicing the technique on the Halloween cupcakes in order to perfect it for these.  The results are below:

The set: 1dz vanilla with grass butter cream and John Deere caps, 1dz chocolate with yellow butter cream and chocolate 2's for toppers

Tip #233 with caps from Baker's Nook



Tip #1M with chocolate 2 toppers free-handed on parchment

Happy early birthday little Auden. I hope you enjoy your cupcakes!

Happy Baking,
AJ

Spooky Halloween Cupcakes!

Halloween is a great time to create cute and spooky cupcakes! I had so many ideas for this year. From trick-or-treat buckets to monsters. I ended up narrowing the list to two different designs, mummies and hi-hats! I saw the mummy kit at Target several weeks ago and couldn't pass it up. The kit came with the mummy and tree sticks as well as the fencing that goes around. Then I was inspired when I read a posting on Bakerella.com about her hi-hat trial run. I figured I would give it a whirl, but I needed to accessorize mine...with spiders!

Before I embarked on my Halloween journey, I enlisted the help of my friend Jessica! She came over today and we got to work. Check out our creations:

Devils food, green buttercream icing (tip #233), mummy decor kit and black liners

Hi-hats before decorations. Vanilla cupcakes, orange liners and hi-hat frosting (tip #12)

Hi-hats decorated, some dipped in chocolate, accented with a spider ring

Boxed up and ready to eat! Boxes found at Target

Jessica and I really enjoyed making these. They were a lot of fun. I will have to continue to practice the art of hi-hat cupcakes. I want to turn them into Christmas trees soon. Stay tuned for that one...

Happy Baking,
AJ