Champagne Velvet Cupcakes

These are some of the decadent cupcakes that I have been working on this week! A Champagne Velvet Cupcake drizzled with a Blush Champagne Simple Syrup and topped with Blush Champagne Buttercream. 

Swampfire!

Last week I made a Swampfire Cake! Had I ever heard of Swampfire? Absolutely not! Do I still not really know what/who it/he is? Pretty much. Maybe a creature from Ben 10 Alien something or other... Needless to say, this guy landed on my doorstep and it was time to make a cake!

I love love love getting emails like this after a cake goes on it's merry way:

The cake was a huge hit!  I just wanted to tell you that is was as delicious as it was beautiful - that is, if "beautiful" is an appropriate word to describe Swampfire.  The cake was moist and yummy, and I love the fondant!  I have never liked cakes with a lot of fluffy icing, so now I know what I really like!  It served a lot - just as you said.  Since the cake was nice and tall, the smaller piece cuts were still plenty big enough, and we had some left to take home, even after serving some parents and sibs.

We all loved how you put the flames on the sides.  What a creative way to put it all together.  And Swampfire was so detailed and just perfect.

It was truly my pleasure to make this cake and bring joy to the birthday boy and his family!

Pookie Cake

Pookie Cake, originally uploaded by bakers-cakes.

This cake was an absolute blast to design and create! It was based on Sandra Boynton's children's books and topped with the adorable Pookie! The background colors and lovable animals are inspired directly from the pages of the book, But Not the Hippopotamus.

I illustrated the line drawings with edible marker on white fondant and then painted and hand colored them with a food color wash and edible marker.

The cake itself is many many layers of Baker's Cakes Signature Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting between the layers AND Double Chocolate Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting UNDER a layer of rolled fondant!!! The Pookie Cake along with the matching smash cake were the perfect compliment to a darling 1st birthday party. If only the birthday girl thought so too...

Mini Cupcakes and Paintings!

Last night I had the pleasure of attending a painting class at Labourlove Gallery in the Golden Belt area in downtown Durham, NC. I brought mini cupcakes:

But, I knew it was a sign of what I was meant to paint when gallery owner Kelly Dew, put on one of my favorite bands... Cake!

The "class" was a guided open painting studio session for people of all levels. It was a fantastic experience to join others and pursue a common creative outlet!  I can't wait to go back next month! My friend Wendy, at A Southern Accent wrote about last month's class here.

Why is this Cake Compositionally Challenged?

The story of the Bright Pink, Heart Shaped, Make-Up Cake. It's an interesting story, really. A customer contacted me a while ago to inquire about making her eight year old daughter's birthday cake. No problem, I said.  She told me that her daughter wanted a pink cake with make-up on it. No problem, I said. Did she want me to make the make-up out of sugar paste? Nope, her daughter wanted real make-up on her cake. 

(I have learned in my brief but illustrious parenting career, that my child often chooses cake designs just to get to the toy on top. This has led to various battles that usually result in me just buying the toy and making the cake that I want to make. It's a win-win situation). 

The cake customer and I discussed this, she did some independent research, and found that her daughter really just wanted the make-up on top of her cake. (It's fitting really. She had a Claire's birthday party). So the cake customer purchased the make-up and gave it to me for the placement on the cake. And here's where my lesson began.

1. It's a good thing that she purchased the make-up, because I don't have a hot clue about the first thing about the stuff. I come from a very short lineage of non-make-up wearers. I was never taught the ways of application. I do however, have fond memories of watching my grandmother put on her make-up in her very elaborate mirror. I did have a brief foray into whatever make-up my mother had, one time in 5th grade. The end result was rather clownish, I'm certain.

2. When dropped out of an upper cabinet onto the counter top below, eye shadow breaks. Again, I had no idea about this.

Needless to say, I was able to get a replacement eye shadow right before I delivered the cake. The final composition of the cake was harmoniously balanced with three items. And that is why this cake went through a brief compositionally challenged phase!

Carolina Girls...

Carolina Girls..., originally uploaded by bakers-cakes.

These Onesie Cakes were ordered by a client throwing a baby shower for soon-to-be parents of twin girls! She described the couple as enthusiastic Carolina fans and not overly pink! She forwarded along this picture of a very popular t-shirt design:

One cake was Lemon with Lemon Curd Filling and Lemon Buttercream (YUM!!!) and the other was Buttermilk Vanilla with Vanilla Buttercream!

New Moon

New Moon , originally uploaded by bakers-cakes.

Baker's Cakes has now been around long enough to have returning Birthday Cake customers! Last year we got an order from a customer who's fiance loves "Twilight," and created a Twilight Cake for her. This year, now a husband, he continued with this fabulous tradition and ordered a New Moon Cake for her! The cake is Red Velvet, perfectly fitting for the story, and covered with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting and Rolled Fondant. The flower is hand painted as is the text on the book cover.

Cake Tasting!

I love baking and preparing a pretty spread to share with clients as they plan their special occasions! 

For this tasting I made Strawberry Buttermilk Cake, Sour Cream Almond Cake, and Baker's Cakes Signature Chocolate Cake. The cakes were paired with Fresh Strawberry Buttercream, Almond Buttercream, and White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting. This little cake was covered in fondant and decorated with marzipan to compliment the Sour Cream Almond Cake and Almond Buttercream:

We never got to do a cake tasting for our wedding and although our cake was tasty, I still feel like we missed something special!

UNC Swimming and Diving Cake 2010

Today buttercream is my nemesis. (And rain).

Go Heels! Beat Duke!

Peanut Butter Blossom Cupcakes

Today I whipped up a batch of these beautiful scrumptious peanut butter blossom topped chocolate cupcakes. I created them a while back for my dear friend Susan.

Today she wrote:

Incredibly grateful to be in the sunshine with my family in such as beautiful place. We spent the afternoon making sand castles and I swam in the ocean.. dodged a big boat and had a head on collision with a snorkler but other than that no casualites :)

Well, my friend... Today I was incredibly horrified to find that 5 inches of snow have caused two snow days and that my lovely children will be out of school for an indefinite amount of time. I spent the morning dragging my obstinate three year old through Target because she refuses to wear boots, shoes, shirts, pants, underwear, and walk. This afternoon I dodged a massive headache with a well timed beer and as far as casualties go, I haven't murdered anyone in my family yet, so all in all, it was a good day.

Needless to say, I am sad that Susan is in the Cayman Islands and not here to share in some of the cupcakes she inspired!!! (And for the record, honest to goodness, I am not bitter! We had our week in the sun. It sure is nice. And I miss it!!!!)