Sunday, June 19, 2011

Jayce's 1st Birthday party

So my Cookie Monster cupcakes were a hit on Facebook.  YAAAYY ME!

My friend Tesige sent me a message that she loved the way the cupcakes looked and wanted to order some for her son's 1st birthday party.  Only difference being that she requested Elmo also.  So I did some research and found a couple of credible sources online and combined their techniques to creating my version of Elmo.  IT WAS SOOO EASY TOO!! And sooo much fun to do.  After baking the cupcakes I let them cool and prepared my buttercream...FROM SCRATCH!
The supplies used to create Elmo:
*my buttercream frosting  (one small portion colored orange for his nose)
*red sugar crystals (I make my own since its fairly easy)
*Wilton Candy Melts - Dark Cocoa (for Elmo's mouth)
*Marshmallow Fondant (for his eyes)
*Chocolate chips (for his pupils)
*(2) Ziploc Freezer bags
*Wax Paper
*Cookie Sheet

To create Elmo's red color:
1. Cover the cupcakes with white buttercream using a pastry bag and coupler with NO TIP attached.
2. Smooth the buttercream over the cupcakes with a curved spatula.
3. Pour the red sugar crystals into a shallow bowl so you can cover the cupcakes evenly.
4. Take each cupcake and dip into the red sugar, making sure you cover the buttercream completely.
** if the buttercream gets hard in the process just take the spatula and go around the cupcake**


To create Elmo's mouth:
1. Heat up a handful of the Wilton Candy Melts in a measuring cup until melted.
*** MAKE SURE NOT TO BURN THEM***
2. Take one of the freezer bags and invert the bag over your open hand and press to make a cup in side your fingers.
3. Fill the cup inside your fingers with the melted chocolate and then lift the edges of the bag up and around the chocolate.
4. Press out the excess air and seal the bag.
5.  Use scissors to snip a corner.
6. With the wax paper placed on the cookie sheet, draw out a small crescent moon shape (as seen in the photo).
7. Place the cookie sheet in the fridge to harden.
8. Once the chocolate has set, carefully place the mouths on Elmo; smooth side down.

To create their eyes:
1. Using marshmallow fondant, take small piece and roll into a ball.
2. Take a chocolate chip (pointy side down) and stick into the fondant ball.


Preparation is tedious but so much fun and in the end the cupcakes come out soo nice!!!


Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Cookie Monster

I <3 challenges...and I aim to prove people wrong! So when a mom at my daughters' school asked if I knew how to make Cookie Monster cupcakes I told her yes...even though I never tried to make them before.  She sent me a picture of what she wanted them to look like and I said "sure why not!" So after studying the picture she sent me I recreated him...and she LOVED them.  Its a yellow cake with buttercream frosting colored royal blue and fondant eyes.  To create the mouth, my husband cut a Chips Ahoy cookie and placed it in the cupcake and I frosted around the cookie to look like Cookie Monster was actually eating the cookie.  Next challenge...Elmo, Bert, and Oscar the Grouch!

Monday, June 6, 2011

Imara's Champagne Party



My cousin Imara loves the color orange...when I say love I mean LOVE.  So it was only fitting that her prom theme color be orange.  When I received the call from my aunt, I was thinking to myself how in the world am I going to pull this off??? But low and behold I did.  These are some of the 50 chocolate cupcakes with buttercream icing and 50 red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, both sprayed with Wilton's Color Mist.  I built her a cupcake tower with her inital "I" painted in her favorite color also. 

The beginning...

Soo...you think you can bake??? That's what my aunt asked me when I told her I was interested in beginning my cupcake business.  My answer of course was YES! I thought buying a couple of cupcake pans and some cupcake baking cups would suffice, OH BROTHER WAS I WRONG!!

So I sat and thought about it...what do I need to do to make my cupcakes:
1. stand out
2. taste good
3. look good

I enrolled in a cake decorating class through Wilton at my local craft store to discover the basics of decorating my cupcakes.  I learned how to make frostings from scratch, hold a piping bag, the difference between royal icing and buttercream, how to color frostings, and other fun things.  Once I passed that class I knew this was really the thing for me to do. PRACTICE, PRACTICE PRACTICE is what I did to perfect my craft.  Since my husband works at a railroad, I figured I could try out my recipes and new found skills on his co-workers...and boy did they love them! Over the Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays I had so many orders I didn't know what to do.  AND I LOVED THAT FEELING!

And so IAM Cupcakes began...