Thursday, August 16, 2012

Thank You!

Hi fellow cupcake lovers! I just wanted to take the time to say thank you for all of your support and kind words!! There's nothing better than knowing you are loved and appreciated.  I've taken some time off due to moving (and not having an oven) so I will be back to post photos of my wonderful cupcake treats soon.

Stay cool you guys!

peace, <3, & cupcakes,
i.a.m.

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Happy 5th Birthday Jehden!


w/out Spiderman
All of the Superhero cupcakes
I love the Summertime..more parties and more CUPCAKES!! Another fondant request from my friend Teisge, but this time the theme was "superhero".  Let me first say that without the assistance of my husband, these would not have come out as great as they are.  His steady hand and the x-acto knife were a godsend!! Love you honey (LOL!) Well, its time for me to get ready to celebrate with Jehden & his family for his 5th birthday!

Peace, <3, & cupcakes
i.a.m.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Blog Update

Hello readers,

sums up my life!! 
So I've finally decided to create a Facebook page just for my cupcakes.  I know my family and friends were tired of the countless posts of cupcakes and being tagged in a limitless amount of photos.  There are a number of personal reasons I did not want to create a page, but I figured even Jesus had haters so why not?!  Your support is appreciated and means a lot to me!

So go on over and take a gander and like my page i.a.m. cupcakes and while you're at it follow me on twitter @IAM_CupCakes!!!

Hope you guys have a great weekend <3

Peace, <3, & Cupcakes
i.a.m.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Girls Night Out w/ Suite 106 Cupcakery

YES, you read the title of this blog correctly...I got to take a decorating class from the winners of Cupcake Wars (insert your jealousy here)!!!!

Rebecca & Christy of Suite 106 Cupcakery were nice enough to open their lab & design center for an awesome night of decorating.  The class included 4 themed cupcakes and 4 themed cookies.  The instructor was such a sweet young lady and very helpful with any and all questions we had.  And of course  Rebecca & Christy were there.  Let me add that they are the most down to earth ladies, you'd never know they ran the most successful cupcake business in the Inland Empire, let alone were Cupcake Wars champions.

I had been preparing for this day in my head for the past week. I tweeted, emailed, and facebooked my desire to attend this class.  Once I got the email saying there was a spot available I was beyond excited.  I had to wait for the phone call to give my information.  When that phone call came I know I scared Michael (Suite 106 employee) to death.  I screamed and told him how much of a fan I was and everything in between...I'm sure he thought I was more than looney tunes. But hey, how often can you say you took a class from the winner of Cupcake Wars??!!!

Getting ready to leave for "Girls Night Out"
The week leading up to the class seemed to drag like no other.  I had a million and eighteen questions in my mind, pictures to show and outfits picked out.  When Sunday finally arrived, I was more nervous than a sinner at altar call.  But with the help and kind words of my husband, I calmed down.

When I pulled up to the "lab" I was very happy to see the signature "Suite 106" decal on the door (pictured below).  I was greeted by Christy and was told to sign in and grab a seat in the lab.  Boy was I happy to be there.  I looked around as if someone let me into heaven.
"yaaay!!"
They provided us with the tools for the decorating class which included: 4 cookies (dress, shoe, martini glass, and lips) 4 cupcakes (2 vanilla, 1 red velvet, and 1 chocolate), colored fondant, gumpaste, a rolling pin, an x-acto knife, paint brush, and a food writing pen.
Decorating tools



 We began our lesson with creating a purse from gumpaste, not as easy as it sounds either.  I wasn't the kid in preschool playing with play-doh making shapes and worms so I was a little out of my comfort zone.  Now working with fondant is easy because I can create letters and 3D images, but never anything like a purse. 



Our instructor made everything so simple and easy.  She explained things in non-baker terms which made things so much more comfortable.  Next we created the lipstick (bottom).  This was so much more easier than the purse. I finished that one with no issues. Then it was time to do the rose (top)...no words for how that came out (LOL!)




 Now it was time to start the cookies!! To the left are the naked cookies and the right are my decorated cookies.  My personal fave is a tie between the martini glass and the shoe.

My instructors cookies (show-off, lol!)
Proudly displaying my cupcake
Rebecca, Christy and I goofing off!



Needless to say, I had so much fun!! Learned a lot, asked a lot of questions and laughed even more.  I am looking forward to taking more classes with Suite 106 Cupcakery and getting to know more about designing cupcake toppers and other fun things.


Suite 106 Cupcakery owners Rebecca & Christy and I



Saturday, June 23, 2012

Happy 2nd Birthday Jayce!!

My practice characters...came out ok!
(please excuse the sugar on the table)
Oh how I LOVE  a challenge!! My classmate Tseige is always giving me a challenge for her kids' birthday parties.  First it was the Cookie Monster & Elmo cupcakes now Yo Gabba Gabba.  She sent me a picture of what she wanted them to look like...and I was intimidated.  My husband was wondering why I was staring at the computer with tears in my eyes. I told him that I didn't think I was going to be able to replicate this picture. There was no way in h-e-double hockey sticks my beginner level fondant skills were going to do this...I was defeated and I hadn't even tried.  So last week I got up the nerve to make the fondant (YES I MAKE MY FONDANT FROM SCRATCH!) and practice the characters from the picture AND I DID IT! Needless to say, I felt confident with this order.

When I delivered the cake & cupcakes this morning, I could see that she was more than happy with how they turned out (as was I).

Cake & cupcakes

I love this cake & these cupcakes SOOO much.  They allowed me to step outside of my box and showcase my fondant skills.
Jayce is 2!!! 

Yo Gabba Gabba rocks! 









Well I hope everyone has a great weekend! I am preparing for Little Mermaid & Angry Birds events next weekend.  Cannot wait to show those pictures off.

PEACE, <3, & CUPCAKES
i.a.m.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Happy (belated) Mother's Day!!!

I hope all the moms out there had a fantabulous Mother's Day because I sure did.  My husband and our girls did such a wonderful job making my day special. From breakfast in bed to handmade cards and pictures, I was spoiled and loved every minute of it.  But my day of being spoiled was short-lived because I had to go and spoil the two women in my life that I can't live without...my mom & grandmother!!

My mom and grandmother are my world and I am more than blessed to have them in my life. As an added blessing my great-grandmother is still with us and we are 5 generations strong...YES I SAID 5 GENERATIONS!! So Mother's Day is always a big celebration because of this!!

In honor of these women I decorated the cake I prepared with roses.   I've decided to call this cake "5 Generations of Roses' cake! It is a lemon cake with lemon buttercream frosting.  By far, the most beautiful cake I've seen (and yes I'm bragging!).
"5 Generations of Roses"

Hope you like the pictures I've included of my mom, grandmothers, and my little girls!!

Peace, Love & Cupcakes

My grandmother and great-grandmother

My mom and I

My granny and I


My great-granny and I
Alyssa (aww!)

She loves to act goofy w/ me! 
The loves of my life!!


Amaya (laughing in her sleep!)
Quality time w/ her great-granny!


She always had this look on her face! LOL!

This picture makes my heart melt!
<3 my divas!!

Alyssa's 1st day of Kindergarten
Riding through the Seattle airport



Thursday, May 10, 2012

Expansion is the key!

This is my absolute dream bakery!
*sigh*
Vanilla cake w/ vanilla buttercream frosting
My ADD has kicked in and of course it involves cupcakes.  My passion is to open up a very trendy but successful bakery that looks like the one pictured on the left, but until then I will be content in my kitchen with Martha (my Kitchen-Aid mixer, lol!) So back to my ADD, I've been wanting to try new ways to both package and creatively sell my cupcakes. I've been seeing people advertise cupcakes in a jar lately and decided to jump on the cake wagon (I'm so corny!) Well, here you have it...my cupcake in a jar.  If you are interested in having these at an event please contact me for pricing. :)

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Jazz's Baby Shower

Being that I know I'm not going to sleep anytime soon, I've yet again come across some pictures that I've yet again failed to upload (SMH)

My neighbor and her husband are expecting a little girl in the next couple of weeks.  Her name is Princess Sheilaya <3 and I can't wait to meet her.  This baby shower was a surprise and it was very hard for me not to mention anything to Jazz because I see her EVERYDAY! But nonetheless, I kept the secret and glad she was surprised when she arrived at the event.  Jazz had a favorite cupcake of mine that I knew I had to make her...my strawberry shortcake with fresh strawberries and whipped cream.  I also did a chocolate chip cupcake with a baked chocolate chip cookie on top.  The last cupcake I did was a chocolate cupcake with vanilla buttercream.  I topped the chocolate cupcake with chocolate baby booties in pink and white. Her mom was so happy and I'm glad that I could be apart of the celebration for baby Princess!

Cupcake Shoe

Ok, I lied!! I said I was going to bed but after uploading pictures I came across one of my cupcake creations that I had not posted!! I had a lot of fun making this...although it was very nerve wrecking.  For Valentine's Day my husband bought me the book "Cupcakes, Cookies, & Pies, Oh My!" I contained the very popular high heel cupcake that hit the internet.  So of course I had to try it...and I think I did a wonderful job! Ok, now I'm really going to sleep :-)

Autism Speaks Event

Hope everyone had a great week!! Can't believe tomorrow is my birthday...time flies when you get old (lol!)

A couple of weeks ago, while getting over the flu, I received a very sweet phone call from a gentleman that works in my office building.  He was thinking of having an event for autism awareness and wanted to have some type of "fundraiser" but without going broke doing it.  Now, this gentleman kindly explained to me that he was a very big fan of a famous cupcake bakery located in the Inland Empire and had not been back to their store since tasting one of my cupcakes!! YES MY MOUTH DROPPED OPEN TOO!! I have heard very generous compliments from both family and clients alike, but I have never been compared to an actual established bakery! Needless to say, I was more than happy to provide cupcakes for his event :-)

So while I was on my new favorite obsession (www.pinterest.com) I came across a very interesting pin with some cupcakes in a cup (http://pinterest.com/pin/89157267593287499/)... *cue light bulb over my head* and thought to myself, "why not do that for the Autism event?" Excitement consumed me...yes I get excited about stuff like this (lol!)

After baking 4 dozen cupcakes (red velvet, chocolate, and vanilla) it was time to place them inside of the plastic cups.  I didn't know if I wanted to frost them in the cup or frost them outside of the cup, then try putting them in there.  I opted for my 1st thought, frosting them inside of the cup, that way I don't risk messing up the frosting. And boy was I glad I chose to do that... *whew*

I had fun preparing these cupcakes for such a special event.  When you get a chance, please visit www.autismspeaks.org and read about how this disorder affects the lives of so many.  The reason he throws this event is because his daughter has autism.  An estimated 1 out of 54 boys and 1 in 252 girls are diagnosed with autism in the United States.  It makes it just that more special.

Well, time to turn in and look forward to this wonderful event tomorrow!! Adios!







It was all for a good cause...would do it again in a  heartbeat <3




This is how I set them up for the event! 
Side shot of the set-up