Here's just a
few of

my favorites!

New Taste & Technique

Our school, Cornerstone Christian, had a spaghetti feed & raffle last night to raise funds for new computers. In an effort to help & get our name out there we created a new cupcake bouquet.

We raffled it off along with a gift certificate for another one.

Just to make your mouth water - it was a Hummingbird cake. I call it my hybrid. It's carrot cake with a twist. Instead of raisins and spices, we used banana, coconut, & pineapple to compliment the carrots. It's perfect in consistency, super moist and super yummy. We topped it with cream cheese frosting & made the petals out of decorating sugar & marshmallows.

Overall the night was a success. Money was raised & our bouquet was oohed & ahhed.

If you like these cupcakes check out hellocupcakebook.com. That's where I got this idea & many more. Their cupcakes are fantastic! You can also check out their books "Hello cupcake" & "What's New Cupcake". I'm a huge fan of their ideas. And if you like to keep it simple they use mostly store bought frosting & decorating items. I prefer make mine from scratch, but it's great on the mom on the go!

Just made a new bouquet. Thought I'd share a few pics. It was for a friend of Stacy's - a birthday present. They make such great gifts!

Short & Sweet

Summer is a lot like a cupcake, short & sweet. I can't believe how fast it flew by. Four days and counting til the 1st day of school. And where did all the cupcakes go in the last couple of months? Well I made several different batches - some a success & others a terrible mess. The time just got away from me and writing about those gooey moments got lost in a cloud of flour & whirl of children.

Like the week I tried to make special sugar free cupcakes for my sister-n-law, Kim. She was having a Splenda party. I attempted to make dark chocolate cupcakes with Splenda. They were a hot awful mess. So the next morning I thought I would try again with a Caramel Espresso & started by making caramel shards to decorate. My sugar never turned a dreamy light brown, but rather solidified and caught on fire!!! It was the morning of the party & I still was cupcakeless. I had to try one more time. I was successful in creating mini vanilla cakes with the help of Jamie. But then I proceeded to forget the flowers for decoration and to top it all off I tripped on my way to the car and dumped the entire batch down the front of me. Needless to say, I arrived at the party empty handed. Oh well.

Oh and who could forget the ones that tasted like a maple bar - I hate maple bars! They looked as bad as they tasted. There were a few successes. Of my favorite was an Almond Raspberry Creme & Banana Cheesecake. Plus I had my first paying client. She wanted cupcake bouquets. I loved putting them together and think they came out beautifully. With these bouquets I had to attempt my first gluten free cupcakes. I think they were pretty successful. Much like my oldest son who has been learning to ride w/o training wheels this summer, I have emerged with a few bumps & bruises in the cupcake world, but will end the summer with a victorious smile of accomplishment. I believe I can make cupcakes without my training wheels.

So, end the sweetness of summer with a divine lil cake of your own & welcome the school year with hopes of learning something new.

Cookies anyone?

Cookies & Cream Cupcakes

This week I followed the trail of cupcakes into the world of Oreos. My did I find a treasure! These luscious little cakes are vanilla based with a half an Oreo nestled at the bottom. Topped with my new found favorite frosting. It's a take on cream cheese frosting, but with just a hint of heavy cream to make it dreamy. It's been officially added to our list of favorites.

That list of favorites is growing and we are shaping it into our product list as Lil Sweet Cheeks. We are preparing to enter a booth at at local festival in October. I think that it will be a great way to gauge if this is just a hobby or actually a business that would prosper. Our other great idea, courtesy of Momma McNeilly, is to have a cupcake party. Who wouldn't want to eat cupcakes, drink coffee and girly chat? Stay tuned for details, you aren't going to want to miss this one.

Wow, where did the weekend go? It was a whirlwind of activity....visit to family, dinner with the lil sis, church, birthday party...the list goes on. (By the way, the B-day cake was adorable & the party a hit. Maddy's momma was amazing!) Yet with all the hustle & bustle, cupcakes still whirled in my head. I have, however found a a road block to conquer - children. Three of them! As I took time to watch a few of my favorite baking shows: Ace of Cakes & Cupcake Wars, I found myself wondering how they would do with three munchkins pulling at their legs, begging for something? I know Jamie wondered the same thing as she worked on a super yummy Cappuccino Cupcake & her lil sweetie tried to dump salt into the batch. How would you distract your sweetie pies to bake?

So despite the distraction of my babies, tomorrow I will forge ahead with plans to make Cookies & Cream Cupcakes. Then on Tuesday, Jamie & I will attempt to perfect our vanilla cupcake. Oh yeah one more problem....how in the world am I going to continue baking such yumminess and not get super pudgy? I think my family is a little worried about their waistlines as well. Guess I'll have to conquer that one another day. Goodnite Sunday.

Sweetness to come?

Today I scored a super cute cupcake recipe box while hunting for a lunch box for the hubby. A fantastic trade if I do say so my self. Tomorrow I am baking a cake for sweet Maddy's 3rd birthday. Plus spending the evening talking cupcakes with Jamie while the men talk about....well what men talk about. Seems like the perfect start to the weekend. Stay posted for pics of the cake....

Sweet Liberty

The battle cry of the yearly 4th of July BBQ was heard, and we answered it's call with four delectable cupcakes - Coca Cola, Key Lime, Boston Cream & Peanut Butter Cup.

It was time to try our hand at these lil cakes and share them with the world. My first attempt was a Coca Cola Cupcake. I struggled to perfect the frosting & ended up with a super yummy glaze, plus a chocolaty filling. In the end I had a super moist, chocolate cupcake. The flavor of coke was barely there and so I have renamed them Chocolate Dreams. Needless to say, while I was a little disappointed with the over all look of the cake, it tasted so good that none of them made it to the party.

While I consider that battle a bittersweet loss, my Key Limes were a strategic move toward victory. I candied the limes myself by boiling them in sugar water. Next I folded smooth batter with the perfect peaks of meragine to create a cupcake so soft & with just a hint of lime. With Jamie's help I whipped up the perfect topper of cream cheese & lime zest. I was quite pleased with the end result.

Jamie dove into the battle with her Boston Cream Cupcake. It was large & in charge - the big guns in the battle. It was a crowd pleaser! She cliched it with her Peanut Butter Cupcake. I believe my hubby said it was so sweet, it made his cheeks sweat. Now that's what I call putting the sweet in your cheeks!

In the battle of the BBQ, I believe we came & we conquered!

A venture into sweetness.

It's summer vacation, my hubby is unemployed, & we've moved back to our hometown. While reconnecting with old friends over lunch & trying figure out what the future holds, we begin talking about our love for baking & decorating. I've been chewing on it for a few days and tossing around ideas with the hubby & my friend Jamie. So I've decided to venture into the the world of cupcakes & cake decorating. Who knows if anything will come of it. Perhaps only the solidification of a friendship or a way to pass the long summer days. Or may, just maybe, I might be good at this. Either way I am willing to stretch my imagination.

I suppose my love of decorating first started the birthday my mom made me a doll cake. Now days you can purchase a kit, but my momma went to the craft store, bought a half a doll to place on a fork and then inserted into the cake. Each year was a new theme & a new cake. I remember Ragedy Ann, a piano and many more. Since then I have loved making food fun & beautiful. I don't care if it's the dinner salad or a birthday cake. I want it to tickle your tastebuds & delight your eye.

Why lil sweet cheeks? Because I have three sets of lil cheeks that I love to kiss & chew on. And there is nothing sweeter than seeing those cheeks spread wide with a smile & covered with frosting. So come with me if you like, as I explore my little hobby. It will be a road paved with sweet goodness.