Bridal Shower Cupcakes

When my daughter was in high school, she had this little group of girls she would hang around with.  There were 2 of them that were especially close to her.  Now that they are in their mid 20's, they are still very close.  The third amigo is getting married at the end of summer, and the other two were throwing her a bridal shower.  The colors for the wedding are yellow and blue.  Her wedding dress is almost all lace, so I wanted to reflect that in the cupcake theme.

I made both chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, put pale yellow buttercream frosting on them all and then decorated them with a blue flower and some pearl dragees.  The girls had given me an idea for a bridal dress on the top of the cupcake tower, so I made a cake using a Pyrex bowl.  I then covered that with white fondant and pressed my lace mold over the bottom of the dress to mimic the lace in the actual gown.

I heard rave reviews from the bride-to-be, as well as the two girls throwing the party.  I don't think I have ever been more nervous or more proud of something I've created.

Here is the final product...

Cupcake bouquet

I have a friend going through chemo for breast cancer.  Several of our friends have prepared meals that are oven ready and easy to serve.  Several have dropped by with flowers and well wishes.  I decided to do a bit of both...I made a cupcake bouquet.

I wanted to mindful of the fact she was having chemo and may not be feeling well.  I decided to go with a chocolate cake with no milk or eggs.

Here's the recipe:  http://tastycheapskate.blogspot.com/2011/01/wacky-cake.html

I added some buttercream piped like flowers to complete the cupcakes.

To build the bouquet, find a vase or basket of your choice.  Get some plastic cups and some clear Scotch tape.  I'm sure there is some scientific method to putting the cups together, but I just taped them together at the bottom of the cup and then fit them into the basket.  Once you have that completed, cut tissue paper into squares.  Put a square of tissue paper into each cup and then put a cupcake in the cup.  Once you have all your cups filled with paper and cupcakes, fill in any blank spots with additional tissue paper squares.

Voila!

I had my husband deliver the bouquet to my friend's house.  I got a note from her immediately following thanking me.  Knowing that I lifted her spirits just for a minute was gratitude enough for me.

Happy Valentine's Day...You Make My Heart Sing!

So...today is Valentine's Day.  My husband used to work in the floral industry many years ago.  Valentine's Days were spent in the office.  Because of that, we have never really celebrated it.  However, he gave up that profession and has now moved on to bigger and better things, but we still don't celebrate Valentine's Day....until this year.  I woke up this morning to find a card, a necklace and earrings.  ?????  Don't get me wrong, I love them, but it was totally unexpected and left me totally hanging in the wind.  I did not get him anything.

Well...I got to work doing what I do best, and I came up with this cake.  Music is an integral part of our lives.  It's the reason we met, so I wanted to tie that in somewhere.

Presenting.....Happy Valentine's Day - You Make My Heart Sing!

Inside is a chocolate layer and a yellow layer with peanut butter frosting in between the layers.  These are covered with a basic buttercream.  The flowers are made out of marshmallow fondant I made and tinted myself.  The music notes and staff are black candy melts.  The red hearts are chocolate chips melted and tinted with red gel food coloring.  

It took me most of the evening, but it's done, and I'm pretty excited about how it turned out.