Happy Anniversary Cupcakes2Delite!

Honey & Pistachio Cupcakes

Cupcakes2Delite is officially a year old today as it was exactly a year ago that Wendy and I sat together and launched my new blog.  As you know I had a foot op a week ago and have been off my feet since then so any baking, photography etc is strictly not allowed.  I have really been missing my baking and my blogging and took the time today to just go through old pics and posts only to realise by chance that May 19th, a year ago was the beginning of my new adventure into baking and blogging. I can’t believe how far I have come in a year as my creativity both in the ideas for the cupcakes and the photography has done an about turn right under my nose.  In a short time I have learned so much from so many creative and wonderful people that have ventured into my life in the past year, some of them I chat to daily and others I know only through their books or their brilliant blogs. What a creative adventure this has turned out to be and what a pleasure to have so many friends, fans and followers.

These Honey and Pistachio Cupcakes are a perfect way to celebrate a year of research, reading, questioning and laughing my way through new cupcake ideas. No I am not Superwoman and did not quickly make them today, but made them a few weeks ago for an incredible group of ladies who inspire me in so many ways on a weekly basis, my Wednesday scrapbooking gang!  I bought these exquisite Wilton’s Yellow Petal cupcake holders http://www.wilton.com/ from the Chocolate Den and I wanted a cupcake that would suit the dainty green, yellow and white colouring of these cases.  I made an experimental Honey & Pistachio Cupcake as being a bit colour obsessed I thought perfect match in colour with these flavours!  The creamy cream cheese icing and dainty yellow flower do the final justice to the cupcake holder and the cupcakes were drop dead delicious even if I say so myself (I wish I had one now)!

Honey & Pistachio Cupcakes

You would not be seeing my cupcakes in different ways each time I blog if it was not for Lisa Nadene, my scrapbook teacher, friend and photography guru.  She is the one who taught me that photography is not about just pointing a camera and hoping for the best but it is about a passionate relationship between the photographer, the camera and whoever or whatever is being photographed.  Of course Lisa adds in the extra nuance of the perfect backdrop to her subject matter.  I asked Lisa to take these photographs of my cupcakes and they are so perfect and inspirational for this anniversary blog. Lisa has captured everything I wanted to show off in these beautiful cupcakes.

Honey & Pistachio Cupcakes

Thank you to:

My wonderful husband Eddie, by far the best fan of my cupcakes, thanks to you for the brilliant camera and my Kitchenaid and allowing me to follow this adventure!

My 2 beautiful children, Teigh and Ceire, always willing tasters and pride and joy of my life!

My true friends who are my best critics, best fans and who provide the inspiration, gifts and laughter to get me through each challenge and project that comes my way!  So many to name here but you know exactly who you are!

My customers who inspire me with their themes and ideas and their attention to detail when ordering for special occasions!

Wendy – well without you there would be no blog and life would be really dull!

Lisa – again your passion and inspiring ways have translated into everything that is beautiful about my blog!

Russell and the makers of all the beautiful cupcake stands as what would a great cupcake be without a perfect stand to show it off on!

The creative and passionate shopkeepers who willingly share their ideas and creative tips with me and all the other bakers out there!

All those brilliant authors of books, magazines, blogs, facebook pages who share their ideas so selflessly with everyone thus inspiring me to learn new techniques and try out new ideas, you are the absolute gems of this industry!

Happy Anniversary Cupcakes2Delite!

Putting up my Cupcake feet for a while…..

Shoe Cupcakes

The inspiration behind these cupcakes comes from a picture that Sonja put on my facebook page.  I looked at the picture and thought, wow really cool cupcakes but don’t think I would be able to make these as they look really tricky.  My blogging guru who gave me the inspiration and kick-start to begin this blog said, you really must make some pleeeez.  Another friend with huge faith in me wanted me to do the same so here you go girls, this is my cupcake high-heel shoe!  Alen and Karen are the phenomenal team behind the Hello Cupcake blog and books which inspire and motivate countless bakers around the world http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com/ They create the most fun cupcakes I have come across in all my cupcake research.  These shoe cupcakes are featured in their new book, Cupcakes, cookies, & pie, oh my.  I haven’t been able to get the book yet so went purely on the picture of these cupcakes.  I baked a cupcake in a pink cupcake case, flat iced the cupcake and then dipped it into pink coloured sugar crystals. I removed a small section of the cupcake for the sugar paste sole of the shoe to rest on and added a rolled wafer biscuit (strawberry flavour of course) for the heel.   To give the shoe a touch of whimsy I added 3 lime green sugar paste flowers with pink centres.

I love the fun look this cupcake has and couldn’t resist photographing it here with a pink and white polka dot background. This cupcake is totally appropriate to blog this week as I have to put away my dancing shoes, in fact all my shoes, as I go into hospital for an operation on my foot on Friday and won’t be baking for a couple of months. I am sure I will find creative ways of blogging in between so to all my followers please hang around for cupcake inspiration of a different kind.

Shoe Cupcake

A Friend to Treasure!

Pink Rose Cupcakes

True friends are as precious and as inspiring as beautiful roses.  The perfect ones only enhance our lives with their kindness, generosity and understanding.  I am privileged to have many wonderful and precious friends in my life and yesterday I was inspired to say thank you to one particular friend, Michelle, through these cupcakes.  Michelle was the first person to fall in love with my cupcakes and she enthusiastically ordered from me before Cupcakes2Delite was even a thought in my head! In fact the first photos I took of my cupcakes were cupcakes I made for Michelle’s husband, Marco’s, 50th birthday last April and Michelle and her family’s excitement over my cupcakes helped to sow the seed for my new business.

Michelle is a humble, generous and brilliant friend and she is a lover of all things beautiful, so it was appropriate to do these pastel pink roses for her cupcakes as I knew she would love them and spend time admiring their daintiness.

Pink Rose Cupcakes

Thank you Michelle for being such a fantastic friend and for loving me and my family so unconditionally, you bring as much joy into my life as would any beautiful rose.

Pastel Pink, Green & Yellow Flower Cupcakes

Pastel Pink, Green & Yellow Flower Cupcakes

Julieta ordered these pastel pink, green & yellow cupcakes for her daughter, Michelle’s, birthday celebration today.  The pastel pink and white polka dot cupcake cases were perfect for this colour scheme and I baked vanilla cupcakes with a rich creamy vanilla icing.  Once again I made a variety of flowers to make each cupcake unique. The yellow flower is cut from embossed yellow paste and then has an embossed smaller blossom in a contrasting pink and is topped with a small sugar paste round centre.  For the pink daisy below I punched out a larger embossed daisy from pastel pink sugar paste, added a medium embossed blossom to it and topped it with an embossed daisy centre in yellow, popping it onto the cupcakes with a trickle of green sugar pearls.

Pastel Pink, Green & Yellow Flower Cupcakes

The green flower I cut out from embossed green sugar paste with a five-petal easy-rose cutter. I allowed it to dry into a slightly curved shape and then added a pink rolled rose to the centre.  The pink sugar pearls complete the look on this cupcake.

Pastel Pink, Green & Yellow Flower Cupcakes

Thank you for your order Julieta and I hope Michelle has fun celebrating with all her friends today and enjoys her gorgeous pastel cupcakes until they are all gone!

Pastel Pink, Green & Yellow Flower Cupcakes

Vintage Iced-Coffee Cupcakes

Vintage Iced Coffee Cupcakes

In Good Company http://www.ingoodcompany.co.za/ opened their new store in Parkhurst, Johannesburg and I took time off baking to visit this new delightful treasure trove of a shop.  I came home with my goodie bag of treasure into which had found its way a pack of vintage cupcake cases (Cake cases for tempting treats).  At the time I fell in love with these cases but wasn’t sure where or when I would use them.  The perfect opportunity came when Michelle asked me to do birthday cupcakes for her friend Pat. Knowing both Michelle and Pat, both ardent scrapbookers, I knew that these beautiful cases would delight them both.

Vintage Rose Cupcakes

The cupcakes I baked were iced coffee flavour.  I added a cup of Woolworths Iced-Coffee to my vanilla mixture for a different flavour and then added espresso powder to the icing for a rich coffee flavour and colour.  The sugar paste roses I made from a dusty pink sugar paste and I finished them with a dusting of Rolkem’s Cerise Sparkles. They complemented the cupcake cases perfectly nestled in the coffee icing and the cream sugar pearls add to the vintage appeal of these cupcakes.

Vintage Rose Cupcakes

Vintage Rose Cupcakes

Happy Birthday Pat and I hope you had fun celebrating your birthday with your friends and your cupcakes!

Vintage Iced Coffee Cupcakes

Cream & Red Cappuccino Cupcakes


Cream & Red Cupcakes

Helen celebrated her birthday on the 1st May and I made these cupcakes for her to celebrate again with her scrapbooking friends this morning. I had delivered cupcakes for another customer 2 weeks earlier and Helen fell in love with the cream and red decorations on those cappuccino cupcakes.  She asked me to do the same cupcakes for her which I did but with a different play on the red and cream flowers.  Helen is a very beautiful elegant woman and I wanted the cupcakes to portray a little of her and her personality.  I made cream sugarpaste butterflies with a small red blossom accent and then small sugar paste roses and embossed cream flowers with an embossed centre.

Cream & Red Cupcakes

I embossed a 5 petal blossom and then made a rolled rose with a mixture of cream and red for a contrasting and different centre.

Cream & Red Cupcakes

As all scrapbookers love pattern I added miniature red blossoms to a  larger cream blossom and pressed them into the sugar paste, adding a rolled rose for the centre. For the last contrasting flower I pressed a medium red daisy into a larger cream blossom and then added a small cream daisy for added dimension.

I hope you had fun celebrating with all your friends Helen and as usual it was a pleasure to make these cupcakes for you.

Cream & Red Cupcakes