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Cupcakes for a Teacher

Sep26
Teacher's Cupcakes

Teacher's Cupcakes

These cupcakes were an order for a teacher who was celebrating her 70th birthday on Sunday.  I made red and green apples, books, rulers & notepaper sugarpaste decorations for these cupcakes to suit the theme.  Shaunagh surprised me with 4 different Nicoletta food colouring markers she had bought at the Good Food and Wine Show on Friday so I used these to mark the lines and to do the writing on the notepapers.  These markers make it so much easier to write on sugarpaste.  I had been painting my writing using edible colouring and a paint brush – so thanks Shaunagh these are a breeze to use.  I hope the cupcakes went down well for your friend’s birthday!

Pistachio & Rosewater Cupcakes

Sep21
Pistachio & Rosewater Cupcakes

Pistachio & Rosewater Cupcakes

It was brilliant to have a a day off from cupcake orders yesterday and at last be able to try out a recipe from a cupcake book that Wendy gave me for my birthday – how did you guess I would be delighted with such a brilliant birthday gift Wendy?  I opted for the pistachio and rosewater cupcakes as they sounded delicious and slightly exotic.  The recipe in the book was for a flatter – more of a tart – type cake so I did adapt it to make these cupcakes.  Really easy if you want to try these at home you could just add 5ml of rosewater and 50grams crushed pistachios to your vanilla cupcake mix and then do the same to either buttercream or cream cheese icing.  They looked really pretty sprinkled with crushed pistachios.  I promised myself I would taste only one of the batch yesterday but that plan went out the window as they were too delicious to have only one so I had 2 (2nd one was just to confirm that they were as tasty as I had initailly thought).  

Half the batch went to Wendy to cheer her up after a couple of weeks of her feeling a bit ”green around the gills’.  We sat together yesterday and thanks to her blogging expertise I now have a new really fancy looking blog.  Please don’t be shy to comment on my blog or to subscribe or email me with comments or ideas.   

Thanks Wendy for all your enthusiasm and help with my blog and thanks to all my followers – I am so chuffed to have reached the 4000 hits mark!

Hello Kitty

Sep21
Hello Kitty Cupcakes

Hello Kitty Cupcakes

I haven’t made too many cupcakes for 8 year old girls so wasn’t sure exactly what to do for these birthday cupcakes.  Again the decorations had to be made quickly to get the order out on time so I had the brainwave to look through my chocolate moulds and found this delightful Hello Kitty mould I had bought from Kadees in Fourways.  

I moulded the Hello Kittys from white sugarpaste and then when they were dry painted on the eyes and nose with Rolkem’s edible food colouring.  I moulded the pink bow from a silicone bow mould and added them to complete the look.  They looked really cute on the cupcakes and I am sure they went down well with the girls.

Hello Kitty Cupcakes

Hello Kitty Sugarpaste Decorations

Rugby World Cup 2011 – Rugby Fever

Sep21
Rugby World Cup 2011 Cupcakes

Rugby World Cup 2011 Cupcakes

The Rugby World Cup has arrived at last and the Springboks have had some brilliant games so far.  I hope they can keep up their winning streak and put South Africa back into the euphoric mood we all experience in 1995 – holding thumbs and toes for them.  

I made these cupcakes for 8 year old boys knowing that they could only but love them with rugby fever having gripped South Africa.  I made the rugby balls with white sugarpaste which I moulded using a chocolate mould.  This was much easier than I thought and really quick to do.  I googled the design of the World Cup rugby ball and painted part of the design on the moulded ball with edible Rolkem food colouring to give the overall look of the 2011 rugby ball – I think it looks close enough, but I am always open to constructive advice from followers of this blog.

Rugby World Cup 2011 Sugarpaste Balls

Rugby World Cup 2011 Sugarpaste Balls

Sombrero Time!

Sep18

Mexican Magic

I was asked to make cupcakes for a friend of mine whose son was having a Mexican Themed 21st birthday last night.  Such an awesome theme and when I delivered the cupcakes the venue was decorated with mexican colours and it had such a great party atmosphere even before the party started.  I did my usual googling for ideas for the cupcakes and came up with making sombreros, scarves, tacos, chilies, tequila bottles and lemons for the cupcakes.                                                                                                                                                                            

Mexican Chili Cupcakes

Mexican Chili Cupcakes

I made chilies from red fondant shaped into different size chilies.  I cut out a small daisy for the green leaf at the top of the chili and finished off the look with a green stalk rolled from green sugar paste.  The chilies looked really striking on the chocolate cupcake with vanilla icing. 

Mexican Sombreros and Scarves

The Mexican sombreros I shaped using straw coloured sugar paste.  I cut out a circle for the base and then added the cone shaped hat detail and the ribbon to finish off the look.  The scarves I made by cutting out rectangular pieces of sugar paste and shaping them before they dried.  Once dry I painted using rolkem edible colouring in bright Mexican colours.  

Mexican Taco Cupcakes

How delicious do these tacos look?  My daughter said to me they looks so real you expect them to crunch in your mouth when you eat them.  For the tacos I cut out circles from light brown  coloured sugar paste and then folded them over a straw to let them dry.  I then filled them with a half green circle shaped for the lettuce or guacamole and small pieces of red sugar paste for the tomato or chili sauce.  Again they looked really effective on the vanilla iced cupcakes.

Mexican Tequila Bottles and Lemons

To complete the Mexican theme I made some tequila bottles using a chocolate mould.  The bottles were a little long so I cut off a bit from the bottom and the top of each bottle and tried to square them off to make them look like an Olmeca tequila bottle.  I added the blue label and wrote on the label with edible colouring.  The lemons I made again using 2 circle cutters – One large one from yellow sugarpaste and a smaller one from white sugarpaste.  I cut the white one into 6 wedges and then placed them on the yellow circle as lemon segments.  I then cut the completed lemon circle in half and placed on the iced cupcake.  What is a party without the tequila and lemon after all?

Cupcakes for a Song….bird!

Sep14

Musical Cupcakes

Musical Cupcakes

When I heard Kristen, my neighbour’s daughter, sing for the first time on youtube last week I was so moved by her beautiful voice and very natural and joyful talent on the stage.  It was a challenge to do justice to the cupcakes her mom asked me to bake for her birthday on Sunday as I wanted to stick with a music theme and make them pretty and girly too.  I made the sheet music with white sugarpaste cut into a rectangle onto which I stamped music notes with edible colouring.  The microphones I moulded and then rolled in edible silver rolkem glitter and I found these effective black music notes at Jodees in Strydom Park.   I know Kristen was delighted with the end result and they were eaten almost before everyone finished singing ‘”happy birthday'”.   Here’s to you Kristen and with your amazing voice you have the world at your feet.