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Chocolate & Cappuccino Cupcakes for Father’s Day…

Chocolate & Cappuccino Cupcakes

Yesterday we celebrated Father’s Day in South Africa and I made these rich chocolate and cappuccino cupcakes to say thank you to Eddie for being such an amazing husband and father to our 2 children.  I couldn’t slave over a hot stove and cook a brilliant meal with only one fully functioning foot and even a batch of cupcakes these days is a challenge.  I stuck to my yummy chocolate cupcakes and added a cappuccino icing and Toblerone and Nestle Cafe Latte chocolate pieces to top them off.  They turned out deliciously sweet and chocolatey.

Thanks Eddie again for being an awesome dad for the last 18 years and for being the most supportive and loving husband for nearly 22 years now – you are just the ‘bees knees’ and we love you!

Darren & Chelsea’s Wedding Cupcakes

Lavender, Cream & Plum Wedding Cupcakes

Lavender, Cream & Plum Wedding Cupcakes

Darren and Chelsea celebrated their wedding day with their friends and family last Saturday.  The weather turned a tad chilly as winter finally arrived in Johannesburg.  They had chosen a perfect colour scheme for this time of year, lavender, cream & plum with a touch of green and Wendy asked me to do the cupcakes in these colours.  The flavours they chose were lavender, amarula, cappuccino and chocolate and they were excited to let me experiment with different sugarpaste decorations for the cupcakes.  As you can see in the backdrop of the photos above Darren and Chelsea had a quirky and unique wedding invitation in the form of a small record in a sleeve with all the event details printed on it.  I made funky flowers, roses, butterflies and music notes in their colours and popped a different one on each cupcake with a couple of sugar pearls for effect.  I put some of the cupcakes into filigree cupcake holders in cream and plum and the overall result was fun, young and pretty.

I was so delighted to be able to do these cupcakes for Darren and Chelsea’s wedding as I have known Darren for a few years now since my son, Teigh, started taking drum lessons with him.  Darren is not only a brilliant musician and drummer but he is an exceptional young man in the humble yet passionate way he teaches his students.  He has a wonderful influence on all his students and his calm, fun and professional manner endears him to all those who meet him.  Music was Darren’s passion in life until he met Chelsea and in her he has found someone who shares his love for music.  Darren and Chelsea may your married life together be filled with song and laughter and loads of cupcakes of course for all your celebrations together!

Lavender, Cream & Plum Wedding Cupcakes

Lavender, Cream & Plum Wedding Cupcakes

I wish I could remember the text Darren sent me after first tasting one of my chocolate cupcakes a while ago as he made me laugh then. Thanks Darren for your love of my cupcakes and thanks Wendy for all the attention to detail and care you put into this order for your son and beautiful new daughter-in-law.  The quote on Darren and Chelsea’s invitation is a perfect one for this couple, “Your love will be safe with me.”

Blueberry Basil Mojito…Cheers to My Big Sister on Her Birthday!

  • It feels strange to not be posting pictures of my cupcakes but while I am off my feet I have time to explore other blogs and I was so delighted to chance on Arlee’s blog this morning.  She is a creative mother of 6 children who still finds the time to educate other children in her home and then to share all her fantastic and creative ideas on her beautiful blog!  I hope you have as much fun reading this post as I did.

Blueberry Basil Mojito…Cheers to My Big Sister on Her Birthday!.

 

Travelling Cupcakes

Travel Cupcakes

Travel Cupcakes

Wendy asked me to do these cupcakes for her friend’s 50th birthday.  She wanted me to include Tracy’s name and the caption ‘on the ‘move’ as well as some 50’s.  Her friend Tracy has a passion for travelling and she was about to embark on another adventure after celebrating her 50th birthday.  I made some cute sugar paste suitcases by joining two oval pieces of sugar paste together and adding straps and handles to each suitcase.  I added an orange letter to each green suitcase and a flower to the 2 yellow suitcases leaving the yellow ones slightly open while they dried.  I added a 50 to the cupcakes with the yellow suitcase in the matching lime green and a funky orange blossom with green centre to tie in with the green, yellow and orange colour scheme. Of course no suitcase is complete without a tag on it so the tags were a perfect way to include the ‘on the move’ caption.  I made the 3 orange tags and added a yellow sugar paste ribbon and tiny green blossom to each one.  The perfect way to photograph these cupcakes was on an old map I had and a few odd coins from my own travels.

Travel Cupcakes

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!