Monkeying around with these Cupcakes!

Jul13

Monkey Cupcakes

When Tersia asked me to do these monkey cupcakes for her baby shower I was intrigued by her  naughty monkey theme for her party.  She had collected soft toy monkeys for her baby boy’s room and she wanted a monkey theme for her baby shower.  These monkeys were a tricky task at the time for me not being 100 % back into the swing of my baking but I really wanted to help her as she was recommended to me by Hester and she had seen my cute smurf cupcakes and knew she wanted cute cupcakes for her friends attending her baby shower.  I knew I couldn’t make all these monkeys myself so I asked Paige if she would help me as she is beautifully artistic and has a great eye for detail.  I was delighted when she agreed and with no help from me she handmade these 25 naughty little monkeys.  On seeing them I fell in love with their naughty expressions and gorgeous faces.  If you look closely you can almost hear what they are thinking.   Congratulations Paige, you just made your debut  as a sugar artist with these crafty little guys!

Sugarpaste Monkeys

These cute monkeys jumped from the photo shoot on my book straight onto delicious chocolate cupcakes iced with a creamy vanilla icing and were delivered in time for Tersia’s babyshower.  I had such a wonderful email response from Tersia which I have quoted here as it was the perfect thank you to Paige for all her time and enthusiasm creating these characters for me and for Tersia.

“The monkeys were great!  They have stolen the show.  I  put the cup cakes on a cup cake stand in the middle of the table, and the people couldn’t stop looking at them.  Almost nobody ate their cupcake at the restaurant.  Everybody asked for a “doggy bag” to take it home and show it to their family first.”

Monkey Cupcakes

Sugarpaste work (Paige)

Photography (Lisa)

Pink Pepper and Pink Roses for a Family Memory!

Jul13

Pink Pepper & Pink Roses Cupcakes

It was such a great evening Saturday 2 weeks ago when Eddie and I were invited to a delicious dinner with my uncle Dieter, Genee, Pete, Gill, Brendan and Christen-Jenna.  It has been a while since we were able to catch up with family and we were able to share family news, reminisce and generally enjoy each other’s company.  Genee is always a gracious and gorgeous host and her delicious roast dinner reminded me of the beautiful roast dinners my mom would prepare so lovingly and with a great deal of food-fussing about for us.  I wanted to make  really pretty but fun cupcakes for Genee so I chose the pink pepper and citrus chocolate iced cupcakes that I have made before and added a pink rose and pink pearls to her cupcakes.  Dieter has always been a chocolate lover and I remember him eating all the desserts I made when I was a child for family gatherings.  He always had high praise for everything I made so I love him for that as I am sure there were times when not every dessert was up to scratch.  For his cupcakes I added a piece of the Madacasse Pink Pepper and Citrus chocolate that I had melted into the icing.  We enjoyed a beautiful dinner finished off with these cupcakes so once again thank you for inviting us to share in more family memories.

Hydrangea Cupcakes for Lisa (TQO)

Jul9

Hydrangea Cupcakes

A few weeks ago we celebrated Lisa (TQO)’s birthday – TQO short for The Quiet One!   As per our usual Wednesday scrapbooking birthday celebration it was anything but quiet and we celebrated Lisa’s birthday with the usual array of gifts, blowing of candles and an assortment of delicious goodies to eat accompanied by much laughter and fun.  Lisa (TQO)’s presents were unusual this year as she requested pritt glue and crayons for the pre-school children  she teaches at the children’s home.  I have to mention here that Lisa (TQO) apart from being the life and soul of any party or celebration she attends is also an inspiration in the humble way she shares her ideas, time, knowledge, recipes and laughter with us and always makes us feel that life is a total blast.  She opened her presents of pritt glue, crayons and stickers with such excitement knowing how much joy the children were going to get from using them.  While I was off my feet I kept myself busy exploring new cupcake ideas and I chanced on a youtube video one afternoon in which a delightful Anh demonstrated how to pipe a hydrangea cupcake.  She did go one step further and place the cupcakes in a bouquet but due to time limitations on my feet I didn’t try that. For really clear instructions visit Anh’s youtube demo on Sonata 333.  I mixed violet and royal blue icing into a piping bag  and piped my version of a hydrangea for these cupcakes and topped each one with an embossed white butterfly. Lisa Nadene took  this pretty photo of the cupcakes that portray the colour and joy that Lisa (TQO) brings into the lives of everyone she meets.

Chocolate & Cappuccino Cupcakes for Father’s Day…

Jun18

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

Jun16

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.”