Candyland Cupcakes

Feb25
Candyland Cupcake Decorations

Candyland Cupcake Decorations

After a trip to the sweet shop I arrived back with probably more than I needed to make Candyland Cupcakes.  Marshmallow twirls for candycanes, caramel coated popcorn for candy clouds, marshmallow ice-cream cones for ice-creams and tangy orange sugar strips for candy bridges and sour sugar domes were my inspiration for cupcakes for a Candyland themed birthday party. Of course there is no candyland without colourful sugar lollies so I made these from sugar paste that I rolled into strips of combined colours and then twirled into cirles to look like lollies.  I love the tip I picked up in the week about using a piece of pasta instead of a toothpick for the stick of the lolly, much safer and really effective.

Candyland Cupcake Decorations

Candyland Cupcake Decorations

The marshmallow cones I cut down to size and placed directly into the iced cupcake and the sugar strip was easily folded into a candy bridge on each cupcake.  The sugar paste lollies added a dollop of colour and shine to the cupcakes.  It almost felt that little munchkins would pop out at any moment and dash across the candy bridges and dance among the sweets and I have no doubt that once these cupcakes were served at the party there were many happy faces as the guests were transported into a sugary candyland.

Candyland Cupcakes

Candyland Cupcakes

Candyland Cupcakes

Candyland Cupcakes

 

Dev’s Garden Cupcakes

Feb21

Garden Theme Cupcakes

Garden Theme Cupcakes

Devon and his love of gardening!! (as told by his mom, Alison)

When Devon turned 8 years old he received his first lawnmower.  Granted it was just a roller mower, but there were lots of eyebrows raised and questions asked about the suitability of this gift for an eight year old, given that most other boys his age were into Ben 10 and the like. When he turned 9, Devon used some of his birthday money to buy himself a leaf blower and a rake.  And for this past Christmas we succumbed to upgrading his roller mower with a replacement electric powered lawnmower and weed-eater, after much begging and pleading from our avid gardener.

Devon has an undiagnosed syndrome, and is developmentally delayed as a result.  His ability to speak is severely challenged, but this does not stop him from using his love of gardening as a means of crossing these barriers to “communicate” with others.  Devon has befriended gardeners everywhere – at his school, in our local park, at his brother’s golf club – in fact anywhere that there is a patch of garden that needs to be cared for, Devon makes a buddy and gets stuck into the gardening task at hand.

Garden Theme Cupcakes

Devon is absolutely passionate about gardening, and has been from a very early age.  Where there’s a wheelbarrow or a spade….that’s where you’ll find Dev! So it’s not surprising that that was the theme chosen for the cupcakes Lisa was asked to bake to celebrate Devon’s 10th birthday.

Garden Theme Cupcakes

It was great to do these garden themed cupcakes for Devon’s 10th birthday as Alison was so enthusiastic and trusting about what I could do with this theme. Sun hats off to you Alison for nurturing such a wonderful passion in your son.  The sugar paste wellington boots, spades, wheelbarrows, flower pots and flowers are perfect for any garden enthusiast and I added the small trucks carrying stones to some of Devon’s cupcakes as Devon also has a passion for trucks and diggers.  The stones are candy-coated chocolate that I sourced from Sunrise Sweets  and I used grass-green vermicelli for the grass on the cupcakes.  Photographed here on a gorgeous sunny day these cupcakes completely lifted my spirit and I am sure that is why Devon finds such peace in nature’s gardens everywhere.  I haven’t met Devon yet but was so pleased when Alison sent me a picture of him holding his box of cupcakes ready to take to his school friends as I knew I had another delighted customer. Needless to say Devon’s 4 gardening buddies at his school were the first to receive a garden cupcake from him on his birthday.  Happy Gardening Devon and   may the force of nature be with you!

Paige’s Valentine’s Cake

Feb20
Paige's Valentine Cake

Paige's Valentine Cake

Before we say goodbye to a brilliant Valentine’s week I have to post this exquisite cake that Paige made for Teigh.  The sponge cake is an eggless chocolate sponge which had a rich chocolatey taste.  Paige whipped up fresh cream to sandwich the 2 heart-shaped sponges together and added lovely red raspberries in the middle and on the sides of the cake.  True to her brilliant artistic skills she finished off the cake by placing it on a white dish and then decorating the plate with cocoa hearts and velvety rose petals.  Just in case she hadn’t quite expressed her love for Teigh through this cake, she drizzled chocolate ganache over the cake and then liberally sprinkled miniature sugar paste hearts to create a gorgeous contrast on the rich chocolate topping.  Thank you Paige this cake was a wonderful way of saying I love you to Teigh and he savoured every slice until every last crumb was eaten.

Paige's Valentine Cake

Paige's Valentine Cake

Coral Valentine Beauty!

Feb20

Valentine's Ball

After a madly busy Valentine’s Tuesday, Cupid took a few days off before the Valentine’s Ball on Friday night when he was back at his antics amidst the young girls and guys at the Trinityhouse Valentine’s Ball.  I am not sure what shananigans he got up to with other couples that night but his arrow certainly hit its mark with this terrific couple.  Teigh arrived looking rather dashing in his coral red and white striped shirt and suit to fetch his gorgeous valentine, Paige, who was a picture of beauty in a delicate coral and black dress.

The “cupcake cupid” was not going to be left out of the equation on this special night so she rustled up a beautiful coral rose cupcake for Teigh to give to his Valentine. Luckily she had been entranced in the week by one of Rolkem’s, rainbow spectrum food colourings, Watermelon. This colour produces a rich coral or watermelon colour when mixed into sugar paste and it was the perfect colour for the rose.  As this cupcake cupid knows that colour is the way to many any artist’s heart she dusted the edges of the rose with the Rolkem Watermelon colouring and then dusted the entire rose with a satin finish before placing it on the cupcake with black beads to match Paige’s coral and black dress.

Coral and Black Cupcake

As cupid puts his feet up and concocts his plans for lovers everywhere next year, the cupcake cupid remains busy in a sweet aromatic kitchen in order to delight many more hearts in the days and months to come!

A Taste of Love….eat this Shakespeare!

Feb15

'Valentines Rose Cupcake

This was a special cupcake created for Teigh’s girlfriend, Paige.  A unique red satin-finished sugarpaste rose for his one-of-a-kind girl!  His request was a cupcake with a single red rose and I added the miniature red hearts for some extra love on this cupcake. Teigh designed his own cupcake box on which he stamped A Taste of Love. His gift to her was a photobook of photos and poetry describing how much she means to him.  Shakespeare and his poetic cronies are smiling down on this young couple with delight as they see the art of poetic love being still unashamedly used in the 21st century. How aptly we named this young man as Teigh, in Irish, means poet or philosopher. Words of love and appreciation are so precious in this technological age so thanks guys for sharing them so openly with each other and revelling in the beauty and expressiveness of our English language.

Valentines Rose Cupcake

Gifts2Delite

Feb14

Gifts2Delite

Gifts2Delite

When it comes to gifts and surprises then I am such a girl as I love presents in any shape or form and well who doesn’t love a great surprise?  When it comes to cupcakes I have not held back in my enthusiasm and passion for them and my family, friends and the people I meet through these cupcake creations have all had their ears bent at many times as I not only love to bake cupcakes but also love to talk about them.  The gift of this beautiful stand was a surprise as it was made for me in order to display my cupcakes and made with these dazzling beads which yes you guessed it … I love.  Thank you Russell for capturing everything I love in this gift. It is so perfect with its 3 little glass display plates and pretty beads and fits 12-15 large cupcakes.  It makes an elegant display stand on any table and I am loving using it already.

On the same afternoon I came home with my beautiful stand my friend Sonja surprised me with a pack of these rich raspberry-coloured cupcake holders.  This made it a double excuse to bake some cupcakes immediately.  Luckily during my trip to Edenvale and the Chocolate Den another few of their  essences, this time raspberry, passionfruit and apple, made it into my basket.  What could be more perfect than Raspberry and White Chocolate cupcakes to fill these cupcake holders and to grace my cupcake stand?  Out came another gift I use often for the delicious recipes and icing ideas, Carol Pastor’s 75  Best-Ever Cupcakes.  Wendy gave this to me for my last birthday and the recipe for the Raspberry Buttercream is easy and really delicious. Carol adds 25ml raspberry jam to her icing which gives it a sweet fruity taste and gorgeous colour.  I added the raspberry essence to the cupcakes but not to the icing as the jam gives it plenty of flavour.  Sprinkled with white chocolate chips these cupcakes were a designer ending to my day of surprises.