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.

An African Spring

Sep12
Twinsaver Toilet Roll Spring Cupcake

Spring Madness

What do spring, butterflies and TwinSaver loo paper all have in common?  Ok this is a rhetorical question because if you have time to contemplate the answer then you may be in danger of having too much time on your hands.  They lift lift our spirits with their whimsical play on colour.   I didn’t quite do a dance in Pick n Pay when I found this cute TwinSaver loo paper with butterflies and flowers on but it did lift my spirits and it gave me the idea for a spring present for the Wacky Wednesday Scrappers at the Memory Shed.  I made a cupcake with my normally delicious cream cheese and cream icing and decorated it with  a beautiful bright orange butterfly.  I gave each one a loo roll with the cupcake on it and this little poem to go with it:

Spring has sprung and the grass is rizz                                                                                                                                                                                                         The birds and the bees are doing their bizz                                                                                                                                                                                               So instead of today getting your knickers in a tizz                                                                                                                                                                                 Here is something pretty when you take a wizz.

Apart from thinking I had gone totally potty (excuse the pun) the girls loved their spring gift.  Lisa with all her creative and artistic photography skills took a brilliant  picture of my cupcake in the garden with the clivias.  I have posted it here below as it is the best picture so far of any of my cupcakes.  Here’s to spring and all the mad and crazy inspiration it brings to us all!                                                          

Spring Butterfly Cupcake photographed with Clivias

Whimsical Delights of Spring

Paige’s Palette

Sep8
Cake with paint brushes and colour splashes

Happy Birthday Paige

It was brilliant to be able to celebrate Paige’s birthday with her on Tuesday and to be able to make her birthday cake.  Paige is an extremely talented girl and one of her talents is her art.  I drew inspiration from this talent of hers and made her an artist’s cake.  Again google gave me an awesome idea when I saw a cake design from Kit Box with paint brushes and splashes of paint .  I used my cupcake cake pan Michelle gave me for my birthday and baked a vanilla cake which I cut into 3 and iced with strawberry flavoured icing – just because Teigh and Paige love this flavour.  I made a paint palette and 3 paint brushes and then splashes of paint colour out of coloured sugar paste.  I popped the brushes in and then placed the paint splashes and wired paint splashes into the cake and the result was one even Leonardo would have been proud of.  Happy Birthday Paige to you and again delighted to be able to know you and make your cake for you.