30th Birthday Party

Hello!!!
Hope all is well and everyone is enjoying the transition to fall. (I know I am!)

I was asked by my boyfriend's brother if I could make some cupcakes for his wife's 30th birthday this past Saturday. He asked for about 30 cupcakes but I ended up just making 4 dozen and keeping the bruised ones at my house. I sent a total of 35 to Marshfield for the party.

For the cupcakes and frosting I used the same recipes I used for the anniversary party last month. I think I need to find a new recipe because once again, the cupcake papers started to separate from the cakes and the only thing I can think of is just to try a difference recipe. So that'll be my next adventure.

Until then, here are some pictures of the finished products. I actually did some writing and was very proud of myself for the fact that they didn't look ridiculously pathetic. All the pictures were taken once in the box so look at them carefully because there is actually a message. :) YAY!




Enjoy!

Anniversary Party!

My good friend Stacey and her two sisters planned a surprise 25th wedding anniversary party for their parents and I offered to make a cake or whatever they wanted to have. First it was going to be 150 cupcakes plus a small cake just for Mike and Cindy. After a few weeks it became 75 cupcakes plus the small cake. Well, in the end I just ended up making approx. 84 (Stacey said 75 but I wasn't just going to make 75, after all, what kind of recipe turns out to make just 75 cupcakes!) chocolate cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream frosting (first time I made it from scratch and it was DELICIOUS!!!!!!), black accent frosting detail (Wilson piping frosting) and edible metallic pearls. Since I just made cupcakes I was able to bake them and decorate all in one day. It was fun and I hope it's not too long until I can make something else.

Any tips for piping would be great. I know I'm not awesome at it yet, but mostly just ideas on how to keep my hand from hurting once I stretch out my fingers would be helpful.


***Some members of the first batch got a little
under or over filled, but the next batches
were much better and more even.

***I was able to fit 35 in each cake box, and put the remaining ones in my cake carrier. Below is how they were displayed at the party for the guests to enjoy.


On another note, I have been doing a lot of looking at cookbooks (mostly baking stuff, of course) and I have a laundry list of books I want to get. AND I got 2 AWESOME bargain books at Borders; The Ultimate Baking Cookbook and The Cookie and Biscuit Bible. Now that I have a pretty good start on my baking supplies I figure I can really start exploring decorating techniques and perfecting my skills.

That's all for now! Hopefully I'll have something to report soon! :)

1 party down

I think I suck at keeping this up to date. It's been a while, but I thought I'd share some pictures of my cake and cupcakes from the baby shower last weekend.

I made a total of about 85 cupcakes, but ended up giving a couple to my parents and my boyfriend's parents before the shower (I knew I had more than enough) so the photo below has the 78 cupcakes that actually made it to the shower. Reminder, it was my first attempt at fondant, so the cake isn't as nice looking (I think) as it could, but the cupcakes are pretty darn cute and it's definitely because I got the hang of handling the fondant.

It took 3-4 days from bake to finish decorating, but it was SO worth it :) --- and thankfully it was over my spring break week they all had to be completed. Otherwise there's no way I would have finished in time. Or I just wouldn't have slept.

YAY CUTE BABY CUPCAKES!!!! :D

until next time. have a fantastic day!

Ordered!

I finally did it....I ordered my cake pans. I ordered them yesterday and did 3 day shipping hoping to have them sooner than later so I can start baking. But I'm a little nervous because I want them to be good quality so I hope they are everything I need and a good product that will last me a good long while. I went with the 3" deep set, pan sizes are 6", 8", 10", 12", and 14". :D So as long as they're nice, I think they'll serve me well.

I was talking with my friend Jessica (I'm making her baby shower cake the end of March) and she decided that she wants one cake, then cupcakes. Very fun idea and I think it'll save me a little stress. Except for the decorating because she wants baby faces on the cupcakes, which should be fine, but still nerve wracking.

Anyway, I started writing this 6 hours ago (or so) and now I don't remember everything else I had to write. Oh well. I'll try to keep up and who knows, maybe eventually I'll change this to an, everything I cook blog, instead of just cake. We'll see. :)

--Happy baking!

Cake Pans

I am slowly running out of time to acquire a fine set of cake pans so I can start baking. However, I have found some that I am fully prepared to purchase online. Both are sets of 5 pans, 6", 8", 10", 12" and 14". The first set is 2" deep the second set is 3" deep. Although I may not go wrong with either one, I am stuck as to which set I should buy. What's standard? What would I need for the cakes I want to make? It makes me nervous because I don't want to buy the 3" and realize I wouldn't have needed that much, and I also don't want to buy the 2" and wish I had bought the 3". Ridiculous quandary.

On the plus side, I did find that they have ready-to-use fondant at Michael's in the town 25 minutes from me so that definitely helps. They even have it in 5lb. tubs, which I think is a lot, but in reality it's probably all necessary.

After all of this looking around for materials, it has made me realize I may be a little poor for my favorite thing, but maybe it'll all work out. ---Until next time, have a fantastic Valentines weekend!!!

The Basics.....

GOOD MORNING!!!

I have been reveling in baking for years and have always been extremely fond of cakes and making and decorating. Although I have never made an elaborate cake with fondant and ganache and all that good stuff, making layer cakes with store bought frosting is where I'm at in my baker-life. BUT, this past Christmas I received from my dearest friend and roommate Stacey a fantastic book called "Planet Cake". I have now read it close to 10 times and have a good direction to go for starting the almost-professional cake making part of my life. And I have 1, maybe 2 baby showers as well as a 25th anniversary cake to make this year, the first baby shower being at the end of March. Although it has been decided there will be a cake and then decorated cupcakes, I still think those cupcakes and that one cake should be the most fabulous creations ever because I believe everyone deserves fantastic cakes in their lives.

Now I know I am slowly running low on time before my first creation is due, but I have been looking into the basic supplies I will need, and although I have a list I acquired from my book, I live in a college town with not a lot to it, so I either need to drive a half hour and hope I find the necessary items, or I drive just over an hour and hope I know where to look! But I have been looking online and found cakeart.com and explored some options for round cake pans and decorating accessories. My goal is to get the essentials and make a test cake by the first week in March just so I can practice and get an idea of what I will need for the first baby shower.

ANYWAY, way longer than intended (I think), but bear with my while I get the hang of this. :)