Make Your Own Cake Plate!

With the CupcakeCamp coming up, I had to figure out how I'd display my cupcakes.  I have 2 cupcake plates and a cupcake tree but with the amount of cupcakes I'm making no way will that be enough.  So the other day I was browsing one of my fav stores The Dollar Tree!  I ran across a section of glassware and I saw some plates. Then later I saw they sold glass candle holders and DING DING DING a lightbulb went off in my head (yes, that's what it sounds like when a lightbulb turns on) and I thought I could use the two to make my own cake plates!

So I bought a couple candle holders and 2 plates and IT WORKED!
Check it out:

my stuff (hey what do you expect for $1 fine china?)

 Trusty ol' glue gun

 make sure its on tight, flip it upside down and push down hard for a few more seconds.

 and VOILA!!!!

how awesome is this? 2 cake plates for 4 bucks! and we all know cake plates are NOT cheap. Can't wait to take pics of all my cupcakes on them, frosted and ready to go!

Gettin' Ready...

So I'm preparing for the big cupcake event this weekend Cupcake Camp IE! Just 4 days til' the big day and I'm getting ready!  I've started baking cupcakes tonight (gotta make at least 60) and after lots of back and forth, I've decided on the following flavors:

• Red Velvet w/ Cream Cheese
• Snickerdoodle w/ Cinnamon Buttercream
• Cookies n' Cream w/ Cream Cheese (topped with a mini Oreo cookie!)

We also have the opportunity to "dress up" our booth with a few things so I made these signs

 and I made these cupcake toppers!

I also came up with a really good idea and am going to ATTEMPT to make my own cake plates. (wish me luck haha). I'll post the pics! 

Ok, back to the kitchen, gotta keep baking!  

Happy Halloween!! BOO!!

HALLOWEEN is here!!  I was so excited to bake goodies for this ghoulish (heehee) occasion.

Since cupcakes are always a hit, I decided to make Wicked Witch Cupcakes and Evil Spider Cupcakes. Chocolate Devil's food and Buttercream frosting.  
First off let me tell you, they were SO much fun to make. All items used were 100% edible and yummy yummy yummy!

Ok so here's a shot of all the ingredients used:
Black Licorice, Candy Corn, Black Sugar Sprinkles, mini M&Ms, Marshmallows, Sugar Cones, Lollipop Sticks, Edible Food Marker, and of course Cute Baking cups!

I picked these up, they are Wilton Halloween cups:

Edible food marker on a marshmallow:

 Little Jack Skeleton faces :)

Cutting the licorice to use for the spider legs and witch's hair:

All baked and ready to decorate!:

After frosting, roll the cupcakes in black sugar sprinkles

Used red mini m&ms for the eyes and voila!! Aren't they the cutest!! I mean, scary, boo! 

Here are all the goodies! 

Witch cupcakes are awesome. Sugar cone hats, M&M eyes, licorice hair/eyebrows, candy corn nose

Candy Corn toppings:

 
I'm pretty happy with all the goodies and they were deeeee-lish!  They went like hot cakes!
Now on to the next holiday, Thanksgiving ha!

Cupcakes for the Cure! Think Pink!

In honor of October's Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I baked up these goodies.
These fun baking cups, candy toppings and cake plate were birthday presents.

They are Lemon cupcakes with vanilla cream frosting. They were so moist!!

Pumpkin, Witches and Ghosts, Oh My!

Halloween is just around the corner and I'm FINALLY pretty settled in my new place so it's BAKING TIME!!! and what better occassion to bake than Halloween!!! There are so many fun items I want to make so I'm trying to narrow it down. Good ol' pumpkin bread is on the list for sure but I'm itching to make something fun.  I'll keep you posted as I'm going to hit the oven over the next several days! Yay time to bake in my new oven!!!!

Pardon Our Dust

I've been MIA.  My house looks like a disaster and more importantly my Lil' Red Corvette mixer has been packed away.  Yes folks we're moving.  I've been having baking withdrawals seeing as I haven't been able to bake anything :(  BUT soon I will be in my new and improved kitchen (more space, more space and MORE space!) and I will be a happy (baker) camper.

In the meantime,  I wanted to share with you that I have found the most awesome. store. ever.  As you know it was mah birFday recently and sweet tooF got me some sweet goodies (PUN intended) baking supplies!  He purchased them from Sur La Table.  I headed over to this store the other day and OMG. Where have you been all my life.   I felt like a kid in a candy store!! Everything you can ever imagine you would need as a baker.

If you are lucky enough to have one nearby check it out!

Anyhoooo, hopefully I will be back in action soon baking up a storm.  I'm itching to make Halloween goodies!

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Today is my mom's birthday! Yep, our birthdays are only 5 days apart which makes for a fun week.
I bought her some goodies and I made her a cake!

She's a red velvet lover (well, who isn't right?) so I wanted to be sure to make one of her favs.
I made a 3 layer cake: red velvet / french vanilla / red velvet, covered in vanilla buttercream and marshmallow fondant.  I topped the cake with fresh hydrangeas ( I love these flowers!!)

It's so pretty, I hate to cut into it but cake it meant to be EATEN so we shall EAT IT!

Presents! Presents!

It's a downer getting older but one of the best parts of a birthday = presents!!
I was showered with great gifts this year and there seemed to be a theme with my gifts.... BAKING!!!
Do my friends and family know me or what :)

Here are a few pics of some of the goodies I got!

I love this! What a gorgeous cake plate

Breast Cancer Awareness Cups and Ribbon Sprinkles

This book has the cutest cupcakes

I also got new baking pans (awesome quality), giant cupcake silicone mold, decorating tools, set of baking bowls, pretty measuring cups, a cupcake stand, AND a Michael's gift card! 

I love my new goodies!!! 

Go Shawty, It's Mah BirFday

Today is my birthday!! Yay! (well not really yay, getting older isn't fun but it's the day I get fun Facebook messages LOL). OH and gifts! sweet tooF was awesome and got me tons of baking stuff!! (He's no fool, that means for goodies for him haha).

So sweet tooF took me out for a fab dinner (Japanese, one of my favs!) and for dessert we headed over to The Cheesecake Factory for one of our favorite desserts...Stefanie's Ultimate Cheesecake!!!

If you haven't tried this, what the HELL are you waiting for??!! Seriously, this is heaven.

Look at it! I mean seriously, just stare at it for a second.............................

Ok, its two layers of cheesecake with two layers of RED VELVET cake in between!! WAIT I'm not done....it's covered in white chocolate shavings!!! WAIT, one more... they give it to you with a huge swirl of whipped cream!! Ok, I'm done.  (Isn't that enough?)  This is some good eats.  It's a huge piece too, so we share - good thing too because, oh it's only 1,250 calories A SLICE. Ouch, how's that for your waistline skinny bitches.

They put a little candle in it, wrote "Happy Birthday" in chocolate sauce and sang to me (as I gave sweet tooF the evil eye for embarrassing me like that).

If you haven't tried it, you must stop in for a slice.  (Just don't eat anything else the rest of the day and you'll be under the healthy guidelines for caloric intake. )

Viva Las Vegas

This past weekend sweet tooF and I headed out to Vegas for a mini getaway (and we met my bro and sis-in-law out there too!)  Good times were had and we ate like there was no tomorrow (uhm, not good).  What else is there to do in Vegas but eat, gamble, eat, eat, then maybe gamble some more? Did I mention I'm not a big gambler? LOL! (Shout out to the Wheel of Fortune slots)

So as we took a stroll through several hotels/casinos, I found sweet sweet treasures!!

First stop, the Monte Carlo Hotel.  As we strolled through the shops, there it was, in the far distance (of course I spotted it)... The Cupcakery!! Yes my friends, a cupcake shop! WoooT! It was calling my name.  And of course, it's not like I had to drag sweet tooF in there with me.  He was all over it too haha.
There were so many pretty sparkly cupcakes to choose from.  I couldn't decide!! (There was also 2 GIANT cupcake displays that were SO cute!)

(that's sweet tooF picking his out heehee)

YES as in Orange Julius

So I ended up with the Southern Belle (because I'm such a lady) good ol' Red Velvet w/Cream Cheese and sweet tooF picked up the Peanutbutter Jammer. (PB&J style!) They were super yum!!!

Ok, now for treasure #2.  We decided to check out the new Aria Hotel. First of all, gor-geous. Decor was modern, simple, classy, awesome.  Inside the hotel they have the famous Jean Philippe Patisserie! I saw sparkly cakes, fun mini cakes and of course I had to snap some pics. Check these cute thangs out!

Seriously, how adorable are these?!?!

Sad to say the ol' "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" didn't apply as I my big full belly came home with me :-/