I could just kick myself......

A couple of weeks ago, I had two firsts: I did my first cupcake wedding and made my first sugar human figurines.......and unfortunately, I have no good photos to show because I forgot to bring my camera on the delivery.

The day of the wedding couldn't have gone any smoother - I arrived at the event location, levelled the cake table, set up the custom-made cupcake tower, placed the topper cake and figurines and then reached for my camera only to realize that I had left it on my work counter. DOH! At that exact moment, I seriously felt like kicking myself. There was no convenience store nearby so buying a disposable camera was out of the question - all I'm left with are the crappy photos I took using my camera phone.

Without further ado, I present to you the cupcake tower in question.

You're probably wondering why there's a tater tot at the top of this tower, huh? Well, there's a really funny/sweet story behind that. This cupcake tower was actually a wedding present from the bride's cousin, Alanna. When I met with Alanna, she expressed that her cousin, Jen and her fiance were big fans of the movie Napoleon Dynamite and that she would love to incorporate that into the cake as a surprise. Now if you've ever watched Napoleon Dynamite, you'll know that tater tots or "tots" are featured prominently in the film; you might also recognize that the outfits that the Napoleon and Deb figurines are wearing are from their prom night.

Napoleon Dynamite: "I like your sleeves. They're real big."
Deb: "Thank you. I made them myself."

Sorry, I couldn't resist. We also played with the idea of placing little fondant "liger" drawings on the cupcakes but thought that that might be taking it a bit too far. Like I mentioned, this was my first foray into making human figurines and I was really happy with the end result, not because they were all that fantastic but more because they didn't suck, lol. If the resolution on this photo was better, you would see the curls in Napoleon's hair, his mini wire frame glasses, the stitching on his vest and most importantly, his infamous moon boots.

Here's a photo of Napoleon and Deb sans hair.

If case you were wondering how the surprise topper cake went over with Alanna's cousin:

"I spoke with my cousin today, they just got home from their little honeymoon in the sierra nevada mountains. She had the last of the tater tot for breakfast and never shared with anyone but her husband! She was estatic about both the flavor and skill that went into Napoleon and Deb. Thank you cause she was tremendously pleased with her wedding cupcakes and topper!"

All I can say is that Jen is lucky to have such a awesome cousin. =D

Lien Sanchez
http://www.crazycakecompany.com/

Cupcakes for the Cure

My sister approached me in September about donating some decorated cupcakes for her office's breast cancer awareness bake sale in October. Aside from being a very good cause, breast cancer awareness has a special meaning for me since I was subject to a breast cancer scare myself in my early 20's when I found a strange lump in my right breast. Fortunately, it was a benign cyst that was believed to have been caused by excessive caffeine intake - I had just started a new job and was drinking massive amounts of coffee. Needless to say, that curbed my coffee habit real quick, lol. I, of course, told my sister that I would be delighted to help out.

Since the little pink ribbon is iconic with breast cancer awareness (not to mention adorable in it's own right), my sister and I agreed that they would make the perfect cupcake toppers. I also considered making pink vanilla cupcakes but in the end I succumbed to my obsession with all things red (just ask my friends) and made red velvet cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting instead. In the words of Rachel Ray, "Yum-O!"

Don't they look so cute all lined up like toy soldiers? :-D

Top view - sorry for the grainy,fuzzy pic.

About 2 hours into the bake sale, my sister texted to let me know that the cupcakes were a big hit and that they were almost gone! Darnit, I knew I should have made more.....

Lien

www.crazycakecompany.com

Cupcakes a go-go!!

A couple of Fridays ago, I found myself making 4+ dozen cupcakes for two Sat events. I was short on time but still wanted to make some goodies for the parties, so I turned to my trusty friend, the cupcake - quick, easy, and oh so delicious :).

The first event was a dinner party celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving (who knew it was the second Monday of October?) hosted by my husband's friend and the second was my niece's birthday; she was turning 11 and was celebrating with a slumber party with her gal pals. Get this, I wasn't even attending either of these!! Why, you ask? Well, since my best friend's little girl just happens to one of my niece's gal pals and was occupied by said slumber party, we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to rally up a few of our own gal pals to enjoy a nice girls' night out :-D. Cupcakes a go-go it is!!!

I make a kick-a$$ devil's food cake (with a strong kick of chocolate) so of course I had to make devil's food cupcakes but my niece (the little weirdo*) is not a big fan of chocolate so I made some vanilla cupcakes for her.

Pic of the devil's food batter all neatly portioned in their cups.

TIP: To make uniformly sized cupcakes, use an ice-cream scoop with a spring release to scoop your batter into your baking cups. This also eliminates those unsightly drips on the side of the baking cups.
Frosted with ganache. Mmmmmm......ganache.......
(I'll do a separate post in November about ganache - so easy yet so versatile)
Vanilla cupcakes with my favorite vanilla cupcake buttercream (recipe below).

The flowers on top are super-easy and were made with a 5 petal blossom veiner <--- the best $15 you'll pay for a veiner, I swear!...also used to decorate this cake. Just take some fondant (or gumpaste), roll it out thin, cut out some shapes using a 5-petal cutter, press the cutout between the two sides of the silicon veiner with a tiny bit of cornstarch (so it doesn't stick) and voila! - fancy flowers without all the fancy work!!!
RECIPE: Vanilla Cupcake Buttercream (Frosts 2 dozen cupcakes)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

6-8 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 tspn vanilla extract

1) Cream unsalted butter

2) Mix in half of the powdered sugar, then the milk and vanilla

3) Mix on medium for 3-5 minutes

4) Then add the remaining powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time until you reach the consistency you like.

*my neice isn't really a little weirdo, I'm sure this anti-chocolate thang is just a phase ;-P

Lien
www.crazycakecompany.com