E-A-G-L-E-S!

Delaware is a seriously small world.  I mean, there are less than a million people here, after all.  So, when talk of my cupcakes made 4 people realize they had mutual friends, it was pretty standard.  The person who started this cupcake talk was Kara.  She's a friend and patient of Greg's and a friend of one of the attorneys I work with.  She loves cupcakes, but for her husband's birthday, she wanted to do a cake.  Her hubby loves sports, and since it's football season, I made him an Eagles cake.  It's a vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream.  I cut out an Eagles green circle of fondant and placed it on top.  Then, I cut the Eagles logo out of fondant, and piped buttercream for the writing and side decorations.  I rolled up balls of fondant for the bottom.

Some of the color was distorted when I took the pics below.  The true color is in the first pic.

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Pumpkin Craze

Back to pumpkin.  You all know (or you should know) that I love pumpkin.  In the last few weeks, I made pumpkin chocolate chip cake twice and pumpkin brown butter cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (yum)...they didn't make it to the blog.  Last night, I had a bunch of friends over for dinner and game night.  I made spinach artichoke dip, guacamole, pico de gallo, corn salsa, and fried plantains for appetizers; baked ziti, meatballs, and garlic bread for dinner; and a pumpkin banana mousse tart and homemade pumpkin ice cream for dessert.  Marie brought an amazing salad (I know, I hate salad...but this one was awesome) and Mike brought a sweet potato pecan pie (yum!).

This torte was a little different for me.  It was the first time ever that I used a springform pan....well, I guess that's the only difference.  I really thought that the banana would overpower the pumpkin, bu it didn't....in fact, I think the pumpkin overpowered the banana.

I've never posted a recipe before, but this ice cream was so good that it would be sinful for me not to post it.  Yes, I realize it has no eggs, but don't turn your nose up just yet.  It's actually much easier to make without having to temper the eggs (you will have done that once already in the pumpkin torte).  If you have to have eggs, I would think it would be just fine to use your regular vanilla ice cream base and then add the pumpkin and spices as directed.  Hope you try it (and by you, I mean KMK, since she's the only person who reads my blog who even has an ice cream maker).

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 4 cups half and half
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 2 vanilla beans
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 7.5 oz canned pumpkin
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves

Directions

Combine all dairy into a saucepan along with the sugar. Split and scrape the vanilla beans into the dairy and sugar mixture. Bring to 170 degrees F. to dissolve sugar then let cool at room temperature. Chill in the refrigerator overnight. While dairy is heating, grate nutmeg into pumpkin and add the other spices. Mix in a bowl to combine and chill overnight in the refrigerator. The next day, take pumpkin and dairy mixture out. Filter dairy mixture to remove large vanilla bean pieces. Add some of the dairy mixture to the pumpkin and mix well to loosen it up. Then mix both the dairy and pumpkin together. Freeze in your ice cream freezer according to the manufacturer's instructions. Let the ice cream harden for at least two hours unless serving all immediately.

Law Student by Day...

I have a not-so secret double life.  Seriously.  I am, as it appears, a super serious law student by day, and an obsessed baker by night.  One of my professors (who knows of this double life) always asks how I do it all, and I guess the answer (or at least the one I tell him) is that I don't sleep.  The truth is that I just work really long days.  So, today, after 10 hours at school of class, homework, and relearning 4 years of physiology, I came home to bake cupcakes.

My very good friend (and classmate), Marie (remember her? 4th of July cupcakes), is involved in the Environmental Law Clinic at school.  She is one of 12 students who fights for environmental rights in the tri-state area.  Every week, her group takes turns bringing "snack" to clinic class.  In August, she came to me asking to help when it became her turn to bring snack to the clinic.  Tonight, we made the snack.

We made chocolate and vanilla cupcakes and topped them with buttercream  and fondant fancies!  Marie and Lauren cut out the arrows for the reduce-reuse-recycle cupcakes while I piped the words on each one.  Somehow I have a feeling that they are going to go over pretty well tomorrow for clinic snack time (yes--law students like snack time too)!

Let's Go Phils! World Series Game 4!!

Ok, I admit, I don't like baseball.  I do, however, love a social gathering, so I will sacrifice my hatred of sports to go to a party surrounding a sporting event.  Tonight, for World Series Game 4, all of our friends are getting together.  I made Phillies cupcakes for the event.  Greg, being the Mets fan that he is, totally does not approve of this...but thought the cupcakes were cool anyway.  See, this is the type of cool stuff I could do if I could spend all day baking (like I did today).  GO PHILS!!

Happy Halloween!

Today was Halloween.  I spent most of the day at the mall (which was empty since everyone was out playing and watching the Phils).  Before my fun-filled day, I made these really cute Halloween cupcakes for my co-worker (remember the Thomas the Train cake?).  She has a 4 year-old son who loves pumpkins.  The way to a 4 year-olds heart--cupcakes.  Came home and made chocolate chip cookies...yum.  Sounds like a great Halloween to me!

I am spoiled...

Seriously.  I have amazing friends.  My friend Jaclyn (remember her--everything's better in Texas cupcakes...) is also a cupcake lover.  She's the one who really go me into all this.  I cam home today from a VERY long day.  Drove to Camden, learned lawyer ethics for 4 hrs, had lunch with a friend, shopped with mom, and came back to DE.  After 13 hrs of running around, I came in to find a box from Jaclyn in my kitchen.  I was so excited I nearly ripped the box open.  Inside was this beauty.  She had an apron custom made for me with the logo of my future bakery...Buttercup Cupcakes.  She also included a cupcake trivet and potholder.  WOW!!!  What an amazing gift.  I am floored.  Thank you Jaclyn!!!

First Law School Exam Sympathy Cupcakes

We have great professors at our law school.  Sometimes, though, they have to give exams (I guess it's just the nature of the beast).  Normally, the entire class grade rests on one exam.  First year students, however, get a midterm...and believe me, it's bad.  What's worse?  Waiting for and checking the grade.  Wow.  What an experience.

Ok, so, this one professor decided that, as a congratulations for completing the first exam, he would give his entire class CUPCAKES.  I mean, who doesn't love a cupcake?  My first thought was to make law-themed cupcakes.  Then I realized that this class, having just gotten their midterm grades back, might prefer pretty cupcakes to law-themed cupcakes.

I made 3 kinds of cupcakes.  Being on the pumpkin kick that I am, I made pumpkin cupcakes with maple cream cheese buttercream frosting (holy crap is right!).  Then, I made chocolate cupcakes with dark chocolate buttercream and vanilla buttercream.  At this point, I just feel bad that they will have to choose between the 3 amazing flavors!

Jaclyn's Everything's Better in Texas Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes

My college roomate moved to Texas.  She is one of the women who inspired my baking (and knitting and card making and you-name-it other craft).  She's always coming up with new things to try, and sending me recipes.  Although it makes me want to hop on a plane to Texas...I always end up going to my kitchen and trying them out instead.  This week she told me about dark chocolate cupcakes with pumpkin cream cheese frosting.

Now, I've been on a pumpkin kick.  My mom makes this amazing pumpkin chocolate chip cake which I grew up eating.  I was craving it, I made it (sorry, no pics), and the pumpkin kick ensued.  So, when Jaclyn told me about these cupcakes, I had to go home and try them.  I made my regular chocolate cake, but subbed 100% cacao for the regular cocoa.  This gave the cake a rich chocolatey flavor.  Then, I made pumpkin cream cheese frosting.  It wouldn't hold its shape enough for me to pile on a good amount of frosting, so I decided to inject the cupcakes with it, then top them.  What a good idea!  I brought half to work and half to my cousin's house for cousins weekend 2k9.

They were enjoyed by all!  YUM!

Happy Boss' Day!

My direct boss (remember him--forget the cholesterol test birthday cake) loves chocolate and mint (are we seeing a theme?).  So, for boss' day...since he puts up with me all day long...I decided to let his palate chose the boss' day treat.  I made Kelly's brownies with andies mint chips on the inside.  Then, I melted the andies mints all over the top and swirled.  I made little gift bags for all of my bosses!  Unfortunately, I only took one picture, but you get the idea.

Happy Birthday Jess!!

My friend Jess turned 30 last weekend!  She's the one with the bridal shower cake--remember her?  Her husband did a surprise party at her house with family and then we took her to Los Amigos-a fabulous Mexican joint in Atlantic City.  Of course, they stayed in AC and partied, but, being the amazing student I am, I went home so I could wake up early to do work.

Jess' husband asked me to make the cake.  I decided to do a yellow cake with white buttercream and then cover the whole cake in buttercream flowers.  It came out pretty cool.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESS!!!

Christening Cupcakes

One of my co-workers had a baby!  For the christening I made these beauties.  Check them out!

Happy Birthday Kelly

Today is my friend Kelly's Birthday (remember her? lawyer by day, baker by night). I met her in Philly for brunch and made her this cake, in her 3 favorite colors. She gave me an AMAZING gift for my birthday--cupcake themed. You are the best KMK...Happy Birthday!

Welcome Home Nate

My friend Kim's son went to New Mexico for the entire summer. When he came home to New Jersey, his mom had a homecoming party for him. I made the cake for the party. I covered half the cake with orange buttercream and crushed orange and red jimmies to give the look of clay. I cut New Mexico out of fondant and placed it on the cake. On the other side, I made a beach out of brown sugar and the ocean out of piping gel. Then, I cut New Jersey out of fondant and placed it on the beach. Welcome home Nate!

Baby Samy is 1 Month Old

While I was in Panama, baby Samy turned 1 month old (that is why I went down there, after all). Sofi wanted to have a cake for him, so I made this one. It was quite a challenge considering the 90 degree weather in Panama. Buttercream and the heat don't mix!

Happy Birthday to ME!

On my birthday, people always ask me "who makes you a cake?" The truth is, usually someone does. Of course, my mom's cake is a staple at my birthday, but sometimes Greg will make one. In college, my roommate Jaclyn would step-up. Any way you slice it, I always get some kind of cake.

This year one my birthday, I was in Panama, visiting my friend Sofi's new baby. I told her that the condition of me coming was that her husband had to make me a birthday cake, from scratch. Of course, I knew this wasn't going to happen. They did, however, order a cake for me. Since it was served at Shabbat dinner, it was parve...and still really yummy! Thanks Sofi and Jony!

Gifts from Marie!

Check out the gifts from Kelly below!!! She went completely crazy for my b-day! She got me the Wilton tool caddy and filled it with goodies! She also got me new cupcake tins AND cooling racks! WOW! Thanks KMK!

My Brother's Wedding Cake

So, as most of you already know, I made my brother's wedding cake. His wife specifically requested cupcakes, but I thought it would be a sin to not give them a cake to cut (and to freeze for their first anniversary). One day, she came down to DE with my mom and we looked at cake books. She picked this green cake out of a book. My mom and I went completely crazy trying to find the perfect way to display the cake and cupcakes.

The baking itself took about 14 hours. My mom made most of the chocolate cupcakes before I arrived at her house on the Thursday before the wedding. Immediately after my class was over (3 classes--9:30-4!!) I drove to NJ to make the rest of the cupcakes and the cake. We baked until 5:30 in the morning!!! Even the puppies couldn't stay up with us (and they are the type that follow your every move). We were a real team!! In the end, we used 51 sticks of butter (hand over the title of Butter Queen, Paula Dean!), and countless amounts of milk, eggs, flour, sugar, and vanilla. It turned out beautifully.

Photo courtesy of Ryan Mayfield www.rrphotographypro.com

Photo courtesy of Ryan Mayfield www.rrphotographypro.com

Photo courtesy of Ryan Mayfield www.rrphotographypro.com

Photo courtesy of Ryan Mayfield www.rrphotographypro.com


Photo courtesy of Ryan Mayfield www.rrphotographypro.com


Photo courtesy of Ryan Mayfield www.rrphotographypro.com


Photo courtesy of Ryan Mayfield www.rrphotographypro.com



Pops with his two favorite girls!


A little family humor!

Doug, me, Brad, mom

Brad and Gab

Mom, Brad, me

Two Worlds Collide

I bake. I work at a law firm. What do you get when you combine the two? A huge cake!

The law firm I work for recently got a new building. To celebrate their new home, they did a ribbon cutting ceremony. For the occasion, I made a full sheet cake and 6 dozen cupcakes...that's 38 sticks of butter!!! I decorated the cake with the firm logo.

A few weeks before the ceremony I made cupcakes with the firm logo. I rolled out fondant and piped buttercream for the letters. I guess attention to detail works both in law and in baking!

Baby Shower Cupcakes

Check out these cupcakes I made for a baby shower at work. I piped on the buttercream and then placed fondant cutouts on top of each cupcake. I wrote "girl" and "baby" on some of them with buttercream...how adorable!

Guest Post: Lawyer by Day, Baker by Night

My friend Kelly is a talented attorney. She's incredibly passionate in everything she does, and she might love baking just as much as I do. Kelly and I love baking in different ways. She likes to try new recipes and discover interesting flavors. I like to play with decorating instead, and stick to the recipes I know. We make a good team because we inspire each other to do and try.

Today was her secretary, Dorothy's, birthday. Dorothy loves lemon, so Kelly made a VERY interesting lemon treat. She did coconut cake filled with lemon curd topped with lemon cream cheese frosting. They were delicious!

I should mention here that I tried to make her lemon bars for the occasion. While they were good, they could not compare to Kelly's (so, thank you in advance KMK for making the lemon bars from here on out).




You will also see below the hand-made party favors by Kelly. See, I told you she was amazing!

A Great Week for Becca!

The initial bond between my friend Becca and myself was through cupcakes. She loves them, I make them, it works. She is incredibly sweet--maybe even as sweet as my buttercream--and super smart. The first week of August was really HER week. On the 1st, she celebrated her birthday, and then on the 2nd, I had the honor of calling her to offer her membership onto the Law Review! At the end of that exciting week, her friends were in town, so I made birthday cupcakes for her (in roses--her fave!) and a surprise congratulatory cake. She loved them. Congratulations Becca, and Happy Birthday!

A Luau Shower

My brother is getting married!!! For his fiance's bridal shower, we did a luau theme. It was a great day...pool party, good food, great people. My mom made dozens of chocolate chip cookies and lemon butter cookies. We decorated the butter cookies with royal icing and displayed them at the shower. Of course, I made the cake. I found a cake online that I liked, but I didn't know how the flowers were made. I went to Michaels and checked out a book that made butterflies out of royal icing. At that point, it occurred to me that the flowers were made of royal icing. I had never made it before, nor had I ever worked with it...but my new cake attitude is to try new things, so I went for it.

First, 4 days before the shower, I made a thick royal icing and piped out each petal for the flowers. In all, I made almost 200 petals (because I originally had planned on cover the whole cake in flowers). I thinned the icing and filled the inside of each petal with the thinned royal icing. One they were dry, I was able to assemble them on the cake using buttercream as a center. At the time, I didn't know that I should have used royal icing to make the centers. Now I know.

Royal icing takes egg whites, so I used the yolks to make Kelly's homemade ice cream. My mom used her yolks to make the butter cookies (since we used royal icing to frost the butter cookies at her house).

The cake was chocolate and vanilla. I covered the whole thing in buttercream and then teal fondant. Although it didn't come out as the vision in my mind, it was still beautiful...and only took 7 hours!

My aunt and my mom at the party--aren't they festive?!?!

A Month of Birthdays

The month of July is a big month for birthdays! Six of our law school friends have birthdays in July, so Marie and I organized a dinner for all of us to go out to dinner in Philly to celebrate. Normally, I would make a cake for each of my friends for their birthday...but I figured 6 large cakes would be too much for 15 people. Kelly has the amazing idea to do mini cakes for each person (3" each!). Of course, Kelly's idea was perfect, so I made each person a personalized cake. Binder and Fina got ice cream cake, so Kim, Lauren, Megan, and Angela got my cakes. Marie came over (thank goodness) and helped make the cakes.


Kim's favorite is German Chocolate Cake, so that's what she got. 100% homemade, of course. This cake was incredible! I am always disappointed when I try new recipes, but I was pleasantly surprised with this one. I will definitely make it again.

Megan with her cheetah cake!

Do you see how she matches the cake???

Angela with her cake!
Classy and beautiful--just like her!

Lauren with her cake--peanut butter!!!
Do you see how she matches???

Now, here's some action shots from before the party.....

Covering Lauren's cake in fondant

Covering the whole thing in sugar!

Marie frosting Megan's cake


Marie cutting out fondant flowers for Angela's cake


Molding the flowers before painting them with pearl dust
Angela asked me to try something that I have been wanting to try, so that's what I did. We made fondant flowers, sculpted them, painted with pearly dust and piped on buttercream centers!

Breast Cancer Cupcakes

One of my co-workers did a fundraiser for her friend to walk in the Breast Cancer Walk. She did a Silpada party and donated all the proceeds to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. I made these pretty pink cupcakes for her party. They were chocolate cupcakes with pink liners, pink frosting, and pink ribbons. They were a huge hit and the party. I gave her cake pedestals to display the cupcakes. Truly beautiful!

Forget the Cholesterol Test Birthday Cake

My boss loves food. Of course, a love of food can cause the cholesterol to go through the roof. That is what made my food-loving boss to go on a crash-cholesterol-lowering-diet for a WHOLE month! Problem: his birthday fell into the diet month. I figured he would make an exception to the low-fat thing for his birthday, so I made a REALLY sinful cake. He loves chocolate cake and cheesecake, so I combined the two into a marbled cake. I poured the chocolate cake batter into the pans and then followed it with cheesecake batter. I baked it and frosted with chocolate buttercream. This thing was DECADENT! Pictures of the inside of the cake are to come! Check out the outside! HAPPY BIRTHDAY VINCE!

Happy Birthday AMERICA!

My friend Marie LOVES patriotic holidays. She's the girl who wears red white and blue for George Washington's birthday. Naturally, the 4th of July is her favorite of all American holidays. This 4th, we went up to Villanova country to celebrate with Marie, her friends from home, and some law school buds. Even Jacqueline came along (my Panamanian friend--her 1st 4th of July party!). I made these patriotic cupcakes for the event. I know, they were a lot like the Memorial Day cupcakes, but I think I kicked them up just a little bit. Check them out...and HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY AMERICA!

Thomas the Train Cake

One of my co-workers had a 4th birthday party for her son. He loves Thomas the train so I made a Thomas cake for the party. I took a 1/4 sheet cake, cut notches in the top for the smoke stack, and placed a round cake on top for Thomas' face. Greg had the amazing idea of piping icing on the board for smoke--how cute! Happy 4th Birthday JP!

Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate...Cupcakes?

A few weeks ago I was in Costco, checking out with a cart full of butter and powdered sugar. The lady in the line behind me said, "that looks like buttercream!" Of course, it WAS for buttercream. We got to talking and I invited her to visit the blog. She did visit, and emailed me for cupcakes. I made these chocolate cupcakes with ganache as inspired by the chocolate chocolate chocolate cake for her to take to a benefit in town. Check out how they turned out!

Denise's Wedding Cupcakes

Debbe, the Law Review secretary at school, asked me to make the cupcakes for her daughter Denise's wedding. I did 38 rose cupcakes, 100 regular cupcakes, and a 6 inch cake for her to cut. It was well worth the 7pm-5am marathon of baking because they came out beautifully! The caterer complimented my confections...and more importantly Denise and Debbe both LOVED them. Congratulations Denise!!

Cupcakes for Molly

This week, an old family friend ended up having unexpected back surgery--just 5 days before her 16th birthday! She was in Delaware and her mom is a HUGE fan of my cupcakes, so I thought bringing over some cupcakes might cheer her up a bit. I dropped off a dozen of these beauties and they went over very well! Her mom is asking for prayers for her speedy recovery. Get well soon, Molly!

Luau Cupcakes--the debut of mini cupcakes!

I've expanded my cupcake options to minis! One of Greg's patients wanted minis for a Luau themed 8th grade graduation party. I made the tie-dyed cupcakes and experimented with a few flowers on top. They came out great, but they're a TON of work...so I think I prefer the regular size.

Maybe next time, JUMBO cupcakes!

It really can make 12 dozen cookies!

Last week, I put my new mixer to the test. My friend Sofi is pregnant and she LOVES cookies...especially chocolate chip. Her sister is in college at Delaware, so when she was done her finals I made a dinner date with her to visit and to hand off some sweet treats for her sister, Sofi.

Of course, I couldn't get away with making only a few dozen cookies for Sofi. So, I decided to test out the limits of my new mixer--it does say it can make 13 dozen cookies, after all. I made 12 dozen cookies and the stand mixer stood up to the challenge!

I sent half the cookies to Sofi, her 3 sisters, and her parents in Panama along with a knitted hat and pair of baby booties for her baby! I brought the rest to work and to Megan (who is also a huge cookie fan!)

They were a huge hit...here in the US and 4,000 miles away in Panama :)

Happy Memorial Day!

Today we went to Kelly's house for a Memorial Day BBQ! She made a chocolate cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting and I made chocolate cupcakes with patriotic decorations. We had an amazing time hanging out with Kelly and her whole crew! Of course, the food was awesome and I'm still full...even though I left there 5 hours ago!! Below, check out my cupcakes and Kelly's cake.

Thanks Kelly!

Kelly's cake!!!

A Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Cake

This cake was made for Becca's mom's birthday. Becca told me that her mom LOVES chocolate, so I did a cake that would satisfy her chocolate needs. This was a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream and chocolate chips inside. I covered the whole thing with a generous amount of chocolate ganache and covered the sides with mini chocolate chips. Then, I piped chocolate truffle frosting on top and around the bottom. Now that's A LOT of chocolate. For those of you who like action shots, I took a bunch while making this cake.

Becca emailed me after her mom's birthday party...here's what she said:

"I just wanted to thank you for the absolutely gorgeous and scrumptious cake!!! It was a masterpiece! We all stared at it for a while last night before cutting it because it was so beautiful and then when we finally ate it....heaven! It was the most decadent and delicious chocolate cake we have ever had!!! Thank you so much for making my mom's birthday so truly special."



Making the ganache



Center of the cake


Buttercream on the sides of the cake to make it smooth


Putting on the ganache

Piping the truffle frosting

I bought a stand mixer!

Ok people...I know I said I wouldn't do it...but I finally bought a stand mixer. The amount of baking I've been doing has made it nearly impossible to do everything with my new hand mixer. I was worried about the size of the bowl because the Artisan mixer with the 5-qt mixing bowl just wasn't big enough for big batches of buttercream. I went for the 6-qt mixer. The reviews online convinced me that it was the right choice. The night I got it I made 2 batches of cupcakes and buttercream. This thing is fabulous! Check out the pictures from its first use.

Class of 2009 Cupcakes

The cupcakes were a total hit last night at the party. By the end of the night, everyone was calling me "cupcake"--how appropriate!

Today was graduation day at the law school. Luckily, we had a day off from trial advocacy class, so I worked graduation and made cupcakes. I had to wake up very early to make graduation cupcakes for Denise from my health law class. She is a nurse who received her masters degree today--but in LAW rather than in nursing. Oh, and I forgot to mention...she graduated WITH HONORS!

I made the cupcakes blue and gold for our school colors. Of course, I used blue and white wrappers too. I made flags out of toothpicks and cardstock to finish them off.

CONGRATULATIONS Denise!!!

We're 3Ls!!!!

Finals are OVER!!! We had our last final yesterday and now we're officially 3Ls!!! Two guys in our class are throwing a huge party to celebrate the end of second year. I made 5 dozen cupcakes for the event. I mixed 3 colors for the vanilla buttercream just for fun. Happy beginning of summer.

ps-tomorrow is also ONE YEAR until our graduation! WAHOOOOO!

New Mixer Cupcakes!

Ok...so most of you know...I love a hand mixer. Although I've recently been thinking about buying a stand mixer, I haven't caved quite yet--despite some intense encouragement from the guy who owns our favorite sandwich shop. I have, however, been eying a KitchenAid hand mixer for some time. My $10 mixers aren't cutting it with all the baking I've been doing! So, SURPRISE...Greg got it for me! It's amazing...works like a DREAM! It makes baking even more enjoyable than ever before! A lot of people have been asking for action shots...these might not be quite enough action for you, but it's a start. Check out the new mixer and the first cupcakes coming from it! These were for Denise from my Health Law class!

ps--finals aren't over...so I broke my promise of no baking until after finals :)

"Healthy" Cupcakes

Ok, I know I said no baking until after finals, but I couldn't resist. I made these cupcakes for my Health Law class, taught by the one and only Professor Pope. I cut the "H" for "hospital" out of fondant and I made mini aspirin tablets out of fondant too! I used Good-n-Penty's for the pink and white pills, and made band-aid flags out of stickers! I think it is a nice end to 2 semesters of a great class! Now, really, until after finals, ENJOY!

Showers of Happiness

This weekend was my good friend Jess' bridal shower. I am a bridesmaid, and I (of course) was in charge of the cake. She's doing hydrangeas at her wedding so I thought it might be nice to incorporate that into the cake. She also likes things very simple and clean. This cake is 2 tiers...the first tier is 3 layers in vanilla, chocolate, vanilla and the second tier is all chocolate. They are filled with buttercream and covered in white fondant. The purple ribbon matches the bridesmaid dresses.

The top of the cake--the hydrangea part--is made up of mini cupcakes (even smaller than the ones I used for the Easter cake. I piped them with buttercream and then used the buttercream as glue on the cake to make stacked concentric circles. Then, I filled in the areas that weren't touching with more buttercream to make it look like one big hydrangea blossom--now that's A LOT of buttercream!

The good news is that I only used 10 sticks of butter this weekend as opposed to last weekend's 20 sticks!! WHEW!

This is my best cake yet. I can't wait to keep trying new things...after finals that is!

Congrats Jess...I hope you enjoyed your shower! ...and your "Jess inspired" cake. :)

A Cake for Spring

I did this cake for a friend of mine at school. She wanted a "spring" looking cake. I think this is about as springy as it can get!! The perfect cake for a BEAUTIFUL spring day!

Playing with...Fondant?

Although I have a very open love for buttercream, I have recently been toying with the idea of trying to use fondant. I won't lie...I was against it at first...but I figured it was time to branch out. This cake was my first fondant attempt. It's a chocolate cake filled with vanilla buttercream covered in white fondant. I made mini chocolate cupcakes and piped pink and purple hydrangea-like flowers on top, then I piped a simple border on the base. It was a success! Maybe next time it will be tiers AND fondant!

Happy Easter

This Easter weekend, I had lots of baking to do! I made my kid-friendly peeps cupcakes for one of my favorite professors, Easter basket cupcakes, and rose cupcakes! After 8 hours of baking...I had some very pretty little treats! This last picture is a rare look at the process! I did birthday cupcakes, and 3 sets of Easter cupcakes. At the end of the day, I had used 5 lbs of butter and over 10lbs of powdered sugar!

Mr. Horgan's Birthday

Law school is tough...so when a birthday rolls around we try to ease the stress with lots of good food and friends. This is the cake I made for Mr. Horgan's birthday. Since Horgan is like the mayor of our law school, we had a lot of people to feed. Horgan asked for a round cake...so I figured I would try something new and build UP!

Lauren came over to help me bake. She made the flags on the top of the cake AND witnessed me break 3 cakes in the process. Our freshly cleaned carpets were full of chocolate cake!

This tiered cake (my first one EVER) has 3 layers of chocolate cake in each tier with yummy buttercream between the layers (I used 2lbs of butter in the frosting alone!). I read online how to make the tiers and how to use dowel rods to give the cake strength. Although the Food Network makes it look easy--it was quite the challenge! Nonetheless, it was a hit at the party (along with the sammies we picked up from our favorite sandwich shop)!

You will notice it's the most manly cake I've ever done--pointed out by Kelly!
It isn't often that I get to make a cake with flames and skulls on it.

Back to pretty and girly cakes for Easter this weekend!

Happy Birthday Horgan!

My Latest Obsession--ROSE CUPCAKES!

These are rose cupcakes I made for a bridal shower over the weekend!

rose cupcake tree!



rose cupcakes made for spring munchie day at work!

Rose cupcakes all packaged up and ready to go to munchie day!

Valentine's Day Cupcakes

I made these for an all-girls V-day party. I decided to make a box of cupcakes that had all of my favorite elements of Valentines Day--chocolates, hearts, and roses! I think it ended up looking like a beautiful box of chocolates!

I got the idea for the brownie cupcakes from the February issue of Martha Stewart Living. I used a cookie cutter to cut out the brownies and I put them atop a creamy pale pink buttercream...YUM!

I LOVE a Theme!

A friend of mine works in the casinos. She had a meeting thanking her employees for a job well-done. We made casino cupcakes for the event.




Cupcakes for the breast cancer bake sale through the Women's Law Caucus. I handmade each ribbon. All the proceeds from the bake sale went to the Susan Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Not-so Cakey Cupcakes

Cheesecake cupcakes with a chocolate crust and chocolate cheesecake piped on top.

Mini key lime pies on the bottom, mini banana cream pies on top

Lauren's Favorite Peanut Butter Pie--made to celebrate 1 year cancer free!


Jean's Key Lime Pie--inspired by my second mother, Jean.



Mini key lime pies!

Standard Cupcakes

On my quest to find the PERFECT yellow cake recipe...I made quite a few cupcakes. Now, these aren't ALL yellow cake...but most of them were made on the way to finding the perfect cake.

Chocolate peppermint cupcakes.

Birthday Cakes

Kelly's birthday cake. Carrot cake (no cinnamon!) with a classic cream cheese frosting. Mini chocolate cupcakes on top!


Marie's birthday cake. She couldn't decide on what flavor was her favorite...so I did a layer of vanilla, chocolate, and chocolate chip. Covered with truffle frosting.

Birthday cake I sent to Sarah for her 24th birthday!


Mr. Horgan's birthday cake, presented in the lounge at law school.

Easter Cupcakes

These are Easter cupcakes I took to Jim and Deb's Easter dinner last year. I used the bunny peeps held up with a toothpick. I piped on the green buttercream with the grass tip.