The Law of Cupcakes

101st Post - A Zebra Cake

2011-07-20T22:17:00.000-04:00

Although I've been light on the posts this year, I have been baking. Here is a zebra cake that I made a few months back. I was inspired by a cake my college roommate and good friend Jaclyn made for my friend Sarah when we were in college. Anyway, it was a 12 inch vanilla cake covered in white fondant and made to look zebra with black fondant. I finished it in super-girly hot pink buttercream and a hot pink circle in the center. Enjoy!

A Tiffany Blue Communion Cake

2011-07-07T22:25:00.000-04:00

A few months ago I got an email from a friend of a friend. She wanted a super chic First Communion cake for her daughter.

She sent me a few pictures online but she wasn't totally happy with them. One cake had a praying little girl on it. Her daughter didn't want any of that! I have to confess, I was happy that she didn't because making people out of gumpaste is no fun!

Anyway, I took her idea and ran with it. I made a 12" round vanilla cake and covered it with Tiffany Blue fondant. I handmade over 200 gumpaste flowers and added edible pearls for the centers. I made a patchwork pattern on the sides of the cake (which took careful measuring).

I also made a few dozen matching cupcakes.

I just love how this cake and cupcakes came out. They were so elegant and classic chic. Plus, they matched my dining room which is always a plus!! Enjoy!

It's been too long...

2011-05-30T23:06:00.000-04:00

I've been neglecting my blogs, I know. But I have good reasons. You see, I became a lawyer, I bought and painted nearly every inch of a house, and I've just been running around like a mad woman, all in just 5 months.

I have still been baking, though. I've got great pics of baked goods from Christmas until now that I can't wait to share with you.

So, here goes. A friend of mine referred her friend to me to make a record player cake. You see, her husband is a DJ and the plan was to present the cake to him on the air. She wanted to do the cake without using fondant and I was up to the challenge.

I made a half sheet cake. Then, I placed a 10" cake on top of it for the turn table. I used a little bit of fondant to make the record. I covered a dowel rod in fondant to make the arm. I used food coloring and painted it on with a paintbrush to give a more realistic look. I also made cupcakes with little "records" on them.

So, here it is...a turntable cake! ENJOY!

Also, everyone has been asking about my new kitchen. Well, it's not huge, but it works. It has about double the counter space that I had in the apartment so that is a plus. I will say that at first it really needed a face lift. So, with the help of my paint crew, we painted the kitchen cabinets and changed the hardware. Here are the before and after pics...

Happy 80th Birthday Pops...I mean...Bill

2010-12-26T21:08:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, my Pop-Pop turned 80. We had a nice surprise party for him at a local italian restaurant. My mom was in charge of the invitations and she thought it would be funny to put a cartoon-like old man on them. They turned out so cute that we thought it would be perfect to put the old man on the cake too.

I had to freehand the fondant carving on this cake. For many of my more complicated cakes, I try to trace the images onto fondant so I can get a true image. For this one I didn't have that option because I didn't have access to the image to enlarge it. I must say it was difficult but I think it came out great.

The cake was a 1/4 sheet cake. It had 1 layer of chocolate and 1 layer of vanilla. I carved out the inside and filled it will Alton Brown's chocolate mousse. YUM!

Happy 3rd Birthday Avery!

2010-12-13T23:35:00.000-05:00

You might remember that last year, for Avery's 2nd birthday, I made Elmo and Cookie Monster cupcakes. This year, I made this very neat Tigger and Pooh cake. When her mom, Missy, asked her what she wanted on her cake, she exclaimed "TIGGER AND POOH!". Missy stuck with the idea and it was a nice success. I cut the Tigger and Pooh out of fondant and then I piped black chocolate buttercream around it to make it look like a cartoon. Avery loved her cake. Happy birthday Avery!

Another Phillies Cake!

2010-12-13T22:19:00.000-05:00

Last year, I made an Eagles cake for my friend Kara's husband, Brian. This year, Kara requested a Phillies cake. Although baseball season was over by the time his birthday rolled around, Brian loved the cake. Happy Birthday Brian!

A Friend from Buffalo & HAPPY BIRTHDAY STACEY

2010-12-06T22:48:00.000-05:00

The weekend before Thanksgiving, a good friend of mine from College Park came to visit me all the way from Buffalo, NY. She is in dental school at the University of Buffalo and, after a long day of classes on Friday, she drove 7 hours to come visit me in Delaware.

I should also add that it was her birthday weekend!!! She asked for one present...an appearance on the blog! Ok, that was obviously going to happen. We really made it a weekend of eating. On Friday night, she started off by eating risotto straight from the fridge. Then, on Saturday, I made buttermilk pancakes and bacon (yum!). We had Iron Hill for dinner and made lots of cupcakes (for Cody's baptism). We also made peanut butter cookie dough ice cream (double yum!) and watched lots of movies. It was a weekend of total indulgence!

On Monday night, for Stacey's birthday, I made a nice homemade dinner and a chocolate birthday cake for her to take home to Buffalo. Matt Perry came up from Baltimore for a visit too, which was icing on the cake!

Stacey, THANK YOU for taking the very long trip to come visit me...and for the good times (and presents) you brought! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Oh, I should also mention that she loves to play with the camera...

Cody's Baptism

2010-12-06T22:23:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, my beautiful nephew, Cody was baptized. I made cupcakes for the party that followed the church service.

Happy Birthday Ian!

2010-11-27T14:47:00.000-05:00

I have been so lazy with blog posting lately, but today is the day to change that.

A few weeks ago we went to Ian's 3rd birthday party. Ian is the very cute son of Jim and Deb. Ian loves trains so for his birthday I decided to make a Thomas the Train cake. I made 2 9" cakes. I cut one of them in half an stacked it on top of the full layer. Then, I took chocolate icing and chocolate truffles and made a tunnel for the train to ride through.

The cake came out really cute and , of course, Ian loved it. Happy 3rd birthday, Ian!

Liz's Bridal Shower

2010-10-27T22:51:00.000-04:00

Today at work we had a bridal shower for one of our fabulous paralegals! She is getting married in exactly a month. One of my co-workers suggested that I make a miniature wedding cake for the shower. We tricked Liz into thinking that we were doing a Halloween munchie day. Everyone brought in food and we ate like crazy.

The cake was really tiny. It was a 6" base with a 3" top I put a cupcake on the very top and covered it in buttercream flowers to make it look like a hydrangea. I hope you loved the cake, Liz! Can't wait for the wedding!

Happy Birthday Alex!

2010-10-17T23:37:00.001-04:00

Today we went to a birthday party for our friend Matt's son Alex's birthday. Alex turned 6 and he gave me 3 options for his cake. He wanted either soccer, space, or legos. I thought that a lego cake would be awesome, so that's what I made. I did a quarter sheet cake and decorated it with fondant "legos". Alex loved it! Happy 6th birthday, Alex!

Go Tigers!

2010-10-11T21:58:00.000-04:00

Over the summer, I met a girl in my bar review course that asked me to do a grooms cake for her October wedding. Her fiance went to Clemson so she wanted a Clemson themed cake. She really gave me creative license but she did request that I put "Howard's Rock" on top of the cake. Apparently this rock is good luck for the football team and they rub it before each game. Does this sound familiar, Terps?

Here is the Clemson cake. The best news of it all is that the bride and I both PASSED the Delaware bar exam. For her, it was a particularly exciting week because she not only passed the bar, but 2 days later, she married her Clemson groom! Congratulations Amber!

Oh, and speaking of weddings, last night we went to a wedding in NYC. They had a "Viennese Hour" which is an hour full of every dessert imaginable. They put all the desserts on a stage in the ballroom. What an awesome idea! Good call, Dave and Leah!

Sunday Morning: French Toast Muffins

2010-10-11T21:50:00.000-04:00

Last Sunday, Risa over at Baked Perfection posted these muffins. I saw them and instantly needed to try them. This Sunday, I had some left over french bread. Greg requested french toast for breakfast, and, well, it was just perfect timing. These muffins are really excellent. The cake is buttery and moist. The topping is a true fench toast. It is really the best of both worlds for those of us who like to eat cake for breakfast.

Since I didn't have any cinnamon bread I added some salt, vanilla, cinnamon, and sugar to the topping mixture.

I know, I rarely post a recipe, but here it is. YUM!

French Toast Muffins from Baked Perfection

French Toast Topping

3 tablespoons milk

1 egg, slightly beaten

6 slices cinnamon bread, crusts trimmed, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

Muffins

1 cup milk

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups flour

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375.

Combine all the french toast topping ingredients in a medium bow and set aside. Combine 1 cup milk, melted butter, 1 egg, and vanilla extract in another medium bowl. Combine all remaining muffins ingredients in a large bowl. Stir milk mixture into flour mixture just until mixed.

Spoon batter into a greased or lined 12 cup muffin pan. Soon French toast topping evenly over batter; press down slightly. Baked 20-25 minuted or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Immediately brush muffins with maple syrup. Combine sugar and cinnamon in small bowl. Sprinkle over glazed muffins. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan. Serve warm.

Happy Birthday Skylar!

2010-10-03T23:38:00.001-04:00

Today was my nephew Skylar's 5th birthday. He LOVES Super Mario Brothers so I decided to make a Super Mario Brothers cake. There were about 30 people at the party and I thought a tiered cake would be much more exciting than a sheet cake. I frosted the entire cake in blue buttercream and used fondant to make the decorations. Everything on the cake is edible. My mom was my sous chef this time. It took the two of us 8 hours to pull this one off. I have to say, though, it might just be my favorite cake ever. There is something about fondant that makes it so appropriate for the cartoon look. It was just so perfect here. Most importantly, Skylar loved it!

It's PUMPKIN time!!

2010-10-03T23:26:00.001-04:00

Two weekends ago my friend Marie (she's coming up in a lot of posts lately, isn't she?) had a bbq at her hour to celebrate the birthdays of Mike, Kelly, herself, and me! It was really a great party. Since it was September I felt like it was time to break out the pumpkin. I feel like this year I might get just as obsessed as I was last year.

This is my favorite cake. It's my mom's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake. It has tons of yummy spices, pumpkin, chocolate chips, and even All Bran cereal (which, I feel, makes it healthy!). It is seriously the best cake ever.

I also made some carrot cake cupcakes for the party since that seems to be the favorite among my group of friends.

There's an app for that!

2010-10-03T23:19:00.000-04:00

Along with the peach cupcakes I just mentioned, I also made a birthday cake for my friend Mike. He is pretty much obsessed with his iPhone so I wanted to make him an iPhone inspired cake. My friend Marie was amazing in picking out his favorite apps and cutting them out of fondant. We made a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Oh, and it reminded me why you should never try to make a carrot cake decorative. Cream cheese icing is IMPOSSIBLE to work with!

I wrote hAPPy birthday on the cake! HOW PUNNY!

Just Peachy!

2010-10-03T23:14:00.000-04:00

Ok, I've been neglecting the blog. A few weeks ago I made cupcakes for my friend Mike's 1 year old cousin's birthday. Her nickname is peaches so her mom wanted to use that as the theme for the party. She did a black and white invitation with a peach on it so I decided to tie that in with the cupcakes. I used black foil liners with white cake. I made peach buttercream and cut "peaches" out of fondant. My friend Marie was my sous chef once again! They really came out cute!

An Untraditional Bridal Shower Cake

2010-09-06T22:57:00.000-04:00

About a month ago a girl at work asked me to make a bridal shower cake for one of our co-workers. Apparently, the bride LOVES beer. So, for her work bridal shower, the host wanted a cooler cake filled with the bride's favorite beer.

I stacked 3 quarter sheet cakes and covered them in fondant. Then, I covered rice crispy treats in white fondant and assembled them to look like a cooler. My friend Kelly helped me out and Greg made us dinner! It was a lot of work but it turned out really great!

Happy Birthday Don!

2010-08-31T23:25:00.000-04:00

Last week one of the partners at work had a birthday. My co-workers had a munchie day to celebrate his birthday (along with my return to work and another co-worker's return). It was a great way to start my new job!

Oh, and I should also mention that I saw one of my favorite kids, IAN! on the weekend before I started work. We went to the Philadelphia Zoo, it was great!

More Baseball Cupcakes

2010-08-31T23:17:00.000-04:00

After dropping off some cupcakes to the event planner over at duPont Country Club, she decided to get some for her boyfriend's birthday. They rented a box at the baseball game and she wanted baseball themed cupcakes. I made these using white jimmies and red buttercream. Since it was a birthday I made a "happy birthday" sign to accompany the cupcakes! She said they were a big hit!

Pretty Cupcakes!

2010-08-31T23:04:00.001-04:00

I tried a different piping technique that I saw on the Food Network. I think they turned out pretty nice!

I'm BAAAACK!

2010-08-12T00:27:00.002-04:00

Well, here I am - on the other side of the bar exam. It was a horrible 10 weeks and I am very happy that it's over. I've spent the last 10 days lounging around. We went to Wildwood, NJ to hang with my very good friend Matt. We had an amazing time and I actually conjured up enough energy to bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies. Now, I'm getting back to my normal self. Today, Greg's friend Matt came over for dinner along with my friend Binder (who, by the way, NEVER eats my baked goods). When I asked Matt what he wanted for dinner he responded, "I am indifferent to dinner. The way I see it, dinner is just an obstacle between me and dessert."

I saw this statement as a challenge to make something awesome. I decided to bring out this insanely decadent swiss meringue caramel buttercream. I made a white cake, put homemade caramel and the caramel buttercream between the layers and then topped the whole thing with the homemade caramel. I am in a sugar coma. I think next time I'll do cupcakes and inject them with the caramel.

Oh yeah, I should also tell you about a little something I whipped up during bar study - berry cobbler. Just take a bag of frozen berries and top with a mixture of 1 stick of butter, some flour, oats, salt, and vanilla. Bake until bubbly and top with vanilla ice cream. It's my new summertime fave - delish!

Pre-Bar Treats

2010-07-22T15:40:00.001-04:00

Ok...quick post. I just have to share. My college roommate, Ashley (Mo), is more than just a biotech engineer (or whatever she does, lol), she's also super thoughtful. This seems to be a theme with my college roommates...super smart and super thoughtful...right girls? Anyway, for my graduation she sent me wine and chocolate of the month club for the bar exam. Last month I got Chilean and Spanish wine. Yesterday, some fabulous chocolates came in the mail...5 days before the bar exam. PERFECT timing. So, I open up the newsletter that accompanied the chocolate and it turns out that the chocolatier is a lawyer. About 10 years ago, he left the legal profession to do what he loved - make chocolates. This is yet another lawyer gone creative foodie genius. How appropriate for The Law of Cupcakes and the week before the bar exam. Not that I needed an excuse to devour the entire box, but now I feel like it's going to give me good mojo.

Oh, and I should also mention that they not only look pretty but there are some AWESOME flavors in there. Cinnamon honey, cayenne, passion fruit, mojito, and lavender lime, just to name a few. I just had the coconut pineapple and it was seriously DREAMY! Here's his website if you're interested: http://www.royalpalmchocolates.com/chocolate-assortment.html

One more thing: the newsletter also said this, "we'll wager Gourmet Chocolate of the Month Club members will agree we need more chocolatiers in the world a heck of a lot more than we need more lawyers!" Just a little food for thought. Although, I think you can be both. :)

Can't wait to get back to baking! Next post will involve something homemade, I promise. Wish me luck!

Please Welcome...

2010-06-25T10:49:00.000-04:00

...my very very good friend, Kelly, to the blogging world! I know you'll remember her, from her birthday cake or from my post, Lawyer By Day.... She's a great baker and a seriously awesome person so, please, check out her blog, admire her stuff, order a cake, get to know her, or all of the above! Enjoy, and welcome Kelly!

Her blog is Cake+Love.

Graduation Day and a Baking Hiatus

2010-05-15T23:08:00.000-04:00

I graduated from law school today!!!! I did do a little baking for the event...just some lemon butter cookies, half dipped in chocolate and half with raspberry jam centers. As you probably know, the bar exam is coming soon. So, for that reason, I don't plan to do a whole lot of baking this summer. I should be back in action sometime during the month of August. Oh, and for all those who have emailed me and have gotten no response, I will try to respond before bar prep starts. It's been a crazy semester! Wish me luck!

Cars Cake!

2010-04-24T11:34:00.002-04:00

I made the car out of gum paste and I covered it with edible glitter.

Then, I made the Cars logo out of fondant and covered it in edible glitter

Bluebook Cake -- This is The Law of Cupcakes, after all

2010-04-24T10:34:00.002-04:00

Last night was the Law Review banquet. The Bluebook is something we, as law review members, carry around and refer to constantly. It's the book that tells lawyers how to cite things. There is one person on our editorial board who is a complete Bluebook goddess. I wanted to make this cake for her as a thank you for keeping us all in line this year. She loved the cake, and so did the rest of the staff. When people said they wanted to eat it, she responded, "read it!!" HAHA. :)

A Big Day of Baking!

2010-04-24T10:26:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was a very big baking day. I had 10 dozen cupcakes to make and 2 half sheet cakes.

My first task was to make cupcakes for the March of Dimes walk. My co-worker walks to raise money for the March of Dimes, and she wanted some cupcakes to feed her team after the walk.

Next, I made cupcakes to fulfill my donation to the Public Interest Law Alliance.

...and this was just the beginning.

Baby Shower for my Nephew!

2010-04-19T12:31:00.001-04:00

My sister-in-law is pregnant with my very first nephew!!! Yesterday, we had a baby shower for her at her sister's house. I made the cupcakes.

My sister-in-law's friend Adrienne brought her adorable little girl, Zoe, who loved the cupcakes....

Happy Birthday Horgan - 3L Edition - Part II

2010-04-19T12:23:00.001-04:00

Since we spent Horgo's actual birthday at the luau, we wanted to do another party for him with just our friends. Yesterday, everyone went to a baseball game and then we went back to Binder's apartment for a bbq and some fun. I made these simple, but beautiful, cupcakes for the party.

This Should Be Illegal....Dessert

2010-04-19T12:12:00.000-04:00

I should have named my blog "I love making my friends fat" instead of Law of Cupcakes.

What do you do when you have a dinner guest who loves mint chocolate chip ice cream and anything involving very rich chocolate? You make the dessert I am about to describe. I was inspired to make this dessert after serving this incredibly decadent cake for Easter. The problem with the cake was that it was very difficult to cut and no one finished their slice because it was "too rich" (which, by the way, I don't believe in). So, I decided to make the cake into a trifle and add mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Here's what I did: I made homemade premium mint chocolate chip ice cream. In addition to the 8 egg yolks Alton Brown's ice cream calls for, I subbed out some of the half and half for extra heavy cream. After the vanilla custard was good and cold, I added 2 teaspoons of peppermint extract (and it must be peppermint, not mint). While the ice cream was churning, I added frozen mini chocolate chips.

Next, I made Julia Child's chocolate mousse, which, is hugely time consuming and difficult but equally worth it. Then I made some homemade chocolate cake.

I took my cupcake wine glasses that my mom gave me for Christmas and created individual trifles. I layered mousse, cake, ice cream, cake, mousse...and then popped them in the freezer. Just before I served them, I whipped up some fresh vanilla whipped cream and piped a generous amount up on top.

In the end, no one...not even Greg...could finish this dessert (and you know I was pushing it). I ate half of mine and stuck it back in the freezer for later. :)

Happy Birthday Horgan - 3L Edition - Part I

2010-04-19T11:51:00.000-04:00

Horgan. He's our favorite law school friend. Sorry to everyone else...there's no disputing it. He's the best. You might remember Horgan from my posts about his 1L birthday cake and his 2L birthday cake. This time, his birthday fell on the day of the Luau party at school. That party marks 50 days til graduation (although this time it was 38 days...details). At the party, we had the DJ announce Horgo's birthday and we presented him with this cake. He loves skull and crossbones and his favorite color is purple (the icing is purple...looks gray in these pics). Marie cut out the bone letters and I piped words around the cake. The first row is all of his names, the second row is all of the places he's lived, the third row is all of his favorite things, and the 4th row had a special birthday message. Happy Birthday Horgan!

Cupcakes for Haiti - Part 3

2010-04-19T11:32:00.000-04:00

Professor Johnson recently redeemed her second set of cupcakes that she bought to support Doctors without Borders. She loves white cake, and thanks to my incredible friend Kelly, I now know how to make an amazing white cake. So, I made PJ's favorite combo--white cake with buttercream, topped with coconut. She's soooo super awesome in that she was afraid coconut would turn off some folks, that she asked me to do half with chocolate icing. Here they are!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-05T23:44:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago, my mom and I met in Cherry Hill for a little retail therapy. Part of our adventure was a stop for lunch at Maggianos. If you're ever wondering why I'm so pleasantly plump...just ask my mother. The woman MUST have chocolate after every meal and, obviously, her daughter is no different.

So, we went to lunch and my mom ordered a GIANT piece of chocolate cake. It was so awesome that my mom and I decided that we needed to recreate it for Easter dinner. Here's what I did.

First, I made a chocolate cake. I cut the cake into 4 layers. Then, I made homemade chocolate mousse (what a pain!). I took one layer of cake and placed it in the bottom of a bowl. I filled the layer with chocolate mousse and repeated 4 times. I put the cake in the freezer overnight. In the morning, I covered the entire cake in ganache and decorated it with buttercream to look like an Easter egg. This cake was seriously decadent!

Happy Birthday Ross!

2010-04-05T23:32:00.000-04:00

My friend Ross wasn't always my friend. Really, when we first met, I just didn't get his humor....even though everyone else thought he was funny. Well, since then, we have grown to understand one another and now I think he's hilarious.

You see, Ross loves puns. No, not like my friend Kelly love puns (since her love for words makes puns interesting)...Ross loves puns because he truly appreciates making a stupid joke out of them...really.

Ross also loves the Red Sox (he can't help it--he's from MA). So, logically, for his birthday we made him a cake that said "Boston Ross Sox". Marie, my creative director, came up with the amazing idea. She came over with Lauren to make the cake. THEN Matt Perry made a guest appearance and while Marie and I slaved away at the cake, Lauren, MP, and Greg played Rock Band. Marie cut out ALL of the letters...how cool?!?!

A good time was had by all!! Enjoy!

Biggest Cupcake Project, EVER!

2010-03-07T20:12:00.006-05:00

Today was my cousin Laura's bridal shower. My aunt asked me to do cupcakes for the event, and of course I said yes! After hours of searching for ideas online, I found something that inspired me and I ran with the idea. Since this was such a huge project, I'm going to chronicle it for you here. I started by buying the hot pink foil wrappers from Etsy. Then, I searched far and wide for edible glitter and could not find any in the United States...so I ordered it from England. I spent all day Friday shopping for the perfect display. I was looking for white boxes or some boxes that I could paint white. I couldn't find ANY boxes I liked. I went to Joann's to get the perfect fabric and ended up walking around aimlessly for an hour, filling my basket with ribbon and sequins and other inspiration. Then I headed to Michaels. I spent 2 hours walking around Michaels making myself crazy over these boxes. Finally, I realized that I could use baskets to get the same look. So, after heading to several more stores, I went home to discover how to make sugar flowers.

So, on Friday night I made some gum paste and created the flowers. In total, I made 150 flowers. On Saturday morning, my mom came around 9:30 and we got started baking. I made 2 batches of chocolate and 2 batches of vanilla cake. I also made a small cake for my mom's friend who was having a birthday. Then, I made homemade fondant (thanks to a recipe from Alison over at Alicakes) and 2 huge batches of buttercream.

While I was baking, my mom spray painted the baskets. Then, she glued the 3 types of ribbon on the baskets and made the bows. She also wrapped my gifts to Laura for the shower.

I rolled out the fondant and cut 100 large circles and 40 small circles. Then I stamped "L" into the small circles and a scroll pattern into some of the big circles. My mom then took food coloring mixed with water and painted the color into the impressions. She painted edible glitter on each large circle and petal dust over each of the Ls.

While my mom was painting, I dusted the sugar flowers with petal dust and placed edible pearls in the centers of the small flowers. Then, my mom cut the tops of gumdrops to make the centers of the large sugar flowers.

I piped on buttercream to assemble the cupcakes and as I did that, my mom placed 15 edible pearls on each L cupcake with TWEEZERS! It was an incredible task. Each cupcake had so many steps.

When my cousin saw the cupcakes, she said: "Am I going to be on the blog?" Yes, Laura, you are on the blog! I hope you enjoyed your shower!!! I can't wait for the wedding! :)

These cookies were the favors...made by Laura's very talented bridesmaid, Caitlin.

Happy Birthday Shaku!!!!

2010-02-14T22:44:00.002-05:00

Well, it's been an interesting week. We got snowed in twice which threw off my entire routine. For the first snow, I went to my mom's house to hang with her and the puppies. I brought all my baking stuff with me so I could make by boss' 50th birthday cake. We decided to surprise her at her favorite lunch place for her birthday.

I wanted to do something different and slightly over the top, so I did a whimsical cake. I stacked 2 9 inch cakes on top of an 8 inch cake, then carved it down to taper it. I made black icing by adding black icing coloring to chocolate buttercream. Then, I made fondant accents and placed them all over the cake. It was a hit!

This is what was happening outside while I was inside baking!!!

Oh, and by the way, I was featured this week on a really cool blog...check it out!!! Cute Cupcakes All the Time

New Cookie Recipe - Butterscotch Pecan Shortbread

2010-01-31T23:38:00.002-05:00

I love food blogs. I waste a lot of time searching blogs for ideas and inspiration. One blog that I really love is Baked Perfection. The blogger is sort of like me. She's got a day job and she bakes like a mad woman. It's great. She had these cookies on her site and they looked dreamy so I tried them. I owed a friend of mine a few sweet treats, so I thought this was the perfect time to make amends. Plus, who doesn't like cookies? These are a butterscotch pecan shortbread. I'll bring them to school tomorrow to share! Enjoy!

Cupcakes for Haiti

2010-01-30T21:28:00.002-05:00

So, the Student Bar Association at the law school wanted to get $1000 together to donate to Doctors Without Borders in support of their effort in Haiti. One of the fundraising events was called "Rent a Student". For the event, there was an auction where student services were auctioned off. I offered up 2 dozen custom cupcakes. When a bidding war arose between a professor and my friend who won my cupcakes in the PILA auction, I decided to offer up 4 dozen. All in all, my 4 dozen cupcakes generated $150 for Haiti. This was the first batch of cupcakes for that effort. I made them for my friend Becca who wanted to bring them to her friend's birthday party. She told me that the birthday girl loves bright colors and mint chocolate chip ice cream, so I made these beauties.

The cake is a chocolate chocolate chip cake. The frosting is a mint buttercream. I cut the flowers out of fondant and piped buttercream on their centers. I hope this inspires others to donate their own services to benefit a charitable cause. Enjoy!

Yes, my life really does revolve around law school, cupcakes!

2010-01-25T00:26:00.000-05:00

As so many of my readers know, I am working on the team that's putting together Widener Law Review's 2010 symposium, Health Law and the Elderly: Managing Risk at the End of Life, with my all time favorite professor, Thaddeus Pope (remember him--law school sympathy cupcakes). Tomorrow we have a committee meeting, and the Law Review secretary (mastermind behind this entire operation) asked me to make cupcakes.

You also probably know that I don't really like to try new recipes. I get scared and REALLY disappointed if they don't turn out. Today, though, I decided to live life on the wild side and try something new. So, I browsed through about a dozen cupcake books before coming to Martha Stewart's banana pecan cupcakes with caramel swiss meringue buttercream.

Let me tell you, this frosting was a royal pain--but it was worth it!!!! First, I made homemade caramel, which, just by itself takes forever! Then, I made meringue (hello--process!) and added whipped butter (whipped by me, of course). Then I added the caramel. After about 2 hours, this delectable buttercream was complete! Wow, it is incredible. It's much lighter than the traditional buttercream and the caramel makes it sweet (but not too sweet) and silky. I just might have to make them another time (but only for a special occasion).

I drizzled the homemade caramel and sprinkled pecans over the top. Enjoy!

Environmental Law Clinic Cake

2010-01-25T00:07:00.001-05:00

As you know, my friend Marie participates in the Environmental Law Clinic at School. Last week, it was her turn to bring in snack for the clinic class. Last semester, we made earth-friendly cupcakes for her clinic snack. This time around, she came to me wanting to top last semester's snack with a cake. We made a chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream. Then, we made the Environmental Law Clinic's logo out of fondant and placed it on top of the cake. Marie cut out the continents and the reduce-reuse-recycle symbols that we put on the sides of the cake. She did an incredible job. I decorated the green border of the logo with edible pearl dust so it sparkled. Then I piped on the words.

When I emailed photos of the cake to my very critical (yet absolutely lovable) mother (like mother, like daughter), she commented that my cakes are getting much straighter and my piping technique is really improving. I think she's right. This tells me that all my practice is really paying off. Looking back, I've improved so much since this time last year. My next goal is to learn to make sugar flowers. Maybe by this time next year, I will have accomplished that.

Feliz Cumpleanos Jacqueline!

2010-01-24T23:49:00.000-05:00

My friend Jacqueline LOVES cupcakes. I mean, she's a Mizrachi...and what do all Mizrachis have in common? A love love love for sweets. Don't let Sofi on her whole wheat soap box fool you, she loves sweets too (just don't tell her how many sticks of butter you used). So, for Jacqueline's birthday this year, I decided to make her a GIANT cupcake with the cupcake mold my friend Liz gave me. The funny thing is, I saw Jacqueline on her birthday eve, and she said to me: "I better get a cupcake tomorrow!" Little did she know...

So, I made this giant cupcake. It was absolutely horrible to frost and the bottom looked like a 3 year old made it...so I made a foil cupcake wrapper to rest around the bottom (another cake wreck, solved). I made the decorations on the top of the cupcake out of fondant. I piped the "Happy Birthday Jacqueline" out of buttercream on a piece of fondant that I cut out. When she saw it, she started screaming in spanish (since, as a Mizrachi, of course she was talking on the phone). She even hung up the phone to give me a big hug. That night, I made an awesome dinner (fish tacos!) and we went to see a chick flick.

Now her family is fighting on facebook over who is most worthy of me shipping their birthday cake to Panama for them. :)

Hope you enjoyed your birthday, Jacqueline.

Happy Birthday Greg

2010-01-19T13:53:00.000-05:00

Well, my original plan was to make Greg an AWESOME Mets cake for his bday. But, instead, we did an impromptu birthday-eve celebration and I made him this mini cake. We went out to dinner later that week and he had key lime pie with a candle in it!

Cupcakes for Burd

2010-01-19T13:48:00.000-05:00

Nothing makes a person feel better than a nice hunk of chocolate cake.

Happy Birthday Ryan and Andrew!

2010-01-19T13:41:00.001-05:00

...and a Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T00:53:00.004-05:00

So, I guess I'm on a peppermint kick now. Tonight, my friend Marie (remember her...she LOVES peppermint) came to NJ for dinner. I made a delicious (if I do say so myself) shrimp and lobster scampi, and my mom, Marie, and myself had a little girls night. Tomorrow is New Years Eve. We are going to a party at my college roommate, Megan's, house. She too, LOVES peppermint. When we were in college, I used to buy her industrial size boxes of york peppermint patties, and the entire box would be gone in a week. So, the perfect thing to make for dessert for Marie's dinner and to bring to Megan's for New Years was chocolate cupcakes with peppermint buttercream frosting. I made these last Christmas...but today I did something slightly different. I added heavy cream to the icing instead of milk. It resulted in a much creamier buttercream. I also used a different piping technique. My mom insisted that I stage the photos to show some residual Christmas cheer. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-27T00:22:00.001-05:00

Wow. It's been almost a month since I've blogged. Yes, I've been busy...just not really baking or cooking too much. On black friday, my mom and I took a short break from our day of shopping to stop at the Cheesecake Factory and have lunch. For dessert, we had their seasonal cheesecake which is a white chocolate peppermint bark cheesecake on a flourless chocolate cake crust topped with white chocolate mousse. I was in love with this cheesecake and of course I became determined to recreate it. I consulted with the law school's resident cheesecake connoisseur who gave me a few cheesecake tips.

I decided to do 2 peppermint cheesecakes...mainly because my very good friend Marie is obsessed with chocolate and peppermint and because my other friends always love my baked goods. For the first one, I followed my cheesecake lady's directions and baked the cheesecake in a water bath. Since I've never made a full size cheesecake, I had no idea when it was done. The recipe said to take it out of the oven when the center was "just set", but who knows what that means. So, I took it out...let it cool to room temp...took away the springform pan and watched it fall apart. I quickly replaced the pan and stuck it in the fridge over night in the hope that it would set. It did. I got it out of the pan the next morning and covered the sides with chocolate chips to cover the mess.

I repeated the process for Christmas Eve with my family. Don't tell my cheesecake lady, but I skipped the water bath this time. Yes, the cheesecake cracked...but at least it didn't fall apart...and I topped the whole thing with white chocolate mousse anyway so it looked fine.

So, here's how I did the cheesecake...brownie crust (because I couldn't figure out how to do the flourless chocolate cake crust without it drying out after 1.5 hrs in the oven), white chocolate cheesecake with peppermint swirl, and white chocolate mousse. We also had the Ciechanowski's famous banana cream pie, lemon bars and red velvet truffles made by Kelly, and my mom's cookies.

My mom made around 2500 Christmas cookies...all by herself!!! These are just a fraction of the cookies she made. Then, she didn't have school all week since we had a blizzard...so now she has 2500 cookies at home...mwhahaha. Now you see where I get my love of baking.

Santa came to visit my nephew!!!

Happy Birthday Avery!

2009-11-29T10:20:00.001-05:00

For 40 years, a favorite of 2 year-olds has been Sesame Street. We loved it as kids...and kids today still love it. So, for Avery's 2nd birthday, what would be better than Cookie Monster and Elmo cupcakes?

I made the Cookie Monster cupcakes by putting a layer of blue buttercream on the cupcake, placing a cookie on top, putting another heap of buttercream on top of the cookie for his head, sticking on marshmallows for his eyes, and then piping buttercream "fur" all over him. For the Elmo cupcakes (since red buttercream is really difficult to make) I used red jimmies.

I think this is it with the baking until after finals...we'll see...

Happy Birthday Avery!

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

2009-11-22T10:43:00.000-05:00

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.

Pumpkin Craze

2009-11-22T10:14:00.001-05:00

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...

2009-11-18T00:47:00.000-05:00

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!!

2009-11-01T17:59:00.002-05:00

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!

2009-11-01T00:56:00.001-04:00

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...

2009-10-31T23:02:00.000-04:00

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

2009-10-26T11:31:00.001-04:00

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

2009-10-26T11:11:00.000-04:00

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!

2009-10-26T11:01:00.000-04:00

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!!

2009-10-04T11:01:00.002-04:00

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

2009-10-04T10:54:00.000-04:00

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

Happy Birthday Kelly

2009-09-20T18:11:00.005-04:00

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

2009-09-20T18:02:00.002-04:00

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

2009-09-20T17:48:00.004-04:00

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!

2009-09-20T17:40:00.003-04:00

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

2009-09-07T19:38:00.008-04:00

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

Pops with his two favorite girls!

A little family humor!

Doug, me, Brad, mom

Brad and Gab

Mom, Brad, me

Two Worlds Collide

2009-08-28T23:45:00.005-04:00

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

2009-08-13T23:01:00.006-04:00

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

2009-08-13T22:43:00.003-04:00

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!

2009-08-13T22:31:00.002-04:00

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

2009-08-06T19:29:00.004-04:00

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

2009-07-19T21:53:00.011-04:00

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

2009-07-19T21:45:00.002-04:00

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

2009-07-19T21:33:00.002-04:00

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!

2009-07-19T21:19:00.003-04:00

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

2009-07-04T23:43:00.003-04:00

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?

2009-06-26T00:00:00.003-04:00

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

2009-06-16T21:20:00.006-04:00

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

2009-06-16T21:01:00.003-04:00

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!

2009-06-16T20:47:00.004-04:00

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!

2009-06-05T18:08:00.003-04:00

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!

2009-05-25T23:05:00.004-04:00

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

2009-05-25T22:33:00.006-04:00

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!

2009-05-25T21:59:00.002-04:00

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

2009-05-16T22:20:00.004-04:00

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!!!!

2009-05-15T01:13:00.003-04:00

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!

2009-05-08T13:53:00.006-04:00

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

2009-04-29T13:45:00.003-04:00

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

2009-04-19T18:43:00.003-04:00

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

2009-04-18T20:24:00.002-04:00

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?

2009-04-11T12:36:00.004-04:00

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

2009-04-11T12:09:00.006-04:00

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

2009-04-07T18:15:00.004-04:00

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!

2009-03-28T01:17:00.005-04:00

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

2009-03-28T01:13:00.002-04:00

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!

2009-03-28T01:04:00.003-04:00

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

2009-03-28T00:53:00.003-04:00

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

2009-03-28T00:43:00.004-04:00

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

2009-03-28T00:25:00.002-04:00

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

2009-03-27T23:58:00.004-04:00

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.