Beerthday Cupcakes!

I had a request to make some Chocolate Oreo cupcakes for my friend's boyfriend's birthday. And who doesn't like chocolate + Oreo cookies!  We then talked about his interests and decided on a beer theme. His favorite brand was Mill St. so we decided to have a bunch of beer brand logos for cupcake toppers and then have a personalized gigantic Mill St. bottle cap design with 'Happy Beerthday' in the place of the brand name. 

The cupcake was made with the finest ingredients including European butter (which makes the cake part extra creamy and moist) and Soma chocolatier cocoa powder (gives it that super yummy rich chocolate-y flavor).

Valentine's Day Cupcakes

Love is in the air! I received a small order for Valentines cupcakes... red velvet with white chocolate cream cheese of course.  There is something so romantic about red velvet cupcakes. The light cocoa flavor with the velvety red colored cupcake base and topped with a creamy white chocolate frosting. I decided to go 'simple but elegant' and decorate it with three different swirl styles and then top it off with a little fondant heart shape.

                               (My camera phone is obviously not top notch...)

Princess Cupcakes

I had the wonderful opportunity to make some Disney princess cupcakes for my friend's daughter's birthday this past weekend.  We talked about decoration ideas and decided to go with a mix of Disney princess themed flags and also fondant toppers.  The cupcake flavor of choice... red velvet with white chocolate cream cheese.

My friend and I made the decorations from scratch and added a '3' flag for the birthday girl's age.  We also added some sprinkles on the cupcake with flags to give it some more sparkle and fun.  The fondant toppers had crown and wand shapes to go with the princess theme.

Jabba Da Hut Cupcakes

My friend had challenged me to make Jabba Da Hut cupcakes for a party she was going to and I accepted the challenge eagerly.  I had a picture to follow but it was quite difficult to figure out how to get the frosting in the consistency so that it was actually moldable.  After doing some research, I figured I'd try making a really thick buttercream. I got help from my friend to experiment with different techniques to make this Star Wars character.  It was hard  to make such an 'interesting' looking character but I think we did a good job!

The cake part was red velvet cupcakes with white chocolate cream cheese. Then we plopped Jabba on top of it for decoration.

Baby Shower Cupcakes

My first baby face cupcake order! I was very happy with the results. When I got the order, I decided to call upon my one of my baker friends to help me with these and the baby accessories.  It was a fun day making these cute cupcakes.  It was also my first order using real fresh cream instead of buttercream. The result was a more 'fresh' and light frosting that was not as sweet than buttercream.  Very delish!  I also created the baby accessory cupcake toppers using chocolate molds. The result was a more precise and perfectly molded decorations.

Baby faces: chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream
Baby accessories: vanilla bean with pistachios and fresh cream with pistachios

Vanilla Coconut Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream

Happy 2013! I have been MIA on the cupcake making front because it's been so cold I just want to hide under my blanket. But alas, my itch to make yummy cupcakes has returned and I'm back in action.  I had bought some raspberries this past weekend and thought I needed to try to make some more 'healthy' cupcake flavors.

I love anything coconut so I mixed coconut flakes into vanilla cupcake base. I then pureed fresh raspberries, filtered out the seeds then added the juice into buttercream.  If you like a more fruity cupcake, then this creamy raspberry buttercream on top of a golden vanilla cupcake is just for you.

 

"We'll Miss you" Cupcakes

My co-op's last day was last week and I wanted to give her some "we'll miss you" cupcakes. The only thing I didn't have time to make was an actual sign that said 'We'll miss you' which would give more context to the cupcake faces.

These were pretty complicated cupcakes to explain the flavors to people:
1. Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate chip cookie dough in the middle, with cookie dough buttercream
2. Vanilla bean cupcake with chocolate filling, topped with mocha cookie crumble buttercream (I 'reused' the icing name from a Starbucks drink)

The chocolate filling was a bit sparse but I did get to try out a new tool that my Secret Santa gave me and I know how to make it better for the next batch. It's too bad I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the center of each of these cupcakes.

Snowman Cupcakes!

Adding to my x-mas decorations for cupcakes is a cute little fondant snowman! My friend had asked for some Christmas themed cupcakes so I made the x-mas tree from the previous x-mas post, some flat gingerbread man toppers and a snowman topper.  I really enjoy making x-mas decorations since they are so colorful.

For this particular snowman cupcake, I had made some chocolate cupcakes using Soma coco powder and European butter. These were topped with cookies and cream buttercream.  So yummy for any Oreo lover! I blended a few Oreos in a food processor and added it to the buttercream.

Christmas Cupcakes

Its Christmas time in the city!  Houses are all lit with pretty Christmas lights, everyone is drinking hot chocolate, what better time to make some Christmas cupcakes.  My friend asked me to make some cupcakes for her with three different flavors. I decided to have some fun with it and make really cute Xmas decorations.

• Pistachio (Madagascar) vanilla bean with pistachio buttercream: fondant candy canes and gingerbread man
• Red velvet with white chocolate cream cheese: Xmas tree made out of the frosting topped with jujube star
• Pumpkin spice with maple cream cheese: Xmas sprinkles with Walkers shortbread Christmas cookies

All of these cupcakes were made with European butter. I really do find a difference using European butter vs regular butter. It makes the cupcake more creamy and velvet-y.  Which makes it more yummy!

Red Velvet and Vanilla Bean Cupcakes for Aunt and Uncle's Anniversary Party

My first cupcake tower! My cousins had asked me to make some cupcakes for their parents 35th anniversary party. So of course I was so excited to do this for them.  Red velvet was the top flavor of choice and for some variety, I also made vanilla bean cupcakes.  The red velvet was made with European butter, Soma cocoa powder and topped with white chocolate cream cheese.  I think I've also finally mastered making a cream cheese frosting, making it perfectly fluffy without it being too runny.  The vanilla bean cupcake used Madagascar vanilla beans and was topped with vanilla buttercream.

The decorations had a romantic theme to them, with lots of hearts and romantic colors to celebrate the occasion. The roses on top were made from scratch by yours truly. My first real looking roses which turned out surprisingly well.