Toopy and Binoo Cupcakes

My friend had asked me to make Toopy and Binoo cupcakes for her daughter's birthday. My first reaction was... what the heck is Toopy and Binoo??  After Googling the names, I found out that they are  cute cat and mouse duo for a children's show that is really popular around Canadian kids. I started thinking right away about how I could make cupcakes that represented the characters.  

I made fondant decorations to show each of the characters and also made paper toppers as well of the characters.  I had just bought some shape cutters which made the creation of the paper topper process a lot easier. The cupcakes itself were chocolate on chocolate and vanilla buttercream on vanilla bean cupcake. 

Hello Kitty and Skor Cupcakes

My cousin had asked me to make some cupcakes for him with a Hello Kitty theme. I've always wanted to make some Hello Kitty cupcakes so it was perfect. He wanted a mix of red velvet, chocolate and Skor.  I had never done a Skor cupcake before so I thought I'd have some fun with it.

I made a mix of Hello Kitty toppers out of fondant and chocolates in 3D shapes, and also paper toppers for decoration.

For the Skor cupcakes, I made a chocolate cupcake, filled it with dulce de leche filling, topped with vanilla buttercream, Skor toffee bits and a mini Skor bar, drizzled with chocolate ganache.  The cupcake turned out really tasty and caramel-y with a crunchy toffee frosting.  

Hello Kitty Cupcakes

Skor Cupcakes

Bridal Shower Cupcakes

My friend had asked me to make some bridal shower cupcakes for her last weekend which was very exciting for me.  My first bridal shower cupcakes!  I looked around and presented some ideas to her and we decided on some pretty flowers and wedding rings for cupcake decorations, and also a beautiful bridal dress centerpiece.

The centerpiece was made out of 2 cupcakes stacked on each other, covered with fondant.  It turned out beautifully and was a great addition to just having cupcakes for the shower.  The cupcakes were her favorite... red velvet with white chocolate cream cheese. Yum!

Chocolate Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

My latest cupcake order was for a mix of 2 types of cupcakes:
1. Chocolate cupcake with peanut butter filling and whipped peanut butter cream cheese frosting
2. Chocolate cupcake with chocolate chip cookie dough ball topped with cookie dough frosting

These are a popular choice because of 2 reasons... they both have a surprise and delight in the middle of the cake and they are both chocolate based.  I tried something new and added whipped cream in the peanut butter frosting, which ended up tasting amazingly fluffy and light.  I think I'll use whipped cream more often in my buttercreams to give it a different texture.

Chocolate with peanut butter cupcakes

 Chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes

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.