New Flavors and Filled Cupcakes Added to Our Menu

We have added several new flavors to our menu.  Also we now have three filled cupcakes.  These are available for order and will be available once the new store is open. 

Strawberries and ChampagneA fruity and moist strawberry cupcake topped a
champagne meringue buttercream.

"Pearl" Our Signature Cupcake
Decadent vanilla cupcake with rich vanilla bean frosting
topped with beautiful edible pearls

Chocolate Chocolate
A rich dark chocolate cupcake with
a chocolate buttercream topping

Toasted Almond
A moist and delicious almond cake
with an almond buttercream to compliment

Red Velvet
A pretty red cupcake moist and a little chocolatey
topped with decadent cream cheese frosting

Gluten Free
Our gluten free cupcake selection is changing often
This month's variety is:
Hot Chocolate cupcake with Marshmallow frosting
A fun and festive cupcake for kids or adults alike
Great for that birthday party or occasion.
NEW FLAVOR COMING SOON!

Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Peanut Butter CupcakeChocolate Cupcake with peanut butter meringue
buttercream filled with caramel drizzled with caramel and topped with pretzel
crumbs.  Satsifies that sweet and salty craving!

Lemon
A citrusy lemon cupcake with lemon buttercream filled with tasty
lemon curd and lemon zest on top. 

LatteA yummy espresso cupcake with hazelnut cream buttercream. 
Perfect for the coffee lover or if you are looking for a "pick me up."

Pina ColadaA rich and delicious pineapple cupcake filled with pineapple curd and
topped with coconut rum buttercream and coconut shavings on top.

SundaeA delicous buttery cupcake topped with buttercream,
chocolate "hot fudge" drizzle, more buttercream, and a cherry
on top, of course!  Perfect when it's too cold outside for ice
cream and perfect for the kid in you.

Demolition Has Begun!

I just got a call from Niki that demolition has begun in the shop today.  This means we are one step closer to getting paint on the walls, counters up and STORE OPEN! 

Now we are putting together looks with paint samples, tile, decorations, furniture and the like just getting what we need to get those yummy cupcakes into your hands. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

We have a quote on a sign for our new shop and, although it could be worse, these things are so expensive!  Because we are trying to remain as close to a debt-free business as possible, we need our fans and customers help. 

We are running a cupcake Valentine's "fundraiser." January 24 & 31 will be the pick-up dates for cupcake orders.  We are offering:

Triple Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Italian Merinque Buttercream with pink white chocolate heart decorations OR
Vanilla Cupcakes with pink Vanilla Italian Meringue Buttercream with chocolate heart decorations.
$20 per dozen, you can order one flavor or 6 of each with a minimum of one dozen order.

Please email us at littlepearlcupcake@hotmail.com or call us at 616-822-0813 to order.  You can help us by telling your friends about this offer and by ordering! 

These are perfect for a treat for the family, birthday party, work treats, anything! 

Store Opening, finally!

Wow!  It has been awhile since my last post.  It was crazy with the holidays and all of the "busyness" those bring.  We are in the final stages of getting our storefront open.

Niki has been working hard getting all of the color samples and paint swatches, measurements, etc, together.  She is the mastermind behind this massive "project" and, frankly, it would have never happened without her. 

We are super excited to open our "cupcake boutique."  Thank you all for your continued support this process.  We have had amazing feedback on all of our ventures from friends, family, and lots of people we don't even know.  So far this has been an amazing experience and we cannot wait to tell you more.

Whirlwind Weekend

The LPC kitchen was super busy this weekend.  We had an order for a Winnie the Pooh cake for a first birthday.  I thought it would be cute to make his honey pot, as Winnie the Pooh is a copyrighted character I would not have been able to recreate him so his honey pot I thought would make an adorable cake.  It was my first time doing a cake in this sort of shape.  It's tapered at the bottom and I was concerned I might have problems getting it to stand or it possibly cracking and falling over.  Thankfully, Niki baked a very sturdy cake for me to work with.  I stacked it and made sure to put supports in half way through.

I carved the honey pot shape which wasn't quite as difficult as I anticipated.  Covering the cake in fondant proved to be slightly more difficult than I thought it might be, but in the after trying it three different times I tried a "paneling" method that ended up working out great.

I thought the bees flying around the pot made a nice touch.  I used one of Duff's (Ace of Cakes) new products the cake wires which worked pretty well. I have tried other wires in the past and it's hard to get the right gauge. 

I think the final product turned out pretty cute. 

The second cake of the weekend was such an interesting concept.  The client was hosting a baby shower for her cousin and had told us that she wasn't into the typical "baby" type of look. Her nursery was decorated in turquoise, light grey, and black. What a cool combination of colors.  She sent a picture of a napkin that she was using for the shower to give us an idea of the color scheme and inspiration.  Here's the pic she sent:

So we took the color scheme and I came up with a design that I thought would look cool.  Niki had the idea of using a stencil as we are working on a wedding cake in December that requires some stencil work and we needed some practice.  So, we ordered a new stencil for this job.  Niki came over to help execute the ideas.  This was our first time working with a stencil. 

This is definitely a two-person job.  One person has to hold the stencil in place while the other person does the stenciling.  For our first time doing the stencil technique we were really happy with the result. 

Niki painted the baby rattles with an edible silver glaze and added some silver glaze to the border.  We were really happy with the end result. 

 Close up of the "b" and silver baby rattles.

Cute and Pretty 21st Birthday Cupcakes

This last weekend we filled an order for a 21st birthday.  The client, Lynne, wanted them for her daughter who likes all things cute, pink, and well, you know what 21-year-old women like.  So, I had seen a cute idea on a movie that Niki and I just watched (Life as We Know It).  The lead woman character, Katherine Heigl played, had her own little gourmet shop with baked goods sandwiches, etc.  She also did cake decorating.  She had some super cute cupcakes she made for the little girl's birthday and I was inspired by those.  I couldn't find a pic of the cupcakes she made but here is a pic of part of the birthday cake that was made for the little girl.  Also adorable.


Anyhoo, Niki whipped up some delicious vanilla and fleur de sel cupcakes.  I filled the caramel cupcakes with the delicious oozy caramel and then iced them.  Then went to work on the flowers .

After I completed the flowers I wanted to design some sort of tiny purse element to go on the birthday girl's cupcake.  I came up with this little turquoise number.  It evolved as it went and the end result was pretty cute if I might add. 

I loved the end result and I think the birthday girl did, too!  I would love to do more mini-purses in the future.  The possibilities are endless!

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Ok, so I think I have a weird fetish with all things "miniature."  I needed a cute topper for some pumpkin cupcakes (pumpkin with maple ginger cream cheese) for an order and thought tiny pumpkins would be fun.  Niki baked the delicious goodies, of course.  It was right before Halloween, but these little pumpkins actually reminded me more of Thanksgiving.  I think they turned out pretty darling if I do say so myself.  I would love to do a cornucopia cupcake for the Thanksgiving holiday (hint hint). I dusted the pumpkins with some luster dust to add to their cuteness.  Overall I think they turned out so well. 

Now I have visions of miniature everything dancing around in my head, like mini purses, flowers, holiday ornaments.  Just about anything you can think of to make miniature I am pretty sure would look good on a cupcake.  Why not?